16 MAY 1835, Page 11

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT ELECTION.

Winner the memory of very young politician% it was a leading maxim of the Tory party, that the People had nothing to do with the laws but to obey them—with the taxes but to pay them. Six months have not elapsed since the chief of the party promulgated the same doctrine in a mitigated form, when he denounced agita- tion and the pressure from without. But now, it seems that the People are to he roused into action against the existing Govern- ment. It has been ascertained that the force of the Tory section of the Aristocracy, even when strained to its utmost. will not pre- vail against Ministers supported by the People. Time presses: in the course of a few years, the debauched freemen of Liverpool, Norwich, Bristol, Penryn, and Stafford, will be greatly lessened in number ; and the influence of the Tories in these boroughs consequently cut down. Every exertion must therefore speedily be made in order to gain a majority in the House of Commons. With this view, Sir ROBERT PEEL urged his entertainers at the dinner on Monday to register their votes ; with this view, Black- tro,4 reminds his readers that the battle is to be fought in the Re- gistration Courts ; and it is for this purpose that in almost every e. -

county, town, and village in England, Tory Political Unions have been formed, or are in process of formation ; whose principal ef- forts will be directed to registering votes and providing funds for the next contest.

It is not the electors only that the Tories are endeavouring to win over. The multitude also is to be set in motion. The Tnnes recommends that MAO copies of Sir ROBERT PEELS speech at the Merchant Tailors' Hall shall be distributed ; and the Standard suggests the advantage of plaearding it, and printing it gratui- tously on the wrapping-paper used by retail-dealers, in imitation of the plan adopted by the leaders of the French Movement to disseminate their doctrines. The Standard says, " it is good to be taught by an enemy." No doubt,—and we can assure our contemporary that he will find the Reformers ready enough to follow the example set by the Tories: they will placard their speeches, and sell their addresses to the venders of small wares. We believe that the effect to be produced in this way will be powerful : and we shall be surprised indeed should It be such as will give satisfaction to the Tory agitators who originated the practice: But let it be distinctly recollected, that the professed foes to agitation, the lovers of order, began the game. The country is 'about to undergo a course of agitation,.r pene- trating through all society. such as it has never yet experienced, except for brief periods and at long intervals. The Tories avow their determination to break down the Reform party, and regain their lost ascendancy by persevering and earnest exertion. The more ardent among them declare they will " have a fight for it." In Ireland it is proposed to disfranchise the ten-pound freeholders. An able writer in the Dublin University Magazine, calls upon the Tory landlords to demand from "refractory tenants" a sur- render of their leases, in order to turn them out, and replace them by "Protestants ;" or to renew their leases for terms less than twenty years, which will deprive the holders of a right to vote. This is recommended to be done in all cases where the Liberals are found to be too strong for the Tories : and they who know the power of a landlord over his tenantry in Ireland, will probably be of opinion that the systennif adopted, would be very successful for attaining the end in view—the disfranchisement of the poorer freeholders. It is also proposed to form a general election commit- tee for all Ireland, principally with a view to attend to the regis- tries. The great laeded proprietors are emphatically reminded, that by these means, and these only, they will he enabled to re- 'establish Protestant Ascendancy.

The Tories have thus thrown down the gauntlet, and assuredly the Reformers will take it up. Vigilance and activity on the part of the adversary must be met by equal energy on ours. The Re- formers must be up and doing : it would be folly to rely on supe- nor numbers, or too much on the goodness of °nit cause. Com- bination must be resisted by combination : Liberal associations must be formed to counteract those of the Tory corruptionists; petty differences must be discarded ; men of various grades in society, from the Peer to the mechanic, must unite heart and hand for the maintenance of just government and the prevention of

anarchy. The wealthy and the noble are far more deeply inte- rested in organizing an early and vigorous resistance to the de-

signs of the Tones, than they are who have little or nothing to lose. ye must be very ignorant of the disposition of Englishmen who imagines that the bulk of the nation will submit to the restoration of the Tory system, or to be deprived of 'the benefits which the Reform Act was intended to produce. There can be no doubt as to the final victory of the masses; but whether it is to be peaceful

or vialent—whether it is to be attended with the total demolition of the Church and the Oligarchy, or merely with a gradual, safe, and equitable reform of both—very much depends upon the atti- tude assumed and the efforts made now, by real Reformers of all ranks.

We have:e. right to call upon the present Ministers to aid us in the struggle. When the Tories were in the possession of office,

'what life and spirit it gave to the whole party ! Why was this ? It was because-every man who joined their standard felt confident of being backed by the Government. They knew that all the Covernment lad en give wonld be divided amongst them—that not an exciseman or a justice would be appointed but on the recommendation of some friend to Covernment—that no op- portunity would be neglected of dismissing a public officer who displayed any reluctance to go through thick and thin for his employers. This kind of support—every description of aid not illegel—should be afforded to their friends by Lord MELBOURNE and his colleaeues. This system should be rigidly enforced in every public office throughout the country. Ministers may rest assured, that 'in the arduous nail protracted struggle with which we are threatened, every kind of' encouragement will be needed. If it is once neeertained that it is more profitable to join the Tories in oppesition than the Reformers in office (and it can only be so through the egregious folly or treachery of the hitter), we shall at once lose the assistance of a very numerous body of partisans—men whoste principles we cannot respect, but the practical value of whose services is undoubted. It is too true that such form a considerable portion of every large party : to neglect them, and to rely only on the disinterested, may bo very magnanimous, but it is not the way to fight the Tories.