Star.
London, England, 1831-09-17 00:00:00

NPIRIT OF THIS D. 4 1"S JOURN4W.

Cli RON ICLE—The distress occasioned by taxes to go.
vemment is bad enow,h t but wen would bear this as an

inevitable evil. They lose. however, all patience when they
see the beds token from under poor men, struggling to keep
their heads above water, to pay heavy tradesmen's hills for
furnishing new churches. and other unnecessary branches
of local taxation. Local taxation by irresponsible Lodi.
Muftis, who have had interest enough to carry. by the most
cor:upt means, bill% through parliament. is the great curse
of this country. The manner ir. which this curse creeps on
was well illustrated, in giving on account of the new District
Church in the Parish of Islington. The people within the
district set apart for the new Church, are entirely at the mercy
oe a Select Vestry. appointed, de facto, by the Vicar
anti his Churchwarden ; for, of course. the Bishop
of London, the Lord Chancellor, and the Commis-
sinners can know nothing of the parishioners themselves,
and the:eforc the vicar and his churchwarden determine the
whole. The people of Mary-la-bonne have. it appears, fairly
lost patience and when we consider the daring diaregard of
all decency manifested in that parish, we cannot blame them.
An attempt was made yesterday to force a sale at 31u1.
borough-street; but the respectable auctioneer, on under-
it miling the nature of the business, determined to have
::aching to do with it. An appeal was made to the ho-
oar of the Hebrew nation, and they determined to keep
:..00f. We have no doubt that public opinion, now that
it has been directed in this powerful manner against the
organized oppression to which the people of Nlary.la.
tonne at subject, will deter all men from touching a piece
of gods belonging to an inhabitant of Mary.la-bonne, taken
ondertfistreas for Select Vestry rater ; and it will he deemed
as ditigracetui to invade a man's property under such cir.
&Instances as to he caught in an unnatural offence. The
conduct of the inha' itanis of Mary-la-honne will, we trust,
be a warning to those who wish to sat the public feeling at
defiance not to draw the how too tight. When those in
power disregard justice, those subject to power are but too
apt to forget obedience. Why will the self-elected Vestry
or limy-la-bonne comps) the whole community to cry out
SAIIIIC on their pioreidings ? Let them resign their usurped
power, and allow those alto pay to have some controul over
the expend i:u re, and all will yet be right. We promise them
that they will fit t! tl ey have much mistaken the character of
the people of England, if they think they will tamely submit
to be plundered for va as they have been plundered for years
past.
There are times alien parties in a country appear to oc-
hre% lerlete many principles in common, and to have no
great dfirerence of opinion as to the measures to be pursued.
But there ar: other times when men are WO calo opposed to
each other. Atter the war of 1794 was entered on, to put
down revolutionary opinions on the Continent, and to resist
all reform at home, a most tremendous system of proscrip.
tion was set on foot in this country. The word then was
given from on high, not only to exclude from offices of all
kinds ate, suspected of liberal opinions, but to combine
against and injure them in their private business.—
Poor Burns, who never attained higher promotion
e
under Government titan being an Ezeiseman, with
difficulty retained his office, information of his liberal sen-
timents having been given to the Board of Excise, who
authorised a superior officer to inquire into his conduct...-
The Poet, in his private Common-Place Book, observes,
" Whatever may be my sentiments of republics, ancient or
roe& rn, as to Britain, I ever abjured the idea. A Consti.
tution, which in its original principles, experience has
proved to be every way fitted for our happiness, it would be
insanity to abandon for an untried, visionary theory." In
vain he wrote loyal ballads,'summoning his fellow-country.
men to arm to repel threatened invasion. Ile was told by
his superiors (in office) that if be wished to eat the bread of
Government, his business was "to act, and not to think."
Long after this period the proscription against men who
had even allowed an unguarded expression to escape
taeto continued in force. The justification offered for these
harsh measures was, that the exigency demanded them, and
that it was necessary Government should be served by
none who did not share their views. We are far from juati.
lying the tyrannical measures of the l'itt administration ;
but we say, that at this moment, parties are as much op.
posed to each other as parties can be; that the one wishes
no less than to destroy boroughmongering, and to rescue the
people from the fangs of an oligarchy, by whom they have
been oppress.d and pillaged in the most scandalous man-
ner ; the others wish to perpetuate the corruption ; and, it'
they were to succeed in their object, they would trample on
manatee and their supporters, and let loose nn a devoted
country instruments filled with the Wiest hatred of those
who wished to restore to the people their rights. At such
a time who is not with us is against us. and the govern-
men: cannot dispense wt:h the energy derived front the de-
e, l. h g of their powers into hands devoted to the good =Use.
:•;•.: man can make bricks without straw—no man can cut
Idoets wits razors—no Mill can be heartily served by the
er.imy or his c.attse.
T 131 k: S—When the Catholic Bill was in constant agi.
tation, and when, besides the palpable justice of the case,
a:gun:ems Craven 11.0111 expediency were had recourse to as
additional grounds fur introducing it, what what was the
strongest and most decisive of such arguments ?* Nothing
Las than that Ireland would never rest uutil she carried it,
sod that a aka war wovld be the all but immediate con.
con'cquence of refusing. We were me; by the saute mise-
rable attack upon our motives as we now are—" What, will
you bully U 6 ? was echoed through every Orange drawing.
room in both islands; and meanness, weakness, stupidi y,
cud b 0 forth, tilled the war-whoop of the " Church In dan-
gee " facduti, even to that hour when the Duke of Welling.
ton took up the argument on the " necessity of avoiding civil
war," as ore main inducement to his wise and equitable
measure. The Duke of 11'ellington afraid ! yes, afraid, but
net frighteneel—fearing nought for himself, but for his cows.
try every thin, and admitting only, by his straightforward
and invincible logic, that the maintenance of the public
peace is an t.bjeet worth any, however extensive, saclike
of theoretical opinion. If the Tory-lord outcry mean any
'long, it is this--that, no matter what may be the risks
or calamities likely to result from a given line of policy,
those who argue against its adoption must abstain reli-
giously from every reference to those disastrous results,
whether affecting individuals or classes, lest their may be
accused of trying to intimidate their opponents Why,
if such be the rsle of controversy, what a pretty thing a
siaritamentary discussion will become front this time
ward! It follows, of course, that the strongest srgw
menu are those which must be most scrupulously
abandoned, and that the blindest and most ignorant
blockheads arc those whose errors must Ise held in the most
holy reverence! It fellows, moreover, that for fear the
House of Lords should be open to any sounder or more U.
spectable influence than that exercised over it by the borough
conservative school, their Lordships are to be left in dark-
lifts as to the real awe of England, and facts as conspi-
cuous as the mid.dav sun ate to be kept out of sight
for conscience sake, lest the iufusion of some little know.
ledge into their Lordships' minds might by possibility have
the effect of detersing teem from the grossest violation of
their duties I But away with all such miserable, despicable,
drivelling, as this of the Tories and their press. The
country must be exhibited in her genuine colours. The
merits of the question cannot be separated from a faithful re-
presentation of the jack which bear upon h. Those dicta.
(hued not the mere words expressing them) constitute the oh.
'vino', the preening= reality of the danger, and theteforc
-amain within them the essential principle of intimidation.
14 then, some Pear, jealous of his own thee, and of theirs.
dependence of his order, requires a victim to the privileges
cif their Moulins house, let Ida call to the bar, not the

editor of this or that newspaper,--not the mere minister of
a mighty power. let him summon her at whose nod the press
must live or perish—Truth herself, in het own dread person.
She is the public enemy of Toryism, and its rightful prey,
She, TRUTH, is, in this case, the libeller,—she,, the only
" bully."
HiiRALD.—The recent trials at the Old Bailey Sessions
of James Robinson, for robbing Ms employers, Messrs
East and Co. of goods to a great amount, were terikingio
illustrative of the working of our criminal laws, and furnish
a eractical commentary upon Lord Brougham's lecture to
Jurymen on the nature and obligation of the Jurors' oath.
The prisoner was first tried on an indictment charging him
with having stolen goods to the value of 1,0001 The evi-
dence went to chew that if he stole goods to any amount of
the property of his employers, he stole to the value of, at
ken, several hundred pounds. It was proved, indeed, that
property of the value of 3001. which he had feloniously ab-
stracted front the premises of Mmara.East,a ere found in pos-
session of one individual, to whom be had sold it; and more
of the property, estimated at 2001. was discovered in a room
in the primener'a own occupation. Thus it was evident
that, if he stole any of the goods laid its the indictment, he
stole to the value of 5001. The Jury found him guilty of
stealing under SI! On a second indictment, where the
goods were laid at the value of 251. the Jury again found
him guilty of stealing under 51. There were three or four
other indictments against the same person, each of which
charged him with a capital offence; but the proaeeutors,
admonished, we presume, by the result of the former trial.,
offered no evidence in support of the capital charge, but al-
lowed the prisoner, in each instance, to have a verdict of con.
viction recorded against him on his own confessional plea of
having stolen property under 61. These verdicts were accounted
for by a reference to the state of the law, which demands that
tire life of man shall be sacrificed for stealing in a dweling-
house to the amount of SI. Before Sir Robert Peel's revi-
sion of the Criminal Code the punishment 'of death was in-
flicted for stealinc to the amount of 40s. in the dwellings
house. TA, off. nee was first made capital by a Statute
passed in the twelfth year of Queen Anne. In the year
1811 Sir Samuel Romilly castled a Bill through the House
of Commons to repeal this sanguinary statute, and to restore
with some modifications, the milder punishment of the
ancient Common Law ; but his efforts were defeated by
the Douse of Lords, who threw out the Bill. Sir Ro-
bert Peel, whose narrow capacity never could embrace a
principle in legislation, thought it a wonderful concession
to public opinion to raise the legal price of human life
from 40s. to SI. so that, for the sum of I.oool.—the
value stated in the first indictment against Robinson—
if every 51. of that sum were stolen by a different person,
the lines of no less than 200 human beings might be taken
according to law ! and that, too, according to Sir Robert
Peel's "amended and ameliorated" law ! If the law of
Queen Anne had still remained in force, we presume the
Juries that tried Robinson would, instead of finding him
guilty of stealing under the value of 51. have limited the
sum to 29a, as was a common practice at the 01d Bailey
while that law remained on the statute book ; nay, so far
was this carried, that, in one instance, a woman having
been convicted on the clearest evidence, of having
stolen a Bank of England note for IOL the Jury found
the note to be only of the value of 30s. the Jury con-
sidering that their oath did not bind them to become the
blind and ruthless instruments of the exterminating barbs.
rism of the law. It is fresh in the recollection of the public
that under the present Administration a man was executed
for stealing in the dwelling-house shove the value of 51...
The Jary who 4111 Robinson no doubt expected that a simi-
I kr fate awaited him, and, therefore, did not leave the delin-
quent's life to the " tender mercies" of the Recorder ipd the
Secretary fur the Home Department. Notwithstanding the
lecture of Lord Brougham, such lax. an never be tho-
roughly executed, unless we can always have, to use the
words of Lord Byron, " 12 butane for a Jury, and a
Jeffries for a Judge !..
Ct BBRTI'S REGISTER.—The very first effect of a
rejection of the Bill by your Lordships would be a serious
discussion of the question of your right to reject this Bill,
it being a Bill not at all affecting any of your rights or
privilege s; but solely a matter of regulation as to the man-
ner in which the Commons shall cause the agents for con.
tracttng their business and taking care of their interests to
be chosen by and amongst themselves. We know that, se-
,
I cording to the laws and constitution of the kingdom, the
Reform Bill cannot become a law without the consent of
your Lordships ; but we also know that no Bill can be.
come a law even with the assent of your Lordships, unless.
it receive the assent of the King. We know that the
King's assent Is necessary to make a bill an act; .but we
also know, that when the two Houses have passed a Bill,
the King never does refuse his assent; and that it is clearly
understood, that, if be were to refuse it, them would be a
state of things such as we could hardly call a con inuation
of the Government in its usual form and manner. Now it
is well known, it is a fact certain, that the King's assent to
this bill is really ; it is well known that, with voice as una-
nimous as voice of a people can possibly be, the people of
Ragland now call fur the passing of this bill; it is also well
know, as was before observed, that this bill relates to some.
thing which is to be done for the interests of the Commons
only; that it is a matter not at all affecting the rights of
the Pars; and there is this further thing perfectly well
known, that it is a measure to put an end to certain wrongs
committed against the Commons by usurpations, horn
a participation in which some of the Peers have not
been wholly exempt. Think, therefore, my Lords,
of the inevitable conclusion. In the mind of every
man of sense, which would at once be made in
consequence of the rejection of this bill by your lord.
ships. Ask yourselves whether the millions would
not regard it as an open declaration that you pre-
ferred your own interest to theirs ; that you looked upon
the government and the people as made solely for you,
and that you are determined that they should exist for you.
Ask yourselves this question : say what would be the an.
ewer to that question : pronounce the afibmative of it, and
then say what would be the decision of the people upon
hearing that answer. I am of opinion, from everything
that 1 have seen and have heard, mat the rejection of the
bill by your lordships woul.l produce no coovuhion in the
country ; no general commotion ; but lam well satisfied that
it would produce that which has been so long talked of;
that which has been talked of ever since the memorable
declaration of the Duke of Wellington spinet all reform
whatsoever ; namely, a legal refusal to pay the direct taxes.
But a few days ago, the great pariah of Mary-le-bonne came
to the resolution not to pay rates until a reform took place in
the vestry of the parish. This is the natural and quiet
course. Men do not resist • but the effect of their refusal
is the same as if they resisted. There is no violence exer-
cised ; there is nothing illegal done or propounded; the law
is strictly obeyed ; because the law has provided, that, if
the mau do not pay, his goods shall be distrained and sold,
in order to satisfy the demand of the ax-gatherer. It has
happened to me to have applications from many parts of
the country, and one very recently, to give thew=
cants information how they are to proceed in
to pay the direct taxes. My answer has been, and my
answer to this recent application now is, Obey the law;
pay. or quietly suffer your effects to be taken and sold.—
Now, my, Lords, 1 will not attempt to deseribe to you the
immediate effects of this mode of showing the people's dim
approbation of the rejection of the Reform 11111- 1/. wig net
attempt to describe to you how readily men are induced to
do that which is so conforn:ab e with their present convent.
ence,and necessities ; how speedily the example travels from
house to house. from parish to parish, from musty to
county ; I will not attempt to describe the situ*n of the
Government at the end of a month from the begiening of
scences such as will present themselves to the WWI of
every man in the kingdom, higb or low, who had net
taken leave of his senses. In such to ease, all fates
is unavoidable; it Is a whole people being ef oat
mind, and acting hum one motive; and • denim
is no force, be it of what nature:it nigh' 'feeble of
controlling men when thus animated and does acting.
In the meanwhile, the passions of men would be excited s
they would think of things that they newer dingle of ha
fore the combinations of various description, she clubs,
the associations, the unions, that have already has crossed
by what Castlereagh insolently called " the ispowang iw
times of feasttioss," would be augmented in number sod
' prodigiously increased in point of strength. Their ryas
be directed to oat object only s the dioramas of
men In every part of the country would dart towards one
' single point, and that poise :would be your Loedships,
it would be impossible, in such a state a Iringar
that the question, so eguently agitated in the
whether an heredisry chamber of legislate.. wise 4111.
sirable or otherwise; it would be impossible thee this
mtoott should not be agitated from one ead of ihe
to she other; and, with this groat. "Wedelns
sago to your Lordebipe, that all the avant. la;
your favour, which are many and powers* and "Mk
when amt.'s minds me cool, have great weight, end fetid to,
a desalts in favour of each an,leadtudas.would booms ea
nopeyokr that aceretly s man would Imbued to doe Opai
shwa dewed. Its be in min re my that asima.
hao Am, for agogos, for sat ato after calm, ihe

greatest, the freest, the happiest country in the woad ; that
her people have been the most industrious; her merchants
and traders most famed for their integrity, her soil the seat
of the best living, the best manners, and the best mstalsl
and that all this hat been under a government of Well, the
peers have formed one btanch out of three. It would bait
vain to remind men of this—in vain to remind them that
the laws grown together under this government ale
those very laws which the Americans, upon &Wising
their independence,
hound their future rulers never to
deprive them of ! it would be in vain to remind men
that, even in that country, a second chamber his been'
erected, somewhat approaching. in its powers, to the powers
of this House of Peers t it would be in vain to call upon
men to take care not to pull down that which had so long
subsisted, that d2r which such ages of happiness and of
glory hove been enjoyed. All this, at the present moment.
and at any moment when men were cool, might be urged
with not only a fair chance, but with a certainty, of produ-
cing a conviction ; but, at a time when all men's minds
would be heated, filled with nothing but a knowledge of their
wrongs, and with a resentment against the cause of prevent-
ing those wrongs from being put an end to, no ar.tument
that human ingenuity could devise, or human eloquence
could enforce, would avail more than the whistling of the
winds. From such a state of things ; from such a suapen.
skin of reason and predominance of passion, I Pray
your Lordships, by your approaching discussions and
decision, to preserve yourselves and our country. If
I pray you to remember the fate of the noblesse of
Fraoce, those wanderers over the face of the earth, aho
might have saved themselves and their sovereign also,
had they not been animated with a resolution to preserve ill.
gotten power. Their best defender. Burke, relates that,
only a few months before their final overthrow, there was
not a man in France who would not have treated with con.
tempt and scorn a proposition to abrogate the order of
nubility. Ido beseech your Lordships to call to mind what
he says upon this 'object. There was not a man in France
who would not have treated with contempt and scorn any
proposition for the making of a change of this description.
Yet in a few months the people of France ;with almost una-
nimous voice, suppreased, legally suppressed, that saute
order of nobility; and mark the cause: between the assent
biing of the States General and the suppression of that order,
the nobility had turned their faces against tie people; instead
of yielding to the reforms which were demanded and become
absolutely necessary, they rejected the reforms, and hastened
away to join, some of them in arms and some by intrigue,
the enemies of those reforms.