The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-23 00:00:00

CLARKE V. KING.

This was.an action for the breach of an agreement
for the purchase of a public-house.
Mr. Sergeant WILDE stated the case. The plain-
tiff, he said, purchased from the defendant the lease of
the George public-house, in Whitechapel, which was
to have been giveh up to him, with a licence for the
time to come, on the 4th of April last ; but after
the plaintiff had taken possession, he discovered that
the defendant had no licence of his own, but
one in the name of Thomas Harewood, which ex-
pired on the sth of April ; and no precautions having
been taken to have the licence renewed, business could
not be carried on for a considerable time after. The
plaintiff consequently sued for a deposit of 401., which
he had previously made, and also compensation for
the damages he sustained, in not being able to trans-
act business in the house.
It appeared in evidence, that on the day of the
transfer the plaintiff, instead of cash had offered a
check on a brewer, which had been objected to.
Mr. Sergeant VAUGHAN having addressed the
Jury for the defendant,
The CHIEF JUSTICE said, that neither party' were
in a condition to perform the contract, the plain-
tiff not having made a proper tender was ' not
entitled to damages, but he thought be had a
right to the deposit. The defendant not being a free-
man, could not transfer the licence, for the premises
being within the city, none but freemen could get a
licence nor transfer it ; by the conduct of parties on
both sides the contract had been resciUdod.
The Jury without hesitation returned a verdict for
the plaintiff-r-Damages 100/.

The old banking-house of Sikes, Snaith, and Co.,
of the Poultry, have paid a dividend of 6s. Bd. per pound, and ss.
more k immediately anticipated. It will be remembered that this
is one of the firms which fell during the panic in December last,
and has been frequently spoken of by some as likely never to make
any dividend ; by others, at aot riktly to pay more than b►l(-
alma is tbAr. peun.4,

**`

COBBETT.

It is to be regretted that the former works of Mr•

Cobbett are not more. generally known amongst the

middling and lower classes. Few men who now hear

him declaiming against the Governmpt, and listen to

his rhodomontade about reform in Parliament, can

believe that he was once a perfeet,war-dog on the side

of the corriptionists, as he calls them, and a common
abuser of all who took the part which he now advo-

cates. How any of the people can forget the uncom-
promising tone in which he denounced the opponents
of the Government we know not—how they can re-
concile his present with his former declarations, is per-
fectly astounding. But the foolish people of Preston
who trust in his declarations, must be a little enlight-
ened by a few quotations from his writings of former
times, contrasted with the last speeches he has made.
We find him now crying out to his dupes 'in Lanca-
shire with an air of vast importance and self-suf-
ficiency :

" Gentlemen, if I were in the House of Commons, I am con-
vinced that I could do a great deal towards preventing the course
of ruinous measures which these Ministers are pursuing. If I
were therel would propose something that would restore peace
and solidity to the country."
Nobody can doubt the truth of this modest decla-
ration. Mr Cobbett has already discovered the re-
medy for all the evils which weigh us down. " Yes,"
Mr. Cobbett very properly says—
" The great remedy of all is a Reform in the Commons House
of Parliament.—(Cheers.)—Without a Reform you can effect no-
thing. All that I can do to induce that sort of feeling in the
country, that will at last produce a Reform, to create it in the
House itself, to call it up amongst the people at large, shall be put
in execution ; for without a Reform the country must ultimately

become one scene of beggary wt! misery."
Yes,
the Panacea for all the distresses of the work-

ing classes must be aft& and free representation of
the people of England, nothing less.
" The emp)oyers (says Mr. Cobbett) will go on sinking more
and more, embarrassments will gather upon them, nutil they
actually become poor men—and as to the workmen, I have not
the heart to describe the miseries which they will .suffer. To
prevent this impending affliction there must be a Reform in
the Representation "

f, lam thoroughly convinced, that until a Radical Reform
takes place, it is in vain that you take any measures for re-
lief. The people will go deeper and deeper in misery, Until
the whole country is sunk in ruin."
But the dear, good man, after frightening the old wo-
men and children of Preston with this dreadful pic-
ture, at once suggests a preventative, an infallible re-
medy. ,c There is wanted," says the amiable and
disinterested man—
" There is wanted somebody to propose a remedy—somebody
who has the power of so proposing a measure that he will
snake its rejection be attended with signal odium. It is for
you to determine, Gentlemen, whether or not you will do what
you can to get such a person into the House."
And the patriotic man goes further still—where were
the Prestonians to find such a character, had Cobbett
not himself informed them ? But he who dislikes
half measures, modestly adds—
f, Such a man as I have described to you it is in your power to
return to Parliament. lam not guilty of presumption, in say-
ing that lam such a man. The whole country thinks it; and
I believe there is not a man amongst you that does not think it,
and that would not say it."
We cannot do justice to our feelings of admiration
at the unassuming manners of this Preston idol ; all
his honours seem to be literally thrust upon him.
The timidity with which he receives a compliment,--
the extreme di &knee with which he accepts assurances
of support ; in short, his modest retiring manners
must be the subject of almost universal praise : pic-
ture to yourselves, good people, for a moment the
broad brown cheeks of William Cobbett, suffused
with blushes, the bashful man shrinking from the ap-
plauses of the crowd, and Sir' Thomasßeevor with

difficulty cheering him up. to meet the shouts of the
Preston mob, doubtless it was under this impulse,
and that of a recollection of his consistency, that he
was inspired with the following
Those whn have read my writings know vary well that I
foretold all this, and warned the Government. But it was in
vain to write. To be in the House is what is wanted, and you
being in a situaion to do what is wanted, need I put the ques-
tion, will you do it ?"
What idiots would the people of Preston be, to re-
ject such a disinterested Representative ; who would
resist the following appeal from a man whose consis-
tency we shall shortly prove, who, if he knew Mr.
Cobbett, could doubt the pledge which accompa-
nies it ?
a I request your votes; and if you return me to Parliament,
I pledge myself that all the remaining powers of life and
strength shall lie exercised-to serve my country', and particu-
lar) ,y to serve you, my friends."
Here's a touch of the pathetic for the honest men
of Preston. Why it would require a heart of stone
to refuse such a patriot all he asked.
But there are persons ill-natured enough to think
that Mr. Cobbett is not sincere, and who undervalue

his pledge merely because he has broken a hundred
such before. There certainly, is a trifling difference
between some of his former writings and those of the
present day ; and for the edification of the Preston
voteis, we shall quote a few sentences from his Re-
gister of the 30th June, 1802,—but we protest against
any improper use being made of them to the injury
,of
Mr. Cobbett. At this period he- was equally violent
in his writings, although on the other side of the
question. Speaking of some radical addresses on the
subject of the necessity of a reform in Parliament, he
says—
" The people have been told, in two factious addresses in par-
ticular, that they are not represented in the House of Com-
mons—that that Assembly is no longer what it used to he—
and that until it be reformed, it is in Tin for them to hope for
any good from that quarter. The words representation and
elective franchise have done,much towards confusing the brain
and corrupting the hearts of his Majesty's subjects; and though
we have not the vanity to suppose that we possess the power of
dissipating the fatal delusion, it is our duty to contribute our
mite in the attempt."
Mr. Cobbett then argues ably against such doc-
trine, and, alludes in illustration of his subject, to
America, where says he— •
" The Elective Franchise was as universal as even Sir Francis
Burdett could have wished it ; and we are now about to sea a
fair picture of Legislative Assembly, produced by that inesti-
mable privilege."
We will not further remark on the numerous pas-
sages which bear immediately on the point ; but shall
merely copy from Mr. Cobbett's Register, of the
above date, his own sentiments on the
,blessings
'of 44 a full and free representation of the people,
not only as stated'in his own language, but as enforced
by the writings of an American Pamphleteer whom
Cobbett lauds to the skies, and whose work is
quoted in the Register in support of Mr. Cobbett's
opinions of that day ; we therefore give Mr. Cobbett
credit for all that follows.
st Our famous countryman, Swift, has compared the people.
who choose popular assemblies to those silly worms which exliatist
their substance and destroy their lives in snaking habits for beings
of a superior order. With all due deference to such an authority,
we beg leave to say, that the latter
part of the comparison will not
bear the test of experience. That the' people in the exercise of
; their imaginary rights and privileges do exhaust their substance
1 and sometimes destroy their lives, is most certain, hut that they
do this for the sake'of beep of a superior order Will be believed

by no one who has paid any attention to the objects of their choice,
and who must, of course, huve observed that that choice
does not unfrequently fall upon bankrupts, swindlers,
quacks, parasites, panders, Atheists, apastates—ia a word,
upon the most infamous and the most despicable of the human
race; wretches whom no prudent tradesman would trust alone_ iu
his, shop, and with whom any hone.t man would Mush to he seen
in conversation.

HoW happens it that the people of A •rterica, for hist:a:cc"
are induced in many instances to commit their property and their
lives to the guardianship of the refuse of the community ? The
Americans are, generally speaking, descended from the same an-
mows with ourselves—they are by no means inferior to us in
point of discernmentl—and their love of liberty, property, and, life,
is equal to ours. The cause of their preposterous choice is this : the
mass of the people of all nations are so fond of nothing as of power.
Men of sense know that the people can in reality exercise
no power which will not tend to their own injury; and therefore,
if they are honest men, as well as men of sense, they scorn to fos-
ter their vanity at the expence of their peace and happiness.
Hence it is,' that, in States where the popular voice is tnicheckeil
by a Royal or any other hereditary influence, that voice is in nine
times out of tee given in favour of those fawning parasites, who,
in order to gratify theii• own interest and ambition, profess to
acknowledge no sovereignty but that of the people, and who
whence they once get in to power, rule,the poor sovereign that has
chosen them with a rod of scorpions, affecting, while the mise-
rable *retch is writhing under their stripes, to call themselves his
representatives.'

Of all the tyrannies that Me devil or man ever invented,
the tyranny of an elective assembly uncontrolled by regal power
is the most insupportable. When the tyrant is an individual, tbe
slaves have the satisfaction of knowing their oppressor ; they have
the consolation of hearing hint execrated, and amidst their mise-
ries they are now and then cheered with the hope that some
valiant hand will liear a dagger to his heart. list an uncontrolled
elective assembly is an undefinable, an invisible, and an invulnera-
ble monster, it insinuates like the plague, or strikes like the apo-
plexy ; it is as capricious, us cruel, and as ravenous as death ;
like death, too, it loses half its terrors by the frequent repetition of
its ravages, and such is its delusive influence, that every man
though he daily seees his neighbours falling a sacrifice to the
scourge, vainly imagines it to be at a distance from himself.

Now for proof of what we have here advanced.
ee Vs c,' Mr. Cobbett, " shall quote Mr. Griffith's
description of the Legislative Assembly of New Jersey:
P. 109.—" It is impracticable here to enter • into a detail of
facts, to prove that the virtue of the Legislature has been and
will be constantly assailed and overcome. It shows itself in the
very formation of the Legislature. No sooner does an elec-
tion for a Legislative Assembly and Council approach, than
the question is not who are the wisest and most disinte-
rested, and of most integrity ; but who will best answer
the views of party, of private ambition, or personal resent-
ment. In every country there is constantly a succession of people
aspiring to appointments civil or military,—some desire to be
Judges, some Justices, some Majors, and some Colonels—some
have interests depending in the courts of law, and some, perhaps,
have resentment against existing officers, and would fain mat
them from their seats,—all these, and a thousand snore passions,
are set to work, and nominations to the legislature are directed
and supported upon principles altogether beside those which should
form the basis for a right election of legislative characters ; the
result must of course be unfavourable to the public good._
.But this is not all,—not only are elections rendered vicious,
and the morals of the people corrupted in these struggles
for personal advantages ; but unhappily the candidates partake of
the contamination; they roust promise allegiance to their party—
You shall be a Judge, and you a Justice, you a Major, and
you a Colonel; you a Clerk, and you a Commissioner; I will
solicit your cause in the Court of Errors, and will vote for your
friend to fill a seat in the Judiciary.
" When the Legislature is formed, then begins a scene of in-
trigue, of canvassing, rind finesse, which-1)01es all description,
and is too notorious to require proof, and too disgusting for ex-
hibition. The Members of a county in which an office is to be
posed of are beset by friendS and partisans of the candidates ; their
hopes and fears are excited by all the arts which can be suggested;
from these the attack extends itself till it reaches every Member
of the Legislature, and so strong and so general does the contest
become by the different Representatives having 'earls particular
objects to attain, that one grand scene of canvass and barter
ensues ; a vote for one is made the condition of voting for another,
without regard to qualifications; evenlaws which are to affect the
public inter( are trade the price of these interested concessions;
and not unfrequentlyisAmost the whole sitting of the Legislature
spent in a4usting the pretensions, and marshalling the strength
of the respective candidates for office. To such a pitch has this
grown, that even the Members of the Legislature complain of it
as an intolerable evil. These contests again lay the foundation
of new parties and new resentments at the next election. To coun-
teract the opposition which may he stirred up, all the appoint-
ments will be
.made with a view-to. strengthen the interest of
•

of the sitting Members. New Commission; Civil and Military,
Judges and Justices, General Officers, Geueral Staff and Field
Officers, will be made with a reference to the state of parties in
the county, instead of being dictated by a quite contrary spirit.
It is within the knowledge of those conversant with the courts
of Lou' that in the counties many of them are become mere peli.•
tical clubs. They take sides; and a man, before be brings on his
cause, counts Me heads upon the Bench.
" The result of all this is seen and felt in every quarter.
. . •

From hence proceed the jars and divisions which destroy the
pleasure of social life in every neighbourhood and village; and
from hence aria* the instability of laws, the multiplication of
magistrates, the weakness and divisions of the courts of justice,
the heats and ill-directed zeal at elections, and that general lan-
guor and dereliction of principle in every department, which
menaces the total deprivation of the body politic."

" Such Englishmen," says Mr. Cobbett, " such is
the description of a Legislative Assembly, where "equal
representation" prevails, where almost every man 'has
a vote at elections, and where those elections do an-
nually recur. The ambitious knaves O f matter you
tvith high notions of your rights aad privileges, who
are everlastingly dinning in your ears the blessings
of what they call the " elective franchise," wish to
add to the number of electors, because they well
know that they would thereby gain an accession of
strength. The only object that such men have in
view z.s the gratification of their own ambition
at the public expence, and to accomplish this ob-
ject they stand in need of your assistance. There is
a continual struggle between them and the legitimate
sovereignty of the country which restrains them from
pillaging, oppressing, and insulting the people. Hence
it is that they are constantly endeavouring to persuade
the people that that sovereignty requires to be checked
and controlled, in which nei:trious endeavours they are
unfortunately but too often successful. How they
would act were they once to engross the whole power
of the State you may easily, perceive, from what has
been disclosed to you respecting the legislature of an
American Republic. If you imagine that you
should be able to avoid the evils which from
this source the Americans have experienced, you
deceive yourselves most grossly ; they are as fond
of freedom as you are, and they want no in-
formation, nor any good and great quality that you
possess ; but having been too
,jealous if the Royal
authority, and lent their ear, and next their hand to
those demagogues, who persuaded them that they
were capable of governing themselves, they destroyed
the only safeguard of that liberty
*fir which they
thought they were fihting, and the want of which
they now so sensibly feel and so deeply deplore.
Read this, ye Electors of Preston, and ask yourselves
the value of the pledges and professions of the present
day.

Morton, the Dramatist, has been offered 1,000
guineas by the publisher of Fred. Reynolds's Lift and Times to
induce him to write his Memoir's. Morton is the author of A
cure for the Heart-ache, The Way to get Married, Speed the
Plough, Children in the Wood, and many other Dramas which
even now enjoy deserved popularity. Morton was the friend of
Miles, Peter Andrews, Major Toplutm, Cumberland, Sheridan,
Kemble, Storace, and all the brilliant wits who have lived during
the last forty years. Morton's has been a life of great variety,
especially as it relates to dramatic history.--Horning Chronicle.
[lf such an offer has been really made to Mr. Morton, we are
sorry to learn that his health is in so very precarious a state as to
leave little hope of either himself or the public benefiting by a
production which this talented writer could not ettierwise fad to
render highly interesting and amusing.)