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LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

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CHURCH-RATES.—LETTER VI.

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jjriKlE iie^liim[| Keiuport, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1837, THE MONMOUTHSHIRE BOROUGHS. MR. HALL has announced his intention of retiring from the representation of the Boroughs of Monmouth, Newport, and UsK, on the dissolution of the present Parliament. This intelligence comes with surprise upon tile county, and must be a source of the deepest regret to all, who can sink the politician in the man—the par- tisan in the well-wisher of his country, and be, there- fore, free to pay adequate tribute to the merits of an honest, faithful, and enlightened Member of the Legis- lature. We thus speak generally, because from the moment Mr. Hall entered the House of Commons, he shewed that he did not consider himself the representa- tive of any particular interest—watched not the move- tneots of this or that party to regulate hit votes- hearkened not to the whispers of the coteries on the tff ih*rMtv, *«Wte« duet,—but boldly tKmseientronsty ^Discharged ffie high and solemn duties, which his position imposed upon him. Edmund Burke says, « thi(l we must not be peevish with those who serve the people, for none will serve us while there is a court to serve, but those who are of a nice and jealous honour." Mr. Hall need not entrench himself behind such indulgent favour. To the most querulous he may submit himself for examina. tion, and confidently trust to the result of the scrutiny. The use of character is, to be a shield against calumny. t To all men it is valuable-to the public man, essential. Without it, his words are unlistened to, his votes re- garded with suspicion, and he himself an object of mor- tifying indifference. Mr. Hall's character has been long before the world under its panoply he first went to Parliament, and that character has since found in him a rigid and scrupulous keeper. He was ever the uncompromising advocate of his principles-the candid and fearless avowant in his place in the House, of those lenliments which he proclaimed upon the hustings. Politically separating from such a man, is an event which his constituents must deplore, and for which they were not prepared. The recollection of other times must crowd upon them, and any mind being at all re- trospective, cannot avoid contrasting the state of the United Boroughs now, with what they were, when the comparatively feeble voice of independence called Mr. Hall from the seclusion of private life, to take his place in the front of the battle then about to be fought, of which only the perversion of the Constitution could temporarily deprive Englislimen-freedorn We do not wish to raise Mr. Hall's fame by depreciating the merits of those who were then opposed to him but it is a FACT, as notorious as that light is opposed to dark- ness-Toryism to the general welfare of the people- that for a century before the glorious struggle of May, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, the Monmouthshire Boroughs were an appanage of the princely inheritance of the Ducal House of Beaufort. They were bestowed upon the nominees of that house, and they franked its dependents into Parliament—not with the concurrence. but always against the aggregate wish of the inhabitants. And why?—the power was all but omnipotent—to dare its terrors, was hardihood-submission was general- because opposition was considered fruitless. The insane declaration of the Militaky Minister against Reform, aroused England from her long inglorious slumber, and the body politic, from the heart to the minutest vein, began to pulsate with a strong and a strange emotion. Agitation came directly to our doors, and Mr. Hall was selected to break down the barrier which high influ- ence had set up, and to burst asunder the bonds of ser- vitude in which these ancient boroughs were then bound. Had he and those who then supported him an easy conquest to attain ?-was the field denuded of foes, and had it only to be walked over,? We speak of the occurrences of only a few years back, and, therefore, in the recollection of the great majority of the electors and of thousands who cheered them on in the performance of their patriotic exertions. He was opposed by two powerful families, the respective heads of which were all that was estimable in private life, and who were justly surrounded by hosts of devoted, independent, and ad- miring friends. Besides whom, those adherents were not absent who always cling to the footstool, or hang upon the outskirts of power, and who, to propitiate a nod of recognition, would make their zeal, far, far outrun discretion. The odds were great, but the determination of a constituency willing itself FREE, was not to he over- borne its spirit and energy rose above the efforts of its would-be masters, and the United Boroughs of Mon- mouthshire proclaimed, by a triumphant majority, that they had thrown off their fetters. But the battle won, was nothing further to be done—was the soldier to leave his colours,and the encampment to be broken up? No! a greater battle had to be fought—the contest here ms for local—the Mrp^gle in Parliament for general liberty. Tfye second Magna Chartu unobtained, the I oligarchy Would have proceeded to repair the structure of their slightly shattered power, and oN the next getite- ral election, would have made success atone for previous disaster. But they were foiled, discomfited, and the scep- tre of their rule was then broken by the uncompromising votes of an uncompromising House of Commons. Earl Grey was recalled to office, not by the predilections of the Sovereign—the meetings of the people-the an- nounced march of the Bii-mitigham Unionists to Hotins- low,—biit, solely by the vote which the House of Com- mons came to, on Lord Ebrington's motion. That vote carried the Reform Bill, and saved the empire from a convulsion. On that vote stood Mr. Hall's name; and looking downwards, we find it conspicuous in the di- visions on every question, in which the solid interests of his country and the cause of civil and religious liberty, were at issue. Happily for the nation at large, those labours, in which he so faithfully and firmly bore a part, were not barren. One of their best fruits was a mea- sure by which the Municipal Corporations of the coun- try were regenerated, and a constituency created in the several boroughs, to maintain their independence, and thfreby have a responsible share, in the guardianship of public liberty. Mr. Hall could, therefore, come at the end of every Seuion, without dismay, and, unintimi- dated by the fear of reproach, give to those that sent him, an account of his stewardship, and, with the plain confidence of an honest servant, rest secure in the equity uf a candid and discerning master. Mr. Hall, in his address to the electors, with an honourable candour, fully explains the reasons that induced the determina- tion to which he has come. They speak for themselves, and require not the discussion of the publicist. His constituents unfeignedly regret their existence, and with that moment far distant when they will have to separate from an old and tried representative, and receive from his hands a sacred trust, which comes back to them un- tarnished by ambition, venality, weakness, or indiffer- ence on the part of him, in whose custody it was so- lemnly placed. Mr. Hall, after announcing his intended resignation, offers a few words of parting advice to the majority of the electors-to that majority which has the power, if they adopt his counsel, of securing a representative worthy of themselves, worthy of the country and of the cause in which the country will soon have to fight a momentous battle. And whose advice should the inde- pendent electors accept more willingly, or weigh with more attention ? The esteemed individual who gives it is both able and sincere, and gives it as their faithful servant and their anxious friend. The electors ought to be, therefore, solicitous that his mantle should not grace the shoulders of an incompetent successor.- Moreover, the advice itself must have the assent of every intelligent man, who is conversant with the position of political parties, or the nature of elec- tion contests; and melancholy indeed will be the re- sult if its importauce be not duly appreciated. Let us entreat particular attention to three leading points of a that advice. The first is, a caution not to place confi- dence in an untried candidate. The present juncture of affairs rendars such prudence essentially necessary. The great parties of the State are engaged in a deadly strug-, gle-the issue of the contest in the next Parliament, will decide for years to come the fate of both. Either the Tories will regain the ascendancy, and for another cen. tury act the part of Lords, over a nation in vassalage— or the Reformers will make a final change in the cause of civil and religious liberty, which shall utterly disperse their foes, and render the power of the people of Eng- land as permanent as it is beneficial. The vast conse- quences of the approaching combat, will prompt the high Tory and Court party to exert their utmost wiles to deceive and circumvent, and failing in which, by their intimidations to fashion the wavering and indolent mem- bers of the House of Commons to their purposes. The future representative of these boroughs should therefore be known, well-known, as a man of integrity, firmness, and, though last not least, as a man of business. The eyes of the electors, we are happy to find, are at this moment fixed upon a gentleman who possesses all these desirable qualifications in an eminent degree-we allude to Mr. REGINALD James DUWITT, of Llantarnam Abbey. Is there a Reformer in the county who does not know the principles of this gentleman, who has not heard of his zeal and exertions in their cause ? Not one! He has given his most ardent support, both personal and influential, to those that struggle to open these bo- roughs. He has proved himself an attached friend to silt those raaawrres which have* already beenxjHrried bjSf a liberal Government, and which promise such a ricn harvest of prosperity and freedom,—and is an unflinch- ing advocate for the full developement of Reform-not only according to the letter of Lord Grey's memorable Bill, but in the most honest construction of its spirit. That he is a man of intelligence and energy in business, is attested by his connection with the great banking esta- blishments in this and a neighbouring county, and by the able manner in which the onerous duties devolving upon him are discharged. Therefore, should he be sent to Parliament, that "grand foe of the offices of active life, that master vice -a degenerate and inglorious slosh -wtll not make him flag and languish in his career." Mr. Blewitt is also worthy the consideration of the constituency of these boroughs, as the representative of one of the most ancient families in the county, who re- sides constantly amongst us, and spends an ample for- tune in the improvement of his estate, diffusing happi- ness among the tenantry committed to his care. The two other points of Mr. Hall's advice to which we have adverted, more particularly concern the conduct of the electors themselves. He solemnly enjoins them to be united and fearless. We feel it incumbent upon U3, as public journalists, to add our most emphatic entrea- ties, that tlie independent men of the boroughs will not neglect these duties — a division among Reformers is what the Tories are everywhere labouring to effect. Their motto is, Divide and Conquer. We are sure the intelligent men of Monmouthshire will not be the Dupes of such a stratagem. Our readers will perceive with pleasure, in our columns this day, the manifesta- tions of right feelings by the Reformers towards Mr. Hall.

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