The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-26 00:00:00

of increas►ng one class of property, all description; of
it should be equally vexed and burdened. Why
suffer the conveyance of landed property to be a
source of plunder to the attorney, or the testamentary
disposition of assets to the proctor ? We are assured
again that there is no time at which people can so
well bear to pay money as when they are in the act
of obtaining an accession of fortune. But suppose
it should happen that a father of a family, having a
life income of 1,0001. per annum, dies, leaving assets
to the amount of 5,0001. among five children, is the
hour of this parent's death, we would ash, precisely
that at which his orphans can best afford to satisfy
the demands of the Exchequer and of the proctors ?
We point attention to the letter signed " An Exe-
c:itor," in the Times of this day.—Times.

A strong Government is a great evil. We have
an exemplification of this in those possessions of the
British empire in which the Governor is indepen-
dent of all local controul, and can draw upon the
resat', ces of the mother country when anything like
resistance to his wishes is threatened. An indivi-
dual can know so little of himself, that where he has
no means of learning the unbiassed sentiments of
the population, he is sure to be the dupe of those
by whom he is surrounded. Even if the Governor
of a Colony were the best intentioned man in
the world, he would still be an instrument in the
hands of the evil-disposed to work much mischief.
We are as'onished that those Members of Parlia-
ment who have some character for sagacity, and who
can afford to be independent, do not urge more ear-
nestly than they do, the propriety of the Crown
divesting itself of arbitrary power in the conquered
colonies. A Lord Charles or Lord John, deeply
read in the Game Laws, and skilled in the practices
of Newmarket, but conversant in no other branches
of knowledge, has a Colony assigned to 11;m, for the
sake of the 10,0001. a year it produces. This indi-
vidual finds himself surrounded by sycophants, who
flatter his prejudices for their own ends, and take
good care that he should never hear from them that
he is not possessed of absolute wisdom. He issues
all manner of ridiculous Edicts and Proclamations,
and gives to all who act under him a power to op-
press the people. In the South African Contmercial
Advertiser, sin excellent Journal, there are some ad-
mirable illustrations of the impolicy of committing
extensive and irresponsible powers to Governors.
In the number of that Paper for February the 10th,
eve have the following case :
" A poor man crossing the Karoo, or some other desert
in the district of George, discovered two eggs in the sand.
Being hungry, he very naturally thanked Heaven for its
goodness and bounty, and ate one of the eggs ; and being
siinple well.dispoeed man, he carried the other as a present
to the next Field Cornet. This officer, unfortunately for
our friend, happened to be deeply read in Celonial Juris-
prudence, and instead of thanking hint for his politeness,
as he felt a natural inclination to do, he arrested him in
the King's maitre, and despatched him to the Drostdy, to
be tried for a breach of a Proclamation made and pro-
vided for the better protection and preservation of eggs in
general, and of the eggs of wild birds in particu-
lar. He was accordingly found guilty of having
eaten an egg, and condemned to pay a fine of fifty
rix-dollars, or to suffer a month's imprisonment. His
Excellency the Governor, indeed—on the affair being duly
represented to him, We believe, by the Magistrate himself,
who saw the unutterable absurdity of the law which he
was cornpelled to enforce—mercifully pardoned the delin-
quent, letting hem escape with the mitigated fine of one
shilling, and an exhortation to show more reverence to
any egg or eggs which he might afterwards discover in
the wilderness. But in former times, an obnoxious'per-
son would have been compelled to pay the uttermost
farthing.
" Our readers will recollect something in the same
line, still more characteristic of the late Government
than even this Lilliputian hubbub about the eggs of
birds. Nut many years ago a Proclamation was
issued for the protection of Elephants within the
Colony; that aristocratic beast having been subjected
to divers insults from the inhabitants, in retalia-
tion for some trifling murders and damage done to their
gardens. A gentleman then residing on the frontier, learned
from the Gazette in the morning, that this harmless
animal had nearly disappeared, and that above three or four,
or some such number, could not be found on this side of
the Fieli River ; and on crossing the country in the course
of the same day, he fell in with a troop, which he is certain
amounted to between two hundred and fifty and three
111114,4 ed in number..
We shall conclude with another illustration of the
spirit of the late system. In 1816, we think, or it may
be more recently, the Proclamation which offers rewards
for the destruction of ravenous beasts and birds of prey
was renewed, with some alterations. A reward was offered,
among others, for the head of the jackal, an animal more
mischievous to the sheep-farmer than the wolf itself, as it
steals during the day, when the sheep are dispersed and
feeding at a distance. In the same Vazette, and imme-
diately below the proclamation, an advertisement ap-
peared sigued by the President or Directors (or some
*such people) of the fox hounds, cautioning all the King's
subjects against killing or otherwise molesting this fine
animal. And in the next Gazette the proclamation was
cancelled, and another substituted in its place, from which
the reward for the head of the jackal, or Cape fox, -was
clipped out!
These, and a hundred other follies, that could be men-
tioned, show the necessity of a thorough revisal of the
Colonial Code. By a Legislature intimately acquainted
with the colony, it could be most advantageously reduced
to very few pages. In fact, the Ten Commandments,
with a small *Amber of local inductions, would be suffi-
cient fur every honest purpose, provided they wire strictly
enforced, and the great flies were not permitted to break
through the web."
In fact we do not believe even the Ten Command-
ments would be necessary in a country like the
Cape. But how is it possible to persuade a man
rent from England with 10,0001. a year, that he is
of little use to the Colony ? His self-importance
would instantly take the aiarm,if he were not allowed
to busy himself about every thing in the Colony ?
We have before us a brief but able sketch of Russia
just published at Dresden, by an author who takes
the name of E. Pabel, who has been thirty years in
that country. In this publication we have a striking
illustration of the evils of Government, that is of
committing irresponsible powers to public func-
tionaries. Russia is a country, in which, for centu-
rie.s to come, there will be abundant loom for the
population. Unfortunately the Government is
strong, and chooses to regulate every thing through-
out the Empire. Let us observe the working of
this. " It is an incontrovertible proposition (says
Pabel), that speech, writing, and example, not
merely promote the cultivation of individuals, but of
stations. Of these three means the Government has
almost wholly deprived the nation. Besides the
usual Censorships, there is a Secret Committee at
every principal post station, consisting of a Censor
and four members; in the great towns the number
of these functionaries is much greater. Such a Com-
mittee is occupied with breaking and reading all
letters, writings, and packets. In the smaller towns
emery post-master, or post-expeditor, has the same
right. From the corrupt character of many of these
functionaries, it may be imagined what melancholy
abuses often flow from this right. No commercial
undertaking, no family affairs remain unknown to
these functionaries, and their accurate knowledge of
all private affairs furnishes them with means to use
them to the advantage of themselves and their friends.
This aba.t,e of what ought to be held so sacred
diffuses throughout the land distrust and apprehen-
sion, awl prevents all freedom of communication
between men of business, relations, and friends.
Neither is there anything like unreserved mover,
sation in private society. The number of secret
police spice banish all joy from social parties."—
What a contrast between this state of things and the
freedom enjoyed in Sweden and Norway, or the
United States of North America I. Dr. smith
dwells on the virtue of an army as an instrument of
civilization, and instances Russia. It would have
been better, perhaps, for Russia, that Peter the
Great had never lived, and that the Government had
not outgrown the people. We may, in passing, ob-
serve that according to this author, the number of
inhabitants in Russia is much greater than the cen-
suses make them. He says " It may be assumed
with certainty,,that all the numbers in the empire
are, for the most part, false, and that Russia con-
tains a far greater numbtx 'of inhabitants than that
usually assigned to it. All the peasants, and the
lower classes of burghers) must pay yearly a poll-

tax, and some other duties to the Government,
which are calculated according to the numb;r of
Males. This naturally opens a door to frauds. The
Isprawnick, the head of the Circle, shuts his eyes,
when a proprietor returns the number of his boors
too low, for he can only hope to get on by being on
a good understanding witt him."—Morning Chron.
From the period in the progress of civilization,
when the affairs of i community are confined to a
separate class, there may be said to be a constant
conspiracy on the part of the various branches of
that class, the public functionaries, to promote their
own interests at the expence of that of the public.
Hence the paramount necessity of constantly watch-
ing over the expenditure of the public money. In
England the conspiracy has been more systematic
and more succe;sful than in any other country in the
world. No where has the claim to be gorged at

- -
the expence of the public been put forth with so
much effrontery. At home and abroad—in the
Church or the State, there is nothing but profusion
and waste. The amount of the superannuations is
the most damning evidence that can be afforded of
the impunity with which in this country the inte-
rests of the governing classes can be promoted at
the expence of the interest of the community. The
Revenue of the Church of Ireland alone is more than
twice what ought to be assigned to the Ministers of
religion throughout the British Empire. The notions
of the governing class of this country are corrupt in the
highest degree. Their avarice knows no bounds.
Of the money paid into the Exchequer, the greatest
part is devoted to what in most countries is con-
sidered the least essential branches of Government.
Though the people of England pay out of all pro-
portion more into the Exchequer than the people of
any other country, they pay separately for nearly all
that in other countries is defrayed by the Govern-
ment, and constitutes the chief part of its expendi-
ture. However, we do not intend at present to
enter on so extensive a field as the expenditure of
the country. We intend merely to notice the inten-
tion which exists to increase the salaries of the
Judges of the Court of Session in Scotland. Why,
at a time, when the value of all commodities as
measured by money, has fallen, when, of course, the
existing salaries of the Scotch Judges can com-
mand more of the good things of this world than
at any period since they were last raised, these salaries
should be raised, is incomprehensible to us on any
other principle than that of shameless prodigality.
The author of the pamphlet from which we made co-
pious extracts on Tuesday, speaking with reference to
this increase, observes, " Let it not be said that the
smallness of the salaries renders it impossible for
Government to select the most able Counsel to fill
the office of Judge. What Counsel is now at the
Bar who was offered and refused such promotion ?
Where and by what means were the eminent men
found who in past times adorned, and who now
adorn the Bench ?" We have never been able to
understand how giving large incomes increased
either their disposition or their fitness to serve the
public. What Sir Henry Parnell says with refer-
ence to the salaries of clerks, may, in a great mea-
sure, be applied to all public functionaries :—" The
more the question of salaries is examined, the more

fully it can be shown that high salaries are not only
the source of a great burden on the public, but also
that they actually contribute to make the clerks
less efficient, and, consequently, to the employing
of a greater number of them. There cannot be a
greater mistake than the notion generally enter-
ed, that fitness will follow in proportion as the amount
of the salary is high. Those persons who are will-
ing to work for a small remuneration always have
the greatest relish for work ; and, therefore, giving
low salaries will secure the filling of the offices with
the most effectual clerks. On the other hand, when
a clerk has a high salary, the less will be his acti-
vity, and he will be adverse to anything like the
drudgery of office. He will possess a greater facility
for enjoying pleasurable and other trivial occupations.
He will have a greater facility of obtaining accom-
plices in his transgressions, and in finding supporters
to shield him against being displaced, and against
having his conduct thought disreputable. . . .
. . As the great pretext for raising all sala-
ries to their present rates was :he depreciation of
money, now that the value of it is restored, the
public have a right to require a reduction to be
generally made on a large scale." A sort of vague
idea is afloat in certain classes that the great seen-
rity we have for the incorruptibility of our Judges
is the largeness of their incomes. The security is
not worth a pin's head. The probity of Judges is
determined by very different causes, and were it not
for the existence of these causes, greatness of
income would only inflame their cupidity, and add
to their means of securing impunity. In countries
in which functionaries are regularly bribed—as in
Russia, for instance—the higher the functionary,and
the better paid he is, the more corrupt he is. The
subject is handled in a most masterly manner by
Mr. Mill, in his History of British India, when
speaking of the Indian Reforms 1773. " The mode
of appointing public functionaries (he observes),and
the extent of their power, distinct from the motives
to good or evil conduct, which operate upon them
in the discharge of their functions, are evi-
dently of no avail. Upon the Governor and Coun-
cil in India, the motives to evil conduct, and the
scope for its exercise, were, if not augmented by the
new regulations, at any rate not impaired. They were
previously debarred from the acceptance of presents,
and the Governor from trade. Reliance for probity

was placed, as it is too commonly placed, on the
greatness of the salaries ; as if there were a point
of saturation in cupidity ; as if the great power
which great salaries confer was not the most
effectual of all instruments for the undue acquisi-
tion of more ; and the most effectual of all in-
struments for covering such acquisition from in-
quiry or punishment. In as far then as the pro-
spect of impunity is a motive, and it is one of the
strongest, so far great salaries do not take from, they
add to the temptations to corruption. Even Burke,
upon this particular, remarked, that ample sala-
ries removed the necessity, indeed, but by no
means the inducements to corruption and oppression.'
See Ninth Report of the Select Committee, 1781."
'The reason why Judges in England are not acces-
sible to bribery, is chiefly the danger with which
bribery 'would be attended. In every country
of Europe, direct bribery gives way to advancing
civilization, and the Judge is reduced to the
necessity of gratifying his avarice by less dan-
gerous means. Judges every where invented wha..
is called technical procedure, or the system
which multiplies the movements of suitors, without
referenee to the ends of justice, in order that many
opportunities might be obtained for pillaging them
in a less offensive manner. The same distinguished
writer, whose work is an inexhaustible mine on all
matters of government and jurisprudence, in con-
trasting the modes 'resorted to by Judges, in India
and in England, for pillaging the public, observes :
" It is instructive, and not difficult to trace the causes
which gave birth to such different modes of judicial proce-
dure in the two countries. The difference arose from the
different situation of the Judges. It arose from the differ-
ent means presented to the Judges of drawing a profit out
of the business which they had to perform, In India, as
the state of manners and opinions permitted them to re-
ceive bribes, they had no occasion to look out for any
other deans of drawing as much money as possible from the
suitors; ;;,nd therefore they allowed the course of inquiry to
fall into the straight, the shortest, and easiest channel. In
England the state of manners and opinions rendered it very
inconvenient, and in some measure dangerous to receive
bribes. The Judges were, therefore, induced to look for
other means of rendering their business profitable tit
themselves, The state of manners and opinions allowed
them to take fees upon each of the different operations.
It was, therefore, an obvious expedient to multiply
these operations to excess—to render them as numerous,
and rat only as numerous, but as ensnaring as possible;
for, with a view to fees, it was of prodigious importance,
after the operations had been rendered as numerous as
possible, to create pretexts fur performing them twice
over. This was easily done, by rendering the operations
performed upon the suitors so nice and intricate, and equi-
vocal, that it was homily possible to observe them, in such
a manner as to preclude exception; and by making it a
rule, that as soon as any wisobservance was laid bold of by

the Judge, the whole of the preceding operations, how
exactly soever performed, should be set aside, and the suit
ordered to commence anew. This re-commencement
Accordingly, this double performance of the ceremonies,
double payment of the fees, is one of the most remarkable
features i 1 the En!!lish system of procedure."
So much for the different modes which judicial
avarice resorts to in different countries. 'Without
entering further into the subject, we may say that we
are perfectly warranted in laying it down that we
owe the absence of direct bribery to very different
causes than large incomes in the shape of salary.
Avarice never can be saturated by any amount of
food. And good working Judges would only be
spoiled by giving them incomes to tempt them to
live like Dukes.—Morning Chronicle.
To-nig'et the law of forgery is to come under
discussion once more in the House of Commons.
Our readers are aware that the argument principally
relied on by the advocates for the continuance of
the present sanguinary law is the protection which,
they allege, it affords to the commercial transactions
of the country, and more especially to the banking
interests. On this argument the policy of the law
has been defended, in opposition to those dictates
of reason, humanity, and religion, which teach us that
punishment should never be vindictive, and that the
sacred principle of justice should not degenerate into
vengeance. Long experience has clearly proved
that the excessive severity of the law, instead of
affording additional protection, counteracts the very
object for which the distinctions of crime are disre-
garded, and the feelings of humanity outraged. The
great prevalence of the offence of forgery proves that
the infliction of capital punishment has exactly the
opposite tendency to that which the admirers of
Draconic legislation anticipated. It has the ,effect
of increasitig instead of repressing a crime which,
though it may be impossible to eradicate it by any
law, would not be so frequent as it is, if the punish-
ment were more proportionate to the moral guilt of
the offence. One of the greatest signs, we can per.
ceive, of the advanced civilization of the age, is the
increasing aversion to the unnecessary shedding of
blood by the sword of penal law. We were always
of opinion, and we frequently expressed it, that the
banking interests were not protected, but severely
injured by the legislative cruelty which devoted the
fraudulent imitator of a one-pound mote to the death
of a murderer 1 What with the disinclination of
parties to prosecute, and the " pious perjuries" of
Juries—who sometimes think it a less crime to vio-
late an oath than to have the stain of human blood
upon their consciences—the law of forgery seems
especially devised to stimulate and encourage that
class of offenders whom it professes to exterminate !
Of late, even the persons on whose behalf the neces-
sity of excessive severity has been pleaded, have
come forward in great numbers to pray the Legis-
lature to substitute a milder peualry for that of
death. They know and feel its inefficacy. They
find, from melancholy experience, that instead of se-
curing their property against this species of fraud, it
exposes it to more extensive depredation. It will
be seen by a letter in our columns to-day, that about
one hundred petitions have already been presented
to the Legislature calling for an amelioration of this
law. A great proportion of bankers have signed
petitions of this nature. The petition of Glasgow,
to be presented to-night, has been signed by all the
bankers—by all the Magistrates to whom it was
presented, arid by the Clergy of the Establishment,
as well as Dissenters. It also bears the name of
about 600 most respectable merchants and manu-
facturers—and we know by letters from that place,
the general feeling among mercantile men is, that
the " severity of the law prevents its operation."
The petition from Newcastle-on-Tyne has been
signed by all the bankers. So have the petitions
from Sunderland, Darlington, Stocktoe,nud Derby
—ten bankers affixed their names to the Chester
petition. The petition from Yarmonth was signed
by four bankers, twelve magistrates, and ten lawyers,
and eighty merchants, ship-owners, and inhabitants
of respectability and intelligence. That from Trure
had the names of seven bankers. But why need we
cite instances where they are so numerous, end the
feeling out of which they arise is so generally spread-
ing ever the kingdom ? It is strange and lament-
able that at a time when the public voice is raised
against the law in question, and enlightened opinion
from one extremity of this island to another pro-
claims it to be equally savage in its principle and
mischievous in its operation, Mr. Peel should have
framed his new Bill—his Bill to reform the law of
forgery—upon the old and barbarous principle in all
cases where the law has heretofore been carried
into execution. He proposes than the life
of the offender shall still be forfeited in all
cases of forgery of orders for money and ne-
gotiable securities, besides in numerous other
instances. It is still more sti ange that, in
his situation of Home Secretary—where he ought to
have known better—he should be so ignorant of the
feelings of society as to expect that this mockery of
reform would satisfy the public, and even obtain
him a high reputation as a wise and judicious law-
giver. We have observed, indeed, the first-offer-
ings of what he may mistake for fame in the adula-
tory notice taken of his Bill by d' Morning Paper,
which had been some time ago humanely and ably
conspicuous in denouncing in lobo the ferocious law
of forgery. That Paper, in December, 1828, al-
luding to a petition signed by several persons of
high commercial character in the city of London
on behalf of a wretched criminal used the fol-
lowing language :—" Thus it appears that a num-
ber of eminent persons, interested in the main-
tenance of credit, and therefore in the effective
adjustment of laws which are designed for its
security from the crimes by which it is most
endangered, have signed a petition in favour of
the wretched culprit who is now under sentence of
death for forgery. This proves sufficiently that, in
the opinion of the commercial public, fraud is not
an appropriate subject for capital punishment. The
human heart, we say, in the nineteenth century,
revolts at such a retribution for such a transgression,
and the Magistrate who inflicts it flies in the face
of those feelings which attest, because they go fur
to constitute, the advancement of mankind in civili-
zation and humanity. The penalty of death was
enacted for the sake of the moneyed interest; the
moneyed interest, by this petition, loudly proclaim
that they deem the penalty unnecessary.' The
same paper, on another occasion, " implored the
King's Ministers to look deeply into this heart-
oppressing subject, that the altars of the dis-
count-Moloch might no longer smoke with
blood ; yet it was only the other day the
same paper eulogised Mr. Peel for endeavour-
ing to perpetuate that very principle of sanguinary
legislation which it had only two years ago so ener-
getically condemned. Has the moral illumination
of the " nineteenth century" already passed away—
is the darkness that wes nearly dispersed, rolling
back upon us ? Is the worship of the " discount-
Moloch," to be commended at the present day,
which was regarded as so detestably barbarous only
two years ago ? Is Mr. Peel to be praised for per-
petuating that very system which was then described
as an ensanguined idolatry ? But we care not what
advocate of humanity deserts this great cause for
which we contend. The voice of public opinion
has gone forth; and sooner or later the temple of
this barbarous worship shall be overthrown, nor shall
one stone be left upon another.—Morning Herald.
The meeting which was held the other day at the
City of London Literary and Scientific Institution,
had for its object the reduction of a species of taxes,
which, of all others with which this country is
so dreadfully burthened, are the most truly disgrace-
ful and injurious—we mean the taxes on the diffu-
sion of knowledge, every one of which is calculated,
more or less, not only to retard the spread of civili-
zation, by retarding the diffusion of useful informa-
tion, but to check the industry, and diminish the
means of living, of several very numerous classes of
society. Two such objections, especially in the pre-
sent state of the country, could not, we think, be
well brought against any taxes; and it is an addi-
tional argument against their continuance, that they
are scarcely known in almost any other country, and

that their non-existence gives a most unfair advan-
tage to the foreigner over the home manufacturer.
English books, it is well known, can be printed and
bound in Paris, and sold in this country, notwith-
standing the heavy duty on their importation, for
wo-thirds of the sum which they would cost, with
a very moderate profit to all parties, here ; and in
the same way the taxes on. advertisements and
Amps are so onerous here, that double the number
of impressioni of newspapers are sold on the Con-
tinent, compared with those which the public can
afford to purchase here. Now why should this be
the case ? Were those who were engaged in the ma-
nufacture of books and newspapers, a class so ca-
pable in every respect to aid the revenue of the
eountry, that it was necessary to make them contri-
bute their quota—or who could not be reached
except by a direct tax upon the fruits of their in-
dustry, there might be about as much reason for
imposing a special tax upon them as upon carriages
and horses; but the truth is, as every one who
gives the subject the slightest consideration mu?t
allow, that, although they are greatly injured
by every tax on the exertion of that industry,
the public pays, and must pay ultimately for all
—it must pay the duty on paper—it must pay the
stamp duty of fourpence for every stamp upon a
newspaper sheet—and it must pay the enormous
duty of three and sixpence upon every advertise-
ment, even if that advertisement should only extend
to one line ! We wish to press this point especially
upon the attention of the public, in order that those
who are directly interested in the repeal or modifi-
cation of these taxes may not stand alone in advo-
cating it.—The interest is theirs as well, and even
more, than ours; and we trust that meetings will
be held, not only of every literary and scientific in-
stitutio►► in the kingdom, to declare war against the
taxes upon knowledge, but of every city and town
which has the interests of literature, of science,
and of industry, at heart. The Government itself,
so far as the revenue is concerned, would be greatly
benefitted by a reduction of such taxes ; and we
can ourselves state as a fact, that when Lord Gode-
rich was Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was his
full intention to propose a partial repeal of them.-
- Morning Advertiser.