The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-02 00:00:00

SUNS LONDON, 'WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, ie:39

well-considered and solemn opinion of a very
erudite civilian professionally delivered not much
more than eighteen months ago, that civilian ly-ing
no less a personage than STEPHEN LUSIIING-
TON, D.C.L. It appears from the letter to which
we have alluded, that on the 10th of February,
1838, Dr. LusHINGTON put his signa-
ture to the following " opinion" on the very
point in question, the italics, be it observed, being
his own :—" If the party sued can prove that
persons liable to be rated are omitted in the rate,
or that they, the parties sued, are assessed at a
higher rate in proportion or value than other per-
sons rated, the rate is invalid and cannot be reco-
vered, but tenants of the glebe are not liable to
be rated." And again :—" If, as I have already
said, any person be omitted justly liable to be as-
sessed, the suit must be dismissed, provided the
person omitted was liable for any sum worth in-
serting. Ido not say a rate would be invalidated
when the omission was for such a sum as sixpence,
but almost any sum would be sufficient to invali-
date a rate when there is an omission. In such
case, I think the party proceeded against would
be entitled to costs."

Now here we have a learned pundit, without the
least hesitation or misgiving, laying down the law
as it bears upon a point of the greatest importance
to the community, and what does he tell us—this
sage interpreter of canonical jurisprudence ? First,
that an unequal or disproportionate rating cannot
for a moment stand in law ; secondly, that a rating
in which there is an omission of rateable property,
of however small an amount—almost as low as the
value of sixpence—is as invalid as the former ;
and, thirdly, that the omission of property, even of
a large amount, does not invalidate a rate !

We do not profess to be able to explain such con-
tradiction as this. Dr. LUSHINGTON must either
be very ignorant of his business, or he must be
actuated by very base motives. Our Correspondent
inclines to the latter opinion. He seems to think
that the Learned Gentleman has political reasons
for blowing cold on the abolition of Church-rates,
and that (he) bends his legal opinions, or rather adapts
his judicial functions, to the supposed views of the
Ministry. We are not disposed to take this view
of the case. We recollect, however, that the Tory
Lords refused last Session to allow him 4,0001.
per annum as the salary of his new office principally
on account of what they called his violent partizan-
ship. The 4,0001. may be granted hereafter, si se
bene gesserit.

We refrain for the present from making any re-
mark upon the notes addressed by Lord HOWARD
DE WALDEN, to a Member of the Portuguese
Government, published in The Sun of last night,
in order that his Lordship may have an oppor-
tunity of tendering some explanation regarding
them. As they stand now before the world,
they exhibit the picture of an English diplomatist,
from which all honest men must turn with feel-
ings of commingled contempt, detestation, and
abhorrence. We trust that for his own sake, and
for the honour of his country, Lord HOWARD DE
WALDEN is prepared to remove the impression
which the conduct of a Minister is calculated to
make, who, by an under-hand trick, or rather by a
species of treason against his Government, instructs
an enemy how to render his official measures abor-
tive, in a case where such measures have for their
object the amelioration of the human race by the
extinction of slavery.

Some six weeks ago we called the attention of
our readers to the system of Banking in Scotland,
and more particularly to the strange and mischievous
anomaly of the law, in permitting the issue of small
notes in one part of the kingdom, and prohibiting
them in another ; and at the same time urged the
propriety of placing England on an equal footing
with Scotland. It appears from all we can learn
that this will be done sooner than was anticipated.
In the City, yesterday, a general opinion prevailed
among the best informed merchants that the finan-
cial affairs of the country cannot go on under the
present system, without causing absolute ruin to
numerous classes, and that the only remedy is an
Order in Council for the issue of small notes. This
impression, or rather conviction, is not confined to
the City—it pervades the mercantile and agricul-
tural interest throughout the country, and if
no speedy change takes place, and the
Government refrain frotn interfering, the mea-
sure will be forced on them by meetings and peti-
tions from all quarters: Whatever the consequence
may be, we cannot see how the step can be avoided.
The Bank probably has not more than 2,000,0001.
of specie in its coffers. There will be a fresh drain
for the payment of foreign corn, which will speedily
exhaust that sum, and all that the Americans are
disposed, or able to send us, will not make up half
the deficiency. It is needless to attempt conceal-
ment longer. The evil must be met fearlessly by
the Government and the Bank, and the country
will support them. It is well-known that even in the
most favourable circumstances the amount of gold
in the United Kingdom is only a trifle compared with
the vast property which, according to PEEL'S Bill,
it is made to represent.

We have often been astonished at the reckless
decisions of some of the paid Magistrates, and the
scrupulous anxiety they evince to carry into effect
the letter of the law, however opposed to justice,
equity, or common sense. The case of the Ham p-
stead publican, which we noticed the other day, is
an admirable instance. He was fined for furnishing
dinner to parties journeying from London to that
place on Sunday, by one of the new paid Magis-
trates, Mr. CODD, who is not a lawyer, and who
inflicted the fine in direct contradiction to the deci-
sion of two Magistrates of long experience. Here
at least is a doubtful case, yet a judgment is given
which does not tend to the better observance of
Sunday, and which amounts to the confiscation of
the unfortunate publican's property. Those that
cannot dine at Hampstead will dine at Richmond or
Woolwich till the blessings of the new Act
extend to these places, and then they will go beyond
its limits—to Gravesend and other towns on the
river, where the local Magistrates have a common
feeling with their fellow-citizens. These petty acts
of legislation, the fining of muffin boys, and orange-
women, and publicans, and others, for doing what
is really useful to the public, and what constitutes
no crime or offence, are a disgrace to the present
times. A revulsion must ensue, which will not
tend either to the benefit of the Government or the
better observance of Sunday.

The Times of this morning, has got an evasive,
shuffling, bullying defence of its deliberately con-
cocted and deliberately repeated falsehood, concern-
ing Mr. H. ELLts, Sir JOHN NEWPORT, and the
Reform of the Exchequer in 1834. The charge
formerly was, that Mr. ELLIs did all the duties of
the Comptroller of the Exchequer, for 1,400/. a-
year, for which Sir JOHN NEWPORT received
2,000/., while Mr. Ews obtained a retiring pen-
sion equal to his salary. To-day it slinks away
from that charge, and asserts, that Mr. ELLIS did
the business of the Pells-office. Granted. But
the Pelts and the other offices of the Exchequer,
none of which were of efficient control, were all
abolished in 1834, on the recommendation of a
Commission, and with the approbation of the states-
men of all parties. In consequence of that recom-
mendation and abolition, Mr. Ews, an old pub-
lic servant, received a pension of 1,4001. a-
year. It is totally false, therefore, to repeat, as the
Times does this morning, that Sir JOHN NEW-
PORT was shoved into Mr. Ews's office.
Several offices, including the Clerkship of the
Pells, were then abolished, a totally new office was
created ; for that office, in the first instance, not
Sir JOIIN NEWPORT, but Lord AUCKLAND, was
intended. The Times may endeavour, by the un-
popular name of Mr. RICE being now connected
with the Comptrollership of the Exchequer, to mis-
represent the transaction in 1834, but we repeat
that the description which it has given was a pal-
pable misrepresentation, of which the writer was
conscious while he indited it. It is not true that
" the Clerkship of the Pells, for which the country
paid 1,400/. a year, has been transmogrified into
the Comptrollership of the Exchequer, for which

the same country now pays 4,400/. a year." We
separate the transaction of 1834 entirely from the
transaction of 1839, which appears to have been
entered into for the convenience of Lord MONT-
EAGLE ; and all the blustering of the Times will
not clear it of the charge of having deliberately
written and repeated a false description of the for-
mer, which was creditable to the statesmen who
completed it.
If the Ministers had done all which the Times
has laid to their charge, they would only have fol-
lowed the example of the Tories. Out of its re-

There is hardly any portion of the internal polity
of a nation more important than that which relates
to the management of prisons, for upon this man-
agement it entirely depends whether prisons become
effective instruments for suppressing, or for in-
creasing crime. Till within a very late period little
attention has been bestowed on the subject by the
Legislature of this country. Imprisonment wasknown
to be the punishment awarded for certain offences,
and at the end of the allotted term, when the
culprit was liberated, it was said that he had satis-
fied the claims of the law. Persons only accused
or suspected of crimes were also known to be com-
mitted to prison, for safe custody, until they should
in due course be brought to trial, or until evidence
should be furnished to show whether there were
grounds for bringing them to trial or not. IVlulti-
tildes of unfortunate debtors, too, everybody knew,
were thrown into prison because their creditors
pleased it should be so ; but nobody knew, or
seemed to think it necessary to inquire, what was
the effect of our prison system in a moral point of
view.

To judge from the indifference manifested re-
specting the result of that system as it affected the
community, one would almost be led to conclude
that vice, declaimed against in the pulpit, and de-
nounced through the Press, as the most contagious
of all diseases, lost its characteristic quality, and
became perfectly innoxious when conßned within
the walls of a gaol. There was no classification
of the wretched inmates—no distinction made be-
tween the degrees of guilt—no regard paid to dif-
ference of age, character, or other circumstances.
The youth caught in his first deviation from recti-
tude, found himself in close and habitual association
with the confirmed profligate ; the boy of ten years,
with the old adept in crime—offenders of all de-
scriptions, were crowded together in one promiscu-
ous and festering mass, the natural tendency of
hich was to be corrupted down to the temperature
of the worst of its component parts.
It is easy to imagine—or rather difficult not to
see---that the most pernicious consequences must
have resulted to society from the long continuance
of such an evil as this, which has studded the land
with schools of vice and nurseries of crime, under
the denomination of prisons, and on the pretence,
forsooth, of vindicating the majesty of the law !
Each of these public dens of corruption was, as
a matter of course, the centre or radiating point
from which a moral pestilence spread throughout its
particu!ar district.

The extent of the mischief produced by this
demoralising influence among the poorer classes of
the population, it is impossible to calculate. That
it must be enormous there cannot be a doubt. The
simple fact stated in the Report of the Prison In-
spectors of the Home District, which we have pub-
lished in our Paper of this day, that upwards of
120,000 persons passed through the gaols of
England and Wales during the last year,
must impress a melancholy conviction on the
most incredulous mind. There is, however,
ground to hope that the evil has attained
its maximum, if it be not already on the de-
cline. The public attention has been awakened
to the subject, and the Government seems to be
aware of the necessity of making such alterations as
will, we trust, in time, convert prisons, from what
they now are, the worst of moral nuisances, into
instruments of reformation. This process must
necessarily be slow, but it is gratifying to see that
the first steps have been taken, and that such
ameliorations as depend upon a better construction
of prisons, the classification of prisoners, separate
confinement, and other arrangements of a like
tendency, are to a certain extent, already
in progress. The Government is, indeed, more
than ever hound to watch over the working of the
prison system, anti to improve it to the utmost
possible point, as the effect of some late erroneous
legislation, by which trivial offences are magnified
into crimes, will, we fear, be to multiply the inmates
of the gaols in the most extensive and populous dis-
trict of the kingdom.
But although much good may be accomplished
by a thorough reform in our prison system, let us
never forget that, in order to give an effectual and
permanent check to crime, we must educate the
class which chiefly produces the criminals.
Ignorance is the root of the upas tree, and
to this the axe must be laid ; for, until
it be extirpated, it will, in spite of all our
nibbling at the branches, bud and bring forth its
baleful fruit abundantly. It is to the education of
the children of the poor, that Reformers, whether
moral or political, must bend their efforts—not
that education, falsely so called, which is limited to
reading, writing, and the elements of arithmetic ;
but that which imparts those habits of industry, and
that moral training in the season of youth which
alone can fit the pupil in after life for the due per-
formance of his duties as a social being.

Letters and papers from Madrid of the 23 ult.
have been just received. The news from Arragon
is very afflicting. CABRERA was scouring the
country in every direction, committing the most
frightful atrocities, rather with a view to collect
treasure than to retain possession of any territory
in the name of the Pretender. According to the
prevailing opinion in Madrid the Carlist General
has already amassed money, plate, and jewels to an
enormous amount, and that his main object now is
to escape with it out of the kingdom. He has
made large remittances to Nice, and it was supposed
that he had availed himself of every opportunity
afforded him of negociating money transactions
with bankers in Holland, Frankfort, and Paris.
The Spanish Government, however, entertained
the most sanguine hopes of the speedy pacification
of the whole Peninsula, now that ESPARTERO IS
preparing to direct his arms against CABRERA.
The following despatch from that General to the
Minister of War, published in the Madrid Gazette
of the 22d, at once assured the Cortes and the
people that nothing was to be feared from the pro-
traction of the contest in Arragon and Catalonia :
‘• General Command of the United Annies.-office of
Secretary of Campaign.

_
" Excellent Sir—The pacification of Navarre and the
Basque provinces will be complete, I expect, in a few
(Lys, as the course of events continues to be most prospe-
rous and without interruption. I have already informed
your Excellency that after the action of the 14th instant
at the Puerto de Urdax, which compelled the Pretender
and his family to enter France with the troops near his
person, four Navarrese battalions had also entered through
Olarte.

" Yesterday three other Navarrese battalions, which
were under the orders of Zariategui, dissolved themselves
in Burguete and Espinal, their commander giving them
their choice to return to their homes or to follow him to
France ; in consequence of which all the men belonging
to the ranks adopted the former course, the chiefs and
officers going with him to France besides. one hundred
cavalry of the squadron of Manolin with their arms and
equipments.
" Gen. Don Diego Leon, Conde de Belascoain, marched
on the 16th uponßorda de Inigo with orders to possess him-
self of that fort, which he found abandoned yesterday, the
17th, with three pieces of artillery, mounted, a considerable
quantity of shot, munitions, provisions, and other military
stores. The whole has been conveyed to Pamplona, leav-
ing a garrison in the fort, and some troops to patrol the
surrounding country, and collect the arms of all those who
have returned to their houses
" Gen. Don Felipe Rivers; Commander-Gen. of the di-
vision of the Royal Guard, is marching to take posse;sion
of the fort of the
by the
Dos Hermanos, having received orders
Lto take with
way of precaution, two pieces of bat-
tering artillery, although I entertain no doubt but it will
surrender at the approach of our troops.
" General Don Ramon Castaneda, who, with the fourth
division under his command,
penetrated by the B orunda,
is now before Estella, which will shortly fall into our
hands, as will also the Castle of Guevara, now blockaded
for some da3s by Don Gregorio Piquero, Commander.
General of the province of Alava.
" General Don Miguel Arechevala has completed the
disbanding of the Biscayan division, and that importart
province is now in a state of perfect tranquillity. So also
is that of Guipuscoa ; and Nlajor- General lion Miguel
. Aroaz moving about in that part of the frontier as far as
Vera, whilst in
this quarter the same is being done by
Brigadier Don Joaquin Bayorra to clear it completely, and
to arrange the establishment of provisional custom houses
on the above frontiers.

" Such, your Excellency, is the satisfactory aspect pre-
sented by the country which before was the focus and prin-
cipal theatre of thewar. The people now enjoy the benefits
of peace, under the protection of the army commanded by
me, while those who have gone to their homes are in pos-
session of that tranquillity so much desired by them.
" I expect to be able very shortly to march upon Aragon
with a respectable force, which I expect will contribute

probation of Tory practices, however, flows a
moral which they would do well to remember. They
may act on Tory principles, but they will not be
allowed to have Tory rewards. A healthier tone
of public morality prevails than under the Tory
regime, and all the Tory newspapers will now
join the Liberal journals in reprobating all political
jobs. It will therefore not be in the power of the
Ministers, if they adopt Tory principles, to insure
for themselves and their adherents the same ad-
vantages as rewarded the Tories for their political
villanies.

powerfully to the complete extermination of the rebel forces
in that quarter ; and to proceed afterwards to Catalonia if
necessary. God preserve your Excellency many years.
" DUKE DE LA VICTORIA.
" Head-quarters, Elisondo, Sept. 18.
" To his Excellency the Minister of War, &c."
The Cortes met daily, but no business of impor-
tance engaged their attention. On all sides a dis-
position was manifested of making as few altera-
tons as possible in the fueros of the Basque Pro-
vinces, several of the ultra-Liberal Members having
signified an intention to support the pacific policy
of the Government, by maintaining in all its in-
tegrity the treaty of Bergara. This fact has been
communicated by the following telegraphic dispatch
to the French Government :

BAYONNE, SEPT. 28.
The Commander (Mathieu) Writes me that M. Laffitte
received on the 27th the intelligence that the Commission
named by the Cortes for the examination of the question
of the fueros, has decided by a great majority for their
maintenance.

This is a great point gained, and we trust will be
favourably received by both branches of the Legis-
lature. There is no other news in the Spanish
Papers, save that a courier from Paris arrived in
Madrid on the night of the 22d, with important
despatches for the Foreign Minister. •

There is no news of political interest in the Paris
papers, unless we attach political importance to
the gratifying announcement that the price of corn
is lower than it was during the early part of last
week. The following is the statement to this ef-
fect, which appears in the Moniteur of Monday :
" The accounts we have received on the subject of
wheat and flour, state that not much business is doing, and
that the average price is beginning to come down. The
millers cannot find buyers without makini, a diminution of
a franc upon the price of last week. Corn has fallen in
the markets of Houdan, Abbeville, and Vic-sur-Aisne. At
Caen there were many eager sellers at the last quotations,
and there is abundance of corn in the market. In Flanders
the high prices still continue. There has been no change
in the markets of the Vienne and the Deux-Fevres."
Lord HOWDEN addressed the following letter to
the Editor of the Journal des Debats on the sub-
ject of a stupid pamphlet, entitled, " The Cri-
sis in France," attributed to the pen of Lord
BROUGHAM:—

" Sir,—A pamphlet has lately appeared, which the ma-
jority of the journals attribute to Lord Brougham. He
has requested me, in consequence, to give all publicity to
the following letter :
I have learned with the greatest surprise that they
attribute to me at Paris a pamphlet on the affairs of France.
I do not know the title, and still less have I written it—and,
according to what I have heard,' nothing can be more dia-
metrically opposed to all my ideas than its contents.'
" Receive, Mr. Editor, the expression of my distin-
guished consideration.
" The Colonel Baron HowDEN, Peer of England."
A letter of the 25th ult. from Toulon states that
900 men of the 41st regiment of the line embarked
that morning for Africa. The remainder of the
regiment was to be ready to sail for Algiers on the
following Monday. The 3(1 Marine Regiment ar-
rived at Toulon on the same day from Mandrier.
The following is from a letter from Algiers of
the 24th of September :—" You have heard of a
proposed expedition from Algiers to Constan-
tine, by way of Setif and Hamm, for the
purpose of opening the great route by land
between these two cities. Some decisive
stroke is preparing. Already 600 baggage mules
are ordered for the Ist of October, and
the officers have received orders to have their full
complement of horses in readiness." The writer
goes on to enumerate other appearances of some
vast project being on foot, and concludes with
noticing a few of the difficulties in the way of its
successful completion, such as bad roads, sickness,
and the approach of the rainy season. All was
then a mystery, but he expected that a fort-
night would suffice to raise the veil in which

the project was enveloped. v
The KING and the Royal Family will remain for
some time longer at Foutainbleau. Several of the
Ambassadors, the iVlinisters, and other persons of
distinction are on visits to their MAJESTIES.

The Temps denies that passports have been
granted to the PRETENDER to leave France, or
that the subject was so much as mooted by any
member of the Government.

The latest accounts from Switzerland represents
the Tory and Radical parties in the Republic as
greatly exasperated against each other. It was
feared that foreign intervention would become neces-
sary.