Star.
London, England, 1831-04-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE JOURNALS.

TINES.—While the corruptionists and borougbmongers arc still la:.
Elting in the magnitude of the subscription for the purpose of fent,.
* the free expression of feeling in the country, a fresh difficulty tea,
unrested their unpatriotic course. This unforeseen obstacle is no tens
dee than the want of candidates I—nut the wain of persons willing to
solar Parliament fur the purpose of resisting the wishes of the people,
die & there are always an sbundance in the ranks of the Tory party ,
-bet a want of pen one who are willing to face the election meetings of their
jenny incensed countrymen. There is no want of members to sit fer
Gatton er Old Sarum, but to mount upon popular hustings, inn
On hear their lialnell coupled with curses both loud and deep, and, per.
baps, ,o have their per one assailed with those missiles with which Jule,
Roll is apt to .tamp his envie:wire upon those who have betrayed hint
We can easily picture to ourselves how grating it must be to the feeling!,
mental, as well as physical, efthigh-bon' and hieh-bred yeette Tory,
sent from some clubniteti-e in Saint James's-street, with the wages et
corruption in his pocket, and travelling luxurimisly to some cont.
fortable Corporation Conetnueney, consisting of thirteen or six.
teen persons. We ece him, in our mind's eye, present liimsch
to the people,—we hetet the groans which at first assail hfre,..enee see
the first diseharge of mud. dead cat., and rotten eggs, uhicit encircle
his bare and devoted head. Then, as the populace becotets more tic.
termined and more excited, we sec the pebbles and gravel begin to fly
—these arc succeeded by paving stones, bricks, &c. and the Corinthian
OR* al of Toryi-in is forced to retire with a broken head, and through
the back door of the mayor's private house. Nor do the ycl:a, of which
be has been the victim, cease to haunt hint till lie is many nines on hit
rend home again. Now, do we approve of such scenes as these? Quite
the contrary : we deprecate them beforehand, and shall dept' re them i:
they take pit ce. But we think it right to warn the Tories in their
headlong coarse, of what is likely to happen if they continue to urge the
high-enirii:cl people of England to desperation.
POST.— W.; • t me day, ago theught it our duty to forewarn the tout.
try, that the nnanstere who insulted ml vilified the two horses of the le.
gislature es t' e oely pie:title 'deans of eindin sing their own desperate
meat ede o' a eTheenutior, tc c urosuestierehie prepared us a dernie;.
m.o. I, rne er al in relit qt•inh the power t'.cry had so grossly abused, to
anempt to carry on the govermectit of the country by means of Royal
Ordinance-. Ilia tins was Ao tectiou‘ er untounded conjecture isnot
sufficiently avi.l:rt. intend y begin to despair ot obtaining in
the new parliament a mejorny favourable to the Revolutionary
mss urn, upon which their official existence depends ; and
their organs are accordingly itetructed to proclaim the enensity a;
diesalvinn else new Parliament the tionient it refuses ob-equious obe.
thence to the maedate of the Execulie c Government, and of omitting to
issue wait. for the next election to the boroughs marked out fur dls.
franchinniedt. The Tames, the leading Ministerial Journal, expresen
says that this ccurse must be adopted of ell risks," if the Nahanni:
now about to be elected should prove refractory. Let no man Senn
himself thet this is an idle meneco. The Minivan', if they should
be disappeinted in the composition of the New Parliament.
as they and their adherents evidently anticipate, t ill, na mart
can now doubt, in the desperate circumstances in which they
stand, do all they can towards reallaing this arbitrary, insolent.
and treesunalile threat. It is now clear that the new Parlia•
mon will have a question to ditcu. s, anterior to that of Reform
in point of order, and superior even to that great question in point ot
imporience. The question is no less than this : shall the perfermence
of a ace any longer be entrusted to the Executive Govern.
m. nt, after the Mini•ters of lee Crown have threatened the nation, that
in a e. maid ni °beide contingency they will so perform it as to crush th.
national rcpt.-en:Ai in alto .ether.
Hnuatin—All the election returns hitherto show that disloyalty and
corruption have "ill luck." Hitherto the membets actually returnee'
to serve in the new Patliamcne arc all teturniers. Dover nobly led the
way ;—the men of Kau, e. %Ilia, in the Commentaries Caear writ, is
termed the civileet piece 01 all 'hie isle." laid aside their civility, and
kielnnt out diet fast (deed ut the borouehmotigeting fection, Sir John
Rtes ILid. London and Soulto erk fellewen the example, and put
Mr. Ward and Sir Robert Wil•.on on the shelf tor even—.
Lewee has discarded Sir John Shelly : and several cilia places
hews &veined with the pr. Mud services ot " the coneervatives,"
aid elio:ni m.n who or: pledged to &term. Not a single aini-re-
fentien lase yet been tenoned ; and though, as the matchless Member
for Preeton.entl.all.lingliold said, tlie people are " mad," it utast be
coat:mid their otanne: • nay method tit it ;—a method which, it is de.
veutly to be hoped, will speedily cleanse the Constitution of that pe-
t nate stuff which ha, so long been depressing its energies, and placing
it• very existence in jeopardy. Hitherto, we repeat, not a single anti.
reformer hes been reunited :—..we wait skit anxious curiosity to record
the neme of that place which shall first distinguish itself by returning
an opponent of the King, his Government, and Reform.
ERA LD.—We hope,the energetic message of the French government
to Don Miguel may no. turn out, like the memorable non-intervention
manifesto of the same government, uHa Austria trampled under foot
in Laly, to be a mere briaunz 'she country that betrays a
nein of spirit to vindicate its own eleekred principles in one cane, pro.
yokes insult in another. It may seem strange that the contemptible
power of the Portuguese usurper should rather invite than dcpiecate
the ho laity of Fiance • bun this modern Nero has seen the
Despotic Governments Fiance;
secretly abet and comfort him, act
towards France in a manner that showed neither respect foe
her wisdom, :or fear of her power, without any other conse-
quence following than that of the French Ministers " eatirg their own
words," and solemnly protesting that their energetic declarations against
the infamous invasion of independent States meant eaactly tolling!
This has, of course, emboldened the pigmy AU! OCTat of Portugal to
ape the insolent conduct of the ntore gigantic despots, who overlook the
flaw in his title on account of the kindred vices of cruelty, feud, and
oppression which constitute his " legitimate" claims to their eeee-
cial protection. Similar demonstrations of contempt for revolutionised
France have been made by Spain, where preparations for invading
that country, and restoring the ex.Kirg, were openly made some time
ago, sittothancouidy with the great military (gement:ids of the Chiefs
of the " Holy Alliance." It is certain, from the documents found at
Walborn welch Lafayette preduced in the chamber of deputies, and
from tacte ecich constituted a stroeg chain of circumstantial evidence,
that, it it had not been for the unexpected insurrection of the Poles,
Fiance would be at this I.:omen' fighting for her existence against boss
of invatters on her own soil. It was that insurrection et hiett caused the
autocrat of Itursia to recognise the new n're ',eh dynasty, as he naturally
wished Fumee to teivain quiet until he should have performed has
threat of erasing Poland irons the map of Ea rope. He could thee
easily pretend a cause of quarrel with France, and alone fur his hypo-
critical recognition cf a " revolutionary government" by sincerely
attempting its utter overthrow. Don Miguel, ignorant, perhaps, of the
cheeks which the wicks of the autocrat have received icr the walls
of Warsaw, coutittues to iueult France with the must audacious pose.
verance. The French, thinking, perhaps, that they could earn a cheap
reputation for spirit by demanding satie.factien of this petty political
culprit, have commissioned their Consul to speak in a higher lone in
Lisbon than their Ambassador uarcd to use in Vienna. It it be oue
that Don Miguel hoe treated his demand with the most intrepid ccc.
tempt, and retused to deliver up two French subject., whom he had
most cruelly 'reseed, and wee .bout to transport to Angola, the French
government sill ue eternally disgraced it they do not intrantly take the
only means that can bring the regal rebel to his senses. It is said a Pop
tugueee frigate is to convoy the v:el that takes .he viewers to An-
gola. There are French vessels of war in the Tagus. A French tr:.
gate can settle the question very easily, as far as the prisoners are ein-
cerned. But France ought not to atop here; she ough‘ ;o hurl the
perjured tyrant from the throne which he has usurped, to cuenge the
rights of humanity and the law of nations. It was said, not long since.
that some English subjects were shut up in his dungeons, charged with
pretended plots. We should like to know whether our Government
have inquired into the subject, and acted in a manner that shows they
are not to be trifled with. The account of the brutal executions that re-
cently took place at Lisbon makes it very necessary that such an inquiry
should be made without delay, lest British subjects should suffer the
worst sort of assassination—tea: of a Miguelite Court of J us:ice !
. . .

The Bank Directors, it is reported, have come to the de-
tirmination of only discounting through their branch banks
at 5 per cent. The opinion appears to prevail that this ii
only a preparatory step to the same rate being obtained by
the bank in London.

An active subscription has been commenced in the Fins-
'bury district in aid of the General Reform Election Sub-
scription, now open at the Crown and Anchor Tavern; and
although only a few hours have been devoted to the same,
the chairman was enabled to transmit to the General Com-
mittee a check for 501. on account.

An accurate correspondent, who has been counting on the
probable result of the Scottish elections, calculates that the
cause of reform will gain not fewer than nine votes by the
dissolution—more we confess, than the limited nature of
the representation in that part of the kingdom would seem
to warrant.

A mail has arrived from Rio Janeiro, which left on the
13th of February, by which Rio Papers have been received
at the North and South American Coffee-house, to the 12th
of February. The sale of specie which existed in the ex-
tinct Bank, still continued. By the brig A nua, arrived on
the Bth inst. from Pernambuco, we have received very unplea-
sant news, and we lament that that fine Province is far from
being in a settled state. It appears that M. Jose de Almeida,
President of the Province of Rio Grande, and one of the
Deputies of the Legislative Assembly, being on a visit
to a Dr. Gustavo, was shot on the 22d January, sod
killed on the spot ; the Doctor was also wounded. We also
learn that the Custom House was twice plundered.

THE GENERAL ELECTION.