Star.
London, England, 1831-05-28 00:00:00

cannot be of use :to the ste.e, and cannot gain a good distinction
for himself. Already he has faltered, and displayed the resolution to
recede; and thus the very chief of A nti.reformers betrays, by his wa-
vering, that the title Is too powerful to be stemmed--and that he Is him-
self prepared to be carried away before it. Other individuals there be
in the like predicament, and these right many—But " peace to all
such !"

A word must, however, be said of a corporate body, which has much
disgraced itself in the contest—Cambridge University and the clergy
thereof. A great majority of the lay.voters were for Reform, and a
much greater majority of the clerical were against it.
As we should deeply lament any ill-placed and unjust spirit of re-
taliation, we hope and trust the heads of the clerical body will, by their
wladom and moderation, save the church. lf, indeed, the right revi..
rend bench should unhappily pursue the course now repented of at the
University—if they should sec themselves in hostile array against the
whole nation's wishes—then indeed would our fears wax great, not for
the fate of the Reform bill. but for the fortunes of the English
(*hutch.

There is another most important consideration, which it is fit to
state, as a warning to the honest and respectable members of the
Lord; House against the stabile nets of factious men. These may
sot venture to attack the Reform Bill openly in front ; but they will
try to take it in flank. They will not oppose it, or move any thing
against it; but they will certainly vote against the Government on
every thing else, in order to throw ont the Govetement and the Bill
also. They will hardly move an amendment on the address to the
King; but they will get up little motions against the Ministers—they
will try to throw out whatever is proposed he the Government—
they will oppose the Chancellor's Law Reforms. and Lord Mel-
bourne's Satiating Act, and whatever else they can hope to defeat.
Let the Lords beware of all sue,. tricks—for ?sides they are. All of
their manoeuvres mean only one thing—hostility to the Reform BilL
The meaning of every thing the Opposition will say, is—" Throw out
the Bill :"—the meaning of every.qttestion they will put, is—" Throw
nut the Bill !"—The meaning of every vote they will give, is—
•• Throw out the Bill!"—They may affirm, and vow and swear, and
smite their breast, shed abundant tears. and heave deep sighs, and call
GOD to whness that they have no enmity to the King's Govern.
anent; and are not prepared to give any opinion on the bill, until it
comes before them ! Heed them not—turn away the ear from their
cry—all they do really mean is to get your votes aga.nst the Ministry,
and then they reckon on the bill, the hateful hill, being lost for ever.
All who wish well to the House of Lords and the Constitution must
carefully be on their guard against such devices.
The loss of the Bill, as it is, means nothing more nor less than
the removal of the existing Ministry—or rather, it means a
great deal more—but it at any rate means this. Every one
of its members will be out of the King's service on the
morrow. And now we come to the point at once—Who
dares advice his Sovereign to form a Minisuy of New.
castles and Peels, Lowther. and Knatchbulls ? They may bare a
narrow majority of the Lords--of the Commons the great majority is
against them. We say nothing of the impossibility which any such
Government must find of carrying on the Government in the House
of Lords for want of debaters—we say nothing of the storm of public
indignation, which must break swiftly on the heads of such a Ministry.
We assume that every thing out of doors will be profound peace—.
that the people of all tanks will stand patiently by, and see the coin.
bat joined in Parliament without a murmur—we speak only of that
combat in that Parliament—and we ask, how a Government can go on
with all the members for cities, towns, and counties all over England,
deeply pledged against it—and a large majority against it, even taking
in the nominees of Peers? Would the anti-reform and mock-reform
Ministry venture upon a dissolution—the third within twelve months?
This question is easily answered in the negative.
If, therefore, the Lords wish to preserve their present eminent sta-
tion—if they wish to prevent those divisions between the two Houses
of Parliament, which, if the testimony of history is to be relied upon,
would, probably, end in their own discomfiture—if they wish to avert
the renewal of "troubles in England—they will ponder well, and long,
and calmly, before they plaice themselnes in collision with a reforming
sovereign—a reforming House of Commons—and a reforming people.
If the Lords negative the Bill, it is quite obvious that the natural
course which the Commons have to pursue, is to stop the public bu-
siness, and refuse the supplies. Here, then, the Loads are at a dead
lock—what are they to do? We will suppose, for argument's sake,
that they succeed in turning out the present government—or in dia.
gusting them so, that they throw up their offices.—ln come the feebles
again—and if, under these perilous circumstances; the feeblest dare to
to accept office, they have but one step to take, namely, to dissolve
Parliament. We ask any calm and unprejudiced observer, what would
be the result of such a proceeding? It is obvious, it must be the re.
turning of a House of Commons twice as reforming, and ten times as
radical as the present. For if the country is, to a man, for reform now,
what will It be when irritated by further opposition—by the turning
out of those ministers who bad promised them the boon they so
anxiously desire, and by the coming back of the rule of the feeble.,
which they so much abhor. Thus, then, the last State of the House of
Lords would be worse titan the firat—they would find themselves
equally without supplies, and without the means of carrying on the bu-
siness of the country— and in a state of exasperated hostility with the
people and their representatives.
In the time of the civil war in England, we find it stated, that in the
year 1646, " The majorities of the House of Lords and Commons dif-
fered from each other upon almost every political topic ; and it was
only by the reluctant and ungracious yielding of the former that public
business was at all enabled to proceed." What was the consequence?
We turn to another page of the same history, and we find that, " On
the 6th of February, 1649,. it was voted, that the House of Peers in
Parliament is useless, dangerous, and ought to be abolished." The
misery and distuabances which followed these dissensions in the dif-
ferent branches of the Legislature are well known to all. Then came
the iron rule of Cromwell—the merciless restoration—the tyranny and
folly of the Stuart brothers—nor was England destined to enjoy tran.
quillity or happiness till the period of the revolution at length gave her
a constitution which had the support of the people as well as of the
Court.

These are the facts which we learn from the history of our own coun-
try, and those of other lands afford us the same lesson ; namely, that an
unwise resistance to the just wishes of the community is sure to entail
iiisery upon the country, and more especially upon that branch of hs
Governntnt which stands prominently forward in the ungracious cam
of refusal.

Blay such times and such scenes be far from up—we feel confident
they will be so ; but it' any thing could bring diem upon us, it would
be any rash determination of the Upper house of Parliament against
the opinions of the other estates of the realm.

THE TALLY YYSTEM.

Petitions to Parliament are to be immediately got up against the tally
system in the city. The trade is carried on by persons who deal in
almost every article of domestic economy, front the en:We to the wain
—tea, coals, linen, Sheffield goods, silks, fete, &c. They keep in their
employment numbers who travel throug:,l) the working neighbourhoods,
hawking from house to house samples of their various goals. with the
tempting offer of taking payment by the low instalment. of Is. Cid. or 2s.
per week. Their customers are gcrerally of the female sex, whom they !
persuade to purchase by the argument that the trifle can never be missed
from the weekly (-tunings. The payment goes 011 well enough while the
husband, who knows nothing about the mat ter, continues at work; but his
employment tailing, he is hunted after and harassed by rascals who live
by summoning to the several courts, on the terms of " no cure no pay,"
and never cease till they succeed iu locking him up in gaol, where the
expense of his subsistence costs, in most cases, more than the whole
amount of the debt, during his twenty or forty days of confinement.
One of these limbs of the law has been known to summon for one tally-
man alone, thirty persons in one day, and has received the sum of 40L
out of court at one time, paid in by the unfortunate debtors. The truth
of this statement can be confirmed at the different prisons which receive
Courts of Requests debtors. It is said that at the debtors' prison in
VL'hiteeross-st. during the last 12 mon ths,upwards of 100 have been cont.
witted at the suit of tally-shopkeepers alone, and that 30 of that number
were arrested by one man. But tit: misery is not confined to those who
purchase : it is the practice of tally-shopkeepers to get hold of others by
way of security, and thus two are often confined for the same debt.
If the wife of a poor man is given to drink, she gratifies her pro-
pensity by plidging the tally article. The pawnbrokers, however,
now in most instances refuse to lend on such commodities, as the
day of redemption seldom arrives, and they are consequently " vic-
timised" along with the original victims. One of that body declared
that he had forty pledges from one woman, all, he believed, got front
various tally-shops, and without the knowledge of the husband. The
injury is nut confined to the poorer classes. The dressy wives of les-
pectabli shopkeepers deck themseves front the tally-shop for monthly
instalments to a large extent, and the .irst intimation the husband re-
ceives is from a attip of parchment. lt is in fact impossible to describe
the misery entailed on whole families by this mischievous method of
trading. So convinced arc the commissioners of the great distress to
which it gives rise, that in very few cases they order more than Gil per
week to be paid into Court in liquidation of the debts. With regard to
the quality and description of the articles sold in the tally trade, they
are generally of the worst kind, being for the most part obtained at sales of
bar krupts' effects, and the stale and refuse stock of warehouses—stock I
not saleable by the fair natter. The product of the evil within the lotl
few years has been enormous, and We correction of it will, it is hoped,
go hand-in-hand with that of the vile truck system, which it rivals in
ha pernicious consequences. Alderman Wood and Mr. Hume were
prevented front taking up the subject in Parliament last session, by the
sudden cloffe•of the business; but they are determined to salt the atten-
tion of the House of Commons to it as early as possible in the ensuing
session.

We understand that no less than seven members of the
Stock Exchange have been unable to meet their differences,
besides those already announced. They bass not, however,
been declared ; and, as their liabilities Fe not great, the
probability is, that the greater part will be able to make pri-
ate arrangements with their creditors.