Star.
London, England, 1830-11-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE JOURIViILs.

CHIONICI.E.it Is clear from the language held by Ministers both
last night and on other nights during the Session, that they are utterly
unacquainted with the present temper of the country. They•speak as
if the resources of the nation were so abundant that the business of a
Minister was merely to discover new channels of expenditure. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer said " he would entreat the House to
look at the Pension List, and see how much smaller it was now
than at former periods. In the days of Mr. Burke, fixing the Pen-
sion List at 95,0001. was considered a reduction, and hailed as a
measure of economy." But in the days of Mr. Burke the debt did
not amount to 800 millions. In the days of Mr. Burke distress
had not driven the tenantry of extensive districts to combine to
suspend further payment of rents, tithes, and taxes, and the agri-
cultural labourers were not roaming about the country in bands, de-
stroying property. and throwing all who own it into the utmost conster-
nation. The moat industrious, hardworking peasantry of Europe have,
by a sheer misgovernment, totally changed their character, and the law
has become a dead letter. No man wishes that the allowance to Itis Ma-
jesty should not be adequate to the maintenance of the Royal dignity.—
Let, therefore, a sum be, once for all, set apart for that object. Hut
there can be no good reason why material branches of the national ex-
penditure should be mixed up with the expenoes of the Sovereign, and
that a permanent arrangement of the Civil List, at the commencement
of a reign, should withdraw, not only the allowance to the Sovereign,
but various branches of the national expenditure, from the regular con-
trol of Parliament, and such arrangement as the exigencies of the state
may from time to time demand.
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Ttuaa.—Sir H. Peel, on beh."—Wby Mr. Hobhouse whether a
general retirement would be the consequence, gave no answer. Mr.
Brougham considered the question as premature, and was disposed to
allow time for consideration. It is probably one of those cases in which
consideration cannot supply much useful counsel. If the Duke of
Wellington and his colleagues cannot suddenly rally and defeat their
adversaries, they would act with more dignity to retire than to be con.
tent to govern the nation under control of a predominating oppo-
sition. The declaration against all reform, formidable enough
as it was in itself, was rendered yet more ominous by the appre-
hension that it was meant to cover also all other abuses and extrava-
gancies, and to protect the yet smoking remains of that system, by
which the nation has so severelyl suffered in its social comforts
and enjoyments, but of which system these Ministers were not the
authors. The suspension of the city feast almost added derision to
dislike, and the proceedings la Kant and Sussex created terror. But
many of those who swelled the opposition of last night will look with
great anxiety to the formation of a Ministry opposed, in all its princi-
ples, to that against which they voted.

lizam.D.—That it is necessary a reform should take place in the
representation of the people, is, we believe, the opinion of all persons in
this country, except thou wbo have an interest in upholding the present
system. When we speak of reform, we mean that wise, moderate, and
practicable reform which would restore the tone and energy of the con-
stitution, without any admixture of wild and dangerous innova-
tions, which would be just u injurious to the cane of enlightened
liberty as the abuses of which the public now complain. It has been
the policy of thou who advocate what is called Radical Reform, to
make people believe that their novel and extravagant theories are but a
revival of the old principles of popular representation ; but there never
was a grosser delusion. There never was a time in the history of this
country when Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments formed part
and parcel of the Constitution. These are the inventions of modern
times, and are calculated not to restore, but, to subvert the Constitu-
tion. Their principle Is opposed to the existence of rational freedom—
their operation would not be remedial, but revolutionary.

truth is, the poor industrious labourer has been very
hardly' dealt by ; and we believe the chief root of the mischief to have
been, the aversion of landlords to lower rents, though there have been
other auxiliary cams. Hence many farms have been thrown up, and
in the rest the farmer has been obliged, along with the suppression of
other out-goings, to diminish also the quantity of labour done
on his farm. Then came low wages, and the substitution of pa.
roehial rates in the place of wages. This last has been among the
greatest of the evils ; and there is a grievance in the appor.
tinning of wages of the most glaring and offensive kind,
which is, the payment of labourers, not according to the work done,
but according to the number of their families. If the farmers and land-
lords will not yield to intimidation in the disturbed districts, we would
advise those where the peasantry is still quiet to take the opportunity of
raising w.iges to a proper scale, as a reward to their labourers for their
peaceable conduct, when they have so many bad examples around diem;
and we are the more urgent in this our adviec, because se are sure that
it is much more practicable now than in many preceding years. We do
not deny but that the farmers have had very difleult times,—we stated
that as a well-known fact at the beginning of these remarks; but they
have no right to complain of either crops or prices now.