The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT (IF VIE PUBLIC JOL RNALS.

The seconding reading of the Reform Bill
has caused very general satisfaction. It has been
received as a favourable augury. The people
are 'tvell aware that a hard struggle remains be-
fore the Bill can become law, and that desperate
efforts will be made in the Committee to render
it as little efficient as possible ; but the extraor-
dinary exertions made by the Anti-Reformers
to have the Bill thrown out, afford a proof that
they consider the second reading a serious loss,
and what is a loss to one side must be a gain to
the other. " My Lords (said Lord Lyndhurst),
I know enough of this House to declare, that
if this Bill pass through this stage the certain
result will be, that there can be no possibility
of preventing it from becoming a law of the
land." Let us neither over estimate nor de-
preciate the victory, for victory it unquestionaby
is, though not the crowning one. The affecta-
tion of the Anti-Reform Papers, in wishing to
have it thought that the second reading is rather
s loss than a gain to Earl Grey, is irreconci-.
lable with the strenuous efforts made by the Op-
position to obtain an instant rejection. If we
were to credit John Bull, it would have been
better for Lord Grey to have been in the mino-
rity on Saturday morning.
" The Reform Bill (says that Journal) has been read a
second time, which point it has reached by a majority of
two Peers present, and seven proxies ; and we now fear..
lessly predict that it is ' done for,' and will very shortiv
be done witte—and with. it is also dose for the Adrni..-14.
nistration of my Lord Grey.

" We have no hesitation in stating most.distinctly, that,
in the Committee, the whole of schedule R will be ex-
punged—that the Metropolitan District Members will be
got rid of—that the 10/. qualification will not remain as
rent,' but will depend upon a rate,' varying according
to circumstances—and that the clause respecting the
rights of voters for towns and cities having freeholds for
counties, will be altered.

" As to schedule A, we have never yet understood the
magical virtu sof the number 56, to which the Ultra-
Radical advocates of the Bill appear to be so much de.-
voted; butwe foretell an alteration even in this amount—..
giving, however, from the !Not populous of the boroughs
which now compose the list, the right of representaion
to the large towns which are, aad ought to be, en-
franchised.

" It, then, Lord Grey consents—or,—what will be the
fact—is driven into these changes and mutilations, he
loses the only support he at present possesses; that of the
mob--go he must—and this we repeat plainly and die.
tinctly—for him and his party there is no political sal=
vation.
" But, say those who talk loudly and know little, Lord
Grey well make Peers. Not he !—Lord Grey dare not,
and cannot snake Peers. The King has redeemed his
pledge—be has fulfilled his Royal engagements to his RE-
'sister. The Reform Bill is carried into Committee—and
now safely landed, the Lords as they are must constita.
tionally and deliberately manage the det sits as they see fit.
Any body who attentively reads Lord Grey's reply yester-
day morning, will find a full corroboration of our declara-
tion upon this poinr, in the timid announcement, not of
what lie would do, if the Bill were mutilated in the Corns.
mittee, but of what he would not do—he would not
pledge himself to what he should do."

So, then, according to the showing of this
doughty champion of Church and State, Lord
Grey has placed himself, by the second reading,
in what is familiarly termed a cleft-Stick. It
would have been better for him to have been in
a minority, because then he could have insisted
on a creation of Peers or resigned ; and who, in
the present excitement of the country, would
have dared to become his successor ? But the
Bill will now be mutilated in such a manner 23.
to deprive it of all that makes it acceptable to
the people. Whether his Lordship consents or
is driven into changes, he becomes
popular, and being unpopular, he can be
turned out ; if he do not consent to the
changes, he cannot help himself, because
the King was only pledged to the second read- •
ing ; and therefore go he must. Fas est ab
hosts doceri. If the Bill was only read a second
time by a majority of two present Peers, it is
pretty clear, then, that in the Committee his
Lordship will be entirely at the mercy of the
waverers, who will no doubt always attempt to
do that by fraud which they had not heart to do
by force. The Bill will assuredly, therefore, be
mutilated without a creation of Peers. His
Lordship can hardly fail to remark the import-
ance attached by his opponents to his present
popularity, and the ease with which they count on
tripping him, should they only succeed in making
him unpopular. With the people he is everything;
without the people he is nothing. We trust
that he will have constantly impressed on his
mind that he can only hope to retain the sup-
port of the people by refusing to consent to any
alterations destructive of the efficiency of the •
Bill. We cannot for one moment believe that
Earl Grey would think of consenting to such al-
terations as are indicated in John Bull. That
attempts will be made in Committee to effect
such alterations is another question, We per-
ceive, however, that the article is written not
without knowledge of the tactics to be adopted
by the Opposition. An attack is, we under-
derstand, to be made on the clause declaring
that 56 boroughs shall be disfranchised, on the
ground that till it is known what boroughs
ought to be disfranchised, it is improper to at-
tempt to determine the number ; and at the time
when this number 56 is brought under the con-
sideration of their Lordships, they have no
knowledge whatever on the subject. The great
point obviously is, that 56 boroughs shall be
disfranchised ; and if we thought that the whole
of the 56 would be disfranchised, we should not
he much disposed to haggle about the fixing the
number beforehand. But is not the reason for
leaving the number unfixed, the expectation al.
luded to by John Bull, that the number may be
reduced below 56 ? The great point is, that
the number shall not be reduced. The Antis
reformers will find themselves deplorably mis-
taken, if they suppose that the people of Englatal •
will suffer themselves to be cheated out of the
Bill more easily after the second reading than-
before. So far from it, the more their hopes
are raised, the more dangerous it will be to dis-
appoint them, because the disappointment %%01
be keener. Hence, if there are Lords so foolish
as to suppose, that on a third reading, when the
people are in idea possessed of Reform, they
can with impunity dash the cup from their lips,
they will soon discover their error. We are pre-
pared for all manner of trickery in the Comnit aye,
but we trust the artificers of fraud will be disappoint •
ed. We remember, when the Dukeof Wellington
came forward with his measure of concession 10
Ihe Catholics, he enlarged on thr wisdom of
making the measure at once large and liberal, as
the stopping short of the expectations of the Ca-
holies would only irritate and provoke them, de-
prive the measure of its healing character, and
inspire them with the desire of making fresh ex-
ertions, which must ultimately be successful.—
What was wise in the case of concession to the
Catholics is equally wise now. We can con-.
tTive no policy more silly than that of attempt-
ing to vvithst;-nd the legitimate demands of the
people for an efficei t Reform. Do those
:nen who talk of rendering the Bill less
2tiicient than it ought to be, by expunging the
whole of schedule B, and getting rid of the
intnropolitait boroughs, think the people will he
satisfied with this? Do they wish to perpe