The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We are not of the number of those who have
what may be called a Credit°-phobia, aonceiving
that credit is the natural offspring of industry and
he confidence which always follows in the train of
industry. In a country like England, iu which a
hundred accidents are continually causing revolu-
iuns in business, in which, fur inqance, the expected
•lea:h of a King in the period of the year when
e:,untry dealers usually make their spring parchases,
causes a sacrifice of property and happiness, eval-
pared with which the immolations of human beings
nu the tombs of Eastern Monarchs is a bagatelle,
who shall say that credit may not often be neces-
:ary and beneficial ? But credit, like every thing
may be abused ; and there can be no doubt
that there are peculiarities in oar Law of Debtor
and Creditor which very much tend to an abuse of
it. That credit may be useful it should be exercist.,l
with prudence. By the porter of arrest, before
Insolvent Acts were passed, the • security against
Anse of credit was materially different from what it

now is. The creditor then knew that he had the
power of punishing a debtor, with a severity equal
to the punishment for the heaviest crimes; and the
debtor who took credit without a probability of
being able to pay, delivered himself over, bound neck
and heel, to his creditor. But at present this diced
no longer exists. The frequency of the appheat ions
for relief to the Insolvent Debtors' Court proves but
too clearly that imprisonment is ROW little dreaded,
and effords a hold to the creditor which fails him
rebut he puts it to the test. Perhaps, therefore, it
would be better for all parties that a seestrity, which
turns out to be none but Which operates to diminish
the elution of creditors, should be withdrawn from
them. On this subject. there are souse sensible re-
marks in the new and improved edition of Hr.
M'Culloch's Principles of. Political Estostotay.-
" It is said (lie observes) that the fear of imprisonment
operates as a cheek to prevent perains from getting into
debt ; and so, no doubt, it does. But then it mu►t, o■ the
other band, be borne in mind, that the power to imprison
tempts individuals to trust to its influence to enforce pay-
ment of their claims, and makes them less cautious in their
inquiries as to the condition and circumstanues of those to
whom they give credit. The carelessness of tradesuirn,
and their extreme earnestness to obtain custom, are taste
than anything else the great causes of inaolveney ; and
the power of imprisoning merely tends to foster and en_
courage those habits. If a tradesman trust an individual
with a loan of money or goods which he is unable to re-
pay, he has made a bed speculation. Bat why ought he,
because be has done so, to be allowed to arrest the debtor's
prison ? If he wished to have perfect security, he either
should not have dealt with him at all, or dealt with him
only for ready money ; such transaetions are, on the paw•t
of tradesmen, perfectly voluntary ; and if they place!
undue confidence in a debtor who has not misled thetra by
erroneous representations of his affairs; they tave theat-
selves only to blame. It would realty-, therefore, a• it ap-
pears to me, be for the advantage tif creditors, 'wekia sit
penal proceedings against the persons of honest debtor;
abolished. The dependence placed on their efficacy is ee-
ceitful. A tradesman ought rather to trust to his oars
prudence and sagseity to keep him out of serapes, thou to
the law for redress ; he may deal upon credit with thins•
whom he knows, but he should deal for ready money Grliv
with those of whose circumstances and charawers he is
either ignorant or auspicious. By bringing penal St,ittite4
to his aid, he is rendered remiss and negligent. lie Las
the only effectual means of security in his own hand; and
it seems highly inexpedient that he should be taught to
neglect them, and to put his trust in pt isous."
The " extreme earnestness to obtain custom," of
which Mr. M'Culloch speaks, leans unquestionably
to a great abuse of credit. Of this we have a writ:-
ing instance, in a case tried in the King's Bench, on
Thursday last. Gargrave,an attorney, was surd by
Rowlands, a jeweller, for 1681. Ss., the balance ref
2291. is., for various articles of plate, jewels, and
trinkets, all, with the exception of one item, sup-
plied to the defendant's wife without his knowledge.
One of the items was " Emerald and diamond ear-
rings, 36/." The plaintiff's son, on his eross-exami-
nation, admitted that his father bad first applied for
payment to Mrs. Gargrave; that "he had applied
to see her perhaps as many as a dozen times, and on
being informed. that she was out of tone, the plain-
tiff wrote to her, and the letter was delivered to the
defendant's set rant, who promised to havie, it for-
warded to ,her. No application for payment was
made to the defendant until all attempts at proeur-
ing► payment from Mrs. Gargrave .hod failed. The
account was made out iu her name." Miss Adams,
a witness for the defendant, stated, " Ira Mart'h,
1828, I accompanied Mrs. Gargrave to Mr, Row-
lands' shop. Mrs. Gargrave looked at a clock and
a ring. Mr. Rowlands mentioned the price of the
ring (12 guineas), arid she said she could not afford
it. He pressed it upon her, hut she objected to
take it, saying her husband would never pay for it.
He said You take it; I wou't look to your hue-
band for the money; She would not take it." It
appeared that the defendant allowed his wife ten
pounds a quarter for dress, besides occasional pre-
sents, a sum quite sufficient fora person in his station
of life (the wife of an attorney.) Now nothing can
be more clear than that credit was here most im-
properly given. It was observed by the Attorney-
General " that if the practice of giriug credit to
wives for articles of extravagant price without the
knowledge of their husbands were allowed, the wife
might go to forty jewellers, and order similar
ankles, to a great or greater amount for their oval
persona, and the husbands would be liable." Lord
Chief Justice Tenterden, in his charge to the Jury,
observed that " he was one of those who had for
many years thought that the facility with which pet-
sons in this great metropolis could obtain credit
wets an evil of vast magnitude, and that it would be
useful to teach tradesmen to be more cautious whom
they trusted." The Learned Judge, in recapitulatlog
the evidence, observed that—

" There was no evidence to show that any the plate
sold by the plaintiff to the wife was ever used at the de-
fendant's house, or ever seen there ; 'nor did it app: sr that
the defendant ever saw any of the trinkets purchased by
the wife, or that she ever wore one of them. Then
respect to the applications for payment they had been all
made to the wife; and it was not until the plaintiff hart
failed in kite expectations of revolving payment from her,
that Ike applied to the husband. If he had supposed that
thy defendant was chargeable with the articles, one would
have thought that he would have made application to Lim
in the first instance ; and hia met doing se was, perhaps,
only to be accounted fox by the fast swim! by Wits Adams
—that he did not inteud, at the time the goods were
furnished, to look to the defendant for paysmint.7
This particular abuse of credit does not arise oat
of the power to imprison, bat of a,persitasion among
tradesmen that, as they chiefly odustitute the Ju-
ries, they WI bend the law to Ahcir own purposes ;
and provided a husband has property, they may
always clandestinely lttrnish the wife with goods to
an extent whic.ll that property rail cover. Thou-
sands upon thousands of individuals with the fair, at
prospects in this metropolis have been ruined LF
tradesmen giving extensive credit to their Witeo
without their kno,. ledge. It is one of the eels of
Trial by Jury, that the tradanneu who aottipc,se the
Juries are in an undv:itanding to protect each other,
and uniformly fiiid verdicts contrary in the 1.4c0n,_
mendations of the Judge. The only ehatice for justice
wii.ch one who is not a tradesman bas in an %c:iati
with a tradesman, is to move for new trials, until he,
obtain a Jury in which there may be some intli'ifet•-
,-.1,t person:. In this ett.e, in which Lord Chief
Jtot;ce • Tenterden char4ed so strongly against th©
pla'ntiff, the Jury 'Ltd made up their minds to &rid
verdict for the plaintiff without troubling .k4O
Judge with his charge. This spoke volumes,
Lordship having a pretty good guess of wig theit•
verdict %would be, told them is would he aaore aa-
ii,factory that he should sum up, After tae had
-unlined tip, perceiving that :La Jury would find for
the plaintiff, he again interposed, and said, " Gm:-
ilea:en, there is no proof that the tot-hand ever had
possesiiicat of any oldie plate, 0:r ever saw it; (ouch

less did he see the trinkets, which were never worn
by the wife in his presence." But all this was of no
avail; the Jury, after consulting together for a few mi-
nutes, found for the plaintiff for the whole amount of
the balance claimed. The case of Mr. Espinasse, who,
in a• case of abusive credit, was obliged to move
Ores times for a new trial, shows how intimately
this improper credit is connected with the know-
ledge pOseseseed by tradesmen of their power,
PA Jurymen, of taking the law into their own
hands. One of the reasons urged for placing the
law of Ireland on a different footing from that of
England with revect to sub-letting, was, that no
Jury in Ireland Watld give effect .to the stipulations
in a lease or corinent; when against a tenant. If it
be wished to protect the public against invasions of
property, through abuses of credit, which cannot be
guarded against by any degree of prudence, a devia-
tion from the ortniary mode of forming Juries should
be resorted to. As well try a case between a revenue
officer and a smuggler by a Jury of smugglers, as a
case between a tradesman and a gentleman by a Jury
of tradesmen. Every tradesman should be carefully
kept out of the Jury.—There can be no question,
that the law never contemplated that one man should
be completely at the mercy of another, who chooses
to task his ingenuity to tempt his wife with what
few women can resist—with costly ornaments.
Women, whether civilised or savage, are little able
to resist the desire of finery. All our circumnavigators
used to take care to have a good assortment of feathers,
beads, &e. Mr. Herriott, in his struggles through life,
tells us that he found a leather always sufficient to
gain from an Indian savage his mistress. Against this,
all-powerful passion for finery in the fair sex, the law
his interposed for the protection of the husband;
but in vain does the law throw its shield around him,
if tradesmen are to be judges in their own cause.—
Hence few men bare 'courage to come forward,
like Mr. Espinasse and Mr. Gargrave, to expose
their wives I Many an estate has been taken from
the owner through the artifices of tradesmen with
silly women, and the unwillingness of husbands to
go to law, when the consequence is the exposure of
their wives. What are the depredations against
property, for which we appoint a police, compared
_with the invasions of tradesmen ? Shopkeepers
ought to be taught that they are not at liberty to
ruin men through the instrumentality of their wives;
and that if they will sell to women without the
knowledge of their husbands, it is at their own risk.
This is en abuse of credit that calls loudly for a re-
medy. It is an abuse peculiar to England. What
a history the Insolvent Debtors Court would give
of wido-spread ruin, through the readiness of trades-
men to give finery on credit to wives, if the cases
of that Court could be but thoroughly known !
Morning Chroni:le.
We insert some extrae:s from the Kingston Pa-
ts lot, a Paper published by a Member of the House
of Assembly of Upper Canada, because they relate
to a subject of considerable importance to our co-
lonial and general commerce. It appears that Mr.
Buchanan, the British Consul at New York, had
been accused of making some propositions to Go,
ye:lament fur opening the navigation of the liver St.
Lawrence in favour of the United States, along the
whole line of that great river to the ocean ; that the
Canadian Legislature took umbrage at this scheme,
and passed a resolution of censure on Mr. Buchanan,
fur having " too successfully misrepresented the in-
terests" of the colony, and having held out advan-
tages as likely to accrue from the measure, which,
in the opinion of the House of Assembly, was a
chimerical; impolitic, and absurd one. In the letter
of the British Consul, which will be found below,
that gentleman neither admits the charge of having
suggested the change of poliey in question to Go-
vernment, nor do we conceive that be was bound to
do so. A Consul is responsible to Government
alone for the erroneous information or opinions
which he may convey to it : and there does not
seem to be a great deal of sense or decency in a
motion for recording upon the journals of the House
of Assembly a violent though informal accusation
against "a public functionary of Great Britain, who
had no duty to execute with regard to Canada, save
only that of protecting such of the colonial ships as
acight enter for commercial purposes the port of
New York, and was in no manner amenable to the
House of Assembly for his communications, whether
open or confidential, with his Majesty's Ministers in
this country. With respect to the proposal itself
for opening the St. Lawrence to United States' ex-
ports,
we consider it one of but questionable value.
The • author of it, who we assume is no other than
'Tr. Buchanan, however unbecoming it may have
teen in the Canadian Assembly to stigmatise him
formally on similar grounds, recommends the mea-
sure for its tendencies, political and commercial.—
The political argument is founded on the command-
ing position of Quebec, which would at all times
leave it in the power of England to seal up the St.
Lawrence at a minute's notice, when she might have
sufficient inducement fur doing so, and the deep
stake which the northern and western states of the
'Republic must thenceforth feel in the maintenance of
uninterrupted peace with England, in whose hands
would be laeki the key of so fruitful a commerce.
Let the Americans bordering on, or connected with,
the lakes and liver, feel they have an interest in the open
trade of the river, and the general government of the
United Statek will find it difficult to enter into a war so
long as we possess Quebec, thereby wielding such power
of checking or promoting the interests of their commerce;
nor will they readily support any President, or any mea-
. scree which may endanger their commercial prosperity.
Ilia to leave tbess high and momentous questions to the
statOtuan, it may be fitter to meet the objections which
will flew- from the adoption of the proposed measure."
The cemenercial object held out is, to draw the
trade of the western states of the Union from the
course of the Mississippi to those of the St. Law-
rence, aud to establish an easy access to the republi-
can markets, for a variety of articles which are now
prohibited, as well by the tariff which the Ameri-
cium have imposed upon themselves, as by the clos-
;ps tip tha route of the river through British policy.
But 3/Yg3 do not believe that the St. Lawrence could
ever sustain an equal rivalehip with the Mississippi
els a channel for the transit of commodities---Ist,
because the northern river does not flow through
legions so inexhaustibly rich and fertile ; 2d, be-
cause (end it seems unaccountable that Mr. Bu-
chenan should never have touched upon a circum-
stance so obvious and important) the Mississippi
is navigable at all seasons of the year, while
for nearly eight months out of twelve the St.
Lawrence is frozen up and impassable. It is by the
route of the Misissippi, therefore, that goods from
the western states will be despatched of necessity
for two-thirds of the year, and, during the short
remainder, from habit. An objection to Mr. Bu-
ehanati's plan which, with us ut least, ristist be al-
lowed to go for something, is, that the Canadians
themielves ate averse to it, and have exhibited
strong proofs to Mr. Buchanan of the indignation
and alarm with which his proposal has inspired them.
Even admitting that the privilege of transit by the
eq. Lawrence were to ceder upon the United States
facilities superior to those. presented to them by the
Misissippi, it is not calf-evident that we are bound
to grant to the commerce of the United States an
unrecompensed participation in those ad vent ages
which are now in the exclusive possession of Eng.
land and hLr colonies. It would be (Efferent if
America were to give us any reciprocal benefit, but
to be merely un an equoVfooting with the English
will not, so far as we can judge by experience, at
all satisfy the republican desires.
(From the Kingston Patriot, edited by Mr. Dalton,
Member of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada.)
COFY OF A LITTER raosi J. BUCHANAN, ESQ., TO THE

brE.amia Os THE HOUSR OF AStiRMBLY OF UPPER

cANADA.

" Ilia Majesty's Consulate, New York, Jan 26
" In the proceedings of the Houle of Assembly on
the 18th iust., a resolution appears to have been offered in
relation to the West India trade, and free navigation of the
St. Lawrence, i• which the following appears :
.# ' We have reason to fear our colonial interest may have
limn bat too successfully misrepresented—the more so, as
our Cori at New York has stated advantages as likely to

accrue, which r:lran to us altogether chimerical, imp Aitie,
and absurd.'

" II the right due to the humblest subject of his ?,:a-
jesty, namely, the right of being heard before condemned,
prevails in Canada, I have reason to complain it has not
been extended to me in this instance.

" I am not an are of having ever advocated any policy
that I fear to avow; and I feel conscious of never having,
to obtain the favour of others, advised any system that had
not British interest, Pritish connexion, and the prosperity
of Canada in view.

"My unwearied exertions in behalf of Canada, the
thousands of industrious and loyal settlers I have been
mainly instrumental in sending thither, and the fact of
having adopted it for the country of my children, are too
well known, I should Lope, to require any effort to prove
my devotion to the province.
" It is presumed, that before a grave assembly pro-
nounces a censure upon a public servant of his Majesty,
not subject to their controul, evidence should have been
adduced to justify it. I had, before this imputation was
cast upon me, hoped I was so well known to several mem-
bers of your Honourable House, and to the people of
Canada at large, that I should have been the last indi-
vidual deemed capable of successfully misrepresenting'
or betraying the interests of the province.
" If any expression herein, Sir, should appear in any
way disrespectful, I beg leave to disclaim any such inten.
tion; and I humbly hope that what is just will be done.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble
servant,

(Signed) " JAMES BUCHANAN."
" REafaxxs.—lt appears to me that the proper way,
'or Mr. Buchanan to meet this matter is, to declare whether
or not he is the person who submitt:i to the British Go-
eernment the plan of giving to the United States the free
navigation of the St. Lawrence to the ocean, in exchange for
the privilege of sending flax seed to Ireland by way of New
York. Has he submitted any plan at all? It is asserted
in the Times newspaper that a Mr. Buchanan, a British
commercial functionary at New York, has submitted a
plan, of which the propositions above named form the prin-
cipal features. Mr. Buchanan either is, or is not, the
person alluded to. If he is nut the person, and has sub-
mitted no plan, he should say so ; and if he be the person
and have submitted a plan, he should be ingenious enough
to let those provinces know what his plan is, that it may
undergo discussion on the spot whereon it is to be operative.
" However acute and sagacious a person may be, the
world has become wise enough to think, that the sugges-
tions of no individual whatever should pass7as the ground-
work of legislation without examination. However much
it may be thought a proof of cunning in any one to offer
plans for the regulation of the commerce of a distant
people, without previous consultation with that people, it
will never be judged to be proof of his wisdom or his can-
dour. If Mr. Buchanan has really had the folly to make
the propositions to the British Government, imputed to a
British commercial functionary, he can hardly be supposed
to possess the penetration necessary to perceive the propriety
of their public and utter reprobation. The resolution,
however, offered to the House, was not adopted, but
amended to suit the exactly-alleged fact of the case. The
disapprobation of the House of Assembly is levelled at the
misrepresentations of a British commercial functionary ;
and Mr. Buchanan, the British Consul at New York,
knows whether or not he is the man. If he be the man,
lie has nothing to complain of; and if he be not, let him
so assert. It is well known that many of his Majesty's
colonies have, at various times, suffered egregious wrongs
from false legislation founded on the information of persons
assuming to know the interests of the people better than
themselves. It is always much easier to commit errors
than to repair their consequences. "T. D."—Times.

The popular nature of the institutions of England
is not more overrated on the Continent than it is

ill understood at home. How frequently do we
meet foreigners who express the utmost admiration
of what is called the liberty of the press, the right
of free discussion, the publicity of judicial proceed-
ings, the openness of Parliamentary debates, and the
facility given by both Houses to the conveyance of
all that is said and done therein to the public. All

this appears beautiful and attractive enough like
some virgin queen of the drama when looked upon
at a respectful distance. " This must be a free
country !" might be a natural exclamation in a man
whO for the first time surveys London from the top
of St. Paul's at noon-day. He sees a vast mass of
moving things all driven against each other accord-
ing to the established principles of equality and re-
ciprocity ; the peer jostling the chimney-sweep, the
driver of a soap-cart taking the wall of a duchess in
her carriage, and not even a gendarme keeping
order in the streets. These gentry have not yet pe-
netrated into the city. He might, on descending
from St. Paul's, take tip a newspaper, look at the
Parliamentary debates and the police reports, see
some Honourable Member called an apostate, and
some not much less honourable lady called a drab
or a thief, and he might again exclaim—" 'lbis must
be a free country I" Next he should visit the Old
Bailey, and, after seeing twelve citizen cordwainers
sitting in judgment upon a case of bigamy or bur-
glary, he might, for a third time exclaim—" This
772115 i be a free country !" If he should walk the
following day into the Sheriff's Court, he might see
the same twelve shoemakers trying an action for
crier. con., wherein Jeremy Huggins, Esquire, reco-
vers, by virtue of their verdict, two thousand pounds
from Captain Jonathan Longbow, for ridding him
of a wife who was a nuisance to her husband and a
disgrace to her sex—and he would, perhaps, exclaim
a fourth time—" Heavens I what a delightful coun-
try I" There are many people who inhabit these
islands, and who are considered sensible enough
persons in their way, who estimate English liberty
by the same rule, and see it through the same
gross abd delusive medium. The liberty that
is said to exist in England is a fiction. It is
not guaranteed or ensured to us by any charter
which is recognised, by any bill ef rigt is which
is not deemed obsolete, or by any Act of Parlia-
ment that is capable of being rendered intelligible.
The liberty we enjoy is actually obtained by an in-
fraction of the laws. We are freemen because we
live in England in a state of rebellion, and usurp,
er force, that which the laws withhold. For in-
stance, the reports of Parliament are stolen. The
man who takes them knows he is committing a soft
of larceny, called breach of privilege, for which he
is liable to he sent to gaol, on a moment's notice,
and without even the benefit of a trial. The per-
son who writes reports at Bow-street is liable to be
turned out of the office should the Magistrate
feel so inclined. A Judge, by his fiat, can
clear his court and hear the case before
him without a public audience. The twelve men
who are called independent jurymen, never,
in one case out of a thousand, have any
opinion of their own, or if they have, the force of
subserviency induces them to yield it to the sup-
posed better judgment of the Judge. Every man
who owns or writes in a newspaper retains his pro-
perty or publishes his opinions with something like
a halter about his neck. Truth in England is a
libel. The greater the lie the less the libel, accord-
ing to the admitted rule that the greater the truth
the greater the libel. If you speak the truth con-
cerning a public functionary, or even the greatest
villain upon earth, you are liable to imprisonment
for a few years, and a fine which it may be impos-
sible for you ever to pay. There is no statute law
on the subject. The offending party is at the mercy
of the couit—the court is paid by the Crown—the
Judges are promoted by the Minister—and there-
fore, if the offence be political, woe be unto him
who dares to speak the truth. If you presume to
laugh at a Cabinet Minister you are liable to be
seized at a moment's notice and held to bail, which
means being committed to prison, to answer a charge
which is not propounded till it suits the conve-
nience of an official pettifogger called the Attorney-
General. Every man who walks the streets of
London is liable to be seized by a ferocious-look'ng
rogue, with spattered top-boots and a dirty face,
committed to a spunging-house, where he is
robbed, by virtue of a writ obtained by a fraudu-
lent attorney, who is no attorney at all, on the
ground that you owe a small debt to a person
whom you never !lewd of. It is true that if the
arrest be illegal you have what some professional
scoundrel calls a remedy, but from feat, shame, and
exposure you may cut your throat meanwhile. A
hackney-coachman can rob you, and dun abuse
you for not submitting quietly to the robbery.
• You have your remedy of course. It costs yots
some hours' annoyance and the risk of a typhus
fever to recover the half-crown which you were

overcharged. The raged may be fined five shil-
lings or a pound ; but what is that to you ? If the
butcher to whom you owe a few pounds happens
to overreach you, which he is likely to de, you
may demur to his unjust bill, but he arrests you
at half-past eleven o'clock on a Saturday night,
and you must either pay, get bail, pay heavy fees,
or go to the detestable spunging-house aforesaid.
This is what is called English liberty! These are
the blessings of a free country I This is the
system that works well ! These the privileges
which our bold barons wrested from the tyrant
King John This the legacy of our ancestors !
These are the rights and immunities which render
us the freest, happiest, proudest, and most enlight-
ened people on the face of the earth ! This is the
honour we derive from being the electors of the
noblest assembly of freemen in the world!—
Gracious Heaven ! was there ever such profanation ?
Was the human language ever so prostituted before ?
English law is the most atrocious tyranny in the
world, and knglish justice, to the disgrace of Eng-
land be it said, is rarely worth its cost. In the first
place there is no such thing as justice within the
reach of the poor. If a poor man, living on the con-
fines of a rich man's estate, have a cottage and a
paddock which the latter wishes to possess, it is his
from the birth of the wish. It is better to give it to
him on his own terms than go into Chancery to bear
the expence and wait the judgment of a Chancellor
who is a total stranger to equity. If you are falsely
arrested, and shut up in a legal brothel, it is better
to bear the disgrace and tolerate the insult than go
to law with the rogue who injured you. You may
recover fifty pounds damages at an expence of a
hundred, excluiive of the cost of time, anxiety;
hackney-coaehes, and Wellington boots. Our po-
litical institutions are as execrable as our laws. One
man sitting on a woolsack at Westminster has the
power of reversing the decisions of all the Judges
of Scotland and Ireland, and that upon questions
which he it supposed to decide the more impartially,
simply because, he does not understand them.
Where ignorance is power 'tis 'folly to be learned.
We are supposed, as a people, to have the privilege
of electing our representatives. This also is a fic-
tion. Sir Massey Lopez, an apostate Jew, who has
been in gaol for sundry, gross, and nefarious acts of
corruption, can send as many Members' to Par-
liament as the whole county of Middlesex or the
county of Kent. The mayor of Dartmouth, who
is self-elected, can send as many members as the
county of Devon. Nay, what is worse in this
instance, the Member elects the Mayor and the
Mayor the Member. An old woman who is blind,
anti a little non compus, can send her two Members
as well as the citizens of Bristol. The borough
members of Scotland are returned by about a dozen
old half-crazy and tippling bailies. The Anti-Slavery
Society, being composed of pious persons, bought a
seat for one of their canting members the other day
from a retiring Glasgow merchant. We know an
Irish Baronet whose borough has been in pawn for
the last twenty years, his bankers returning the Mem-
bers, and advancing the price to the Baronet from
five to seven years before their accession to Parlia-
mentary honours. Many patriots sit in the House
by virtue of contracts founded in fraud. We know
one Honourable Member who very nearly lost his
seat last election from being over liberal. He sent
a hundred pounds more than lie bargained for;
through mistake of course ; but a certain portion of
the burgesses, thinking that the negotiators had been
acting collusively, threatened to return another man.
The mistake was explained, and an additional 50/.
provided a dinner, at which the second toast was—
' " The independent electors of !!!" These
are foul, repulsive, and degrading blots in our elec-
tive system, which one day, sooner or later, must
be eradicated by the ordeal of a terrible convulsion.
And yet the English people are so besotted that
they never lose an opportunity to force such insti-
tutions and such laws upon foreign states. Every
monster in society, the more hideous he is, is the
more desirous to procreate his deformities. It is
from this principle, or rather from this instinct, that
the British spare no means in thrusting their cor-
rupt and demoralizing systems down the throats of
foreign nations and dependent colonies. We gave
a constitution to Portugal—we are giving tinkers'
law, trial by jury, to the Maltese. The object of all
this is either to gain an ascendancy for our-
selves, or forward the views of needy lawyers
whom we deport to. the colonies. Even what
are called our legal improvements at home all
originate is the same sonnets of selfishness.
Sir James Scarlett's alterations are calculated
to bring more fees to him. The abolition of
the Welsh Courts is to increase business in
Westminster-hall. The Chancellor's embryo new
Judge is a matter of patronage and self-relief.
Trial by Jury in Scotland was considered a boon,
vulgus a fee, to the Edinburgh bar. The people
did not require it—they never asked for it—they
now detest it. The contemplated increase in the
salaries of the Scotch Judges is a mere job. For
what they perform they are already too well paid.
The abolition of the Consistory Court is an attempt
to amalgamate the Scotch law of marriage and di-
vorce with that of England, which is an insult to
common sense, and which is made to privilege the
rich and exclude the poor from any participation in
its benefits. One object is to make the Judges of
Scotland more powerful and independent than the
Nobility and Gentry with whom they associate.
Scotland is suffering extreme distress, and yet
this time is chosen to augment the salaries of
the Judges and heap heavier buithens on the
people. The Scotch Judges are at present much
better paid, in reference to the income of the
aristocracy of Scotland, than the English Judges
with higher salaries are to the same class in Eng-
land. In 1774 the Lord Justice Clerk received
500/. as Justice, and 700/. as Lord of Session ; in
all 1,2001.; whereas at present he receives 4,0001.,
and 8001. for his son, who fills a subordinate situa-
tion. The office of Lord Justice Clerk in 1806,
and preceding years, during the paper currency, was
1,1001, and as a Lord of Justiciary, 1,2801.,—in all
2,3801., besides the attached office enjoyed by his
son. The present Judge receives 4,0001., and 8001
for his son. This we say is too bad, arid yet these
greedy dignitaries of the Court of Session. ask for
more, at a time whets the income of every proprietor
in Scotland and the price of every article of pro-
duce are rapidly falling. We say this is a shame,
and the word we are sure will be echoed on
every hill and in every dale in Scotland.—
The object of all just Governments is to render
justice as cheap as possible. It is an unjust
Government, therefore, which taxes justice. The
English lawyers, from vanity, from ignorance,
and from a love of dictation, deem their forms of
legal proceedings the purest and the best in the
worl'i. They wish, therefore, to extend them to other
countries. They are, nevertheless, just the reverse.
The Government tax these forms, and the bad
system becomes a source of revenue. They natu-
rally for this reason join the English lawyers in ex-
tending these taxed forms to Scotland. The Scotch
lawyers acquiesce, because they consider them likely
to be more profitable. It is trite the people murmur
—they bate the system ; but the people are nothing
—the lawyers and the revenue are every thins.— -
The same oppression is menaced towards Ireland.
The Government have resolved to equalize the stamp
duties, and make justice as dear in Ireland as it is in
England. But what is attainable here is inaccessible
in Ireland. What is dear here is ruinous there.
The Irish are the poorest people on the face of the
earth, and yet they are called upon to pay as heavily
for their justice as the English. Mr. O'Connell, in
a speech on this subject, very truly observes
J object to stamps being put upon legal proceedings
at all. It is in my o; inion not only a violation of the
letter but the very spirit of Magna Charta, by which the
King continued upon his throne, and those who succeeded
him, on condition of not selling justice to anybody. /
do not mean by selling justice that Judges were not to take
bribes frim either party, for this would be, with the ma-
jority of them, selling injustice, and not justice. By
putting a stains duty upon legal proceedings you make a
man pay for justice. Government, I say, ought to ad-
minister justice without its costing the subject one farthing.

Tn the imposition of stamp duties there is a direet viola-
tioa of that which is most necessary to be performed.—
(Hear. )—What has been the great evil of Ireland ? That
the poor people have not bad money enough at command to
enable them to incur the expense of paying the stamp
duties that are imposed upon the necessary transactions in
which they were engaged, and the consequence is that
they have been satisfied to accept, instead of leases, pro-
posals on what they call plain paper, and when they came
to require a specific execution of them they must
pay a penalty of 201., and it is not pos.ible for the
poor man to pay that, and there is no remedy for him.—
There is another duty which is found most injurious—the
stamp upon awards. The people would be glad to settle
their disputes by arbitration, and if a stamp were not
necessary the award of the arbitrator must be obligatory
upon the parties. If a civil Bill were brought it would be
a substantial defence or an irresistible ground for an action;
but a twenty-shilling stamp is required for the lowest
award. Now, every one who knows the peasantry knows
that the most of their disputes are for sums of money
which in general do not exceed five, ten, and twenty
shillings, and for an award upon every one of these there
would be required a twenty-shilling stamp. Even as it
was the stamp duty was felt to be a dreadful grievance to
the people here, and that has now been aggravated by an
increase upon stamps of every kind and description.
England is one of the wealthiest, Ireland one of the poor-
est, countries in the world ; and they compliment Ireland
by taxing its pecuniary dealings, its legal proceedings, and
every transaction, to the same extent that they are in
England."
So much for this all-important subject. We find
we have already trespassed too far on our limit•,
and perhaps as far on the patience of our readers ;
but it is now time to speak out plainly on these
matters. It is, therefore, our intention to return to
them.—Morning Journal.

A return was printed the other day of " the num-
ber of Midshipmen promoted to the rank of Lieu-
tenants in the Royal Navy; of the number of Lieu-
tenants promoted to be Commanders ; of the num-
ber of Commanders promoted to the rank of Cap-
tain, in each year between the Ist January, 1828,
and the Ist January, 1830; and of the number of
Officers in the Royal Navy on the Ist January, in
the years 1828, 1829, and 1830 :—Of the number
of Gentlemen appointed to First Commissions; of
the number of Promotions of Lieutenants to be
Captains ; of Captains to be Majors, and of Majors
to be Lieutenant• Colonels, in the Royal Mantles,
in each year, from the 25th Jan. 1827, to the 25th
Jan. 1830; of the number of Officers on Full and
on Half-pay, in each year, on the Ist Jan. 1828,
1829, and 1830 ; of the number of officers who have
been brought from Half-pay to Full Pay, in each
year, from Ist January, 1827, to Ist January, 1830;
and of all Officers who have been allowed to sell
their Full Pay Commissions, since the 21st Febru-
ary, 1827,"—which, if any thing could possibly
prove to the people of England how sadly their
affairs are occasionally mismanaged, and the interests
of families and individuals preferred to those of the
public would assuredly demonstrate it. In the list
of Midshipmen, Lieutenants, and Captains we meet
in almost every page with the names of Tollemache,
Fitzroy, Kepple, Grey, Codrington, Wellesley, De
Roos, Russell, Hay, Courtenay• and numerous
other " Sirs and Honourables," whose names
may be set down as fashionable, and their pa-
trons as supporters of the Government, either
now or in time past. What is also worthy of
remark is, that these " Honourables and Right
Honourables, seem to be possessed of much
greater talent than their humbler and less fashion-
able colleagues. For instance, among the number
of Commanders we find that the Hon. William
Wellesley was promoted to that rank on the 2d
of January, 1828, although he had only become a
Lieutenant in 1825; while his next neighbour in
the return, who was a Lieutenant in 1800, was only
honoured with the same promotion in the same
year ! Charles Henry Paget and Lord Henry Paulet
shewed, unquestionably, equal abilities, and honoured
of course, with similar promotion ; and, were we
inclined, we might continue the list ad infinitum.
Were we to judge, in fact, from the details of the
return, the whole talent ,of the country seems to be
vested in the Aristocracy, and the absence of it to
be chargeable, somewhat oddly, to the score of the
middling classes. But is such the fact 2—M. Adv.