Star.
London, England, 1831-03-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE JOURNALS.

Mmes.—Laid John Russell and Mr. Stan iCyare to be (if tl ev
are not already) appointed Cabinet Ministers,—a handsome but be'r•
means dispropordoned tribute to the abilities which they have display,
ed on this momentous question of reform. The cause of reform i:
advancing with steady but accelerated steps. Every pariah throughou•
the metropolis—every district throughout the kingdom--is in mod%
calmly, deliberately, but determinately, the march proceeds. Tr:
moral courage of Englishmen, ;which MITT yet failed at a eri,is i;
arousing itself in proportion to the magnitude of the stake and the
justice of the cause, and victory is sure. We lately, in the tithe
volume of Colonel Nepier's History of the Peninsular War, met with
a beautiful passage, in which the unconquerable bravery of the
English soldiery at Albuera is described in a strain of just apprecia.
Lion and impassioned eloquence. As are the characteristic qualiti.
of Englishmen in the field of battle against their country's fots...;
such are they In the less bloody but scarcely less arduous struggle
for civil rights against the foes of freedom and justice. The uncoil._
querable mind Is the same in both cases : British soldiers and Whit..
citizens are made of the same stern unyielding stuff; and the phakne
of the boroughmongers is as surely destined to fall before the deter.
mined expression of' .he moral will of cur civic heroes as the hosts of
Souk gave way before the irresistible right arms of our Military
champions.
Pose.—We still look in vain for any thing like a practical intellixi.
ble argument to prove that the affairs of this country have been i!l.
managed in consequence of the present state of the representation in the
House of Commons, or that they are likely to be better managed by such
a representation as the proposed measure would give w. We see
with Sir Charles Wetherell that the proposed measure would be a rob.
bevy of Corporations—we see with Mr. North that the abolition of tilt.
close boroughs would take away the means of access to the Hock
which now exists for men of great talent and small fortunes_
we see the confusion, if not destruction, which would attend upon the
rending asunder of those long.established political relations with which
the circumstances of every man of any property in the country are inure
or less intertwined ; but we cannot sec, nor have we heard enumerated
by any experienced man whose judgment is worth attending to, the
positive tangible benefits which are to result from the change. But
why are the populace thus disposed in favour of Reform ? We believe
that it is only the most noisy and least worthy part of the populace that
Is so disposed, and that this part is influenced by no reason, no practical
conviction of the necessity of Reform, but merely by political fanaticism.
Irienatts—Those who say it is a revolutionary measure to disfran.
ebtae boroughs which have fallen into decay, and to transfer a certain
portion of didr franchises to great towns, should be told that such a
proceeding is rather a correction of the revolution which time was per.
forming in bringing flourishing and populous towns into decay, and
raising insignificant villages into flourishing and populous towns._
Thus, this measure is, more properly speaking, "counter-revolutionary."
It restores the original principle of a " real" representation, which
had been gradually altered into a " nominal" one. It super.
odes that aristocratic fiction of modern times —a " virtual" represen.
tadon—by one which is founded on the strong and broad basis of united
property and population. If all the elective rights transferred from dis
franchised boroughs were given to the inhabitants of towns, we admit
that the landed interest would have sonic reason to complain ; but surely
those who are connected with that interest have no reason to complain,
seeing that so many of those franchises are to be appropriated to the
landed representation as will give two members each additional to no
less than twenty-seven counties, independently of the same number for
each riding of Yorkshire. It is difficult to find any thing like argu.
ment in the speeches of those members who oppose reform. W,
cannot form the least notion what venerable chronicles those Senators
have derived their information from who describe the right of represen-
tation, as existing at Gabon and Old Sarum, to be among the lied.
marks of our ancient Constitution. Our ancient Constitution knew
nothing of rotten boroughs. All representation was, in early times,
built upon its true principle—a real constituency. The " science of Go.
%raiment" had not then that degree of refinement, which substitutes
shadowy fictions for substantial rights, and considers the fabric of the
Constitution best Inured by propping it upon ruins.
CHBONICLE.--Some of the most singular arguments against the
bill were urged last night by Mr. Attwood. On a former evening it
had been observed by Mr. Macauley, " If the bill should produce a
Republic by improving the Representation—though he was con.
vinced it would have no such effect...if what the Hon. Member for Ox.
ford says were true, if giving the great body of the intelligeht and middle
classes a share in the Government, would lead to the destruction of the
Aristocracy, and the demolition of the Throne—what did that imply.
but that these two were opposed to the welfare of the nation ?" So far
from being deterred by the conclusion. Mr. A ttwood boldly pronounces
sentence of perpetual ineapadty on the King and the House of Peers--
and then says, What, in lion's name, are you about? If you do not
keep the House of Commons as nearly as possible on a par in point of
stupidity with the hereditary branches, you will destroy the balance of
the Constitution. This reminds us of the reasoning of Montesqultu,
that no King could safely employ a Minister, because the King, pos.
'sawing less ability than the Minister, would, as a matter of cause, be
dispossessed by him. We presume the honourable member is in
earnest, and that there is no malice towards the two other branches of the
Legislature in this picture of their helpless stupidity compared with a
popula4House of Commons. But the argument is a ticklish one.—
Why is the existence of imbecility made a sine qua non in a Constitu-
tion ? The assumption is not certainly very Battering to their Lord.
ships, and we doubt very much whether they will thank him for hf•
aid. But, allowing foe the sake of argument that his strange 'stump
don of imbecility and ability cannot co-exist, why may not the lathe-
ciliry be parted with ? If ability and energy be so dangerous in du.
House of Commons to the existence of the Lords, we shall be as far off
from security as ever with a stupid House of Commons, for if there be
ability and energy in the nation, it will prove too much for a stupid
HOuse of Commons. To be consistent, therefore, we must go the
whole length of the honest Emperor Francis, who, in the true spirit of
the Holy Alliance, said he did not wish to have clever subjects.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

Kum Amman Tun Ma—Dublin, i ; Waterford, 1; Hamburgb, i.

PSOM OC comminution..
FALKODTE. Mason 7.—Wind N.N.W. to W.N. W. strong pled.
Arrived last evening, his Majesty's packet Cygnet, Lieut. Goulding,
from Lisbon—sailed 27th uh. with malls, &c. When the packet
sailed, it was reported that several of those who had been arrested as
principals, acting against the government of Doo Miguel, were to have
been executed on Tuesday, the Ist inst. No ether news of interest
from that quarter.
Sailed yesterday. his Majesty's packet Baracouta, Vent. James, for
Jamaica and Carthagena, with malls of the 2d inst.
This day (wind changeable), no arrivals. Sailed the Countess of
Mansfield, Scott, for Sc. Michael's ; Solace, Cross, for Malta • his bla-
jesty's steamer Echo, Lieut. Otway, for the Mediterranean, With 111.11
of the Ist instant ; Cornubis, Heath, for Penzance ; Lldy Nelson.
Sunny, for Liverpool; and Clarence, Harding, for Antwerp.
, Maacit B.—Wind SW. moderate.

Poanatouve, Masai B.—Wind S.— Arrived the Perm 14 tnn•
sport, from Malta—sailed ed ultimo; passed Gibraltar the 114th, sod
spoke, the same day, the Prince Regent transpo; r, tram Gibraltar to
this port. Also arrived, the Sovereign, Champlin, from New Tort.
Sailed his Majesty's ship Druid, for Plymouth.
Darrattauvu, Masco 7.—Arriced the Creole, Symons, from P. t
=whew.

PENZANC; Mama 7.—Arrived the Brothers, Moll trd, from St.
Michael's.

Dvsarooz., Masai 7.—Arrived the Active, from Paraiba,
and Halcyon, Patterson, from Savannah. Off the port, the Charie.,
Wharton, from New (Mean,.
Berman, Maus 6.—Arr.vid the Louisa, —, from St. John's,
N.B. and Ardent, Gowan, from London.
DUBLIN, MA acia 6.7 Arrived the Sarah, Jones, from St. Michael's•

Cost, idA/ACII 6.—Arrived the Joaquim, St. Ana, from Sr. Übe's.
CORN-EXCHANGE-THIS DAY.

Our supplies of all kinds of grain are very short, and the trade gent•
rally is confined to small purchasers, with a moderate demand for
Wednesdays market, the rife' remain nominally u on Monday.