Richmond Enquirer

AFFAIRS ABROAD.

The following is an extract from the latest letter from London, furnished by the private correspondent of the New York Courier:

'I find it in my power to communicate to you some very interesting particulars in relation to the origin of his present Majesty's inclination to reform in Parliament. You have no doubt heard of the late Premier's aversion to the present King. You will remember that about 12 months ago, there were certain rumours afloat, to which a paper, "the Morning Journal," since buried in oblivion, gave currency. The unfortunate editor, who was so incautious as to publish his surmises, without any other warranty than his own ingenuity, suffered the penalty of the law; but still there were circumstances connected with the subject, sufficient to alarm a successor to so precarious a tenure as the Crown of Great Britain and Ireland. The following are the details which have come to my knowledge; it is impossible for me to give you data for them; for the obvious reason, that a veil of mystery shrouds the whole, which it would be impossible to lift, without involving one's self in great responsibility. It is whispered in circles, where such whispers are important, that during the last year of the late King's reign, the Tories of a certain class, collected round, and made warm advances to the Duke of Wellington, which he received with more cordiality of manner than is usual to him.—The object of the coalition which ensued, it is said, was the formation of a High Tory Junta, for preserving the rights of the English aristocracy whole and uninjured.

The necessity of this junta, was argued from the assumed fact of the utter incapacity and unfitness of the Duke of Clarence to fill the exalted station to which he was destined, and his predilection for the principles of the Kensington faction, composed of Lord Holland, Sir Francis Burdett, &c. With a view of promoting the purposes of this junta, the new police was established, and soon diffused over England: the plan of its organization was imported from the Tuileries. At the same time, some of the most important public offices were given to men whose principles promised a firm and effective co-operation. Unfortunately for these plans, the French revolution broke out; and still more unfortunately, the Hero of Waterloo was too much of a soldier to repress his abhorrence of the rising spirit of democracy. Then came some important disclosures to the King, from his relations by marriage, which determined him to throw himself, heart and soul, into the hands of the popular party. I cannot say more on this interesting topic: I have said enough to give you a key to the late and future royal, ministerial, and tory movements. Perhaps at some future period, I shall take an opportunity to recur to the subject.

The returns of several elections show that the cause of reform is gaining ground. In Dover, the Ministers have succeeded against the nominee of the Duke of Wellington. I have just spoken with a gentleman from the North of England. He assures me that the people there are to a man in favour of the reform bill. The same gratifying intelligence has also been received from the West of England. The election for the city of London begins to-day, and I am assured that never was an election known to begin so peaceably and quietly in London as the present. This is in a great part, if not wholly, owing to the language of the respectable part of the public press, which has called upon the people not to give enemies of reform, cause to misrepresent and defeat the great national question.

On Wednesday we had a spontaneous illumination in honour of the King and the dissolution of an obnoxious Parliament. The city, that is, that part of London inhabited by trades people, mechanics and the middling classes, was throughout illuminated with scarcely an exception. Here and there, were splendid transparencies which, if they did not show much invention, on the part of those who devised them, were at least proofs of their sincere approval of the great reform measures. From the Hay-market northwestward, if you accept the main streets, there were many black spots. The squares especially, and they are numerous, were in utter darkness. In passing down Regent street, I met the first mob collected before the house of Vesey the confectioner; they calling out lustily upon the inmates to light up, and as this was not complied with, the stones flew in every direction, and in a few seconds not a pane of glass remained whole in the house. The confectioner at last appeared, lighting up his windows to the infinite merriment of John Bull, who gave three hearty cheers, and departed for the next dark house, where a similar scene was repeated. The mob thus went on towards Piccadilly and down James street; taking revenge on the dwelling of every anti-reformer they passed; Crockford's splendid aristocratic club house fared no better than the others. Here and there, some ridiculous scenes occurred, as in Portland place, where the Duke of Newcastle sallied forth with his domestics upon the besieging crowd, a life-preserver in his hand, which he brandished most manfully.—On the whole, however, the night passed off with much less disturbance than generally occurs on such occasions.