The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-16 00:00:00

HANOVER.

The Hanoverian Minister at the German Diet, has
moved a general prohibition, within the federal territory,
of a work published a few weeks ago
,by Professor Dahl-
mann, and entitled " Legal Opinions by the Law Faculties
of Heidelberg, Jena, and Tubingen, concerning the Hano-
verian Question)' The motives stated by the Ambassador
are, that the work tends_ to encourage the refusal of- taxes
'by the suect,, and that the Tubingen Faculty, especially,
have openly preached the doctrines of rebellion. The
'Diet 'will 'find 'themselves -In a very unpleasant
dilemma„' -IP•they accede. *to' the 'request, they will
have decided that taxes mnst.. be paid by the sub-
jects, although they may have been . illegally demanded
by the Government, or, which is the same thing,
that the King may tear the Constitution to pieces, and
still -go on gUvening at pleasure, and dragooning his
people into obedience. Now this is exactly what his Ma-
jesty wants—he wants to induce the Diet to give an indirect
sanction to his revolutionary attempts upon the liberties of
his people. By this means he expects to neutralize the
effect which the strong language of Wirtemberg, Baden,
Bavaria, and Saxony, has produced among 'the German
people. It is impossible any longer to conceal the part which
these Governments have taken, and which has been more or
less directly assented to by the rest of the Constitutional
Governments. He wishes to implicate the Diet in the
ignominy of his own system, to • falsify their actual views
,nd tendencies,, and ro render them the mouthpiece of his
o usurpation.

If the work were written in an inflammatory style—ir it
were suited to the state of the vulgar—there might be a
clue ter the Diet.to get out of the scrape, by saying, that,
without finding fault with the contents, they cannot suffer
such language to go out' without reprobation. But here are
the•grave !Professors'of three learned'Facufties, expound-
ing the law in,the technicalities otthdlegal language, 'in-
quiring
quirin ab evointo the, origin not only of the fundamental
ass,' but Of the preltitilial. atatate_s • of the eomporterwparts
of the'lclngctitn, answering the official queries addressed
to thAm• by the Magistracy of Oinehrizek.' 'The Tubin
gen Faculty have given the: fiftlest' cooVideratio'W to the
aphject. Their answer will -ever be classed among the
s::undest and the most solid expositions of constitutional
Taw. They decide that the ,abolition of the fundamental
law is illegal ; that the Chamber, as constituted by the
King, is illegal; that the taxes demanded by the Govern-
ment are illegal; and that the Magistrates are not entitled,
much less can they he beund, to assist in levying illegal
taxes. They have given the maturest consideration to
the right of resistance, discouraging its exercise in any but
the most extreme cases. The following ire'specimens :
By abolishing the fundamental law, his Majesty has,
strictly speaking, discharged, his subjects of all their
duties towards him, and the ebligation ,of obedience
exists for them no longer." Nevertheless, they confine
themselves to the advice of legal resistance. One of the
plainest passages is the following :—" The act, which his
Majesty the King Ernest Augustus has undertaken,
would, if it had been executed or even attempted by a
subject .of that kingdom, by the Common Law, and by
the Criminal Code of Hanover. (especially art. 137), fall
under the notion of high treason ; since an attempt against
the Constitution, tending to alter it violently in the whole
or in its parts, is there, as elsewhere, reputed equal to an
attempt against th,! safety of the King's person, or against
the independence of the State. The penalty contingent
upon high treason is, by the same code, in accordance
with the common law, capital punishment in its
severest form: Even an attempt' to bring the Con.
stitution into contempt, whether by speeches to the
Multitude, or by the distribution of printed papers, if
proved to be_,maliciously undertaken, is, by the code,
punished
by severe imprisonment for two or three months,
or, if the culprit ne in the public service, by dis_
missal or expulsion from the same: The application of
,uch or similar principles of the criminal law is of course
out of question, except in the case of a subject of
the State ; for the sacred person of the head of the
State, though not in general placed above the law,
i?, not amenable to its
.criminal justice, much less
to the tribunals of the State. From these he is
screened by his character as a Monarch, and b)
the want, thence resulting, of any civil responsibility. No
more will the subjects of his Majesty incur the crime of
high treason, ifthey do not consider as valid the patent of
1819 re-instated by him ; for in so doing 'they are, as we
have shown, perfectly right ; but they would render them-
selves guilty of that crime if they should attempt to en-
farce any views hostile to the fundamental law, whether
with or without any encouragement on the part of the
Monarch."

We may conceive that some persons in Hanover have
these words thus solemnly pronounced by high legal autho.
rity, still tingling in their ears I

SCOTCH LAW REFORM.

(PROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

MR. WALLACE., OF KELLY, M.F., versus HENRY MONTEITH,

AND CO. BLANTYRE INORKS, ON THE CLYDE

The Assiz:•s held this week at Glasgow furnis', another
powerful stimulant in this important case of Mr. Wallace's.
to urge him on in his meritorious career for reforming the
Law Courts of Scotland. It is well known that the Es-
uary of the Clyde has been long celebrated for its fisheries.
Mr. Wallace is proprietor of one of the best salmon fisheries
in that noble river. Messrs. Monteith and: Co. are pro-
prietors of cotton-mills, which have led them to obstruct
the channel, so as effectually to prevent the fish from, pas-
slog .up at the spawning season, and thereby to destroy the
fisheries, to the injury of Mr. Wallace and the public.
Mr. Wallace; therefore, brought.an action before the She
riff, in the simplest and least expensive form, viz. under
the Small Debt Act, limiting his claim of damage, as that
Act compelled him, to 81. 6a. 81 After hearing par-
ties, and taking proofs on both sides, the Sheriff decerned
f,r that sum in favour of Mr Wallace. But Messrs. Mon-
teith and Co., knowing thyir game, took an appeal to the
Great Law Lords of the Court of Session, sitting in Cir-
cuit Court at Glasgow. The presiding Judge was Lord
Medwin. Mr. Wallace defended himself in person with
great ability, but it"was of no use. That Lord overturned
the Sheriff's judgment, and remitted the case back to the
same Sheriff, to be tried by written pamphlets, in the
dumb show system! ! ! Thus in a case where the statute
is knited to Si. 6s. Bd., the effect is, inestitably; that Mr.
Wallace. shall either submit •Su. have his purse ex.
posed to interminable plunder, and his fe• lings dis
tract, d by r' the law's &lays ;" while his case, for
8/.. 6s. Bd., runs the gauntlet. Ist, of the ordinary She-
riff Court; 2dly, the Court of Session, and next the House
of Peersi or submit, which is the wiser course, to abandon
his just claim altogether, as the least of two evils!!!
Far be it from us to impugn the integrity of the Judge.
We do not know Lord %1. rivviii—neverth,,lef:s we do eon.
0. mt,, in the most i•mphatic language, the sustem which
outs such power into the hands of ant one man, th,it is,
without a jury, and without any proof, to reverse a solemn
judgment, pronounced on .a full hearing and after proof,
end without pronouncing any other final judgment in its
stead, in a question of 8/. 63. Bd., to consign litigants to
an undefined labyrinth of litigation. If ►he Lord had re-
niitted the case to he tried b. the Sheriff Ind a Jury l,•ss
might have been said ; but as it is. the eff et .is mockery
of justice in such a eas-. It seems also an in'ringu•mrr.t
of the understood •‘ fioality" of the working of the Sm II
Debt Sheriff Court Act in Sco•lat,d, and u,• do hope and
trust this Will not escape the notic,, of the Legisl
formed that Statute to lessen the expense, and shorten I
litigation in questions of small amount.

DOVER, MAY 14.—1 n the course of ast night
three expresses arrived, and this tnnrning a frmrth", ani al
together no fewer then nine hosts have's!, ived fro hl Fra-ne«•
with dispatches or letters.