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to CORRESPONDENTS.

:J HEBDOMADARY.

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SHERIFFS APPOINTED FOR THE…

REPRESENTATION OF THE BOROUGHS.

[No title]

BRISTOL.

[No title]

CHURCH-RATES.—LETTER VII.

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To the Editor of the Monmouthshire…

[No title]

! FAIRS IN FEBRUARY,

OPENING OF THE SESSION.

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OPENING OF THE SESSION. PARLIAMENT assembled on Tuesday last for the despatch of business, and the attendance of Members was much greater 3 than at the opening of the last Session. His Majesty being deterred, by the state of the weather, from leaving Brighton, ) he was represented by Commissioners, and the Lord Chancel- lor read the Itoyal Speech. There is in it much to praise, and hut little to condemn. The Tories, if we may judge from the tone of their favoured organs, are in mental agonies at the calm but determined demeanour with which Ministers again pre- sented themselves before their political enemies-and certainly not the country's well wishers. Undismayed by the Salmonean thunder of the Conservative banquet-room, laughing to scorn the shouts and ribaldry of all that remains of the blood-stained Orange faction in Ireland, and not driven from their purposes by the forward but generous zeal of some of their own support- ers, they declare, in the name of their Royal Master, their con- tinued adherence to those extensive measures of reform, on the successful carrying of which, depend the future peace and sta- bility of this great Empire. The Speech displays no unmen- sured exultation, nor is it lowered by any approaches towards the language of complaint. The past is not spoken of, but the future is fairly canvassed. The Government of Lord Mel- bourne have not alluded to what they were last year prevented from doing; but they fairly declare what they are this year prepared to attempt. The assurance of peace from all foreign powers is, no doubt, a gratifying announcement for his Majesty to make to his Par- liament but peace, although, in the words of Bacon, a "great good," is not an only good. Peace without security is barren -peace without honour is a disgrace. The first sentences are the only ones in the Royal Speech with which the majority of the nation can quarrel; but for far different reasons than those- brought forward by the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. We have for vears considered Lord Palmerston as to- tally unfit for the high office he holds. By nature weak, by habit indolent, by long service in the Castlereagh camp, moulded into a fashion not displeasing to the look of the abso- I lute diplomatist; his sympathies would seem rather to be with I the Sovereigns than the people-more in accordance with the I the Sovereigns than the people—more in accordance with the I restrictive laws of the court, than with the free deliberations of | the popular chamber. When the gallant Boyd was murdered the minions of Ferdinand, he but respectfully remonstrated "when order was restored in Warsaw," his indignation did not consume him—when the Republic of Cracow was invade*^ he sent not an—army, but a messenger—and when the per- diou3 Government of the French King was extending its in amous system of espionage through Switzerland, he preserved ^dignified silence, and only withdrew his half-closed eyes from 1 mounteins of Tell, to fix them on those of our oppressed th n ?an's^ Queen, over which the faithful Monarch of e ui eries was transporting provisions and the munitions of war, to ai the cause of his and our enemy—Don Carlos. We J f0 u • ^'or^ Ralnierston, by permitting all this, forgot „ with which he was entrusted, and should ave re ire we do not say like the minister immortalised by '1VC ^unius—infamous and contented. But he re- P ° enc"mber what are to him the soft, easy cushions" tW tl 0reign 0ffice, and we were, therefore, prepared to hear stamn V1U^ter-deck of a British vessel was polluted by the to Tn* v 8 ussian Boor cruising in the Black Sea, who dared colour^f ^r»Ze °f an EnSlish bottom sailing under English menc ri' -°r .Jreak'ng a blockade on the Circassian coast, com- no ridtm d'reCt violtttion °f the law of nations. Turkey had could °Ver free people of the Caucasus, and, therefore, iure ofTh any to the Autocrat of the North. Ihecap- whi h t '*en was a gross outrage on our national colours fleet aVCnge' a Chatham or a Canning would have sent a 1I*^° the Baltic, and which we think Lord Melbourne I is f K ^eUS, *° have brought before Parliament. If peace •. 0 e Preserved with Russia upon such terms, we would call a 10 low and dishonourable truce, and one to which the pint of the British nation will not submit. AV e pass over ^pam, her struggles, and the Quadruple Treaty, which, alas only ourselves seem prepared to observe, and pass on to Portu- gal, where our late interference does us no credit. The sub- ject is infelicitous, and furnishes further evidence of the gross incompetency of our Foreign Solon. The Queen of Portugal, aided by the German Prince her husband, and the satellites of her court, deeply plotted against the liberties of her people, by whose blood and treasure she was placed on the throne, an,1 under the pretence of protecting British life and property, the Marines of his Majesty were landed, to make a demonstration in favour of the conspirators. Their presence endangered, instead of protecting our fellow-subjects, and they were called back to their ships. The conspiracy failed, and the repentant Queen must be content to sit upon a throne surrounded with popular institutions, and hear from her Ministers that she, at least, unlike her Royal Brother of France' shall Air no wrong." The Canadas are rich and valuable acquisitions, which we should jealously guard; the attention of Parliament could not, therefore, be too soon called to the reports of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the grievances of our transatlantic fellow-subjects, so much complained of. We ori- ginally augured well from this commission, and we sincerely trust the labours of the Commissioners will be found to have been directed solely for the attainment of the great object for which they were deputed—the complete establishment of peace and good will, between the mother country and the filial State?. The gracious recommendation of his Majesty to both Lords and Commons, to take into their most serious consideration the provisions about to be submitted to them for the improvement of the law and administration of justice, reflects the highest credit on Ministers, and the nation will exact a severe account from its representatives, if the recommendation of fh& Jfing is not fairly and liberally attended to. Much has been done we Sdmit, but more has still to be effected before law andjusticu can be called synonymous terms. Let the poor man have jus- tice brought to his door, either by having local courts esta- blished, or giving power to the Court of Quarter Sessions to itdjudicate in actions er contractu, and actions ex delicto, where the sum to be recovered, or the damages sought, would not exceed £ 30. The nation at large would hail with delight any measure that would give encreased stability to the Established Church, if it promoted concord and good will among the people. If, then, a settlement of the vexatious question of Church-rates be contemplated—if the many serious and insulting grievances un- der which the great and influential body of DISSENTERS labour, are to be removed at the advice of the Monarch, the Ministry will earn for themselves a character for pure and exalted patri- otism, that will throw all the acts of their predecessors in the shade. The flourishing state of the revenue is briefly alluded to, but in that short notice we find much to praise. The estimates, we are told, have been prepared, with every desire to meet the exigencies of the public service, in the spirit of a wise econo- my." An overflowing exchequer furnishes the best evidence of a prosperous kingdom, and it is to be hoped such will imme- diately lead to a corresponding reduction of taxation. We per- fectly agree with Sir Robert Peel, in calming the terrors of Mr. Gisborne, that there is nothing in the Royal allusion to Joint- Stock Banks to create alarm, for who can avoid assenting to the proposition of Government, that the best security against mismanagement of bankers' affairs must ever be found in the capacity and integrity of those who are entrusted with the ad- ministration of them, and in the caution and prudence of the public." Towards their former views and politics respecting Ireland, Ministers have proved themselves neitherfalse nor fickle. They nobly stand to their recorded declarations, and will not shrink from the side of justice at the command of party, however ably marshalled, by Lord "Alien" Lyndhurst. If the Duke of Wellington complains, as he did in his place in Parliament, of the existence of the National Association" in Dublin, let him remember, that its birth is owing to himself and his fellow Peers. He conceded justice to England—he gave Municipal Reform to Scotland-but Ireland was pro tolito put out of the pale of the constitution by the House of Lords, and left to her own resources for redress. The people of that land did not sit down to weep under their wrongs. They meet in the broad day-light to deliberate upon and organize an opposition-they pay back insult with invective-they collect money to advance their constitutional purposes—and the only difference between them and their Conservative opponents is, that they have real, not imaginary, grievances to combat, and they begin their deli- berations before, instead of after, dinner. Their meetings are held in the open day, in the presence of all-Viceroy, Judges, Magistrates, and police agents; and therefore, most unfortu- nately for the Duke of Wellington's logic, they are not conspi- rators Grant Municipal Reform-remove the abuses of back- parlour Legislation—^confer on the public of Ireland, resident in cities and boroughs, the management of their own affairs and the benches of the H National Association" will soon be denuded of its members; Wiseiy, then, does the King press on the consideration of Parliament the present constitution of the Municipal .Corporations of the Sister Country, and most ar- dently is it hoped, that the House of Lords will not again fling the Sybilline leaves from them. The tithes cannot be collected. Since Lord Stanley's memorable words, Tithes are abolished in Ireland," they have ceased to be and although Rebellion Writs" from the Exchequer may imprison deCrepid age or wasting youth, still the Proctor will get nothing by his motion. Parliament must then devise another mode of provision for a starving, and, in many cases, a most exemplary, clergy. The Government must pay them-the people will not. The press- ing, the all-absorbing question of establishing a legal provision for the Irish poor, comes at length before Parliament, recom- mended, thank God from the throne. The words of his Ma- jesty will do more to tranquillise Ireland, than all the laws of coercion which now do or ever did disgrace the Statute-book— than whole cart loads of the trash written and circulated by the feelosophers of the Mallhusian school. To the eye-beam of the Most High was the extremity of Irish misery only known. For only that eye was present, when distresses, equal, if not more frightful, than witnessed in the Piazza degli Antianie, where Uggholino and his sons perished by famine, were within the mud walls of the Irish cabin, when The fourth pale morning broke," consummating its triumph by the death of its victims. The rTy.ndst™" he r^o-ity are about to prevail, and no scrupulous political econon! shall intervene between the living poor ard .1.cir nWII1 to wr.ji-? or to food." We admire the cou- rrfgvof Ministers, tud 'ye think Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Shiel rhwfd Tv'ih y-'iuse ^Mjfore they will dare to offer opposition to ,1,.i\L.is!<:1'j.,1 vM.r.j, O'Connell's motives are already hinted at. His power is now great: it may be soon like the baseless fabric of a vision." Let him interpose between the beneficence of the Legislature, and his starving countrymen, and he will be left to his bitter thoughts by day, and musings by night." As to Mr. Shiel, a rhetorical artifice" will not protect him, when he again calls the advocates of Poor Laws Infatuated Quixotists.' We know it is the hapless fate of poverty to be taunted and insulted 11 Nil habit infelix paupertas durius in se, Quani quod ridiculos homines facet." Mr. Shiel must not, however, be the apt utterer of the jibe and the taunt. Let him look to his patriotism! Poor Laws once passed-Tithes and the Municipal Corporations put upon a just and equitable footing, his Majesty may well feel persuaded that Parliament would not only contribute to the welfare of Ireland, but would strengthen the law and constitution of these realms, by securing their benefits to all classes of his subjects." We have now gone through the Royal Speech seriatim, and we think the readers of the MEtu.ix will agree with us, that there is much to praise, and little to condemn. Had a few more topics been alluded to, it would have caused greater exultation throughout the country. And first, the BALLOT. But perhaps this question must, after all, be carried out of doors ? Whethei or not the poor voter is to be secured in the exercise of his franchise, will entirely depend upon the electors themselves. They can force its consideration on Parliament, by voting for no candidate who will not PLEDGE HIMSELF TO ITS SUPPORT. EARL FINGALL moved the Address in the Lords, in a speech deservedly complimented by the Duke of Wellington, and which excited general admiration among his brother Peers, on both sides of the House. We hope, with the Duke of Welling ton, that this accomplished young Nobleman will frequently address their Lordships. He was ably seconded by Lord Suf- field. Mr. Sandford and Mr. V. Stuart were the proposer and seconder of the Address in the Commons. Both the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel were calm and courteous in their remarks. Mr. Roebuck's speech, although it contained some truths, did not produce the effect intended-a split among the Liberal Members. The Hon. Member is indiscreet, and his friends know it.

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