The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-09 00:00:00

SP HUT O Ttir, PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Lear-1 'Grey nod his colleagues aato:ne yesterday to
aftrierreetroes resolution of cOlstantly soliciting from
his Metieetv a creation t't Peers sufficient to carr
the Pieform Bill; and in the event, improbable wr ;.
!met, of that solicitation being fruitless, the Cabinet
determined to resign. That no other decision we-
posshie for Ministers so placed, King William will,
we trust, be the titre to acknowledge: how mud,
sa<mer it might with propriety have teen formed,
we do not think necessary to fro/ounce. Ws Ma.
jest- has two strong motives for acting upon the
application at this moment made to hien be his ser-
yante—the love of his people, 'arid the interests
of his Crown, By how emelt the satisfaction, the
peace, the security, the liberty, the enjoyments of .
24,000,000 of men 'Ore involved in the issue of
this crisis, by so much must the heart and con-
science of th.., King he pressed to the aqui. ,
rscenee moo demanded of him. If, again, his Ma- ,
;testy is aware—and how can he be otherwise h—of
the ese eakness and dangers entailed upon the mo-
nem, y itself by the extreme unpopularity of pre-
cee.ing Sovereigns, and of the renewed strength and
`vireour which it bus derived from the universal love
of w7toth, in his own person, he himself has hitherto
&en the object, it seems not coreceivable that a vir-
tuous King's regard for the, fortunes and stability of
his throne and race should fail of powerfully dispos-
;roe him to cultivate the gratitude cf a mighty and
discriminating people. Lords Grey and 3rougham
,nt yesterday, lifter the Ctbittt4, to Windsor.
T icy returned at a late heat lest night. The result
of their journey will coon of necessity he apparent.
The chock of Monthey evening is not yet to be ap-
preciated, either as to its force, or its direction.
Until a day we two more shall have alerted, few can
eletermine on whom the blow may have fallen with
the most fatal violence—whether on its proposed
sectirns, or its waiters, The country, at all events,
is secure : one thing onl•y is acknowledged—namely,that the procetertings of the many-coloured mejerity,
and the declarations of certain of its membere, were
the results of a crafty intrigue, of whin): it is fortunate
that Lord Grey had notice at an early hour on Mon-
day, or his Lordship might, through ignorance of the
trap laid for him, have done and suffer- d far more roe-
chief by an unsuspicious compliance with Lord Lynd-
hursos motion, than even by his unsuccessful resist-
ance. lid Ministers given way to the insidious propo-
sition for the postponement of the disfranchising to the
creating clauses, what would have happened ? One
purpose of the stratagem was, apparently, to carry
tba enfranchisement as short a way as possible, and
thus to have a pretence for disfranchising the smallest
pomoble amount of nomination boroughs. It may,
indeed, be guessed what sort of favour the commer-
cial population of England would be likely to obtain
from men who within these four years had preferred
the (Newcastle) hundred of Basset Law to the
rich, populous, and intelligent town of Birmingham ;
and who openly espouse the marketable rabble of the
potwallopiag boroughs to the class of substantial
householders entitled to qualification under the
Bill: Lord Bexley's construction of the Lynd-
hurst-motion was natural, but it was not the
true one. The old ex.financier was innocent
uough to imagine that the wily clique who had
epeet days and nights in preparing that complex
matiwitore, had flattered themselves with the
possibility of accomplishing, through some new
shuffle, of the cards, such a wholesale and
ostentatious—not fraud, but—outrage upon the
Commons and the people of England as would be
the maintenance of the whole mass of rotten
boroughs. The imputation of such crude and clumsy
treachery to men of deep of experience in the game
of artifice, was worthy of no other faith but his who
could believe that twenty one shillings were equiva-
lent to eight-and-t wenty. No, the real manufacture
on this last occasion has been of a higher finish. We
all remember the Bit for the removal of Catholic
ciieabilitiee. To every important provision of that
Br/l, as well as to its entire principle, the Ministers
who under coercion introduced and carried it, hat
not once nor twice, but all their lives been opposed.
They dreaded the turbulence of Irtlentl. They
dreaded a combination of all the Liberals in the
British Parliament,—the Whigs and the Huskisottn
(late Canning) party. They felt that office would
not be tenable for themselves against a league of
ability and public spirit, which enjoyed on questions
of high political principle an extensive support from
the nation. A longer pertinacity of resistance to
the Catholic c'airns was not compatible with
the stability and easy exercise of their own
power. The Catholic Bill for that reason (amongst
some other% of a less obviously selfish nature) was
passe 1. But what happened ? Why, the Ultra-Tories
and Anti-C.thelics, who had no share of office,
and no fear of losing it, and whose abhorrence of
eroaeripetion was not qualified by any motive of
Personal expediency or foresight—that order of un-
bought statesmen raved, as they still do, against the
tergiversation, or perfidy, or cowardice of the Wel-
lington cabinet, whom, at least its dexterous and
active leader, they Lave never forgiven in their hearts.
'Well then. 1 he Duke of Wellington, with Lords
Lyndhurst and Ellenborough, were patties in the
above memorable instance to what is yet called the
" throwing overboard" of their ultra-Tory allies.
Having used their services, they dismissed them :
having socked the ripe orange, they throw away the
peel. So in this present case, how have these sharp-
shooters acted ? They began by exclaiming against
all manner, and shape, and semblance of Reform,
The Duke of Wellington led the way—the others
followed. But, as is the Catholic instance, and
with a force and rapidity fee beyond that of the Ca-
tholic, the tide of national feeling set against
his Glace and his coadjutors in the cause of anti-
Reform. He was driven from the Government.
His business, as a party man, has since been to re•
cover his position, and the first very favourable op-
portunity for advancing such a project was on Mon-
day, when, after a course of private communication,
for some days preceding, with the smooth and dou-
ble-tongued " waverers," it was agreed to destroy
both Bill and Ministry by a stab under the
shadow of a mere interchange of clauses. Was
Lord Grey to yield, he would have laid the
groundwork of some fresh and insupportable requi-
sitions. Did he make battles he must encounter,
as be has done,a defeat. What was then before his
Majesty's Ministers? They must either demand
from the Sovereign that which the Court in-
triguers of the anti-popular faction, have long been
assuring their Tory friends that his Majesty would
not vouchsafe to grant them, or failing in the appli-
es:ion, Lord Grey and his colleagues must res;gn.
Then comes to he unfolded the second page of the
plot. It was known that the Duke of Welling-
ton's original denunciation of Reform, and eulogy
upon the basest parts of the present system, had
utterly stripped him, in the eyes of the people of
England, of all pretension to office. It became ne-
ceesary, therefore, to take some step towards ena-
bling him to profit by the defeat and resignation of
the Ministers, which could be no otherwise effected
than through a recanting, either by him, or for him,
of his first antipathy to "all and every " Reform.
For the Noble Duke to have made this exhibition in
his own person might have scented indecorous or
precipitate,—so the task devolted upon the Baron
Ellenborough, who, having come prepared with a
proclamation upon the subject, was compelled to
publish it, somewhat out of season it is true, but
still with much of the effect intended ; for it de-
nounced to the wondering country, that if the Duke
of Wellington should be Minister, he would assent
to the removal of 113 votes from among the borough
representatives of the House of Commons; but it
unfortunately went a little further, arid let out, what
his (grace had overlooked the decorum of keeping
iii some small degree out. of sight—viz.,d the irmr-
dinate eagerness with which his
. Grace ?esdesire to
in
be Minister. Here, then, it is, manifest, as .
the Catholic case, that the lailiras. are again
"thrown overboard" by their chieftain, who
shows that his prejudices (whatever theirs may
be) are less stubborn than the appetite for
power. Flow the people of England may like to
accept Reform from the hands of such a prosoOte

• :mother question, or what coirfiderice they may
-pose in the amount or quality of that which his
'':irece will tender. Of Lords Harrowhv and Wharn-
I•ffe we shall leave others to form that judgment to
et ich men expose themsalvet who negoti de se-
ref ly with one pontita! pally for the overthrow of
olother, which Oecy openly make semblance of as-
Tl)e Bishops—that is the majority of them
—did as Bishops have often don': before them,
n endangering the ...'ztatn, they forgot that the
Church was eie,tbitr'eed in the name bottom. But on
his subject we may take occasion to enlarge here-
fter. What the nation generally will say to all
hie, will not be long a topic of conjecture. They
rho cannot discern the signs and bearings of pole
remous times in the language of independent men,
whenever and wheresoever they are assembled,
:would not believe though all the sufferers from civil
eeroest, whether Kings or citizens, were to rise
'min the careh and warn them. The Birmingham
meeting is a book of prophecy. Another, of the
same great and intelligent public, is to suecee l it.
Every comity, and city, and town, and village it,
the Un.ted !S7.ogeiorn, will once more be heard.
They may be lightly or stupidly listened to, yet will
hey not be heard in vain. We I awe just had rea-
son to believe that all be settled lte. The course of
rhis day ; but we do Oct eesert that it will be hap-
pily, or foe eeense people wisely and honourably,
settled. Symptoms of a deep and old intrigue
have, we regret to find, become visible. Reformers,
therecore, throughout England, Scotland, and Ire-
land—men of three nations but a single heart—be
et your posts, and sleep not,—Tierre.
Monday wilt long be a memorable day in the an-
eels of Perminghare and of the British Parliament.
On that day was assembled in the great unrepre-
sented mart of our iron-trade, a meeting of reformers
'lie mmt magnificent for its numbers and strength—
he most formidable from its onion and enthusiasm—
rhe most impressive from its order, discipline and
resolution,—that ever was seen in England or in the
world. On that day this mighty host of 200,000
persons, ranged under trusty leaders and appropriate
banners, animated with one spirit, and breathing
one hope and one wish, assembled to petition the
House of Lords to pass the Reform Bill in all its
integrity ; and before the multitudes who composed
it had reached their respective homes, their Lord-
ships had, in their wisdom, negatived the chief pro-
vision of the measure, and rejected the prayers of
their petitioners. It depends upon the is•tie of the
next forty-eight hours, whether such a conjunction
of events may not he oftener recalled in the future
history of England than the friends of temperate
change and of enlightened freedom would anticipate
or desire. We shall not attempt to estimate the
tr. ngth of thre=e patriotic feelings which could bring
such masses of people from such distance. We
shall riot advert to the speeches by which their en-
husiasm was kindled, or the firmress with which
their opinions were expressed and their purposes
formed. The topic might lead us to ri Elections
wt ich we would rather avoid expreesine, and which
Ain suggest themselves to the minds of the reader
without our assistance. We only have to beseech
these persons who are either so infatuated as to be-
lieve in the alleged " re action" against Reform, or
so foolhardy as to insult the almost universal con-
iction of its necessity, to peruse with attention, the
account of the Birmingham Meeting. In the lan-
guage of the Chinese mandarins, we say again,—
' Read, read, intensely, and learn tru
The division on Lord Lyndhurst's motion has
produced in every quarter to which the account has
yet penetrated, astonishment and indignation. Our
readers will see that the friends of Reform were in a
moment at their post, toe? :genres are every where
in progress to meet the derneede of the crisis. For
Ministers only one course was open. They sus-
pended all further proceedings with a Bill of which
they were no longer suffered to have the direction,
till it should be determined whether they or their
opponents were to prevail. Before the
_division,
Earl Grey intimated pretty plainly what were the
difficulties, and what were the chances of his over-
coming them. " He did (he said) expect that this
House would not oppose on insurmountable barrier
ro the accomplishment of a measure which was ab-
solutely necessary to afford satisfaction to the coun-
try; but no such thing appeared. But he must
sty, from the symptoms he had observed in the de-
hate of this night, there seemed to be an intention
to put difficulties in the way of a stiecesful passing
oft he Bill, which he was afraid it was not in hi 4
power to -surmount." The tone and manner of his
Lordship, we understand, gave peculiar force to his
expressions, and left no doubt as to his mean-
ing. The truth must be told. His Lordship
has never yet had the power to create Peers.
Whether he was justified in leaving so impor-
rant a point unsettled until now, we shall not at pre.
-cut discuss. However, the division of Monday
night placed his Lordship in a position, in which
he could no longer act without a creation of Peers.
Yesterday forenoon a Cabinet Council was held,
hich did not break up till near three o'clock, when
Earl Grey and the Lord Chancellor set off for
Windsor. They returned at half-past ten o'clock,
when another Cabinet Council was held. With
the tesult of the journey to Windsor and the de•
cision of the Cabinet we are unacquainted. That
the object of Lord Grey and the Lord Chancellor's
journey was to ask from his Majesty the power to
create Peers in sufficient progress to conduct the Bill
safely through the House, is certain. It was, how-
ever, we are sorry to say, understood in the highest
quarters, that there was but little chance of the
King's not refusing to create Peers. The two di-
visions of the Opposition, the out-and-outers, the
weaverers and the renegade Bishops, were aware of
the King's determination ; for we trust few of our
readers are simple enough to believe that the won-
derful junction of the different divisions of the Op-
position was accidental. They were aware that
the King would not enable Earl Grey to baffle op-
position; and on that knowledge they determined
to place him in the dilemma of either resigning, or
i
allowing them so to mutilate the Bid as to render it n-
efficient, by which means he would lose the support of
the people, and might, at any time, lie crushed %vial
ease. How is it that the King gives his confidence
to Earl Grey, who entered on office with an under-
standing that he should propose Reform—that his
Majesty sanctioned the Ministerial plan of Reform;
and yet, after allowing his Lordship to proceed with
the measure for a year and a half, to the great injury
of trade and industry, which always suffers in periods
of fear and apprehension, now determines that all
that has been done shall go for nothing ? The
nation is too deeply interested in this question to
allow us to hesitate communicating all that we know
on the subject. It does not follow that because in
th's country, women do not appear publicly to
meddle with State affairs, that they are with-
out influence. The Queen and the Princesses have,
in fact, never ceased tormenting his Majesty with all
manner of sinister reports and forebodings as to the
evil which will result from Reform. It is proper
hat the nation should know, without disguise or
reserve, that the Queen has done more injury to the
cause of Refortn than any person living. Sur-
rounded as she always has been by the enemies of
Reform, and selected as her Majesty has been
by the Tories at their entertainmets for the
especial object of their worship, the people have
been led to suspect that the Queen was not
hearty in the cause of Reform ; but they could not
know the extent of the mischief which they owe to her
Majesty's interference. Politicians often perplex
themselves with endeavours to discover the causes
of the resolutions by which the interests of nations
are deeply affected. It is well for the credit of po-
litic', that the real causes are often a secret. It may
easily be supposed that the opposition of the Queen
• and Princesses to Reform does not proceed from
, .any careful examination of the grounds pro and eon
with reference to the interests of the country. Her
, Majesty, as a foreigner, whose life till within a few
, years was passed out of this country, can be sup-
posed to know little of English affairs or English
'utereste. But her Majesty knows something of
Drawing-rooms ; and it hiss been supposed that he)
hatred to Reform is in a great measure owing to he,

')elief that it keeps the great families from coming
o Court. The Drawing-rooms are not what they
ised to be, and this, no doubt, may lead her Ma-
esty to think that she is bound to use her influence
against Reform. Ladies appear often very wayward
n their resolves. n the Scorch Church it is ne-
ce sary, on the presentation of a clergyman to a fly-
ir, by the patron, that the inhabitants of the pa-
rish should not oppose the settlement; and a few
years ago there was a strong opposition to a clergy-
man, which was traced toa butcher, who wasgoverned
by his wife. When the wife was urged to state
ler objection, she at last naively answered, that
Mr. M. was red-haired, and no red-haired man should
ever with her will be Minister of the parish. The
Whig Ministry cannot fill her Majesty's Drawing-
room, and what is the interest of the nation com-
pared to a brilliant Ilrawing--room ? The ling has
hitherto been the most popu'ar Monarch of the
Ilsnoverian dynasty. But let not his Majesty sun-
pose that € Gets are without their causes. His
Majesty is indebted for his unbounded popularity
to the general belief, that he has the interests of the
nation deeply at heart., If his Majesty wishes to
retain that popularity, let him not teach the people
the lesson that they will not soon forget, that he is
indifferent with regard to their welfare; that instead
of being the Patriot King they helieved him to be,
he is ready to abandon a measure of vital import-
ance to the best interests of the nation, at the bid-
ding of a faction, and yielding to domestic solicita-
tion and entreaty. The English are not a trifling
people, to be caught by the trappings of royalty, I
and his Majesty can only hope to enjoy their esteem
by the means by which he obtaicied their favour.
His Nlajevy is justly proud of his popularity ; but
his popularity will depart with the Reform Bill.
These are not times in which crowned heads can afford
to sport with the affections of their subjects. The
Tories have now abandoned their old tactics. When
the Duke of wellington, who was anxious to en-
franchise a few of the great towns, sounded the
the great beroughmongers, oy determined to op- I
pose all Reform whatever. They are as much op-
posed to Reform as ever; but they now say, we are
ready to brim in a measure of Reform, in substance
the same as that in the present Bill, the mad Whigs
having, as they allege, brought them to this dilemma.
Unfortunately, they say, the country cannot now
be governed without Reform. We trust the people
will not he guilty of the unspeakable folly of look-
ing to Reform from those who are the enemies of
ltefotm. Those professions are necessary to the
game of delusion they are playing. Once firmly
seated, who is to be the guarantee that they will
perform their promises to the people? The Whigs
have proved themselves honest Reformers. The
Whigs, for their own sake, must work for Reform;
they are bound up with it. By Reform alone can
they hope to make head against their opponents.—
But what is to hinder the Tories once in possession
of office, with all the resources of the country at
their command, to withdraw from their professions,
and endeavour to carry into execution their threats
of coercion ? We do-not think they would be suc-
cessful; but we know that the country would bleed
at every pore from the course which would he pursued.
Tee people will find it much more easy to resist the
Tories now than after they are firmly seated in office.
The house of Commons, too, we trust, will also
show at once that they will not lend themselves to
the trick of a Tory Reform Bill. A Tory R-form
Bill ! A Bill to improve the police by the thieves.
It would have been astonishing if the Bishops had
riot been at their old tricks on this occasion. Four
Bishops remained honest—London, St. David's,
Cheerer, and Chichester. The Bishop of Norwich,
was kept away by the infirmities of age. But for
the Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of
Llandaff, Worcester, and Lincoln, there can be no
justification. How the conduct of these tricksters
must lower the character of the hierarchy in the
opinion of the country !—The Archbishop of York
too, of all men, after his pretended zeal for Reform.
—Morning Chronicle.
There cannot, we think, be a shadow of doubt
that the waverers and out-and-cut Anti-Reformers
had deliberately planned the movement of Monday
night, and calculated its consequences. Lard Lynd-
hurst did not disguise his hostility to the Bill, and
it was obvious, from the whole tenour of his speech, '
that he wished to get rid of the disfranchising
clauses. Does Lord Wharticliffe think the country
will be the dupes of his declaration, that
" The proposition was to postpone the first clause till
after the third clause was read, which would not defeat
the principle of the Bill. It was not intended to defeat
the principle of the Bill ; and he did not, and would not,
concur in any proposition to mutilate or defeat the Bill. In
his opinion the Opposition went to snake the Bill safe. It
was sufficient to the purposes of Refirm that enfranchise-
nt
nt should precede disfranchisement. If the amendment
succeed,d, he would vote for the whole of schedule A, and
would not give his consent to any amendment which
wriuhl reduce the amount of disfranchisement."
They must be greenhorns, indeed, who take his
Lordship at his word. It was well observed by
Lord Clifford, in answer to the Noble Baron, that
" If he melut to say C.at the present Government
ought to follow the example of the Government of 1806
and 1807, and throw up office, then he could understand
the propriety of his remark.. In such a course there
would be reason. Rut if the Noble Baron meant to Bay,
that the Government could submit to the proposition of
the Noble and Learned Lord, he could see no reason in the
assertion, unless, indeed, it could be maintained that tire
Government ought to take their measures from their
opponents."
Burke has, in his first and best political treatise,
Thoughts on the present Di4contents, laid down with
great clearness and felicity the rules by which public
men ought to be governed in carrying their measures :
" For my part (he observes) I find it impossible to con-
ceive that any oni. believes in his own polities, or tl.inks
them to he of any weight, who refuses to adopt the means
of having them reduced to practice. It is the business of
the speculative philosopher to mark the proper ends of Go-
vernment. It is the business of the politician, who is the
philosopher in action, to find out the proper means towards
those end., and to employ them with effect. Therefore,
every honnurable connexion will avow it is their first pur-
. pose to pursue every just method to put the men who hold
their opinions into such a condition as may enable them to
carry their common plans into execution with all the
power and authority of the State."
He afterwards adds—

" Men thinking freely, will, in particular instances,
think differently. But still, as the greater part of the
measures which arise in the e-our,e of public business, are
related to, or dependent on, some great leading general
principles of Government, a man must be peculiarly unfor-
tunate in the choice of his political company, if he does
not agree with them at least nine times in ten. • * • When
the question is in its nature doubtful, or not very mate-
rial, tl e modesty which becomes an individual, tvill fre-
quently bring on an acquiescence in the general arrange-
ment. And this is all that ever was required for a cha-
racter of the greatest uniformity and steadiness in con-
nexion. How men can proceed without any connexion at
all, is to me incomprehensible."
It was not enough for Lord Wharncliffe and the
waverers to say, it appears to us that the enfranchi-
sing clauses ought to preceede the disfranchising
clauses. Do they wish Reform or do they not ?
If they wish Reform, they must wish the means,
and the means are necessarily the committing the
management to those who are responsible for the
issue. It is not enough for Lord Wharncliffe to
.ay he is ready to concede Reform—his actions be-
lie his words, if he place his individual judgment in
opposition to that of those who have the responsi-
bility in what relates extlusively to what is of their
acknowledged competence. * * The
connexion and submission which Burke de-
,cribes are essential to the success of any measure.
The conduct of the waverers, therefore, is that of
men anxious to destroy the Bill. by rendering it
impossible to carry it through according to any de-
fined principle. Never was such a monstrous pro-
position hearl t,f, as that Ministers should remain in
office and suffer others to dictate the mode in which
their measures shall be conducted. Lord Lyndhurst
ought to be Minister if he can take from them their
measures and remodel them in such a mariner as to
make that which is secondary princ.pal,andthat which
-is principal secondary. We have dwelt on this more
particularly, because we know tiatanuimbereorsf
those who have joined the league againsti Ministers

11 endeavour to make it appear that they did not
,vish to toMpel Ministers to resign—that they
:nerely choose to exercise their independent opinion
lc to the order in which the different parts of the
Bill ought to stand in relation to each other. This
is a gross arid scandalous pretence. They knew that
they were striking at the only principle on which
public business can be carried on. They thirst not
say they wished to defeat Reform ; but knowing that
Ministers could not create Peers, they chose to
place Ministers in a situation which would force
them to proceed TM further with the The
doctrines of Lord Lyndhurst and the Duke of Wt el-
Eng.on are unconstitutional in the extreme, and we
must consider all those who supported the motion
as abetting them in their views. Burke well ob-
serves, that " the House of Commons was supposed
originally to be no part (!f' the standing Government
o/ the country. It was considered as a control
issuing immediately from the people, and speedily
to be resolved irro the mass from whence it camv."
The whole of the arguments of the Duke of Wel-
ling,.on and Lord Lyndhurst go to show, that the
Howse of Commons ought not to be it control of
the Government, but to be the Goverment ; and
that the House of Lords can only exist as proprie-
tors of the House of Clmmons. This horrid doc-

trine makes England a country of slaves.. To talk
of a constitution after this is a mockery.— Morning
Chronicle.

We hare received a letter from Alderman Hughes
Hughes, relative to our remarks on his Bill for al-
lowing the sentence of death to be recorded at the
O'd Bailey. The Hon. Gentleman disclaims all in-
tention of interfering with the King's prerogative,
and says, " It is well known that generally three,
but always two of the Judges of the land are ap-
pointed to assist in each gaol delivery of the gaol of
Newgate, and that those learned personages try the
capital offenders, and not the Recorder, who, as re-
spects such offenders, is the mere mouth-piece of the
Judges in passing at the close of the session the
sentences they may have awarded. Sorely, then,
what our Judges are authorized to do each circuit,
at every assize town in the kingdom, two or three
of these learned individuals, sitting together, might
safely be intrusted to perform at the Old Bailey
Sessions." In this passage there is more than
one error into which a legislator and a magis-
trate of London ought nut to have fallen. It
is true that two, and sometimes three of the King's
Judges assist in each gaol delivery at the Old Bailey,
but it is quite incorrect to say that the Corporation
Judge, alias the Recorder, does not try capital
effences. The unfortunate man Macdonough, now
lying under sentence of death, and to whose case
we particularly adverted in the very article which
drew forth this letter from Mr. Hughes Hughes,
was tried by the Recorder, and not by one of the
King's Judges. The remarks which were reported
to have fallen from the Recorder at the close of
that case induced us to say that we felt our objec-
tion strengthened to a change in the law, w hich would
give that learned personage more power than he al-
ready possessed in deciding upon the fate of crimi-
nals. Mr. Hughes is also incorrect in stating that " the
Recorder is the mere wouth-piece of the Judges, in
passing at the close of the Session, the sentences
they may have awarded." He does not pronounce
at the end of the Sessions the sentences which
the King's Judges award. He pronounces
the sentences which the laws award to every
Jerson who has been convicted of a capital crime,
they being collected altogether in a promiscuous
assemblage, which contains offenders of all the
various degrees of guilt, from the child who, after
nightfall, has broken a pane in a pas'rycook's win-
claw, and put in his hand to extract hurglariously a
penny bun, to the veteran delinquent who has com-
mitted robbery with violence only short of murder
—for persons convicted of murder ate not reserved
to the end of the sessions, but must be hanged
within 48 hours, by a law, which, with a strange
inversion of the principle of justice, where the charge
is of the most atrocious nature, leaves less chance

than in any other case for innocence to escape the
fatal consequences of a precipitate judgment. Had
Robert Folkes been convicted of murder he would
have been now in his grave, and the blasting expo-
sure of the polluted and perjured evidence on which
he was convicted would have availed nothing to the
victim, his destitute widow, and fatherless children.
Mr. Hughes further says " that, if considered ne-
cessary, there could be no objection to the introduc-
tion of a proviso, in the Committee of the Lords
(the Bill having passed the Commons), confining to
the Judges of the land the power of determining the
cases wherein sentence of death should be recorded,
and those in which that awful sentence should be
passed." Now, Mr. Hughes must see that such a
proviso woulel not be necessary if he were correct in
stating that the Recorder is only the mouth-piece
in pronouncing the sentences awarded by the King's
judges. We ask the Hon. Gentleman whether he
would not he much more usefelly employed in carry-
ing a Bill through Parliament to abolish altogether
the punishment of death for offences which it is both
unjust and barbarous to confound with murder, than
in attempting to patch up the outward form of a sys-
tem which is reprobated by all men of Christain
principles and enlightened minds ? This, to use an
expressive scriptural figure, is the " washing of the
outside of the cup or platter while the inside is full
of all manner of uncleanness." Mr. Hughes says
the cases of doubt will still be reserved for the deci-
sion of the King in Council. We know not whether
he means cases of doubt upon the evidence, or cases
of doubt as to whether the capital punishment ought
to lie itacted for the particular offence, although the
evidence be quite conclusive of guilt. But, which-
ever it may be, we think it safer that the King in
Council should decide upon all the capital cases
than upon such only as the Reuorder and his coadju-
tors may choose to select.-1116rning Herald.
The position in which the Administration of
Earl Grey has placed itself by its conduct towards
the House of Lords is at once ridiculous and odious.
The House of Lords was induced to give a second
reading to a Bill for altering the constitution of the
House of Commons, of which Bill, as a whole, it
was certain and notorious the House of Lords did
not approve, by a distinct and reiterated pledge on '
the part of King's Ministers that in Committee the
majority of that assembly should decide upon the
provisions and details of the measure, with the un-
derstanding only that its essential principles should
not be violated. As a test of the sincerity of Mi-
nisters it was wisely determined by their opponents
to try them in the first instance in the Committee
upon some question not in the slightest degree
touching anything which had ever been advanced as
principle
the details of the measure, however minute or
inconsiderable, but relating merely to the form and
order in which the different clauses of the Bill
should be examined ; upon a question, too, in re-
spect to which reason and argument should be
wholly on the side of the opponents of Ministers;
and such a question having been raised, it was de-
cided by a large majority of the Committee against
he predetermined will of Earl Grey and his col-
leaeues. Then what is the course which these in-
solent and foolish men adopt ? They forthwith in
their little venomous vexation magnify the point of
form upon which they have been defeated into a
point of immense importance; they say that the Bill
is defeated and rejected; they assume that the House
of Lords, in refusing to submit to their unreasoning
dictation as to the order of its proceedings, has
compelled them to give up the Bill altogether, un-
less the revolutionary expedient be resorted to of a
large creation of Peers, for the purpose of enabling
them henceforth to dictate in that Assembly
without the trouble of reasoning. The truth
evident enough to the meanest capacity
that the question raised by Lord Lyndhurst
was of nor
stimp importancetiont
itioeyt hcehosleinitsotemrsake untilit
To
their
ganti presumption
party, indeed, it was of va=t im-
portance,
because it involved the question wbethet
Parliament should sanction the docrrine of the Poli-
tical Unions, that England, having hitherto had au
unconstitutional Parliament, is at this moment with.
out valid laws or binding obligation' of a y kind.

Ilia what is this to Ministers like the present, it
hey can but keep their places ? And they might
for some time longer have kept their places had
they acceded to Lord Lyndhur a's proposition, or
,pi;eily submitted to the sense of the majority aft, r
they had heedlessly provoked defeat. The plait:
te lilt of the whole matter is this, that Lord Grey I
is so intoxicated with mob applause, that he fancies '
himself a fit man for the Dictator of England; and
n forgetfulness alike of his ministerial duty, and
of his personal honour,—pledged, as he was,
to concede to the majority of the Committee
whenever an essential principle of the Bill
was not at stake—has set himself up as a dictator.
ltilki colleagues,
esdoießi omthsele of themess no doubt,
thatatnodeof lao
ctartirlyd have
irgit
had been devised which would have saved the
existing laws and existing obligations of the country.
His allies of the Political unions would have lost
much of their affection for the Bill, no doubt, on
the discovery that it had been made less 'evolu-
tionary in its character by this change in the made
of its enactment. But we doubt the capacity of the
poor superannuated Premier to look so deeply into
the matter. He, poor man, fancied himself the Dic-
tator of England, and when he was awakened from
his dream, somewhat too suddenly for his
nerves, he was vexed, and accordingly proceeded
to say and do a great many very foolish thing's
The revolutionists are clamouring for a ciaa.-
tion of Peers, for no earthly purpose that we can
conceive, except it be that Earl Grey may be
again lulled into his dream of dictatorship. But
have they made a calculation of the number of Peers
which would be re quired for the purpose ? They
talk of fifty or sixty. We venture to say that less
than one hundred would not be sufficient. And is
it to be supposed that the King of England will
pack the House of Lords by the sudden introduc-
tion of one hundred new Peers, in ord r that Lord
Grey may he dictator alike over the King and the
people ? We must see this before we can believe
it. And if it were done, however, the happy dream
of the Premier would riot be renewed. That is
gone for ever. The House of Commons, even the
present House of Commons, any House of Com-
mons which it is possible to get together in this
country, would revolt against the revolutionary pro-
ceediug. The Ministers who advised it, the men
who lent their names to pollute the Peerage for a
few days, would be impeached together, and the
whole band of conspirators against the Constitu-
tion of England would be consigned by an indig-
nant Legislature and a disgusted and offended
country to the ruin they would so well have de-
served.—llforning Post.
The fatal, but not unexpected, decision of the
House of Lords, on the Reform Bill, fell yesterday
like a thunderbolt upon the eager and highly-excited
minds of the people of this vast metropolis. Amaze-
ment and aeitation, and terror, at the insane conduct
of the Antall forme; s, were depicted on every
countenance. Many could scarcely believe that the
division had been rightly reported ; while others,
who had long ago given up all hopes of any return
to reason on the part of the Anti-Reformers, actually
doubted whether, in so brief a space of time, so
much mischief could have been done—such a blow
given to the hopes of all England—such an impru-
dent insult to the so frequently manifested wishes of
the people. Consternation and astonishment were
everywhere visible; business was forsaken in order
to discuss the crisis which the country had been
brought to ; and even the anti-Reformers
themselves, were seen to quail at the step
which they had so rashly and audaciously taken.
But though the Reformers were astounded, they
were not cast down—though their chief had been
beaten, they had not given themselves up to despair;
but with the sprit and vigour of men determined to
be free, lost no time in preparing for the adoption of
those further measures which the eventful crisis had
rendered necessary. Preparatory meetings were im-
mediately summoned in almost every parish in the
metropolis. In the City a requisition was presented
to the Lord Mayor, calling upon him to summon a
Common 1-lull immediately, in order that " we, and
the Livery in general, may take into consideration
the propriety of presenting an address to his Majesty,
praying him to create Peers sufficient for carrying the
Reform B II nemutilated ; and, further, to take into
consideration the propriety of instructing our
Members, and of praying the House of Com-
mons, not on any account to vole anti further
supplies whatever, arid for taking into consideration
such other matters as may be deemed necessary:"—
a requisition with wh ch he instantly complied, by
summoning one for Friday. A Common Council is
also summoned for Thursday—and on Friday there
will be a meeting of merchants and bankers.
Last night there was a preparatory meeting at the
Crown and Anchor, Strand, of the friends of Reform
in Westminster; and in the course of the day ar-
rangements were made in Marylebone, St. Pancr,s,
St. George, Chelsea, &c., for holding meeting; to
measures inhabitants
whupon i
tthe
asytat
be
proper to adopt in order to avert a revolution e
oe express pt rheesst he sense of
country,e n
and
Such have been the effects in the metropolis, in the
course of one day, of the fatal—the imprudent, and
the rash rejection, we might almost term it, of the Re-
form Bill by a majority of Peers. What they may be
in the country when the disastrous news has been made
known throughout it, it is impossible to tell, or to
imagine. Play Heaven that the people may receive
the news in a peaceful spirit—that none but legal
measures be adopted—that the public tranquillity be
not disturbed I We have our fears on the subject;
but we have also our hopes that the good sense of
our countrymen will point out to them that the pre-
sent crisis is one which calls for courage and firm-
ness only—that it is possible to triumph within the
limits of the law-.-and that the great risk of the
shipwreck of their hopes lies in the adoption of in
temperate conduct. With peace, union, and con-
cord for our banner—with firmness on the part of
Earl Grey, and the pair otism of the King, our cause
must and will triumph. Let the friends of Reform,
therefore, in the country, be guided by the example
of their brother Reformers here—let them re-as-
semble once more, and petition the King to grant
Peers; but on no account let any breach of the
peace be committed. It is treason to the sacred
cause in which we are engaged; and which, as yet,
requires not the aid of such advocacy.—Morning
Advertiscr.