The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Satisfied as•we are that the peaceful and constitu-
onal triumph of the Liberal party, and the safe pro-
press of wholesome and energetic reform under the
p uidance of a sincerely liberal Government which that
triumph guarantees and proclaims, afford the best and
only security for the permanent welfare, concord, and
prosperity of the country, we hail the intelligence
,which we are this day enabled to lay before our readers
of the results of some of the most important munici-
-pal elections under the new Act, as a theme for un- '
nixed congratulation, and an omen of future result's,
the most beneficial to the people of these kingdoms.
" Re-action," the favourite " flash phrase" of the
Tories, is about to visit the " Conservatives" with a
vengeance. We have recently heard enough of. two
or three of their triumphs in counties, and in Oldham
where the reformers were divided ; but we suspect this
week the Tories will have . their eyes opened to the
real state of public opinion. The elections of the new
Town Councils, in all the reports we have yet re-
ceived, have been triumphantly carried by the Li-
berals ; and we do not doubt that daily, with few
exceptions, we shall have to record the success of
the Reform party in all the important Parliamen-
tary Cities and Boroughs. Leicester is at length
delivered from the plague of an oligarchical and tyran-
nical Corporation, which long grossly misgoverned a
populous community ; a Corporation which perverted
the administration of justice, and some of the mem-
bers'of which habitually bribed and unconstitutionally
influenced the Parliamentary constituency. The Lei-
cester Town Hall is " clean swept" out. Not one
of the old Corporators remain to taint the new body.
Nine only of the old brood dared present themselves
as candidates before the electors ; though the Conser-
vatives contested every Councillorship in every Ward,
all were contumeliously rejected. Every device was
adopted to intimidate and " thumb" the electors, but in
vain. Our report will show that the self-denying old
Corporators : rescinded their ou n shameless pension
and plate votes, and repudiated the gifts which they
doubtless discovered they could not legally keep. But
all would not do ; the roost was cleared, and the Bo-
rough of Leicester will now be honestly and faithfully
governed by liberal Justices and a Reformed Town
Council. Nor can the Tories in this instance defame
the Reformers, when we see intelligent and opu-
lent bankers and 'manufacturers elected—such men
as Mr. Thomas Paget, Mr. Isaac Hodgson, Mr
Bankart, Mr. Brewin, Mr. Coltman, Mr. IVlellar,
Dr. Noble, Mr. Oldacres, Mr. Hudson, and Mr.
Whetstone, including other leading master manufac-
turers in the great local staple trade, employing a large
portion of the working population, and enjoying po-
pular respect—gentlemen long excluded from muni-
cipal power by the Tory usurpers, heretofore the
monopolizers of this notorious party Corporation. The
Tory Press has beer. recently extremely partial to quo-
tations from the Commons' Report on Bribery and
Intimidation at Elections. We recommend our con-

temporaries to refer to the evidence of Mr. James
Hudson (page 120), in which they will read a curious
account of the base influence of the Corporation,
which, at the last election, succeeded by brii)ery and
corruption in returning ‘fr. Serjeant Goulburn and
Mr. Gladstone, and which, by means of charities,
pub;icans licenses, and the iudieious distribution of
other well-known favours, was estimated to coerce or
seduce 600 votes. Farewell, therefore, Messrs. Goul-
burn and Thomas Gladstone, returned the last time
by a small majority against the real sense of the Lei-
c:.ster constituency. We will now test the integrity of
the veracious Town-clerk and his select witnesses,
who, before the Lords, on the Corporation Bill, ap-
peared to gainsay the Report of the Leicester Cor-
poration Conimissioners. First, Mr. Meredith swo'r:
that—

" lde thought the woraing of the system good, and ade-
quate fur the wants of the population. The Magistrates
were generally men in a.respeetable rank of life."
Secondly, the self-eulogising town-clerk, Mr.
_

Thomas Burbidge, modestly deposed, that
" The Aldermen are the respectable tradesmen of the
town, and persons of substance. The Common Council
are selected, early in life, from the respectable freemen.
They have practically been worthy, effective, and respec-
table officers a the town, acting as Magistrates with per-
fect impartiality to all. The system works well. The funds
are purely and honourably administered."
,tier was this self-eulogy without other vouchers.
On the conclusion
,of the inquiry, in 1833, by Mr.
Whitcombe and Mr. Cockburn, the Corporation " got
Bp" an Address from their subservient and party-
deceived idolators, as follows :
" We whose names are hereunto subscribed, inhabitants
of the town of Leicester, state, that we are perfectly satis-
fied that the Magistrates of this Borough administer justice
to all parties with impartiality, and discharge the duty they
are called upon to perform with intelligence and discrimi-
nation ; that they are at all times assiduous' to preserve
good order in the town ; and that, we can safely place con-
fidence in them."
Well has the Corporation Bill justified Ministers
and the Reformers. Only one Magistrate, and only
ten out of the seventy-two members of the old Corpo-
ration, dared to appear as candidates at the open
hustings I Thus self-condemned, and now exposed
to the contempt of the whole country, is this local
clique of Tories—unscrtpulous partisans in the borough
and county of Leicester, who prostituted the public
purse and their municipal authority to party corrup-
tion. Can we wonder that such short-sighted men,
who thus abused their trust, should now " in turn"
be rejected by their fellow-townsmen ? We will only
counsel the Reformers of Leicester—the new Town
Council—to complete the cleansing-out of this Au-
gean Stable of municipal corruption, by " compen-
sating" the Town-Clerk, and every officer of power,
of whom a riddance will be cheap at any price.
Leicester was a foul rookery of corruption ; and the
Liberals should not only destroy the
,eggs, but every
fragment of the nest. In Leicester, Coventry, Nor-
wich, Cambridge, and Liverpool, they will be
justified in raking out even the ashes- of the old
body. We say to the Liberals, in such instances
of corruption and party tyranny, mete out to the
Tories their own allowance—" reward her as she re-
warded you." The Leicester Correspondent of the '
Standard of Thursday last, when boasting of the
" walking over the course" of the
,Northern Division
of Leicestershire, by a brother of the Duke of Rutland •
(in a county where his Grace's influence is notoriously
paramount), supplied our contemporary with the fol-
lowing sanguine prediction as to the" result of the
coming election.
" The all-absorbing topic in Leicester is the election of
Town Councillors under the new law ; and in this local
struggle it is confidently stated that the Conservatives will
be quite as victorious as they were last week in the ad-
joining county of Northampton."
We hope the Standard will duly set off the result
of the Borough against the County ; and we shall be
curious to know what turn in favour of Conservatism,
what " re-action" our contemporary can deduce from
the Municipal contest? Will the success of the
" Whig-Radicals" be set down to the account of Mr.
O'Connell ? We think it ought, to keep up the bug-
a-boo. In the luxury of our triumph over the funeral
of the Leicester Tory Corporation, we have done
injustice to the political victories in Liverpool,
Coventry, Norwich, Cambridge, Leeds, Ports-
mouth, Windsor, High Wycombe, ' and other
towns. Liverpool is emancipated from Municipal
thraldom, and the Lords may now see, in • the
mirror of this election in the second Port of the
empire, a true reflection of the local character of the
depatred Corporators. The Cambridge Self-elect are
also all safely dismissed to the comforts of private life ;
not one exists to follow them to their municipal graves.
In Coventry, all the old servants, who gave such high
testimony in
_favour of themselves in the House of
Lords, are condemned by their discriminating and
public-spirited fellow-citizens. Will the Hereditary
Peers of the empire read a lesson, and take counsel in
time ? What a proof do we here see of the insane
opposition of the Lords to the.great legislative measure
of Municipal Reform ! They knew or apprehended
its consequences ; but did the Reformers know their
own power ? We confess that we hardly anticipated
such an extraordinary and iiicontestibie demonstration
of public opinion against the Tories. How striking
will be the supremacy -of the Reformers in all the
towns, when the new -Town Councils come into play.
Sir R. Peel was less blind than his insane followers ;
but as he glibly commented on Portsmouth as a
" Whig Corporation," we ask him to observe Mr.

E. Carter, notwithstanding, placed at the head
of the poll of that borough. Such instances mark
the political discrimination of the new Municipal
electors ; and we will venture to predict that Notting-
ham, Derby, and York, will in like manner display
their appreciation of men of liberal principles, thus
distinguishing between the old system and those Cor-
porators, who, though liberal, nevertheless belonged to
particular self-elect bodies. Lord Lyndhurst, with all
his cunning, has made a miserable bargain for the
Lords. Public report says that the subtle Baron ,as-
sured the Tory Peers that he had just sufficiently mu-
tilated the Bill to insure its rejection by the Com-
mons ; but the Commons were too prudent to " turn
up their noses" at the reduced measure. Will not these
tidings add another grievance to Ireland ? Can the
Lords refuse Municipal Reform, now enjoyed by
England,. Wales, and Scotland, to Ireland ? \Ve
warn them against the attempt. This country will not
allow the insult or injustice of perpetuating the close
and corrupt Irish Corporations ; and the Tories will
ere long regret that by abuse and attempted prejudice,
they have raised the power of Mr. O'Connell, for
whose country the new Town Councils of England
will seek Irish Corporation Reform.-11forning
Chronicle.

It is with great pain - that we submit to our readers
another letter from one of that most unfortunate and
ill-used class of persons, the simple-contract creditors,
principally tradesmen, or the widows or orphans of
tradesmen, who have claims—we blush to say still un-
satisfied, though acknowledged, claims—upon the
estate of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, de-
ceased. The distress and destitution which have been
eamed by the extraordinary postponement of the re-
paration due to these unhappy creditors with their fa-
milies, we understand to be wide-spread and almost in-
describable. There is no reason why the subject
should be taken up with any acrimony towards the de-
ceased Prince. His Royal Highness expressed by his
will a deep anxiety that " all his just debts should
be paid with all convenient speed after- his decease,"—
" and a sincere and confident hope that the produce
of his real and personal estate would supply a fund
amply . sufficient for that purpose." In this last
expectation it appears from the averments of the
petition which we this day publish, that his Royal
Highness was abundantly justified. On the 13th
of June, 182 G, seven or eight months before the
death of his Royal Highness, he received by letters
patent from George -IV. a lease for sixty years from
that date of certain mines in Nova Scotia, including
Cape Breton, which are altogether ascertained to be
of immense value, far above the amount of his debts,
and by the opinion of Sir Edward Sugden and other
counsel the title of the Duke to that estate is clear and
unquestionable. Why it is that with redundant assets
the just and lawful demands of such a number of cre-
ditors, many of them in• humble life, should have re-
mained to this late hour unliquidated, we are not fully
enabled to explain, even by a reference to the, details
set forth in the petition. Enough appears, however,
to show that the executors of his Royal Highness are
not the parties to whom the chief blame should be
affixed. The Government officers, in some depart-
ment or another, seem to have thrown untenable ob-
structions in the way of converting to the uses of the
will, the funds of which the mineral property in Nova
Scotia -ought to be productive, inasmuch as even
since the decided opinion of Sir Edward Sugden,
establishing on the hialiest authority- extant the title
of the executors to the estate, the Government has
not thought- fit to reconize that title. Perhaps, beset
as Lord Melbourne is with embarrassments affecting
himself and his partners more nearly, it might be too
much to solicit from him even five minutes notice on
behalf of a poor body of petitioners, whose sufferings
have not arisen from their own misconduct ; but we
would remind his Lordship, that as this is a question
on which the Treasury, by its agents, has already in-
terposed and effected a delay of justice, a little energy
and humanity might be riot at all unpopular, when
employed by him in redressing a grievous wrong.
The case, we repeat, is one of more than common
enmity. Here are possibly hundreds of poor fami-
lies, 'deprived of that on which alone the-y depended
for their bread—the fathers of some among them having
died broken-hearted—others being reduced to -bank-
ruptcy and beggarv--411 having drunk deep of wretch-
edness and despair—because great personages, who-
ever they may be,-do'nt choose to relax the rigours of
their uniCelina indolence, or to take the trouble of think-
ing about what happens within those homely walls,
whence no complaint of hunger or nakedness can
pierce the lofty chambers of Downing-street. It now
wants but very few days of nine years since the Duke
of York expired. Imagine, reader, the
.pingiition of
industrious tradesmen's families deprived doriog• such
a dreary period of their subsistence, and it may be for
years before. Conceive how merry must be the
Christmas of such forlorn creatures. It is a crying
shame ; and one respecting which Parliament must
busy itself, if indemnification for such injuries cannot
be obtained throtigh a less. .momentous agency. We
trust, however, that what has now been said will work
in the cause of justice,-charity, and honour, nay, of
compassion towards the memory of the deceased
Prince, whose reputation must suffer, albeit unde-
servedly, from this disgraceful non-fulfilment of his
conscientious and dying commands.—Times.

Mose in Egitto was brought out at . Naples in
1818. In this piece Rossini has attained an elevation of
style which is not to be found in any of his other produc-
tions. The cliorusses are profound and majestic. The
sublime prayer of the Hebrews, when preparing to cross
the Red Sea, was an after-thought. Notwithstanding the
transports with which the opera, in general, was received,
the attempt of the machinist to represent this scene, never
failed to excite the risibility of the audience. This conti-
nued during the first season. " The following season,"
says M. Stendhal, " this opera was resumed, with the same
enthusiatic admiration of the first act, and the same bursts
of laughter at the passage of the Red Sea. The following
day one of my friends called about noon on Rossini, who,
as usual, was lounging in bed, with a . dozen of his friends
about him ; when, to the great amusement of every body,
in rushed the poet Tottola (the author of the drama),
who, without noticing any one, exclaimed, " Maestro ! I
have saved the third act !" " Well, what have you done,
my good friend ?" replied Rossini, mimicking the half-bur-
lesque, half-pedantic manner of the poor son of the muses.
" Depend. upon it, they will laugh at us as usual." " But
I have made a prayer for the Hebrews, before the passage
of the Red Sea," said the poet, pulling a bundle of papers
out of his pocket, and giving them to Rossini, who im-
mediately began to decypher the scrawl. While he is
reading, the poet salutes the company all round, whisper-
ing every moment in the composer's ear, " IVlaetro, 1
did it in an hour." " What! in an hour !" exclaimed
Rossini. " Well, if it has taken you an hour to write
this prayer, I engage to make the music in a quarter of the
time ; here, give me, a pen and ink." At these words,
Rossini jumped out of bed, seated himself at table en
chemise, and in eight or ten minutes composed this most
sublime movement, without any piano; and without minding
the chatting of his friends. " There," said Rossini, "there
is your music—away about your business." The poet was
off like lightning, and Rossini jumped into bed, and joined
in the general laugh at his parting look of amazement.
The following evening I did not fail to repair in good time
to San Carlo. The first act was received with the same
transports as before ; but when they came to the famous
passage of the Red Sea, the audience showed the usual
disposition to risibility. This, however, was repressed the
moment Moses began the new and sublime air, " Dal tuo
stellato soglio." This is the prayer which all the people
repeat after Moses in chorus. Surprised at this novelty,
the pit was all attention. This beautiful chorus is in the
minor key ; Aaron takes it up, and the people continue it.
Last of all, Elcia addresses the'same vows to heaven, and
the people answer. At this moment they all throw them-
selves on their knees, and repeat the same prayer with en-
thusiasm ; the prodigy is wrought ; the sea opens to present
a passage to the people. The last part of the movement is
in the major key. It would be difficult to give an idea of
the thunder of applause which resounded from every part
of the theatre. The spectators leaned over the boxes to
applaud, exclaiming, " Bello ! hello ! 0 the hello !" Never
did I behold such an excitement, which was rendered still
more striking by its contrast with the previous merry mood
of the audience.—Hogarth's Musical History.
A few days ago J. Moulton, a wild-fowl shooter of
• Boston, went to Nocton-upon-Teed in order to pursue
his business of fowling. After being out during three suc-
cessive tides without being enabled to reach any harbour, he
was seen in his small gunning shout by a captain •of this
port, who immediately went to his assistance. He was,
however, only ablo. to mutter a few words, which could not
be understood, and died instantly. The long exposure to
the inclement weather was evidently the cause of his death.
—Lincoln Gazette.