The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-11 00:00:00

LEICESTER REFORM DINNER.

(Abridged from the Newark Mercury of Saturday.)
On Tuesday the friends to Parliamentary ncr,,,,„
dined together at the Bell Hotel, Leicester, R. 0.
CAVE, Esq. M.P. in the Chair. About sixty
respectable gentlemen sat down to the tables, whit: i
were well filled with choke and substantial fare.

After the usual loyal toasts the Citantsi" in
proposing the next—" Reform in the Commons'
House of Parliament, and a full, Lir, and free Re-
presentation of the People,"obserVed, that it al',
forded him grew pleasure to appear amorigst them
to give some account of his stewardship, and he
thought it would be a most excellent measure, if
every Representative was to meet his constituents
once a year, to point cut to them what had been
done during the sessions of Parliament, and to ask
their advice and guidance for the futures He con-
gratulated them on the rising spirit of Reform, not
only in Leicester, but throughout the country; and
though there were some who urged that the present
was riot the time for advocating such principles; yet
he considered that it was seasonable at all times,and
on every occasion, to try and effect a practical good.
No exertions would be thrown away in the cause,
else had the patriot and the martyr died in
vain. They had now got rid of that bigotted
aristocratical question, Catholic Emancipation, and
the road was now open to amendment and re-
form; and when he considered the financial and
commercial distresses of the country, and the avowed
inability of Ministers to grapple with the difficulty,
he felt convinced that a favourable result to the
cause must be produced. lie called upon his con-
stituents to use their best exertions, and though he
would not lay down to them any precise form for
their adoption, yet he considered there were three
things which ought to be embraced : first, extension
of suffrage; second, a shorter duration of Parlia-
ments; and third, the vote by ballot. Either one
of these would go very far in securing the blessings
of a good government. What had been done dur-
ing the last session of Parliament ? The removing
Catholic disabilities was certainly a great point
gained, but it was followed by a base, cowardly, and
illegal act, the disfranchisement of the forty-shilling
freeholders. Through those very men Ministers had
carried the question of Emancipation, and then
deprived them of their rights. But the evil was pro-
spective, and would serve as a precedent for future
measures. Who now could talk about vested rights,
and claim the privilege of non-resident freeholders
when men having committed no crime, having no
ban upon their names, were punis'sed by the for-
feiture of the elective franchise. Who could boast
of the enjoyment of civil rights, whilst Ministers
were enabled to appeal to such a precedent ? He
next cams to the base jugglery of expelling Mr.
O'Connell from his seat, and it certainly presented a
lamentable picture of a House of Commons that Mr.
O'Connell should suffer expulsion for refusing to
take an oath which that House had only a few weeks
before repealed. He next came to Mr. flume's di-
vision on the Corn Laws, and called the attention of
the meeting to the fact, that only twelve members
voted in favor of the motion. Another instance was,
the .division on his own resolution respecting the
Emancipation of Negro children, in which he had
chiefly adhered to the words of that great commen-
tator of the law, Blackstone. His arguments were
not met either by lawyer or politician in the
House, yet forty-live members had voted that
Blackstone was ignorant of British law. Indeed,
there was no hope that Government would change
its measures, unless there was a strong ex-
pression of feeling from the whole country at
large : for how could they expect redress to be
spontaneously offered by men who had declared that
they yielded to Catholic Emancipation, not as a
measure of justice to seven millions of their fellow-
subjects, but because they could withhold it no
longer, and if they could, they would have done so;
but worse than this, after they had carried the
questioa, by a most unconstitutional Act, they di-
rected-the thunder and lightning of the-Legislature
against one single man, whom they had declared
to be free. He would next advert to the cowardly
blood-stained crime committed at Terceira, which,
though justified by Ministers, made every honest
Englishman hold down his head with shame and re-
gret. On the opposition side of the House there
had been intrigue and coquetry for office, which,
however much to be regretted, he trusted would
end in good, for he hoped that when the Whigs
had attained their ends, they would once more
return to consult the prosperity of the people.
The question they were now to consider was, what
would be the best mode to obtain reform ? and he
would answer, it could only be obtained by the
strong force of public opinion, combined with
cir-
cumstances. Questions of reform should be agitated
in detail; and then, having successfully levelled the
outworks and shaken the tower of corruption to its
very base, it would tumble to the ground of its own
' accord. Every subject of reform should be taken
and attacked separately. They should contend for
reforms in the law--for reforms in the church—for
reforms in corporations, and for reforms in the Co-
lonies. The delays of the law ought to be obviated.
The expellee reduced; its meaning so clear and in-
telligible as not to admit of being distorted ; and it
should no longer be a reed to the poor and
a two-edged sword in the hands of the rich.
He would point attention to the church, parti-
cularly of Ireland, when there existed a perfect
anomaly. The revenues were supplied by men pro-
fessing another religion; and in some places there
were ministers, but, literally and truly, no congrega-
tion at all. Let the meeting examine the manners
and conduct of the clergy of England, particularly
the high dignitaries in the House of Lords. The
one had got up petitions, and the others made
speeches in the House of Lords, to prevent the
shackles of restraint being removed from the civil
rights of their fellow countrymen. Nay more, the
Duke of Wellington, a soldier who had passed his
early years in the tented field, and had grown grey
in victory, read a lesson of humanity and religion to
the bench of Bishops, who ought to have been fore-
most in recommending conciliation, peace, and good
will to all men. The Duke declared that he would
willingly sacrifice his life to save one month of civil
warfare. But the men who were robed in the eccle-
siasticarraiment, and whose great Master had taught
them, " If thou art smitten on one side, turn the
other also," these cried out to blow the trumpet of
civil warfare in their native land ; and instead of
raising their prayers for discord to cease, they uttered
blasphemous aspirations for vengeance on the Ca-
tholics. They trampled ow their sacred obligations,
they perverted the doctrines of the altar, to secure
their own aggrandisement and personal privileges.
He felt convinced that the merciless conduct of the
Orange faction in Ireland would recoil upon that
body, and he trusted that the laws would be impar-
tially enforced upon all. He looked upon Mr.
O'Connell (who had been a second time returned
for Clare) as an honest, bold, powerful, and eloquent
co-operator in the cause. There was yet another in-
strument working for general good, which was more
powerful than all—he meant the spread of educa-
tion, which was enlightening the mind of man and
elucidating his natural right. The schoolmaster had
already taught that English Protestants never could
be free whilst Irish Catholics remained as slaves.
The principles of liberty were triumphing in
France—in South America—in North America,
and it was that liberty which was founded in reli-
gion, reason, and justice. Many nations were still
under despotic rule; and it showed this great moral
lesson, that freedom was not to be gained in a day—
it was a mistress not to be lightly won, or cheaply
purchased. He would recommend the establishment
of a Club, or Committee, resembling the Catholic
Association, to take advantage of every favourable
opportunity for working Reform. He should alWays
be happy to render his services as long as they were
found available.
Mr. MILLER said that himself a Catholic, he felt
bound to advocate reform. He wished for annual
Parliaments, such as his Catholic forefathers had in-
stituted and found to prosper; he desired universal

suffrage and election by ballot, as it would put the
Ix, r e.. 11.11 beyond the reach of the rich man's thumb
11,1 d ;;:;ble him to enjoy the ekctive franchise. The
carrn?;,oa •1,.• ',rouse of Commons
w: ail!f necessary, and
but r;ediczd e..luld remove the

211 r. S. Covnu....x proposed the health of their
worthy representative Mr. Cave, with three times
three.

The CIIAIRATAN bricfly, warmly, retuncd
thanks, and proposed the health of Mr. Paget, who
replied at great length, in a speech which we re-
gret that our very contracted linnets will not ;know,
us to insert.

The CHAIRMAN then gave " Mr. O'Connell and
the reformers of Ireland."—Song," Hurrah for the
Emerald Isle."—" The London University.°—.
" Prosperity to all Institutions that have for their
object the improvement of mankind." (In giving
this last. toast, the Chairman again urged the neces-
sity of forming a Chib to protect the local interests
of the town, and animadverted very strongly on the
taxing of pensioners.)
T. B. PAGET, Esq. after some clever allusions to
the change in the principles of parties, gave " Suc-
cess to the proposed measures of the Martinis of
Blandford for political reform," to which the Chair-
man requested to couple " Lord Winchelsea, and
success to his efforts for Reformation in the Church."

Several other toasts were given, and the Chair-
man quitted the room about eleven o'clock.

THE BENCHERS of the INNER TEMPLE,
AND THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

have only this instant read the article of
the Times. newspaper, on the late regulations of the
Inns of Court, and am surprised at the nature and
tendency of observations which appear to me at
variance with the usual spirit of that Journal, which
seems to have allowed itself to be misled by argu-
ments drawn from the enactments and practice of
the College of Physicians. The many melancholy
public exhibitions which that learned body has made
of the trading and corporate spirit by which it is
actuated, might have saved the Times from such a
mistake.

It is the failing of this country to be too lenient
to the errors of corporate bodies. But Ido not
mean to deal in general assertions, but confine
myself to a few f►cts concerning this corporate body
in particular, by which you may judge whether the
example of the College of Physicians ought riot
rather to urge on the practitioners of law to more
strenuous opposition to the obnoxious, and, as they
appear to me, very bad regulations of the Inns of
Court.

When you learn that three-fourths of the phy-
sicians of London are excluded from the College ;
that the only two physicians* of London, who
have held the highest scientific honour conferred by
this country, that of President of the Royal So-
ciety, would have been excluded from the College
by its present laws; that about fifty of the practising
physicians of London, at this moment, are Fellows
of the Royal Society, though excluded from the
College; that the only English physician elected to
be a Member of the National Institute of France is
excluded from the College ; that such names as
those of Fothergill, Hunter, Beddoes, Askew,
Saunders, and in our own times Blane, Babington,
Prout, Roget, Armstrong, and a host of others,
well known to and highly esteemed by the public,
have been excluded; that the greatest ornament to
the science of medicine this country ever produced,
the glory and boast of his own age and all succeeding
generations, the liberal benefactor to the College itself,
the immortal Harvey, would have been excluded by
the present enactments of the College; when you
learn that while a few attornies of merit have been
called to the bar, a multitude of apothecaries have
been admitted physicians by this much praised sys-
tem, and those too not by any means generally de-
serving that honour; you may perhaps think right
to advise the Benchers of the Temple to adhere to a
system which, though not perfect, has at all events
been productive of peace and concord, rather than
adventure on one which is unwise in its institution,
seldom fair in its application, and has involved a
liberal and learned profession in tumults and com-
motions, which have degraded them in the eyes of
the public, and even made them despicable in
their own.

But the Times says, that confidence may be placed
in the honourable feelings and integrity of gentle-
men practising a liberal profession. Alas! Sir, it
is sad to observe how little gentlemen of li-
beral professions are exempt from the paltry mo-
tives by which corporations are actuated. lam
in habits of daily intercourse, and the most friendly
communication, with the greater number of the Fel-
lows of the College ; and I am proud to say, that
there are very few of the number to whom indivi-
dually I could not confide with ease and safety any
thing in which my honour and interest were con-
cerned, however strong the inducement might be to
violate the trust; but so powerful is party and Cor-
poration spirit, that there is hardly one of them
in whom I dare place the smallest reliance in his
corporate capacity. It is curious to hear and wit-
ness the ingenious arguments and curious devices
by which they excuse themselves, for a total de-
parture from those rules which influence their com-
mon conduct. Nay, there are some of them who in
the affairs of other associations and companies, and
in the daily politics of the country, carry their opi-
nions the whole length of radicalism, whose spirit
nevertheless, in the affairs of their own College,
creeps within the narrow circle of that which is ex-
pedient and comfortable for themselves.

- But, Sir, this though matter of public notoriety,
must not rest on my assertion, I will therefore chuse
two examples among many, by which the other mem-
bers of the College may be very fairly judged, since the
two persons to whom I refer were chosen by the una-
nimous voices of that learned body to the very
honourable office of its President. The late very
learned and much regretted Dr. Wells was proposed
by Drs. Pitcairn and Baillie for examination, to be
a Fellow of the College. By a law of the College,
such an examination to a person so proposed was a
matter of right, not of favour. The candidate was
so highly respectable, that his name had been en-
rolled in the lists of almost every scientific body in
the kingdom. He would have conferred honour on
the College of Physicians, as he had upon other
learned associations. Yet, to the everlasting dis-
grace of the College, and the bitter disappoint-
ment of its best friends, the proposal of Drs. Pit-
cairn and Baillie, then the most eminent physicians
in London, was rejected, and the votes of Drs. Gis-
borne and Sir Lucas Pepys were counted against
it. It will hardly be believed that the former of
these last named gentlemen had proposed and re-
commended D. Wells to be a Member of the Royal
Society, and the latter had, on a public occasion,
thus expressed himself. "Dr. Wells is no mean
person ; he is well known to the world, both as a
gentleman and as •a scholar." Now, Sir, if Drs.
Gisborne and Sir Lucas Pepys, who were both Pre-
sidents of the College, could, on two occasions, which
will appear very similar to the rest of the world, con-
duct themselves in a manner so different, what re-
liance is to be placed on the liberal feelings of the
other Fellows ?

I trust that these observations will deter those
Benchers from following the example of the other
learned professions, and that they will rather adopt
truly English feelings, and promote and assist the
views of the other members of their profession, who
are desirous of uniting themselves to them. If they
are determined to persevere in their present line of
conduct, let them be aware that the publiegenerally,
and learned men in particular, look with most ineffa-
ble contempt on rules which would make a bad and
imperfect knowledge of Greek and Latin, the quali-
fication for entering upon the practice of a profession
.whieh deals only with the wants and necessaries of
Englishmen.
A PHYSICIAN.
* Sir Hans Sloane and Sir John Pringle.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The important intelligence which we commu-
nicated to the country yesterday, in our second
edition, of the total change of the French Mi-
nistry en masse, is confirmed to-day. We con-
fess we view the change with satisfaction, as
likely to facilitate the intercourse between the
two countries, which can have only a common
interest. But when we describe any feeline-
whatever as excited by the acts of the French
people or their Government, it is of course only
.as neighbours that we speak. We have nothing
to do with their internal administration. The
Constitutionnel, in speaking of the rumours of
that change in France which we now know to
have taken place, says—" If this news (of the
change of Ministry) be confirmed, we shall
certainly pass under the yoke of the policy of the
Duke of Wellington. Melancholy destiny!"
Why so ? we ask. Is that an illiberal or narrow-
principled policy which has broken the yoke of
religious bondage, whereby millions of our fel-
low-creatures have been needlessly bound for
Ages ? With respect to the affairs of the East
also. When did a conqueror ever practice mo-
deration ? And the Emperor Nicholas we now
know to be in the high way of victory. Yet, if
he should be induced to halt in his career, and
to suspend his successful operations against a
falling enemy, through the united and friendly
intercession of France and England, in how sub-
lime a position would those two nations be
placed ! But we return to concerns locally
nearer home, and hazard a discussion on the im-
portant change which- has taken place in the
French Ministry, and which may consequently
produce a modification in the future policy of
that powerful nation: Of Prince Polignac, who
is now placed in the eminent situation of Chief
of the Cabinet, we have already had frequent
occasion to speak. In his external policy, we
believe that Prince to be a firm and consistent
friend to an intimate alliance between England
and France. No doubt, to a certain degree,
the views of Austria, personified in Prince Met..
ternich, are those of one who endeavours to main-
tain the statu quo of Europe as established at the
Ipeace,
externalbot relationsh as regards
o
t e
the v
s internaleeseveral
sgovernmenttates
of
pia and
the .
rope. But we cannot help thinking that the states-
man who has avowed his resistance to the most
minute change in the institutions of that coun-
try has failed of duly reflecting that other na-
tions as well as the French must, to a certain
degree, participate in the wants of the French
people when the Bourbons returned to France--
wants so well expressed in the preamble of the
charter given by Louis XVIII. We hope we
shall not be thought to mean that the new French
Cabinet will become the ally of the discontented
spirits throughout Europe : far from it ; it will
rather lean the other way ; but the chief mem-
bers of it, in their antipathy to governments
formed like the popular ones of Madrid, Turin,
and Naples, will, perhaps, be brought to the ne-
cessity of acknowledging that a change similar,
or somewhat similar, to the_ one that has taken
' place in France, must sooner or later take place
in nearly every European State whose civiliza-
tion keeps pace with that of its neighbours.
But we repeat, that the experience which
the Prince de Polignac has had of the ad-
vantages of a representative form of govern-
ment in England, from his long residence
amongst us, and his recent declaration in the
Chamber of Peers respecting his conscientious
prayers for the perpetuity of such institutions in
his own country, convince us that he will turn
the influence of his powerful counsels towards
the gradual adoption, in every surrounding state,
of institutions, moulded not upon English, not
upon French, constitutions or charters, but
growing out of the feelings, habits, and, to a cer-
tain degree, prejudices, of every individual state.
Prussia, gradually rising towards a constitutional
form of government, represents pretty well what
we mean to indicate. As regards the East, the
question becomes more complex and delicate :
we believe the Prince de Polignac to share to a
certain and just degree the repugnance wit')
which our Government would see Russia in pos.
session of the Turkish Empire, or even humbling
that state into abject submission. All his efforts
will be directed, as to a point of paramount im-
portance, towards the speedy re-establishment of
peace. But the Prince has signed the treaty of Lon-
don, and the protocols : he will raise his voiee
in favour of Greece, without reference, perhaps,
to classic allusions, but to the dictates of huma-
nity. We believe the Prince will agree in the
opinion we have before expressed of the pro-
priety of obtaining from the Sultan the limits of
Arta and VSlo. What is known of M. de Po-
lignac's character is, that it unites firmness with
moderation : he will urge earnestly upon the
Sultan what he thinks just, fair, indispensable.
Should a blind obstinacy continue to actuate the
Divan, why then, with the just confidence mu-
tually subsisting between the Duke of 'Welling-
ton and Prince Polignac, we have strong hope
that some plan will be adopted which will at
once cut the Gordian knot, and place Greece in
a proper attitude under the protection of the two
Powers. Of Portugal, we would say little : we
have no doubt the Prince will cordially join our
Government in urging upon Don Miguel the
necessity of moderation and justice. As regards
the internal policy of France, it would be vain
to deny that the leaning of Prince Polignac
is towards the principles of policy which
distinguish (as far as the two countries may
be compared) that party which is vulgarly
called here the Church and King party. We
may therefore expect to see the famous
ordinances respecting public instruction repealed ;
but if it be true that the Minister intends to
substitute the unrestricted liberty of public in-
struction to the present monopoly of the uni-
versity, perhaps, after all, a progress will be made.
Let him remove, in the same spirit of consoli-
dating institutions, the present laws as far as re-
gards the transmission of real property—not as
the Villele Ministry would have done it, in a
feudal spirit, but in the real wish to confirming
estates in the hands of families disposed to up-
hold such institutions. Let him do away with
those parts of the law which, framed by the re-
publicans for the avowed purpose of preventing
the the formation of families, and the accumulation
of wealth in the hands of ioenidlrtiisveiitliauntaeltsh,
eohf"a.
and too well, attained their end, at the same
time that they have become a serious source of
evil in parcelling out land, destroying families,
But in de-
stroying an
him
antiquated
dca
ri,iaedazwi
eilesgsa
areinsenedvge
ntsohh
taealicedkl
rel sehislrs:eluoctl
leth
which checks honest enterprise.
av oid
forms,d7-eits
whose effect is to scare the people from an ho-
nest consideration of these topics. Let every man
dispose of his own property as he likes; but, as
the law of England allows, with those salutary
checks upon the immutability of land, and its
great accumulation, which have been from time
to time added to it. Let him reduce the age of

submission to the Chambers from 40 ro no
as used to be the case in 1815 ;
years of age)
—let him put an end to that childish strugg,le
between the Ministers and the Hots' is to the
right of being consulted upon the great interests
of the state, and being made acquainted with
the official transactions of the Governront ;—let
him at the same time endeavour to develop gra-
dually the influence of the French Peerage, open-
ing it to wealth, talent, and public services, and
we may yet anticipate for this Minister some teal
glory, in assuring to his country the consolida-
tion .or her constitution, and preserving peace and
tranquillity throughout &trope, in checking that
Power which threatens its equilibrium. We have
been led into these remarks, which may appear
premature nt presumptuous ; but we believe our
peculiar impartial situation enables us to say
much which the spirit of party prevents even the
most moderate from expressing through the re-
gular organs of the French press.— Times.

It has been pretty obvious for some time to
all attentive observers of the course of events in
France, that a change of Ministry was inevitable.
The change, which most persons of any discern=
merit were prepared for, has taken places A
sort of manifesto has been issued by the new Mi-
nistry, which our readers will find in another
column, under the head of " Change of the
French Ministry."—We are not sufficiently ac-
quainted with the state of France to he able to
say whether the policy unfolded in this manifesto
is one which is likely to be attended with suc-
cess. All that we can say is, that the views of
the party are well expressed, a circumstance no
way surprising, as the French excel in clearness
and arrangement, and are much better logicians
than the writers of this country, But a sys-
tematic exposition of the doctrines of a party
may be very logical, and yet the doctrines them-
selves may not be suited to the people to be
governed. Much in such a case depends on the
manner in which the population and property of
a country are distributed. France, England,
and the United States of America, for instance,
in these respects, differ greatly from each other ;
and the same Government could hardly, there-
fore, have a chance of permanency with all the
three. The complaint against the late Mi-
nistry is, that " it sacrificed the Royal Pre-
rogative instead of defending it, and it
seemed to be occupied in seeking to learn what
was the wish of the Chambers, instead of guid-
ing the Chambers—a course consistent with the
Royal will." Here we come at once to the
knotty point in constitutional politics ; seeking
to learn what was the wish of the Chambers, in-
tead of guiding the Chambers ! It is truly said
that this is the principle of the United States ;
that all power is derived from the people—" a
principle that cannot be admitted in France,
where there exists a representative Government,
of which Monarchy is as it were the commence-
ment, the middle, and the end." Again, the
principle of Parliamentary Supremacy and Mo-
narchy are incompatible. " Others, says the
writer, taking from another country (England)
its absolute aristocratical principles, wish to
impart among us the omnipotence of Parliament
and the Ministerial domination." In the United
States the people guide the rulers ; in England
the aristocracy guide the rulers ; but in France
the Monarch must guide the Chambers. In
riding, the man ought to be able to guide the
ass ; but it sometimes happens the will of the
man yields to the will of the ass. What if the
Chambers will not be guided ? If the Royal
will and the will of those who return
Members to the Chamber of Deputies
happen to coincide, the Deputies may allow
themselves to be guided ; but if there be
a collision, the weakest, as in all such cases,
must go to the wall. It is pretty obvious that in
France there are no materials for an aristocracy
in the English sense. The Revolution did its
work too well for that. Admitting, therefore,
with the French writer, that there can be only
one supreme power in a country, it does not fol-
low that the Monarch possesses that power. The
Monarch cannot purchase all the copies of the
newspapers sold. The newspapers will pub-
lish—not what is likely to please the Monarch,
but what is likely to please their readers ; and if
the Monarch attempt measures disagreeable to
the people, the Journalists will, from a very in-
telligible motive, espouse the side of the latter.
Journalists may be mistaken—they may state
that which is not true, and they may draw wrong
conclusions from correct premises. But they
live and move only in accordance with public
opinion. So much is this the case, that no
doctrines can ever be deemed reputable in a
country in which the Press is free, till a number
of people entertain them sufficient to support a
Journal. We do not, therefore, very well un-
derstand the meaning of the tirade against "
Jour-
nalism ; and the observation, that it is time
that the Royal power should disperse the clouds
which obscure public opinion, and that the
Royal will, over again manifested to France,
should appear like the rays of the sun amidst
the storm raised by licentiousness." If it be
meant that the newspapers are the clouds
which obscure public opinion, and that the
Royal will should disperse the newspapers, in or-
der to guard against " intellectual anarchy," the
experiment may be attended with difficulty. The
French are anxious to make every thing clear to
themselves. They see the absurdity of the doc-
trine of balances of powers in Government—
they know that when two men ride one horse,
one must ride foremost—that there cannot be
balanced powers. But it is one thing to see the
inconsistency of a theory of Government, and
another to organize a durable Government. The
English, who do not well know what sort of
Government they live under, still rub on, and,
notwithstanding the confident predictions of Re-
formers, will probably rub on for some time.
Before the Revolution of 1688 the English Go-
vernment writers generally advocated the views
of the French Manifesto. They were logically
correct, but unfortunately Parliament did not
choose to be guided, and the supremacy of
Parliament was finally established. Since that
time the King has become a part only of
the supreme power. He has no power to
do any thing of himself, but, without his in-
terference, the Aristocracy would fall by the ears,
and he has, therefore, more power than a mere
President of the Aristocracy—that of selecting
the members of the Aristocracy who shall wield
the Government when they cannot agree among
themselves on this point. If the King were to
name Ministers not acceptable to the Aris-
tocracy as a body, the consequence would be,
that a majority could not be obtained. All
collision of this kind is generally avoided by
secret negociations with the leading men in in-
fluence with the body, so that when Parliament
meets, there is no uncertainty as to the movement.
Parliament guides itself, or rather Parliament and
Ministers are one. We can understand why
the Prussian Government should be stable, be-
cause there is the same unity of principle in it

that there is in the Government of England and
America. In America, the will of the people
determines the public men; in England, the will
of the Aristocracy pretaib. In t'russia, the will
of the Mon'rbh ; who, of course, for his own ease.
ttn'ci security, interferes as little personally as pos-
sible ; but governs through regular 1.30.rqt,.
So long as the peorile remaln i-,.rsuaded that a
Governine!...t is conducted in the way that they
vvotad wish it to be conducted, if they had
a choice, there is little danger. In the Mani-
festo of the French Ministry, it is observed; that
" Revolutions are never at an end until the
timate party feels that it reigns; no interests are
secure, if it be alarmed for its owil. Now it is
only by the certainty; by the confidence which it
has of its victory, that its interests can obtain
perfect security. But a Representative body,
chosen by the Democracy (for there is no Aris-
tocracy in Franee), may not be disposed to allow
w the Ministry of the Monarch this perfect se-
curity. In our extracts from the Moniteur and
other Papers, the constitution of the ire* Mi-
nistry will be seen; It Ia hinted, we see, that the
new Ministry arid the English Ministry will be
Oh the best terms. The French Three per
Cents. fell three francs, which would seem to
indicate apprehension as to the durability of the
Administration. One change In principle at
least is goodthat of naming a Layman to the
Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs. A Priest is
necessarily the slave of the rules to which his
order have bound themselves.; and he is not a
free agent where matters relating to that order
are concerned. Priests ought, therefore, to be
carefully excluded from all State matters, and
confined to the duties which the State appoints
them to discharge.—. Morning Chronicle.

We alluded, the other day, somewhat freely,
but as we thought was due, to a certain prose
author called the " Gazette Writer." It is due,
in justice to the banished Muses, that we should,
in their turn, inquire of what use a certain poetic
author is, yclept " The Poet Laureate." It is
an age since his numbers, as such, have struck
upon the public ear. We have heard of "No
song no supper ;" and surely, if the Laureate
has nothing left to write about, if his quantum
meruit is at an end, is it but fit that his salary
and his butt of sack should cease also to be
provided for from the public coffers ? We are
free to confess that the Birth-day Odes of the
last reign were relics of an age long since gone
by, and are much more honoured in the breach
than the observance. But if a man has lain down
his carriage, why should he continue to pay wages
to a coachman, more especially if he happen to be
a man who never was employed as such ? And if
the Kings of England have ceased to keep a Fool,
why should they continue to pay a Poet ?
It is to be hoped that we, who live both
by poetry and prose, shall not be set down
as enemies to literature. We are only ene-
mies to its abuse. We think it as much an
abuse to pay a Poet Laureate for writing no-
thing, as it would be to pay a Chancellor of the
Exchequer who had nothing to do with the
finances. We are far from thinking that litera-
ture is too much encouraged at head quarters ;
but, on the contrary, being so little encouraged,
we do not see why the very little encouragement
which it receives might not be conveyed through
a useful rather than through a useless channel.
Why, for instance, might not the Poet Laureate
be turned into a prose writer, and be made a
kind of public annalist ? Nothing is more want-
ing than authentic materials for history. At
present many of those materials are either with.
held, or never see the light till their interest, if
not their utility, has vanished ; whereas, if it
‘1 ere the duty of some person to collect them into
an authentic form, they would be an imperishable
record and analysis of events, which time, for
want of such a record, now buries in doubt or
obscurity. We throw this out as a hint, which
we conceive might be improved upon. At any
rate, the farce of paying a poet where ♦irtually
no poet exists, is a slander upon the Muses and
upon common sense.—Morning Herald.
We have received from Paris the important in-
telligence of a total change in the French Mi-
nistry—a change which we consider to be of the
most happy description, and upon which there-
fore we cannot refrain from congratulating not
only the people of France, but those of Great
Britain and of every other honourable State in
Europe. The Prince de Polignac is placed at
the head of affairs, and from the perfect coinci-
dence of political sentiment between his High-
ness and the illustrious Personage at the head
of the British Ministry, we fondly augur the
most auspicious results to the general interests
of mankind. The following is a list of the new
Ministry of France :
Prince de Polignac—Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Monsieur de la Bourdonnaye—Minister of the
Inte►ior.

Admiral de Rigny—Minister of Marine.
Count de Chabrol—Minister of Finance.
General Bourmont—Minister at War.

M. Courvoisier—Minister of Justice.

The offices of the Ministry of Commerce, Public
Instruction, and Religion, are united with the Mi-
nistry of the Interier, by which a considerable di-
minution of expense will be effected.
M. de Portalis is to be First President of the
Court of Cessation.

—Thus has intelligence of great importance, of
various kinds, and from different parts of the
world, at once poured upon us in unusual
abundance. The total and happy change in the
Administration of France, the passage of the
Balkan accomplished, or almost accomplished,
by powerful bodies of the Russian troops, and
the peremptory refusal of the Grand Seignior to
listen to any humiliating terms of accommoda-
tion, notwithstanding the danger which now
seems to approach him so nearly—are events of
which the information has reached us within the
space of twenty-four hours. Having received
these articles of news as it were all together, we
are tempted, in the few observations we now
propose to make, to consider them conjointly ;
and indeed this combination, although it be ac-
cident which suggests it, will not we think be
disavowed by deliberate reflection. The inci-
dents appear to us to bear reciprocally upon
each other, and to be chiefly important when
viewed in the aspects in which their combined or
reciprocal influence is most conspicuous and
powerful. The change of the French Adminis-
tration is of importance to Europe, prin-
cipally on account of the effect it may
be expected to produce in the foreign policy
of France ; and the affairs of the East are
at this moment tne subject to which the atten-
tion and the efforts of every great European
Power must of necessity, and to the temporary
exclusion almost of every other consideration, be
directed. It cannot have escaped attention that
the Journals devoted to the liberal party—to the
party rather which calls itself liberal from vanity,
and is so called by the rest of the world in de-
rision—have been strenuously exerting them-

. selves of late to convince the people of France
that the interests of their country and the gene-
ral cause of liberty and civilization among man-
t kind are likely to be promoted by the complete
success of the Russian arms, and the final ex-
tinction of tilt. Ottothan power. This has been
the leading doctrine of the French Liberals; and
as several individuals connected witli the party,
and supported by its influence, held high office
in the Admininistration now happily defunct,
the earnestness with which this extravagance has
recently been inahitained rriav, it seems reason-
i able to tOnclUde, have been intended either to
strengthen them in the continued possession
of power, or to prepare the grounds of
an opposition to the anticipated policy of their
sitceeBsors, in which they are expected to take
the lead. For this and other reasons there
seems little reason to doubt that the new Admi-
nistration of France will be very decidedly op-
posed to the overthrow of the Ottothan Power,
and the aggrandizement of Russia ; and that in
this respect the policy of France will be more
zealously and firmly combined with that of Eng-
land than it could ever have been, so long as
the late Administration remained in power. It
appears probable also, when we consider the ma-
terials of which the French Chambers are at
present composed, and the temper manifested by
the electoral bodies upon all recent occasions,
that the Tory Ministry of France will be fully
aware of the danger to them of a dilatory or
compromising policy, and of the necessity of at-
tempting whatever they desire to effect by vi-
gorous counsels and combinations the most
prompt and decisive. The circumstances in
which this Administration is formed impose upon
it, as the essential condition of its continued
existence, the necessity of producing results con-
formable to French interests, and at the same
time conspicuous and brilliant in the eyes of
the world. Nothing short of this will prevent
Liberalism from resuming its sway. The deter-
mination of the Grand Seignior to refuse all con-
cession does not excite our surprise ; nor do we
think it probable that the approach of the Rus-
sian armies to the heart of his dominions will in
the least shake his resolution. He relies upon
effective assistance at the hour of need, and in
all probability he will not be disappointed. The
downfall of his empire is repugnant to the inte-
rests and the wishes of England and France, and
is acknowledged to be so by both these Powers.
The Turkish Emperor is ignorant neither of the
temper nor the interests of these great nations,
and he is accordingly firm in the belief that they
will not endure the odium and the disgrace of
having first co-operated in a series of measures,
and then having tamely permitted another
Power, which tempted them to this co-opera-
tion, to over-rule the whole proceedings of the
confederacy to a result most derogatory to their
honour and injurious to their welfare. In this
degraded position the Sultan knows that France
and England will be left, if the projects of Rus-
sian ambition should eventually be accomplished,
and in this well-founded persuasion he feels
conscious that he is secure. But if France or
England are to interpose for the protection of
Turkey, it may he said is it not already time,
now that the latter has shown herself inca-
pable of defending the formidable barrier of
the Balkan ? We would answer this question by
another—ls it quite certain that the Turks could
not have.resisted the passage of the Russian di-
visions ? Perhaps not effectally, in the end ; but
was there any necessity, in a military point of
view, to allow them an unobstructed passage ?
The Russians would have us believe that their
easy and bloodless progress results from the con-
summate skill of their military combinations,
and that they have stolen a march upon their
enemy. This cannot be believed, unless we
reverse the opinion which the history of the war,
and all the proceedings, political and military, of
the Turks for a considerable period has led us
to form of that extraordinary Government. Is it
not at least equally probable that the Turkish
Government is desirous of accelerating a crisis,
in which the Great Powers of Europe will be
compelled to adopt a decisive line of policy ? Is
it impossible that this Government foresees or
imagines a state of affairs, in which it would be
conducive to her permanent welfare, or which in
her view must be the same thing, to the injury
of her assailant, to have the range of the Balkan
interposed between a considerable body of Rus-
sian troops and the reinforcements and supplies
which they may require.—Morning Post.
The hardship sustained by poor Hall, who
had been arrested and thrown into prison for an
alleged forfeiture of his recognizance, although
he convicted the party whom he bound himself
to prosecute, we have heard has been noticed in
the proper quarter, and, it is said, that the Act
passed a few Sessions ago relating to recagni-
zances will be amended. As the law now
stands, persons who bind themselves to prosecute
offenders, are so limited to time for the with-
drawal of their recognizances, and the crowd of
individuals is so great who rush to the office to
withdraw them, at the end of the Old Bailey
and Clerkenwell Sessions, that in endeavouring
to obtain admission, the weakest must go to the
wall, and several do not succeed in their object.
The arrest of Hall for an alleged debt due to
the King, who had fulfilled the terms of his re-
cognizance to the utmost, is not a solitary
instance of similar hardship, and the con-
sequence is, that many individuals, rather
than subject themselves to the incon-
venience of the provisions of this faulty and de-
fective Act, suffer notorious delinquents to
escape rather than bind themselves to prosecute.
Thus it is that several notorious offenders are
permitted to go at large, and the public suffer—
for it is surely monstrous, that a person who
considers himself as having fulfilled his obliga-
tion, should be liable to be arrested by a bailiff,
and exposed, when, in fact, he had incurred no
debt, but had performed a public duty as a good
citizen. Persons in the situation of Mr. Hall
ought not to be suddenly pounced upon by a
bailiff, and assailed afterwards by individuals de-
manding fees to which they are not entitled. A
proceeding so gross, unjust, and unconstitu-
tional, cannot be surpassed, and it must have
been a great oversight in the Legislature to pass
an Act fraught with such temptations to hard-
ship and oppression, and which is so very inju-
rious to the public interest.—Morning Ad-
vertiser.

Lady MORGAN is in error, in her " Book of
the Boudoir," when she states the " Old Duchess of
NORTH UMBERLA ND" to be the last who appeared in Eng-
land with a " running footman." The father of the late
Earl of PEMBROKE, likewise the late Duke of GLoucEs-
TER, to the end of their lives retained this custom.

On Saturday last, an enormous rat was ob-
served to he in the act of running away with a chicken
on the premises of a gentleman near this town, when a
pursuit took place, and it was at last killed. Its immense
size induced the persons who caught it to ascertain its
weight, which was found to be two pounds and a half !
Stockport Advertiser.

SUMMER ASSIZES.

NORFOLK CIRCUIT-BURY ST. EDMUND'S,

AucvsT 10.

William Iptckle, aged 19, was indicted for that
he, on the 9th day of June last, at the parish of
Ashfield Magno, in this county, feloniously assaulted
one Leah Warren, and cut her throat with a knife,
with intent to kill and murder her.

The prisoner was attired in a blue surtout. He
is what is called " a pretty fellow," with light hair,
small and regular features, and rosy cheeks.
The female whom he was charged with attempt-
ing to murder is a pretty interesting girl, about
is years of age, and was attired in a very becoming
Manner:

.....
The interest excited by the trial was prodigious,
and the Court at an early hour was crowded. It is
remarkable that this county produces more murders
of an extraordinary kind than all the other counties
in England.
Mr. MALTBY, the Counsel for the prosecution,
said that it Was his duty to bring before the Court
and Jury the facts of this most painful and distress-
ing case. The prisoner was charged with attempt-
ing to murder a young woman of the name of Leah
Warren, the daughter of a builder and bricklayer,
residing at Badwell Ash, in that county. The pri-
soner was in the employment of the father of the
girl, and paid his addresses to her. Previous to
Michaelmas last, she was persuaded by some of her
relatives to discontinue his addresses. He was ex-
ceedingly distressed at this determination on her
part; and having seen the young woman with, an-
other young man, some few days afterwards, he was
driven to a state of distraction, and attempted to put
an end to his existence by hanging himself. On the
7th ofJune last, the prisoner saw the young woman
at her father's house, and he proposed to renew his
addresses to her. She declined; and on the 9th of
June he saw her walking with a young man named
Eli Hunt. It was at that moment, in all proba-
bility, that he first contemplated the commission of
the crime that had brought him to the bar where
he was standing. On the same night he met the
young woman, and asked her to go with him to a
place three miles off; and when she declined, he re-
quested her to go into a field close by, in which
there was a pond. She refused to go with him, and
he seized her by the head, pulled her bonnet-strings
tight under her throat, threw her down upon her
back, and cut her throat with a knife.
Leah Warren examined by Mr. MALTBY—I live
at Badwell, and am the daughter of a bricklayer. I
have known the prisoner quite well for two years
and a half. He worked for my father.—
He paid his addresses to me till up to three
weeks before last Michaelmas. My friends then
objected to his addresses, and advised me to
discontinue them, which I told him, and we d:d dis-
continue. I was at service at the time. I returned
home near Whitsuntide. On Sunday, the 7th of
June, I was at hotne, and saw the prisoner. He de-
sired to renew his addresses. He asked me "if I
was going to Walsham ?" I said " Yes;" and he
said "he would walk with me, if I had no objec-
tion." I said " I had none," and we went toge-
ther. In the afternoon I had been crying; he came
in and asked me " what was the matter with me ?"
I said " my sister and brother had been taking me
to do for going with him in the morning." lie said
tc if they have any thing to say, why not say it to
me ? I would rather they should than to you."—
He said he would rather lose every drop of blood he
had than to see a hair of my head wronged. He
said lie would leave my father, and I persuaded
him riot, and he said he should not be comfortable
any more, if he thought it would riot be agreeable
to the family; they had always given him hints
about it. I said I was going to Walsham to meet
my sister. He said he wished I should not go; he
would rather go himself, and if my brother and sis-
ter had any thing to say, he had rather they should
say it to him. Ely Hunt, a young man, then came
in to the door, and asked me if I was going to meet
my sister ? I said no. The prisoner was then gone
forward. I went with Hunt and one of my other
sisters to meet my sister. The prisoner saw me
with Hunt, and said tome, " So you would come?
I'll go forward." He did so, and I followed him.
After meeting on the Sunday, I saw him again be-
tween six and seven. We were both at the meeting
Service. He did not board and lodge at my father's.
That night I slept at my uncle's, at Ashfield, half a
mile from my father's. I went with my father and
sisters across the fields thither. I saw the prisoner
at Ashfield after they left me, about nine o'clock.
He came past my uncle's when I was in the yard. I
did not expect him. He called me, and I went
to him. He asked me whether I would go on the
Tuesday evening to Backton ? It was getting dusk.
I raid 1 would, and made an engagement with him
to go. I said my sisters and brother would go on
the Monday night, and I should have to go with
them. It was a sort of fair at Backton on the
Tuesday. He still said lie wished I would go with
him. About half-past five on the Monday morning
I again saw him on my return from my uncle's. He
knew on the Sunday night I should walk home at
that hour, and he agreed to walk with me. He
came into my uncle's yard before I was down. He
went nearly half way home. He said then he hoped
I would go on the Tuesday evening with him, and
I said I would. He said he thought I was old
enough to please myself. About an hour after that
he came to my father's house, and stopped near
two hours. I went down to Badwell, arid he
followed me, and I met him as I was coming back.
I had asked him, " If he was coming that way ?"
arid he said " Yes ;" and I asked him to meet me.
I was with him all the Monday morning till half-
past twelve. We walked all the morning by Daisy
green. My family did not know of it. Our con-
versation was about ourselves, and he hoped I should
he united to him. I wished to be united to him if
could get my friends' consent. I was much at-
tached to him, and I said, " I would one time or
another marry him." I am certain that he is
attached to me, arid always was, and I am to him
fervently—devotedly. (The witness was here
greatly affected, burst into a flood of tears, and
fainted, and it was some time before she could again
be composed. Her distress excited the greatest
possible sympathy, as many a tearful eye testified.
Mr. Baron GARROW—What do Yon say young
woman ? Witness (weeping)—l said that lam
sure he loves me. (This avowal produced an ex-
traordinary expression in the Court in favour of the
prisoner, in which the Jury actually joined.)
Mr. MALTBY rose, and said, that after the painful
scene of which they had all been witnesses, he, as
Counsel for the prosecution, and after having con-
sulted his client and the father of the poor girl who
lately stood in the witness box, felt that public jus-
tice had been satisfied, and the ends of investigation
answered by the examination which had already
taken place into the circumstances of this most dis.
tressing case. The father of the young woman, see-
ing that his daughter was still, with all the con-
stancy of a woman's affection, attached to the pri-
soner, had consented to their union ; and, on behalf
of the prosecutor, be, with the sanction of his Lord-
ship, would decline offering any further evidence.
Mr. GUNNING said, that as Counsel for the pri-
soner lie might perhaps be allowed to express his own
and the prisoner's most grateful sense of the kind-
ness which had prompted his Learned Friend, and
the mercy which had been shown by those who
had instituted this inquiry. The proceedings of this
day would. be long remembered by all now present, and
he
pr
se: iv, rioaemd,
a%evnsoc‘u%a,l
escaped,
db
oat
uThi
ltedi last en
rpt
returnel
yr s
bo rei
wtto forget
ryasnt eh
orge
u el i et
dangerowt al
is ell
the partner—he hoped the happy partner—of his
life; and, if his client would attend to his advice,
he would most. earnestly entreat him to devote the
remainder of his life to the promotion of her hap-
piness, and prove, by unwearied affection, that he
was not the only person who had not profited by
this most painful scene.

Mr. Baron GARaow, who was very much af-
fected, then addressed the Jury. The scene of this
day had been the most distressing which, in the

course of his judicial experience, he had witnessed ; '
and the countenances of the Jury full well assured
him that they were not insensible to the painful
spectacle. He (the Learned Baron) should not be
the person to be least thankful at the termination of
this singular case; for if their verdict had been un-
favourable to the prisoner, his duty would have left
him no alternative. He sat there to assist in the
satisfactory and impartial- administration of justice;
and if the Jury had returned a verdict of condem-
nation, the sentence of the law must have taken its
course. They had, on one side, a young man, whose
countenance had less of ferocity or cruelty in it than
that of any person he had ever before seen standing
in his most perilous situation ; on the other side,
was this young woman, giving her evidence fairly,
not allowing the feelings of her strong affection to
influence her testimony. But for the interposition
of friends, these two young persons would ere this
have been united in the closest and tenderest al-
liance in life. Perhaps the interposition was thought-
ful and kind, and intended to prevent the ill conse-
quences of too hasty and precipitate a union between
them. She was still affectionately attached to him,
and he returned her affection with equal truth and
sincerity. The scene of this day would teach him,
if any thing could, the debt of love and gratitude
which he owed to her, and he hoped the retnaider
of their lives would be passed in amity and happi-
ness. The Jury, in the absence of evidence affect-
ing the prisoner, would say that he was not guilty;
and he requested that no indecent manifestation of
public feeling might be exhibited.
The prisoner was then acquitted; and the young
woman, clasping her hands and smiling pleasure and
gratitude through her tears, fell into the arms of a
person near her in a swoon.
This unparalleled scene produced, as may be
readily conceived, the most powerful sensation
throughout the crowded Court.