30 MARCH 1839, Page 9

The Morning Chronicle commenced on Monday, and has continued every

day this week, the publication of a series of admirable papers, in leading articles, on the failure of the Reform Act, and the ne- cessity of a general rally of Liberals to effect such .further changes in the Representative system as will secure the benefits that Act has not conferred. For many a long day ace have seen no such political articles as these in the Morning Chronicle; masterly in execution, ex- cellent ill spirit, and distinguished by a quality, rarely discernible in the Liberal newspapers—earnestness. Great is the consternation they have produced in Downing Street and the Ministerial coteries. The Tories also are alarmed ; and tile Times has been forced into the field in de- frnee nif the Refi».», Act. But, while he takes up and effectually dis- poses of the remarks of contempoearies. using them indeed to strengthen his own position, the writer in the 3forning Chronie/e moves steadily onwards, preserving with workmanlike skill the perfect continuity of his argument.

Ile set out with stating the failure of the Reform Act-

" The fruits of the Reform Bill have ceased to satisfy any large class, except that of Anti-Refermers. No party, no fraction of' a party. can take its stand on the finality of the Reform Bill, and reasonably expect either to exercise any influence fifer the people, or to achieve any good for the people. The pur- poses of that measure are frustrate ; it lies tailed of securing a fair and full representat hot of the COMMOOR Of Eill.eall1(1; nor does its working seem likely ever to produce a Parliament in which the wants, wishes, and int.11igence of the People shall meet with the sympathy and attention to which they are entitled."

That then must be done P- " In the face of a numerous, compact, organized Tory Opposition, which, if not strong enonell to seize the Government, is yet strong enough to cripple the Government, it is impossible for any Administration to pursue a vigorous or even consistent course of Liberal policy. It is, consequently, impossible for the policy of any Government that can exist under such circumstances to be the bond of political union, or the stimulus of political zeal and exertion. That bond and that stimulus must be found elsewhere : they present them- selves in immediate connexion with the fact just stated, and point to the further and thorough rjorm of the Representative System as the only alterna- tive to a complete division and dispersion of the Liberal party, a nominal Go- vernment controlled and disgraced, and n Tory restoration, with probable con- fusion in England and insurrection in Ireland."

The specific measures required for the reform of the Representative System are declared to be the Ballot, Household Suffrage, Triennial Parliaments, the abolition of the property qualification, and a fresh dis- tribution of constituencies on sounder principles. For the adoption of each of these measures forcible reasons are stated.

The second paper deals with the Finality men-

" What is the proper finality. of a partial measure., but the oecoinplishment of its objects? The cry was raised for • tt long pull, a strong pull, anti a pull altogether.' rhe pull was given, and a vigorous pull it was too. The boat floated a brief space, and again it has grounded. What dolt than tell US Of the finality of the pull? The matter is' to get the boat of the shoals. ' It' it be na weel hobbit, we'll bob it again?' Was it an object of the Reform Bill to produce a Parliament that should refuse to hear evidence, or go into committee on the cost of the nation's lbod: Was it an object of the Reform Bin to give the landowners, besides all their other influence, legitimate or illegithnate, a seventh of the voters for their political slaves ? Was it an object of the Reform Bill to allow the machinations of thetion, by its registration maehinery, to weary and worry honest, quiet, and industrious people out of their rights? Was it an object of the Reform Bill to secure the means of progressive oseen- (limey to a faction that ever held the very word Reliwin itt hatred until they were startled at the new facilities which the dthets of that bill put into their hands? Was it an oNeet of the Reform Bill to exclude the ..patronage of borough votes in order to subsi it ote the purchase of borough votes, and replace the representatives of ethical tAl i.reprietors ht', the representatives of their own breeches-poekets? Was it an objrct of the Refitran Bill to defeat hope and. stimulate discontent, until molt-it-tides were betraved to the instigations of un- principled demagogues, whose motto is confu4■11, and whose device is the dagger and the find wand ? NV as it an object of t he Reform Bill to reduce the functions of it Lihural All111111i4 ration, within the toleration of a Tory Opposi- tion, to make seemine power a pitiful dependence, :tud st:trve all the strength and vigour out of a fjovernment y redt.eing it tu stij,ist on the crumbs Of a co»temptuons almsgiving?'

A Ministerial journalist having charged the Chronide with want of generositv in not fighting the battle for the Government on the Irish policy, the writer shows that his views " go further and deeper." Of course, he agrees. Ministers ought to he supported on the Irish policy ; but to repel the Tory attack, v..o a Id "at best be a poor and petty victory." le deals at the so:ne time with the remark of' another Wide organ, (the daily press now only numbers two, and one of them but half-amid- lush t) that lie did not sufficiently consider the " inert classes.'— " Does not our contemporary forget that they are iii, it classes? Can any 31inistry hoe uphold by a simply passive support ? Is it not a fault in the leaders of' a Reform party that:. they ollow a people to lapse into inertness? In the prescot eirennt..tances of this conntry it is a faial fault. With an organized fiction ever on the tdert—with the ca7culat on vier pending, of how much private expenditure nil' tit; rowel- pahlie plunffir —we can- not afford the inatness of ordinary titres. We have only the alternative between 'it titC,sti ii ;:na Hinvard in,,,emunt. prm,,,/ on whirl' the present Ministry ((timid,' in st,nil fits n rrt wrny from tuit br them. No fir:mike to -Muir Irish poli:y lu i id j, dicy 'lie of' a Par'llu 7'hey h.mre rum burner : morl ihm'y ill n t lutist Purt irintlar right

diff&nce to the fate of the Ministry on the pending Irish question.

No doub;--romparatice indifference : the aim of the writer in the Chronicle is the permanent recovery of the Liberal cause, not the

Support of Ministers for one day in April-

' " An oljtetirn has been taken to our efforts as ill-timed, seeing that we are now in the crisls of a struggle by the Tories for the resumption of power. And is not the bare pas-SI.Illty of such .a struggle demonstrative of the imperative necessity of raising tlw Reform cause into a more secure position? With strong Liberal Government, redeeming all its pledges—carrying all its mea- sures unmatilated—achieving a series of economical reforms—and when it had (as in the case of Ireland) pursued a generous policy secure of general legisla- tive approval and support, there might be some force in the objection ; at least it would have more appearance of plausibility than at present. It is because the circumstances are critical that we counsel the adoption of a decided course. The enemy is upon us ; one portion of the camp is asleep, and another portion in open mutiny ; and are we to be told not to sound a trumpet which all may hear, nor to raise a banner round which all may rally, because the fortune of an uncertain tight is impending ? To our apprehension, now is the time for union. Would the objector have its wait till Toryism is triumphant ? • am limbed until our city be afire, And then I'll speak a little.'

Is that his policy ? We should rather carry on the war outside the gates, aud under that standard before which alone Toryism has succumbed, the Marton of popular reform."

The immorality which the Reform Act sanctions and produces, is put forcibly to these who supported it on religious grounds.

The possibility of overcoming the landowners by calling into exer- cise the superior strength of the cities and towns, is shown by reference to the result of former struggles— The Reform Bill has arrayed the great towns against the landowners. The landowners have a preponderating influence in the representation ; but no 'man who knotvs how much men gain in power by union and proximity, can for a moment doubt that the cities are immeasurably superior in strength to the country. The great Revolution in the time of Charles the First was chiefly effected by means of the corporations of London and the other towns throughout the country. Richard Baxter, in his //o/is Commonwealth, tells us that the !syntry, tenantry, and country labourers, were, with few excep- tions, Royalists ; aud yet, at a time when London was not more populous than Glasgow note is, and Manchester contains more inhabitants than all the towns of Eel:land, excluding London, then contained, the Royalists were ever:mils re disconiflted."

The only alloy connected with the perusal of these spirit-stirring ap- peals, is a feeling of regret that the Liberal press did not take up, two years earlier, the position which the Morning Chronicle now so ably maintains.