Star.
London, England, 1831-06-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE JOURNALS.

TlMES.—There I■ now no doubt that the half.yearly
ayment required in the Reform bill, for a qualification to
vote at borough elections, is an error. All that is or Is to
be required is, a yearly tenancy of a 101. house, according
to the term " yearly rent" in the original bill. The obnoxious
t pression, the result of some extraordinary blunder, will be
left out in the committee. It might seem to give conse.
'pence to a trifle, and to be officiously asserting what is not
doubted. or else we should take this opportunity of assuring
the publk, that the honest desire of Ministers is to bate the
‘Jill as 'Metal, popular, and efficient as possible. The wish
,tas merely to exclude persons whom boroughmongering
landlords might manufacture into electors, by not bona file
Jut pretended rents for very short periods. The following
a copy of Lord John Russell's letter, in reply to an ap.
Ilication on the subject of which we are nesting:

Whitehall, June 29.

' Sir,—ln answer to your letter respecting the clause in
the Reform Bill which requires the payment of rent half-
yearly, I have to assure you, that the only object in view was
to secure a yearly tenancy of a £lO house, according to the
term ' yearly rent' in the original Bill. When the Bill
goes into Committee, I shall propose such an amendment of
the clause as shall be found to defeat the evasion of the ori-
ginal clause, and at the same time correct the error of the
present wording.

" I remain your obedient servant,
J. RUSSELL."

" To W. Rigby Wason, Esq. bI.P."
In the debate lot night it will In observed, that an ex-
planation was given similar to that in the above letter.
The object of the framers of the bill evidently was to
admit to electoral rights all householders paying bona fide
a rent of 101. a-year. Having secured that object—hav-
ing found a tcnant of a yearly holding to that amount—
the law ought not to interfere between landlord and tenant
about the time of paying, or the mode of collecting the
rent. The apprehended danger of lodgers, who pay a
weekly or monthly rent, being admitted to vote under the
old clause, may be obviated by the slight addition of two
or three words, purporting that only one person, paying
101. yearly rent and registered a year before the election, shall
be allowed to vote for one Mouse. We take this opportunity of
reminding the Legislature how closely they arc watched by an
intelligent public, in discussing the great " Bill of Rights"
to which the nation has directed so enthusiastic an interest.
No sooner had the abstract. of the bill, which we published
on Monday, apiseared, than letters poured in upon us from
all quarters, pointing oat the mistake above alluded to, and
showing its consequences. We published two or three out
of so many dozens of these communications, and we are sure
that every one of their authors, bad he ben consulted, would
have prevented the mistake, which. after all, is the result of
a mere oversight, and would have been corrected in the corn-
mince, though it had not created such alarm in the public.
Had other bills gained equal publicity and commanded equal
Attention, our statute-book would have been more free from
errors and blunders than it now is.

POST.—For the last three or four days all the newspa-
pers have been dwelling upon a clause in the new reform bill,
limiting the right of voting in towns, &c. to those whose
rent was payable not oftener than once in the half year. It
was manifest that this clause would almost nullify the new
franchise in towns, as seven-eighths of all the tenements
which pay rent pay it by the quarter. After four days' out-
cry upon the subject, the Courier yesterday announces, from
authority, that the clause in question got into the Bill
through inadvertence! Such an announcement as this at once
excites indignation and provokes ridicule. A mistake is made
by persons who fancy they possess skill to remodel the repre-
sentative constitution of the nation—a mistake evincing the
grossest ignorance upon a practical matter, and which, had
the error not been pointed out, would have rendered the
whole measure an absurdity, is described by ttre gentle term
an " inadvertence," as though it had been an error in the da:e
Hof a dinner invitation. For our own parts we are glad of the
" inadvertence," if we are to call it by that name, since it
will serve to show the public, if anything can, the pitiable
Ignorance upon practical matters of those who presume to
meddle with a system interwoven with and deeply affecting
all the practical affairs of the kingdom. There has been no
erne proposition of the present ministers applying to the every
day business of the people which has not been scouted as
absurd—be witness the Budget and the Timber Duties. If
the people generally understood the whole of the Reform
Bill as well as they did that clause which went upon the
theory that rents were generally paid half yearly, they
would reject it as a wholesale and blundering interference
with matters not understood by those who interfere.
POST.—It is lamentable to observe the unworthy arti.
ices to which the Revolutionary faction do not scruple to
resort in furtherance of their purposes. The subject of the
:nfamous publications naturally springing out of the princi-
ples of the Reform 11111, and to which we have frequently
called attention, was again brought before the House of Com-
mons last night by Mr. Hume, who unblushingly asserted
that they, to use his own expression, " came from the
enemy's camp," by which he probably meant that they were
Ore production of, and were sanctioned by, the Tory party.--
Such • charge, not less ridiculous than insidious, a charge
worthy of Mr. Hume, but entirely unworthy of aoy other
Member of Parliament, was repelled with the indignation
and contempt it merited. Can Mr. flume prove his accuse.
Lion ? Will he even attempt, as in honour called upon, to
'hew proof or ground for ,it ? If not, what is the opinion
:hat must be formed of Mr. Flume by every man of common
hor.eAy, or possessing a spark of gentlemanly or honour.
..ble feeling ?
HERALD.—It is now clear, beyond all doubt, that the
Russian official account of the death of Field-Marshal
lliebitsch, which attributed his sudden disease to cholera
reorbus, stated a falsehood, and was so far In keeping with
:It the official accounts which the Russians have published
relative to the operations of their armies in Poland. But
the death of Diebitsch--whether he fell by his own hand,or
tLed of apoplexy, brought on by the anguish of his defeats,
and the stimulant resources of • broken spirit—is an event
of little importance in the eyes of the Poles, compared with
the great historic truth that they stripped him of his laurels
before he died, and that life did not become a burden
until the arm of unassisted Poland arrested his career of
military glory, and crushed for ever his pride of soldiership
upon that land of freemen, where he was at first apprehensive
:•e should not have met with sufficient resistance to serve
la a pretext for the carnage and devastation which he was
canmissioned to perpetrate, to fill up the measure of that'
revenge which the name of the MOST from bad
ten impiously abused to sanction. Still the cause of the
des—and they know it, does not depend on the life of any
liyidual. Their cause is one for national existence against
age extermination. It is a conflict that can now admit of
compromise. Poland must either be reduced to worse than
former state of vassalage and degradation, or she must re-
ter her rights by the sword. Her enemy has great
les, and the Poles are aware he will submit
great sacrifices to attain his object. The failure of
Aaitsch will probably exasperate him Into renewed
Is to subjugate a people who have dissipated the
es of the Balkan, and torn from the Russian Em-
those attributes of terror which inspired the greatest na-
with awe. Bat we doubt that he can make more pow-
efforts than lie has already made. Tyrants may collect
-4' slaves together for the field of slaughter, but they
take them soldiers in a day. When Diebitsch first
upon Warsaw he was at the head of 150,000 men,
/ flower of the Russian army. On the 23th of Fe.
this ramp, beetled by a General who had acquired
reputation than any Russian warrior since Suarroff,
with 230 pieces of cannon, was beaten, after a long and
tssriguinary conflict, by an army of Poles amounting to
60,000 men, of whom only 35,000 were regular
as, anti with only GO pieces of cannon. At Ostrolenka,
about 30,900 Poles, or one-half of the army'at Prigs,
tood Dit.hitsch's army of 90,000, reinforced as it had
the Guards, and fought it for two days, remaining
salon of the field of battle on the night hat termin-
- engagement, and causing the enemy three times
in own loss. This is a proof of moral power over brute
rte, which equals any thing that history presents on her
'tit splendid records. Little did the " Holy Alliance"
culate on such a demonstration of this righteous and say-
; power, when they entered into that nefarious compact
rch;they vainly thought would constitute them the eternal
tators of Europe. Great is the debt which the civilised
rid owes to heroic Poland!
Much has been said in praise of Mrs. Palmer's
.rnificent donation fur the relief of the poor of Mayo. Four
easand pounds, they say, have been subscribed in aid of
relief fund by her. We do not know whether the fact
.0 or nos. We should hope the report is authentic, for
1%. Palmer is an absentee, chewing some 30,0001. a-year
of Ireland, and possessing in Mayo a territory of
ly magnitude. But even so, 4,0001. should still be
lered a munificent subscription. We have not, how-
-I', been able to ascertain when the money was given, or
it has been expended, or how it has been disposed of.

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