The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The meetings and resolutions, and petitions
of the landed gentlemen are going on. The
Magistrates of Sussex, with Lords Chichester
and Gage at their head, have followed the ex-
ample (whether wise or constitutional is another
question) of the county of Kent, by appealing to
the Duke of Wellington on " the distresses
which exist in every part of the country, com-
mercial as well as agricultural." Why do these
Magistrates address the Duke of Wellington on •
such a subject ? His Grace is not Secretary
for the Home Department, with whom it is the '
official duty or privilege of inferior justices
throughout the realm to communicate on mat-
ters affecting the general interest of the state.
Nor is the Duke Lord Lieutenant of the county
of Sussex. We are therefore somewhat at a loss
to ascertain why these magisterial pitiers of the
poor have bestowed their tediousness on tint
First Lord of the Treasury. But the Sussex
Magistrates busy themselves about " commer-
cial" distress.. The " commercial" distress arises,
like all other distress, from the high taxes upon
the necessaries of life, under which those who
carry on English commerce, directly or indirectly,
labour. Low as are the wages paid by merchants
and manufacturers, compared with the price of
articles of subsistence throughout this country,
such wages are still high enough in many cases
to create very formidable barriers to the growth
of our commercial and manufacturing industry.
Instead of calling for a repeal of the Malt Tax
merely, repeal the law which enhances the price
of bread, give the people bread on easy terms,
and our competition with foreigners in the pro-
duction of every article requiring skill, capital,
and mechanical power, as well as in the trans-
' port of such articles all over the world, will
speedily remove from us every vestige of " com-
mercial distress." Again, the Magistracy of
Sussex deplores the " agricultural" distress
of the country, and recommends to the
protection of Government, the " occupiers
of land, and the labouring population" im-
mediately dependent on them. It appears
to us, that Government might well return
the compliment, and earnestly recommend both
the occupiers of land and their labourers to the
mercy and humanity of these milky-hearted ma-
gistrates. The occupiers of land would find
relief in other expedients besides a remission of
the Malt-tax. What think you, my lords and
gentlemen, of a reduction of their rents ? So the
dependent labourers may properly beseech the
Magistrates of Sussex not to confine their solici-
tude to a diminution of the tax on manufac-
tured barley ; for what would be the conse-
quence of a redaction of the tax alone ? Why,
that the fall of price occasioned by such dimi-
nution of duty would be met very shortly by a
rise qf rent, which would open a fresh battery
of suffering upon the " dependent labourers."
Barley, made more accessible by the liberality of
the Legislature, would thus be made as difficult
as ever of access, by the rapacity of many who
have seats in the Legislature, and of many of
their brethren who have not. No ;if you wish
to secure cheap malt and home-brewed ale to
the people, take off the oppressive tax on fo-
reign barley, and make the poor man's malt
independent of the rich man's cupidity. A pro-
position like this, from the landlords to the Go-
vernment, would show some touch of real and
unfeigned compassion towards the general dis-
tress. The wants of the people may be com-
prehended in the scantiness of bread and beer ;
for, if these were abundant, clothing would soon
keep pace with them. Abolish, therefore, the
tax which cuts off the supply of wheat, and that
which prohibits the raw material of malt, and
the difficulty is at once got rid of; and the hearts
of Honourable Gentlemen, which now bleed
with painful sympathy, will overflow with grati-
tude and joyous exultation. As for any opera-
tion upon the Malt-tax but that of its entire
overthrow, we are of opinion that it would pro-
duce but a mutilated and imperfect good. The
army of excisemen would still remain to torment
and prey upon us, on pretence of guarding a
tax of 2d. on the bushel, just as pertinaciously
as one of 20s.—Times.

We call public attention to the meeting and
resolutions of the magistracy of the metropoli-
tan county, on the subject of gin-shops. The
subject was brought forward by Mr. Serjeant
Pell, and though that Learned Gentleman him-
self and his respectable colleagues could not tell
us more than we knew of the dreadful evil by
them unanimously denounced, yet still, from
their official situation, they added the seal of
authority to our previous representations and re-
monstrances. It is proper to notice also, that
the principal Police Magistrates of the Metro-
polis—Sir Richard Birnie, of Bow-street, Mr.
Chambers, of Union-hall, and Mr. Rawlinson,
of Maryiebone, men best acquainted with the
state of crime, and the incitements to it—were
present, and gave their warmest support to the
resolutions,—their fullest coufirmation of the
mischief described. Ministers, we have no
doubt, will attend, so well as they are able, to
representations coming from such a quarter : but
it is difficult to say what can be done. If the
price of the spirit be raised by taxation, smug-
gling would ensue ; yet still this seems the most
obvious and feasible method. Smuggling, which
is only a partial and local evil, is 'more tolerable
than general demoralization of the lower orders.
By a late Act of Parliament, which we believe
has turned out wholly nugatory, it was allowed
to retail beer at a low price, on condition that
the parties drinking it were not admitted into
the house to sit down, and brought their own
pots. Suppose it were prohibited to sell gin
(at least in less quantities than a gallon) at any
other place than the shop-windows, the drinkers
not being admitted to enter the house—decent
people might thus be prevented from indulging
in the dreadful propensity ; and the police might
take charge of those who were getting drunk,
and disperse crowds.—/hid.
In the 83d number of the Quarterly Review,
published yesterday, there is a most ominous
article on the internal state of the country, which,
from its seeming candour, and the plausibility of
some of the statements, is calculated to produce
a considerable impression at the present moment.
The conclusion at which a single-minded reader
can hardly fail to arrive is, that the best thing
the Duke of Wellington could do, after the as-
sembling of Parliament, would be to proceed
with a body of the New Police to the House if
Commons, and purge that body somewhat in
the manner in which Cromwell purged it. The
Reviewer endeavours to show that accident alone
could not give such an assemblage of imbecility
and dullness as we have in the House of Com-
mons, because the House of Lords, which con-
tainsit s amongt only the share ofgiven n
stupidity
number
erof n
which
e nature,i
ds
rHcoaiulseo,nlaynbdet
ac-
counted gorleeatdlyiffseureptelcrieoragtoaintstet
hLe
howlat et
latter
for from the mode of election having a

peculiar tendency to favour the discovery and
return of the most worthless men of the commu-
nity. We were horrified when we read the de-
scription given of the popular part of our Legis-
lature, bearing in mind, as we do, the laws
against bringing either House of Parliament
into contempt, and some late proceedings in
the Court of King's Bench. "We cannot,"
says the Reviewer, " refrain at the outset flora
intimating it as our firm persuasion, that who-
ever listens attentively to the tone of language
which is now heard in the unrestrained inter-
course of the higher as well as the lower classes
of society, will be constrained to admit that the
resoluticns and proceedings of the Legislature,
and especially of the house of Commons, no
longer command that respeet and submission
with which they were wont to be regarded. So
long as the representatives of a free people, in
whatever manner they may be selected, continue
to discharge their duty with wisdom and firm-
ness, no class of men can be named who re.
ceive a larger share of the love and veneration
of their countrymen ; but there is none whose
dereliction of duty is visited with more mor-
tifying alienation and neglect. Whet! a po-
pular body begins to degenerate, it - affects it,
deprecate all injudicious harshness and austerity,
when the end can be equally attained by being
more measured both in their language and reso-
lutions. The people perceive the change, and
after a while an evident abatement ensues of the
expectations which are formed of their delibera-
tions. After this they become so idle and in-
attentive, that they stiffer the business which
comes before them to pass too much as a matter of
course; and this in its turn causes their proceed-
ings to be treated with carelessness, and some=
times with disrespect. In the last stage of decay
they serve merely as a pageant, and are despised
as only serving to register the Decrees of the
Executive Government, which they have neither
the virtue to modify nor to resist. . . .
That a proportion of that Assembly now consists
of gentlemen of great capacity and acquirements
there can be no dispute. Neither is it assumed
that the House of Commons Ms, at any former
period, composed wholly or principally of per-
sons of extraordinary endowments, any more
than in the present day. But whether it be that
the House has sunk, or that the well-educated
part of the community has risen, it would be
difficult to maintain that, as a body, they now
constitute the chosen of the Commons of the
realm, in the same sense in which they did some
time ago. Let any person listen to their ordinary
conversation or reasoning, or sit down to the
perusal of the thoughts they may have comrrotted
to writing, and they are not only found inferior

to private individuals among their contempori
ries, but one seldom recognizes the gray et
mind and Statesman-like qualities which the re-'
presentatives of a free and enlightened country
might be supposed to possess." What! and is
this a true and faithful description of the Col-
lective Wisdom of the nation? Alas! alas!
and is it come to this ? Is this the Trib,mal
which arrogates to itself little less than Omnis-
cience—which sits in judgment on, or at least
brings before it the affairs of every country
and people, in every part of the world—for
which nothing is too exalted, nothing too low
—which has energies for controuling the conduct
of the Brahmins in India, Slave-drivers in our
Sugar-colonies, and Parish Vestries at home—
which boasts that its doors are open to the oppress-
ed under every Government—that it is the Grand
Tribunal, before which the Kings and subjects
of every European nation must equally appear ;
is this the Tribunal which the Quarterlg Re-
view describes as the elite of the imbeciles of
the nation ? But how is it that the House of
Commons is so constituted ? This the Re-
viewer endeavours also to account for. " One

of the surest ways (he observes) of making and
keeping a representative independent in his con-
duct, is to keep him independent in his circum-
stances. When the heat of the moment has
evaporated, a member too often finds himself
involved in expense, which he could neither fore-
see nor calculate, and for which no honour or
credit he may obtain by his services can prove a
sufficient compensation. There is no work,
therefore, which would better befit the House of
Commons than seriously to set about the reduc
tion of the cost of eleetions, both in towns and
shires. In large counties it is perfectly intole-
rable, and secures a monopoly of the reprc-

sentation in the heads of a fevr of the wealthiest

families, whe►her they deserve it or not, either
from their character, conduct, or opinions. In
proof of this it is said, that at the last general
election for Yorkshire, Mr. Bethel! and his sup-
porters were willing to have advanced a sum of
20 or 30,0001. on the contest; but it was found
that this enormous fund was utterly inadequate
for the purpose, although that gentleman was

almost unanimously alloTved to nave been the
fittest of all the candidates for the representa-
tion. The present Solicitor-General, on being
re-elected for Weymouth, after receiving his
appointment, told the Electors, on being in-
sulted by the rabble for not discharging certain
claims brought before his Committee, with a
degree of courage infinitely to his honour, that
the costs of the Election had already amounted
to no less than 6,0001., which he had hardly
earned by his professional exertions ; that in
justice to his family he could not advance more ;
and that if they persevered in such a system
of extravagance and extortion, no honest or
independent man either would or could come
forward as a candidate for their suffrages." In
short, the system of election in this country pre-
vents all from offering themselves as candidates,
but those who, of all others, are the least fit for
business—that is men of overgrown fortunes.
The County Members, as is well observed by
the Reviewer, are necessarily the worst. It has
indeed long been notorious, that with very few
exceptions, the only men who preserve to the
House of Commons any remnant of character
for ability, are the nominees of Borough-holders.
The very idea of throwing away a fortune in a
contested election either in county or town,
supposes an unusual combination of vanity and
imbecility. After all, however, it does net ap-
pear so clear to us that the House of Lords is so
superior to the House of Commons in abilities.
The debate in the Lords is,with a few exceptions,
engrossed by the men who have been raised to
the Peerage on account of known qualifications.
file body of the Peers are not so eager to expose
their ignorance and imbecility as the body of the
Commons ; and this, we think, is to be ac-
counted for from the Peers possessing merely the
ordinary average of vanity, whereas a man must
be vain enough to conceive himself highly ta-
lented, as the Irish phrase it, before he pur-
chases au opportunity for display at the price of
an inroad into his fortune. However this may
be, it is clear that without a change in the
System of Election the House of Commons must
sink lower and lower in the general estimation.
It has been often remarked, that before the people
were brought forward by the Reformation, the

Popes and Cardinals, and other high dignitaries
of the Church, used to be very free among
themselves respecting the delusions they prac-
tised on the people, and many a witticism is at-
tributed to them more creditable to their shrewd-
ness than their honesty, According to the Re-
viewer, we have what is to be expected from all
irresponsible bodies in the House of Commons,
one language among themselves and another for
the public ; and any attempt at sincerity in what
is spoken to the public would be attended with
instant loss of caste. " All real business," says
the Reviewer, " is drowned in Debates and Re-
ports,. It is astonishing, at the end of a Session
to see how much has been said, and yet how
little material business has been transacted.—
Part of this evil must be ascribed to the state of
society in our overgrown and most voluptuous me-
tropolis, but a much larger portion to the Mem-
bers themselves. If those who take the chief
share in the management of public affairs were
to adopt a totally different line of conduct—if
they on all occasions shewed themselves more
inttht on *hat was done than the manner of
doing it) the business of the country would be
thstsaithed better, and at the same time with
real wisdom and eloquence. That point,
lowever, on which the Members of the House
of Commons have sometimes been thought to
be most deficient, is their want of independence.
Though less open to direct improper influence
than fustnerly, there is too much reason to sur-
mises that they do not speak and vote sufficiently
according to their real sentiments. . . . .
It is not easy to resist the torrent. Let a man
of the soundest head and heart find his way now
'into the House, and he will so xi find himself
so entangled and perplexed that he hardly knows
how to do justice to himself, or service to his
country Besides, there is
something in the very atmosphere of the House
unfavourable to bold and uncompromising con-
duct. It is de facto a sort of overgrown club.
This is the worst part of the whole business.
Things are every day admitted in private among
t 6 Members which are studiously denied or
boncealed in the speeches reported from the
Gallery. Whoever, therefore, should endea-
vour to rend asunder that veil which by all parties
in the House is held up before the public, would
lose his character and caste. He would be
treated with coldness by those to whom he
wished most to approximate, while he might feel
insuperable repugnance to unite with those who
were most willing to receive him. A loss of in-
dependence more painful to the individual or
irsjurious to the commonwealth than this cannot
well be produced. It amounts to a surrender of the
noblest privileges, and chokes the source of the
fairest virtues which distinguish and adorn the
citizen of a free country." The source of this
lies deeper, we imagine, than the Reviewer
conceives. It would be odd if the Members
of the House of Commons, of all people in
the country, should be as if there were windows
to their breasts. It was an Englishman who
defined a fool to be a " complex idea,
compounded of poverty, honesty, piety, and
simplicity." But on this subject we will not
hors eblarge. But we have yet to notice the
most ominous part of the Review. "We have
Ito desire (says the Reviewer) to read lessors
to the public, or alarm it by unnecessary appre-
hensions. But we may he permitted once more,
in the way of friendly admonition, to warn our
countrymen to summon their whole virtue and
resolution for the trials they may be called to
encounter. Many of the signs of Revolution
are upon us. While we cannot speak otherwise
than thus, from the presages which we see around
us, and should think it an abandonment of our
duty did we not proclaim the fact, we beg at the
same time to guard ourselves against the impu-
tation of being either gloomy or desponding
Those are not likely to stand the conflict worst
who are the earliest prepared for it
We hays also another ground for confidence
We are at present under the guidance of that
distinguished person who, by so extraordinary a
train of events, has been raised from the direc-
tion of an army to the more elevated station of
a director of the State ; nothing can make him
greater than he is but greater benefits conferred
on the country with which all his glories are
identified ; and we trust he is destined to achieve
for us a still greater deliverance than any he has
yet completed." Want of space prevents us
from noticing the projects for relief started by
the Reviewer. Our readers may form some
idea of it, from the following sentences :
" When our commerce is in so languid a state,
and when the Custom-house Returns show the
real value of our manufactures to be now as
much below the official value as it was formerly
above it ; and when trade is carried on at so ex-
tremely little profit—what, we would ask, except
land, could pay the interest of the National
Debt.; and how can it long prove adequate to
that, unless it be assisted ?" We desire no one
interest to be sacrificed to another; but if the
pressure should continue, and the moneyed in-
terest should refuse or resist all adjustment, they
may produce a catastrophe equally calamitous to
themselves and the other interests in the State.
An equitable adjustment ! but we will return to
this.—Morning Chronicle.
One of Mr. Peel's alterations in the Criminal
Law was this—that, where a person charged
with a criminal offence had. been previously con-
victed, such prior conviction should be made a
substantive charge in the indictment against him
for the new offence, and a certificate from the
Clerk of the Peace, or of the Arraigns, be pro-
duced as the proof of it. This, we should sup-
pose, must have originated in the same maxim
of " Give a dog an ill name, and hang him ;"
for, if the refinement of judicial malice had beat
about to find out a method of preventing a
man from having a fair trial, the most success-
ful way of doing so would be to inoculate the
minds of the Jury, and prejudice them knee-
deep with a knowledge of the prisoner's previous
offences. That the Court, or Judge, before
passing sentence, should know what a man's

previous character and habits had been, and
should be regulated by it, to a certain degree, in
framing its sentence, seems reasonable enough,
and was, we believe, acted upon. to quite as
great a length as it was proper it should be ; but
the obvious cruelty and injustice of bringing a
man's previous conduct, in one instance, to bear
upon ;the question of " Guilty" or " Not
Guilty" in the other, is such, that we are not at
all surprised to hear that it begins to be actually
dispensed with by some of those on whom its
adoption, while it continues to be a law, is al-
most, if not quite, imperative. Some of the
Judges at the Old Bailey have, we hear, di-
rected that that part of the indictment shall not
be opened or made known to the Jury ; and at
the Wiltshire Sessions, last week, the Magis-
trates came to a unanimous resolution not to al-
low of its use there.- A similar resolution was
adopted at the last Warwick Sessions ; and such
being the general feeling upon the subject, it is

most probable that in the next Session of Par-
liament Mr. Peel, seeing the error into which
he has been led, will himself relieve the Judges
and the Statute-book from an enactment which,
however well intended, manifestly infringes upon
that which has always been the characteristic of
British jurisprudence, fairness and lenity towards
the accused.—Morning Herald.
Want of space prevents us from commenting
at present on the case of John Miller, the sea-
man tried at Portsmouth on a charge of dis-
obedience of orders, and the report of whose
trial will be found in another part of our paper.
The case of this individual is of great import-
ance, as involving the rights of the subject. We
believe that, under the circumstances, the Court
had no power to try him. If he had committed any
offence, after the term of his compulsory service had
expired, he was, in our opinion, only amenable
to the ordinary tribunal of the country, and not
to a Court-martial. We regret he did not plead
in bar to the jurisdiction, and bring the matter
under the cognizance of the Court of King's
Bench by application for a Habeas Corpus.—
Ibid.

that an imperious negative should thus be
prematurely given to every demand for re-
duction 8 The very proposition is listened to
reluctantly and rejected with scorn. The peti-
tioners are bowed out with as much expedition
as if they had gone to commit a burglary. The
" honour of the country," says the contumelious
Premier, " must be maintained though the
people —!" Honour be gibbetted ! What
has honour to do with necessity ? What has
!rood faith to do with life and death ? What
has-)
obstinacy to expect from a case that is des-
perate ? Surely it would be more amiable to
yield that which if withheld will eventually be
taken by force. Pursue your career, and follow
up your purpose then, say we to the freeholders
and yeomanry of England. Flinch -not from
the performance of your duties merely because
some men ridicule and others strive to intimi-
date you. You cannot, we admit, save the
country, even though you wring from the Duke
of Wellington those reductions which he is re-
solved to resist ; but your success would un-
doubtedly lead to that wholesome change of
system, to that sweeping and indispensable
We yesterday copied from the Morning
change, which alone can preserve the country
Chronicle some very acute ironical observations from revolution and anarchy--from the totalsub subversion of all our institutions—from the de-
upon the subject of the administration of the
struction of private property, and the utter ruin
law as respects the crime of duelling. Even of those who have claims upon the industry and
before the last felonious affair at Battersea we the honour of the nation. Go on and prosper,
were not backward to express our opinion upon and trust to events. A new Parliament would
! the wickedness of conniving at such guilty prat- be a bitter pill to the present Ministry. It
tices. To say that a man has committed a felony would be a dose of mortal poison to all the
is indeed a gross libel, but such a libel was pubs apostates—it would call into political existence
lished of the Duke of Wellington last spring ; new men of fresher powers and uncontaminated
and, notwithstanding the sensitiveness for which principl
resorees. It would cleanse the Augean stable
Sir James Scarlett claims credit on his Grace's
of its innumerable and useless hacks, and restore
part, published with impunity. We shall not, to the people that controul over their own inte-
however, repeat the slander otherwise than hypo- rests which has unfortunately been confided to
thetically. If, within ten months before the ssi
t ionary economists and unprincipled and job-
death of Mr. Clayton, the Prime Minister of bins
placemen.—lbid.
England did the very same act charged on Mr. .
Lambrecht, with the very same design, and, though The opening of Parliament is preceded by
the consequence was accidentally different, an act Public Meetings more than usually numerous,
in the same degreepenal bylaw,ifthisparty hasbeen and the vast importance of the subjects they dis-
permitted during the subsequent ten months to cuss is sufficiently indicatory of the weighty
remain Prime Minister of England, and to ap- duties which must devolve upon the Great
pear as a public prosecutor—a jealous vindicator Council of the Nation in the next Session. It
of public morals—putting the law in motion
is natural that those who suffer should remon-
against every man who offered the slightest op-
position to his views—the gentlest censure upon strate and demand relief; and while the demand
his conduct—and if such being the case, and is made in an orderly and temperate manner, no
the party still liable to prosecution, and still un- Englishman will deny its propriety. The Go-
prosecuted, in the name of the God of Justice vernment are the stewards of the Nation, its
how can even tile " little finger of the law" be funds, its glory, its prosperity and freedom ; and
laid upon Mr. Lambrecht without an open when either is depressed or impaired, to the
confession that, in England, we have one Government is application made to replace it on
rule for the rich and great, and another
for the less-favoured sons of Adam. If a safe and proper basis ; but it is at the same
such an atrocious anomaly be once recog- time evident that mischiefs derived from long
nized, let us, for decency sake, erase from those custom, and which are complicated in their
criminal courts, where the fear of God or the operation, cannot be remedied with the promp-
love ofjustice will be no longer found, the pro- titude which those most affected desire, or as-
faned " Dieu et mon droit," and inscribe in its
sert to be practicable. No doubt can rea-
place the more.becoming couplet---
sonably be entertained of the settled dis•
" committees eadem diverso crimina fato ;
Ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, lilt diadems," position of Government to exert every
—Morning Journal. nerve to alleviate the existing pressure ;
Public meetings and preparations for the ap-
their great object must be the happiness
proaching contest are now the order of the day. of the people, the most enduring glory
of a Monarch's reign, and their study must
A second meeting of persons chiefly employed be to promote it ; but if they are assailed by fac-
in agriculture took place at Mundford, in Nor- tion, or crippled by desertion, their efforts can-
folk, on Monday last. The Cambridgeshire not prove so useful as they otherwise would.
Meeting will be held on Friday; the people of The agricultural interest, all-important as it is
Birmingham are to assemble on Monday next ; in this country, is worthy of the utmost solici-
and the freeholders of Essex and Cumberland in tude and attention, and the more so as it is essen-
a few days. Preparations, we understand, are tially interwoven with that of our manufactures.
also making for meetings in Wiltshire, Dorset, If one flourish, the other will flourish with it ;
and Somerset. Northumberland is likewise ex- if one be depressed, the other will share in that
petted to meet, and we should think Westmor- depression. But both the great questions here
land must be equally disposed to give vent to involved are again mixed up with that of the
those grievances and those talcs of heart-rending currency, any alteration in which at the present
distress of which the Lords and rulers of:Lon- juncture it would be fearful to contemplate. It
don know comparatively nothing, and of which was never contended, when the last settlement
they daily hear so many misrepresentations in of the currency took place, that a partial depres-
the ministerial papers. But the question still sion might. not ensue ; but nevertheless, to main-
recurs—what can the Government do to relieve tain that what happened post hoc therefore hap-
them ? In the treatment which the West India pened propter hoc, is contrary to all the re-
body received a few days ago at the hands of the ceived rules of reasoning, and pre-eminently so as
Prime Minister we may see what is likely to be regards the alterations in the currency. The
the fate of other memorialists. The gentlemen withdrawal of the small notes, as one of a se-
connected with that interest were coolly and ries of measures of State policy, is represented
rather sharply told by the Duke of Wellington as one chief cause of distress ; but was the
that it was not in his power to assist them by Government, in the conscientious exercise of
any reduction of the present enormous and their sworn duty to their Sovereign and their
almost prohibitory duties on sugar—a com- country, to shrink from acting upon those views
modity which is now an indispensable necessary which would ultimately provide a main security
of 'life. His Grace admitted the country to to every class of our industrious community ?
be in an unexampled state of suffering and The deliberations of Parliament on the vital in.
privation, but he argued that this fact was a terests about to engage its attention, will not,
sufficient reason for retaining the present high we trust, be unnecessarily embarrassed by ap-
duties on colonial produce. It was not with peals from disturbing the present system of the
him a question how far sugar, at half its present currency, with regard to which any vacillation
price, would benefit the poor consumer, but how can be attended with no other than pernicious
far the revenue would be injured by the change— results to the trading part the community. It
how far his colleague, Mr. Goulburn, would is a question which ought no longer to he con-
be embarrassed—and how much increased would sidered open to discussion.—Morning Post.
be the difficulty of meeting the claims of the
Almost all our cotemporaries, with the ex-
standing army, the pensioners, and the dear
fundholders. Here, again, our every hope ception of The Sun, have shirked the great
seems to be marred by these vampire and ac- question of the tithes, which was so admirably
cursed taxes. This is the eternal stumbling_ discussed at the Devonshire Meeting, of which
block to all economy, to all reduction, to all we gave an ample report on Tuesday. Some of
cheapness, and to all chance of amelioration. them have even omitted the account altogether,
The taxes ! That one word is the barrier to
as if it had been little short of treason to talk of
relief. The revenue ! That one word is the
obstacle to any repeal of any portion of the ctrl- a commutation of tithes, and a more equal dis-
toms or excise exactions. Why, then send the tribution of the revenues of the Church among
drum (we must use military expressions now) its pastors. This, to say the least of it, is egre-
through the various counties, beating up sturdy giously absurd. Every body knows that the
freeholders to make speeches and sign petitions present appropriation of the revenues of the
in vain ? Has not the noble Duke told the
Church was not made in the most enlightened
collective wisdom of the nation that county meet-
times, and that the manner in which the
ings are mere farces ; and, this being the case,
is his Grace likely to be swayed in his opinions Clergy are paid for the important services
by any thing that any number of lame come- which they perform to the community, is
dians, or bumpish and pudding-fed mounte- neither grateful to their feelings nor cal-
kinks choose to say in these performances ? ciliated to establish that " good will on earth "
Certainly not. The Duke of Wellington is no which it is their especial message to diffuse.
son of Comus. He delights in deep tragedy. The tithes are, besides, objectionable in another
and unless the country gentlemen and their point of view. They are levied on the gross
tenants can take a higher walk in the drama of returns of the land, without any reference to the
politics they need calculate on no assistance or capital which may have been expended upon it,
countenance from the Roscius of Waterloo. and not upon the net profit which the agricultu-
But what a dreadful state of things is this for rist may derive from it ; and they are, in conse-
a country to be in ! On all sides the cry of quenee, not only an unequal and unjust mode of
hunger rings in our ears. The pauper now taxation, but have a direct tendency to check
covets the comforts of the criminal. The intro- improvements in agriculture, and to prevent the
cent now sigh for the enjoyments of Newgate. cultivation of no inconsiderable portion of land,
The prison and the tread-mill have ceased to in- the labouring and produce of which would afford
spire terror. The labouring classes have reached abundance of employment and food to great
the lowest depth of wretchedness and despair ; numbers who are now living on the bounty of
and here is a Minister, in the enjoyment of the public. Why then, let us ask, should not
sixty thousand a year, covered with the honours tithes be abolished, and a due equivalent given
and rolling in the rewards which a generous na- in lieu of them ? It is manifestly for the inte-
tion has bestowed, who refuses to give the , rest of the Church that they should be corn-
slightest relief even at the expense of the pain- ! muted—we do not pretend to say in what man-
pered courtier, or the overpaid tae-eater !Is not 1 ner, and still more manifestly, for that of the
this enough to make the gall rise in those who . public, and the dignitaries of the Church could
have long boasted of their independence, but not, in our opinion, employ their leisure hours
whose rags are now the only evidence that they : more beneficially than in devising a mode of
have toiled in vain, and eaten brown bread in freeing the Church from the numerous, and, no
order to maintain the honour, and keep faith doubt, in many cases, undeserved, scandals which
with the creditors, the warriors, and the pen- are brought upon it by the collection of tithes.
Nsioners of England. 18 it not " too bad " lornlna Advertiser. .
1 r)

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ation I should not have had the least hesitation in
transacting any business with him.
Mr. Samuel Lepard—l am an attorney, in part-
nership with Messrs. Shepherd, Thoma,-, and Wil-
liams. I have known Mr. Humpleby personally
since June, 1824, when he dissolved partnership
with his son William. We were also attorneys for
the son. In April, 1826, 1 received a letter pur-
porting to come from Mr. Humpleby, but my im-
pression is, that it was written by his daughter. 1
accordingly waited on him on the 28th, when he
stated that Mr. Daye Barker and another gentleman
had called on him on the subject of money of theirs,
received and misapplied by his son John ; that they
had inquired whether he would compromise the
matter for his son ; that he had told them he could
not give an answer until he had advised with his
solicitor. He expressed his regret at his son's con-
duct, and said, that he himself had succeeded in life
by honest industry, and when he retired from busi-
ness he had acquired upwards of 20,000/. He
added, that if lie did any thing for his son now, he
(the son) would have the less hereafter, and that
he would not do any thing to affect his property in
his lifetime. The next time I saw Mr. Humpleby
was in February, 1827, when I had a conversation
with him of half an hour or three quarters. He
appeared to me on all these occasions to be a man
of sound mind. I should think his property, when
he made the security, was about 20,000!. The in-
come was above 1,000!. a year.
Hugh Robinson (a clerk of Mr. Robinson, the
attorney) confirmed the statement of the other wit-
ness respecting the execution of the deeds on the
12th•of June, 1826, and stated that Mr. Humpleby
appeared to understand what he was doing.
Mr. John V. Baker—l was a tenant of Mr.
Humpleby. My house was next door to his.—
Sometimes I sent my rent in to him—sometimes he
called for it.

COURT OP KING'S BENCH, JA N. 21 .
BARKER V. FIELD.
(Continued from our Paper of yesterday.)

Dr. Robert Rowley—l have been in the profes•
sion about eleven years. I hold the office of sur-
geon to the parish of St. Saviour, Southwark. 1
have occasion to see many cases of insanity. I have
known Mr. Humpleby about twenty years, and
been on terms of intimacy with him. I saw him
about May or June, 1826 ; he was in a carriage; 1
went up to speak to him ; I asked him how he did;
he at first made no answer, but began to cry. He
then said he was a man of considerable property.
I perceived that he had had a fit of paralysis. I
had no other conversation with him at that time. I
saw him again some short time afterwards ; he ap-
peared then to be just in the same state; he ap-
peared to be very much altered with regard to his
mind from what he was when I knew him formerly.
I had always thought him to be a man of very good
sense indeed. I saw that there was a material dif-
ference, and that his mind was somewhat affected by
the paralysis; but I saw him for so short a time,
that I had not an opportunity of judging accurately
as to the state of his intellect. Paralytic affections
frequently produce affections in the mind ; and such
cases are always considered very hopeless. I have
heard the evidence of Mr. Shuter and the other
witnesses. I should say from Mr. Shuter's evidence
that the alteration of Mr. Humpleby's mind took
place after his illness in 1826.
Cross-exaMined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL—It
is one of the effects of paralysis that the powers of
the will over the muscles are lost. I hare frequently
known persons affected by paralysis to burst out into
crying; but I should think this would not happen
without his mind being affected. I should say that
the brain must be weakened in some measure. I
have known instances of a paralytic patient not be-
ing able to speak, arid yet have his senses.
Have you never known that the distorted coun-
tenances of the persons affected by paralysis hare
produced, among the vulgar, an impression that the
persons were idiots ?—Certainly.
Dr. Burrows examined by Mr. F. PoLLocic—l
first saw Mr. Humpleby in October, 1827. I was
examined at Croydon. I did not then see him me-
dically. I saw him in consequence of going to
visit his daughter, Mrs. Wood, who was insane. 1
found that Mr. llumpleby was paralytic. and from
the conversation that I had with him respecting his
daughter, I saw that his mind was impaired. On the
10th of May, 1828, I saw him medically. I ex-
amined him with a view to a commission of lunacy
which I understood was to be issued. I did not
attempt to form a decided opinion upon the first
examination. I saw him three times. My opinion
was, decidedly, that he was of unsound mind. The
character of the unsoundness was imbecility, ac-
companied by delusions. I considered it to have
arisen from paralysis, which was the consequence of
a stroke of apoplexy. He did not appear to be
competent to the management of his affairs. I never
knew an instance where the malady arising from
such a cause was cured. The general opinion is,
that it is not curable. I should conceive that Mr.
Humpleby has been in this state from March, 1826.
Dr. Monro—l am one of the physicians to Beth-
lehem Hospital. I have held that situation fourteen
years. We do not admit patients who are afflicted
with insanity arising from paralysis, because we
consider that they are incurable. I have never
known an instance of cure where the malady has
arisen from that cause. I have heard Mr. Shuter's
evidence to-day, and from that I should say that the
commencement of Mr. Humpleby's insanity was in
March, 1826. There could not in such a case as
his be a lucid interval ; it is physically impossible.

(The witness here produced some receipts in the
hand-writing of Mr. Humpleby, in 1826 and 1827.)
I did not conceive that there was any want of
mind, memory, or judgment in him, or I should not
have paid him. I remember that once in 1826 or
1827, I omitted sending him the land tax, and he
sent back for it.

Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

You have used a very strong expression—" phy-
sically impossible." Have yOu discovered the limits
of the powers of nature ?—I know the ordinary laws
of nature in such cases; and I never knew any in-
staace of a cure in such a case as this.
The witness, in answer to another question, stated
that he had known instances of something being
inserted in the brain without producing either death
or insanity.
Before that time, I believe the opinion among
medical men was, that if the brain was affected by
any external substance the man would die ? Yes.
So that your very learned profession discovers
secrets every year.
On re-examination, the witness stated that some
substance might be inserted in portions of the brain
without producing paralysis.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in commencing 11:3
address to the Jury, said that if he wanted any evi-
dence of the value of the opinions of medical men on
a subject of this kind, he should be inclined to put
his Learned Friend (Mr. Brougham) into the wit-
ness box, having read his excellent observations in
a recent case, where the jury, disregarding the opi-
nions of the medical men, had found a verdict in
favour of his (Mr. Brougham's) client. He had no
doubt the jury would return a similar verdict on the
present issue, though this was not the case of a tea-
dealer, but that of a plumber and glazier. He had
no reason to complain of the evidence of Dr. Bur-
rows, although he was one of those whose interest it

was to find in the face of every person he looked at
some marks of insanity. Medical men who attend-
ed to this particular branch of the profession had na-
turally a bias against the sanity of all persons who
were afflicted with disease; and as a proof that they
had such bias, he (the Learned Counsel) might
mention, that he had heard it was a maxim among
persons of this description, that a man who had been
once in Bedlam was not fit to be let out, unless he
acknowledged that he had been mad. That was a
maxim which formed part of the medical jurispru-
dence of all mad-houses. The Learned Counsel,
after some further 'desultory observations, detailed
the evidence for the defence as afterwards given by
the witnesses, and said he was confident that the
verdict of the Jury would negative the fact of the
alleged insanity in this case.
Mr. Daye Barker, jun.—l am a clerk in the
house of Barker, Wilson, and Co., gunpowder-
manufacturers, in Westmoreland. They had em-
ployed Mr. John Thomas Humpleby as their broker
in London, to purchase the saltpetre for them; and
in April, 1826, they remitted him an order upon
their hankers to pay for it. The saltpetre not having
been sent, I was despatched to London, and went to
the counting-house of Mr. J. T. Humpleby, in Ab-
churchlene. Not being able to find him, I went,
accompanied by Mr. Robinson, our attorney, to seek
out his father, Mr. Joseph Humplehy, at Brixton.
We found him at home, and told him that his son
had had a remittance from us for 4,4001. worth of
saltpetre, which was not forthcoming. He expressed
his regret, arid said it was contrary to all the advice
he had ever given to his son. I asked him if he
would come forward and assist him. He said he
could not do any thing until be had consulted his
attorney. This was on the 26th of April, 1826.
He requested to have two or three days' time to
consider of it. A few days after, I made an appli-
cation to the Lord Mayor: a meeting afterwards
took place between me and Mr. Lepard (Mr. Joseph
Humpleby's attorney). He made a proposal to me
to pay 10s. in the pound, which I rejected. At
another meeting, a day or two afterwards, he pro-
posed 155., which I acceded to. On the 12th of
June we met at Mr. Joseph Humpleby's house, at
Brixton. I was present with Mr. Lepard, Mr. Ad-
dison, Mr. Robinson, and a clerk of his. The
deeds were read over, and Mr. Humpleby appeared
to attend to their contents. He seemed to know
perfectly what he was about, and not in the least
wanting in knowledge or judgment.
Mr. Richard Addison—l was concerned for
Messrs. Hudderstone and Co. and Messrs. Wake-
field and Co., as agent for Mr. Isaac Wilson, of
Kendal. I went to Mr. Joseph Humpleby's house
on the 12th of June. I had a conversation with .
Mr. Humpleby of about ten minutes. He appeared
to be perfectly rational. The Surrey election was i
the subject of the conversation. From his conver-

Mr. Edward Eaton—l am a stock-broker, and
acted in that capacity for Mr. Humpleby, whom I
had known for many years. On the .sth of April,
1826, I sold 1,2001. Consols for him. He attended
to sign the Bank books. On the 16th of Novem-
ber, in the same year, I sold for him 8001. Reduced.
On the 20th of the same month I sold for him
.500/. Reduced. I took the instructions from him-
self, and he attended to sign the books. He was
a gouty subject, but he appeared to know what he
was about.

Mr. Shepherd—l am the partner of Mr. Lepard.
I had known Mr. Humpleby for 30 or 40 years. I
did not do much business for him prior to 1824. In
1825 I prepared a will for him. I did not see him
in 1826. Early in 1827 he employed me to prepare
another will for him. I went to him at his house
at Blixtoa, on the 10th of February, I think.
Some family troubles and embarrassments had ren-
dered it necessary to make another will. He con-
versed with me fully respecting the circumstances
which had rendered the alteration necessary. I have
no doubt that he was quite competent to transact
the business which I had to do with him.

Cross-examined—He was obviously weak in
body, and a little weak in mind' in consequence of
it, but not insane, or I would not hare made or at-
tested his will. I knew that he had had a great
deal of family trouble, which weighed his mind
down : but I don't think he was incompetent to
execute a will or deed.

James Bowyer—l am a grocer, in Newgate-
street. I was co-executor with Mr. Humpleby, of
the will of a Mr. Bowyer. In September, 1827, I
had occasion to meet him at the Bank, to transfer
some stock. He corferred with me and the other
executors a little. He appeared to know what he
was about.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, he had several
other witnesses; but be would not fatigue his Lord-
ship and the Jury by calling them,
The Jury deliberated in the box for about five
minutes, and then returned a verdict for the plaintiff,
the foreman saying, " We find he was of sound mind
at the time of executing the deeds."
The case occupied the Court from its sitting at
half-past nine o'clock until half-past eight at night.