The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-18 00:00:00

SPTRIT OP TIM PUMA JOURNALS.

The House lle was last night con out on the
notion of Mr. Harvey for " an address to his
Nlajesty that he will be graciously pleased to
direct the Commissioners appointed to inquire
ilto the state and practice of the law, to exa-
nine into the course of proceedings before the
!ienchers and visitors of Lincoln's Inn, Inner
['emple, Middle Temple, and Gray's Inn, upon
-.he application of persons seeking to become
students thereof, or to be called to the Bar, and
to report the evidence thereon, with any special
circumstances, to this House." It is known that
great injustice to individuals has been committed
))T the refusal of the benchers to call qualified
)ersons to the Bar. Sir Francis Burdett men-
tioned the well-known case of John Horne
Tooke. There are cases of oppression subse-
quent to that of Mr. Tooke. And ever and
won the benchers have shown a disposition to
narrow as much as possible the terms of admis-
ston by illiberal rules and regulations. Mr. Cut-
lar Fergusson noticed the well known reso-
lution of Lincoln's Inn to exclude all per-
sons who had been connected with the Press.
The Bar are but too apt to think of them-
,elves rather than the public. Ministers
are, however, disposed to consent to an
inquiry, with a view to guard against an im-
proper use of the power now possessed by the
Inns of Court. Lord Althorp, greatly to his
honour, consented to the motion, which w.tv
mly got rid of by Sir Charles Wetherell's av,ii!-
ing himself of the thinness of the House. Sir
Charles Wetherell, as usual, defended one abuse
by another. " The Benchers (he said) were in
f.lle same situation as heads of Colleges, WI( m
it would be most improper to compel to recliv,!
students ; or Bishops, who ought not to be c m-
pelled to institute ; or the Colleges of Physic els
Ind Surgeons." . With respect to Colleges of
Physicians and Surgeons, if they had the am:
power which the Benchers have, they would be
a greater nuisance than they are. Fortunately
they cannot prevent patients employing whom
they choose to cure them. If there were the
same liberty to suitors to employ whom they
choose to plead their causes, the Benchers might
make what regulations they pleased. The
Judges and the Inns of Court sing the same
song. If the latter commit injustice, the former
Are but too ready to abet it. Etcts are better
than the declamation of the Barristers. We
have the fact that injustice has several times been
committed, and the Judges have countenanced
it.—Morning Chronicle.

Some recent measures of the German Diet
assembled at Frankfort were published in the
Times of yesterday, which also presented an ab-
stract of those melancholy and detestable pro-
ceedings. Every free Englishman—every man
of sense in Europe, aspiring to be free, will pro-
nounce the series of acts in question to be
amongst the most frightful attempts upon human
independence and social happiness, recorded in
the annals of Europe. In one word, the whale
transaction may be described as a " Holy Alli-
ance" of all despotic Governments throughout
the German territory, to crush the very first seeds
'of freedom in every individual State. Under
it, no such thing can henceforth exist as an
honest effort of enlightened citizens or subjects
to obtain any solid improvement of their insti-
tutions, however barbarous. Under it, no well-
disposed Prince or liberal Chamber, whether of
Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Hanover, Baden, or
Hesse Cassel, can dare to countenance, encou-
rage, or indulge, the slightest approach to poli-
tical reformation, or departure from despotic
principles, at the peril of provoking an attack
by Austrian and Prussian bayonots, for the
undisguised purpose of vindicating the inde-
feasible right of arbitrary Government over
the actions, enjoyments, and even thoughts,
of men. if disgust do not quite overpower
us, we obeli state a few of the points insisted on
by these persecutors of the German race. The
" Confederation" is assumed to be a legitimate
authority, exercising a sway, no less than abso-
lute, over the reciprocal conduct of Governments
and subjects throughout the whole event of
Germany. No franchise can be granted, no
freedom exercised, no offence forgiven, no
writing published within the limits of any given
State, save under the cogniz ince and by the
consent of the " Federation,"—that is, of an
assembly of humble slaves to the will of Austria
and Prussia. The arrangements for the re,traint
of the Press must be " uniform" throughout the
states of the Federation, or, in other words, Prince
Metternich prohibits any greater liberty of speech
or writing, from the shores of the Baltic to the
mountains of Switzerland, than is sufflred to
exist at Prague, or Berlin, or Vienna. The
" Chambers of the States," in those countries
where " Chambers" have been institute:l, are
denounced in conjunction with the " abuses of
tjie Press," as attacking " the rights of the
Confederation ;" and a distinct and unequivocal
threat is held out, that if the resolutions of the
Diet (dictated of course by Austrian and Prus-
sian Autocrats) be not implicitly adopted by the
internal Governments of the several States, or, in
the wild insolence of the official phraseology
" incur the risk of being disavowed by them,—
then their Majesties the Emperor of Austria
and King of Prussia, in their solicitude for
the destiny of the States united in the Confede-
ration, which they do not separate from the
care they bestow on their own," and in their
anxiety for the social system of Europe, &c.,
will employ all the means at their disposal—to
wit, Grenadiers, Cuirassiers, Hulans, Pandours,
and so forth, to enforce the resolutions of the
Diet, that is, the resolutions of Metternich and
Co., and to put down all attempts and institu-
tions in any manner at variance with them. Tnen,
we are edified by the assurance that, according
to a certain act of the Federation, ,‘all the
Powers of the State must remain united in the
head of the State !" Whence it loll° ,vs as a
necessary consequence, that no one act of inde-
pendent or sovereign power can take place in any
individual State of the Federation without a liabi-
lity to be overhauled, annulled, or punished, at
the discretion of an Austrian agent. The grant-
ing of taxes is no where to be -dependent on the
will of the (so called legislative) Assemblies—
that is, whatever Austria chooses to ordjin, in
the way of squeezing the subjects of the se.
veral States of Germany, must be exe-
cuted, without a murmur, on pain of
a visitation from the Croats. There is fur-
ther, by virtue of this arrocious edict, a com-
mittee of superintendence, or corps, combining
the two-fold attributes of vice-roys and spies, to
be appointed by the Prussic-Austrian Diet, for
" the purpose of making itself
ac-
quainted with the proceedings V. the Lstates
within the Confederated SiateS,,, to %yawl over
reso iuions,
and canvass all their proposals and
and report upon them to the Diet ! SO, even
in those States where freedom ut speech within
the Legislative Assemblies forms part of the
recognised constitution of the country, and

where the freedotre of the preys is the common
privilege of society, no Legislator will be allowed
to speak, and no journalist to report, that which
the Censors of the Diet may disapprove of.
Have we not made out our case, that this is the
most horrible atteicEt in the nature of a grave
proceeding ever kno‘,.vn, to crush the well-being
of any political community ? If the Germans.
submit, they are utterly- ruined, undone, and
disgraced for ever. If they,cower before this
f..,igant;c villany they will ryt.f. merely rouse
the indignation of the world', t.-btit its won-
der. They have hitherto borne,,,and justly,
the reputation ofa reflecting, high pri4clpled,vir-
thous, brave, and manly people. Too &eat for
tvanny, though suffering under it—eminently
fitted for the highest order of liberty, thoiagh by
a course of fatal accidents denied all access to.it
—never despised—in the depth of misfortune
and misery, nor in the midst of error, once for-
feiting the esteem and pity of mankind. Such a
people cannot fall prostrate before the obscene
idol of despotic power. They must and will
stand upright. It is the manifest purpose of the
Courts of Austria and Prussia to begin by put-
ting down all spirit of resistance among the
Germans taken in their separate and smaller
s ates, and next to swallow, and incorporate
them with their own vast monarchies. This
monstrous crime can be averted only by a sea-
sonable coalition of the minor Powers, for mu-
tual defence against the common peril—a scheme
of protection, in the success of which Great
Britain and France—nay, Prussia herself, and
Austria, are soistantially, and not less deeply.
interested than the people and Princes who are
called upon to execute that noble measure. The
means—the easy means—exist of consolidating
one great state out ofa heap of feeble ones ; and
of' converting the union into the most certain
instrument of preserving the peace of continental
Europe. We shall take an ialmediate oppor-
tunity of returning to the subject, as one of
paramount importance in the eyes of every Ger-
man of the last half century who has seen or felt
for the happiness of his native land. It must be
either a defensive league among the small states
of Germany, or ages of affliction and humilia-
tion to the civilized world. Meantime we beg
the attention of our readers to the opinion of
the famous Gentz, quoted by a correspondent.—
Times.

The protocol of the Germanic Confederation,
which appeared in our paper of yesterday, has
already had a powerful effect throughout Europe.
What effect it will have, or rather to what extent
the inevitable effect of such a document in alie-
nating the minds of the people from their Go-
vernments will operate within the German domi•
nines themselves, is a question for time to de-;
cide. But, in expressing any doubt as to the
failure of this hopeful experiment of Princes,
even with Austria and Prussia at their head, we
look not to remote, but to immediate conse-
quences ; for as sorely as the dawn leads to the
perfect day, so surely is the progress of free in-
stitutions, guaranteed by the laws of nature.
operatin2 on the constitution of the human
mind. The experiment which the German Con-
federation have announced to the world in tin
protocol to which we allude is not merely that
of stopping the progress' of improvement, but
of shoving back the actual condition of society
a foil century towards barbarism. This limb or
the Holy Alliance has entered not into a fresh
league. for they were always combined against
the liberties of mankind in general, and of their
own subjects in particular, but into a distinct
proclamation of views and objects which they
always entertained, but never avowed so in-
solently befbre. We regret to see the name
of England in such bad company once
more. If a beggarly German Principality.
now dubbed a kingdom, can only be re-
tained by such a prostitution of the British
name, it were much better to cut the connection
at once, than appear by our representative in the
livery of Austria and Prussia, sanctioning doc-
trines, not only at variance with our acknow-
ledged principles, but, thank God, equally at
valiance with the living and progressive history
of our own political condition. There is evi-
dmce in the very appearance of the protocol at
this time—and the evidence is still further con-
firmed by the military preparations which ac-
company it, that the spirit of the people is get-
ting too strong for quiet management in Ger-
many ; that it is only by drawing the sword, am
denouncing the rights of their subjects, the
Confederated Despots can hope to go on, even
for the present, in the old track of domination.
Some may consider it a proof of the strength of
those Governments that they dare to do such
things, but we believe it will be found there is
more of desperation than of security in the at- '
tempt, for no Government can be so blind as to
prefer open aggression to the more insidious,
and, when practicable, the more effective policy
of masked and plausible oppression, in which,
he it remembered, the leading members of the
Confederation have been hitherto skilful
adepts. It would appear, from the word-
ing of this protocol, that the members of the
Confederation anticipate something like a refusal
to pay taxes until certain privileges be granted
and certain promi'es redeemed, which they do
not think it advisable to grant while they have
the power of withholding them. Thtir great
object appears to be to assist each other in re-
sisting, or rather in punishing, any overt
act on the part of the representative as-
semblies to embarrass their Governments by the
refusal of supplies. For this purpose they de-
nounce freedom of debate, either in speaking or
in writing. They know that popular assemblies
and popular discussions of all kinds are their na-
tural enemies, so ;ong as they prefer governing b)
fear to governing by intelligence and conviction.
But the question is, can they, even as a tem-
porary expedient, carry the provisions of this
protocol into effect. The Germans are an en-
lightened people. Not so sensitive as the
French, nor so determined as the English in
favour of liberty, they have, nevertheless,
made considerable progress in the seie;(ce of Go.
vernineut. They are now told plainly that the in-
stitutions which they possess already shall no:
avail them in any contest with their Govern-
ments, for there is an overwhelming power at
hand to crush theni, in the name of the Con
federation. his is a fair warning of what the
must expect if they do not bend their necks to
the yoke. Perhaps they may do so quietly ; but
will they do it willingly ?—and is it by their re-
luctant, angry submission that these Governments
expect to strengthen their hands for farther ex-
peritnents against the social improvement of man ?
Let them beware now they push the experiment
to its result. The people of all countries havr
read a lesson from the late events in England, and
the people are every where more docile than the-it
Governments. It would not surprise us to fin(
that, as the German Confederation have resolve(
to shake off the example of England, aue
to try what the very opposite policy tray do .kr

the preservation of their system, such as it is, the
German people should resolve to adopt the ex-
:Ample of this country, and, by so doing, prove
themselves not only more enlightened than their
rulers, but more successful also.— illorn. Herald.

We are tempted again to say a few words on
the subject of pledges. We have inserted in
another column the Address of the National
Political Union on the subject. It is short,
and has the merit of recommending nothing to
which any honest candidate can well object.
Our attention has been called to a short pam-
phlet, on the subject of pledges, or rather
" Tests," published in 1831 by the late Mr.
Bentham, being a reprint from one of the chap-
ters (the seventh) of a work in three volumes,
entitled f Constitutional Code, for the use of
all Nations and all Governments professing liberal
opinions,' of which work one volume only has
yet been published. The chapter is headed
Legislators' Inaugural Declaration, and he
observes in a note that " of a formulary of this
sort, the chief use is to keep the Legislature and
other constituted .authorities in the more effec-
tual subjection to the constitutive : to wit, by
means of the power of the moral sanction, as
exercised by the public opinion Tribunal." He
adds, " the points here enumerated are in ge-
neral such, that in relation to them,—more espe-
cially in the case of persons in the situation in
question,—the force of the legal sanction can-
not, in the nature of the case, be brought to
bear, in such sort as to subject men to punish-
ment, under the name of punishment, for aberra-
tion in any direction from the assumed line of rec-
titude. But in the exercise given to its power,
the public opinion Tribunal neither is, nor
ought to be, nor can be, fettered by these forma-
lities, by which the exercise of the power of the
legal sanction ought everywhere to be, and to a
certain degree is everywhere restricted." Although
this pamphlet is termed " A Test proposed for
Parliamentary Candidates," it is but justice to
Mr. Bentham to state, that in the volume from
which it is taken, he lays down a doctrine which
would exclude electors from all power of direct-
ing Members, or rewarding or punishing them,
except in so far as re-election (re-location) may
be considered reward, ordischarge (dislocation).
"To the Constitutive authority," he says, chap.
iv. art. 2, " it belongs, amongst other things, to
depute and locate, as per chap. vi. Legislature,
the Members composing the Legislative ; and
eventually, as per chap. v., Constitutive, sec. 2,
3, to dislocate them ; but not to give direction,
either individual or specific, to these measures,
nor, therefore, to reward or punish them, except
in so far as relocation may operate as reward,
and dislocation as punishment ; or, in so far as
at the instance of the Constitutive, punishment
may come to be eventually applied to them by the
hands of succeeding Legislatures." The chief
difficulty with which the people of this country at
present have to contend is, that persons offering
themselves as candidates belong to a class which
has, generally speaking, little sympathy with the
People. English society has hitherto been di.
tided into castes, having little community, and
perhaps less sympathy with each other. It is
:.bserved in The Examiner of Sunday last,
" that while the office of a Member of Parlia-
ment is unpaid, and while even those who have
•omething cannot be content without making it
more, there will be a great reluctance among
men of abilities, to offer themselves for the peo-
ple's suffrages, unless they are already in what
are called independent, that is, in affluent cir-
cumstances. Now all such persons lie under a
prima facie suspicion of sympathising more
strongly with the Aristocracy than with the mass
of the people. It ought never to be believed,
without the most positive experience, of any Eng-
iish Gentleman, that the interests and feelings of
2entlemen do not count with him for more than
their just value, and the interests and feelings of
all the other members of the community for less.
There are different degrees of this caste spirit ;
but those who have least of it in reality, will not
he the most confident and eager in their disclai-
mer of it. As the feelings proper to a free Go-
vernment gain the strength which time and
habit alone can give, those wrongful partialities
will wear away. But, in the meantime, they are
to be presumed and guarded against, in
almost every case." The Examiner of Sunday
last returned to the subject of pledges ; and it
is but justice to the writer of the article to say,l
that he has ccntributed more to throw light on
the matter than any other public writer of the
day. Ile admits the difficulties to their fullest
extent in the way of obtaining men who will not
abuse the trust to be reposed in them ; but con-
tends that there it no remedy. " As long (he
observes) as the personal prepossessions of the
electors are in favour of the richest rather than
of the ablest and most honest candidate—anti
its long as nine-tenths of the candidates may be
suspected of being at least insincere, or at least
but cold Refortners, so long we must tolerate
or approve the chaining up of the representa-
tives by much tighter bonds than would be al-
lowable, if it were easier finding unexceptiona-
ble men, or if the people knew beau. how to
distinguish them. If, therefore, we could think
of any pledge to he tendered to a candidate, his
acceptance or refusal of which would decide
whether he is with us or against us—whether he
is for the movement or the resistance—whether
he voted for the Reform Bill as a prop to all
our remaining institutions, or as a means of
heating down such of them as are bad, and re-
pairing such as are decaying—we should not be
averse to see such a test propounded. But, un-
happily, there is no single question, no small num-
ber of questions, which places this point out of
4-loubt., The difficulty of tying down dishonest
candidates by pledges, was forcibly put by our
contemporary (the Times) who showed that in
the case of the Reform question, the difficulty
was only got over by tying down the candidates
to the Ministerial measure. In quoting our
Morning Contemporary, we fully admitted the
justice of his remarks. We do not mean at
t resent to enter into any controversy with the
Examiner on the principles on which a Repre-
sentative Government ought to be conducted.
We still think his analogy between a legislator
old physician bad ; but we will not pursue the
..übject. In fact, were the Press free. and Par-
liaments to be of short duration, the Represent-
atives and the Electors would seldom disagree.
The people might be ignorant, but still the
knowledge of the Representative that his future
ie-electitni depended on the conformity of hi:-
votes with the opinion of the people would have
as effect on him. In the United States, we ap-
Areliend, it will be found that, the opinion ex-
dressed in Congress by the Representative, is
always the opinion entertained at the time by the
wdy by which he is returned. One of the
&blest writers on the subject of Government, the
'ate Mr. Da.vson, in his book on Trusts, sees
no security for the people but the power to dis-

tutu the Deputy the moment he displease=
hem :

" The French Representative," (the volume was pub-
lished in 180), be says, "treating the people as eildren,
'ook to themselves the power of tutors over their persons
and property; and by sophistical reasoning prevailed upon
the people to acquiesce in that degraded and ruinous mea-
sure. Mr. Cherslin, in his letter on the French Revolu-
tion, says that after much Debate in the National Aesem-
bl y, it was determined ' that it is improper for Consti-
tuents to give instructions to their Representatives, or for
those to obey them ; that they ought to consider them
selves not as Representatives of particular departtnents.
but as Representatives of the whole society, and that
they are only to have in view the general welfare,
and not the particular interest of the department that
elected them.' Plausible as this reasoning is, it is falla-
cious in the extreme, resting upon two false supposition
One is, that the Representatives will certainly perform
their duty, however strongly they may be tempted to
swerve from it, which cannot in general be expected. Th.
other is, that constituents will certainly give partial in
structions against the general good, which never can be
the case with the majority of departments. For admitting
that several departments may, in some instant s, from
selfish or unreasonable prejudices, give instructions against
regulations formed for the general welfare, still if the
measure is for the advantage of the nati n, it must lie
for the advantage of the majority of departments,
and, therefore, the mlority will, under that idea,
give instructions for the measure and carry it.
Hence it is plain, that if the representatives are
under the full control of the people, no law can be enacted
that is supposed to be against the interest of the majority
of the society. But if the representatives are independent
of the society, with absolute legislative power, then the
persons and property of the people are at their disposal ;
and from the known selfishness of man, it ought to be ex-
pected that the interests of the people will be sacrificed to
the interests of the representatives. The evils which may
be occasioned by the people's mistaking their interest now
and then must be very trifling, when compared with the
evils which must be produced by the dominion of absolute
representatives, who are not only liable to err, but who are
tinder powerful temptations to abuse their trust
The superior knowledge of the agents in State affairs cannot
be seriously urged as a reason for giving them such dan-
gerous power. For, if tat reason were valid, the people
ought to have no control over the men whom they em
ploy to draw up deeds and settlements—to plan, or build,
or repair houses.— lie to contrive and execute machinery—
as the knowledge of these men, in their several professions,
is c inressedly much superior to that of their employers ;
yet it would appear truly ridiculous if the people were on
that account obliged to choose certain of those professional
men, who should have full power during a certain number
of years to execute the business of their employers when,
and how, and at what rate they might think proper."
This may he thought crude; but the author was
esteemed the first writer on Government by one
who is now the highest authority on the subject.
—/Itorning Chronicle.

The expiration of the Bank Charter being so
near at hand, a few queries to an envious and
disappointed race of would-be monopolists,
bankers, and others, who are eternally railing at
the Bank of England monopoly, may tend to
undeceive their credulous adherents.
1. Would the monetary system under the guidance and
controul of twelve or twenty companies, ch,rtered or un-
chartered, become less a monopoly than at present ?
2. Would those projected inst•tutions be grounded on
any other than pound, shillings, and pence considerations ;
private emolument the rule of their conduct; public
benefit the exception, unless where the latter should happen
signally to chime in with the former inducement?

3. Would they have better Recut ity to offer for the just
Ischarge of their os.ligations than the Bank of England ?
There is a benefit inseparable from the Bank
of Englan'l monopoly which can never apply
to these. It consists in its singleness. In the
hour of trial there are no counter-interests, which
must necessarily be the case with a number of
companies, privileged or not. Let a panic take
place, or a real danger ensue, amongst many
must be found many cowards who would instantly
cut and run ; and then the outcry would be
.‘ sauve qui peut." One recreant hank would
smash the whole, and the greater their number
the greater the danger, sad experience having
proved to us (in 1825-6) that it is one thing
to have assets and another to have available
assets in the hour of need. No concert among
traders of any description ever took place, or
could be depended upon, to incur together ad-
ditional risks of the loss of property, whilst
much of what was already at stake could sepa-
rately or instantaneously be withdrawn : much
less is it likely that at such a crisis the public
confidence could be then maintained. With no
better reliance than on that of a number of bank
companies, no man in his sober senses can have
a doubt that in 1825-6 a national bankruptcy,
both of the Government and of the commercial
world, must have been the consequencu.
Bankers' indorsements of houses, equal possibly
in security to the Bank itself, would not
pass current or obtain cash in the way of dis-
count unless at the Bank; whilst Bank of Eng-
land notes were received in exchange for checks
or in payment of bills with avidity to any amount;
thus demonstrably proving that even bona fide
security, when diffusive, will not inspire confi
dente equally with a tried monopoly like that of
the Bank of England—a happy monopoly, hav-
ing more than once unquestionably saved us
from a national bankruptcy. The daily and
hourly transfers of property, added to the mag-
nitude of our commercial transactions, need the
aid or could not be conducted without a paper
currency. All the bullion in existence, were it
possible to get possession of it, when coined,
would not serve our exigency for a single week.
A paper currency being, therefore, indispensable,
public confidence hi the stability of its issues is
all and all, which is wholly incompatible with a
rivalry of country interests. Would one hundred
chartered bank companies supply us with coin
for the purpose ? They could not if they would ;
or, if they could, the Bank of England could do
so likewise. For fair weather sailors they might
pass muster; but the heterogeneous mass, having
no cohesion, would like the sands upon the
shore, the very first storm that arose, be cast
adrift, if not entirely washed away. A pretty
new-fangled speculation truly. The Bank of
England has been tried, and has not been found
wanting. The succedaneum of a National Bank
is too ridiculous to need more than cursory re-
mark. Government note issues, even in aid, or
as a substitute for a currency in coin, would not
need a panic to lower them in the public estima-
tion, as assuredly they would come out at an
enormous discount. The issuers being above
controul, and without check to the enormity of
their issues, soon would their notes pass current
only as waste paper.—Morning Post.
The arguments of the Ministerial Press upon
the Russian Dutch Loan job, so far as regards
the merits of the question, might have been
safely left unanswered, since there is not much
chance of their convincing any rational mind of
the obligation to pay away millions of the money
of the British people after the contingency has
arisen upon which, according to plain and ex-
press stipulation with the receiver, this payment
was to cease. Of the weakness of their cause,
as respects the abstract merits of the question,
our Ministerial Contemporaries seem indeed to
be sufficiently aware, and they accordingly at-
tempt to pursue the discussion upon other
'rounds, where, as they affect to believe, they
Are more likely to achieve a triumph. We will
fairly and frankly state the argument upon the
.nhject upon which the friends of Ministers
chiefly rely, and, having done so, we think we
may, without danger, leave this their most vigo-

rous defensive effort to produce its natural effect.
" Admitting," say these independent and
patriotic reasoners, " that Ministers have
done wrong ;—that they have need-
lessly squandered an immense sum of money,
wrung from the labour of an impoverished
community ; that they have combined with this
thoughtless and cruel extravagance an open
contempt of the privileges of the House of Com-
mons, and a direct violation of the principles of
the Constitution ; that during the progress of the
transaction they have wilfully suppressed most
important facts and documents calculated to
throw light upon the subject, in order to en•
trap the House of Commons into a favourable
vote—admitting this whole stupendous amount
and aggravated species of delinquency to be
visible in their conduct, still their general cha-
racter as Statesmen is so transcendently merito-
rious, their talents of so exalted an order, their
public services, past, present, and to come, of
such incalculable value, that the national welfare
demands, not a lenient sentence upon their mani-
fest and glaring criminality, not an Act of In-
demnity and Oblivion for this waste of the
resources of the State, not a suspension in their
favour of the principle of Ministerial responsibi-
lity, but an absolute surrender on the part of
Members of the House of Commons, and of the
public in general, of sense, honesty, and truth,
an admission that what would have been guilt in
others is merit in them, an universal and una-
nimous acclaim of Parliament and people, pro-
nouncing that black is white and white black,
not this once only, but whenever the permanency
of Earl Grey's Administration may require such
a confusion of colours." We have heard before
of sycophants prostrating their character and un•
derstanding at the shrine of power, but this is a
strain of adulation which, however suited to the
reciprocal relation of oriental tyrants and slaves,
is quite new, and we venture to think unconge-
nial to the atmosphere of British or even Euro-
pean politics. That this is a misrepresentation
of the language of the Ministerial party cannot
be pretended, since it is almost a literal tran-
script of the argument addressed to the House
of Commons by Mr. Hume, the worthy repre-
sentative of the metropolitan county, whom the
Ministerial Press, without, we believe, a single
exception, laud and magnify for the expres-
sion of these sentiments as the most ho-
nest, independent, and manly of all pos-
sible Members of Parliament. The peo-
ple, however, think differently. They
see in the flsttery of Mr. Hume towards the
powers that be nothing but his eagerness to get
a place. They recognize him as one who does
not now for the first time, where his own interest
is concerned, disregard the distinction between
black and white ; and while they despise him
for his self-abasement, they despise him scarcely
less for the blundering stupidity with which he
has divested the small majority in favour of
Ministers upon the question of this flagrant job
of all moral value, by showing so plainly as he
has done of what kind of materials it is composed.
Of the sentiments of the people upon this sub-
ject a very satisfactory indication is to be found
in the haste and trepidation with which all those
habitual supporters of Ministers who have any
reputation to lose, and who were included in the
first fraudulent list which Ministers promulgated
of their majority, have repelled the calumnious
and ruinous imputation. As the fraudulent
lists, published with the view of creating
a momentary impression that there were some
independent and honest men on the side of
Ministers, were so fabricated as to correspond
with the total numbers on the division, it follows
of course that for every name falsely inserted or
omitted in the list of the majority, there must
also have been a name falsely inserted or omitted
in the list of the minority. It is, however, only
those who were erroneously charged with voting
in • favour of Ministers, or omitting to vote
azainst them, that seem to think it due to their
own character and interests to correct the misre-
presentation. On the other side silent and pa-
tient resignation under the misfortune of being
misrepresented is universal. These facts are
significant.— Morning Post.

NATIONAL POLITICAL UNION.

ON PLEDGES TO BE GIVEN BY
CANDIDATES.
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

The Council of the National Political Union con-
sider it their duty to state, in the shortest and
clearest way they can, the opinions they entertain,
and the reasons on which they are founded, respect-
ing the pledges which, under present circumstances,
should be given by those who may become candi-
dates for seats its the ensuing Parliament.
It is well known, that, under the rotten borough
system, the people had no real choice of represen-
,atives—a majority of the House of Commons was
nominated and placed there by the Lords and a few
rich Commoners, and indeed, with few exceptions,
they who sought to he Members were men whom th •
people, if left to themselves, would not have chosen.
Men properly qualified for the office, and worthy of
public confidence, very generally shrunk from elec-
tion contests : the toil, the expellee, the degrada-
tion necessary to obtain a seat for any but a pocket
boron2h, were such as an honest man could seldom
be found willing to encounter and submit to; and
very few such men were therefore at any time to be
found in the House of Commons.

The Reform Bill has, to a considerable extent,
abridged the power of those who have hitherto had
the composition of the House of Commons in their
hands, and has given to the people in many places
the right of choosing for themselves, and on that
choice may depend the well-being of the nation.
The power to choose representatives will, how-
ever, be of little value, unless it be honestly exer-
cised. To be useful, electors must not so much
consider what may at the moment seem most likely
to promote some particular interest—what may be
most gratifying to some particular feeling, moral, re-
ligious, or political; but what, under the circum-
-tances in which the country is placed, will be most
Ikely to be beneficial to the whole of the people;
they may safely believe that, in promoting the great
interests of all, they cannot but promote in the best
possible way, and to the greatest possible
extent, the interests of individuals. Laying
aside, then, such local and particular feelings as may
interfere injuriously with the interests of all, they
will seek for and accept, as candidates, none but men
whose characters are good ; whose particular in-
terests are not at valiance with those of the public,
and on whose integrity they can satisfy themselves re-
liance may be placed. Much Getter is it that a man
should refuse to vote at all, than that he should vote
for any one about whose untrustworthiness he en-
tertains a doubt.

It will in many cases happen that the person who
is put forward, or who puts himself forward, as a
candidate, will be unknown to the electors. In
other cases, he will be known to many, but not to
~p. In other cases again, he will be known to all,
either t y his public conduct, or by publict report of
his conduct. In the last of these cases, a man',
rrerits may, perchance, be known to an exten
which may make it unnecessary to require pledges;
but such a man will never hesitate to give them.
Beiges may then be taken from all. Every elecim
should recollect that his representative is elected for
the unreasonably long period of seven years, and that

he may, therefore, set his constituents at defiance
for that period.
It is then indispensably necessary that the condutt,
as well private as public, of every candidate should
be scrutinized, and the result made known, and that
pledges should be given by him to the electors in
the most solemn manner.

The duties of electors may be summed up in a
very few words :--
1. Relinquishment of all petty interests and fee!-
ings for the public good.
2. S:ricr inquiry into the characters, public and
private, of candidates.
3. Demand of pledges, under the hands of can-
didates.
There is no intermediate course—there can be no
compromising with these duties, without dishonestly
betraying the sacred trust each elector ought to ex-
ercise for the public good.
The consequences of any comprising, or palter-
ing, must be a betrayal of the public interests, and
the return to Parliament of political adventurers,who
;peculate on a seat in the House of Commons to
promote their own sinister interests, and those of
their confe'ierates, to enable them to plunder and de-
base the people.

The House of Commons has but too generally
been composed of three descriptions of persons,
viz.

1. Men whose vanity induced them to desire to
sit therein.

2. Men who, with their families, think they have
a sort of a prescriprive right to seats in that House,
because some one or more of their families have sat
there, no mat ter by what means, nor for what purposes.
3. Men of deperate fortunes, to whom seats are
necess•try either to keep them out of gaols, or to
enable them to live in a style superior to those which
they wculd be able to live in were tiey not Members
of Parliament.

These are the three great divisions or classes
of obnoxious persons against whom it seems especially
necessary to warn electors.

The first class is composed of men who do not think
any of the requisite qualifications for a legislator are
at all necessary, and they therefore, with few excep-
tions, possess none of these qualifications. Their
conduct is easily described. They are seldom pre•
sent in the House. They never do anything them-
selves in the way of business. They are seldom
heard of unless some trifling matter now and then
induces them to make a display, either to please par-
ticular persons, or to enable them to obtain some per-
sonal object—to swell a majority or to make a mino-
rity respectable in number.

If it were possible that in so grave and so impor-
tant a matter as legislation any class of persons could
be useless, this might be called the useless class, but
no Member of Putbament can be wholly useless;
even the meanest amongst them in point of under-
standing must be either useful or mischievous by his
act= of omission or commission.

Of this class it may be safely affirmed, that the
vanity which prompts the man to obtain the seat
will seldom prevent him being operated upon by
corrupt interests, and experience proves that they
are almost without exception corrupt.

Every man in the second class must necessarily
be rni-chievous; every such man goes to Parliament
with his mind made up to serve himself and his fa-
mily at the expense of the people; every such man
is an enemy of the people, on whom he intends to
prey.

Of the third class little need be said. No one is
so ill-informed as to believe that men in this class
ever had, or ever will have, any object in view be-
yond their present interests, or that they will ever
be anything but what they have always been; and
that is, persons who are ready at any moment to
sacrifice the welfare and happiness of the people at
the suggestion or command of those in power, who
will pay them, or place them in situations in which
they can pay themselves from the plunder of the
peop.e.

- These three classes mark the strong distinctions of
caste; and in one or more of them may be found
every abuser of public trusts, every peculator, and
every plunderer who has robbed and degraded the
nation.

The whole of the numerous body of persons who
compose these three classes may be designated ad-
venturers—no one of whom ought to find a seat in
the new Parliament. Against every such person
electors should resolutely g►►ard themselves, and this
can only be done by careful inquiries as to their
characters, public and private, and by taking such
pledges as no one can violate without showing him-
self to be a villain.

The pledges to be given by candidates should be
as general as possible; the understanding as to their
execution as particular as possible. No man should
be expected to attempt any thing at such an unsea-
sonable time as would subject him to the imputa-
tion of folly; no one should bind himself in such a
way as would compel him to perform such acts to
save his pledges as would make him a hypocrite ;
much must be left to the•judgment of the represen-
tative, who, if he be honest, will seize every oppor-
tunity to promote the good of his country, and con-
vince his constituents that he has not given pledges
without intending to perform them. He will, there-
foreton all proper occasions, originate motions, and
will support every measure which can in any way
tend to promote the great reforms of which the Re-
form Bill may be taken as the bacis.
The pledges then that candidates should be re-
quired to give seem to be—

L PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
This includes—
I. Shortening the duration of Parliaments.

2. Voting by Ballot.
It the whole nation were divided into electorial districts,
and the votes taken by Ballot, Parliament could not be
-too
short, nor the right of voting too extensive.
At present, the duration of Parliament should be li -
tnited to three years.
The advantages of voting by Ballot have been ably and
conclusively shown in the 25th Number of The West-
minster Review. A careful abridgment of the article has
teen made, and may he had of the Secretary. at the Union
Rooms, Saville House, Leicester-square, at 7s. a hundred
for distribution.