The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-18 00:00:00

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LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 18, 1835.

We have extracted from the Taunton Courier, the
copy of an address presented to Lord JOHN RUS-
SELL in the name of the inhabitants of Taunton and
its vicinity, expressive of their gratitude " for the
manly, dignified, and patriotic course which his Lord-
ship has followed during the late session of Parlia-
ment, and to express their admiration of the firm and
conciliatory conduct of the Right Hon. Viscount
MELBOURNE, and the other Members of his MA-
JESTY'S Government, under the trying circumstances
to which they have been lately exposed." To Minis-
ters such an address must be truly gratifying, after
the excruciating tortures which some of them must
have felt in the fiery ordeal through which they have
passed. The trial was, in truth, a severe one; and
though they did not bear it exactly in the way which
we could have wished, we are nevertheless very happy
to find that they have borne it in such a way as to
give satisfaction to a very large body of the Reformers
throughout the country. Had our admonitions been
attended to, Ministers would not have succumbed to
the corrupt and baneful influence so powerfully directed
against them in the House of Lords. On this subject our
opinions are unchanged and unchangeable. There was
nothing so very terrible to us in the prospect of a collision
between the two branches of the Legislature, as in our
opinion to justify the sacrifice of any great measure
demanded by the people, and necessary to the good go-
vernment of the country. Besides, be the evil never
so great, when it is ascertained, on undoubted authority,
that it must happen, we hold that the sooner it happen
the better ; for to suffer in apprehension what must
subsequently be endured in reality, is to multiply the
evil by as many times as it is painfully anticipated.
Now a collision between the Houses of Lords and
Commons is inevitable ; and every day whith inter-
venes before that event takes place must be one of par-
tial misgovernment to the country. There is no con-
cealing a knowledge of this truth. It is one which
must be obvious to every rational being who knows
anything of the constitution of the two Houses. Be-
fore the passing of the Reform Bill, matters were very
different. The House of Commons was filled with the
nominees of the Peers, and consequently a collision be-
tween the Houses was as little to be apprehended as a
collision between a gentleman and his groom. The drilled
attendants of the Roman Centurion deserved no higher
character for passive obedience than did the Members
of the unreformed House of Commons by the Rouse
of Peers. The darkening of a ducal brow was then
sufficient to throw a Speaker into fits, and almost to
frighten his honourable compeers out of their wits. It
is true there was now and then an occasional burst of
independence in the Commons, and something like an
opposition kept on foot, apparently to restrain the
power of the Minister. But, in point of fact, such an
opposition was not without its use to the Peers. It
was found necessary to blindfold the peoples avid for
this purpose nothing could be adopted bOtttr than an
Opposition strong in nothing but lungs. The Oppo-
sition was no more than the political harlequin of the
country. It might be insolent, after the privileged
fashion of Kings' fools in days of yore ; but it could
no more put an effectu?.l check on the corrupt power
the direct influence of the Peers,
of the Crown, and,
than the privileged witling could restrain the will of
the monarch.

But this state of things exists no longer. The
Reform Bill has made the House of Commons, to a
large extent, an independent branch of the Legisla-
ture ; and it will be wholly so as soon as that great
measure is perfected and brought into full operation.
With such a House of Commons, the co-existence of'
the present House of Lords is quite impossible; and
no Reform will take place in the House of Lords until
it is forced, or rather until it forces itself, into collision
with the Representatives of the people. To expect
that the House of Peers will voluntarily reform itself,
is about as reasonable as to expect that criminals will
be persuaded voluntarily to transport and hang them-
selves for the good of their country. The interests of
the Peers and people, in the relation which th. 4 and
South to each other, are as opposite as the iNTorth and
South Poles. An adjustment of the balance between
them is impossible; they cannot Icinain as they are •
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