TOPICS OF THE DAY.
MR. HENRY DRUMMOND AND EARL GREY,
THE Anti-Reformers have been joined by a very singular ally : Mr. HENRY DRUMMOND, a benevolent and charitable hanker, whose little eccentricities are overlooked for the sake of his riches and his religion, has coin, forward in a letter to the Times, with sonic remarks on Mini,,tyrs and Reform, which, on the one hand, have been hailed as a triumphant testimony against "the Bilir and on the other, have frightened Lord GREY from his propriety.. The venerable Premier has thought fit to take offence at the ex- pressions of the hoary banker ; and sad mischief might have en-. sued, had it not been, perhaps, for the discretion of the military.- Postmaster-General, who was far too old a soldier to put fire-arms- into such hands.
Mr. H. DatnumoND, the new ally of the Tories, is one of those scrupulous gentlemen who want every thing that is right, but who will not take it in the only-way they are likply to get it. Such characters are not uncommon : in mental science, they occupy the twilight or debateable ground between knavery and hypocrisy. It is curious to see what this Anti-Reformer considers essential to the tranquillity of England. The desiderata are thus enumerated by himself- Repeal of all Taxes on articles of consumption ; A graduated Property-Tax, falling heavy on large incomes ; Disbanding of the whole standing Army; Poor-Laws for Ireland ; Repeal of the Corn-Laws ; Perfect Free Trade ; Ancient Political Policy of England,-that is, the Anti- Castlereagh Policy ; Liquidation of the Public Debt;
And LASTLY,
A Reform in Parliament.
These are, for the most part, excellent measures; but how is good Mr. DRUMMOND to bring them about ? With slight qualifica- tions, we will do our best to assist him,-which is much more than any of his new friends would like to do. The only part of the plan that the Tories can approve, is, that Reform is put LAST ; which, as Sir CHARLES WETHERELL would tell them, is a post- ponement of the question ad Gracas Kale2zdas. It is pleasant to see them raising to the seventh heaven a man who names among the essentials of England's weal, the Repeal of the Corn-Laws, Free Trade, and the disbanding of the Army, and who objects to the Re- form Bill because it does not go far enough-that it will make a bad Republic, and not the kind which Mr. DRUMMOND would have, a thoroughgoing Republic. . We do not like to search into motives, but it would be curious to see the Tories singing Hallelujah over the objections of a man whose real antipathy to the Reform Bill arose from its being likely to perpetuate for some time the present institutions of the country. And yet it is true, that the course of Mr. DRUMMOND is one which would be adopted by every cunning person, who, while his interests induced him to conceal his ulterior views, yet was by nature too zealous a partisan to give up all efforts at propagation. It is by no means our intention to reason with Mr. DRUMMOND on the absurdity of his charges against the Ministers ; the letter to the Times answers itself; our wish is simply to point the author out as a natural curiosity in politics. That Lord GREY should have taken notice of the intemperate expressions of Mr. DRUMMOND, is not creditable to the statesman or the man of the world. The case was much more for a medical than a military officer.
LETTER OF SIR. IL DRUMMOND TO TILE TIMES.
" Ste-It would have been more creditable to ' A. B.' to have discussed his dif. ferenees with me where i was present, instead of deprecating discussion there, and then stating anonymously and falsely in your journal that I was an intruder into a Meeting* to which I had received a special invitation, and had, consequently, come from the country at much inconvenience to attend. There was gross imposition in calling that' an accommodation meeting,' when nothing was intended by A. B. but that they who were known to disagree with him should sige, at his dictation, a do- cument which had been previously approved of by the Ministers as a perfect expo- sition of their late Bill. Another false pretext held out to urge us to sign Ives the distressed state of the country. It is indeed distressed-that is, the working classes are oppressed to a degree almost past further endurance ; but he must have' a fool's head or a traitor's heart,' who says the late misnamed Reform Bill would give them the smallest relief. The Bill took power from the Crown, and gave it to delegates of the middling classes; thereby converting the Monarchy into a bad Republic, but left the working classes jri.4 where they were. The passions of all ranks hare been fig Lords Grey anti Brougham against the ministers of religion and the he- reditary councillors of the King who opposed them, in order that the upholders of ear ancient institutinens plight be intimidated into becoming, accessories to their new constitution; and it is vainly imagined that the iabouring classes will submit to be discarded, and to sink again into their former degradation, as soon as they shall have served the purposes of these profligate politicians. I wish , political power to remain with the Aristocracy, because by such means alone can ; tine Monarchy exist: if that power is to be transferred to another class, it is revolu- n Con : to give that power to all classes, has justice and consistency ; to give it to one only, has neither. " No one measure of relief to the suffering labourers has yet been proposed by the Ministers, white the people have been cajoled by the phantom of Reform. True relief is only to be obtained by the repeal of all taxes on articles used for private consumption-such as malt, hops, candles, leather, &e. This might have been done honestly, by laying on a graduated property-tax, increasing as it ascended; by fix- ing the amount of paper currency by act of Parliament, and making it legal tender ; by disbanding the whole standing Army, except the Household troops and the Ar- tillery ; and this might have been done safely by embodying Feneibles and Militia in each county, and training them every year, by which domestic peace would be pre- serve:1,as well as security from foreign aggression; by enacting Poor Laws in Ire- land, by which the Irish gentry would be compelled to support their own people, instead of sending them over here to exclude any extra labourers which our villages may contain from the means of employment in our towns ; by repeal of the Corn Laws, and of all monopolies and restrictions on trade ; and by restoring our foreign policy to its uniform course, from the days of Elizabeth to those of Lord London- derry,-which was, to support small free states against their powerful neighbours; • Mr. HORSLEY PAzanta'a Accommodation Meeting. and,. above ali,by taking eff-ctual measures to 'liquidate the public debt, which must cramp the energies of the country so long as it exists ; and, lastly, by a Reform of the-House of Commons as eicacious as that now proposed, and yet not revolu- tionary. "This, and much more that cannot now be stated, must be done before the na- tion can be tranquillized. It is. shaken too deeply to its very foundation, to be calmed merely by declarations of merchants and bankers, or by Whig expedients of violating unblemished corporate- rights like those of Goildford, and of collecting the deputed wisdom of regregeted dirt and disease from ighton and Cheltenham. Nothing short of what is above enumerated can end otherwise than in increased discontent; and since there arises from .no side the discretion-lit to guide us, we have only to stand prepared for the crash which the infatuated projects of our rulers must produce, and sac in their blindness the judicial hand of an offended God, whose counsels they having, despised, he at length has left them totheir own.
" Begging 'A. B., in which prayer you, Sir, will no doubt join, to choose some other arena than your columns for the further diseussion of these subjects, " I am your obedient servant, Albury Park, Nov.26. " HENRY DRU31310ND."
. MR. II. DRUMMOND TO LORD GREY.
" Albury Park, 29th November.
" Loan—I regret-to learn from the Duke of •Richmond,that some expressions In my letter to the Editor of the Times. of this day's date, are construed by your Lordship to imply an attack upon your motives, instead of being, as I intended, an opinion upon your Lordship's measures. As nothing was further from my object or wish than to impute any thing to yotir Lordship individually, while 1 reserve the right of declaring myself freely on your Lordship's public measures, I have only to express the sincere regret I feel at any expression- of mine having given uninten- tional pain to your Lordship.
" I have the honour to be your Lordship's obedient servant, " To Earl Grey." "HENRY DEU313ION10."
LORD GREY TO MR. II. DRUMMOND.
" DoWning Street, 30th-November. " SIR—I have had the honour of receivingyour letter of yesterday, which has been brought to me by the Duke of Richmond; and beg leave to express my satisfaction at your assurance that nothing was further from your Object or wish than to impute to me individually any thing improper; and that While you reserve to yourself the right (which it never could be my wish or my intention to dispute) of declaring your- self freely on my public measures, you felt sincere regret at any expression having given me unintentional pain. " I shall feel it necessary, as was understood betiveen you and the Duke of Rich- mond, to give publicity to the letter which I have received from you; and have the
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