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

will redeem their solemn pledge by carrying the Reform
Bill without permitting any alteration which would lessen
it, efficiency. _ .

" 3d. Because this Committee is persuaded that even
'he enemies of the Bill are themselves fully aware that no-
thing less effective than the present Bill will satisfy the
British public, and that its rejection or mutilation would
endanger the tranquillity of the country, and increase the
demands of the people.

" Resolved—That as it may nevertheless be expedient
to call a public meeting during the progress of the Bill,
this Committee do meet on Wednesday next, the 9th inst.,
and thenceforward from day to day until the Reform Bill
be passed.
" By order of the Committee,
" JOHN SHUTTLEWORTH, Chairman.
" Committee Room, May 2, 1832."

Where public meetings have not taken place,
as in Manchester and Liverpool, the standing
Councils, it will be seen, are in readiness to act
at a moment's notice. The Reform Committee
of Manchester are persuaded that even the ene-
mies of the Bill are themselves fully aware that
nothing less effective than the present Bill will
satisfy the British public, and that its rejection
or mutilation would endanger the tranquillity of
the country, and increase the demands of the
people. We are assured, that if the proceedings
of the Lords were to create any doubt of the
safety of the Bill in all its present diciency,
there would then be a strong manifestation of the
• public dissatisfaction. With respect to the 101.
suffrage in particular, it is universally felt, that,
should it be in any way tampered with to conci-
liate the Anti-Reformers, or should the Anti-
Reformers succeed in raising the qualification, that
Ministers might almost as well have attempted
nothing. Nothing then will quiet the general
agitation but the passing the Bill unmutilated;
and in all quarters the belief prevails that the
unsettling of the 101. qualification alone will in-
evitably lead to a general demand for a much
more sweeping and extensive measure than that
which is now before Parliament. The Scotch
would seem to take it for granted, that
very little reliance is to be placed on the
wisdom of the House of Lords. At their
different meetings, the speakers, one and all,
take it for granted that the Peers require inces-
sant jogging from the people, and that the mo-
ment the spur is not applied to the Anti-Reform
Peer, he will relapse into his old freaks. In
Manchester and some other parts of England,
credit is given to the Peers for more discern-
ment. The utter folly, say the leaders of the
people in Manchester, of allowing the 10/. suf-
frage to be touched, is so obvious and palpable
in the country, that no one can imagine its suc-
cess in the least danger. Should it, however,
become endangered, demonstrations of a very
serious and effective nature may be immediately
expected. A great deal of absurd nonsense has
been broached respecting the 101. qualification,
both in Parliament and out of it. Nineteen-
twentieths of the Peers show, from their lan-
guage respecting this qualification, that they
know as little of England as they do of Central
Africa. We noticed the other day the state-
ment of a gentleman at the Paisley Meeting,
that, in a town of 60,0000 inhabitants, there
were only 1,000 votes of 101. and upwards;
that the raising the qualification to 151. would
reduce the votes to 400, and that to raise it to
201., would leave only 150 voters. We have
the respectable authority of Mr. Shuttleworth,
the Chairman of the Reform Committee in Man-
chester, for stating, that as far as regards that
town, the case in favour of the 101. house-
holders is irresistible. The class of 101. and
upwards scarcely includes an individual whom
any one would venture to say—taking them per•
sonally and singly—that they ought not to have
a vote. There are in Manchester very respecta-
ble people—as, for instance, clerks and confiden-
tial servants in warehouses and manufactories ;
shopkeepers in back streets ; mechanics of care-
ful and prudent character, who live within their
means. Mr. S. thinks it probable, that not a
single weaver will have a vote; and that the
operatives in many other trades will, to a man,
be likewise excluded. Very few spinners, and very
few working printers, will be entitled to vote.
Any person who gets his living in that town by
manual labour, and is rated at 101., may be set
down as a deserving and intelligent man, and
his being entitled to vote, if not an absolute
proof, is at least a strong presumption that he is
a man of good character. It is to be regretted
that the qualification is too high rather than too
low ; for numbers of most excellent and well-
informed individuals, of correct moral character,
and skilful in their callings, will be excluded.
If in Manchester, the second town in the island
with regard to wealth and population, the 101.
qualification is much too high, what must it be
in the smaller towns ? On Tuesday last, there
was a splendid meeting at Leith of the magistrates
and corporate bodies of that town, the magis-
trates and public bodies of Musselburgh,
the inhabitants of Portobello, Newhaven,
&c., held to testify their joy at the second
reading of the Reform Bill, and to express their
hope that it would pass into a law without
mutilation.

" About one o'clock (says the New North Briton)
when we entered Leith Links, a most animated and spirit-
stirring scene presented itself. A vast crowd of spectators
of both sexes in their holiday dresses, were thickly studded
over the common, and surrounded the lengthened lines of
the procession, which had been previously marshalled by a
military man. The music from the various bands filled
the air with sounds of gladness, while more than a hundred
gay banners, flags, and devices, fluttered over the ranks of
the Reformers assembled on this joyous occabion. . . .
_ _

. . . . Every circumstance was favourable for the
meeting. The day was one of bright sunshine, and there
was a fanning breeze, which served to display with fine
effect at least a hundred banners, which floated above the
ranks of the several public bodies, giving, in this respect,
a gorgeousness and brilliancy surpassing even those of the
metropolis on the preceding Tuesday The several public
bodies assembled on the Links in front of the High School
about noon, where they were joined by a most respectable
accession of several thousands from Portobello and Mus-
selburgh, beaded by Bailie Wilson, the chief magistrate of
the,latter place, who was seated in a car preceded by a band
of music ; and this unwonted procession and union of se-
parate communities—henceforward, if all goes well, to be
united into one large and respectable constituency—gave a
foretaste of future and cordial cooperation in the exercise
of their new-born political privib ges."
At Kirkaldy, pursuant to a requisition of the
Standing Reform Committee, a meeting took
place on Friday week. The place appointed was
the Town-hall, but the number pressing for ad-
mission was so great, that an adjournment to the
Tabernacle Meeting-house, 'calculated to contain
1,000 persons, became necessary, and even then,
many hundreds were obliged to return home
under feelings of disappointment. The intense
earnestness displayed by the speakers at these
meetings is highly gratifying.
" Without attempting," said Mr. Arthur Merchant
(Kirkaldy), " to magnify the anticipated benefits beyond
the amount which may be reasonably hoped to be realized,
I would be permitted to say, that the men of the people's
own choice will perform their duty as Legislators, under
the influence of a desire to promote the interest of their
constituents—that the death-blow will be given to every
varied form in which corruption has preyed on the
prosperity of the nation—that the system of restrictive
regulations, which has so powerfully impeded com-
merce, will be gradually abolished, and the channels
of a freee intercourse with foreign states thrown
open to a liberal and enterprising people.--(Great ap-
plause.) The other beneficial results of the final passing
of the Reform Bill it is also most cheering to coatem-