The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-23 00:00:00

ROYAL SURREY THEAIRE.

Last Night of the Season, with extraordinary attraction. The
D rury Lane Dancers, Mr. Collins (the English Paganini),
hi s Two Sons, and Mr. Elton.
THIS EVENING, Dec. 23,
Will be acted, the admired Play of
THE STRANGER.

,T he Stranger, Mr. Elton; Mrs. Haller, Mrs. H. Vining.
After which, a Ballet from Fairy Lake, called
L'AMOUR VAINQUEUH.
Principal Dancers Mr. Gilbert, Miss Bailin, Master and Miss

Marshall.
AN INSTRUMENTAL CONCERT
By Mr. Collins and his Two Sons.
To conclude with
HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS.

..ovell, Lord Duke, Mr. Saville ; Sir Harry,
3LI Ross ; Lady Bab, Miss Martin.

!II(ili-V1 ATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO- .ORROW.
ruing 47 .ifinutes after 4. I Evening, 0 minutes after r.
. . •

-'77,.; ~
r;l' 41: ..7 .'''' it:a.
42,

Zin .ula,.

LONDON:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1889.

I MPORTANT FROM HOLLAND.

In the Dutch Papers received last night we find
th, e following intelligence from the Hague, which
deeply regret to state is calculated to deepen the
p 1 oom which already hangs over the commercial
world. The obstinacy of King WILLIAM in so
I t ing refusing to acknowledge the independence of
13 eigium,and thus throwing upon his already heavily
to xcd subjects the charge of an unnecessary war es-
tablishment, begins now to produce the lamentable
re sults which all reflecting men, conversant with
th e financial state of Holland predicted it
w ould. As yet, however, there exists no
gr ounds for serious alarm. The retirement of a
N. [Mister, or the dissolution of the Chambers will
nt )t immediately affect the financial stability of the
D iutch Government. We regard the rejection by
tl .e Second Chamber of the proposed loan to be
el iarged on the Dutch Colonies, as a vote of cen-
et ire upon the past anti-pacific conduct of the
G overnment, rather than as an indication of national
in ability or unwillingness honestly to liquidate the
!bts incurred by the State, or to provide for the
Treason able expenses of its home and Colonial
administration r-
-11)3E HAGUE, DEC. 11..--. We hear that the Go-
• ertiment, considering the observations made by the
• ‘etioas of the Second Chamber, in the proposed Budget
ft w 1840, has resolved to reduce the amount from
5 5,378,000 florins to 54,378,000 florins, being a dif-
fe :rence of two millions.
DEC. 20.—1 n the sittings of the Second Chamber on
El he 18th, 19th, and 20th, the project of law relative to
4 loan of fifty-six millions, to be charged on the Colo-
✓ .ies, was discussed. In the sitting of to-day, in which,
.51 .members were present, 12 voted for, and 39 against
.rt.i2e. project. So that his Majesty will be requested to
eke it into further consideration.

The President said, that as the rejection of the project
)f law on the loan might hare some influence on those re-
) tative to the budget, the debate on:the latter would be de-
ferred till Monday the 3d of Dec. The Minister of Fi-

nance and Colonies,spoke with much warmth and feeling
in defence of the measure, and described withlgreat ear-
-neatness the consequences that might result from the
- rejection of the law, and declared that such rejection
was not the means to avert a national bankruptcy, which
was so much feared. The Minister of the Colonies said
that if the project were rejected he should be obliged
to retire from his post, as it was impossible for him to
reconcile the different views of the King and of the
.States- General.

It is to be expected that those who undertake to
instruct folly or punish crime should be themselves
wise, and at least discreet, if not virtuous. We
cannot, however, say that the prosecutors of Mr.
FROST and his companions exhibit these charac-
;teristics i❑ the indictment they have drawn up
:against him. It isjframed, we have no doubt, ac-
cording to the most'apiiroved methods, but the least
Ivhich can be required from such a document is,
t hat both the Juries who are to try the prisoners, and
tire prisoners themselves, should understand it. Seldom
is that possible for any indictment, and in this in-
dictment for treason, drawn up more elaborately
than usual, it is quite impossible. So overlaid is it
with the gibberish of the law, that a Weekly Con-
temporary declares it to be an insult to every man
possessed with a common understanding, and pro-
poses to substitute for it a new language, called
jibbity hoc°. We cannot go along with our Con-
ternporary in treating such a subject with the
kast.appoach to ridicule, for it concerns a great
deal more than the lives of individuals attacked by
this indictment—it concerns the preservation or de-
struction of the law itself. If lawyers cannot find
wore appropriate means to conduct their proceed-
ings than such a jargon, men will speedily come
to treat with scorn and contempt the whole body of
the law.

Suppose Mr. FitosT and his companions,
which, as far as we see, they might with great
propriety, were to say, " We cannot comprehend
this act of accusation, we are ignorant of what we
are accused, it is such a farrago of nonsence, such
t dead language, requiring an interpreter, that it
Might as well be drawn up in Hebrew, and we will
not answer to any accusation till we fully understand
its bearing." Would the Court proceed to pass sen-
tence on them as contumacious if they refused to
plead ? If it did, the public sympathy would no
lOnger be on the side of the Court and the law.
If it did not, must a new indictment be
framed, and the trial postponed ? That would
allow the present agitation to pass away, and pro-
cure for the prisoners a calm investigation into
their whole case. We should not be surprised
were Mr. FROST to refuse, now that the gibberish
of the indictment has been a subject of public
mockery, to answer such a mass of absurdity.
Suppose a conscientious juryman on the
panel—and there are, no doubt, many such
in Monmouthshire—should object, as a con-
scientious man might and ought, to try the
prisoners on such an ill understood charge, what if
such a man should say, " I cannot tell by this
indictment of what these men are accused, and of
Which I am required to declare on my solemn
oath whether they be guilty or innocent. I will
not hazard my own peace of mind by giving any
verdict whatever, and I require the prosecutor to
explain in plain and intelligible language, the
offence of which these men are accused, the time
when, and the place where it was committed,
Which is the issue I am to decide, and till that
be done, I will give no verdict." Who could blame
I a conscientious juryman for taking such a course ?
And if such a course were taken mioht not the law
be :1,2;;;...2, al:d ..".:purity procur,,i 131 tiiooi: 'e it
may have been guilty of a great offence. Looking

at these possible consequences of the present mode
of drawing up indictments in an unintelligible jar-
gon, we must assert that it is calculated to bring
the whole administration of the law into disrepute.
The indictments against Mr. FROST and his friends
are a disgrace to the age, and the folly of those who
undertake to prosecute and punish him by such
means is not much less than his folly.
There is another aspect under which these unin-
telligible documents may be considered. They con-
stitute an imposing array of hard words. They
allude to individuals with much parade of circum-
stantiality, and are well calculated to entrap half-
informed, weak men into a conviction that the per-
son so accused must be a great offender. We ac-
quit those who drew the indictments of any such
intention, but the indictments are calculated to
produce such an effect. On a question so all-im-
portant to the individuals concerned as a trial on
life cr death, they are entitled to demand the utmost
accuracy, clearness, and precision. On such an
all-important question as repressing violence and
disorder, and preserving the public peace, by in-
flicting on the guilty the punishment of death, the
society is entitled and even bound to demand from
those who exercise its authority the greatest de-
cency, propriety, and circumspection. Both so-
ciety, then, and the individuals are outraged by con-
ducting such an important business by means of
obscure, contradictory, and unintelligible docu-
ments.

We mean not by these remarks to cast the
slightest reflection on the Law Officers of the
Crown, who have, no doubt, done their duty, accord-
ing to custom ; but the Judge who authorises men to
be tried on such documents, and the Legislature
which allows Judges, Barristers, and Attorneys,
thus to sport with human reason, and thus to make
a mockery of afflicted individuals and of the society
which imposes high duties on them, are very much
to blame. It is their business to correct improper
customs and abolish unmeaning forms. The fault
lies not with the Law Officer of the Crown, but
with the Judges and the Parliament. If in the
present case the continued use of the jargon should
end in the defeat of the law, far better would it be
that one life should be saved by the errors of the
law, and that be reformed, than that one should be
sacrificed by haste, inaccuracy, or design.

Mr. T. ATTWOOD has published in the Bir-
mingham Journal a very long address to the elec-
tors and inhabitants of Birmingham on retiring
from the representation of that borough. He ac-
knowledges that his efforts have all failed, at which
we are not surprised, now that he has made known
his extensive views. He says—

For seven years I have toiled on under the influ-
ence of the righteous hope that I might probably be of
service in assisting to restore real and permanent pros-
perity to the industrious classes, and real and solid li-
berty to the people. All my hopes have been disap-
pointed. I have found it utterly impossible to do any
good to my country by honest means, either within the
walls of Parliament,or without the walls of Parliament.
This latter failure has been to me a bitter mortifi-
cation. When I found that all hope was vain, within
Parliament, I turned to the people out of doors. I had
done everything in my power to give the Reform Bill
a fair trial. I had waited, for year after year, in the
hope of its producing fruit meet for the people. It was
not until all hope was abandoned that I cried out to the
people, " Cut down the tree. Why cumbereth it the
ground ?"

This cutting down the tree was nothing less than
effecting a complete change in the character of the
House of Commons, or a revolution by means of the
National Convention. He says :

Under the dire circumstances of our country, I
thought, and I still believe, that in the present state of
the House of Commons, there is but little hope of re-
covering either the domestic prosperity, or the foreign
honour, or safety of the nation ; and, therefore, I con-
sidered that it was necessary to accomplish a radical
change.
In attempting this great work, seven times greater
than that of 1832, I was sensible of the difficulties
which surrounded it. I had to move in darkness and
danger, through uncertain means, to an uncertain ob-
ject; and that object, when obtained, doubtful in its
results of ultimate weal or woe for the people. . . .
The dangers of the attempt were great ; but, in my
humble judgment, the necessities of ourlcountry-Were
greater. I saw the industrious classes crusho&.and
broken down, no hope to cheer them, no, friend to.pro-
tect them. I saw the best hearts in England breaking
some perishing by an untimely death, some flying to
the extremities of the earth, and others

" Whispering low,
Unhallowed vows to guilt, the child of woe."

-
It was under these circumstances that I resolved,
in conjunction with my friends, to make the last great
effort, by just, legal, and peaceful means, to establish
a system which should give hope to the wretched, and
protection to the poor and oppressed, and at the same
time restore the prosperity, the power, and the violated
honour of England. That effort has been made, and
has totally failed.
Opposed on every side by guilt or folly, supported
nowhere but in Birmingham, and almost unknown in
my motives and objects in every other part of the
country, all my labours became worse than useless.
My humble warnings were unheard and unseen. The
public press, whether Whig, Tory, or Radical, through-
out the whole nation, concealed them from the public
eye. All things went wrong. The deluders of the
people succeeded in leading the people astray.
Besides the utter failure of the Convention,
worse than all, he was opposed by his own crea-
tures on his favourite currency scheme. On this
point we will quote one of his remarks :
But, opposed and strangled as I was within the walls
of Parliament, ought I not to have been supported out
of doors? There was not a man in the GENERAL
CONVENTION OF THE INDUSTRIOUS CLASSES who did
not know my opinions upon this great subject. They
were altogether ignorant of it themselves. They had
selected nze as their organ in presenting the National
Petition. That petition expressed my opinions: At
the very moment that I was justifying the petition and
defending their cause and their country's, they joined
the ranks of my opponents against me.
Thus defeated in his grand schemes of reforming
the State and the currency, Mr. ATTWOOD retires
from political labour. Entertaining great respect for
his character, and bestowing the tribute of our praise
on many of his exertions, we cannot deny that he
completely misunderstood and miscalculated the
means of success. But no individual is entitled to
despair of his country because his own opinions do
Hot prevail, and if every Reformer were to imitate
Mr. ATTWOOD'S example, and retire from the
field when he is disappointed, the triumph of the
Tories would be at once ensured.

We are delighted to find that the Magistrates are
combining to make the New Police Act so odious,
and their extraordinary interpretation of certain
clauses so abhorrent to public feeling, that their con-
duct must speedily be brought under the notice of
the Legislature. We have repeatedly adverted to
their harsh and inconsistent decisions respecting the
42d clause, the tyrannical system of espionage they
have attempted to establish against respectable
publicans and respectable tradesmen, and the bad
feeling which they have thereby excited against
the Government and every one connected
with the introduction and passing of this Muni-
cipal Act. Not satisfied with the odium they have
excited in that respect, they have now taken up
the 60th clause, and
fine every shopkeeper 40s.
for the slightest projection
in front of his premises.
One informer has been for some time realizing 151.
lebone, by laying
a day in Mary
,ess than six hundred. At a meeting
these trifling in-
formations, of
of the Vestry on Saturday, the subject
taken out not l
which at the present time he has
was brought
under discussion, and the course pursued by the
Magistrates excited a general burst of execration.
One Vestryman described it as
most extraordinary ;
another as stretching the law to the very extreme ;
anti a third, the Rev. Dr. D
inDIN, as the most
tyrannical system that ever existed.
Biu
more tyrannical and capricious than fining one is thatnepub-
pub-
bean five pounds, and letting another offwithout
any fine at all, for the very same act, or is it half
so cruel as reftisin7 refreshment to thirsty travellers
a:lib:itig at ONdivit at iii:ciiit by the Railway,
or to thirsty actors and auditors on leaving

the theatre, or to many others engaged
in their lawful and necessary occupations ?
This Act, as interpreted b,• the Magistrates, in
reality is not an Act for the redress of abuses,
but an Act of pains and penalties against a por-
tion of the most industrious, hard-working, and
moral class of the community, and that, too, for
no earthly purpose that any human being can
point out except to excite a bad feeling against
Lord NORMANDY especially, and her MAJESTY'S
Government in general, and in that respect they
have succeeded most admirably.

The citizens of Edinburgh have nobly done their
duty to the cause of religious liberty. In express-
ing their sympathy with the prisoner for conscience
sake, and protesting against the spiritual tyranny
which consigned him to his dungeon, t.het• have
given a proof, cheering to the heart of the religious
reformer, that the great principle in defence of
which their forefathers welcomed the dungeon, and
braved death in every frightful form, still lives and
flourishes in the soil which those martyrs watered
with their blood. Their zeal i❑ this holy cause
has earned for them the respect and the gratitude
of all its friends. Sincerely do we wish that
we had not to contrast their praiseworthy exertions
with the supineness of those whose duty it was to
be first in the field, and to set an example for others
to follow. What must the public think of the extra-
ordinary course pursued by the London Dissenters ?
Here is a case in which both the honour and the
interests of the dissenting community are deeply
concerned. The country is ringing from the one end
to the other with the wrongs and the insults heaped

upon the English Non-Conformists by a dominant
and persecuting Church. Meetings arc held even
in Scotland to obtain redress for the Dissenters of

England. Yet London stirs not, speaks not.
All is as quiet there as if the torpedo touch of the
Patriot had struck the Dissenters of the metro-
polis with a mortal paralysis. If anything can
rouse them from their apathy, the example se t
them by the people of Edinburgh, must, we
think, produce that tffect. When was it

ever known that the Dissenters of London
stood by, listless, unconcerned spectators, and
saw their battle fought by strangers ? Can
there be imagined a more severe rebuke to their
backwardness, a more stinging reproof to their in-
activity, than the active zeal and spirited bearing
of the Scottish Dissenters. For the people of
Scotland, let it be remembered, are, comparatively
speaking, but remotely interested in the question
at issue. Their persons cannot be imprisoned for
life, on account of a five-and-sixpenny Church-

rate. Their necks are not galled by the yoke of
an ecclesiastical tyranny. Their labours in this
cause are labours of love. Though hoping nothing
and fearing nothing for themselves, they cannot see
principles which they hold dear violated and
trampled upon, without remonstrating against the
violation, and sympathizing with those who suffer
under it.

" Why is not a public meeting called in Lon-
don," is the question that every one asks and no
one answers ? We honestly confess we know
not. We are not the organ of the Dissenters, nor
are we in their secrets. We advocate their cause
because we think it is a just one, and because its
success would be favourable to the advancement
of general liberty. The Patriot, we doubt not, can
solve the puzzling problem. That print is patron-
ized by at least a portion of the London Dissenters,
and is in close communion with, if it does not ac-
tually constitute, two Dissenting Societies, namely,
the Society for the Protection of Religious free-

Born, and the Church-rate Abolition Society,—its
Editor being the Secretary of the one, and another
gentleman connected with it standing in the same
relation to the other. There can, at all events, be
no lack of information in the Patriot office, as to

e reasons which have withlicld,:and still withhold,

those Societies from calling forth a public expres-
sion of the sentiments of the metropolitan Dissenters
on matters which excite so much interest ,among
their brethren in other parts of the kingdom. Thege'
reasons the public have a desire,. the Dissenting
public a right, to know ; and the Patriot, if it has
any regard for the character of these Societiesso
much mixed up with its own—will lose no time in
cornumnicating to the world the required informa-
tion. We hope to learn that, whatever may hitherto
have prevented the step to which we have al---
luded from being taken, it is not finally decided not
to have recourse to it. But should this prove to be
the case, we trust, for the honour of the London
Dissenters, there is still spirit enough among them
to shake off the trammels of a clique, and to act
as they used to do before there were either Pa-

'riots or Patriotic Societies to save them the trot].

ble of thinking for themselves.

Mr. GIBSON, in his speech at Cambridge, very
judiciously adverted to some observations which
were made at a meeting held at Cambridge, on
Friday fortnight, for the support of National Edu-
cation on the principles of the Church of England.
'We beg leave to quote from the Cambridge Adver-
tiser the language reported to have been used by

two t,ventlemen on that occasion, together with
a description of the state of education in the

district, by which the public will see, on irrefra-
gable testimony, what the opulent squires of the
rich fens of Ely, and the very well-endowed clergy
of that diocese, have done for the people.
The Hon. ALGERNON HERBERT said—

As one of the laity, he felt a peculiar pleasure, rs
he also esteemed it a peculiar duty, to assist the clergy
who had called this meeting. He confessed that he had
never been a very zealous or enthusiastic advocate for
what was called the diffusion of knowledge.—(Hear,
hear.) In his opinion, such a diffusion was calculated
to do harm rather than good.—(Hear, hear.) He had
always looked with suspicion upon what people called
popular education.—(Hear, hear.) He considered that
what was falselycalledenlightenment, tended but to darken
and pervert those powers which the poor and ignorant
could only use to unsettle their opinions, excite their
passions, and lead them to a wrong judgment.—(Hear,
hear.) He supported this plan, because it was based
upon the true and lasting foundation of ecclesiastical
unity.—(Applause.) He must be satisfied, before he
consented to the education of the people, that that
education was in safe hands—in the hands of ecclesiasti-
cal instructors. He could give his voice only for sound
and wholesome instructions, and this can be looked for
only at the hands of the Established Church.

Mr. HERBERT would have no teaching what
ever, therefore, but by the priesthood.
JOHN BENDYSHE, Esq., said—

He particularly agreed in those which urged re-
ligion as the only basis, the one thing needful in edu-
cation.—(Hear, hear.) He thought the Bible the
only book the poor should desire to read, and he would
have them taught to read this book at the right end.
—(Applause.) He could not help thinking that the
lower classes in the present day were a great deal too
much given to think for themselves on the most impor-
tant points—on points they were incapable of com-
prehending.

The meeting, which was most numerously at-
tended, applauded these sentiments, and plainly
avowed the opinion that the people ought not to get
a particle of knowledge which does not reach their
minds through the priests' filter. Such an opinion
is not now formed for the first time by these squires
and parsons, it has long been entertained and acted
on, and now let the reader see the results. We
quote the following passages from the speech of
Dr. PEACOCK, Dean of Ely, and as it was sup-
ported by a Statistical Report laid before the meet-
ing, is of unquestionable authority

No one who had heard the Report which had been
read to the meeting by the Secretary, Mr. Gibbs, could
doubt the urgent necessity which existed for the for-
mation of a Society such as that now proposed, for
the purpose of supplying the deplorable want of edu-
cation which had 141 Me inhabitants of the remoter
rural districts of this country in a melancholy state of
ignorantlit oore fiTt.eks,
rtsiaty,,y semi-barbarism ;
but. in ouodusi;lui to Lc dravin
from before their eyes, he
would venture to refer to some of the more remarkable,
acreFirthetepoo brnt: fml4):