The Sun.
London, England, 1830-12-03 00:00:00

that he would confer further facilities of abuse; and
are not the motives by which the Bishops arepot.o.
rionfly governed:in the distribution' of theli oßiJit
preferments, such As make every lamest men regret
they` should pniseis rather than desire to give then!
more ? These are not the times to augment the
direct influence of the Church. Every man's voice
is raised against its inordinate wealth and power;
yet here eve have the man of the people employing
his pewly acquired authority for their extension.
Happily a considerable portion of the patronage of
the Church is in lay bands. Why should the Chan-
celler be the first layman to make a cession of his
to the Bishops ? If such a cession be meritorious
in him, why not alike meritorious in the case of
every owner of an ndvowson ? Far better would
it have been for Lord Brougham to starch out, at
whatever pains, the neglected curates, martyrs to
liberal sentiment, or independent character, whom
successive Bishops have passed over in every diocese
for the purpose of preferring toed-eaters and tuft
hunters, and the graceless minions of Aristocracy.
—llforning Chronicle.

There is in England no law for the poor; the
place of it is supplied by discretionary power. We
are tit length beginning to suffer from the conse-
quence of this abandonment of our more humble
brethren.. '• We find that all feeling, all sense of in.
justice is not confined to men who are possessed •of
wealth ; and that if we close against them the doors
of Courts of Justice, we drive them to the indul-
gence of vengeance, which 'Lord Bacon cells u wild
justice. It is well observed by Mr. Forsyth, a
Scotch Barrister, in the Evidence in the Report of
the Scotch Commissioners (1821),
" That it is a dangerous error to imagine that when
men are put to silence, and withdrawtheir disputes from
aversion to the tribunal, whether well or ill-founded, the
Judges are at liberty to congratulate themselves on getting
quit of trouble. Litigation, like everything human, has
inconvenience and evil incident to it. But it is the best
remedy hitherto discovered for worse evils ; it is the
physic that prevents the fever. If . men do not get
their complaints listened to, and justice done is a way
that seems to themselves or their neighbours bads.
factory, the peace of the community is undermined, and
angry passions are fostered. The frame and institution:
of society become an object of dislike. And let it not
be supposed, that by civilization we are placed beyond
hasaid from the consequences. The continental philo-
sophers of Europe, thirty-two years ago, were talking of
the effect of civilization, prosperity, and luxury in sinking
nations into apathy and effeminacy, when they were stand-
ing on the shell of a volcano about to burst below their
• feet, and to let forth the most tremendous ebullition of hu-
man passion that any age had exhibited. Look to Ireland
—look to our own country before the improvement of our
institutions, and a fair administration of justice had suc-
ceeded in quieting the perfgrvidum ingenium Scotorum,
when feuds and private war filled every corner of the
' country. No barrier is adequate perfectly to confine
them ; but they may be gradually evacuated by the cool-
ing phlebotomy of litigation in an acceptable form."
it might suit the rich of a country that their rights
and wrongs should alone be attended to ; but they
may be assured that their rights can never be perma-
nently secure, where the poor are placed without
the pale of the law. A selfish policy is seldom a
wise policy.; and they who would have all to them-
selves are sometimes pirnished by losing all. A
liberal, and a wise ' because liberal, policy would.
rather teach us to make the poor forget as much as
possible the evils • incident .to their condition, by
communicating to them the feelings of independence
and consciousness of security which a ready access
to acceptable Courts can give, whereby they may
be attached to the institutions of their country, in-,
stead of looking on the advantages of others with
rancour and envy. The poor in England feel that
the world is against them anti the world's law. We
have stated this at times when the rich would not
have listened to the doctrine. But they have had
a glimpse of the yawning gulph. They have had
an awful warning. The Magisterial discretion
under which they have chosen to govern the poor,
has not supplied, in the minds of the latter, the plan
of impartial justice. They 'May be,' like other slaves,
reduced to silence ; but their hearts will still rebel.
The Lord Chaneellor introduced last night his Lt.cal
Courts' Bill, a measure by which, if he succeed, he
will be the author of tell times more good to the
people of England, than they have received from any
public man since England was a kingdom. If Eng.
land had possessed Local Courts a hundred years
ago, that scourge of the country—the Unpaid Ma-
gistrates—the most barbarous institution that ever
disgraced a country culling itself civilised, the lower
orders would not now be in the prostrate condition
in which they unfortunately are. We have no he-
sitation in buying) that in us far as the peace and
happiness of the lower orders are concerned, the
Sheriffs' Courts of Scotland are of ten times more
value than all the hortated institutions of England,
the influence of which passes over the heads of the
poor. Why is it that the Scotch peasant is con-
tented, and the English peasant, with higher wages,
dissatisfied ? The one word indepanclenes. solves
the difficulty, There is not a row', however low iii
statitos in Seojlunsl,. who does riot know that lie can,
at all times, fur a sum within his means obtain im-
partial justice. There is a Justice-shop in his neigh-
bourhood, at which he can at all times enter and de,
viand justice. In England it is ett miderstood mat,
ter, that no Magistrate will do unythiog unpleasant
to another Magistrate; and a poor man may run from
Magistrate to Magistrote without being successful
in overcoming the scruples of any. One Ma-
gistrate hesitates to act ; another Magistrate makes
jt a ride never to interfere in a eil•t %Ville!' would
he hllpleal:4l4 in its: consequences to a brother
Magistrate; is third lies under obligations on ac-
count of some poaching effitir; till tat length the
poor. man; disheartened) gives up the business fur
which he required the aid of justice. hut in Scot,
land the Court of the Sheriff is is Court of Record;
the proceedings are not arbitrary; the deeision can-
not be withheld I and irt'caae of misdeCittion: l'!l stay
appeal lies to a tiprerne ,liidip, The litigant owes
respect, but nothing inure, to the Judge; his aid is
no favour, but is diseharge of duty. If Cie Lord
Lieutenant of a cuunty injure the meanest labourer,
the same proceeding must be observed towards.
him, as if he were 'So equal.. The difference, bee
tweets right and/hernia' is immense. Hence. Justices
of Peace in Scotland have never been table to
obtain more than the power to which they ought
to have pe.4l! teotlfwFtl in England, that pf pre
serving peace and adding justice in emergen,
cies The tnonstrous idea of giving to the lain!.
holders of a country all Sorts-of discretionary power
over the mass pf the people, and to make them stabi
stitutea for local trihnitals, vit,to -YestitYetl for Pigs
land. And Lugliind is, we ltelieVe, the only country
(Ireland excepted) in which feelings of rancorous
hostility tire totertailied towards the rich by the
whole body of the rural population. The Lord
choli;epor
~viti;
us we love said, confer a great
hies-sing on the country, by oideipiog Local Courts
for the people. The details of his mewing will be
matter for subsequent consideratai;dn.st:olht:sniegbilieauttiosto,
however, be expected that so extensive an innova-
tion, uffeuting sp tr.iy interests,
many prejudices, shall pass without .etrenooes oppo-
sition. In the subsequent stages, an
ab-
jection will be stetted to it. The eye of selfish 1110..
lioply is keep, Let us. hope, however, that justice
;)%olii'ltabneti ie.° 1 I rfn,Pelt.l 71i ta.t p.iii' it:: i 1)11 es liol lly'frp ri ic! v :piriti„oVaZilitilleir,:t.
e
haw no fear of the rest. Subservient rro
will not be wanting;, and thus, tit laq, Eugiund will
- cease to be the only civilized country in which jus,-
tic, is withheld front all but the rich. Monstrous
(guy to suppose . order can repose on any
otlfer fenntiatipn th4n Grneral-confideece in the pro-
tection of law 1----.MOrnnig- (..hroutt*.

The proceedings in the House of Lords last night
arp Osertung of attention, The Lord Chancellor
brought forvyard, iu their Lordships House, a Wen.-
sure for an 4tpelidirlellt of the law„ with whin - his
name has been already connected in the Ho„e
low. The measure in question is the sithstitutitUt
of lopl Courts for thOse of Westminster Hall, to
have Jurisdiction., to a given atnoutt4 in every part
of the country. 'rho 00'16 of this measure, and
its advantages over the present Rysterlnr eh6„reig