The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP Tilt PUBLIC JOURNALS

A Contemporary (the Times), in an article
on Pledges, observes, that " there are, doubt-
less, emergencies in the affairs of nations of such
critical and transcendent importance, that, no
obligation can be imposed upon the candidate
more binding than a due regard to the public
welfare would justify; but that, even in that
case, nothing is so difficult as to frame a pledge
which may not be evaded in spirit, though not
in letter. In the case of the Reform Bill, it
was difficult to hit on any pledge in which there
was not "danger for conscientious and consistent
men,as well as dangerfrom the dishonest. If the
whole Bill' was the subject of the pledge, how
should he vote who stood so bound—when Minis-
ters saw reason, with a sincere and upright view to
the interests of Reform itself—successively to
correct and amend, but very seriously to alter
likewise, some of the most important and promin-
ent provisions of the measure ? A pledge still
more specific, therefore, was adopted ; and the
Bill, 'as understoodand approved by Ministers,'
was held to be the only safe form of obligation
for the candidate. So much for a question
which bad been for so many months before the
country, sifted and familiarized, and pretty uni-
versally understood." The same paper proceeds
t o ask—

" How would it be with subjects more imperfectly ex-
amined as to the practical effect of giving enactments to-
wards the production of desired ends? Take the question
of a provision for the clergy by commutation of tithe ;
take that of poor laws to he amended in England, to be
created in Ireland, or that of West India slavery, or of
banking, or of finance, or of emigration, or of colonial
trade —all questions of high value to the community—and
see what would be the inevitable consequence of exacting,
we do not say a declaration of general principles, but of
detailed pledges of support to particular measures, upon
subjects where the whole truth does not always lie u, on
the outside; and where, from the complexity and intri-
cacy of the operations of various half-appreciated causes,
the provisions of an Act of Parliament seldom, iferer, go
straightforward to their purposed end."
The conclusion at which our contempoary
arrives is—

" A repeal of the present fluctuating duties imposed by
the corn laws—with a view to alleviate the difficulty of
importing foreign corn, and of regulating the price with-
out injury to the grower or consumer—is a plain and
direct benefit; to a specific pledge on that point, there can
be no fair objection. A repeal of the Union with Ireland
would be, in our judgment, an evil to both coun-
tries. A pledge to oppose any measure so calamitous
would be easily understood and fulfiled. But unless the
end be at once most important and most urgent, the general
character of any man, fitted to be a representative, ought
to suffice without the exaction of pledges which imply the
want of such qualification; and on any other than simple
and uniform questions, no pledge, beyond that of supporting
a principle, ought to be conceded or required."
There is, no doubt, great difficulty in candi-
dates and electors, with the best will in the
world, defining beforehand the course that
should be pursued in a number of questions.
Making every allowance for the imperfect infor-
mation, both of candidates and electors, with
respect to many questions at the time of the
election, and leaving considerable latitude with
regard to the means by which ends are to be at-
tained, it may still be advisable that the explana-
tions between electors and candidates on all
questions with which it is known the Legislature
will be occupied should be as ample and explicit
as possible. In the case of the Greeks and Ro-
mans, who may be said to have lived in public,
the character and opinions of all candidates for
office were well known to every citizen. In
France, too, from the social character of the
people, and the absence of social distinctions,
every man's sentiments are more or less gene-
rally known. But in England, society may, be
said to be made up of an inanity of castes, every
one of which is a stranger to the habits and
ways of thinking of the rest. There is a con-
stant desire to reach a superior caste at a dis-
tance. Hence, an Englishman has no means of
knowing the opinions of those who do not belong
to his own caste, except through the reports of
speeches in the newspapers, or through avowed
publications. Two men may be neighbours in En:7o-
and for fifty years, without knowing, in the least,
the sentiments of each other on any one question.
Where men's sentiments are thus confined to a
small circle, and where the class of the rich, from
which the Representatives will in almost all cases
be chosen, has so little communication with the
great body of the electors, it becomes more
especially necessary for the electors, in order that
they may have an assurance that they give their
suffrages to a candidate who will not abuse the
trust, to have many and circumstantial com-
inunings with him on all public questions of
importance. Let us take the candidates for
Metropolitan boroughs for instance. Mr. An-
gerstein, one of the candidates for Greenwich,
ought to be better known to the inhabitants of
this new borough than any of the others, as
his father lived there the better part of his life,
and it is his own native place. Yet we will
answer for it, if the first five hundred elec-
tors of Woolwich, Greenwich, and Deptford
that present themselves, were to be asked
how Mr. Angerstein thinks on any one pub-
lic question, they would one and all declare
their perfect ignorance. The Reform Bill
will no doubt gradually destroy this exclusive
system ; because, hereafter, the rich will see the
importance of mixing occasionally with all their
fellow-citizens. But, for the present, all that
the electors know is, that a very large portion of
the class from which representatives are chosen
are hostile to the interests of the people in their
hearts. There cannot, therefore, be too much
catechising. General declaratitms may be framed
to deceive ; but there are few men so dexterous
as to be able to stand a cross-questioning of any
length, without allowing a glimpse of their real
sentiments to be caught. At the same time, all
means ought to be taken by the people to ascer-
tain, as far as they can, from their public acts,
and from such evidence respecting them as they
can obtain, the character of those who aspire to
the honour of representing them. It may not
always be so easy, as our contemporary the Ex-
aminer supposes, to obtain information respect-
ing the following points, but the attempt ought
to be made :
" How, then," says he, " are the people to judge of an
untried man ? Very easily. Inform yourselves of his
previous life—lesiit in what manner his time has been
spent ; whether in idle dissipation, or in sober and severe
study—learn whether he has been a jobber in Vestries or
Corporations, or on the bench of Magistrates, or an enemy
of jobs--whether he has ever stopped up a path, or set a
spring gun—whether he keeps game preserves to decoy his
poorer neighbours to their ruin. Inquire if he ever pro-
fessed liberal opinions before it could be his private interest
to do so—if he ever professed any one opinion i. judgment
has of
anything by which he could be a loser—or if his
interest.
has been always the humble servant of his Find
out whether he pays his tradesmen—if he be a tandlord,
whether his farmers have leases, or are kept as tenants-at-
will, for the sake of political power—ask if be iver turned
out a tenant for voting against him at an election—if be
keeps his farmers at a rack-rent-74f he has remitted his
rents when they could not be paid without encroaching
upon the tenant's capital? Prefer a man who has made
himself known by giving his time or his money for any
patriotic object ; or whose speeches or writings, while they
evince zeal for improvement and personal purity of motive,
also show that he has bestowed thought and labour on great
public questions. Next to such a person, prefer the man
whom such persons recommend."
,We yesterday observed that something of the

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ofi
st,ll
kfil

!nature of pledge was of the very essence of po-
pular election. The tests of the soundness of the
candidate's opinions on public questions are na-
turally their approximation to his own, and he
will, therefore, endeavour to select men who
share his own views and opinions. Some of the
country papers, however, push the doctrine of
pledges to an extent that, if acted on literally,
would be a source of great embarrassment. The
Sheffield Iris of Tuesday last, for instance, at-
tributes more efficacy to specific pledges on a
number of questions than we think the event
will justify. The writer thus concludes a long
article :
" The candidate who stood thus pledged to support the
abolition of the Corn Laws, the East India Company's
monopoly, and of the discriminating duties between
West and East India sugar, to vote against any one of
these measures, he would feel bound, as a man of honour
and truth, immediately afterwards to resign : public
opinion would compel him. What solid objection, then,
is there to the exaction of such pledges? The country

has already had quite enough of that independence in
Members of Parliament of which Dr. Lusbington and
others are so much enamoured ! The electors of England
must stand stoutly out for specific pledges on all the more
important questions which are standing over for deter-
mination. It is your men of the old school—your free
and unpledged gentry—the representatives of their own
breeches pockets, and Parliament men for their own s tkes
alone, that have entailed upon the country its present in-
tolerable load of debt and taxation, and who have cfowded
our Statute-book with laws oppressive to industry, de-
structive to morals, and disgraceful to humanity. Away
with these men for ever !"

But while we doubt the possibility of pre-
scribing beforehand the precise course to be
followed on various great questions in the ap-
proaching Parliament, we are yet far from re-
commending the extent of confidence in repre-
pentatives called for by the Examiner :

When the value of knowledge (says our Weekly Con-
temporary) is adequately felt, a man will choose his legis-
lator as he chooses his physician. Ni) man pretends to
instruct his physician. No man exacts a pledge from his
physician that he shall prescribe for him a particular treat-
ment. Nobody pretends that it is the duty of a physician
to act according to the wishes and instructions of his pa-
tient, or of a majority of his patients. Why should we
Dave one rule for the body politic—another and an oppo-
site one for the body natural ? Politics is an uncertain
Science ; but so is medicine ; your representative may be a
quack or an ignoramus; so may your physician. But
!hough your physician or legislator may cheat you, it is
Worth while purchasing his professional acquirements at
that risk ; and though he may not know everything, if
ou have chosen him wisely, he will probably know much
car re than you—just as you probably know more than he
does of your particular calling or profession."
This extent of confidence is altogether irre-

concilable with the existence of a free Press.
Every question which comes before the Legisla-
ture is, at the moment of its discussion in St.
tephen's Chapel, discussed in every newspaper
published throughout the three kingdoms. The
Keasonings of those within doors, as the phrase
is, often influence the reasonings of those with-
out, and, vice versa, the reasonings of those
without as often influence those within. But
be this as it may, it is clear that public writers
will constantly address the people on all ques-
tions before the Legislature, and that the people,
thus called on to decide, will not fail to take a
side. There is no analogy between the body
politic and the body natural. The physician
has to satisfy only one individual. The poli-
i
4clan has to satisfy many, he has different Hite-
r.ests to manage, and what may satisfy one class
may dissatisfy another. Between the physician
and his patient no third party in general inter-
feres to destroy the confidence between them.
But by the very principle of publicity, the poli-
tician is continually exposed to criticism, and
Ihoever assigns reasons, makes all those who
ltten to them his judges. The patient gives
his confidence wholly and entirely ; but as, in a
pOlitical body there is not unity, there cannot be
entire and individual confidence. The reasons
which may induce one man to give his confi-
* nce may have an opposite effect on another.
'he state of the public mind, such as it is, must
instantly influence the Legislature. This may
!casionally expose Legislators to unjust cen-

re, and may give a triumph to ignorance over
owledge ; but it has also its favourable side
--it gives a powerful motive, to all who mean
honestly, to enlighten the public, and to prepare
them for forming a correct judgment. If popu-
lar suffrage tends to lower the Legislator to the
l6'el of the people, it has a tendency to raise
the people to the level of the Legislator.—
Morning Chronicle.
The question of the Russo-Dutch Loan, and
oil the payments under it, made and to be made
by Great Britain, comes again into debate this
evening in the House of Commons, although
not precisely in the same form by which it had
bqn at first designed to render it au engine of
annoyance or mischief to his Majesty's Govern-
ment. The Opposition have probably found out,
that nothing is to be gained by mooting the con-
tinped liability of this country to discharge the
interest of the loan, every principle of honour,
justice, national faith, and public law being in
favpur of the obligation upon the sense of which
the Ministers have acted. Indeed, a perusal of
the, treaty itself, and of Lord Brougham's argu-
ment in answer to Lord Wynford, on the 2d of
February, will suffice to convince every rational
person that the question rests on the simplest
and clearest grounds, and admits of no further
discussion. Here is a Russian debt, •the
discharge of the interest on which was un-
dertaken by England so long literally as
Holland and Belgium should continue to
form one kingdom ; but, in substance and
spirit, so long as the latter country should remain
independent of the domination of France, against
whose power only the union of the two countries
had been contemplated as a defensive frontier.
The union has been dissolved, not by the French
invasion, but by internal discord. It is true,
that if one purpose of the contracting parties had
been to indemnify Russia, in some degree, for
her past exertions and sacrifices in the common
cause, another object was to engage her good
will and support towards the maintenance of the
incorporation of the Belgic territory with Hol-
land. Now, if, after the late severance between
these States, Great Britain had called upon
Russia to assist in any joint enterprise for the
reestablishment of their union, we do not say,
that upon the refusal of Russia, even though the_
dissolution of the Netherland kingdom has been
of a different nature from that against which the
treaties of 1814 and 1815 were framed, England
might not have been furnished with a legitimate
ground whereon to justify the cessation of her
payments. But the reverse is the fact. Eng-
land has made no demand whatever upon Rus-
sia, for aid towards the recovery of the King of'
Holland's sway over Belgium. This Govern-
ment has, on the contrary, used every effort to
confirm the separation of the two countries,
and has, perhaps, experienced no small
difficulty, in prevailing upon Russia and
other Powers, to acquiesce in their per-
manent disunion. Under such circumstances,
—could anything have been more pre-
posterous or shameful, than for England to take
advantage of her own deliberate acts, and to tell
Russia, " True it is, that although Belgium has
revolted, she forms no part of French conquest

'or aggrandizement ; true likewise it is, that 1
' (England) have contributed all in my own power
towards the severance of those countries for
whose identity you (Russia) were most anxious;
and that if you have forborne to use force for
their re-union, it is mainly owing to me and my
pacific policy that you have put that restraint
upon your wishes. Yet will I act as if you had
been the separatrix of the incorporated provinces
of 1815, and as if I had sought to perpetuate
their ill-assorted union ; and on that false plea
will I get rid of my pecuniary engagements."
We put it to any man of gentlemanly prin-
ciple or honour, how would he esteem in pri-
vate life an individual capable of such base and
impudent dishonesty ? Russia has claims upon
the liberal acknowledgments of Great Britain,
instead of meriting any stretch of niggardly or
ungenerous dealing. It was in the power of
Russia, at any period since the signature of the
treaty of 1815, to have required the establish-
ment of a sinking fund of three per cent., in-
stead of being satisfied with one per cent. only ;
and she might thus have relieved herself of the
whole debt by this time, in lieu of seeing her
equitable and lawful title endangered by the
selfishness of an unprincipled Parliamentary
faction. As for a censure upon Ministers for
having clone without the authority of Parliament,
that for which they had already the full sanction
of law and treaty—we apprehend no more suc-
cess from such an undersaking now, than when
it failed on the 26th of January. It was then
a factious manoeuvre, and would now be more
so. Ministers have acted as became the guar-
dians of British dignity, integrity, and honour.

Of all Members of Parliament the least useful
is the mere political talker—he who can go off'
at score, and with equal fluency speak against
time, whether it be upon anything or upon
nothing. The gift of the gab, as it is commonly
called, may be, we do not deny, and generally
is, a very useful, and often profitable, quality to
its possessor ; but, as far as the public are con-
cerned, its utility is at least of a very equivocal
tendency. We do not deny that -it is unfor-
tunate when sensible men of business are unable,
as is sometimes the case, to express themselves
intelligibly ; but even through their stammer-
ing, more practical information is generally
gleaned than from the cloud of endless
verbiage in which those who know nothing
contrive to clothe their want of ideas.—
We make these remarks with the view of put-
ting the people on their guard in the choice of
those who may present themselves as candidates
for the new Parliament; which it is most de-
sirable should comprise as much of the intelli-
gence and integrity of the country as can be got
together. Though we can hardly flatter our-
selves that such will be the case, we confess we
should rather like to see constituents looking
out for Representatives, than the latter, as is
usually the case, so promptly in the field. At
any rate, we are sure that the experience of many
of our readers will coincide with us in the con-
viction that the most valuable man is not the
most presuming; and that really useful talent
often shuns the light, into which it is ne-
cessary almost to drag it forth. We will
take the great trading town of Manchester
for an instance. What could be more absurd
than that the people of Manchester should
choose a stranger, still less a demagogue,
for their Representative ? For what will be his
peculiar duties ? To watch over and promote
the vast local interests of Manchester, as coupled
with the welfare of the community in general.
Without pretending to point at individuals (for
we do not yet know who are the candidates for
Manchester), who is it that the inhabitants of
this great hive of industry will naturally, we should
hope, look to as their best, their natural repre-
sentative ? Not the mere political declaimer, who,
happening to pass through the town,
may have
tickled the ears of the groundlings with a tissue of
fanciful theories or wild impracticable dogmas.
No, the man whom the people of Manchester
will naturally look to must be one with enlarged
political views, but especially possessing a
thorough knowledge of those peculiar circum-
stances which have raised that town to its emi-
nent station in the trading world ; and one who,
from his station and independence, will be least
likely to compromise those interests, either when
they come in competition with his own or those
of some rival hive. Nearly the same rules will
apply to all the new constituencies under the
Reform Act. All, or nearly all, have local
interests. If there is any exception to this, it
will be found in two or three of the metropo-
litan districts. But in these a great mass of in-
telligence prevails ; and we shall be greatly de-
ceived if these districts do not return to Parlia-
ment men known for some more valuable qualities
than that of being mere declaimers at public
meetings, and the only test of whose political
wisdom is the nonsense and the mischief they
have uttered.—Morning Herald.

The discussion of the Russian-Dutch loan
job was fixed for this evening, and, certainly, a
less defensible job, whether in policy or princi-
ple, never came before a British House of Com-
mons. In commenting upon the former debate
on this subject, we so fully explained the state
of the question, that it is needless to tread over
the same ground again ; it is sufficient to remind
the public of a few leading points. The treaty
of 1815, which guaranteed certain payments to
Russia by England, in conjunction with the
newly-erected kingdom of the Netherlands,
ceased and determined, according to the words
of the treaty itself, as far, at least, as the pay-
ments were concerned, by the severance of Bel-
gium from Holland ; for the object of the pay-
ments was to induce Russia to support and
protect the new kingdom of the Netherlands.
In fact, the treaty was one of the splendid pro-
ductions of that Castlereagh policy which, at the
era of what was called the " Settlement of
Europe," laid all the advantages that England
ought to have derived from a war which cost her
so much blood and treasure at the feet of the
Russian Autocrat, and of the other great
despots of the Continent. It was, therefore, a
treaty not intitled to be regarded with
favour by any succeeding Govern men t,—
especially by a Whig Administration, whose
leading members had, at the period of the Con-
gress of Vienna, objected in no moderate terms
to the foreign policy of Castlereagh as detrimental
to the interests, and derogatory to the honour
of England. But though the treaty was not to
be regarded with favour by a patriotic Govern-
ment, we do not say that it ought not to be
faithfully observed, as long as it continued in
existence. But the severance of Belgium from
Holland had determined that treaty, as far as
the payments were concerned. Whoever denies
this, certainly IN/misters, without self-contradic-
tion, cannot ; for they entered into a convention
with Russia in November last, in which the)
distinctly admit that it would be necessary for his
Majesty to apply to Parliament to enable him to

make the payments ; and, yet in the teeth of
this convention, they contended, in the following
January, that the treaty of 1815 still gave Russia
a legal right to demand the money, and imposed
on the King's Government a legal right
to pay ; and they quoted to this effect the
opinions of the Attorney and Solicitor-
General, which opinions had been given
previously to the convention of November—a
convention founded upon the supposition that
no legal obligation to pay existed, and conse-
quently that the opinions of the law officers of
the Crown were not worth a straw. In continu-
ing the payments under such circumstances,
Ministers, out of their own mouths, stand con-
demned. Now they abandon the position • which
they took up in January last, and retreat to the
ground which they occupied in the preceding
November. The question, therefore, at present
is, ought Parliament to renew the pecuniary en-
gagements of a treaty from which circumstances
have relieved us, because the contingency has
happened which the framers of the treaty of
1815 expressly provided should put an end
to it ; for they stipulated, as we said before,
that, on the severance of Belgium and Hol-
land, the payments should cease and determine.
The King of Holland made no mistake about
the matter, for he ceased his payments on that se-
verance having occurred; and so far from this pro-
voking Russia to make war upon him, that the
Emperor Nicholas has declared that he will not
be a party to the use of coercive means to com-
pel him to give his adhesion to the treaty of the
London Conference, which Belgium was com-
pelled to adopt, under the threats of the great
Powers, signifying that she must choose between
that and a crusade of the Holy Alliance against
her newly-established liberties. If the House of
Commons sanctions the Convention now pro-
posed, which is to cost the over-taxed people of
this country five millions sterling, we suppose
the Members who voted for the measure will be
prepared to give their constituents a good reason
for their conduct at the ensuing elections. 'We
suppose that they will be prepared to show
that the revenue of this country is so flourish-
ing—its resources so abundant—its taxation so
small—its national debt so trifling—and its in-
dustry so prosperous, that it can afford to
generously fling away five millions of money, and
that it cannot find a better object of its gene-
rosity than the Autocrat of Russia, who tore
in pieces the treaty which guaranteed the in-
dependence of Poland, to which the seal of
English faith was affixed, and indignantly flung
it in the face of England. It is said that there
has been great beating up for recruits on the part
of the emissaries of the Foreign-office, and that
several Members who had expressed their sense
of the Russian-Dutch loan job in no measured
terms of indignation, are expected to rat from
their former opinions. We hope that this is not
the case—it would afford but a melancholy view
of the moral principle and political integrity of
some Reformers. Let it never be forgotten that
the money paid to Russia, after the determina-
tion of the treaty, is stained with the blood of
Poland. It was this money which enabled
Russia to recover her military activity, when she
had come nearly to a stand still, and to pour
army after army on that devoted country. Shall
we lavish the people's gold on the cupidity of
the Russian tyrant, while we have nothing to
bestow on the virtues and sufferings of Poland
but our barren commiseration ?—Morn.Herald.
We insert in another column a circular ad-
dressed by authority of the Irish Government to
the magistracy of that country, which, consider-
ing the actual circumstances of Ireland, may cer-
tainly be regarded as one of the most finished
specimens of hypocrisy or imbecility by which
any set of Statesmen ever challenged the indig-
nation or the contempt of mankind. In reading
this stupid and insolent production one would
be led to suppose, were it not that the parties
from whom it proceeds and the parties to whom
it is addressed are too well known to admit
of such a mistake, that the tithe conspiracy
in Ireland had been permitted to attain its
present magnitude and strength through the
criminal connivance or apathy of the Ma-
gistracy of that country. It merely re-echoes
the statements as to the lawless state of the
country which the magistrates have been endea-
vouring in vain for twelve months past to im-
press upon the attention of Government, strings
together truisms the most useless and admoni-
tions the most unmeaning upon points of ma-
gisterial duty, not one of which there is the least
pretence for doubting that the magistrates un-
derstood much better than the authorities who
thus presume to instruct them, and concludes
with the wise remark that " a recurrence of
meetings bearing such unequivocal marks of ille-
gality as have been described will render it in-
cumbent upon magistrates to exert all the powers
with which the law invests them to suppress the
mischief and bring the guilty to punishment ;"
intimating, if the words of Irish documents are
to be construed in their obvious and ordinary
sense, that up to the present moment the magis-
trates neither had nor ought to have exerted
whatever power they possess for these purposes.
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland instructs Mr.
Gossett to inform the Magistrates of that coun-
try, " that numerous violations of the law re-
lating to unlawful assemblies have recently ocs
curred." Precious information truly ; that "an
extensive confederacy has been formed for the
purpose of resisting and rendering abortive
all legal remedies for the recovery of tithes."
How moral and edifying this intelligence must
be to Irish Magistrates ! that " whether the
means employed by this confederacy be actual
violence or intimidation, it cannot be doubted
that they are illegal, and that effectual measures
should be adopted to counteract and suppress
them," as if the Magistrates of Ireland had ever
doubted this ! The Magistrates are then gravely
told that in cases of doubtful illegality their
most prudent course will he to have the parties
identified, to have information sworn detailing
the particulars of their conduct, and to transmit
them to Government, for the purpose of being
submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown.
Now it must, we think, occur to all persons of
plain understanding that Government would do
much better in arming the Magistrates with such
powers as would enable them to cope with the
sufficiently numerous class of cases in which the
law is clearly and unequivocally violated, than
in thus suggesting an impracticable mode of
proceeding in the comparatively few cases in
which the violation of the law may seem to be
doubtful. Why this anxiety respecting doubtful
cases, when the Magistrates would have more
Lhan enough to do in repressing manifest and
unambiguous outrage against the law were the
Government even to place an adequate force at
their disposal, and accomplish the task, which
its own past conduct must rendera
they o
mosth cdilffithi
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;Inploy it without the risk of being sacrificed,
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