The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TIII PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The course of the elections yesterday may,
upon the whole, afford a tolerable indication of
the manner in which they arc likely to run this
day. In noticing the dissolution of Parliament
on Tuesday last, we observed that " the repre-
sentatives will, for the most part, belong to the
class from which representatives have always
been taken," and the polling of yesterday seems
to bear us out. A great deal of alarm was ex-
pressed by some persons at the appearance of
several candidates, merely of the strength of
their professions of liberality. We never parti-
cipated in this alarm. We deemed this merely
an evidence of the prevalence of liberal principles,
and of the importance of individuals in their
own eyes. Whatever illusions may be entertained
by our countrymen, an excessive respect for men
not possessed of a tolerable share of property is
not one of them. We are perfectly easy, there-
forefore, on the score of the elections. They
will, upon the whole, be honourable to the Re-
form Bill. It may happen that a few men, who
in the last Parliament have proved themselves
good representatives, are excluded from the new ;
but, in most cases, we suspect it will turn out
that there has been some defect of management,
some excessive economy, to account for it. In
England, a man who wishes to serve the people
must lay his account with paying something for
the ambition. Under the Reform Bill, the ex-
pense has been greatly reduced, hut still there is
a considerable expense. The poorer deseription
of freeholders must be conveyed to the poll, and
it often happens, that the same man who would
not take a tolerably large bribe to give a vote of
which his conscience disapproves, will not put
himself to one shilling of expense to assist in
returning the man whom he conceives able to
render the most essential services to his country,
This is a feature in the character of the people,
and it ought to be taken into account by all
who are ambitious of being returned for coun-
ties. It is, indeed, absurd in any man to sup-
pose that the character of the people should at
once change in his case. He must submit to
this pecuniary sacrifice, or he will not be re-
turned. We have by means of the Reform Bill
got rid of a most formidable description of men-
dicants, the nominees of the oligarchy, who
were the great obstacle to economy on the part
Government. Property has not hitherto been
adequately protected. Some persons were afraid
that, in lieu of noble beggars, we should have
plebeian beggars. But property possesses a
strong instinct of self-preservation. The Reform
Bill makes the franchise co-extensive with pro-
perty ; and it is not likely that property will
commit a fib de se. Under the old state of
things, property was without defence. A corn-
paratively small number of individuals, having
a majority in the House of Commons, could
plunder with impunity ; and it was their inte-
rest to plunder, as what they drew from the
public far more than counterbalanced their
share of the loss. But all property can
never benefit by a system of plunder, which
impairs property ; and therefore there is no
fear of property in the aggregate return.
ing needy men, or men likely to feather their
own nests at the expense of the public. We
are certain that the representatives to the new
Parliament will, for the most part, be men who
will watch over the public money with vigilance.
A prodigal vote will be the sin that never will
be forgiven by the constituency. This is a sin
which it will be impossible to explain away. If
we can only enforce economy, and disperse the
host of aristocratic paupers, now pampered at
the public expense at home and abroad, all the
good will follow. We shall never despair of a
country like England, possessed of so many
valuable resources, with such an industrious po-
pulation to turn them to account. Let us add
to the number of the industrious, by diminish-
ing the number of paupers. Pauperism, whether
aristocratic or plebeian, is a great evil. The
latter is, to a certain extent, inevitable. But the
institutions of a nation are alone in fault when
aristocratical paupers are suffered to prey on the
property of the community. Though the great
majority of representatives will be honestly re-
turned, yet there is no doubt that bribery to a
greater extent than before will prevail in the
small boroughs. A number of rich men who
have not cultivated the good opinion of their
fellow-citizens, and who are, at the same time,
ambitious of a seat in Parliament, having fem.r
places of a venal character, must give higher
prices. But if the great majority of represen-
tatives be returned by sound constituencies,
those who buy the smaller boroughs cannot
speculate with a view to a return. In truth, we
have no doubt that in spite of the mode in
which they enter Parliament, some of these men,
having nothing to get from the public, will na-
turally enough wish to promote economy. We
are, therefore, upon the whole, optimists with
regard to the result of the elections.—Morning
Chronicle.

The working of the Bill has commenced.
The great machine of Reform is in practical
operation, not only in the metropolis, at the
head-quarters of intelligence and liberality, but
in many parts of the country, upon whose gene
ral interests it will operate for good or for evil
with an energy proportioned to its mighty evolu-
tions. It is impossible not to feel a deep anxiety
as to the result. We feel that anxiety, but we
feel it unmixed with any doubt of the people of
England. Flow could we doubt the people of
England, after what they have already done ?
how could we suspect that they would prove
unworthy of the great moral triumph which
they themselves were mainly instrumental in
achieving ? No, they will do their duty, as we
always said they would, and the result of this
the very first election in which their voices are
permitted to preponderate, will put their fidelity
to the cause of freedom and the Constitution
for ever beyond dispute. 'they will distinguish
between the different classes of Reformers—for
all are Reformers now—which ought to be sup-
ported, and which to be despised ; and those
who have the greatest confidence in their mode-
ration and good sense, will, if we are not greatly
mistaken, go the nearest to anticipate their
conduct. Of course, there will be some
mistakes, some instances of misjudgment, and
some of
unprincipled selection ; but the charac-
ter of the country is a guarantee for the main
issue of the different contests, that it will be
such as ought to emanate from the intelligence
and the virtue of such a community. We should
have said so much without any voucher than the
general knowledge we possess of the habits and
dispositions of Englishmen, but the result of
the first day's polling in the metropolitan districts
is now before us, and, without any regard to
the influence which it may have in promoting
the objects of one party in preference to another,
we may say that it has been, upon the whole, a
highly creditable manifestation of the popular will
equally free from truckling subserviency and from