The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-07 00:00:00

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to lay down for himself? He did not. The prof as
round of i:itt rferenee by Govt. see': ent was, that the
Committee bad not furnished so-Me:eta
„particulars in
heir Report in favour of the direct line. IVas this
anything hut a simulated reason ler nunieg aside the
solemn and deliherate decisiee of A Parliennnitery tri-
h„„al, especially appoilited to hear eviderce re-
port ? 7 Besides, what do •nilitery engineers, stn h asthe Government employ, know of railways ? What
engineering experience and knowledge can they have
on such subjects, that the .ipse dixit (.!f nne of them
is to set aside the evidence of a nu.:o),.r of skil-
ful and practised civil engineers? The thing is
absurd and ridiculous. Delay was the thing waiond,
and .by such a pretext delay has been °lnstilled,
But we are glad to see that last night. in another
struggle upon this subject, the Ministers, %kho ansin
gave their votes and influence to one side of the eines.
non, were beaten. After some other motions erne-
nected with the question of a Brighton Railway had
been disposed of, Mr. Fcctor moved bat .‘ the mi-
litary engineer appointed by his 7!lejestv, in pursuaece
of a humble address from this House, he instructed,
when considering the subject of the London and
Brighton lines oPßailway, to keep in view the forma-
tion of. one main southern trunk line out of London,
by which unnecessary intersection of the country may
be avoided, and facilities of approach given to other
towns on the Southern coast." This appears to us
to be a very fair proposition—it had the public advan-
tage in view, for it certainly is to the public advantage
that unnecessary intersection of the country should be
avoided, and such a line of Brighton Railway chosen
as will give facilities of approach to other towns on
the Southern coast, not neglecting, for instance, New-
haven, on the one side, any more than Portsmouth,
on the other—such a line must, of counse, go
through the, Merstham pass—" there war, the-rub,"
—for such a line is not that western and circuitous one
which Ministers !Ike endeavoured, I, force upon the
people of Brighton, against tigleir will, and against the
decision of the Committee. The line undoubtedly for
the public, is, that which affords the greatest facilities
of .lateral communieat;.ons both east and west, and that
is the line against-Alia Ministers voted last night, when
instead of 1111v;-ego paltry majority of " seven" they were
left ill an inglorious minority of " two ;" there being
act for Mr. Fector's motion, and SS against it. In the
minority appear the names of Lord John Russell, the
Right Hon. Poulett Thomson; the Right Hon. A.
Murray, Lord Russell, the Right Hon. John Cam
Hohhouse, Sir John Campbell, the English Attorney-
General, and Stephen \Voulfe, Esq., the Irish At.or-
ney-General. Yet, witls all this array of official names,
Ministers were defeated. -Mr. Curteis took the oppor-
tunity, in the course of the evening, to tell the
Ministers some home truth in language about
which there could be no mistake. He told them
that their conduct in interfering between the com-
peting parties was unjust towards those
vparties,
and one that was not becoming Ministers of the
Crown. He stated tii'at his constituents had called
upon him by two memorials, to express their decided
disapprobation of the course pursued by his Majesty's
Government ; and he added, emphatically, that he was
one who always listened to the advice of his consti-
tuents. He also contrasted the conduct of the Whig
Ministers with that of the leader of the Conservative
interest, Sir Robert Peel, who though he might pos-
sibly be able to command 50 votes by his political
influence, had, as Ministers ought to have done,
walked up stairs and not voted at all. Sir George
Strickland, and also Mr. Gillon animadverted strongly
oil the conduct of Government, as did Captain Pe-
chell, and Mr. Wigney. These gentlemen expressed
the sense of the people of Brighton, where a public
meeting is convened for this day, which will give the
inhabitants of that town an opportunity of declaring,
in the roost solemn manner, their collective disappro-
bation cif the extraordinary and unprecedented course
which the King's Ministers have pursued, in refe-
rence to a question in which they are so deeply inte-
rested.— Morning Herald.

The observations of the Lord Chief Justine of the
Court of King's Bench in the House of Lords yes-
terday evening are highly creditable to Min as a man,
as a Peer of the realm, and, above rdi, as an upright.
and independent Judge. It is a high satisfaction to
he able to turn aside occasionally from the struggle
and the strife of party politics, in order to contemplate
the noble results of our system of judicature in the
lofty intelligenee and unbending integrity of those who
preside over our Courts of Justice. As a politician
Lord 'Denman is a Whig—and worse than a Whig,
fee he is a supporter of the present Administration.
As a politician, therefore, we have ever been opposed
to him, and we are so still ; but we are not on that
account the less willing to oliseive his noble fidelity
to his duty as a Judge, or the less ready to acknow-
ledge it and to offer it the sincere tribute of ouradmira-
tion. It will hereafter be borne in mind, to the honour
of Lord Chief Justice Denman, that, being at once a
politician and a Judge, a Peer of Parliament and a
chief adminstrator of theelaw, he showed a more
zealous care for the privileges of the law c:1 the land
than for the privileges of *Parliament, and dared to
difE..r from his party rather than abate a jot of his
integrity as a Judge. In whatever way the question
now raised concerning Parliamentary privilege may be
settled we are glad, for the glory of the adirunistratiou
of justice in British Courts of law, that Lord Denman
has stood forth so manfully, and spoken so boldly, and
yet so discreetly, as he has done. It is very true, as
urged by Lord Ellenborough yesterday evening, that
the subject of which Lord Denman had given notice is
one which should not be made without great and grave
consideration. and also one which might lead to very
great diffi.ulties. All that is very true, but if ever there
was an occasion oa which such grave consideration
should be zealously given, and such great difficulties
should be boldly encountered, it is when a House of Par-
liament seems .to be about to infringe upon the li•
berties of the people, of which liberties the law of the
land is the only authentic security. The question be-
tween the House of COmmons and the Lard Chief
Justice of the King's Bench seems to us to lie within
no very extended compass. It is simply this—Shall
the House of Commons be able to put aside, and to
suspend, the law of the land, not only with respect to
its application to the Members of the House, but with
respect to every person over whom it may please that
House to throw the shield of its privilege ? We really
think it is worth while undergoing a good deal of
trouble, and any necessary amount of risk, to decide
whether this question shall be settled in the affirmative
or the negative. We think, moreover, that it is abso-
lutely necessary to have it settled whether the Judges
are to carry the law of the land into execution accordtttg
to their oaths, or only to carry it into execution when no
privileLe of Parliament can be pleaded in bar of its or-
dinary process. Either the privilege of Parliament
should be defined by statute, or the oath of the
Judges should contain a reservation in favour of thearbi-
trary Bill of either House of Parliament, under the
113 MC of privilege. In the speech made by Lord
Denman, consenting to the postponement of the dis-
-cussion in the House of Lords, he stated, with splen-
did perspicuity, the difficulty in which the late resolu-
tions of the House of Commons had placed the Judges
in general, and himself in particular. "My Lords,"
said he, " I consider myself as an individual standing
in a situation of accusation, if not of conviction.—
(Cheers.) I find my conduct has 1,-een considered
rash in doing that which, as one br the sworn Judges
of the land, I considered it ray duty to do.—(Hear.)
Iffy conduct has been considered rash Jr laying
doion the law such as in my conscience I
believe it to be.—(Hear.) Since that period
I liave seen no reason whatever to chanee that
opinion. 1 shall be ready to give up my view of
the matter the moment I am convinced that it is bad;
but I will adhere to it to the very last moment of my
life as long as, in my conscience, I think it is correct.
—(Hear, lieu, hear.) Under these circumstances,
I certainly had thought . that the occasion of bringing
forward the question before the House would have also
afforded ms an opportunity .of making some observe-
! Lions on the charges which have been male against ,ne
of having beat, as it were, the voluntary censor of the
House, of Coannans, and at the same time of urging
the more genera) considerations of the ouestion upon
the Home. Seeing, also, a growing ispositioii to
done these resolutions,
I had also hopc
.to have
n
'iota enabled to
reasons for tinnkm,,,, that
arcthese resolutiou.s givc 11
(Ql.7nded on no better autho-