The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-18 00:00:00

venues of the Church were still made answerable for that
to which they had been always subject, and they were fairly
dealt with, because they were found to be sufficient to meet
the charge. But in the framing and provisions of the
measure itself now produced, or threatened, by the Whig
Ministers, is there any such resemblance or affinity to the
Bill for abolishing Church-cess in Ireland as to justify an
accusation of inconsistency against those who supported
the Irish Bill, and who condemn the English ? Hear
again Lord Stanley upon that point. Parliament did not,
in the former case, so far meddle between lessors and lessees
as to thrust in between them a body of Crown Commis-
sioners. The relation of landlord was noways, as in the
present instance, disturbed. The lessees were left free
agents by the Irish Bill. Here they, are harshly
coerced. If the Irish lessee chooses to continue the
payment of his periodical fines to the Bishop, as his
ancestors had done before him, he had the full right
to do so. He was not worried into a rack-rent, to be got
rid of only at the price of twenty-five years purchase. No
Church Commission had the power to run its " immortal
life" against the precarious and perishable life of the lessee,
and thus force the latter into its own terms ? On these and
other differences, which we have not now time to mention,
in the nature of the remedies proposed by Lord Grey's Go-
vernment and the present, Lord Stanley might well and
triumphantly conclude, that so far from being called upon
to treat the respective Bills of the two countries with equal
favour, the very principles of regard to private property,
and to that of the Church itself, on which he had founded
his assent to the Irish Temporalities Bill, exacted from him
the most strenuous hostility and opposition to the other.
It may serve the paltry ends of a broken down faction to
abuse this powerful-minded member of the aristocracy, but
if they think so to- obstruct or embarrass Lord Stanley,
they little know their man.--Times.
We inserted on Wednesday in the Morning Advertiser,
an abstract of Mr. O'Connell's Bill to reform the law of
Libel and to secure the liberty of the press. With the
general tenor of its propositions we concur, although some
of them are open to minor objections. The law of libel as
it stands at present is disgraceful to a civilised country. In
ex-officio actions for seditious libels, individuals are liable to
be subjected to the payment of large costs for proving their
innocence, it being the law that the King never pays costs.
This abuse Mr. O'Connell meets by the first of his propo-
sitions, by which he proposes that ex-officio informations
shall not be filed on account of libels. As the law of
Libel now stands, an action by criminal indictment suffo-
cates the plea of justification, and enables any knave to ex-
tract advantage from some act of knavery, and to live, like
Mr. Snake, by the badness of his character.ln cases of damages
for personal libel the enforcement of the law is as bad. Truth
is a libel, and a true report exposing the examination of the
most notorious thief or swindler, at any of the' police-
offices--an exposure than which there is nothing more use-
ful to the commercial and well-being of society at large—
might subject the reporter or publisher of that true state-
ment to an action for libel by the said notorious thief or
ass indler, provided he could induce any pettifogging attor-
ney to try an action. 'We do not hesitate to say, that (if
the legal exposition of the law of libel be correct) actions
for libel might be brought every day of the week by the
whole fraternity of thieves against ourselves, and our
contemporaries of the press. It may be said, indeed, that
in such cases Juries would protect their own social and in-
dividual stake in the commercial well-being of the commu-
nity by an adequate verdict. But, unfortunately, all Juries
do not always take this view of the benefit of the com-
munity, and of their cwn as involved in it. Instances
have occurred lately, in which they have given damages
to men inculpated—not by an ex-parte police report—
which we hesitate not to say would enable a thief any day
to bring his action ; but in cases, where the police ma-
gistrate, invetcd with full power to that effect, has pro-
i.eunced a summary and ultimate judgment on a culprit
converted into a prosecutor by the barbarous anomaly of
the law. It is true, small damages have been given—
perl,,ps forty shillings—perhaps a farthing. ; and the
Juries, in all probability, meant to infer by that verdict that
there was no real ground for the action. But the Juries,
in cases which we have in our eye, have either been igno-
rant of the real injustice of the law, or they have felt them-
selves incapable of mitigating it. Although the damages
be small, the costs which they carry with them are exces-
sive ; and a malicious knave has nothing in the world to
do, in order to gratify his malice against the public-spirited
detector or exposer of his knavery but to bring his ac-
tion for libel. " I shall not get more than a farthing da-
mages, but I shall be enabled, under the cloak of the law,
to assassinate the honest man, who exposes me, by inflict-
ing upon him a fine of 1501. in the form of costs." This
abuse of costs should he reformed altogether, and is met by
one of the clauses of Mr. O'Connell's Bill. The fault of
the Libel law is, that it consecrates falsehood and punishes
troth. Such a principle is disgraceful to any nation
above tle rank of savages. We concur with Mr. O'Con-
nell, that truth should, in every possible case, be allowed to
he pleaded in justification. We will not make any,
the slightest compromise, ,with that worldly shiftiness,
dignified with the nemo of expediency, on this head.
If a man's previous actions will not bear sifting he ought to
take the consequence of his previous actions. Public opinion
would always correct harsh judgment, by making just al-
lowance for the indiscretions of youthful inexperience or the
influence of controlling circumstances. No good ever came
fr,an falsehood ; no evil ever came from truth. We he-
lieve that society would be in a much more wholesome state
than it is if it could adopt the education sanctioned by an-
cient Persian legislation, which consisted of a single lesson :
—" Tell truth, if you are cut to pieces." Society would
progress towards its most perfect state were it to revert to
the law of chivalry, by which every man who told a lie for-
feited his honour, lost caste, and sank from a f eeinan to ix
villein ; or even had it the courage and the honour to adopt
the axiom of Homer's hero of demi-civilized life :-
6' Who dares think one thing and another tell,
• My soul detests him as the gates of hell."
—Morning Advertiser.

BENEVOLENT SOCIETY OF

ST. PATRICK.

The anniversary dinner in support of the free schools of
this institution took place yesterday at the Freemason's Ta-
vern. About 200 gentlemen sat down. The chair was filled
by the Earl of Haddington, supported on his left by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer and Lord Morpeth, and on his right
by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Marquis of Downshire.
Amongst the company we observed Earl De Grey, Lord Hills-
borough, Lord Claude Hamilton, Sir F. M‘Naughten, Sir J.
O'Halloran, Lord Portarling ton, &c.
The customary toasts—The King, the Queen, the Prinness
Victeria, success to the Institution, the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, the President of the present, and the President and
Vice-President (Mr. S. Rice and Lord Morpeth) of the next an-
niversary, were all drunk with enthusiasm. The meeting was ad-
dressed by the Earl of Haddington, the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, Lord Morpeth, the Marquis of Downshire, &c., and the
proceedings of the evening passed off with great eclat. The
children of the school walked through the hall after the cloth had
been removed ; and if any proof were required of the inestimable
blessings of this Institution, it was amply furnished in the
creditable appearance of these dependents upon public bounty.
Including the customary contributions from the King and
Queen, Duchess of Kent, and Princess Victoria, the whole
amount, as announced by the Secretary, was 1,129/. 13s.
The musical arrangements, under the superintendence of
Mr. Hawes, fully deserved the general applause they elicited.
Amongst the songs we were particularly delighted with that
beautiful one of Lover's, " The Fairy Boy," sung with much
exprossion by Mr. Hobbs, who had the advantage of the
author's own graceful and finished accompaniment. This
song was rapturously encored. That capital burlesque of a
Parliamentary debate, " Mr. Speaker, though 'tis late,"
created infinite amusement. There was not, we rejoice to say,
the slightest demonstration of political feeling throughout the
night.

Viscountess Canning, widow of the distinguished
statesman, died on Wednesday. She was the youngest of the
three daughters of Major-General Scott, of Balcomie. Her
husband died August 8, 1827, while Prime Minister. Soon
after which event his late Majesty created Mrs. Canning a
Viscountess, with remainder to her issue male. The only
son, the Hon. Charles John, is now Viscount Canning. He
is in his 25th year, having been born in December, 1812. He
sat for Warwick for a short time in the present Parliament,
baring succeeded the late Sir Charles Greville ; and it was
intended to have started him on the Tory side for Liverpool,
at the next general election, in conjunction with Lord Sandon.
This accession to the Peerage creates a vacancy at Warwick,
for which the electors in the Liberal interest would do well to
have their candidate ready. The late Viscountess had three
other children, of whom, besides her successor in the Peerage,
only one survives, the Marchioness of Clanricarde.
LORDKINGSBOROUGH.—The late Viscount Kings-
borough was eldest son of George Earl of Kingsborough and
the Lady Helena Moore, daughter of Stephen Earl of Mount-
cashel. Cut off in the prime of life, this amiable and talented
young Nobleman has descended to a premature grave. His
loss will be deeply lamented by all who knew him, and valued
his highly cultivated mind and domestic virtues. His work on
the Antiquities of Mexico is well known among the learned ;
it is full of deep research, and is written partly in Spanish and
partly in Latin, thereby displaying his powers as a linguist,
and his knowledge and science as an antiquarian. Copies
were presented by his Lordship to the Bodleian Library at
Oxford, the British Museum, and most of the Potentates of
Europe. This ill-fated Nobleman was imprisoned for a debt
of bis father, for which he had unfortunately become secu-
rity, and not, as might be supposed, for his own extravagance.
It is due to his memory, that this fact should be generally
known. All must deplore the unhappy misunderstanding and
mismanagement that caused his untimely fate. He is succeeded
in his title by his brother Robert, now Viscount Kingsborough.
TRADE OF MANCHESTER.--We are sorry to say
that there have this week been two or three failures, though
ma of much magnitude, in this town, and two or three also in
Liverpool. Probably owing in part to this circumstance, the
general feeling in the market yesterday was very depressed,
almost more so, indeed, than we have seen it at any previous
time during the present crisis..... Manchester Guardian.