The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The debate on the Second Reading of the Reform Bill is
again adjourned. It would appear that some expectations
were entertained by Ministers that the discussion might ter_-
mMate last night ; for Earl Grey;in a circular to time supporters
of the Bill, pressed a full attendance rn anticipation of a di_
vision. All sorts of reports are in circulation* On the subject of

the division. Some think that the motion of the Dukc' of Buck

ingharri will have the effect of depriving Ministers of several
votes. The general persuasion, however, is, that Ministers will
carry the second reading by a small majority.—Provided only
there be a majority, the smaller the better, as it will render it the
more necessary to secure the Bill against mutilation in its subse-
quent stages. The Duke of Buckingham, by strengthening the
minority,may thus unintentionallybe the means of promoting real
reform. The debete was last night preceded by a fierce personal at.
tack on the Duke of Richmond by Lord Falmouth, who not
only charged the Noble Duke wit` inconsistency, but seemed to
consider himself authorized to call his Griee to account for his
Parliamentary conduct. Lord Londonderry, always unwilling
to be outdone by any one in abusive language, fell fuilemsly
on the Marquess of Cleveland ; but, with his usual want of

judgment, for the attack only served to give the Marquess of
Cleveland an opportunity to pro/e, by the evidence of his
political opponents, his own disinterestedness and consis-
tency ; and by the evidence of Lord Londonderry's own
friends, that they had been ashamed of his rapacity. "He
had never asked (he said) for a place or pension, and
had never made an application which made a Minister
of the Crown write a memcifaiithan that this was too
bad.'" Lord Londonderry has, however, the advantage in
these altercations which a sweep has in a crowded thOstAighfare,
for it is impossible to improve on the character given by Lord
Liverpool. His Lordship may thus damage others without
suffering damage himself. The Duke of Wellington spoke
last night at considerable length, and fro small part of what he
said amounted to a severe condemnation of his own policy.
Mr. Huskisson warned him in February, 1830, as to the Conse-
quences of his conduct, in the case of the East Retford Dis-
franchisement Bill. In the valuable publication of Mr. Huskis-
son's speeches, by Mr. Wright, he has given, from that States-
man's MS. notes, the speech which hR delivered on that occa-
sion. Mr. Huskisson tells the Ministry that the transference
of the franchise from East Retford to Birmingham—
"ls the best course, not only with reference to general In-
terests, bat also the safest and most prudent for those who, like
me, w,sh to guatd against the growing danger of abstract and
general retbrin ;of those; short, who, like me, wish to take
every opportunity of erecting a good, and fortifying a strong,
defen,ive position against that formidabe aggression upon the
general constitution of the Clix eminent. If, by tfi, influe cc
of his Majesty's Government, I am driven from this position
which I now occupy—if the present proposition for a moderate
and teaFonable Reform be defeated by means of that influence, I
may, perhaps, from the same feeling be compelled to resort
to another ; but if I aro, it is one that I shall fall back upon
with reluctance, and only because always take the best po-
sition that can be resorted to against what appr.ars to me the
more general danger of an overwhelming and sweeping change
in the mode of sending representatives to this House. I say,
from the bottom of my heart, I wish that those who exercise a
preponderating influence in the Councils of his Majesty's Go-
varnment, and 14 ho are strangers to this House, had a more just
sense of what the Commons House of Parliament is or ought to
he at least, and of what the influence of }milk opinion is on
the practical working of our Co,stitution As much
as any man I rejoice in every successsive concession which has
been wrung from prejudice—concessions in fitvour of civil and
religious liberty—concessions in favour of intelligence—conces-
sions in favour of commerce—concessions in favour of general
improvement. But let riv, tell Gentlemen—let me solemnly
warn them, as they take a retrospect of the history of there
concessions, that the independence, and digi!ity, and efficiency
ry* a Legislature (1 say nothing now of the Executive Govern-
ment ) are at stake, in not appearing to yield till necessity and
the pressure of public feeling without renders resistance no lon-
iFfer possible, or at least safe."

Mr. Huskisson here expressly (from knowledge, of course)
points to the Duke as the cause of the insult offered to public
opinion in the case of East Retford ; and he tells him that, in
setting that opinion at defiance, he was destroying the character
of the Legislature, and rendering a large measure of Reform
necessary. The conduct of the Duke of Wellington, on the
opening of Parliament immediately before quitting office,
carried the contempt of public opinion so far beyond the limits
of prudence that it may safely be raid he thereby sealed the
doom of the Boroughmonger Parliament. With what face,
then, does his Grace now, after admitting the general desire
for Parliamentary Reform, lament that the Reform was not
gradual ? He, the grand enemy of gradual Reform—he, the
insolent Dictator; who treated the wishes of the people as un-
worthy of consideration, who eulogized the Parliament not only
in spite of its corruptions, but in consequence of its very cor-
ruptions, as beyond in excellence all that the wit of man could
invent, as beyond all improvement—he who insulted the
people with a recklessness which seemed to indicate an utter
inability to Understand the signs of the age we live in—now
turns round and blames the Government for not introducing
those gradual Reforms in the Constitution of Parliament,
which he himself had rendered no longer possible!

" There can be no doubt," said his-Grace, " that there is a
general desire for Retbrin in the country. Ido not deny it. It
is stated in all the addresses, and in all the petitions, that it is
fit that saint; Reform of parliament—some correction of existing
abuses in the election of Members—should be taken -into consi-
deration. Then I want to know if the facts I have stated be
true—and I believe that no man will deny the-m-,,vhether it is
not the duty of Parliament to take care that these amendtnents
are gradually and safely made?—(Cheers.') Ought we not to
reflect that danger attends every step, and that not one step
shot'ld be taken hastily ? It is not at all impossible that in pro-
cess of time %IT. !night even arrive at the measure now recom-
mended ; but it must be after a considerable lapse of years, and
after maturely considering es ery part of the road by which we
have advanced. If we mean to maintain the venerable. character
of the institutions of the country, we must avoid every thing
like precipitation."

Had his Grace showed the slightest disposition to free the
Constitution from the unsightly blots with which time had
covered it, the people would have been satisfied. Ile would
have proved that a gradual Reform was not d speculative dream,
but might be counted on as a reality. But the people, having
been excluded even from the hope of gradual Reform by the in-
sulting declaration of his Grace, embraced the resolution of at
once extorting the Reform which otherwise they could not
expect to obtain. His Grac-s put it out of the power of his
successors to satisfy the people with a gradual Reform if
they would. They would have deemed these successors
hollow and insincere Reformers, if they had when in power
attempted to satisfy them with so illusory a Reform, having
it in their power to propose and carry an efficient Reform.—
The people would hate said those Whigs mean to amuse us
with a bit and bit Reform, that they may have the benefit
of corruption themselves, and deliver it over unimpaired to
successors who will take care to bring gradual Reform
to a premature termination. The gist of his Grace's speech
is that representation is an evil—that Parliament should
be a body ready to register the edicts of the Ministers
for the time being, the Members being irresponsible to
the people, whom they nominally represent. It is possible
that his Grace may conduct a Government of this kind as
economically as any other Minister would, but it is not a
Constitutional Government. He had no idea that men can be
induced to do what is right from any other motive than force
or bribery. In answering, for instance, Earl Grey, with regard
to the influence of gentlemen of property in elections, he ob-
served, "In some cases indeed, where great Noblemen hold
large properties in and near boroughs, the effect will be to raise
their influence greatly beyond its present amount; but in
towns in general, demagogues, and riot gentlemen of property,
will have influence; gentlemen cannet afford the constant expen-
diture necessary to maintain their influence, and the demagogue
must heat the gentleman out of the field." What 1 and are
character and talents to go for nothing 1 Is their no influence
in a neighbourhood but what is obtained by direct or indirect
bribery ? The merit of the present Bill is, that it will put an
end to the system of maintaining influence by mere expenditure.
The franchise is now communicated to property in general, and
men will seek in their representatives not those who spend the
most, but those who will best discharge the trust committed
to them. The reasoning of his Grace as to increased expendi.
cure in a Reformed Parliament, because in France the expendi-
ture has been greater since than before the Revolution of July,
is a complete paralogism. France is not in an ordinary state—
her expenditure is the result of the troubles in Europe. He
might as well argue that America must be the most expensive
Government in the world because it is the most democratical.
We have not left our selves space to notice the speeches of Lords
Harrowhy and Wharncliffe, which will be read with attention.
—Morning Chronicle.

The Tory Reform Bill, of which the Duke of Buckingham has
given notice, like the Pluralities' Bill of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, is of importance in one point of view—it puts
upon record the admission of the necessity of Reform by the
party most interested in the conservation of abuses. The
Pluralities' Bill made that admission with regard to the abuses
the Church, but did not go the length of affording any db.
lent remedy ; nor does the Tory Reform Bill offer any efficient
remedy for the abuses in the representation of the people.

alas for Sir Robert Peel and the days of East Retford, when to
ropose that the forfeited franchise of a dilinquent borough
.hould be transferred to a great and populous town, like Bir.
ningham, was scouted by the precise and solemn Baronet as
,00 large and extravagant a boon to be conceded to Popular
opinion: Equally attached to rotten boroughs and sanguinary.
aws, he could not separate the excellence of a house of Coin-
inons from the venerable beauties of Gatton or Old Sarum, any
more than he could suppose the existence of public morality
without the frequent lessons of the public executioner. He
has lived to be sensible of the folly which he committed in the
one case, and may yet live to acknowledge that good govern.
meat is a greater preventive of crime than ferocious
laws. What would he give that the fatal triumph of Pos.
setlatv had never been gained—that the transfer of the forfeited
franchise of a single condemned borough to one great town had
not been intercepted—and that the people were not driven to
demand the whole of the rights of which the borough proprie-
tors had deprived them, through despair of obtaining by sup-
plication any, even the smallest part : The refusal of Sir Ro-
bert Peel and his obsequious and corrupt majorities to allow
East Retford to change places on the map of representation
with Birmingham or Manchester, or any other of the great
hives of English population and industry, has led to the Duke
of Buckingham's Bill to enfranchise all the great towns. But
this Bill, which would have been hailed by the country as a
liberal measure of concession before the Duke of Wellington`a
memorable declaration against all Reform, has now one great
fault—a fault which no ability can retrieve--a fault which
mars the greatest of enterprises. His Grace may remember,
that in the Latin Grammar, which he read when a boy, there
is the following line, Converting a fact into a proverb, "In
tempore veni good ontniunt reruns est prirnum." His Bill
would have been regarded as a very good Bill two years ago ;
but the chief recommendation is wanting—it has no! come in
time. It is like Grouchy marching upon the field of Waterloo
the day after the defeat of Napoleon. The catastrophe which it
might have prevented it cannot even mitigate. The doom of the
nomination boroughs has been pronounced. It may be delayed
for a time; it cannot be averted, To use language but too fa-
miliar to Sir Robert Peel, when Secretary for the Home Depart-
ment, there may be a stay of execution for a short time, but
there can be no reprieve. We consider, and have always con-
sidered, the demolition of the rotten or nomination bet :malls as

by far the most valuable part of the Ministerial Reform Lill. To
much of the detail of that Bill we object, and have stated our
objections; but we are willing to allow many objectionable re-
gulations to pass, for the sake of insuring the total excision of
those monstrous excrescences of the Constitutiwis the nomina-
tion boroughs. Now the Dukeof Buckingham's Bill is meant

to protect those things, the existence of which incompatible
with any plan of rational or effective reform. His Grace took
especial care to inform Lord Grey that his Bill kept clear of all
disfranchisemeht; therefore, he might have spared himself the

trouble of concocting a Bill at all. His Grace acts like a phy-
sician who, prescribing for a patient labouring under a compli-
cation of diseases, says he has carefully avoided any att,mpt to
eradicate the most dangerous distemper of the whole. Without
the disfranchisement of the rotten boroughs the country would
not now give a straw for a Reform Bill. The master evil must
be cured, or the State physician dismissed.—Morning Herald.

Before the adjourned debate on the Refigni Bill was resumed
last night, Lord Wynford took occasion, in presenting a peti-
tion from the Corporation of Arundel, to bring a charge of
favouritistn against his Majesty's Ministers, whom he accused
of having enclosed the town of Littleharnpton, in the borough
of Arundel, in order to make it a nomination borough, under
the influence of the Duke of Norfolk. The charge of inte-
rested motives comes well from that party who have been trad-
ing irt boroughs all their lives, and who now cry out against
Reform as d system of plunder and resolution. But how they
can hope to escape the imputation of interested motives them,
selves is not a little surprising. Their trade is attacked by the
Bill, and yet they talk as if it was an utter impossibility that
any motive could mix itself up 10 their minds with the public
groundi Ott which they think proper to rest their opposition,..
Of this we cad assure them, however, that one way of making
themselves suspected is by showing a suspicioa of others; and
that, if it be fair to accuse the reformers of wishing to create bo_
roughs for their own use, it may also be fair—and under the cir-
cumatatices it is but natural—to acettie theanti_reformers of wish_
ing to retain boroughs, of which they are already possessed, lor
the same conscientious purpose. After a couple of:boors had beer:
wasted in this episode of Lord Wynford's the debate on the Reform
Bill was resumed, and, after" a more animated discussion than
on the preceding night, was again adjourned—we hope for the
last thee: The Earl of Shrewsbury commenced the debate by
a spirited appeal to their Lordships, in the course of which he
told some home t±isths in very unequivocal language, His at-
tack on on the Bench of Bishops produced a strong sensation in
the House. It will probably produce as strong a sensation
elsewhere, though of a different character. His Lordship was,
no dotht, influenced by the best motives in what he said ; but
we cannot eulogize the, prudence of censuring the Bishops
so indiscriminately at any time, much less at the present crisis,
when, in consequence of late events and present suspicions,
they have so little popularity to spare. The next speech in

point of importance was that of Earl Mansfield, who
hazarded some extraordinary propositions, and the following
amongst others f—" His opinion:distinctly was, that there was
no necessity for a Itefrirrn in Parliament arising from any defect
in the state of the representation." No, no ;it is not because
seats are bought and sold, but because the people do not like and
will not endure it, that a stop must be put by some means or
other to what they consider a disgraceful, and have felt to be
ruinous practice. But perhaps the most important speech of the
night was that of the Earl of liarrowliy, from the tone of which we
think it is to be inferred that the Noble Earl, and those who
think with him, do not contemplate any compromise inconsis,
tent with the three great principles on which the Bill is founded,.
Perhaps some people may read his speech with a different
impression, Lint for our own parts we regard it as little short

of a pledge to maintain the principles of the Bill to an extent
which Lord Grey himself nee.i not shrink from recognising.

The speech of the Duke of Wellington was just what every
body expected. We have neither time nor space to give a
description of it here; but it is one of those effusions which

may be left to speak for itself. His attempt to make a sort of
religious question of reform, by representing the Dissenters as
its supporters, and the chUreh party as its opponents, was only
a proof how far men can impose on themselves. But Mrs

statement is too absurd to be argued. Upon the whole, though
the division is the great test by which alone the anxiety of the
nation can be set at rest, we have every reason to be satisfied
with the progress of the discussion, so far as it has gone, and
with the prospect of the final issue, so far as it can be inferred
from what is already known,—Morning Herald.

The spirit and quality of the discussions during the last two
days in the House of Lords, have not generally corresponded
with the recognized magnitude of the occasion, Lord Grey's
opening speech was bland and conciliatory almost to a fault:
had there been " a little more devil" in it, some of his audi-
ence might have treated the discourse and the speaker with
more appearance of decent ceremony. We rejoice, however,
to see,—lst, that Lord Grey will not give up one essential fea,-
ture of the Bill ; and .2d, that if driven (and is he not driven ?:
to extremities, he will employ the means at his disposal for
putting down all resistance. Indeed, if the Noble Lord still
hangs back, there are others who will not do so. Such men at
Lord Ellenborough and the Bishop of Durham do not seem to
have many scruples as to the adoption of such measures as may
be essential to their schemes of" good government," the per.
fection of which, according to the Noble Baron, would be the
maintenance of the close boroughs in their palmy state, for
the advantage of those swarms of young noblemen—those
great unfledged—who were so infinitely serviceable, and at
such moderate cost to the country ; while the Learned
I'relate, the Land of the 19th century, would consecrate to all
ages the "prescriptive rights and privileges"...in other words,
the greyheaded wrongs and abuses—which it is the purpose of

the Reform Bill to abolish, and which, if continued at all, must
be upheld by force, against the determined and unanimous re-
solution of the whole people of England. Men capable of mcdi-
tating the conservation of such grievances, must have prepared
themselves for the task by the only means through which it
could be rendered practicable—viz. by a system of all pervad-
ing and truculent coercion: Lord Ellenborough's common
sense, discernment, and modesty, May be pretty truly measured
by a single sentence of his speech of Monday evening, wherein
he asserts, and with all the gravity which becomes a personage
of the Noble Baron's acknowledged wisdom, that at the
last election, When the old representatives were rejected,
the people did not select a single individual who had
shown that he was possessed of even ordinary ability."
Lord Ilarrowby's speech of last night will produce a
deep sensation throughout the country. His Lordship;
on the second reading of the former Bill, gave evidence
of a far greater capacity, and of more longsighted and discri.
urinating views, than any other statesman who arrayed himself
in opposition to Reform. Then, as now, he professed to dis-
like the Bill ; but he did not then as now he has done, full
justice to the ardour of the people for a redress of grievances.
What he did not feel it possible dispassionately to approve, he
did not then see that it was dangerous to withhold from the
nation ; and, upon imperfect information, Lord Harrowby acted
right. It is in strict accordance with such a train of reason.
ing that the Noble Earl, upon a closer view and a clearer know._
ledge of what is passing around him, has in this debate svhose
most memorable characteristic is his own powerful and impres,
sive speech) avowed his sense of the impossibility of stemming
a unanimous people's wishes, and challenged the whole poli.
tical world to produce a Statesman who would now dare to
undertake the Government of this country on the principle of
" No Reform." This fair and manly announcement of Lord
Harrowby of the grounds on which he would support the second
reading will not be without a favourable influence on theminds
of other reflecting persons within the House of Lords, and be.
yond it. We may further infer, that as Lord Harrowby does
not exclude the known and settled desires of the great body of
his countrymen from amongst the elements wherefrom he calcu-
lates the expediency of his own decision, he will apply the same
Judgment to the consideration of the clauses as he has to the
principle of the Bill itself, and will forbear to mutilate its
enactments from the same motive which has induced him to
accept the principle,—namely, the dread of occasioning a con.
vulsion throughout the empire. The Duke of Wellington's
speech was remarkable for two allegations, each in its way as
gold as any the most daring action of his Grace's military
career. First, he was pleased to assure the people of England
that he knew they cared nothing at all about the Bill. `c•
,:ondly, he informed the Ministers and Parliament, that the
King—King William—took 510 interest in the subject of Re.
:orm I Lord Wharncliffe followed the same determined course
as Lord Harrowby. He adopted and enforced the Noble Earl's
,entiment, that the declared opinion of the English nation
eould not be safely disregarded, and adduced as an example of
die consequences which infallibly attend all obstinate con.
:ernpt for the peol k,—the pregnant instance of the war \viti,
ur American colonies. This mode of argument, as we befoi,
'Nerves!, operates no less pvwerft►Uy open the reception of 04

clauses in Comtaittee, than upon that of the principle on the
second reading, and leads us to hope that Lords Harrowby and
IVhaniclittl: will be equally alive to the wishes of the people of
England with regard to the details as to the preamble. The
debate was agaiu ad!ourned, but will probably be concluded
this evenirw. The principal debate was preceded by what is
alwas interesting, though irregular,--a discussion of a per-
:ix:dal nature between the Duke of Richmond, Lord Falmouth,
the Marquesses of Cleve-loud and Londonderry, on bottmgh in-
fluence, consistency of principle, and s4l Ant'. The " argu_
:nada ud heminets" were freel3- grit of course by the sevtal
parties. The presentation of a petition ty Lord An :Ilford re-
specting the proposed annotation of Littlehompton to Arun-
del, in the Reform MO, gave occasion to the skirmish, of which
we need say no utore, than that neither the Duke of Richmond,
nor the Marqtless of Cleveland, can have reason to regret that
they were provoked to defend themselves. The latter Noble
Lord mist have felt himself amply indemnified foe The assault
of his brother Marquess by the handsome and manly declara.
tiun of the Duke of Wellington.— Times.

The Reform Bill, so far as regards the second reading of it,
is =till in purgatory, and never was speculatioti more rife on
any subject than it has now become as to the majority by
which the second reading will be carried. By some it is said
that there will be a majority of five, by others, that there will
be a majority of nine, and some are even sanguine tritslgh to
predict that es-co so many as fifteen may be Ahliined. There
is ne betting against the second reading; and this is a favour_
able croptoni, so far as that it is the belief of every oue that
the Bill will be read a second time; but whether it be or be
not read a second time—whether a certain number of Peers
be or be not insane enough to reiect the united prayers of a
whole people, coupled as they are with the express wishes of
the King—we say, that whatever May be the result now,
no
rational being can possibly entertain the slightest &ill* df
what will to the result z_atinzately. Lord Grey hal
too kindly, we think—given the House of Peen an oppor-
tunity of regaining that favour with thepeople which it had so
meritoriously lost by its last olatioxions vote on the Bill but
let it play the same game o%er again, and what will be the re-
sult ? Are the Anti-Reform Peers so vain as to imagine that they
may trespass for ever on his good nature—that they may safely
dare him to use the power which has been placed in his hands
by a gracious and patriotic Sovereign, and a second time Insult
with impunity the feelings of millions who have hitherto main-
tained a dignified forbearance, as well as silence en their con-
duct ?If they do so—and really it would teat be surprising
were they to be so truly irrational as to think Wren greater follies
—the; are egregiously mistaken. Lord Grey may have acted
wrong, but it has been from thebest of motives, and if he fail in
realising the charitable hopes which have induced hiretto afford
"a place of repentance" to his unthinking Peett—the
public
may b ame, but it will still sympathise with him ; and instead of
petitioning the King to appoint another in his place to
take charge of the Reform pill, it will again willingly
bestow its confidence - upon him as an old and consist-
ent friend--a sincere taut erring wellswisher—and that
confidence will be repaid by the fulfilment of all its wishes—
by the carrying of the Bill—the overthrow of the Tories—and
the in:usion of so much fresh litood into the House of Peers,
as to afibrd just grounds of hope to the public, that it will not
turn an equally deaf ear to the prayers of the people as It has
done far years past, on all important occasions. As to the re-
turn of the Tories to power upon the defeat of the Bill in any
one of its various stages, the hope, if it be indulged by them, is
the most vain imaginable. What does the public know of the
Toi e; i It knows them as the Inveterate foes of Reform—the
stanch supporters of abuses of all kinds—as lavishers of the
public money, and oppressors of the public feelings and rights
on all public subjects ; and are these men from whom the pub-
lic will accept Reform ? arc these the worthies to whom the
public would give its confidence and support in preference to its
acknowledged and long tried friends 't Timet Datums et dons
ferentes.—.ldrertiser,

We should have deemed it unnecessary to advert for the
present to the Duke of Buckinghees proposed scheme of Re
form, imperfectly known as it is, had it not already been made
the subject of the attacks and ,sneers of the Radical Pfess,
which on this occasion manifests its usual disregard tbr can-
dour and fair reasoning. The Duke ef rittekinghalh intimated
that disfranchisement, enfranchisement, and an extension of
the right of voting, would form the three leading features of
his project ; therefore, say the radicals, it must tend as Mich
t) revolution as the Bill to which he and his patty are op-
posed, since these are also the leading features of the Mini-
sterial measure. Nothing could be more unfair or more
unsound than this argument. It is not because Lord Grey's
Bill enfranchises, disfranchises, and extends the suftlage,
that it is denouhced as revolutionary, but because it
does all this on the ruinous and destrettiVe prin.
e iple of giving a preponderating influence to mere num-
bers j and because, under the proposed system, the lowest
and most worthless class of the community would possess unli.
Inited power over the wealth, the rank, the talent, and the re=
epectability of the country. The Duke of Buckingham's Bill
would enfranchise many of the large towns, but it Would not
confer exclusively on the rabble of those towns the privilege
which ought to be shared by all glasses of their inhabitants. We
say that Earl Grey's Bill has this exclusivelydramatic character,
for if the three-and-tenpenny mob form a decided majority (as
they undoubtedly do) in all the large provincial towns, the gift
of the franchise to the respectable inhabitants is valueless, Mulls
no better than a mockery. The Duke of Buckingham's Bill
may be said
,to disfranchise also, but it will not tyran-
nically deprive unotfending electors of their rights. It
will extend the elective franchise, but not in the
mad spirit of democracy, nor will it while extending
the r gist in some places curtail it in others, If,
on the one hand, it gave a respectable and reasonably numerous
constituency to Bath, it will not, on the other, reduce the
electors of Preston from 9,000 to about as many hundreds. It
will be conservative of the rights of the higher orders, and
equally so of_ the rights of the lower. Notwithstanding the
sneers of the Radical Press, the Duke of Buckitigham's propo-
sition will be regarded with favour by- the people of England,
as far as they arc yet enabled to judge of it, because it promises
to be an honest one. It will not, under the pretence of re-
form' ng the representation, attempt to raise the Tory and de.
prec:ate the Whig influence; it will not, for party purposes,
create a nomination borough by apparently enlarging the right
of voting, as, for instance, in the flagrant Case of Arundel (see
Lori Wynford's expos of yesterday evening). Instead of
threatening a total and ftandatnental change, and. thereby
destroying confidence, causing a general stagnation of trade,
and bringing extensive distress upon the cetintry, it will be a
mo Jerate and reasonable measure, fulfilling the wishes of all, ex-
cep-Mg those who desire to see the overthrow of every existing
institution, and the ultimate ruin of the Monarchy. While
upon this subject we may direct attention to the remarkable
observation with which Earl Grey concluded his speech on
Monday evening. Ile said, "Ifit be decreed that this mea-
sure is to prove the forerunner of misfortune, I hope that I
Shall be its only victim ; that its consequences may not be
visited upon my Sovereign, my country, or your Lordships."
Now it is worthy of remark that the Noble Paymaster of the
To -ces also and the Attorney _General, each, in the last speeches
they made on the subject of the Reform Bill, expressed them-
se:ves in language which betokened that they were not without
22prehension of its consequences; and thus there is an ap.
praranee that these three at least of the Ministry are acting
under the consciousness of doing wrong, though no man can
be justified in giving his support to this most hazardous mea-
sure unless under the 'thorough conviction that he is acting
rightly.—Morning Past.