Star.
London, England, 1830-11-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TILE JOUIINALS.

CIIRONICLE.—The condition of the labouring classes throughout
Ei.l:l,ald is very unequal ; but in general it may be said to have been
Imam!: what humanity might have desired it to be. Berkshire and
Bin kinghanishire are, perhaps, the very worst counties. But it is a
unmake to suppose the labourers have not always been miserable in these
Lila some other counties. The lice. David Davies, Rector of Barkham,
who published a quarto volume on the State of the Labourers in
flumbandry, gives minute accounts of the income and out-goings of a
',umber of labourers in 1787, and shows, o:at allowing nothing for cot-
tage tent, fuel, clothing, &a. the nects‘ary weekly expenditure of a la-
bower at that time, allowing only one pound of bacon in the week,
exceeded the income ; so that a la:gc part of his expenditure must
of necessity have been derived from other sources than wages.
" Our progressive population," he observes " has added to the number
of dependent poor, the his of the Poor Laws showing that an increase
of population has been always accompanied in this country by an in-
creased number of poor." In the last forty or fifty years, he says the
..dvin,cr in the price of provisions had been fully one.third, whereas the
.elearce in the price of labour in the same time had been "in some
places from five to six shillings, in others from nix to seven shillings a
sock, and in some places a little more than this; that is, the advance
111., been only a sixth or a seventh part of the present price. And even
this small advance is apparent, not real : for the additional shilling is
cal equivalent to certain advantages which labouring people formerly
enjoyed, but of which they have been gradually deprived ; such, for
~.':ante, as a mess of milk or broth for breakfast, an allowance of small
'`'Cr. and the like." In all the districts where the people are now coin-
-.ming outrages, misery seems to have been the ordinary condition.
tale the discontent, of late, to have been caused not by greater
y, but by the impulse given by a comparison of their condition
with that of which they hear or read elsewhere.

TIMES. ,The present parliament was elected by a nation bent rem.
cutely on reform' of Parliament. The late Minister was at once
.curled from his seat, from the moment in which he betrayed a spirit in-
:itacal to that vast object on which England had become decided and
natumous. The existing Ministers owe to their promise of a reform
sole chance which awaits them of being able to carry on public burl-
: ~s without a dissolution of Parliament—a measure which, beside en-
Lagering the public peace, might grievously oppress and embarrass the
,hpresentatives col counties in all parts of the kingdom, and, under the
.'went anti-union phrenzy among the Irish, might inflame that dente-
-Pipe-ridden race to open insurrection. If we were invited to cam-
*ti a statesman—much more a down statesmen on this most vi.
.1 question,—we should say, let them propose at the earliest
dal, to Parliament, a resolution embracing come broad and
'^tquirocal principle of reform in the House of Commons, from which
-either they nor their successors could afterwards dare to flinch; but
t tot details of any kind be forced on precipitately, lest they might not
,411 deliberate and scrutinising examination. By too soon sewn.r•tntling a complete system of Parliamentary reform, the principle itself
:414 be brought into discredit ; because the public and the legislature
"luid have to set aside or alter that which Ministers had got up in
As cordial friends, therefore, to that great principles we would
r"gia with a species of amelionition which must operate powerfslly to
'tore objections against a rvfonn of Parliament t i self, in the breasts
thqse who now resist that principle as much from mercenary and

sorad, as from arbitrary or aristocratic motives. Begin with
temom leo reform—cut away the pabulum of foul ambi.
Lion, the prey of rapacity, the stimulus to corruption, and
half your works as Parliamentary reformers is already done. We
shall touch but briefly en the various heads of retrenchment which
must offer themselves to a bold and patriotic statesman, and leave our
hints to tight theio own way with the community. Ministers ought to
cut down their own large salaries at the outset. The Lord Lieutenancy
of Ireland ought to be got rid of as expeditiously as the forms and in.
tricacies of public business will permit. The Duke of Northumber-
land some time since made a liberal sacrifice of at least one.fourth of
the income of that unwieldy office ; and by way of illustration of the
view which we have above brought forward, the extinction of the whole
will be in so far facilitated, as the place of Lord Lieutenant must be
henceforth less an object of desire to needy noblemen, and of conten.
tion among the different interests which a cabinet has to consider and con-
ciliate. We have heard, but cannot affirm positively, that Lord Anglesey
will be the lastbordLieutenant,and his appointment is but a preliminary
to the almost immediate abolition of that ancient but worn-out rank.
It has been alleged on respectable authority, that the Vice-Treasurer-
ship of Ireland had been improved by the Duke of Wellington into a
place of considerable labour and efficiency ; at least, we have been told '
that its late possessor, the Knight of Kerry, neither found it a sinecure
nor made it so. If, however, the business can be done through clerks,
without the cost of a salary f 2,5001. per annum, the public has an
undoubted right to the benefit of such a saving. The public boards
are kept up at an enormous and needless expense. The Duke of Wel-
lington tried his hand at them, and did something, but not half enough.
Instead of being what the lively audacity of Mr. Canning's imagination
represented them, so many cradles for infant statesmen, they arc,
in too many cases, but easy chairs for decrepitude, or pillows
whereon helpless and high-born beggary may indulge its contempt for
those on whose bread it fattens. Lords of the Admiralty—of the Tree-
sury—Commissioners of the India Board, of which the whole business
is done by the Chief Commissioner alone--Commissioners of Excise and
Customs, and. Stamps, and Navy Board, and Victualling Board, and
Woods and Forests, and Hackney Coaches—all might be diminished by
at least two-thirds of their number. So the diplomatic service, pruned
as it was, and to a considerable extent, by Lord Aberdeen, will admit of
a much greater retrenchment, and the public business be incomparably
better executed than at present. What do such men as Sir C. Bagot and
Lord Burghersh do as art equivalent for their prodigious salaries ?
The dignity of Great Britain is not best upheld by fine laced liveries,
nor her character by fashionable manners; nor arc her right and interests
best understood or defended by ignorant, feeble, frivolous, or arrogant
personages, because they may happen to be the expensive nephews,
brothers or sons of courtiers. Again, was there ever such a nest for vo-
racious vermin as the royal household, in its several ramifications of
complex and barbarous superfluity ? What use has the King of Eng-
land for a set of lords, by way of menial servants about him—hereditary
legislators, judges, over a free people—yet domestics of a limited mo-
narch, at so many thousands each per annum, for wearing out their lives
in irksome yawning attendance on a king, who feels oppressed by their
contiguity to his person. Then we have the Duchy of Lancaster, with a
huge salary--must that abuse of the public treasure be continued ? The
Lieut.-Gen. of the Ordnance, condemned not 12 months ago, by the whole
liberal opposition in Parliament,— what becomes of that? To change to
another branch, for they are many, of the extravagance visible in all our
institutions—the salaries of the Judges—raised, as they professed to be,
on account of the high prices of all articles of consumption, ought they
not to be lowered after the fall in price of every thing that was the sub-
ject of sale or purchase,--every thing, we may well subjoin, but justice
Itself, which costs as much as ever? We had as good Judges, and as
speedy redress of wrongs, when the Judges salaries were but 3,5001 per
annum, as now when they are 5,5001. Atileast 1,0001. a-year ought at
once to be struck off the pay of those learned personages. Then for the
army,—kept up, as it is, to its present standard, on the plea of sending
portions of it to rot away periodically in our numerous colonial garrisons !
What need have the colonies of garrisons of regular troops, more parti-
cularly since the liberal policy of our relations with America will have
the effect of imptoving their condition? This paper has frequently re-
commended that the interior police of our island colonies should be left
to a militia, paid by themselves ; and that whatever additional defence
was demanded should be provided for by an increase to our naval
squadrons stationed in all quarters of the globe. This arrangement
would admit of a reduction of one-sixth of the standing army of Great
Britain. We repeat, let the Ministers reform Parliament by all means,
and let them begin by a sweeping economical reform.
Ciraowietz. —We believe it is certain that Mr. Charles Wynn has
been named Secretary at War; and that Lord Sandon is to be the Secre-
tary of the India Board. It is understood that the plan of Reform
contemplated by Ministers will prove of a far more extensive nature than
many persons have surmised.

POST.—A petite piece de efreonstanee was got up last night in the
House of Lords, in which Earl Grosvenor and the Lord Chancellor
performed the principal characters. Earl Grosvenor called upon the
noble and learned lord to repel the imputation of inconsistency which
had been cast upon him for joining an administration with which, a day
or two before,%he declared it to be an utter impossibility that he should
have any thing to do ; but the task was too difficult even for the inge-
nuity of the noble and learned lord, and he prudently resolved not to un-
dertake it. So far indeed was he from attempting to repel the charge, that
he confirmed:it in terms the most express ; for he at once:and frankly,
confessed that his conduct had been such as not only to warrant the as-
tonishment it had excited in others, but to astonish even himself. His
inconsistency could not be denied. And, therefore, as the next best
thing that could be done, the noble and learned lord attempted to prove
that it was meritorious. He had been constrained to be inconsistent,
not by " gewgaw splendout of office" (rank and station cannot yet es-
cape his sneer), but by pure patriotism—by an ardent desire to
serve his country—by the hope of increased power to do good to
his fellow-citisens. These are, no doubt, very good reasons
for his acceptance of office, supposing them to he the true
reasons. But they are equally good reasons why he should
not have affected to disclaim and despise office two days
before he accepted it. To make sense of this explanation it is
necessary to suppose that between the disclaimer and the acceptance
of office some negotiation took place, the result of which was to con.
fer upon the noble and learned lord a greater share of power in the
State than has usually accompanied the Great Seal. We sincerely
hope therefore that the explanation of the noble and learned lord is
the nonsense that it seems. The first speech of the new Lord Chan-
cellor was received by the Peers present without the least sound in-
dicative of approbation —a circumstance unusual, if not, as we rather
believe, unprecedented. This was a pretty significant intimation to
Lord Brougham--and we hope he will make haste to profit by it—
that he has much to learn or to unlearn before he can be an accept-
able or effective speaker in the House of Lords.

OXFORD, Nov. 27.
In consequence of the spirit which has shown itself in the neighbour-
hood of this city, and in some more distant parts of the county, the ma.
gistrates of the city and county assembled here on Wednesday last
when many special constables were sworn into office, and every precau-
lion taken to ensure such speedy communication with all parts of the
county as we trust will have the effect of preventing the occurrence of
such serious mischief as has lately taken place in different parts of the
kingdom. We are thankful that the cowardly, the diabolical dispel
tion which has prompted some wretches to destroy the very staff of life,
the kind gift of Gob for the presigval ion of mankind, has not far 'mead
in this county; that JO has been co:lfined to its extremity. It must be
the very act of the arch-demon, of that all-destroying, envious spirit
which our great poet has so well described as leading man to his own
ruin, that has produced the horrible destruction of that article on which
all of us, high and low rich and poor, depend for existence. IVe im-
plore all those who wish for the welfare, the happiness, the comfort of
themselves, their families, their connections, their fellow-creatures, to
use all the faculties, all the powers, physical and mental, which they
possess, to avert the evils that threaten them; to put a stop, by their
influence, their advice, their exertions of every kind, to that dreadful,
that malignant spirit which has gone abroad ; to teach the labouring
and the suffering peasants, that the destruction of the property of
their employers tends to their own ruin ; that it will inevitably in.
volve ell classes of society in misery; that it will render it Impossible
even for the moat opulent and most benevolent to relieve the d
of the poor. Should the Almighty, to punish the sins of the land for
the destruction of his choicest gifts, visit us with a famine arising from
an unproductive season ; what a dreadful situation shall we be placed
in ! Il'hat then will the miserable, the infatuated wretches feel, who
have destroyed the food they will in vain seek for ? How can they ex-
pect ; indeed how can they possibly obtain relief, for money cannot re-
produce what has been burnt ! From our youth we have heard the
poorest, the most uneducated persons exclaim against those who wasted
even a piece of bread ; and now we read of men who destroy that which
would make thousands of loaves of bread, and maintain hundreds 11
of families. GOD protect us from the spread of this devas.
tating, this malignant disposition, which will bring those who
possess it to misery in this life, and deprive them of all hope of
happiness in that which is to come. It is warring against their
GOD end their neighbour ; and will assuredly bring upon them
dreadful punishment. Should any inclined to foster such a spirit read
these our observations, we hope they will profit from them. They are
written in charity and good wishes; they spring from a determination
to do all the good our means enable us to effect ; they are published as a
warning to all who read them ; they proceed from a certainty of the evils
that must follow a continuance of the diabolical practice of the incen-
diary, and from a conviction that our King, our Government, our
Clergy, our Country Gentlemen, and our wealthy citizens, will, without
delay, do all that can be done for the benefit of the poor, and particu-
larly for the alleviation of the sufferings of the agricultural labourer.
Thursday evening a thrashing machine was set fire to at Steeple
Barton, in this county, but as the owner had fortunately removed it
from the vicinity of his ricks and buildings, no loos was sustained
beyond the destruction of the greater part of it. The machine was the
property of Mr. Barnard, a member of the Deddington Prosecuting
Association, and a reward is offered for the apprehension of the incen-
diaries. Great praise Is due to the Magistrates, C. Cotterell Dormer and
James Lechmere, Revs. and to many neighbours of Steeple Aston and
Heyfotd, fir the activity they displayed on the occasion.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Nov. 26.
SLAVERY.
Lind hoden, the Bishop of London, the Duke of Bedford, Lord St.
Germain's, Lord Wharncliffe, and Lord Dundas, presented petitions
against slavery from various parts of England.

PARLIAMENT•R itErokx—THE LOAD CHANCALLOIt'S DE.
CLARATION.

Earl GROSVENOR, having a petition to present on the subject of
reform, was desirous of making a few observations on that subject. De-
clarations favourable to reform in parliament had been made in that
house by a noble earl, and he should not have introduced the subject on
that occasion, had he not heard of certain rumours of a change of opinion
on the part of a noble and learned lord, whose splendid talents had made
him a powerful advocate for reform in the other branch of the legisla.
turc. The noble earl could rot well avoid adverting to topics in which
the political conduct of the noble and learned lord on the woolsack had
been introduced. A painful notice had been taken of a supposed
departure from principles. It had been said that the noble and learned
lord, by accepting the seals, had acted in opposition to all his assertions
in another place. fie thought it was right to give the noble and
learned lord an opportunity, if the noble and learned lord thought
proper to take it, of atatirg whether his sentiments on the subject of
parliamentary reform were changed. If the noble and learned lord
should declare his opinions unchanged, he should hail the declaration
with great satisfaction, because his majesty's government would then ap.
pear to be unanimous in the pursuit of a line of policy which must prove
beneficial to the country. Would to GOD, said the noble earl, the prin.
ciples of government, recentl:. developed by a noble earl (Grey) had been
acted upon at the commencement of the reign of George I V. instead of the
reign of William the Fourth. The country might then have b.:en re-
leased from many evils it has since endured. In addition to the ques-
tion of Parliameatary heform, there was another to which he would di.
rest the attention of the noble and learned lord. He alluded to economy
in the public expenditure. In order to reduce the burthens of the peo.
ple, and make improvement in the system of tithes, he would go as far
as any one. His hope was that the noble earl would carry his measures
for the relief of the public to the utmost extent. With regard to negro
slavery, he could never cease to call fur Its abolition, at:d his hope was
that he should see the period arrive when slavery would be no more.--
The noble earl concluded by placing his petition in the hands of the
clerk.

The LORD CHANCELLOR then rose. The most profound si-
lence prevailed. He said—My Lords—l have listened with great at.
tention to the few observations which have been made by my noble
friend upon these two questions that must be considered of paramount
importance, whether we regard the interests of the empire, or the public
duties of statesmen to the entire world. I am obliged to my noble friend
for the opportunity he has afforded me, but as many other opportunities
will occur, and at no very distant period of time, it prevents the neces-
sity of my declaring m) opinions at present. That my opinions are
known to my noble friend on the topics to which he alludes may be
true—that they may be known to other noble lords in common
with many of my fellow citizens is, indeed, very probable,
and I hope is not for my disadvantage. That any Noble Lord
should know so little of me, I hope is not the case, as for a
moment to suppose, that in any circumstances in which I can
be placed upon this earth, my opinions, my feelings, my prin-
ciples, my wishes in favour of both these great questions, alwaysof ex.
teems, and now of urgent importance to this empire, could suffer
change, or that any thing could even induce me to abate one iota of the
seal which swells my bosom in these matters. At least 1 trust there be
but few who know so little of me, even from report, as to suspect me of
such change. It is painful to me,l and the more so from the unex-
pected appeal of my noble friend, that now, when for the first time,
I have the honour of addressing your Lordships, excepting in
your judicial capacity, I should be called upon to treat a subject
in every way of such inferior importance as myself. (Hear, hear.)
Nevertheless, as my noble friend says, misrepresentations have
gone abroad and remarks of an unfriendly nature touching the con.
sisteney of my public conduct have been made elsewhere, and that
therefore, be was anxious to give me an opportunity of setting right the
one and repelling the other, should I now shrink—or rather let me say
—should I decline offering a few words in deference to your lordships,
and I may add, out of respect to myself, after the call which has been
made on me, it might wear the appearance of shrinking, not from the
expression of my opinions to correct misrepresentations, but from the
attacks which have been made on me, if, indeed, the observations to
which my noble friend alludes were intended as attacks. Sufficient,
however, to say very briefly that I bear and shall bear with perfect
equality of mind everything that may be said of me in any quarter
whatsoever—that I am not at all surprised—but the contrary—that a
person respectable for hind knowledge and talent—nay, even distinguished
for the exercise of that knowledge and talent, has been led into errors of
me, from ignorance of my character; and that I bear, with an equal
mind, what has been said by that individual, under the influence of
mistake. lam not astonished at the observations which have been
made by persons in another place, for they cannot be more asto-
nished (and, as a matter of astonishment, I understand the oh.
serrations, to which I allude, were introduced, and Ido not say they
were intended as an attack)—they cannot feel greater astonishment than
I myself do, at my consenting to my elevation to the distinguished
place which 1 now hold in his Majesty's Councils. My lords, lam
not surprised at their astonishment, and only say that I share It with
them; for they cannot be more stricken with wonder than 1, at
this late period...at this eleventh hour—l should have overcome
my repugnance to resign my high station, as representative for
Yorkshire, than I was myself, when I did overcome that repug.
nance. That 1, who, up to that time when I stated my intention
of not severing myself from the representation of Yorkshire ; which
intention, by the bye, 1 never did state; but when I am said to have
made that statement, I no more contemplated that possibility of
my being prevailed upon to quit the station I held for that I now
occupy, than I, at the present moment, faney I shall ever go
back to that House from which the favour of his Majesty has
raised me. I need not add, that in changing my station in Par.
liantent, the principles which have ever guided me, remain un.
changed. When I accepted the high office to which I have been
called, I did so in the full and perfect conviction, that, far front
disabling me to discharge my duty to my country—far from
rendering my services less efficient, it but enlarged the sphere of my
utility. The thing which dazzled me most in the prospect which
opened to my view, was not the gewgaw splendour of the place, but
because it seemed to afford me. if I were honest—on which I could
rely; If I were consistent—which I knew to be a matter of absolute ne-
cessity in my nature ; if I were as able as I was honest and consistent—
a field of exertion more extended. That by which the great seal
dazzled my eyes, and induced me to quit a station, which till
this time I deemed the most 'proud which an Englishman could
enjoy, was, that it seemed to hold out the gratifying prospect, that
in serving my king I should be better able to serve my country.—
(Hear, hear.)
The petition was then read, and laid on the table.
REGENCY TULL.
On the motion of Lord LYND HUBS r the Regency bill was read
the second time, news. Ms.
On the motion of the same noble and learned lord, it was ordered to
be committed on Tuesday next, to which day the Lords were summoned.
LAW REFORM RILL!.
Lord TENTERDEN moved the second reading of the Administra-
tion of Justice Bill, which was read the second time accordingly.
The noble and learned lord then proposed the third reading of his five
Bills for amending the practice in the Common Law Courts.
Mtn a few observations front Lord ELLENBOROUGH, who wish-
ed for further information respecting the amended law as it applied to
India, the Bills were severally read a third time and passed.
Their Lordships then adjourned till Monday.
LleEßPont. ELECTION.—The polling commenced at the
usual hour on Thursday morning, and continued with great spit ii until
4 o'clock in the afternoon. The numbers then stood thus t—Denison.
930; Evart, 918. Each candidate, both yesterday, and to-day, polled
the same number of votes. The most shameless bribery and corruption,
it is said, prevailed. The sum of 100 sovereigns was, we are told, given
'for tallies of 10 votes, whilst some Individual voters got not leas than
lb sovereigns for a single vote. If the contest goes on at the same rate,
6010001. will be expended by Messrs. Denison and Rani.