The Sun.
London, England, 1832-06-18 00:00:00

ORKNEY AND ZETLAND.

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORDALTHORP.
My LORD-There is not, I am persuaded, in the wide
circle of the British dominions, a man whose heart revolts
more than your's does against everything that wears the
form of injustice or oppression ; and yet, incredible as it
may seem, you are about to commit, in the face of the
public, an act of the most flagrant injustice and the gross-
est oppression. You are about to sanction an enactment
in the Scotch Reform Bill, infinitely worse than the worst
of the abominations, which it is the object of Reform to
annihilate. Those abominations arose out of the gradual
and silent abuse of institutions originally good ; this starts
at once into life and vigour in the disgusting shape of un-
disguised, brasen-fronted, legalized iniquity. How your
Lordship could bring your pure and upright mind to consent
to a proposition se monstrous as the representative union
of Orkney and Zetland, is a mystery which can be solved
in no other way than by supposing that you are totally
unacquainted with the situation and circurnstrnees of these
countries ; and when I contemplate the partiality exhibit-
ed in the concoction, and the disingenuousness lurking in
the phraseology of the provisions by which this unnatural
union is to be effected, I think it no breach of charity
to suspect that the truth his been industriously concealed
from you. Unhappily, too, fur the cause of justice, those
by whose verdict this case is to he decided, are equally in
the dark as to its merits. Of the 658 Hon. Members who
are sitting in deliberation o❑ the Scotch Reform Bill, I
venture to assert that not more than one ever set a foot in
Zetland, and that all of them (with two or three exceptions)
are as innocent as sucklings of any knowledge respecting
it that can lead them to a rational decision. They will
be guided, in this instance, solely by their confidence in
your Lordship's high character, and it is therefore of no
small importance to the Zetlanders, that all false impres-
sions on the subject should be removed from your mind.
If, by the observations which I have now the honour to
submit to your Lordship, I shall in the smallest degree
contribute to this desirable end—more especially if I shall
show that the union of Orkney and Zetland is directly in
the teeth of every principle for which you have so nobly
struggled i❑ passing the English Reform Bill through the
House of Commons, I flatter myself I shall perform
neither a useless nor an unacceptable service. Let me,
in the first place, request your Lordship's attention to the
geographical situation of Zetland. This is the more ne-
cessary, as it has never yet found its proper place in any
map of Scotland—for map-makers, in imitation of their
betters, have treated this remote province very scurvily.
Finding that to place it where it ought to be would much
extend the map, and fearing that this elongations would be
unsightly, if not expensive, they have either crammed it on a
reduced scale into the mouth of the Moray Frith, or stuck
it into a gap among the Hebrides on the opposite side of
Scotland. The northern extremity of Zetland is situated
in N. latitude 61. 15., and the meridian of Greenwich
passes through it. The capital of Orkney in N. latitude
58. 59., W. longitude 3. 23. ; the distance, therefore,
between these two places is within a fraction of 200 Eng-
lish miles, and if allowance be made for sinuosities in the
course occasioned by winds, tides, rocks, and other ob-
structions, it is no extravagant calculation to state it at
little short of 250. Now, my Lord, this is the distance
which the humane framer of the Scotch Reform Bill con-
demned some of the Zetland electors to go in a few days,
and without any adequate means of conveyance. Why
it is a feat for a full grown whale--no mermaid could by
any possibility achieve it; but to impose such a task on
Christian men is quite nnmerciful—no man possessed of
bowels could think of it. But it may be said there is an
alternative. True, there is an alternative. If th e
Zetlander has not the robur et cos triplex circum
pectus—if he is ❑ot bold enough to commit his six-oared
skiff to the mercy of the Northern Ocean, he may
reach Kirkwall by a safer, though a little longer way.
Let us then take an individual elector, and accompany him
on his tour from Zetland to the poll in Kirkwall, and back
again. And we may, perhaps, pick up by the way, a few
reflections tending to edification. I shall take a Burrafirth
freeholder, whose local habitation is 126 miles nearer the
pole than St. Petersburg. Turning his face to the
meridian sun, he traverses the island of Unet, 12 miles in
length ; he then crosses a rapid tideway, and is landed
on the shore of Yell. After another march of 16 miles
through moss and moor, he reaches another tideway,
much wider, and still more rapid than the former. Being
wafted across this at the peril of his life, he follows a sheep-

track over hill and dale for 20 or 30 miles, arrives at
Lerwick, and ships himself in the packet for Leith, where,
after a voyage of upwards of 300 miles, we shall suppose
him safely arrived. He now turns his face to the north,
takes his staff in his hand, and wends his way to John
o'Groat's, 250 miles more. Then launching on the gentle
bosom of the Pentland Frith, which is 12 miles
broad, he lands in Orkney, crosses a large island,
a broad ferry, and a goodly portion of the mein-
land, when his eyes are at last blest with a sight of the
Orcadian capital. Here, if he is not too late, he enjoys
the unspeakable gratification of giving his vote for a man
of wheat he knows as much as he does of the man in
the moon, and setting out on his journey homeward, re-
traces every step of his former way, till after a pilgrimage
of 1,260 miles he arrives at his hyperborean home many
pounds lighter, and some months older than when he left
it, admiring the impartial distribution of the elective fran-
chise, and thanking Heaven and a Reforming Admini-
stration, that after ages of " masterful oppression," the
Zetland udallers are admtttd to the privileges of free-born
Britons. This, my Lord, is no joke. In sober seriousness
this is the only way that the inhabitants of the two coun-
ties ever communicate or ever can communicate. The

natural result of this state of things is, that they have
neither acquaintance nor intercourse with one another. Their
interests are in many points diametrically opposite, their
habits are uncongenial, and the only feeling they entertain
in common is one of mutual antipathy. Into the causes
of this unhappy feeling I do not now mean to enter; but
this I must say, that no measure could be contrived better
calculated than this to aggravate and perpetuate it. Upon
what principle of reform, then, is it that two countries
so situated, are to be forced into a political union ? Is it
not in defiance of every principle of reform, humanity, and
common sense ? . _ _

It may, perhaps, be argued, that as the provisions in
the original Bill have been altered, and the votes are to be
taken in Zetland as well as in Orkney, there is no ground
of complaint. If this argument proves any thing, it
proves too much, for it goes directly to the conclusion, that
any districts, however distant and dissimilar, may be
joined together for representative purposes. Now, had a
Member of the House of Commons stood up, and with
a grave face, proposed to take a slice from Cornwall, and
another from Cumberland, and to form them into
one elective district, how would such a proposal
have been received ? Yet it is rational, and even
moderate, compared with the other, for the inhabi-
tants of these two counties have many interests,
feelings and habits in common ; they can arrange their
communications with the utmost precision; and although
they are separated by the whole length of England, that
is not much more than a third of the real—the separat-
ing distance between Orkney and Zetland.
The next point to which I would crave your Lordship's at-
tention the right of Zetland to a separate representative ;
and I trust I shall be able to convince you that bad Zetland
been ever so intimately connected with Orkney, instead of
being divided from it by half the German Ocean, it would
have been contrary to the principles which have been ap-
plied to other parts of Scotland to refuse it a separate
Member. And here I cannot avoid noticing the un-
worthy artifice to which the ingenious person who framed
the Orkney clauses has resorted, in order to depreciate the
claims of Zetland. In the first edition of the Scotch
Bill, Zetland is honoured with the rank of a county.
Whether this admission was likely to throw diffi-
culties in his way, I know not—whether it was ima-
gined that Honourable Members would be less reluctant
to sanction the union if they were given to understand that
Orkney and Zetland were only constituent parts of the same
county and not distinct counties, I will not take upon me to
say ; but it so happens, that in the four succeeding editions of
the Bill, we hear no more of the county of Zetland. In-
stead of this, we find such beautifully contradictory phra-
seology as the following County of Orkney and Shet-
land, " County of Orkney," and, to crown all, " Ork-
ney, including Shetland." And upon what pretext
are these absurdities vindicated? Because, forsooth, the
two counties are under one Sheriff, as if that was at all
uncommon in Scotland. Now it is an undeniable fact
(and no one knows it better than the framer of the Bill),
that Zetland never formed any portion either of the Earl-
dom or the county of Orkney. It was ceded to Scotland
by a
.separate treaty; it has always been a Dominion
by itself ; it has its separate Sheriff Court, its
Courts of Registry, and of Admiralty, its Commis
sioners of Supply, &c. ; in short, it has all the ma-
chinery of a county, and it has never united with Orkney
in any one common act. Viewed ecclesiastically, it pre-
sents the same abhorrence of any connexion with that
county. Until within the last two or three years, when
it was erected into a synod, it exhibited the singular ano-
maly of a presbytery communicating directly with the
General Assembly—an anomaly which would not, have
existed, had it been possible to connect it with the synod
of Orkney.
But while I blame the unfairness displayed
by the framer of those clauses, I cannot but admire the
ingenuity of the contrivances by which be has attempted
to reconcile impossibilities. He has fought the battle
against nature with dauntless spirit and unwearied pine-

verance. Foiled in his three first attacks, he returns a
fourth time to the charge, weilding the most pon lerous
ind powerful weapon that the whole armoury of art
could supply. Actuated by the chivalrous ambition of
being the first, in this ago of improvement, to apply
the omnipotence of steam to legislative purposes, he
introduced a steam-engine into one of the Orkney clauses
of the fourth edition of the Reform Bill, in order to ma-
nufacture for the natives of Orkney and Zstland new and
improved sets of interests, habits, feelings, duties, wants
and wishes. Shades of Bolton and Watt, exult for joy !
Clap your hands ye indwellers in Soho ! Shout aloud
ye wights of Warwickshire, and wash your smsky faces
for a holyday ! Attwood, Scholefield, and Parkes sing
io I Triumphe! for Birmingham Unions. But, alas, for
human frailty ! The Bill-framer, though a champion
bold, had not screwed his courage to the sticking point. It
is supposed that, on second thought, he had some mis-
givings as to the working of the machinery, and dreaded an
explosion in a certain quarter; for the fourth edition was
withdrawn, and when the fifth was produced the engine
teas gone. The high pressure mechanism, however, was
left behind to suit, as it best could, some less active power.
In that edition are embalmed as a precious memorial the
days, the hours, and the minutes, which had been so
nicely adjusted to the cranks of the steam-engine ! May not
this, my Lord, be aptly termed the ultimo thule oflegishtion ?
Of the extent of Zetland, the authors of the Encyclo-
paedia Britannica say, that, " according to the best com-
putation which they have been able to form, the Zetland
Isles contain near three times as much land as the Orkneys.
They are considered also as equal to the island of Madeira
(550 square miles), and not inferior to the provinces of
Utrecht, Zealand, and all the rest of the Dutch island,
taken together." Its population, according to the census
of last year, appears to he 29,392 ; but as the census was
taken while many of the seamen were abaent at the Green-
land fishery, the average number (about 1,200) frequent-
ing that fishery, must i❑ fairness be added, which will
raise the amount to 30,592, giving an excess of 4,447
over the census of 1821. Now, my Lord, when it is
kept in mind that Zetland is not a manufacturing, but a
maritime, district, subject to a constant drain of its
population, this must be allowed to be a most ex-
traordinary ratio of increase, and it very signifi-
cantly indicates what this remote and neglected pro-
vince might be under the fostering care of a liberal and
enlightened Government. In point of population, there-
fore, it has the advantage of thirteen or fourteen Scotch
counties (not reckoning their boroughs), and if the bo-
rough population included in counties be reckoned, it is
still superior to eight; and here I may remark, that if
Zetland were to get a representative to itself, it would not
then be put on a footing of equality with the other counties
of Scotland, because they have all a double, and some
a triple, representation, as they contain boroughs, whereas
there is no borough in Zetland. Look at Fife, for example
it has three representatives, and a substantial fracion of a
fourth. Wilton, too, has plundered Zetland without
mercy; it contains only 36,000 inhabitants, and it returns
two Members, one as a county, and another for its three
rotten boroughs—New Galloway, which does not appear
in the population returns, and cannot be seen on the map
without a microscope, being thrown in as a mere blind to
hide the grossness of the job. If its population be com-
pared with that of the borough districts, it is superior to
12 nut of the 14 districts.

Of the wealth of Zetland it is not easy to speak
with accuracy, but the gross produce of its indus-
try is estimated, by those beat able to judge, at
300,0001. per annum. It is, however, as a nur-
sery for the navy that this county is particularly valu-
able, and that it ought to be particulary encouraged.
During the last war it furnished at one time to the British
navy no fewer than 3,000 seamen—not the sweepings
and scouringa of gaols and workhouses—but men inured
from infancy to the hardships and dangers of a seafaring
life, and no less noted for their sober and orderly con-
duct, than for their hardihood and intredity. This, then,
is no mean contribution to the power of a State whose
prosperity depends so much on its naval resources. If,
then, every county and every district of burghs can pro-
duce a superior claim to a separate Member, and if the
capacity of a chapel in Westminster is to be the measure of
British representation, the Zetlanders will yield to their
hard fate with the beet grace they are able ; but if that
cannot be done, I appeal to your Lordship, as an English-
man, a noble Englishman, a man who feels as well as
knows what liberty i=, and I ask you is it in human na-
ture that they should submit without wincing to be lopped
off from she body politic, to gratify the capricious humour
of this Bill-manufacturer ? Is it in human nature that
they should tamely acquiesce in the insult and injustice
inflicted on them, by giving a Member to Peebles with its
10,000, and another to Selkirk with its 6,1)00 inhabitants.
These two counties lie as it were within a ring fence, they
dre divided only by an imaginary line, and a great portion
of the one is actually embraced by the other. Nature in •
tended them to be one, while she has placed everlasting
and insurmountable barriers between Otkney and Zet-
land. To follow out her intentions, your Lordship will
find to be in this, as in all other cases, the safest and
wisest course. It will not, surely, be said, that this can-
not be done, because these counties are in possession of
the right of representation, and Zetland has never enjoyed
it in any degree whatever, for this would be to say that
the existence of a grievance is an argument for its conti-
nuance—a doctrine which, however it may have suited
the views of former Governments, can receive no quarter

from the present Administration, for it strikes at the very
root of Reform. It is neither Peebles nor Selkirk that iK
entitled to use this argument, but Orkney, for its rights
are not to be shared with neighbours and friends, but in-
vaded by aliens and enemies. It however has a remedy
which it will not fail to use. Its soil is much mote subdi-
vided than that of Zetland; its voters are far more numerous,
and they will combine, as it is natural they should,
to exclude the intruders from any share is the election.
To many the union of Orkney and Zetland may appear a
very unimportant question—to your Lordship, no question
can be unimportant which involves a great principle. If
it is intended that the present measure of Reform should
be final, this foul blot must be removed from the Bill ; if
it is not removed, the Zetlanders will continue to bring

their grievances before Pdrliament, and to claim their
rights as long as an honest Member can be found in the
House of Commons. They cannot brook to be yoked in
mockery to the triumphal car of Orkney. With that
country they have no sympathy, and although the words of
an Act of Parliament may tie the two provinces together,
yet in every thing that constitutes union, civil, social, or
political, they must ever be, as they have ever been, utter
and entire strangers.
I have the honour to be, my Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient servant,
THULENSIS.

THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWELVE O'CLOCK

Accounts from Brussels state that Sir Robert Adair has
received a courier from London, announcing that the sixty-
four protocols would be now sent him which are to fix
the time for the evacuation of the Belgian territory by the
Dutch troops.
Accounts from Warsaw state, that a new citadel is going
to be built there, to be named the Emperor Alexander.
Information from Frankfort announces that everywhere
in the Rhenish circle, even in the small villages, the tree
of liberty is seen ornamented with the French colours.
The following romantic account of the Duchess de
Berri appears in a French paper :—" Every day she is
seen galloping about from place to pile' in disguise, having
with her some men of confidence, who serve as her guides ;
sleeps at night in the woods, or in some obscure cabin."
Our arrivals this morning are of a scanty description,
consequently we have not any important news to commu-
nicate at present. A letter is in town dated Paris, Satur-
day night, which states that the Duchess de Berri
made her escape from La Vendee in disguise ; this may be
possible, as we have beard some days since that the French
Government seat to her a confidential message to take to
her heels, but this will not be the case with General
Bourmont, who is anxiously sought after. No account
as yet of Don Pedro's expedition. Consols opened at the
same price they left off on Saturday, Slit for account,
went up to 84j; at present they are 841 i, with a heavy
market. The estafet, from Paris brings the renter 68f. 40c.
HALF-PAST ONE.
Up to the present time we have no account of Dun
Pedro's expedition to be depended upon.
Consols still continue heavy ; in the early part of the
morning they were done at 84i for the account,
since which they have receded to 84i ; at present they may
be quoted 84 with little doing. The state of affairs be-
tween Belgium and Holland has a considerable weight on
sKveinsghooufldHnoolltanbde
at
r ket French
there
e i
pays the
little Market.
attentionNV e
tuon
the
rs t and t h
Protocols,a and
e
armya n
nmt
hairncgh
dinto Belgiumg; prees.
surprised
In e t
Foreign
again
Aa
much the same as on Saturday.

7 BREE O' CL 0 CK.
Consols for account 841.

FOUR O'CLOCK CLOSING PRICES.

_______•,. - ... .....---
Consols
Ditto for Account 84i it Greek, 1825 29*
Brazilian Bonds 45i Mexican, 1825 —
Buenos Ayres... Peruvian ... .....
Cbilian Ditto.... Russian —
Columbian 1824 ..... Spanish

ARRIVALS OF GRAIN IN LONDON DURING LAST WEEK.
C co 7 :4
From Whence. 2 g- .°--: F g .;?
r,,•
Qrs. Qrr. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. ;cks.
Aldborough 2OO 4 30 _
Alemouth
Boston
Chichester
Clay
Cowes
Colchester l5 50 527 160 481
11 Harwich
1 Leigh
338 lOri
Maldon 265 140 479
Exeter — 228
Goole 505 740
Hull - —
Ipswich 3O 2 1272 46 401
Kent 859 51 121 4 117 1 Si 740
Liverpool ...... ... 1524 1
Louth
Lowestoft
Lyme — 9,1
Padstow lBO 180 —5
Poole
1901— --- ---- 8772 ---14 --- 18.71
Portsmouth
Spalding
Southwold '273
Stockton —
430
Wells l2O
Wislmach 254 _ 21
Woodbridge lOO _ _ 75
Yarmouth 4O 548 1195 50 1460
Aberdeen — 720 _
I Ban fr — 2634 _
nerwick
Cromarty
4356 826 3391 8316 810 1 45 7053
I RISE.
Cork — 594
Dublin
Dundalk — 1117 ...3
Galway lBO 1364 '24
Kilrush — 133)6
Limerick
,Londonderry
Newry
Sligo — 1312
Waterford — 1910 200
Westport
Wexford
FOREIGN.
Copenhagen
Dant=
Kiel 470 _ _
Koningsberg
Lubeck B4O _ _
Memel
Pillau 1134 _ _
Riga 950
Rostock 22010 _ _
Stettin
Wolgast.
Coastways......... 2,1
Total... 19915 1100 3391 '25421 810 45 7527

AGGREGATE
Rye, 24—Tares,

119915
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f 1100
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inseed,
dant. 0-

I 3391 i
,F OTH
0--R,

1'25421 I
EA KU
:apeseed
Is. IV.

I 810
KDS OF
1,:

F PULs
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