In 1830 and 1831, the People eu masse imposed upon

the In 1830 and 1831, the People eu masse imposed upon the

Government the necessity of a sweeping reformation of the Repre-

reading of the English Reform Bill, by a majority of one. A dis-

and Temporal, in de- raged by a " right understanding " with the Court—on an amend- Reform and a Reforming Ministry. All reflecting fore- saw and predieted this opposition of the Lords. The Peers, and persons lives of the People. The Tory Lords well knew, if the Whigs did

not, that two antagonist principles of government—a real Repre-

and the King, with divisions in the cabinet, prevented the manu- their right names. The Bills might have been carried by the The King himself, we believe, might not then have meditated the constitutional method of increasing the Liberal Peerage: the King formation of an Ultra-Tory Ministry. His head was still running

and Earl GREY preferred the unconstitutional method of placing T the House of Lords in a state of duresse, inducing members to MANNERS SUTTON, and the rest of the select coterie, knew better. abdicate their functions, till the law of the Commons was en- Sir ROBERT PEEL executed the letter of his instructions, but

registered : and what was this but revolutionary coercion ? The Royal assent to all the Bills finally accomplished the triumph of personal staff, reinforced by the Ultras, who might prove trouble- the People. The existing Parliament, thus danounced as a cor- some if left out, then took the places which the exercise of the Ps-e- rupt and no longer lawful Legislature, was consequently dis- • Commons took place. What were itselements, and under what cir-

curnstances were they brought together? No pledges were exacted ; foresaw that a gain of numbers would not necessarily be a gain of the qualifications of few Liberal candidates were accurately weighed. real strength ; that Tories and Radicals would in pretty equal It was a Gratitude Parliament. Votes in the preceding House of proportions displace less decided men ; that a dissolution might sufficient Commons in favour of the Reform Bills, were deemedfficient

obtain for Toryism an additional number of votes, but could not proof of capacity for a seat in the new. The address of any candidate procure them a lasting majority in the Commons, and that it endorsed with "Confidence in Ministers" passed current with the would inevitably call up a band of popular Representatives ulti-

Snately destructive to Toryism. WELLINGTON and his military enlarged constituency. The Nation was overtaken by a fit of po- satellites, however, prevailed. Parliament was dissolved. litical intoxication. Neither electors nor elected had indeed ma- turely considered or resolved the ends of Parliamentary Reform. WHAT IS THE RESULT? The constituencies possessed a new instrument, which they did The returns are now all before us : they record a majority (in not know how to use. The Tories, lately struck down by a round numbers) of shameful defeat, would not risk appearance on the hustings. On ONE HUNDRED MEMBERS, the other hand, numbers of the popular leaders of the recent certainly disaffected to Toryism and a PEEL and WELLINGTON

Movement, inexperienced and incapable as legislators, found an Administration. The undoubted majority of men of Liberal sen-

• easy road to the Reformed House of Commons. Ministers shared timents in England and Wales exceeds 50, that of Scotland 25, in the national inebriety. They did Rot comprehend the new and of Ireland 25. In this calculation we give the Tories the Constitution which they had partly created. They thought that the STANsays, the GRAHAMS, the " Shabbies," the Shuffiers, the House of Commons was formed for them, not they for the House. Waverers, the entire neuter gender. We do not mean to assert They " led," and dictated, instead of receiving the commands of that this majority of ONE HUNDRED can be relied on to maintain a -those who were now their real masters. Mr. STANLEY'S fatal Irish party opposition : but, setting aside all the "out and out" men policy, and juvenile prejudices on the Irish Church, early declared of the two parties, the " floating balance" is made up of Mem- war against the popular party of the Sister Island. The Coercion bets unquestionably Liberal in their general principles and probe- Bill was the rock on which Earl GREY foundered and politically ble votes. We are also of opinion that the Tory Members cannot perished. A hopeless feud with the Radical party, and the loss of be " whipped in," as in the days of the Boroughmongers ; and popularity in the country, were the lamentable consequences. A moreover, that the real Reformers, under the influence of the train of contingent evils followed. The Tories derived strength popular constituencies, will on an average give a better attendance and courage from the divisions among the common friends of Li- than the Ministerial Members. beral opinions. Ministers, on all the great popular questions of If, then, the second Reformed House of Commons answers the general reform, adopted the "stand-still" policy. A majority of expectation of its constituents, the WELLINGTON-PEEL Cabinet TOPICS OF THE DAY. the Commons, anxious to maintairi them in place, in preference to

a Ministry of Tories—allowing also for certain bad materials in the original construction of the Cabinet, and ascribing much Mi-

WHERE ARE WE? nisterial misconduct to the Tory disposition of the King, averse RECAPITULATION—RESULT OF THE TORY DISSOLUTION to reforms—supported the Cabinet and Lord ALTHORP, many of OF PARLIAMENT. them from honest if mistaken motives. Thus Ministers dragged This is the age of REVOLUTIONS; and the Tories are the active their best friends weekly through scandalous divisions, and in- but blind agents in the rapid succession of political changes now volved them in votes which forfeited the confidence of their con- passing before the eyes of an awakened public.

stituents. We believe that there could not have been under all circumstances at this time a House of Commons more eaaily "led," or more ready to promote bold measures and Liberal legis- lotion.

sentative system. The last absolutely rotten House of Commons, But Ministers and their Commons majority were guilty of in 1831, under the action of public opinion, passed the second mutual seduction, to the great damage of both. The Ministry had a series of epileptic fits. Mr. W ARD'S motion

a solution of Parliament was the necessary consequence. The old and the renewal of the Coercion Bill broke up the Cabinet. On electoral body, under all the drawbacks of nomination and cor-

the retirement of Earl GREY, the KING for ten days in vain at- ruption, had the spirit and the power to return a decided majority tempted to form a Coalition Ministry. Lord MELBOURNE, the of Representatives, who, in 1832, sent the English Reform Bill adviser of his Majesty, too wise (and, we hope and believe, too s to the Upper House: The Lords Spiritual' honest) to lend himself to such a hopeless project, was ultimately fiance of the will of the Nation—and perhaps secretly encou.

empowered to reconstruct the fractured Cabinet. The addition of Mr.

Emace, Mr. ABERCROMBY, and Sir JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE, merit moved by Lord LYNDHURST, arrayed themselves against and the bold attitude of Lord MELBOURNE in the Upper House,

gave new spirits to the Reformers ; although the exclusion of

Lord DURHAM occasioned just suspicions. Hope was revived, and the wealthy Commoners aspiring to the Peerage, were the chief a well-founded confidence daily gained ground in the country, that proprietors of the Lower House of Legislature. They clearly the new Administration, which could only exist by the proposal discerned that the " Constitution" could not be maintained, either of honest and popular measures, would this year substitute good in its practical or theoretical character, if they lost their power of acts for indefinite promises. It is observable that the King, if

not intending to uphold this Cabinet, ran no risk of accelerating controlling the choice of the majority of the miscalled Represcnta- the Movement by the temporary confidence believet1 to be placed in

Lord MELBOURNE. The late period of the session disabled it sentation, and an hereditary, irresponsible Oligarchy—never would from doing any thing democratic. The Lords cast out the Irish " work;'that there was no precedent in history for such an im-

Tithe Bill. The Court dared not then risk a transition to Toryism,

practicable " Constitution ;" and that if the Reform Bills became pending the sitting of such a House of Commons as the last. law, the Upper House of Parliament at no distant time must be Shrewd men guess, that Lord MELBOURNE was only set fin ued. The only chance of effecting an accordance between the by the Sailor King as a jury-mast, till lie could at a more two legislative bodies, would have been by the creation of an ode- fitting opportunity tow the vessel of the State into a Tory port quote number of Liberal Peers ; but the prejudices of Lord GREY There is certainly very much the appearance of such a latent d. esign It may be quite true, as the specious Premier averred facture of sixty new Peerages, which were to have been forth- at his recent Tamworth dinner, that WELLINGTON had no know- coming for this suitable occasion. In May 1832, the Lords, seeing ledge of PEELS Italian trip. What then ? There is reason to doubt whether PEEL was then trusted by the Tories, notwith- power and resolution of the People, " screwed their courage to the that new Peers would not be created, and underrating the moral

standing his offer of service some months before. Circumstances sticking-place," and swamped the English Reform Bill, instead enabled the Court to strike the meditated blow before they had

of bein thought their schemes ripe for realization. The death of Earl by theg Duke of WELLINGTON. The People reversed the themselves. The KING replaced Earl GREYe SPENCER furnished an excuse, and the chance was not to be lost. its essential corruption— of the Monarch ! This was the first revolution—bloodless, but act of the Sovereign ; they borrowed, for the time, the Prerogative If the Church was to be preserved in all

if the blessings of self-election were to be secured to Corporators effective. The King, in his peril and exigency, and to avoid the . for Tory purposes—" now or never" was the word. The Tories necessity of popularizing the Peerage, subsequently forced the knew full well that, as in the instance of the Reform Bills, the

on Coalition. The Duke, however, Lord LYNDHURS, Sir CHARLES

failed, as was expected. The Tory officials who form the Duke's rogative had vacated.

would be the consequence of a dissolution. But PEEL doubtless MUST BE OVERTHROWN. It is a mere question of time. The divisions on the Speakership and the Address will afford oppor- tunities for the demonstration of their superior strength, which the Reformers must not lose. But even if the Reformers should, from their own misconduct, be outvoted on these ques- tions, how can the superannuated Tories maintain a Cabinet in such a desperate position? True that they have the Court and two-thirds of the Peers at their backs; but the House of Commons is the field of battle, and a series of shame- ful defeats the Tory Ministers are assuredly doomed to encounter. What reaction has been proved? None. In the Counties, the profligate expenditure of the Tories—their superior attention to the registration—their strength put forth now which lay dormant (but existing) in 1832—the diminution in the scot and lot fran- chise of the smaller Boroughs—the notorious corruption of the freemen in the English Cities and Boroughs—the renovated acti- vity of the Political Clergy, who in the recent contests worked double tides to preserve the corruptions of the Church Establish- ment—the advantage of possessing the Government de facto— naturally and fully account for the gains of the Tories. But those gains do not equal the sanguine expectations of Ministers, or exceed the previous estimate of well-informed Liberals. The position of the People istherefore, in fact, greatly strengthened by the dissolution of the Parliament. The last cards of the Tories are about to be played out. The real character of the Reformers in the House of Commons, with the schooling and reformation of the Whigs in Opposition, makes up in staple for loss of numbers. The whole loss has fallen on the Whigs, whose party numbers arc diminished in the Legislature. The next Liberal Ministry must be differently formed; it must embody the will and secure the power to serve the People. How THEN MUST TILE OPPOSITION BE MARSHALLED AND COMMANDED? "Union" must be the watchword. The first object must be the defeat and rout of the common enemy. Able leaders must be selected to direct the different sections of the Reformers; and those leaders must form the council of war. Time is precious—the enemy is at the gates. The Liberal Members of Parliament must now hasten to London, preconcert their policy and forecast their measures before the day of meeting. The Constituencies must be—they already are—on the watch. THE SHIRKERS, the despicable NON-VOTERS, must be placarded. In this Parliament, the Liberal electors will say, Our) Representa- tives are either for us or against us. "Slipping divisions," as the technical phrase is, will no longer pass muster. Representatives must vote. The divisions in the Commons, beginning with those on the Speakership and Address, must be recorded and jealously scrutinized. Are the Lords or are the Commons to prevail ?—that is the question. THE TORY MINISTRY MUST BE OVERTHROWN. Sir ROBERT PEEL has been tried, and convicted of high political offences; he must forthwith be sternly sentenced to transporta- tion from office—for life! unless a future remission shall be earned by a long course of penitence, accompanied by the fruits which prove repentance to be sincere.