OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. USE OF REFORM MEETINGS.

GLOBE—No doubt there are many shades of difference among the friends of reform ; there are arrangements which are declared to be all- important by some, immaterial by others, and mischievous by third parties. In this, as in every other cause, a man permits himself to exaggerate in favour of his particular sect ; and it would be desirable,-if it were possible, that these intestine divisions (not insignificant is actual amount, but more serious in appearance) should not he obtruded ont the world. But there is one thing which would be more fatal than this exhibition of schism among the friends of reform—the notion that the ma- jority of the people of property are indifferent or averse to the cause itself. It is on this account we think the example of the Sheriff or Berkshire will be much safer to follow than that of the Sheriff of Cornwall. Those who are averse to petitions at the present moment, assume that Parlia. ment is the only place where Parliamentary Reform can he temperately discussed—as if the Members of Parliament were the only persons who were disinterested judges in the matter at issue. This is a whimsical assumption, not only unwarranted, but the very reverse of the fact. A great number-perhaps a majority—of the House of Commons must see in the question of Reform the question of their political annihilation. If the state of the representation were reformed in any systematic man- ner, how many active politicians would be at once snuffed out ! How many must be quite aware that there would be no opening through which they could possibly creep into Parliament ? There are individuals who may, for the public good, coolly consent to a change very galling and in. jurious to themselves ; but it will be absurd to expect that this will be the general feeling of a large body of scheming and bustling politicians.. There is no use in disguising the fact that the Ministers, in accomplish- ing their task, will need all the support of the people. There is already, it is said, an Opposition party formed, very powerful in nu- merical force, in the House of Commons. The plan of operations of this Opposition is to place at the head of a Ministry Sir Robert Peel, or some other Minister who will limit his reform to the exten- sion of the franchise to a few large towns—to do something in name, but as little as possible in reality. Whether such an opposition shall be successful, depends in part on the courage and sagacity of the Ministers -themselves, but chiefly on the feeling manifested by the people. If the

i

people are indifferent, it assuredly will succeed. It is not enough for the people to be friendly to Reform—if theMre lukewarm friends--for its opponents will not be lukewarm enemies. Wherever there is a feeling in favour of Reform, that feeling should be expressed by a petition. - Letallspointa of difference which are-not essential be kept out of sight, if Rossi* ; ,but,, at any rate, let us not, for the sake of concealing the differences, conceal the existence of the opinions in which we all agree.

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S TACTICS.

STANDARD—If the present Administration be displaced by the Peel and Dawson crew, h will have only itself to blame. We are-thoroughly persuaded that honest men of all parties prefer Earl Grey's Cabinet to one leavened with the apostacy of 1829. Whigs naturally prefer it from old associations, and those T6ries who are not place-hunters cannot admit any •competition between men like Lord Grey's supporters, who are unstained by any baseness, or any act of tyranny, and the traitors who first deserted, and then, to the utmost of their poWer, persecuted them. But, though honest Whigs and honest Tories are agreed in wishing to continue the present Ministry; and the Ministry themselves have the natural desire to retain their stations, it is by no means im. probable that the want of union, produced by the 01(1 repugnance be- tween Whigs and Tories, may enable the Peel-and-Dawsonites to overcome a force much exceeding them even in numbers, and beyond calculation superior in talent and character. The policy of the Govern.. merit is plainly to pursue a line of conduct in which it can be supported

• consistently by both honest Whigs and honest Tories—prepared to meet

the opposition of the Grove Prices and Trevors on the one side, and that of the Hunts and Burdetts on the other—extremes which will readily meetDOW in opposition as they lately met, rejoicing at the heels of a military Minister. And, as it is plainly the policy of the Government to conciliate honest Whigs and honest Tories, so is it no less plainly the policy of these two orders to offer them- selves for conciliation, as far as they can, without a com- promise of principle. The question of Reform is the great point of difficulty. That question cannot be got ridasf. The experience of 1829 has couvicted the present representative system before England and the world. This we would impress upon our Tory friends. Even if they are indisposed to reform in any shape, they must nevertheless prepare

• for it : reform or revolution they must have. To the Whigs (we mean

the honest ones) we would say, on the other side, that they have perhaps no chalice of having any reform, but as the preferable alternative of re- volution • therefore, if they have no other motive for caution and mode- ration, they must, if they would secure the aid, or avoid the hostility of the Tory party, abstain from pressing any reform which can look like revolution ; by pressing any such they will displace the Ministry, post- pone, at all events, the period of a wholesome reform, incur the danger of revolution, and thereby greatly diminish the probabilities that any reform will ever be effected. If men are seriously concerned for the public good, and not merely gaping for place and sales) these considerations will readily combine the Ministers, while they are honest, with the ho- nest Whigs and the honest Tories. Ministers must remember that it is a reform (which is a restoration of something impaired to its first state, and not a new modelling) to which they are pledged, and in which they will be supported ; they must therefore resist all schemes for the intro- duction of new elements, such as the ballot, annual parliaments, universal suiPage, &c. into their remedial scheme. The Tories, on the other side, must make up their minds to a real reform, a reform which will be such in fact as well as name, and the Whigs must content themselves with that. We write for the good of all the honest parties In the state, but very likely we shall displease most ; nevertheless we must discharge our conscience.

A FRENCH VIEW OF ENGLAND.

MESSAaER DES Crialreens--England seems to be at the same point

as France was in 1787. Then was political sad financial uneasiness : they assembled successively two meetings of Notables, which could not arrive at any resolution: they asked for taxes from the Parliament of Paris, which replied by demanding a convocation of the which had not before assembled for two hundred years. The word States- General once pronounced, every mind in all classes of society adopted with incredible ardour what promised satisfaction to the immense wants of the 'people. The word Reform corresponds exactly now, in 1831, in England, with the idea that France Attached to that of the States-General in 1788 ; that is to say, economy and reduction of expenses, the aboli- tion of abuses and privileges, equality in the division of public expenses and in political rights. The word Reform may lead England to a revo- lution, as we were led by our States-General, if the English Govern- ment, not enlightened by the example of the French Government of 1789, commits the fault of resisting the moral and physical wants of the epoch. The car of new Europe has set forth : ascend the seat, you will conduct it ; seize on it behind to hold it back, and it will drag you on.

PLAN FOR PUTTING OUT THE FIRES.

CORRETT'S REGISTER—Now, King's Ministers, if you be convinced, as I hope you are, that the fires have been set by the labourers without instigation from any body ; that the means of terror or of punishment are not calculated to put an end to the fires ; and that the fires, unless effectually put a stop to, may become far more extensive than they hitherto have been ; if you be convinced of these truths, as I hope you are, it only remains for me to point out to you what 1 deem the _,proper and effectual means of putting a stop to these fires ; and these means are as follows. 1. To issue a proclamation pardoning all the offenders of every description, whether tried or not, upon their entering into sureties to keep the peace for a year, and bringing back those who 'have already been sent away, and including them . in the pardon on the like terms. Oh ! Gentlemen, think of the joy, think of the happiness, with which you would thus fill all the bo- . soms in all the villages in these beautiful counties ! And think of the gratitude with which you would fill those bosoms towards yourselves ;

and, above all things, think of the blessings which, coming from the hearts of fathers and mothers and children and brothers and sisters, you would bringdown upon the head of your royal master. 2. To repeal Stur- ges Bourne's two bills, and thereby restore to the rate-payers their rights, restore the pmaer of the native overseers,and restore to the justices of the peace their former power of ordering relief, without which the indigent poor can have no sure protection. 3. To pass an act making it a misdemeanour punishable with heavy fine and imprisonment for any

overseer or other person in parochial authority to subject the indigent poor to work like beasts of burden, to put them up at auction, or other- wise wantonly to degrade them; taking as the preamble of the bill that text of holy writ which says " Oppress not the poor because he is poor!" 4. To repeal all . the acts which have been passed relative to' the game since the late king George the Third mounted the throne, and particularly that act which punishes poaching with transportation, which act has tilled the county jails with prigtiners, which has trebled the county rates, which has thrown a burden on all the people in order to preserve the sports of the rich, which-has filled the breasts of all the villagers of England with vindictive feelings, which has been the cause of endless affrays between poachers add keepers, and which, in conjunction with Ellenborough's act, has brought scores of men to the gallows. 5. To pass an act to re- peal and utterly abolish Ellenborcingh'S act, which, by making it a capital felony to strike a man with a heavy instrument without killing him, or to use deadly weapons in your own defence against a game- keeper, though without killing him, puts the striker in the one case, and the defender in the other, upon a level with the Aril- fill, premeditating, cool, and cruel murderer, tends to cOnfoulid all notions of discrimination in crime ; tends to harden men's hearts and weaken in them every sense of justice and humanity. Now, Gen- tlemen, these are, in my firm conviction, the only effectual means of putting a stop to the fires which now terrify and disgrace this once great and happy England. That they are easy of execution, and speedy, and quiet, you know well ; for you know that they all may be accomplished in about forty-eight hours after the meeting of Parliament ; and yoe know that the proclamation may be issued to-morrow, and that is the great thing of all.

THE CRISIS IN IRELAND.

MORNING CHRONICLE—The arrest of Mr. O'Connell will give great satisfaction in England, where various causes concur to produce an ha- patience of the agitation in Ireland. We are, in the first place, dis- satisfied that the Irish should pursue a course calculated to embarrass Ministers, at a time when their whole attention ought to be bestowed on Reform ; and we view the conduct of the Irish as betraying a want of consideration for the welfare of their English brethren. In the next place, we are opposed to the Repeal of the Union, from an apprehension that it might lead to a separation. Were this empire a federation of re- publics, the questions of local legislatures and a general government might be adjusted ; but, under a monarchy, there can be no general congress from the separate states, and the local legislatures of England and Ireland, claiming each complete independence on all questions what. ever, might arrive at different decisions on fundamental measures. Thus, putting disputed successions out of the question, the English Legislature might approve of a war and resolve to support the Crown, while the Irish Legislature might disapprove of it and refuse supplies. Whether, as our colonies increase in population and resources, it may not at last become necessary, in order to hold the various parts of the empire to- gether, to have something like a congress in England of deputies from all of them, to decide on affairs which concern the whole empire, is a consideration on which we are not now called to enter. At, present the English Parliament claims to share, along with the King, not merely the sovereignty of England, but the supremacy over all .the British possessions in every quarter of the globe. In the third place, the people of England cannot easily divest themselves of the feeling of masters in the case of the Irish, and conceive they have no right to be dissatisfied when they themselves are satisfied. Hence, the English newspapers, which must represent English feelings, are somewhat dan- gerous counsellors to Ministers in the case of Ireland • for the Irish, being the weaker and poorer people, are peculiarly, on drat account, the more sensitive to any thing like slight ; and popularity is to be gained in England, by whatever threatens to repress the Irish, and put an end to their importunity, from which we wish to be freed. The misfortune is, that the feeling of the English only tends to increase in the Irish the de. sire of separation. We really fear, taking all things into consideration, that the steps pursued with regard to Ireland, however popular in Eng- land, will only add to the difficulty of the crisis. • * * We have already expressed our rooted conviction that peace and tranquillity in Ireland are hopeless, so long as a sinecure Church is allowed to. receive so large a share of the produce of that country. To this conclusion we must at last come—the Church of Ireland, as an establishment, cannot subsist. Poor-laws, coupled with some measure for the relief of land- lords, where the population is redundant, so that relief of destitution may not act as confiscation—and the freeing the Catholics from what will ever be to them the cause of heart-burning, a Church kept up for the mere purpose of consuming their wealth—may go far to quiet the country, and render improvement possible. But till the Irish have a hope of these measures, the dissatisfaction will continue.

LEGALITY OF O'CONNEL'S ARREST. •

STANDARD—It will be seen that the parties arrested have been charged with " a conspiracy to evade the Lord Lieutenant's proclamation."- It is our opinion, after the fullest consideration that we have been able to give the subject, and after consulting all the authorities upon the law of conspiracy, that an arrest upon such a charge is illegal. Conspiracy is, next to libel, undoubtedly the most comprehensive, subtle, and unde- finable of charges ; but it has never yet been construed to go further than, a combination to do some illegal act, to disturb the public peace, or to injure some third party or parties. We need scarcely remind our readers that, as in all legal proceedings, the illegal act—the disturbance— or the injury—must be directly intended by those against whom this charge is to be brought, not merely an unforeseen or undesigned conse- quence. Now briefly to apply this. Mr. O'Connell is charged with a con.. spi racy under the first head, namely, to do what is presumed to be an illegal act, i. e. to evade a proclamation ; he is not charged, as perhaps he might be, with a conspiracy to disturb the public peace, nor with a conspiracy to injure third parties. Now can a conspiracy " to evade a proclama- tion," be called a conspiracy to do an illegal act ? In some cases it may, where the proclamation is declaratory of the law. In such cases a conspiracy to evade the proclamation is, in other words, a conspiracy to do, or to enable others to 'do the illegal act, which was an offence before the declaratory proclamation. We believe that there are no cases of such conspiracies upon the books, but the reason of the law seems to be plain ; this, however, is not the character of Mr O'Connell's case. The proclamation which he -is charged with having evaded, is not a declaratory proclamation. The statute under which it has been issued erects into an offence that which was clearly no offence before, and it creates this offence by proiisiOns, each of which must be satisfied before the derivative misdetheanmir has any existence ; to evade a proclamation under this statute is therefore to avoid violating the law—to conspire to evade such a proclamation is but an agreement to walk circumspectly. This comes of legislating against the forms instead of striking at, the qualities of actions. Were Mr. O'Connell prosecuted for sedition, there probably would be no obstacle in the way of a conviction, except the facts that he is less seditious now than he has been for twenty-five years—far less seditious than one of his former colleagues, who has received a silk gown as the price of his efforts in the Cause of treason, and immeasurably farther removed from sedition and treason than some still higher persons, whose names and language he would of course freely quote in his own defence. As it is, if he be really brought into the Court of King's Bench in Ireland, we apprehend a most disgraceful and mischievous defence of this description. It is a curious illustration of the Irish system of government, that it is -„now sought, as we think illegally, to procure those very results, for pro- curing which, by legal means, Mr. Saurin was the object of ten years of bitter persecution, ending with a dismissal from office, which was avow- edly intended to be ignominious, but by reason of that excellent man's high character, brought disgrace only upon its authors. So much for the arrests, which, if folloWed up upon the present grounds of charge, cannot, we think, fail to du much mischief.