The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Bill for the relief of the Jews was last night
rejected by a majority of 63 : the numbers being
163 for the second reading, 22S against it. The
result could not be different, unless, indeed, Parlia-

ment were prepared to abolish religious tests alto-
gether. Nobody, however, deemed it expedient to
take that ground.—Times.
We learn from the French demi-official journal
of Saturday, that the troops of the African expe-
dition had embarked at Toulon on the 14th inct.,
and that if the wind was favourable, it would sail on
the following day. The rapidity with which this

[a val and military armament has been collecred, and

the perfect state of equipment in which (according
to all accounts) it will leave the shores of France,
do great credit to the Administration of the French
Army and the Marine. No port of France ever

beheld so grand a spectacle as the departure of this
noble fleet, standing out to sea to decide the fate of
Africa, or perhaps of the Bourbon dynasty. The
number of ships of war of which it is composed
amounts to 68, among which there are 12 ships of
the line and 20 frigates. The number of transports
amounts to 277, accompanied by seven steam-ves-
sels, makino in all a fleet of more than 350 sail.

•
The military force embarked on board the ships of
\var and transports is not less than 30,852 infantry,
534 cavalry, 2,327 artillery, 1,330 engineers, besides
officers, medical staff, commissariat, and other neces-

sary appendages of an army. The whole of the
farce will thus amount to 37,577 men, and 3,954
horse. This armament sails in three divisions, con-
sisting each of three brigades. It is evident, from
the great proportion of artillery and engineers,
that the Commander-in-Chief expects that the Dey
will stand a siege. The general staff of the different
divisions and services amounts to 830 officers. In
the expedition we find the names of not fewer than
25 interpreters of the Moorish, Arabic, or Turkish
languages. General Bourmont, the Minister of
War, is Commander-in-Chief; Lieutenant-General

Baron Berthesene commands the first division;
Lieutenant-General Count de Loverdo, the second ;
and Lieutenant-General the Duke d'Escars the
third. Major-General Viscount de la Hite is Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Artillery, arid Baron Valaze
of the Engineers. Both these officers distinguished
themselves in the Spanish expedition. Such is the
army placed under this modern Scipio Africanus, to
enable him to avenge the blow of the Dey's fan, and
to earn for himself a Marshal's baton. It would be
absurd, with the very scanty information which we
possess respecting the means of resistance which the
Algerine Government has been preparing, to speck/-
late en the result of the expedition. The French
squadron, which has been blockading Algiers for
nearly three years, must have collected pretty accu-
rate intelligence on the state of the defences towards
the sea. Besides, we have heard of late, that scientific
officers have been making minute surveys,and drawing
accurate charts of the coast, at every point where a land-
ing could be either attempted or disputed. It is the
fault of the War Administration, therefore, if either
the armament is insufficient for its object, or if it is
despatched on an enterprise in which, from the na-
ture of the obstacles to be encountered, a larger
force would fail. If, on the one hand, the Alge-
tines have had ample warning of their danger, and
seen the necessity of preparing for a vigorous de-
fence, by descrying a hostile flag for nearly tJ..,.„
years off their port, on the other, the strirme,„f
the blockade may have prevented them irom availing
themselves of those means of resin.ance which their
trade or their piracies might, during the interval,
have acquired. One eler:,ent of failure on the side
of the assailants tn,:iy
be looked for in tire comb).-
gencies of the 'weather and the effect of the climate;
though, frf:/rn the season at which the expedition
sails, the former may be considered as of less im-
portance. But supposing that General Bourmont
succeeds to the full extent of his wishes, and erects
' the white flag over the ruins of the nest of outlaws
and pirates against which he has by this time sailed,
a most important question will then arise, " What
is he to do next ? What use is he to make of his

victory ?" Will the French Government be satis-
fied in exacting a reluctant submission from the Dey,
leaving him afterwards to the vengeance of his own
people, or to the repetition of his former barbarities
both against them and strangers, or will it rate to
the ground his fortifications, and sweep every ves-
tige of his reign from his polluted shores ?
If the latter, how will it be possible to pre-
vent the establishment of other pirates in the
same lair ? Will the French attempt to keep a
garrison in that quarter, to prevent some future
Barbarossa from building on the ruins and repairing
the port of this piratical city ? and if they do so,
what difference will there be between such an oc-
cupancy and colonization ? Different answers are
given to these questions by different people; but
the answer in which foreigners are chiefly interested
is that of a considerable party in France, whiff,'
urges upon the Government the duty and expe-
pediency of conquering Algiers, for the purpose of
making it the centre of French colonization in the
north of Africa. We have before us a pamphlet of
100 pages, entitled " Du Marti qu'on pourraii
firer d'une Expedilion d' Alger ; ou de la possibilitc
de fonder dans le Bassin de its Medderranee un
Nouveau Syleine Colonial et Maritime, d l'epreuve
de la puissance Anglaise," which strenuously main-
tains this ambitious pretension. The author tells
us that colonies have become indispensable to
France from her growing population ; that the coast
of Africa is nearer and better adapted to that ob-
ject than any of the old French ultra-marine
possessions; that the Mediterranean should be
considered as " a French lake," (to use a
phrase of Buonaparte) ; that the coast of
Africa has always belonged to the last in-
vader; that the whole of it might be maintained
in subjection by a few military positions ; that it
might be made the Botany-bay of France; that it
would open the way to the commerce of Egypt ;
that it would be accessible at all times, both in peace
and in war, to the mother country, independent of
the English ; and that it would enable France to
balance in the Mediterranean that power which
England derives from the possession of Gibraltar,
Malta, and the lonian Islands. All these points ate
zealously reasoned in the French pamphlet before
us, and 710 doubt the reasoning appears perfectly
conclusive to its author; but can he inspire other
nations with as much love for his colonization
scheme as his own countrymen ? To extend the
power of Prance into Africa, and to give her com-
mand of the whole Mediterranean coast, from the
mountains of Atlas to the coast of Egypt, may
seem a slight affair to a disciple of the Buonaparte
school; but would Eng/siad or the Mediterranean
Powers quietly witness, the execution of sueh a pro-
ject ? No ; and we are happy to say that the French
Government never proposed such a'result to their
enterprise against Algiers. The Ministers of Charles
have been throughout moderate and conciliatory
in their conduct and professions respecting their
Algerine expedition, inspiring his allio with no
alarm, and securing their entire approbation.—Times
A pamphlet has been published on the compo
sition, administration, discipline, and prospects of
the British Navy, to which we invite immediate at-
tention from those who have the management of
that vital_ defence of England; and the more so, be-
cause we are satisfied that the pamphlet requires
only to have its subject and merits pointed out, to
command universal notice from the public generally.
In the title-page, we find that this production is the
work of a flag-officer ; and sorry are we, for the
sake of his profession and his country, to add, that
it is a posthumous work. The old Admiral, who
states his, recollection of the commencement of the
wars in 1778 and 1793, takes for a text to one por-
tion of his interesting essay the wretched principles
on which the British men-of-war of the above two
periods were constructed and armed, in comparison
with those of neighbouring nations; and the un-
happy and mortifying consequences to his Majesty's
service which sometimes arose from the dirregae.d
evinced by [be Admiraki of. Prose days for what was
passing around than in the nature of Ecientific and

`.;" ,

U-01

other improvements of their naviesei We wish to '
be understood as by no means desirous of throwing
blame upon existing Boards or individnals. Whether
the marine Of England shall or shall not be improved
and perfected, by a reference as well to former
errors as to present negligence, is any thing but
a party question. Every Englishman feels an inte-
rest in the subject, which may almost be called per-
sonal, for the familiar and domestic light in which
he views the concerns of the navy; and, knowing
what we do know of the embarrassments which beset
all members of the King's Government who show
sagacity enough to recommend an occasional depar-
ture from old models, whether of law or naval archi-
tecture, no longer adapted to the times we live in, or
a return to ancient methods which, through caprice
or circumstance only, had been abandoned, and
which ought, for their intrinsic and unchanging
merit, to be at once revived, it is to us a source of
encouragement and sincere satisfaction that we can,
by bringing the press into activity, convince those
more enlightened among our public functionaries of
the zeal and boldness with which their plans of
reform are likely to he supported by their country-
men out of doors. As the observations of this
'worthy old officer extend over upwards of 70
pages, and embrace a variety of topics, we must
content ourselves with a quotation now and then
from the work, as space and opportunity may
admit of,—merely premising, that his views of re-
form may be comprehended under the two general
heads of construction and instruction; on each of
which he puts forth remonstrances, rebukes, and warn-
ings, from which every public officer in our naval
department would do well to refresh his judgment
by a frequent and earnest consideration of the best
means of giving them effect. The professional
reader will have his interest excited by the first few
pages of the pamphlet, wherein he arraigns the
gross folly and perverseness of persisting in a multi-
plication of certain class of s'aips inferior in all re-
spects tc those of similar denominations among the
warlike vessels of our enemies,—an error from which
England suffered so dreadfully in her commerce at
the beg n ining of the French wars of 1778 and
1793; end in pride and reputation, throughout the
whole of her last brief contest with the Americans.
We have etc selves looked through the Navy List in
this instance, cud have had the misfortune to find
that the author's remarks on one great error of the
Navy Board ere fully borne out by the official re-
turns in that volume. The vessels through whose
extreme inferiority to enemies men-of-war of the
same nominal class, were our old 3S-gun frigates,
scow called 46's, which were captured by the heaver
frigates of the United States almost as often as they
met them. Since both France and America have
discarded the above ships, there seems no obvi-
ous reason at least why this country should per-
severe in employing, much less building, them.
Yet cf that inaspicious order of frigates there
are at this moment noted down in the list, no
less than 77, of which .59 arc finished ships,
and 18 actually building ! which really does
appear to us the most preposterous thing in the
world, for the frigates of the two other maritime
powers are mostly built to carry 60 guns, though
with the name of " 44-gun frigates" annexed to
them ;—ships with which experience has shown us
that our 46-gun frigates cannot cope, and much less
can our 42-gun frigates—formerly 36's,—of which,
moreover, the navy contains 25. But if they cannot
fight the enemy's frigates, so the corvettes of France
and America will take care not to meet them, having
better game in the sloops and 28-gun ships of
England, to which they are as superior as the fri-
gates are to ours. Even the 52 and 50-gun frigates,
of which we have some dozen or so in our fleet, are
far overmatched by the vast 60-gun frigates which
now constitute the only ones of France and the
United States. And we repeat the words of the
gallant author, that it is barbarous to put our brave
officers and seamen into a situation, where they are
ashamed to sly from such superior force, and where
they are censured when they prove unable to resist
it. If we enter warmly upon this painful subject, it
is because we feel the safety of England, which is
inseparable from victory, to be involved in the ques-
tions now discussed.
" It wdl be readily believed that at the conclusion of
tie ::tte eventful war I was an anxious as well as an at-
tentive observer of the measures to which our naval Ad-
ministration would resort for the purpose of effectually
meeting the new circumstances which had arisen. The war
with the United States had but too clearly developed the
system of naval policy on which our new rival for mari-
time superiority was succesiifully acting. Their three
pincipal classes of ships, although nominally of the same
force as our own, were really nesrly one-third superior in
sizo, calibre of guns, and number of men ; and various
unsuccessful actions bad hut too clearly proved that neither
professional skill nor the most brilliant personal courage
rind exertions could compensate for this great disproportion

pf force.
" I had therefore felt perfectly confident, that when
we began.to turn our thoughts seriously towards rebuilding
cur navy,—a measure which at the termination of the
war had become one of inevitable necessity, the greater
part of our ships, and especially the smaller classes, being
in a very decaying state,—the considerations to which I
have referred would have their due weight, and that in de-
termining the dimensions and force of our new ships, we
should, instead of adhering servilely to old models and
classes, he very careful to build such only as might be fully
capable of opposing at least an equal force to that which
we were to encounter ; and this was the more necessary,
because it very soon became universally known that the
success of the American navy had produced a deep im-
pression throughout Europe, and that France especially,
as well as several minor maritime powers, were following
the example of that system which had been attended with
beneficial results.
" I saw with much pleasure, that with respect to our
ships of the line, we were very judiciously abandoning our
old-fashioned and heavy-sailing second-rates, and deter-
mining to build in future no three-deckers smaller than
the Caledonia ; and that our new two-deckers were to be
powerful 54.-gun ships, carrying 24-pounders on the main
deck, and therefore, in my opinion, not materially inferior
even to the Americans. But here, alas ! my satisfaction
ended; and what was my disappointment when I saw
between 40 and 50 new frigates laid down in our different
dock-yards, all except eight built on old French models,
carrying 18-pounders only on the main deck ; all, in short,
of the force of the unfortunate Java and Guerriere, pos-
sessing all the defects of these ships, their want of room
and stowage, and that we were consequently replacing our
frigates on the same footing of comparative inferiority,
which I had hoped it would have been our first study to
avoid ! I should have thought that instead of incurring
such an immense expense* in building frigates of an in-
ferior description, it would have been better economy and
wiser policy to have contented ourselves with a smaller
numier but of a superior class, following rather the model
of the Pomone and the 21-pound frigates built after that
beautiful ship, one of which, the Endymion,t proved in
her action with the President, the largest of the American
frigates, that those of this class are very little, if at all, in-
ferior to any single-decked ship.
" It will hardly, therefore, appear credible that while
we have been building at such an expense so large a num-
ber of small frigates, we have not since the peace laid
down a single one on the model of the Pomone or En-
dynzion,—a class which excel the former as much in good
qualities of sailing and stowage, as in the snore important
point of superior force.
" I regret to say that my animadversions do not end here.
" When it was seen, towards the conclusion of the war,
that the Americans were constructing a class of corvettes
intended (as they unfortunately too soon proved themselves)
to be decidedly superior to our eighteen-gun brigs, which
until that time were undoubtedly the finest and fastest
vessels of their class, it was naturally to be expected that,
when we came to rebuilding our smaller descriptions of
ships, our attention would have been peculiarly turned to-
wards a larger and more powerful ship-corvette, carrying
twenty-two or twenty-four heavy guns, calculated to su-
persede the old-fashioned ship-sloops of former times,
which from their overweight aloft, and want of stability
and stowage, had become totally unfit for modern naval
warfare. Here, alas ! I was again entirely disappointed.
The subject does not appear to have excited any attention
until about IS2O, when fourteen of the old class of twenty-
eight-gun frigates, which had been from their bad quali-
ties totally exploded during the last war, were ordered to
.t • Probably nearly two millions, taking the old calculation
of 1000/. per gun.
" t The President was captured by a squadron, but engaged
by the Endyndon only. The loss in killed and wounded stood
thus :

Killed. -Wounded. Total.
President 3. '7O 105
.Endomivn „„ ll 16 25."

. .
be built, and aLout the same time we commenced a series
of expensive. (and as it always has appeared to me most
unprofitable) experiments on our eighteen-gun brigs, against
which we had conceived an unreasonable prejudice, because
they could not beat the American corvettes, in every way
so much their superiors.
" There can be no doubt that vessels of this peculiar
description are less calculated than others for regular en-
gegements
; because, having only two masts, if one is
disabled, they become comparatively helpless ; but this
disadvantage is counterbalanced by their remarkable han-
diness; good sailing, and stability, in which latter qualities
they equalled most of our best frigates ; and my naval
readers will not have forgotten the brilliant actions fought
by the Pelican, Sylph, and Kangaroo, (as well es many
others which I do not now recollect,) during the late war.
" Instead, however, of availing ourselves of the good
qualities of these brigs in our draughts for a new and im-
proved class of larger corvettes, the very extraordinary idea
occurred to us of converting these very identical brigs into
ships, and that, by the addition of a mizen-mast, we should
at once secure the decided superiority. Surely profes-
sional experience can scarcely be necessary to convince my
readers of the absurdity of such an expectation. I need
only say that vessels of this description are built on the
nicest mathematical calculations, and that any alteration
by which these are even slightly deranged, must produce
an injurious effect. It will therefore not surprise any one
to learn that our brigs thus converted into ships lost all
their good qualities; and although a heavy expense was
incurred in placing, replacing, and again shifting and al-
tering the height and position of their masts, they still
continue very inferior to their former selves.
" I am aware that some official reports on the good
qualities of these ci-decant brigs may be produced against
me ; but I will only just venture to ask, whether, as the
alteration in question was very generally known to be a
favourite hobby at the Admiralty, it is not just possible
that a commander, looking forward to promotion, might
not like to hazard a very decidedly adverse opinion on a
supposed improvement of his superiors? Let me also in-
quire whether the Trinculo, the only brig which was al-
lowed to join the experimental squadron under Sir T.

Hardy, did not, in spite of defective copper, spars, and
riggim.f, give very satisfactory testimony of what might
have been expected from her if she had been fairly and pro-
perly prepared for the trial? And did not the Alert, on
the contrary, newly fitted out and coppered, and with
every advantage given her, sail worse than any other ship
in the squadron ? Would it not have been fair in this
case, if truth was the object, either to have tried the Trin-
culo against the Alert, or having proved that the latter,
as a ship, did not answer, to have restored her original
equipment, and then ascertained with the same squadron
whether the brig or the projector was in fault ?
. _ _ _

" I confess I felt much mortified when I heard these
particulars, because it was impossible not to feel that an
important experiment had been unfairly conducted, and the
most obvious test apparently evaded.
" With respect to the 10-gun brigs, of which we appear
to be so fond, and on which, during the last ten years,
such large sums must have been laid out, I can only say
that, in my judgment, they are entirely unfit for every
purpose of war, as they sail indifferently, and are, in point
of force, inferior to most privateers. I would therefore.
almost pledge my existence rot one of them is seen on the
sea in six months after the commencement of hostilities.
How those who have lavi,hed the public money on this
most useless class of vessel will then be able to justify
themselves, I do not presume to conjecture.
" I see, by referring to the list of the navy, that we
have now above 40 of these brigs afloat or building, all ex-
cept one or two laid down since the peace, besides 28 more
employed as packets ; for which service experience has
now fully proved them to be less calculittd, and, from
their construction more unsafe, than any other description
of vessel which could possibly have been selected."—Times.

We were glad to hear it stated last night by Lord
Althorp that, as a Member of the Committee to In-
quire into the Expediency of introducing Poor Laws
into Ireland, he could say that the investigation had
been impartially conducted. We wish it were as
easy to dispose of the great paupers as of the small.
A contemporary (the Globe) observes, with re-
gard to the discussion of Friday last, " If it be the
fact, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer intimates,
that be has been deterred from some propositions of
economy by the fear of the House of Commons,
he has acted very absurdly; let him press his ques-
tions to divisions. We can assure him, that as a
matter of policy (on the point of duty he needs no
such assurance) he could not place the Ministry in
a better position than in an occasional Minority,
while supporting savings of the public money
against a rapacious Majority of the House of Com-
mons. The indignation of the people would in
such a case give the Government irresistible force;
there would be no repetition of so disgraceful a
phenomenon." Perhaps something might be con-
ceded to public indignation. But we may depend
on it, that so long as we have rich paupers, in one
way or other they will extort a subsistence from the
nation. The high Aristocracy of this country must
provide for their younger branches at the public ex-
pence. The very idea of an Aristocracy of wealth
supposes large contributions from the body of
the people, without which it could not exist.
This subject is well handled in an admirable
Letter from Tours, on the Agriculture of France,
and the effects of a Division of Property in
Land, in the Ninth Number of the Edin-
burgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. The
writer, who left Scotland with prejudices in favour
of primogeniture, was struck with the beneficial
effects of an equal division of property in land in
France, in diminishing the number of small paupers
as well as great. He contrasts the state of the lower
orders in France with the same classes in England, and
observes, that " the sound and prosperous state of
the peasantry of this country is best proved by the
fact, that a substitute to serve for eight years in the
army, which is a respectable and comfortable sta-
tion in life for a common man, compared to our ser-
vice, cannot be got under 801. sterling ; and we re-
cruit men at present for life at 1/. Is. of bounty, and
get so many that we only take men of a certain size
and age." He observes, that those whose inheri-
tance of land is too small for a family do not marry,
but sell their lots, arid that the population is only
increased by those who have food and accommoda-
tion for the increase. So much with regard to the
small poor. But with regard to the great paupers,
the scourge of this country, he observes, " No man
has a right to beget children, and leave them at his
death to be supported by his neighbours out of
their property, while he himself left property sufli-
cient, if fairly divided, to support his own children.
We are all ready enough to admit, that perscns in a
state of such poverty and destitution that they can-
not support their children without the aid of the
poor's rates ought not to have married, and have
committed, in fact, a fraud upon society, in mar-
rying without being able to support a family ; but
we forget that the man is equally culpable, and com-
mits a still greater fraud upon society, who hav-
ing property to support his family, bequeathes
that property entirely to one of his children, and
throws upon society the burden of supporting his
other children. Whether they are supported out of
a tax caled a poor's rate, or are supported out of
the assessed and other taxes, constituting the reve-
nue of the society ; whether they are chopping
stones on the road side, or are commanding fleets
and armies, or are sitting on the bench; there is no
difference in the argument, or in the culpability of
throwing the support of a man's children entirely
upon his neighbours, while he had property suffi-
cient to support them. In both cases the children
are supported entirely at the expense of the so-
ciety. Whether the employment which society
provides for the pauperism qf the rich is much more
beneficial or necessary than the labour provided for
the in►nates of the poor-house, may be matter of
opinion and doubt ; but it is undeniable, that whether
their services be more or less useful, the expense to
society would be less if their entire support had not
been throw❑ upon society—if the father had by
law been compelled to provide as far as his property
could do so for each of the children he had thought
proper to add to the society." We have never
hesitated to pronounce Aristocracy and Primo-
geniture, on which it rests, to be the political sore
of this country, and we have long been satisfied
I that the sore is incurable. Wherever we turn we

see the fruits pf it. A channel of profuse expen-
diture may occasionally be stopt ; but like a river
which has been arrested by some obstacle, a new
direction is soon found. This subject is handled in
a most masterly manner in an article in the Scotsman

.0. 6in:o--
of Saturday last, on the subject of our diplomatic
expenses. On a future day we shall notice the in-
,tructive comparisons between our diplomatic ex-
penses and those of some other countries. In the
mean time we avail ourselves of the following re-
ina,ks on the cause of the profuse expenditure in
every walk of life in this country :
" The radical vice of our Government," says our con-
temporary, " is profusion, and that we fear is incurable
so long as political power is a monopoly, and those who
possess it are benefitted by a wasteful expenditure of the
public money. It is marvellous to find how many useless
offices have been retained, and how many extravagant sala-
ries remain unreduced, after 30 years of an oppressive
fixation, which has presented, one would suppose, such
urgent motives to the practice of the most rigid economy,
as the most flinty-hearted Minister could not resist. Ii
we inquire into the causes of salaries being so much
higher in this country than in any other, we shall gene-
rally find that they resolve themselves into the ascendancy
of the aristocracy, who have the privilege of filling all dis-
tinguished offices, and must be paid, not according to the
duty done, but according to the scale of living which, in
their own opinion, befits the dignity or consequence of the
situation. Now this scale of living is modelled on that of
the nobility and great landholders, who enjoy, by virtue
of the law of primogeniture, such overgrown fortunes as
are unmatched in any other part of the globe. The sala-
ries even of those offices which the Aristocracy have
seldom the necessary talent or industry to fill; are regu-
lated by the same standard. No Minister of State in this
country can fill his station decently with less than 10,0001.
per annum. Why is this ? Because he must interchange
visits, and hold up his head with the Lowthers, Caven-
dishes, and Percys, who sport revenues of one or two
hundred thousand per annum ! The highest Judge in
France, the President of the Court of Cassation, has
only 60,000 francs, or 2,4001. per annum, while
our Judges of the first class have 10,0001., and our
Chancellors are supposed not to be overpaid with
20,0001. What is the cause of such a difference ?
It is first the constitution of our Courts which drives
enormous emoluments in the hands of a small num-
ber of Counsel, while the rest are starved, and Judges,
however little they do, must be as well paid as the most
hardworking barrister ; and next, that due regard must
he paid to what is called the dignity and respectability of
the Bench ; in other words, the Judge must be somebody
in the circles of the richest aristocracy in the world.
Why lavish twenty or thirty thousand per annum of the
earnings of the industrious classes on a Bishop, the sum of
whose duty, as the Examiner observes, is to wear a
quizzical dress, and make solemn faces ? Paley answers
the question. He says it is necessary to station Clergy-
men in all the various ranks of society ; and with the
Nobility, of course, religion would have no chance for ad-
mission, unless it approached them glittering in gold lace,
and rolling in a coach and six ! You have, in short, an
excessively opulent aristocracy, and you must pamper a
portion of your Clergy, to fit them for such gorgeous
society ! Whether Christianity gains by this waste of
public money is another question."

'NT T. riTT

The position of our Northern Contemporary, that
the ascendancy of the Aristocracy is felt throughout
every part of our social system, could receive many
curious illustrations. In most other countries, law,
trade, and physic were confined to the commonalty.
In England the Nobility and Gentry departed from
the practice of their brethren throughout Europe;
and it is confidently affirmed by our old writers, that
we owe the high fees to professional men in this
country to the condescension of the great to enter
professions. When England was comparatively a
poor country, the fees of professional men were ten
times higher in it than in any other. In a curious
Pamphlet, entitled " The Present Interest of Eng-
land stated," published in 1671, a curious compa-
rison is given of professional fees at that time
in England and other countries. " Law and
physic (observes the writer), by great fees and
corrupt practice, having a great share in im-
poverishing this nation, but none in the enriching of
it, fees to both professions being in all other countries
very moderate, compared with England ; a phy-
sician, in no other place, having for a visit above
18d. sterling, except at Venice, where it is 2s. Gd.,
and in some places, as at Newport and Lisle, in
Flanders, &c., but Gd. ; and even at Amsterdam and
Antwerpen, the first equal to any place for wealth,
and the latter next considerable, not above twelve
stivers, which is about 13d.; and lawyers 2s. Gd.
for their opinion, and as much an hour, for a busi-
ness that requires long consultation and work, much
of their pleading being cast into that price ; so that
England may be reckoned to exceed in their fees to
both professions, ten times the rates of other coun-
tries." At that time " all callings were reckoned a
debasement of gentility in other countries ;" but
protected by monopoly, the professions into which
the Aristocracy allowed their children to enter, were
made to yield aristocratic fees; and hence in Eng-
land all who were unable to defray large fees, were
deemed fit subjects for exclusion from Courts of
Law. Still, with all the resources of professions, the
Aristocracy of this country could not have long sur-
vived the Catholic Church, but for the new sera of
taxation which commenced with the victory gained
by the Aristocracy at the Revolution of 1688.
There was published during the time of the Common
Wealth," An Apology for younger Brothers," which
contains a most disrressing account of the condition
to which primogeniture had reduced them. " I
am compelled by the violence of truth," says the
writer, " to confess in defence of the antient consti-
tution of the laws and government of this nation,
that whatever were their other faults, they were not
injurious to younger brethren, till after the sale of
Church lands, and the abrogating those many pre-
ferments that were their former inheritance. This
was the former state of the nation, in which, if
younger sons were debarred a share in their fathers'
inheritance, they might receive an ample com-
pensation from the Church their mother, whose
jointure was no less than two-thirds of the
whole land, so that they might seem rather
owned as the only children - of the Com-
monwealth, and honourably maintained at the
public charge thereof, than disinherited by the
unkindness of the laws." He adds pathetically
—" What's_the reason so many of the best names
and families throughout the realm lie stinking in the
streets, covered with rags arid vermin, but that for
a fond and Lidle fancy of keeping up the name and
family, the whole inheritance is entailed on the first-
born, and nothing but poverty and misery on all the
rest of the blood and kindred, as if it were less dis-
credit to have many beggars than not to have one
gallant that is able to fly a hawk and keep up the
cry of hounds belonging to the family ? What mad-
. ness is it, that on the account of primogeniture the
whole estate should be swept away by one, who,
perhaps, is fitter to wear long coats and a fool's cap
than manage an estate, or bath not a grain more wit
than will just secure its being bag'd, while his most
ingenious brethren are either roosted under the ruins
of sonic smoky old cottage, or exposed as pension-
ers to be maintained by the cold charity of a wretch-
ed, miserable world ?" In fact the Law and Physic
would only do for the few possessed of talents. The
Protestant Church (as Bishop Warburton remarks)
was not entered by the higher orders till about the
middle of last century. But now the funds for our
great paupers are most ample, and with every in-
crease of these funds, the number of small paupers
receives a corresponding increase.—Morn. Chronicle.
The Jewish Disabilities Bill was lost last night,
the majority against the second reading being 22S
to 165. We are astonished that Sir E. Deering,
who, being a Kentishman, ought to know something
of the history of his native county, should have
admitted that the Jews had never persecuted for
eighteen hundred years. Is not crucifying persecu-
tion ? Doth not the learned Somner, a writer of
the highest authority, in his Antiquities of Canter-
bury, tell us that " the motives for the expulsion of
time Jews from this land were chiefly two; their im-
moderate usury, and their barbarous practice of
crucifying at places where they abode any Christian
child they could get about Easter time." In this
sceptical age, there is no point, however well
vouched, that is not questioned. Our Constitution
has had after ali a narrow escape this time. What
would become of us, as Lord Darlington sensibly
observed, if Turk, Jew, or Infidel should ever be-
come a Member of the Commons House. Minis-
ters have proved themselves on this occasion true
watchmen of Zion ! They have done enough al-

most to cause them sin in admitting the Catholics
and Dissenters within the pale of the Constitution.
—Morning Chronicle.

The " age of intellect," as the nineteenth cen-
tury has been pompously styled by a certain class of
writers, will ever be distinguished and disgraced in
future annals as the "age of bubbles"—the pre-
eminent era of knavery and delusion. The grave
and "thinking" people of this country are accus-
tomed to smile at the simplicity of barbarous tribes,
who, captivated by bits of painted glass, and other
glittering baubles, barter valuable property to cun-
ning adventurers for such worthless toys; but never
did the savage natives of the woods of America or
the islands of the Pacific exhibit more stupid igno-
rance and credulity, in their traffic with the crafty and
mercenary agents of European commerce, than the
wave and " thinking" people of England did in their
dealings with the joint-stock schemers a few years
ago, who sold them nicely-printed bits of paper, not as
valuable as Birmingham buttons and coloured beads,
for their solid cash. Some credit do we take to our-
selves for having, from the beginning of those nefari-
ous schemes, endeavoured to open the eyes of the pub-
lic to the true character and designs of their projec-
tors. We prophesied what would be the end of those
things when they were in their " high and palmy"
state, but, like Cassandra, we met with few or no
believers, for such was the infatuation of gambling
adventure which possessed the minds of men, that
' the voice of reason could no more repress the pre-
vailing folly which overspread the land than that
Canute could drive back the advancing waves of the
sea ; the influence of the moon was too powerful
for either. Unheeded reason has, however, an ef-
fective avenger—that is experience—and bitterly
did experience come at last. The golden dream
of universal and boundless wealth vanished as
suddenly as the palace of Aladdin. That " over-
flowing tide of prosperity," which Lord Goderich,
then Mr. Robinson, congratulated the country
upon, in one of those splendid exhibitions of finan-
cial wisdom with which he signalized his office as
Chancellor of the Exchequer, turned out to be an
"overflowing affliction," in which the eager and ava-
ricious hopes of thousands perished, who fancied it
would float them into the glittering " El Dorado"
of their bewitched imagination. Then there was
lamentation and mourning in all our streets, and many
a sorrowful communication did we receive from those
who regretted that they had not taken our advice
while they might yet have saved their property from
the rapacious grasp of the knaves and swindlers
whose artifices, assisted by the corrupt and venal
portion of the Press, had swept away the earnings
of long years of industry, and left their deluded vic-
tims, in its stead, those nicely-printed bits of paper,
which were worthy to be treasured as memorials of
folly, and nothing else. But, though the machinery
of joint-stock fraud then suffered a dreadful crash,
and came tumbling to the ground in all directions,
carrying magnificent plans of human prosperity in
confusion to the dust, yet the spirit which con-
trived such modes of deception and plunder has not
yet perished. It has since made its appearance
in a partial way, and in various shapes. There
are also newspapers base enough to lend themselves
to attempts to revive the ingenious iniquity of
Bubble Companies, and in some instances, although
we have cautioned the public from time to time
against those things, have done so with some suc-
cess. Among the most impudent of such schemes
of recent date appears to be that of the " Birming-
ham and London Junction Canal Bill," on which a
Committee of the House of Commons have been
sitting, and who have given in a report, the sub-
stance of which will be found in another column,
exemplifying the tricks and dishonest contrivances
by which the expert blowers of bubbles are ac-
customed to deceive the Legislature and dupe the
public. Among the resolutions to which the Com-
mittee have come, it will be seen, is the follow-
ing one: " That a great part of the said subscrip-
tion has been proved to represent needy and in-
digent persons of inferior station in life, deeply
engaged in Bubble Companies and gambling
transactions, and unable to pay the sum affixed
to their respective names in the said list.".
—The report also states, that the names of H.
Griffiths, Samuel Stone, and John Bellingham, en-
tered in the subscription list as subscribers, repre-
senting the gross sum of 7,000/. areficlilions names,
and fictitiously used, by a person in indigent circum-
stances, in letters applying for shares !—Again, it
states that the names of the petitioners, Richard
Paterson and William Thompson, respectable and
affluent members of the Stock Exchange, )appear to
the Committee to have been forged, or fraudulently
used in letters applying for shares; and, after stating
other acts of deception and fraud connected with the
"getting up" of this impudent scheme, concludes by
giving the following instruction :—" That the Chair-
man be instructed to move the House that the
minutes of the proceedings, and the evidence taken
before the Committee, be laid before the House,
and that the said minutes, with this report, do lie on
the table, and be printed ; and to move that the
report be early taken into consideration, that the
House may adopt such measures as it may deem meet
to vindicate its violated privileges and dignity, to
protect the public from a repetition of similar
fraudulent practices, and to devise an amendment
of the Standing Orders." We trust the parties
who have been at the bottom of this nefarious pro-
ject, and are still alive, whoever they may be, will
meet whatever punishment the House of Commons
can inflict upon them, in vindication of their outraged
dignity and violated privileges. We observe that
Mr. Dugdale, the Chairman of the Committee, has,
in pursuance of the instruction, given notice of a
motion, the object of which is to " put an end to
fictitious and gambling subscriptions by premium-
hunters and share-jobbers." If the Hon. Member
succeeded in causing the House to adopt severe
and effective regulations on this subject, he will
have conferred a great and substantial benefit on
society. Too often have spacious swindlers, who
would disgrace even the hulks, been enabled to at-
tain all that " elevation" which guilty riches and in-
famous distinction can confer, by deceiving the
Legislature, and making its forms auxiliary to the
success of gross frauds upon the public.—Morning
Herald.

The " Jews' Relief Bill" came on last night for
a second reading, and gave rise to a warm and ani-
mated debate. That a general prejudice exists in
this country against the admission of the Jews to,
all the rights and privileges of British subjects we
are fully aware. They are in this country a sope-
culiar people," as they always have been in every
other; but, on the other hand, it is but fair to them
to state, that for whatever of cunning, or craft, or
knavery, may be attributed to them, as a body,
they are mainly indebted to the severe enactments
which have been passed against them wherever
they have chosen to take up their abode. They
have, in fact, been an oppressed as well as a
peculiar people ; and oppression will as natu-
rally and surely beget cunning and overreach-
ing—trick and fraud—as fire will produce heat—
not that we mean to observe that the Jews, as a
body, are particularly distinguished for these virtues,
but simply, that they have got the reputation of
being so; and that while they continue to be ex-
cluded from the exercise of their natural rights arid
privileges, it is more than probable that they will be
distinguished by them. The only mode, in fact, in
which the character of a people can be improved,
is by placing before them proper objects of ambition
—by widening, instead of narrowing, the field of
industry and enterprize—by admitting to, instead of
excluding from, civil rights ; and, on the other hand,
if it be
.proposed to deteriorate it, no better mode
can be invented than that of depriving men of their
rights, which are enjoyed in full by their fellow-
citizens.—Morning Advertiser.

A man of the name of MA RTIN, a fisherman,
of Guernsey, lately disposed of his wife for the sum of
ed. 10s., for which he received a bill at three months,
drawn in a business-like form, from the present owner,
who it appears had made free with her during MAitures
absence.—.Hants Advertisor.

-07 " .19•4 A! Plf,
LAW INTELLIGENCE.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, MAY 17.
',ATHA 151 V. BARNETT.

Mr. Parrs on the part of the plaintiff in this case (one
of the partners in Messrs. Meux and Co.'s house) moved
for an order, ordering the sum of 20,500/. Three per
Cent. Consols, standing in the name of the defendant,
also one of the partners in Meux's house, to he trans-
ferred into the name of the firm of Mena and Co.,
and also that the Bank of England should he re-
strained from transferring that sum of stock to any
other parties. By the articles of partnership it was
stipulated that the cask of the house should be kept at
Messrs. Robarts and Co's., the bankers, each of the part-
ners having the power to draw it out for the purposes of
the trade, entering the particulars of all payments in the
books of the house immediately afterwards ; all se-
curities were also to be in the name of the
firm. Without the knowledge of Ms-. Latham,
the other partners had advanced to a house of the name of
Field and Co. upwards of 18,0001. at 3 per cent., the
entry of which had not been properly made in the part-
nership-books, or, if it had been, it had been done in such
a way as entirely to keep Mr. Latham ignorant of the
transaction. The answer of the defendants contended
that the whole transaction was for the benefit of the firm,
and necessary for the jurposes of the trade, in that it was
the constant practice of the house to make such advances
under similar circumstances.

The VICE-CHANCELLOR dismissed the motion, observ-
ing that the Court could not interfere, when it was sworn
that a practice, although contrary to the articles of part-
nership, was what the partners were in the constant habit
of doing.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.