Star.
London, England, 1831-10-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THIS n.4r.s JOURNALS.

Cll‘owicts.—Aasuredly the crisis is most
aLrming. To preserve order ought to be the ob-
ject of every good EngHagman. But on the other
hand, while we enjoin patience to the people, it is
our duty to warn those at the helm of affairs, that
with the best intentions in the world, men may, at
a time like this, be mastered by events, and that
nothing but the holding out, with as little delay as
possible to the people, the means of allowing them
to entertain a well-grounded hope that mesas will
he taken to ensure the passing of the bill, can al-
lay the dangerous ferment which now prevails, and
which is beginning already to be felt in a way to
which we are unwilling more particularly to allude.
Good Goa ! only think of the mischief of a total
suspension of all labour in every quarter. Mo man
ears settle down to any thing. Yesterday the whole
population were out of doors. 80,000 individuals
attended the Mary-la-bonne meeting alone. The
Westminster meeting was crowded to suffo-
cation. The parishes were all in motion. The
pcople everywhere had Revolution in their
mouths ; and we are convinced, the very first
suspicion which should cross their minds, that
an anti-reform ministry was about take the place of
the present, a revolution would be effected instanter.
We have long known the English people, and are
well accustomed to their frank and open way of
otpressing their approbation and disapprobation ;
but the manner of yesterday e as new to us. They
seemed fairly to have lost all patience—there was
a bitterness in their tone which seemed to say this
is too bad—we can bear no longer. At most of
the meetings the people were only restrained from
passing Resolutions, finally resolving not to pay
taxes in case the Bill should not pass, by being as-
sured of the illegality of the proceeding; but the
question was in most cases put whether the taxes
would be paid, and loudly answered in the nega-
tive. This was the case at the Clerkenwell Meet-
ing last night, which was numerously attended,
and of which the inhabitants agreed to meet at nine
o'clock on Wednesday morning, to go in pro-
cession with the other parishes that day to the
King. The sooner some communication is made to
the people to tranquillize them the better. If the
people are distinctly told that Peers in sufficient
number will be made, confidence will be restored,
and business will proceed as usual. The great
danger in a country like this is in panic fears.
We tremble almost when we think of the hundreds
of thousands of men depending for the supply of
their daily wants on the produce of their daily
labour. Do not let us commit the mistake of sup-
posing, that because it is the interest of the people
to be patient, and that we wish them to be patient,
therefore they will be without fear or apprehen-
sion. We do not choose to communicate all the
facts that have come to our knowledge, but we
are in possession of facts which justify our uneasi-
ness. Time is every thing; and when past, it
(-intuit be recalled by vain regrets.
HIaALD.—The cause of reform can now only
be injured by an abuse of that strength, which, di-
rected by reason, must be sure to make it trium-
phant. This is not a time when the popular feeling
requires to be excited by the stimulating furor of
the Press. The danger is lest the excitement al-
ready abroad may break over the mounds which pro-
tect the Constitution, and become a furious torrent
in which the vessel of reform shall be wrecked, in
stead of flowing on in its legitimate channel, with
that full but calm tide which would bear it securely
and majestically to the haven of its proper destination.
We have already told the people that "the emissaries
of the anti reformers are abroad, instigating to acts
of a dangerous and unlawful n.ture with the hope
of crushing reform itself." We have told this to
the people whose cause we have supported with
such force of reason and arguments as we could
command, when some journals, that are now admi-
nistering the intoxica. ing draughts of that cup of
madness which already " kindles in its circulation"
were equally zealous in supporting and applauding
every act and sentiment of the determined enemies
of all Reform. That the emissaries of the anti-
reformers are abroad, is sufficiently evidenced by
the anonymous placards which have been fixes
up in various quarters, with the obvious intention
of breaking down the legitimate force of a
reasoning people on this question, by substituting
for that constitutional tower the lawless and de-
structive fury of a mob. The busy, dark, and
malignant couttivers of disorder and violence, no
doubt, calculate upon the mind of the S.)vereign
himself being alienated from reform, by that cause
being mixed up and confounded with disgraceful
riots and rebellious outrage. They also calculate
upon the military being called out to massacre the
deluded people. They would like to see the scenes
of Newtownbarry and Merthyr Tydvil—scenes of
disgusting military execution—renewed even in
this metropolis. That they may be disappointed is
the wish of every good citizen— but, iu order todis-
appoint them, it is necessary to put the people on
their guard against their machinations. There
is another class of persons endeavouriug to get up
disorder in London—those desperate characters
that abound in every great and luxurious city, who
expect that their predatory " pitriotism" will be
enriched with a rich harvest of spoil, amid scenes
of tumult and commotion. But, indeed, the mere
reading of the seditious placards by crowds of sim-
ple people, who, 'n looking after their political
rights, sometimes tizget that others are looking
after their pockets, aff:q.cl to gentry of this so. t no
-.mall opportunity to pursue with success their
hnnest avocatioti. As a specimen of the public
in lication of the sentiments of the people of Eng.
laud, a Morning Paper publishes a placard which
hid been posted up at Canterbury, and which, after
•critical expre-sion of teipect for the King,
a,.ti calling upon the people to hold nice logs to
declare their loyalty, gees on to say, " At
these meetings, to express your opinion more de-
cidedly on the politics of this momentous crisis,you
can resolve to pay au more ta.rei, in the event of au
anti-reformii-g Ministly b:Litig appointed. You
can resolve, in conside ation of the part taken
by the Bishops and the Clergy against the I eo-
ple, that ycu will pay no more tithes. And re-
member, fellow•citizens, that a public meeting in
(Alter times—and that meeting was the English
House of Commons—resolved that 'THE House
Or Loans WAS A NUISANCE!' How far your
opinion coincides in this respect remains to be
f.een." The inditer of this placard is not quite so
Billing to get into a " scrape" himself as to bring
ers into it--fur he modestly conceals his name,
and plays his krruic part under the signature, as
v ..11 as under the mask of " a Reformer." It is
e.le.y to determine wl:at sort of a reformer he is,

who, while he speaks of loyalty to the King, in-
stigates the people to follow the example of the
democratic assembly that voted the House of
Lords a nuisance— and that also, be it remembered,
brought the King to the block. Are we not,
therefore, justified in saying that the " emits t-
ries of anti-reform are abroad ?" Let the people
recollect the Special Commissions, and the mili-
tary executions that have taken place, even under
our Whig Government. But if they should forget
those things, and listen to violent and treacherous
advisers, we shall be guiltless of the afflicting con-
sequences.
Tr es.—The House of l'eers met yesterday,
and took no step, offered no pledge, consequent
upon the fearful determination of Saturday morn-
ing to reject the reform bill sent up from the Com-
mons. Gracious Heaven! in what times do we
live ! Wonderful as our foreign transactions and
relations have been during the last half century,
our domestic ones are becoming more singular and
striking. Though the whole country is in a state
of commotion, greater than if Buonaparte, with
twice an hundred thousand men, had landed on
the coast of Kent, the British Peers, whose act
has produced this ferment, meet, after a day's re-
pose, and adopt no measure—make no reflection
on the state of the country. So, then, it appears,
—for this is coming to the truth,—this is probing
the wound,—it appears, we say, that after the
anti-reformers in the Upper House, from whatever
variety of motive, have united in rejecting the
Bill of the people, they adhere together no longer,
—they have no project of their own to offer,—
they can agree upon nothing farther ! They dis-
trust each other, and particularly they distrust their
Chief ; for, otherwise, they might at least have
had a resolution to propose, calculated to soothe
the affront offered to the other House, and to ap-
pease the troubled mind of the British people. We
turn front this discordant body to another, of as re-
markable agreement and unity of purpose. The
public may have observed that there has been lately
in the few prints attached to the Opposition, a certain
gentleness of speech—nay more, a positive flattery
—used towards Lord Brougham. We know the
object of this cajolery, and we know also, when
that object is found of a certainty to be defeated,
(as defeated it is), that gentleness will be turned to
bitterness, that flattery to scurrility, and the Lord
Chancellor will be abused to the same degree to
which he has been for a while exalted by designing
praise. And here we would caution another•
person, justly distinguished for talents, to observe
his position with his party. He is only taken as a
pis allcr : in case, which we should think impossi-
ble, that party were to succeed, the preference is
given to another. Be it known to all seducers,
and all the indulgers of false hopes, that the pre-
sent Lord Chancellor will not separate himself from
Earl Grey on the question of reform, nor ever ac-
cept of any bill less comprehensive than the present
in imparting to the people their rights. With this
union, then, among themselves, this sup,,ort of the
House of Commons, of the people, and of the King,
what have the Ministry to fear ? They will act
with energy, and the result is certain. Of course,
whoever or whatever of the royal household has
obstructed their progress, or tended to diffuse
an opinion that their power is limited, or their
hands tied, will be removed. It may have
been suffered for a while through too great
facility, from pity, or even contempt ; but
the matter becomes serious now. The continu-
ance in office of one Peer adverse to the bill, must
occasion the creation of another to neutralize his
vote ; such a person, therefore, is injurious to the
dignity of the House of Peers. The Ministers will
then, undoubtedly, call for their fresh creation of
Peers, in number capable of satisfying the just ex-
pectation of the nation, redeeming the sacred pledge
of the KING to give his people a free and pare
representation, and so again uniting us all—after
one of those conflicts which, like a thunder-storm,
does but serve to purify the political atmosphere
in the bonds of amity and peace. If the
Peers have been inactive at this alarming crisis, the
case has been otherwise with the Commons. The
House met last night, and followed up their Bill
by two resolutions—temperate, indeed, and mild in
their expressos, but of such tenour as would for
ever pledge the House, if it had even only the dig-
nity of an ordinary assembly,—if its members had
only the common sense of honour entertained by
gentlemen,—not to recede one inch from the prin-
ciples laid down in the Bill. We assert, therefore,
that there are no means whatever of extrication
from the present difficulty but that proposed,—of
giving arch an accession in numbers to the House
of Lords (an accession, by the way, which time
will soon reduce again) as may enable that House
to carry the Bill promptly in a fresh session.—
Let there, then, be no I esitation on the part of
his 'lajesty's Ministers; let Lord Grey assume, in
re•pect to the question of reform, the same spirit
which Lord Ebripgton so wi.ely and manfully re-
commends to his 'adoption, Kith reference to the
general character of his administration ; let there
be no temporizing, no neglect of friends who would
devote themselves for him, in the hope of conci-
liating enemies who would only laugh at, betray,
and embarrass him. Such is the sum of Lord
Ebrington's excellent counsel, and e e recommend
his whole speech to the study of all liberal men.
A DV EATIse R.—There was a meeting of several
of the Opposition Lords and Commoners, on
Saturday night, at Lord Wharnclitre's, which did
not break up until one o'clock on Sunday morning.
The object of the meeting was to digest the plan
of a new Ministry, in the event of the resignation
of Earl Grey and his colleagues. In the first
instance, Lord Wharncliffe, we understand, pro-
rsed a plan of reform to be presented to the
House of Peers, the princip'e of which was not
to disfranchise, but to extend the right of suf-
frage ; but though approved by these wise
men r f G thaw, it is altogether so meagre
a project of reform, that it would be scouted
by the public, and excite the contempt and
ridicule of every man of common sense in the
country. It seems this little junto has selected
Sir Robert Peel as their polar star, who is to
guide them out of their difficultici, soothe their
alarms, and with a chosen few extinguish all op-
position, and insure to his administration the
confidence of the people ! The Duke of Welling,
ton, it is said, declines taking office, but has pro-
mised his support to the embryo Cabinet of
distinguished statesmen ! Should they succeed
in their mighty project, of which there is no
chance, the first thing they will no doubt
do, will be to search for precedents to I
preserve the public peace, drawn from the

administrations of the defunct Wm. Pitt and the
late Lord Castlereagh—the revival of the Gagging
Bills, and of the notorious Five Acts, will be
thought expedient, and why not the suspension of
the Habeas Corpus Act, to muzzle John Bull ?
Those Noble Lords who traverse Bond-street and
Regent-street in search of public opinion, will find,
even there, that the Tones are detested, and that
their return to power would be considered the
greatest scourge, calamity, and curse, that could
basil the country.
effinfmnesemm
LORD BROUGHAM'S LETTER ON REFORM.

We present the letter to which Lord Lyndhurst
alluded in the late debate, written by Lord
Brougham in the 'year 1810, on the subject of
Parliamentary reform. The letter, as was stated
in the debate, was stolen from the illustrious writer
by one of his servants, and of course improperly
published. The question of reform, however, re-
mains unaltered by it in its intrinsic merits—
must be governed as to the extent and magnitude
of any object they propose, by the pr.babilities of
being able to give effect to their views. A sub-
stantial reform we: as necessary in 1810 as in
1831 ; but the chances of carrying a great mea-
sure at the two eras are different. It is the effect
of age, in general, to moderate views, and to con-
trol efforts ; but the twenty years which have in-
tervened since the time when that letter was writ-
tea have, on the contrary, extended the views of
the writer, and shown him the necessity of pro-
posing a more comprehensive system of reform.—
% imes.

" Albany, London, April 28, 1810.
" My dear Sir—The subject of Parliamentary
Reform is so soon to come before the House of
Commons, and is one of so great importance to the
country, that I trust you will excuse, or rather ap.
prove of, the anxiety which prompts me to ask the
assistance of your opinion in making up my own,
and also in forming an estimate of the sense of the
people in your neighbourhood.
" I shall begin by taking it for granted that
some reform is desirable, and that the more the
constitution of Parliament can be improved
the better. The question is, what should be
done in this, and how we should have the best
chance of doing most for the cause ! I certainly
shall not much, without reluctance, obtrude my
opinion upon the House of Commons, and I am
still more averse to be the author of any specific
proposition on so grave a subject. But if I can
persuade no one of better pretensions to undertake
it, I am so deeply impressed with the ill conse-
quences of persisting in the former errors of re-
formers, to which I see the popular party out of
doors more wedded than ever, that I shall feel it
my indispensable duty to step forward in order to
save the cause from a certainty of being once more
ruined by its friends. For half a century the ques-
tion has been agitated, and not without the support
of all the most eminent men in Parliament and the
country. Strange to tell, no progress, not a step
gained, at least not a step forward ; nay, until
very lately, all care about it was gone, and the
most important of questions excited no kind of in-
terest. This leads one to suspect a radical error in
the plans and principles of the Reformers, and I
am persuaded that error is as follows :
" They have dealt too much in generals—their
plans have either been too vague and undefined, or
too large, so very large as to bear no stamp of
caution, and give no fair hopes of success. In
other branches of legislation we go gently, reform
evils gradually, and are content with doing the
lesser good that is practicable rather than grasp at
the greater, which is beyond our reach. In this
greatest and most momentous subject alone we
have no moderation, will be satisfied with nothing
short of complete success, and are resolved to have
101 l or nothing. Hence many doubts of our really
caring much about it, and many fears of our impru-
dence, have arisen in the minds of those who do
no* doubt of our good and zealous intentions.—
We have a constitution, not very perfect certainly,
but containing so much of excellence as should in-
cline us rather to mend than to new model.
Our House of Commons in particular is inade
quate to its functions, but it affords so many real
checks to the Crown, so much substantial protec-
tion to the people, that if its evils are not really
quite incurable we should prefer healing to am-
putation. We should take the system and cure
i's defects. We have a machinery already; let us
impr ye it ; let us at least try if it can be improved
before we bre4k it up, and try another on a prin-
ciple quite different and unknown. I believe the
question of changing the whole system of the re-
presentation,—that is, of the constitution,—is the
only ono in the history of politics, from a general
law down to a road bill, which has never been dis-
cussed with any caution or fear, and never suggest-
ed to any man the necessity of going to work,
mending piecemeal, before you began with de-
druction and reproduction. Now, seeing this to
have pro.luc..d no good, and being a sincere friend
of reform, I am for profiting by past experience,
and trying what can be done in a new and more
ordinary way.
" When Sir Samuel Romilly began to amend
the bankrupt laws, he brought in a bill for sub-
jecting freehold estates to the diligence of creditors
—a most partial and narrow reform ; and yet many
thought it too large, so many that it was lost, and
he only succeeded in carrying next session a very
limited part of the same measure. Had he begun by
moving for a general reform of all abuses in the
law of debtor and creditor, or even like my worthy
friend Mr. Brand, for a committee on the bank-
rupt laws, every trader in England would have been
alarmed, and all lawyers at least would have op-
posed him. So now, in attempting the reform of
our criminal law, he confines himself to the intro-
duction of two measures, which, though important
in themselves, bear so small a proportion to the
whole of the abuses to be corrected, that zealots
for reform would scarcely condescend to look at
them ; yet that great lawyer and enlightened se-
nator well knows the dAnger of rapid legislation;
he is aware that it may be worse to cure too
quickly than to endure a little longer ; and he can
see no reason for moving most swiftly on the most
slippery ground when the precipice is nearest and
the gulf deepest. A beginning is the great object;
the first is here the stop which costs; and, above
all things, a sincere and virtuous reformer,—one
who wishes to do good, and has a higher ambition
than to make a noise,—one who ss ants to have a
reform and not a clamour,—will avoid whatever
may bring his cause into contempt or disrespect;;
lie will therefore be aware both of proposing plans
whose magnitude may alarm, and of going so far:

all at once as to run the risk of doing irreparable
mischief before experience can administer its cor-
rections. Looking at the House of Commons with
these views, my object would naturally be to find
out its chief defects, and to attempt the remedy of
these one by one—to propose no system—no great
project—nothing which pretended even to the name
of a plan—but to introduce, in a temperate and
conciliating manner, before the end of the session,
one or two separate bills, intended to cure as many
acknowledged evils, and to leave those bills for
further discussion during the vacation, to let them
die altogether, if not approved of by the wiser part
of mankind, or to revive them next session with
such improvements as the discussion of the inter-
vening summer would suggest.
" One might be given up and another carried;
all time for reflection would be afforded ; a decent
caution, at any rate, would mark so grave a pro-
ceeding; and either the outrageous reformers of
the day, would as. that Parliament was disposed
to amend itself, or the well-meaning part of their
followers would see it and be reclaimed. A man
must be blind to the state of public opinion not to
think this a safer way of protecting parliament,
than those at present in vogue. He must be far
gone in zeal not to see that this is the only attain-
able reform, and that any other, if attainable,
would be little desirable.

" The first of these bills should be a place
bill, not certainly to exclude the ministers and
principal members of the Boards from the House
of Commons, for their presence there is the best
check to the executive, and is, moreover, the only
conceivable way of carrying on public business ;
but a bill for limiting the numbers of inferior
placemen, such as puiene Lords of the Treasury
and Admiralty, Board of Controul, and leaving
the head of each and a leading member. These
inferior persons at present enjoy mere sinecures,
They do nothing but vote. They are made Lords
of the Treasury, &c. not because there is anything
for them to do, or because they are fit for it if
there were, but because they can get into Parlia-
ment, and will, by their offices, be always within
call, and ready to vote. They are paid nominally
for sinecure places, really for ministerial votes.—
They are a dead weight on every division, because,
being always on the spot, and well disciplined and
paid, they are equal to three times as many irre-
gulars, or volunteers. If fifteen or twenty of these
were excluded, first the boards would be filled with
able officers, and would become effective; and,
next, the overgrown influence of the house would
be sensibly diminished. Secondly, a bill for reform-
ing the representation of the Scotch counties. In
Scotland, no law ever was passed similar to our
Statute of Westminster 3d, commonly called quit
ernptoris, and no check was ever imposed upon
subinfeudations. Hence the real property of the
land and the feudal superiority are quite distinct
and separable from each other. One man may
bold, and does constantly hold the superiority, and
another the property, but the former alone can
vote for a member. It is as if a man were lord of
a manor (in England) which was entirely parcelled
out into copyholds and received in quit rents, waifs,
&c. 40s. yearly from his copyholds. Without an
acre in land in his manor he alone could vote, his
revenue being little more than nominal, while the
copyholders would have no votes though they
might possess estates of 10,0001. a year each.—
Thus in Scotland a man sells his lands and
keeps his vote, or sells his vote and keeps his
land, and thus all the country members might
be chosen by a few rich Jews born in England,
residing in London or Amsterdam, or by one
such Jew. This is an extreme case, but the
real evils are great. It has followed, first, that
the voters are few in number, in the largest
about 150, in others 40 or 50, in some 14 to 20,
in one 11, in one a single voter, and, as it hap-
pens, no person eligible, for the voter is a judge,
and only votes, but cannot be elected; such, at
least, was the case last election. Even in the
most populous counties a compromise takes place
between a few leading families who can make
more votes at pleasure, and in whose hand numbers
of the existing voters are. Secondly, it has foliwed
that many very wealthy landholders in every
parish have no votes at all ; but thirdly, and chiefly,
that a traffic is established in rotes, most hurtful.
both to the voter and the member, the country and
the Parliament; for a man buys a rote in a county
where there are few, and where parties are nearly
balanced. It is a source of revenue to him : it pro-
vides his children with cornetcies, cadetcies, and
writerships,—his dependents with places in the
Excise and Customs—his widow and daughter
with pensions. The member is a slave ; suppose
him ever so independent himself (and this is sup-
posing a great deal), he must be eternally at the
Minister's levee for places to his voters; it is the
tenure by which he sits; and again he can only
get those places by service in the House of Com-
mons ; he must be constantly at the vote, it is the
tenure by which he gets his places; all the morn-
ing at Downing-street at the Minister's feet, all
night in the house at the Minister's back. Such is
his life, such it must be, but such it is in real fact.
The thirty Scotch county members are as regular
in their attendance and vote as the fifteen or
twenty inferior placemen. You find them always
there. In a house of seventy members, perhaps the
average of the session, I dare venture to say you will
find 30 Scotch, the right proportion being only four
to five; this includes the borough as well as county
members, but I am speaking of the latter only. Now
wby should not this gross abuse be done away t
Why not restore the Scotch counties to the same
footing with the English which they originally had,
and which they would still have had if there had
been a law against sub-infeudations made by the
Scotch Parliament. I will mention another fact,
though it may be invidious. In the first division
on Walcheren the opposition had 39 English coup
ty members, 26 Irish, and 5 Scotch. The mi-
nistry had 37 English county members, 26 Irish,
and no less than 20 Scotch. In the other divisions
the majority of English county members was con-
siderably greater, but the total of counties was for
Government by the means of the Scotch members.
The advantage of this plan. would be, that it
pledges us to no English reform which any man
objects to; it does little more than bring things
to the former level between the two counties. It
is not very unpopular. It was patronized by a
large society in Scotland in 1791 and 1792, at the
head of which were the Chief Baron and the Lord
Advocate (Mr. Dundee), now Chief Baron. It
would greatly improve the character and station of
Scotland, but chiefly it would improve the Parlia-
ment. Thirdly, the English copyholders should

be rendered electors on the same principle; they
are excluded on the same feudal principles which
exclude the Scotch vassal proprietors, viz. becausc•
their ancestors were villains and vassals when
the lesser barons first elected representatives ;
they should clearly be allowed to vote, thouzh
the qualification might be made higher than in
freeholders. But beyond this trivial change we are
not called to go by previous and more important
alteration in Scotch rights of election. Lastly, it
is advisable to lay the foundation of a Scotch and
English borough reform ; but with infinite caution,
and avoiding a principle of disfranchisement above
every thing. Edinburgh is the only Scotch town
which chooses a member ; the other towns arc
thrown into districts, each borough choosing a
delegate, and the whole delegates from each dis-
trict choosing the member who represents the bo-
rough. All the boroughs, and Edinburgh and
Glasgow as well as the rest, are quite close, the
corporations or magistrates alone electing (to this
there is one exception, viz. Stirling, which was
thrown open for bribery thirty years ago). Now
it would be better to begin merely with giving
Edinburgh a popular election there. There are se-
rious objections to what at first might seem desi-
rable, giving Glasgow a similar reform, for that town
is one of the boroughs which elect a member
amongst them, and it could not have its own elec-
tion without disfranchising the others. Edinburgh
chooses a member itself, and in throwing it open
you only invade the rights of the corpora..
tion, a change which would be a small price
for the benefits to be purchased by it. The
population of Edinburgh is very singularly com-
posed-8,000 people without trade or manufac-
tures, with a large and enlightened body of lawyers
and clergy, a famous and flourishing University,
and the winter residence of all the considerable
landholders of Scotland. It is nearer what Dublin
will be (from similar causes) than any other place
In the empire, and it is peculiarly well calculated
for a popular election. Such an election would
improve the elections all over Scotland, and the
success of the experiment, so partially tried, would
secure a favourable reception for subsequent im-
provements. Moreover it would not commit you
to any scheme of indefinite borough reform in
England—it would only oblige you to give a re-
presentation to some one or two great towns, as
Manchester or Birmingham, as soon as some
borough like Mal-lon in Essex lost its charter by
expiration, which I believe will soon happen there,
or as soon as Old Sarum could be purchased by
the country 1
" Disfranchisement is the word of all others to
be avoided on the present occasion. It is the
worst enemy of all practical reform.
" Should it be determined to go beyond this par-
tial and unambitious measure, the voluntary sale
of some English boroughs and Scotch corporate
rights might furnish the means of giving not only
several other towns, as Leeds, or Sheffield, a re-
presentation, but of adding to the county members,
as by giving Yorkshire two or three, Lancashire one
or two, additional members. But for a first step,
I am very clear that the four bills enumerated
above, or including a provision respecting Maldon
and Manchester, the five bills are enough to begin
with, and should satisfy the most sanguine reformer
who seriously wishes an improvement in Parlia-
ment. Then let us stop, and see, and try. In
bringing forward such a plan, we must give ap all
hopes of satisfying the more violent political re-
formers of the day. They will call it a trick—a
job— a subterfuge—a collusion, and every thing
most opprobrious ; we shall be infinitely
more abused than if we did nothing at
all. What is worse, such idle clamours will for a
while dupe the well meaning reformers in most
places. But in the end we shall reclaim the lat-
ter from the influence of their misleaders, and shall
have the ultimate support of all whose honesty
and good sense makes their support worth having.
To such immediate clamours, however, must the
temperate reformer expose himself, and for meeting
such rewards must he make up his mind. There
is no help for it. Had a rational scheme, like the
lone above sketched out been soon proposed, in all
probability they would not have existed, At least
it is cot Cain that the grounds for them would have
been removed. lam extremely desirous of your
candid sentiments and those of your friends on the
above outline. I have purposely avoided too many
details, and even suppressed material parts
of each hill, in order to give it in the
general and more concisely. The p opriety, for
example, under the first measure of rendering places
during pleasure, which are conferred by boards
as well as those granted by the crown, a ground
for vacating a seat in Parliament, is toe obvious
to escape notice, they come clearly within the
meaning of the statute. Why eh. ald a lordship
of the treasury vacate (worth 15001.) and not the
secretaryship, worth three times the sum? May
I beg your early attention to this matter, as it is
my wish to make up my mind on it without de-
lay. I have only to add, that should the above
plan be deemed advisable, I shall endeavour to find
some persons, of due weight and consider-
ation, to bring it forward I shall be
ready to assist and support it ;—and my rea-
reason foil stepping forward with it, or for intend-
ing to propose it to Parliament myself, should I
ultimately be satisfied with it, soundness, and
eh uhf I find no better persons to bring it forward,
is any acquaintance with the subject in my pro-
fessronal capacity, both in attending el. ction corn•
mittees, and in Scotch law practice. Believe rue,
with great regard, yours very faithfully,
•• HENRY BROUGHAM."

MAXIM'S.
CaltENONY—.is imperative, and likewise be-
coming, at all Pageants, state occaions, and the like.
Ceremony is necessary to good order and good moral'
and gives a right feeling to society. Ceremony is well ob-
served In all our forms of worship, and every religious mil!.
nation. Some Ceremony is certainly good in every house,
but all Ceremony Is bad between friends.
Etat y.—lt is a great error to hold a party
cheap, because it may happen to want a head t • factious
leat.er may be termed qf tacky, while another, fungutr•A:-
may spring up tomorrow.
THE PEOPLE.—Nothing is more dangerous than
to let a People see that while you attack the:n you think
only of self-dthoce. Cc/auto tutus, is a whole.onie wavm,
and second only to this—Keep your woo is, r: t.
PRlDE.—Hutton saps, The man that is v.ith•
out pride, is the man that wants brel.th.—ritc nti-lortunts
that befal the iicb, can only correct their pride-,
tattering the vanity of the poor, but the contrary ca.-4 to c
often seen.--All conditions Rase their detects. Humapil tT.
...Ars should suffer the iniserald: to plead in their disiro.r..
since we so frequently forget them in our abundance.

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LONDON : Printed and Published by Jona vs a, za Inc
STa* °rm., No. 1, Pickett.plece, Tempts