The Sun.
London, England, 1819-04-10 00:00:00

REFORM.

MR. EDITOR—I am a plain, grave old man, whit
a light and cheerful heart. Of an eveging I read
your generous Payer, as a sort of secondary Bible,
which is a comfort to me ; and more so, since it
informs me that our Members in the first Sessions
of a new Parliament have lent an ear to the loud
voice.of'Reronm ; not the, Reform that is defined.
in the dictionary of outcasts to be Topsy-turvy,
or Ipse-typsey ; but an amendment of experienced
evils, and adventitious errors.

One Honourable Member proposes to repeal all
the laws against USURY, whereby we may bor—
row upon what high terms we, in our wants, may
please, and lend on interest at cent. per cent's
without fear, except
_destruction, of any action al
law for treble damages.

Another Honourable Member is the wise
thor of an Act for abolishing tl►e barbarian trim.
by battle, and tl►e appeal of a wife or an heir, ork
the pardon from the Crown of a convicted felon,
whereby the revenge of either might be gratified,
by his death, unless pardoned by either, which.
was opposing an interested mercy, to be bought
for money, against the humane mercy of the
sovereign fountain of justice, that is never un•
justly or partially exerted.
Another Honourable Member has procured a
Committee, in order to mitigate the severity of,
the criminal law, whereby offenders may increase
among us, in hopes, on conviction; that they may
be sentenced to•settle, at the expence. of Govern-
ment, in a fine eoun'ry, and be happy where
theri ii little or no temptation for crimes or 'tali-
dt;tnetnors.

• All other Honourable Members, sensible that
Reform si►oul►! begin with ourselves, have entered
on the great work of purifying their temple from
the pestilential blasts of bribery and corruption.

One Honourable Member, in particular, bad'
proposed -the destruction of all monopolizing
Water Companies, Which would deprive us of a
natural 'gift of God, by raising the Price of its
conveyance beyond our means of payment.
Ober Members have procured Committees to
report the defects of our police, 'our jails, our
mendicity, and prostitution, from the wretched
Street-walker, to the sweeper of chimnies.
This is doing well, and I now expect that soma
Member will soon move for leave to brig in a
Bill to repeA all the laws of Imprisonment fur
Debt; since it has been long known, that a jail
pays none, and isonly profitable to the keeper,
attornies, sheriffs' Officers, clerks,sturnkeys,' ser-
vants, and hangers-on. Trade and its depen-
dencies will then be free, Debtors will be bound
by the nobler lass of honour, no Act oflnol-,
venc'y will be necessary, the jails will have plenty
of room for delinquents, and Creditors who game
too high to win, or hedge, may whistle for their.
losses, as_sailors do at sea in a calm for a wind.
Now, Sir, knowing vosur candour, and that
Paper, iile (he Public Ledger of old, is open'
to all of us, and influenced by none, I have no
doubt that you will readily admit into a corner of
it, a well-wisher to both, in. Sir,

Yuur bumble Servant,
OLD SQUARE TOES.

it- We noticed this valuable pamphlet three or four years
ago. when it wac first published; and a few itiontli previ:ius
to tlle list General Election we submitted the whole of it to
our 12,aders. • Considerin4 the stmject of great importance,
rrhaps 4: shall reprint it.

Fox, BoRKE, and others, have been ranked un-
der this predicament ; not one of whom ever pos•
sessed the qualification strictly within the spirit
of the Act, Hot this objection would not only lie
against all qualification law,: in gviteial, which,
under the present Constriletion, and according to.
preseut practice, are merely waste paper, but is
not substantially founded either in reason or ex-
perience. Is it fur a moment to be supposed,
that, out of 658 Members, selected by different
communities of the great body of the nation,
there wotrld not he found a sufficient number of
able men to mattage its concerns, but that the
gaols of the Icnviont must be ransacked to sup-
ply the deficiency ; or, if that be thought too
strong an expression, as at all applicable to the
great characters above mentioned, that men, qua-
lified by their property,- should not be as responsi-
ble guardians of a nation's security, as others of
a different description ? I confess I see no rea-
son why individuals thus qualified should not be
able to exercise as sane a judgment, and even, if
necessary, which I think by no means the case,
to make speeches of one, or two, or three hours'
length, as paupers who have no interests beyond
their own to look to, and who bring their talents
to market, as is done by other classes of the
community, with commodities of a' very different
description.
I should wish, Sir, that these opinions might
be weighed in the scale of candour and strict im-
partiality, and such a judgment given as might
best tend to support the rights of individuals, and
the general interests of the community.

PUB LI (JS.