The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-29 00:00:00

, .
pared to the considerations of ability utid&citted eharaefer
these are not common times, a mighty spirit
mighty principle is at work ;—the representative principle'
is warring with did hefeditary.
" The Ultimate result of tlil ditiltoltrt iR certain : it is only
a questithi of tithe ; but in the. theantitile the men to be
sent must be then wlid hate ds decided Views rtg
and particularly about the hefeciitaik House of Loris ;
must be men whq will withhold StipplieS; Vest the national
funds in the bail& of 68thiniSsioners; be Prepared; if neces-
sary, to vote thu Lira useless, as was &MO h
Cromwell's time, and be men Oc'; illcing a comprehensive

tin! Of polities,
Ana conscious of what is l'Ofessary to be
done; hate tiefft;tUd htlity enollgii to adapt the Main, to
the &id; We have inipOftatiS thSies to perform in tile;
choice of foptesentaiii,e's theireelefi this is the only
actual and effectual way that We have, short grafi appeal to
arms (which every good man depreCates the thought u!),
of influenejng the government of the country/
It has been often of to those who adfocate a
change in the constitution of the House of Peers,
that they wish td get tici of
.that branch of the Legis-
lature altogether. This Is the charge which the
Tories are flow bringing against tit Iteformers—with
what truth we need not say. On this important

point Mr. BIGGS thus expresgeO himself:—
" Now, as to the idea that one House of Legislation
would do as well as two, and that the Hodge of Lords
might be dispensed with altogether—it has bced found
from experience that popular bodies have been too apt to
legislate from impulse, rather than from Led principles or
purposes, and that a popular orator, or a skilful rhetori-
cian, or a dexterous debater, lies often influenced decisions
at variance with their best interests, aild which they would
be glad to rescind in their cooler moments, or the next day.
We will suppose the people to be highly excited upon any
particular occasion, and that an election for the legislating
took place while they were thus excited s resolves might be
made and courses might be entered upon from which they
could not retreat with honour, and yet which they might
afterwards bitterly repent. I will give you an instance in
point.
" A very short time ado there was a sort of mania in the
country about Combinations and Trades' Unions, accom-
panied with the administration aliment oaths, &c. &c. ; the
scheme of course fell to the ground (as such schemes ever
must), being founded on no sound principles of political econo-
my. But suppose that an election had taken place while these
Trades' Unions, &c. were at their height, and that men had
been sent to the legislature who would have enacted laws
about the rates of wages, taxed machinery, and established
a multitude of vexatious regulations, the consequence would
have been either that such laws must have been repealed
the next year, or that capital and capitalists would have left
the country and gone to America, or anywhere else, where
they could have been protected.
" This, however, would be a small evil compared to
others which such popular bodies might commit, if they
were so immediately accountable to the people and so fre-
quently influenced by popular impulses ; one party might
gain the ascendancy in the elections one year, and declare
war ; another might gain the upper hand the next year and
conclude peace ; one Parliament might conclude treaties,
and the next dissolve them ; one might impose duties on
foreign manufactures, the other might rescind them ; and
extensive mischief and inconvenience might as rapidly follow
all these rapid changes.
In reply to all this it may be said, that if this single
House of Legislature made any bad laws which a year
or two's experience proved to be bad, they might be re-
scinded altogether ; so undoubtedly they might, but the
matter does not end here ; the chances are that thousands
of families might be ruined by such wholesale and hasty
legislation. W e will suppose that some law is passed one
year for the protection of a particular manufacture—invest-
ments take place, factories start up, workmen are en-
gaged, capital is invested, upon the faith of the perma-
nence of these laws ; in a year or two the public exclaim
against the monopoly—they can buy the article much
cheaper and better from abroad—the clamour increases—
the law is repealed, and thousands of families are ruined,
whose fortunes were embarked upon the faith of the per-
manence of laws passed by the legislature of the country.
This has occurred even in America, though they have a
Senate sitting as a house of revision ; and what would oc-
cur in, this way from hasty legislation in the absence of
sufficient data, and from the impulse of the moment, it
is hard indeed to say ; Government would be constantly
fluctuating and uncertain—irregular and unstable in all its
ways ; there would not be sufficient security for invest-
, ments, and the country would find that such fluctuating
and irregular legislation was one of the greatest evils it
could. be possibly annoyed with.
Mr. BIGGS is impressed with a just sense of the
necessity of the independence of constituencies under
the new order of things ; and very properly recom-
mends caution in the selection of Representatives, never
forgetting that the paramount consideration with Re-
formers must henceforth be to aecure the services of
men who have made up their minds to a reform of the
hereditaries.
" It is very clear that Members of Parliament must be
returned in future on purity principles, and at little or no
expense. The frequency of elections renders it utterly
impossible that men can be laying out fortunes at every
election to go to discharge important public, functions, and
spend their time, health, and treasure in midnight legisla-
tion and public care. At the same time, Ido not mean to
maintain that it is not their duty to spend anything ; they
of course owe as much at least to society as any other men,
and nothing can be more true, or more generally felt to be
true, than that a man's duties in the scale of society in=
crease in proportion to his means ; every heart owns it,
every understanding ratifies it. We appeal to the patrio-
tism of a poor man, and call upon him to sacrifice his
time, and sometimes to take risks as to employment, &c.,
ought not the rich man, on the same score, and by the same
parity of reasoning, to make as great relative sacrifices as the
poor one ?
" The man who goes through society and claims and re-
ceives the protection and happiness it affords, and who
renders it in return the minimum of equivalent that he
can, may chuckle at his address, and think himself clever,
but society will properly appreciate him ; he will live un-
blest, and die unpitied.
" The distinction of being a Member of the British Le-
gislature is the highest distinction it is in the power of the
British people to bestow. A Senator of America, or a
Member of the French Chambers, has not a tithe of the
importance or the influence in the affairs of the world that
a member of our House. of Commons has ; to have a scat
in such a Legislature is an object of high and honorable
ambition ; th man who really undervalues it must be com-
pounded of strange materials.
" There is no fear but that men will always be found
who will have a proper ambition for this distinction, and
be glad to represent an intelligent constituency ; our
course must not be to be precipitate in our choice, but to
make a judicious and proper selection ; always keeping in
mind that our representatives must be men of decided
political principles, and being influenced by no other object
in our choice but their integrity and capacity for` public

business.
" To do this we must maintain our independence as a
constituency : we must be prepared, if it should be quite
necessary, to pay all the expenses of an election ourselves.
We must not compromise ourselves by soliciting boons or
favours of country gentlemen ; we must be the choosers,
not they ; we must have a distinct understanding as to the
principles of our candidates, and invite, accept, or reject
them, as we think they will really and truly represent us or
not. We must above all things know their opinions as to the
House of Lords, and how they are prepared to vote upon
any measure that comes before them in reference to that
branch of the legislature.
" These, gentlemen,*are my opinions as to our present and
future course. If after perusal and consideration they agree
with your own, I shall be gratified with the coincidence,
and if together we should be able to assist in the reform
of the Peers' House of Parliament, and the regeneration
of our country, we shall feel the proud satisfaction of having
discharged a high public duty. We shall have the sympa-
thies and approbation of every friend of liberty throughout
the world, we shall contribute to the ultimate developement
of a great amount of human happiness, and die with the
satisfaction of having left our countrymen in the possession
of free institutions, than which, (short of the advantages
to be derived from the Christian religion), there are none
greater under the sun."
We have made larger quotations from this pam-
phlet than we are in the habit of doing generally ; but
such is the importance of the subject that we deem
no apology to our readers necessary. We think Mr.
BIGGS is entitled to the thanks of the Reformers for
the service he has done to the cause by this timely
publication, and we trust the example which he has
set, of drawing the attention of local communities to
the necessity of reforming the House of Lords, will be
followed by public-spirited men in other parts of the
country.
* Mr Biggs's pamphlet is published in the form of a letter
to the Leicester Association.

EARLY PROMISE REALISED IN AFTER LIFE.—
At Cambridge, in 1792, out of eighteen Under-Graduates
who were candidates, a selection of four was made to con-
tend for the Craven Scholarship. These were—Bothell,
now Bishop of Bangor ; Keate, late Head Master of Eton ;
Butler, present Head Master of Shrewsbury ; and the late
Samuel Coleridge, the Poet.