METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER, KEPT AT THE OBSERVATORY OF CAPT. W. H. SMYTH, AT BEDFORD. BEING unable to return special answers to the very numerous communications of our Correspondents, a process which would engross the whole of our time,—we request the latter, in general, will accept such brief notices as we may, when necessary, offer in this We farther request that they will at all times do us the justice to believe that their communications receive the attention to which they are entitled. corner. Will Captain "A- B—, R.M.” be good enough to do as he proposes, and transmit to us the revised MS. of his paper which we shall insert, the first opportunity? "N. C." just in time to be too late. Next month. Meantime, there is an ample field for his lucubrations. "D. D." will do. We shall write the moment our present task is done. "Verax," "Medicus Senex," "An Old Talavera Man," Miles Britannicus," "An Officer of the Line," &c. have reached us too late for the present month. We shall attend to "Captain G--'s" memorandum. We fear the subject of "An Admirer of a Gallant Man" would be deemed invidious. To the query of " W. T." we beg to reply that the appointment of Major of Brigade is independent of the General Officer Commanding the Brigade, as far as not being liable to be changed or dispensed with at the pleasure of the latter. The Major of Brigade is appointed by Head Quarters, and is, strictly speaking, attached to the Brigade or Garrison, and not to the personal Staff of the General Officer. A great number of communications are under consideration. REFORM. "Was zieht ihr die stirne finster und Krans ? Ihr freien, ihr männlichen Seelen ? Jezt heult der Sturm, jezt braus't das meer, Wir wollen uns die noth nicht verhehlen."-KÖRNER. WE are reformers: and most officers of fortune who have in every gazette seen young men of rank and family, who had not left school when the war closed, promoted over their heads, are as decided reformers as ourselves. But, anxious as we may be for the removal of practices that, owing to altered times and manners, have gradually grown into abuses, as well as for such an improvement in our institutions, as the increase of knowledge and the general advance of society seem naturally to call for; we cannot, without sorrow and apprehension, contemplate the progress of Lord John Russell's bill, because we think it a measure that, under the salutary name of reform, threatens the complete overthrow of the constitution of that constitution too, be it always recollected, that has tended to make these comparatively poor and barren islands the most beautiful spots of this beautiful world; that has placed the men of Britain at the head of all the arts of war and peace, and made them the dread and wonder, as well as the envy, which is never unmixed with hatred, of all surrounding nations. From this high station, the proudest to which any nation ever attained, the reform bill, if passed into law, will be the first, but irrevocable step downwards. Our descent may not be instantly perceptible, but like a mass loosened from the highest pinnacle of the cliff that moves slowly at first, till gaining strength at every bound, it descends at last with a degree of fury that sets resistance at defiance, and carries every where ruin and devastation before it in its way; so must a people constituted and situated as the people of Britain are at this day, when once fairly detached from their old laws and institutions, rush down the steep of moral degradation till arrested by some of those great revolutions of empires, or convulsions of nature, that are far beyond the bounded reach of human speculation. Anxiously as we always avoid politics, in order to devote our attention to the various branches of knowledge connected with the difficult duties of the professions to which this Journal is particularly dedicated, (and what branch of human knowledge is not more or less connected with the profession of arms?) we nevertheless cannot allow a measure so fraught with ruin, to pass unchallenged; and proceed, therefore, in the plain language of soldiers, who as such can belong to no party but that of their country, and must at all times be far above the influence of mere factions, distinctly to state the grounds of our belief in the pernicious tendency of the proposed bill. In the early stages of regular governments, the great advantage of popular representation is, that it makes the executive acquainted with the wants and wishes of the people at large, and infuses some part of their feeling into the administrative power of the country. But, in exact proportion as public opinion gains strength, and obtains other means of influencing the acts of government, in the same proportion U. S. JOURN. No. 32, JULY 1831. U must the popular or controlling branch of the legislature, amalgamate to a certain extent with the executive for its own preservation, acquire new powers from the strength of the power it represents, take upon itself the fulfilment of new duties, or fall to the ground as altogether useless. Because, being originally intended as the representative of public opinion only, its functions naturally cease as public opinion acquires sufficient strength to make its own way without the aid of such representatives. The representative branches of the legislature are the guardians of public opinion in its infancy, but as mere guardians their aid is no longer required when the ward has grown up to manhood. And exactly in proportion as popular opinion rose to its present gigantic height in England, so did the Commons, owing to the happy working of our constitution, acquire independent strength with the general progress of knowledge, till ceasing by degrees to be a mere controlling power, they gradually concentrated in themselves the whole power of government. Though, in some measure, dependent both on the crown and the people, they yet possess the power of arresting popular encroachments by the aid of the crown on one side, and of checking the crown itself by controlling the supplies on the other; the whole forming thus the most beautiful and perfect piece of government-machinery the world has ever beheld. To call this constitution that has grown with us from our infancy, has adapted itself with wonderful pliability to all the changes that centuries have produced in our strength and situation, as well as to that proud national character which it produced, the work of mere human hands, would be the very height of presumption; for what the present race of intellectual giants can achieve in such matters has been amply illustrated by the half hundred perfect constitutions manufactured in our own time; all of which, from those we ourselves bestowed upon Corsica, Sicily, and Portugal, down to the last French charte, fell to the ground amidst the universal scoffs of the very people for whose good government they had been devised. The salutary balance, held, as above stated, between the crown and the people, must be entirely destroyed by Lord John Russell's bill, because, by surrendering to the lower orders the power of electing an overwhelming majority of that House of Commons which already possesses the whole power of the government, we in fact surrender the government into the hands of the democracy; for a House of Commons returned at the pleasure of the mob, must ultimately be as subservient to that mob as any other agent must be to the will of his employer. Unless, therefore, the other branches of the legislature are strengthened in proportion, and rendered capable of balancing a reformed House of Commons, for which no provision is made in this bill, the present government of King, Lords, and Commons, is at an end, and a pure democracy, the real object of the radical party who are strenuous supporters of the measure, must follow as a matter of course, under whatever name and form it may at first be disguised. The consequence will naturally be, that, in total disregard of the first principles of government, which show that it is only by following a steady and consistent course of enlightened policy, often even very much at variance with public opinion and momentary benefit, the country ruled by democracy will be ruled as democracies invariably are, by the impulse of the moment, by the wild theories of the designing speculators, over whose plans some passing gleam of prosperity may have shed a false lustre, or by the ravings of infuriated demagogues, acting on the passions of the multitude during those periods of distress to which all commercial and manufacturing states must at times be liable. Some of the evils resulting from this constant fluctuation may be here briefly pointed out. It has been the pride of this country, and one of the main causes of its prosperity, that no person holding any official situation, civil or military, has ever in modern times deviated, in the discharge of public duty, from the path of rectitude and honour. We have suffered, as well as our neighbours, from the occasional folly and incapacity of public functionaries: we have seen full blown folly in pretty high and conspicuous situations, but treachery and worthlessness no where. Men have often enough acted like fools, but to the extent of their capacity they could always be depended upon; they never acted like knaves. Will such a proud boast be maintained, and can consistent conduct be expected under a government that will not itself have the power of being consistent, but must change and sacrifice its measures as well as servants, according to every passing whim of despotic democracy? Will men be conscientious and zealous in carrying into effect the plans and orders of Ministers, who, together with their followers, may from day to day, at the caprice of the mob, be denounced as the enemies of the people; and who, like the generality of such ephemeral rulers, will not hesitate to sacrifice their subordinates whenever it may suit their own views or convenience? Will not public functionaries under such circumstances, make the most of their precarious situations, and trust to immediate peculation, instead of looking forward to honourable distinction as the reward of duties faithfully performed? will they not neglect the acts of grace from which they can derive no individual advantage, and turn measures of necessary severity into means of oppression for the mere gratification of selfish views? Such, at least, is generally the conduct of men holding office under weak and unstable governments; and for the faults of public men the people suffer. The Turks are, according to their laws, as free a people as any in Europe, but the government is, or was till lately, destitute of power; the country was rapidly going to ruin, because the public functionaries were shamefully venal in a country where even the poorest Moslem is proverbially honest. The laws and institutions of Portugal have been the admiration of all jurists; but there is neither law nor justice to be found in Portugal, because (leaving Don Miguel and his contemptible set entirely out of the question) the government, however well disposed, could never, even under the great Marquis of Pombal, depend on its orders being carried into effect, owing to the negligence, treachery, and venality of its public functionaries. Poland, before its dismemberment, was a Royal Republic, where, according to the fashionable theories of the day, men could hardly fail to be free, great, and happy, for no one possessed much legal power; but as might have been expected, the only freedom known in the country was that maintained by the sword, or purchased with gold. The natural consequence of such a state of things, was the almost unresisting fall of a brave and gallant people. It may, perhaps, be urged, that democracy has not produced in America the effects we have ascribed to its sway. This is perfectly true as to fact; but our cases are totally dissimilar: for not only are the people of America from character, circumstances, and situation hastening rapidly towards aristocracy, whilst we are taking an opposite direction, but we unfortunately want the millions of uncultivated acres that constitute as yet the safety-valve of the feeble institutions of the great Trans-Atlantic Republic. In that country, as soon as a hale and active man, (and such only can be troublesome,) finds work scarce, or his situation uncomfortable, he shoulders his axe, and instead of taking counsel and advice from modern philosophers, crosses the Aleghany and begins to hew down trees and to clear land. These healthy pursuits naturally scatter the population over an immense tract of country, and place them not only beyond the reach, but also beyond the influence of demagogues. A people so situated, and happily removed from all immediate contact with foreign states, hardly require any government beyond what is necessary for conducting their few and simple fiscal and police regulations. The very reverse, however, is the case in this country, where a dense population of artisans and manufacturers are, from their crowded situation, from unhealthy and soul-souring pursuits, as well as from their fluctuating means of subsistence, constantly exposed to the arts of agitators, incendiaries, and mob-flatterers, the vilest of all flatterers, because flattering the lowest of passions. It is deeply to be deplored, that the excitement now existing on the subject of reform, renders any calm discussion of the merits of the Bill totally impracticable. The lower orders and all commercial men have unfortunately been led to believe, that some tangible benefit is immediately to accrue to them from this favourite measure; and as a great part of the press have aided, and are still aiding to spread this pernicious delusion, no one taking a different view of the question is likely to be listened to with patience or attention, though one single fact is sufficient to show the lamentable fallacy of the expectation. We have already a reforming ministry, composed, for they are English noblemen and gentlemen, of high-minded and honourable individuals, anxious to improve the condition of the people, and possessing all the powers that Government can constitutionally hold; yet they have honestly declared their inability to grant any immediate relief. To look, therefore, to reform for relief, which cannot be granted consistently with the present constitution, is to look for such relief from measures that we should now deem unconstitutional, to be carried into effect, therefore, only by an overthrow of the constitution. And before whom is this glorious fabric, raised by the wisdom of centuries, that has been the admiration of the wise, and has stood the war-shock of ages, now destined to fall? Not before the fleets and armies of the banded world-for anxious as our friends and Allies might be to make the attempt, they yet know us to be their supe riors-nor are we to fall by the hand of some of those giants in intellect, occasionally sent into the world by Providence, in order to raise up the fallen, or to humble the mighty among the nations; for in vain do we look around for such a man; in public life there is but one iron-handed giant, and he wears a turban, and is already amply occupied in the Christian world, such is the universal feebleness, that the general direction of affairs has everywhere been assumed by a poor set of party writers; men totally incapable of estimating the value of |