Opiniaal af tbc

110W TO PREislERVE TIIF. UNION AMONG REFORMERS!

Cot:lime-1f tie may trust the professions of the Itafficals, they are pre.. eistly a class to be reasoned with. They only wish the tees, of the public, and they admit that the public voice can alone decide ia what that good consists. They have no desire of power, and no wish for office. They are not the slaves of passion, but the servants a reason ; and are not, therefore. to be either cajoled or territied—they must be convinced. We propose, therefore, to fugue with them on their Own premises. Putting aside any discussion as to the prin- ciple of appealing, to the IMIS■t`i. WI) ich the Constitutional yesterday made an argument against us, we beg the Radicals to notice that, in fact, the masses are not with them. The gesit!enien and clergymen of England, with all those whom they can influence, either hy persua.don or otherwise, are against the Radicals. .21-o dunomstration, exc. pt that rerg poor one at Bath, has been maik in thar farour ; nor rams they hope, as it appears to us, that their pecu- liar, and at present most favourite doctrine of the Ballot, should find support front the masses. Th.it the constituencies may desire it, we concede ; but the constituencies—patticalarly if we form one opi ll i ,, n by a pamphlet recently laid on our table, ilitected tinst the plesent !louse of Commons—do not constitute the Dosses. It is tl:.•re stated, that the whole Dumber of regis- tered electors in the Eniteil Kingdom is $95i 9, and the total number of males above twenty • Inc years ..f 6,023,7.11 Whether the nunibers be strictly correct or net, is of little importance; because the pamphlet is put forth by the Weil- z As...edition, and it is addre‘sed to the work- ing men. They i Ill the present eonstifueucies as possessing a mono- poly of the repte,.. d ttlon ; and in the pamphlet that monopoly is de- scribed with much b :terries!. Now the !Ulm is asked far as a means of pro- tecting, the constiea seSs against the noufratichised classes, as well as against the sinister influetee a. property; that is, to rescue the power which tbe unre- presented call a ins!, -:fely, from the only check which they have on its exercise. We cannot believe. :isaefore, that the masses, the six millions as compared to the $00,000, eiti. r :He or ever will be zealous supporters of the favourite Radical doctrine ef rhe II Mot. Thus, then, fee hare the great of ths gentlemen of the r3i,p; re, Whigs and Tories, against the Ballot. ,1„,1 they an, this point agree r-itie the unrepresented masses. The party represented by Mr. Roebuck and Sr 3Iolesworth, if they defer to the masses, sided enn. sent to be pttt oat edert. But they have coupled the question or 'Cat Ballot with a dispara4ement of the 31inistets, and on that point they Ace at once opposed by all the masses whom Mr. O'Connell can influence. If we may itolge of the general opinion hy the remarks which we yester.1.,y quoted fr.•nt tie P rd,.., •;, IL peti, :ad %shish we to.day Trate from the Hertford Hf,r,):4-r, the great mass of the. Reformers of England and seatland are usfrif epateett to the attempt to wealien the Ministry a. is Ile. O'Connell. Frodi Ilerthn .1 to Alt...lave:I at least, time Ittl..rnier4 remember the exer- titms ol. the V, is with gratitude. and are against Mr. Roehtlek and hi. foOravers. We Tioted yesterday a paragraph from the l'atriw which ex- pressod the same sentintents; awl it would be as astounding as it would lie disgiacel'ul, if the Dissenters, whoae sentiments that journal speaka, could forget the continued exertions of the present Ministen, particularly

Lard John Russell and Lord Holland, in their favout, almost from tic beginning of their political career to the last session, when they passed the Registration and Marriage Acts. We witnessed the great enthusiasm with which those two noble lords were received at the Freemason's Tavern, when a feast was given in their honour after the abolition of the Test Acts ; and we should think very poorly of human nature if the delight then expressed, and we believe sincerely felt by the whole body of the Dissenters, had not left a durable impression, which would make them for life the friends of the Whig's. But Mr. Roebuck and his friends are as unphilosophical in their expectations as they are erroneous in their views of the support they am to receive in the country. They seem to expect that the Ministers, whoever they are, should at once make great changes in the system they have received from their prede- cessors. But the chief duty of Ministers is to support and to execute the laws as they find them, to amen and improve them belongs to the Legislature, of which they are undoubtedly influential members. The Radicals do not desire, we suppose, to have the laws suspended by the Ministers awl the tyranny of the Tudors and the Stuarts restored. They do not, of course, desire cave that the forms of the Constitution should be trodden under foot. If the Radi- cals were to succeed to office, they would be forced to respect the

forms of the Constitution and to enforce the laws. The Ministers !lave to act with a House of Commons nearly one half of which is compasel of Tutees, and with a House of Peers consisting of two-thirds Tories. They could not help these circumstances, and thus the Radicals blame the Ministers for what is wholly unavoidable. They most unreasonably expect the Ministers to nntke a hasty alteration in that system which, as Ministers, they are bound to defend, and while there is a lime: fill body of the community opposed to all reform. The Radicals defer to the masses; but a Representative Government, in a country where public influence prevails, must of necessity be a Government of which the masses approve. There are a few men, as Sir William Molesworth says, of 44 strong convic- tions," who do not approve of the system of government ; but his own descrip- ton of them shows that their opinions have not penetrated into the masses, which follow custom rather than theory. It may be right in him and his friends to use all honest and honourable means to make their strong convic- tions a general opinion ; but they are bound, on their own principle, not to oppose the Ministers for refusing to act on the strong convictions of the few, an opposition to customary convictions of the many. If Sir NVilliam and his friends really think that the Government should act in obedience to the majo • rity rather than the minority, nothing can be more absurd in him and them than to separate themselves front the Whigs should they object to gratify about one-eighth of the people at most, by conceding the question of the Ballot.— Jan. II.

A TORY MISTAKE.

MORNING POST—The " open question principle" 'nears to be abandomd for the present. We cannot pretend to say who has interposed the veto. Whether Mr. Spring Rice bee really le en honest enough and rational enough to merit the half of the obtuse which has been poured out upon him, we cannot

determine. But the thing is settled. The Spectator ai,tuuuunces that " the wearisome topic on which, with a view to stiengthening Lord 31elbournee Government, it has dwelt so long, and so earnestly, may new be discarded. * Instead of one principle, of which the adoption seemed impnesible, we are to lave another, of which the suggestion seems unintelligible. The Radical,' are now, it appears, about to act upon "the self reliance principle." • a • * ilVe assure the Independent Reformers, and the Spectator, which expounds; leir sentiments, that there is absolutely nothing new in their titteats or in their purposes. The Independent Reformers resemble tine often-quoted gentleman

who had talked prose all his life without knowing' it. So the Independent Reformers lave been acting for many sessions on the " self-reliance principle," in perfect unconsciousness of the fact. Look back to the last session. Wete ellhe Independent Reformers quite indolent, or wholly kind? The Ortier.book wss filled with their notices ; and; if many of their patriotic intentions died in the bud, the failure of so much bright promise was referable rather to the cle- verness of tine Whipper-out of the Wings then to the forbearance of the illus- trious individuals who then, as now, relied upon themselves stoutly.—Jan. 10.

PREMATURE EXULTATION OF THE WHIGS.

bfonat so CHRONICLE—We hear no response from the Reformers of any part of the country in accordance with the display at Bath. The term Re. former tonst, of necessity, be applied to men of very different views ; for all lio wish change and amelioration in our institutions cannot be supposed to agree as to tile precise amount of change that constitutes amelioraf . This aught to be a motive with Reformers for the tolettinec of each other. And, in *nth, the violence of most of the Bath speakers —the inconceivable aninweity displayed by POMP of them, Colonel Napier for one, against the Whigs—so far from injuring Ministers in general estimation, seems rather to have produced s reaction in their favour, even among those who would wish them to move with mote rapidity. Them is a love of justice among the people of England ; and bitter and envenonied invectives agannet statesmen who have many claims on the gratitude of their country, and who are surrounded on all sides with difficulties, are not to their taste. We conlese, we were sorry to see Sir Wil- liam Mulesworth—whose intentions we never questioned, and whose language bears testimony to his candour and sincerity—adopting a course which must, we fear, considerably impair his power of being useful. * • It was admitted by Sir William Mulesworth himself, that the vice of the House of Lords email have been established in no way so satisfactorily as by the policy pursued by Lord Melbourne's Ministry. If that House persists in its course of opposing itself to the just demands of the People, Sir William will pro- bably find that the further trial afforded may not be superfluous. Of those who last year deprecated the agitation of Peerage Reform, many admitted tiler, if the Lords continued tin provoke collision with the Commons, a remedy must be sought for the evil. If it be demonstrated, even to these persuns, that a House of Commune really representing the into 'to of the elation cannot act in larmony with an unreformed House of l'eers, the practical good eense of the country will dictete a reniedy. There is no reason for impatience. In Eng. land, thank God, matters are not come to that pass that we cannot bear with the House of Lords for one year longer, if the delay facilitate the Reform. The inenceedings of the last year or two have done wonders in the way of lightening the task of Reform ; and the conviction of its necessity among the solid and re.pectable portion of the community cannot he too extensive, when the work is fairly entered on. But it would be tnadness in Ministers to pro- pane, or even to express the approbation of, any extensive organical change in the Constitution, till it is loudly demanded by the People.—Jan. lth ADVANTAGES OF AN INDEPENDENT COURSE.

Krr IleRAere.—We are glad to understand, from various declarations of the leading Reformers, that an Independent party in the House of Commons will at length be formed, and that questions of principle will he decided on their own merits, and not from the fancied " expediency " of supporting thim or that Ad- ministration. Such is the true way to procure good end popular government, at the cost only of a brief struggle between contending factions in the Aristo- cracy. A continuation of the policy adopted during the last twit tiene.ioos would be most dinastroue to the cause of Liberalism ; the repeated sacrifice of con- scientious opinion. at the shrine of Ministerial favour, would inevitably destroy • all remains of public confidence in statesmen and party leaders; the honest portion of the people would become disgusted and apathetic ; the dishonest, en- couraged by high example, would yield daily more and more to corrupt influ- ences, and the most courtly, opulent, and indefatigable of the two parties we have alluded to would soon be again in the ascendant. But if the true Re- formers in and out of the House resolve on following the guiding lights of principle alone, the spirit of the nation will be raised on their side, the people will he animated with an irresistible feeling against the despotic and cor- rupt Oligarchy ; and that Ministry will be fixed most firmly in power which is most earnest in promoting substantial and eflicacious reforms. We have had enough, and too much, of cotnpromitte and concession to enetnies, defetence to Court prejudices, and respect to aristocratic squeamishness. Let us think only of what is t iglu in principle, and steadily pursue it ; secure that even a failure at

first is, in such circumstances, but the earnest of future 1911CCOS9. The present 'Ministers, of all men, have, from a variety of circumstances, the best opportu- nity of accomplishing the greatest amount of good at the least ineonvenience. They have to put themselves on a level with the spirit of the times, instead of laggnig behind it ; it is scarcely expected that they should lead. Their task is easy, far easier than titat of any who may succeed them. As less is expected from them. so less would Pnti.fy the Reformers, provided it be manifest that it is ac- corded in good faith, and as an earnest of continuous endeavour in the right path. No reliance on the merit of questions exclusively Irisli,—the ancient artifice of party which ever seeks tiw battle-ground furthest fl houne,—no shadowy ab- etractione, such as the barren en incie/c of "appropriation," in excuse for the ac- tual withholding the popular rights and advantages, no eviscerated bills for Irish Corporations, like that of Net session, which consented to the destruetion of the greater number of itionicipal bodies, and took away the hest privileges of giti- Teuship from all ; not a hashing-up again of such beggarly oltil will suffice for the public appetite this year. If Ministers do not choose to propose better things that these, at least let the Independent Alemberm do their duty, aud originate such measures as the people have long, and hitherto in vain, been looking for. I.et the question of revising the Pension-list never he lost sight of ; let its IVIVe 110 Immure coldness or evasion as to Vote by Ballot ; lot the establishment of Triennial Ptah:Intents he ut ged, in season and out oil. ,eaeon; let motions be unceasingly renewed for Refor • g the Douse of In ; let the extension of the Suffrage, and tine correetion of the def. its in the Reform Bill be agit ited, withinut regard to the threats or blandishments of men in power. I.et a phalanx of Liberal Members adopt this course, MA there will

no longer be any complaint of indilTerence on the part of the people. All will then be animation. real, and patriotism. The Tories will hide their heads in confusi llll and despair, as during tine national excitement on the Reform Bill. Every step taken lmhlly iim advanee dimini.hes the ;ewer of tide cutrupt and antiquated factien, which onlv revives when Whigs falter in the good course and Radicals desert their principlvi to Iichui the heels of power. Toryism was seal rely heard of after its defeat on Parliamentary Helium, until called again into hopeful life by the Conservative tendeuries of Earl Grey and Lord urn it :Jinni. So now, after the ;Ministerial lapmcs of last session, it is again rampant, and is calculating on a repetition of such conduct to enable it to grasp spies at oilier. Defeat the lllll nster holding out inducements to the people

tnu inlist against it of perfiwinatice, not of leromise. 'fltere are

no difficulties in the way which need prevent Mitnisters from attempting what is rigItt : the power which the Court would deny, the People will give.

RADICAL DENIANDS.

BRIGHTON PATRIOT—There hi no sort of question but that every man tole-

relay informed desire,' to pusses* the fumeleise, provided he can exercise it. safely. There is no manner of doubt but that every elector desires to have a tneans of protecting himself, if he think proper to vote according to the dic- tates of leis judgment or conscience. Thole is no sort of doubt but every man who pays texes, wishes them to be reduced, and the residue collected equitably. These are sonic of the things which Radicals require, awl in the attainment of which they will always be supported by a vast majority of the people in all tine three kingdoms. The people have been so often deceived by the Whigs, individually and collectively, that they have no confidence in any thing they say, do, or promise. If the Whigs, therefore, the Tories being in office, ever expect to be entrusted with power again, it must be by and through the Radicals ; and when it comes to that, the Radicals will be as little deserv-

ing of the confidence of the country as Whigs or Tories, if they do not lay down distinct annul specific terms, upon which to engage Cu, restore the Whigs to power. Those terms must be, the Ballot, extension of the Suffrage. Repeal of the Septennial Act, and a new electiou as soon as the Act required for these things is passed. It will be said, tine Lords will never agree to tine Bal- lot, &c. Pelliaps not : we are, linwever, by no means mire they will not. But, admitting they will not, hy, then there would be a most excellent ground for a whole nation of twenty-five millions to quarrel with a couple of

hundred Louie Why, tine thing is too childimit to talk 01. If the, people de- mand protection when they exercise their right of voting, who is to refuse it? line Look ? Well, then, if the Lords thiuk proper to act so unjustly, the nation call do very combat:ally eiitliont the Lords, if tine Lords C:111(10 withOUt the nation. A good law is neither better nor worse, because it receives the approbation of the Lords. It is a good law if they approve of it—bent it will not be a bail one if they do not. And it may he depended upon that the Lords will think twice before they venom e to set themselves in opposition to the clearly•expres.ed will of the People ; and that will will be clearly expiessed whenever a Nlinistry thinks proper to make the Ballet a ministerial mem- stIV.; and no Alinistry CAR or ought to remain in power which will not make it so.

PARTIES IN LEEDS.

LEEDS Ti It s—We have speken on the conduct of the Whigs when we thought the Whigs playing the It:Micah false, warmly, openly, boldly.—it may have been rashly ; and we might note inconsistencies and object to assumptions, and rebuke presunipt ion yet, if we had in mind ; but, whether willingly or un-

willingly, tine Radicals anti tine Whig.; are joined heart aryl soil, foot and shoulder, to return, each by the other's help, a ;Member to Parliament ; and then:fere, say we, let what is past be past, mini let us have union for the future-- such unionn es will make the craven wietches wino lurk in the holes and dens of Toryism' shrink into their native nothingness. „One word said by the Whigs against us or our prineiples, or the representative of the-e priteciples, Moles- worth, and we are ready to meet them, blow for blow, as we have done already ; but if they act in time to come as their conduct at the meeting on 3louday night prunnises, assuredly we shall tight their battle, so far as in us lies, as honestly and as boldly as we will tight our own. Titus, in our appre- hension, is how the Whip and the Radicals are situated,—the Whip are a strong body among the electors; but as the Radicals are now strong among the electors too, and have all the nun-electors, the Whigs cannot carry two Mem.. hers for Leeds without the help of tile latter. The grounds, then, of union, of fair open honest union, are these—,each party brings forward a candidate pro- fessing its OWII sentiments, and join together to return these candidates by voting and struggling equally for both; it being understood that both parties hold their own opinioue and truckle not to one another, but join as honest men may to attain a great object. This is out position. On many points the Radicals differ flout the Whigs as widely as from the Tories; but in this case we support them hand and heart, as a means of returning our own chosen man, Sir Williatn Molesworth.