Star.
London, England, 1830-11-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE JOURNALS.

CuriumLe.—We understand that the Duke of Wellington, not.
withstanding his extravagant testimony to the merits of the English
Parliament uat present constituted, and his declaration of uncornpro.
milling hostility to reform, actually entertained a project of podium'.
tory reform, which he communicated to the great boroughmongers, to
whom he looked for support. Finding them determined agahret reform
in any shape, and that if he attempted it they would withdraw from
him their support. he had then to choose between reform with the sup.
port of the Whigs and Radical% and hostility to reform with the sup.
port of the party hostile to reform. Expediency being his prUditor.
chose the latter al. emotive, conceiving that the violence of his
Bunions against reform would gain for him the hearts of the Ultra
Tories. Reform or no reform were indifferent to him • his object was a
majority, no matter how obtained. We all know the result. If he
could have anticipated such a result, he would, no doubt, have guarded
against it by a plan of reform.

Ttzets.—We regret to say, that we cannot yet congratulate either
ourselves or the country on the renewed tranquillity _of the disturbed
parts, though we cannot perceive, upon the whole, that the mischief in.
creases ; and exaggeration is certainly most busily at work. In many
places, the rioters have turned to mere robbers—highway robbers—and
demanded money : this at least is a capital ofFence, to be punished by
death. We hear from all parts, that there has been a very great deal
of weakness at least displayed by people in the better stations of life, whose
timely resistance, mingled with kindness, persuasion, and sincere pro-
mises, would have prevented the infatuated mobs from proceeding farther
in courses which can only end in their own ruin. Front our souls, bow.
ever, we compassionate the poor creatures whose first stimulant to break the
laws was want The " people in the better stations of life." of whom
we have spoken above, are not wholly without blame here. And in
general we may observe, that those who, in their public assemblages as
magistrates or land.owners, have been the most zealous in forming
resolutions" that they would not yield even just remunerating prices
for the labourer's toil, under a system of intimida.ion, have been the
most ready to give up that which the rioter had no right to demand,
namely, their purses, under the influence of pure fear. With respect
to the destruction of thrashing-machines, the infuriated creatures who

commit this outrage, do not perceive that thrashingsmsehines are their
best security and ours against sudden rises in the corn-market. To-
wards the clan of the autumn, in particular, the price of grain usually
mounts up on account of the exhausted state of last years' crop t by
the thrashing-machine the new corn is brought to market with a ra-
pidity that could not take place under the dilatory operation of manual
praxes, and the prices instattly fall. But if we are to lay aside thrash-
ing4nachines, why are we not also to throw sway the fall, and suffer
the " unmussled ox" to tread out the grain, as under the
Mosaic law ? Besides, grain may, in all eases, be ided cheaper to
the consumer In proportion as the expense in devising it is diminished ;
neither has the threshing-machine superseded thrashing by
the hand. In the disturbed and uncertain state of the
market, the mechanical proe..ss undoubtedly ham the advantage ; but
in its tranquil and ordinary state the labourer or maker goes cia thrash.
ing in the barn. His work is preferable, and for this obvintu cause,—
that the machine spoils the straw ; and wheat-straw, besides being in-
dispensable fur thatching and other home-purposes, is a very important
article of sale in the markets of London and all the great towns. We
conjure the labourers, to whom these remarks may be read, to cease from
their present urinous ounages ; and, above all, net to give themselves
up to leaden who arc not of their body, who have had no common suf-
ferings with them, and have now SO COMM eases with than. And
we intreas fannersand Imitated, to resider the ewe of the peer labourer
In his ordinary state,—to think el his
betseriefn family and ill-requited
toil,—of the Piewlnwhihe poor-laws, she .raiss appropriated to his
pay, the hireling tristaser the Insolent , sal do trips sad gins
which mislaid foe his liberty, and have at last seek him ism use do.
graded befog that be is now, almost reckless of Wore /A se the lives
▪ ethers.--thar readers will no doubt have base sued by the rem&
hw at Riagm
vper, in Swam, metatarsi le war jawed el yeeterdep, hem
wkmat itappeared that Lewd Gage had bed meg sese worlds( et
aQditehing kir mete. freer day-Sett le dark Om Is. a
wee sad that they had ben seat to the radii fa Whir ism— inking
in the whole 6a a week I!! Lied Gage add he gee Wino at thaw
eimunstancee, but would ask his Steward. Wi lave slily Is say,
that If this statement be true, the Arse thlesentbat Loa OMR
as se barest man, has to do, Is to go se Mg kbellairs
who have hem thus modem* robbed et their hard essulags. and make
up the two shillings to twelve shillinp a week, during all the time obey
have worked for hies ; and the next thing is to drive the steward front

his house with Mises and hooting& The misery of the peasantry in the
lower parts of Berkshire Is described to WI Si exceeding all credibility;
and we have letters with the Royston post-mark, speaking of a family,
of many members. on the borderi of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire,
that have raised themselves front penury to wealth. entirely " by grind.
ing the faces of the poor." What an expression How forcible !
" Grinding the faces of the poor !" However, we rejoice to say that
wages are every whe►e rising ; and but too frequently by the good will
of the farmer, at .d in spite of the magistracy.

Posv.—Wa yesterday published a petition of West India Planter
and Merchants, presented to Parliament four years ego, praying for en-
quiry into the moral, physical, and religious condition of the Slave.,
and we earnestly recommend it to the attention of the candid and unpre2
judiced. It is fitting that the cant and falsehood of the present day,
disgusting as it must be to every honest and well-informed minds
should be exposed by an appeal to truth and to facts. The hypocrites
who pretend to philanthropy, and who would sacrifice the best
interests of their country to their own wretched ambition, know
full well, and their dupes shall also know, that the West In-
dians demand only enquiry; they have a right to demand it,
and they desire only to obtain it, conscious that thus will
the best attswee he afforded to their shameless adumniators. Let a full
and impartial inquiry be instituted into the condition of the slaves, and
they will be found to be in a state of perfect contentment, arising from
the kind treatment and the various privileges they enjoy. It is quite
clear that were the case otherwise, insurrections and bloodshed would
have resulted without any excitement from home. Unparalleled ef-
forts are making at the present time to bias and mislead the public
mind, but not, we are happy to believe, with an effect in
any degree commensurate. Those are lamentably de-
abed who imagine that the numberless petitions presented to Praha-
meat this session, a correct estimate of the general feeling of the
country I though boldly put forth as expressing the sentiments of the
many, they are in fact the work of a designing few ; they alt spring
from the same source. The country in general owns them not. We
are rejoiced to observe, that a motion for printing a heap of these papers
last night was, most properly, rejected on the ground of expense. It
is astonishing that a stop has not been before put to the practice. The
expense of printing the anti-slavery petitions previously presented will
amount to several thousand pounds.

Cuaosict.z.—Distressing as are the scenes which are now witnessed
throughout the agricultural districts, it cannot be denied that they have
added to the number of reformers, and mitigated the hostility of the
opponents of &form. A conviction has gained ground with many per-
sons who used to be staunch Church and King men—that is, enemies to
Reform and Retrenchment of all kinds—that abuses have been carried
so far as to endanger the safety of the Government, and that Reform
alone can save us from Revolution. We beard an old Pittite say be
hoped the present ministers would be able to remain in power ; for he
was convinced that were they to go out, the consequence would
infallibly be a Revolution. But while these circumstances, in
one sense, favour Ministers, (for a Ministry formed on a principle
of opposition to reform would unquestionably be a dangerous
expetiment), it cannot be denied that the :difficulties with which they
have to struggle in attempting reform, from the composition of the
House of Commons, are most formidable. We have heard that these
difficulties are so serious that it has been in agitation to dissolve parlia-
ment. At present the government is without its fair strength. The
Treasury boroughs will to a man oppose ministers, and the places of
the present Scotch members would be well supplied by other members
more devoted to the administration, to say nothing of the accession of
strength from popular places. The people, now that they have a minis-
try ready to grapple a ith reform, ought to be true to themselves. I Let
them now come forward in force. Never was the time so favourable.
Let the demonstration be such as to strike terror into the enemies of
reform.