The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-15 00:00:00

~~~

.6
-szlatsk

LONDON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1853.

Procrastination and postponement—postpone-
ment and procrastination ! These appear to be the
great objects of the Joint Stock Administration.
The spirit of Sir CHARLES WOOD seems to have
been infused into his colleagues, and the do-
nothing policy is recognised as the guiding prin-
ciple of the ABERDEEN-RUSSELL-MOLESWORTH
Government. The leader of the House of Com-
mons on Thursday evening exhibited too clearly
on that point to admit of doubt or question—the
LORD CHANCELLOR followed in the same track last
night, so far as the long-anticipated and eagerly-
looked-for legal reforms were concerned. Very
elaborate arguments were entered into to explain
his reasons for not legislating on particular sub-
jects. On one topic the enactments had been
so recent he should wait for a sufficient
time to learn their operation, and the nature of
their working ! Another had been referred to a
committee, and he should wait for the forthcoming
report before he introduced any measure! ! If the
commissioners should come to a different conclusion
from that to which he had previously made up his
mind, he is not prepared to say that he will prefer
acting on it to that of their predecessors. He even
acknowledges that he " has an opinion so dis-
tinctly formed that nothing will shake him out of
it." But notwithstanding that distinct and posi-
tive opinion nothing is to be done. The plausible
excuse of the pen Cling report is anxiously grasped
at to avoid doing anything. Other excuses of
every shade and colour are resorted to, but all
for the sane Purpose. Delay ! delay ! ! delay ! ! !
is the burden of the song, in almost every respect
and every Point; and whether it be a more equit-
ableoionment of the
app Property and Income
Tax, an adequate extension of the Suffrage, with
the security afforded to the voter by the Ballot
from the worst species of corruptien_ci intimida-
tion," or the amendment of the administration
and practice of the law. The result is in-
variably the same. The Common Law pro_
cedure Act, with all its admitted deficiencies, is to
be let alone No change in the Ecclesiastical
Courts is to be even thought of until the report
of the Commissioners. The Marriage and Divorce
Laws are to remain in abeyance, and there is not
the slightest, even the most trivial, allusion
to the County Courts, or the much-required
extension of the jurisdiction of the local
tribunals, and the introduction of the
system, which, even with inferior appliances, has
given so much satisfaction to all who have been
compelled to put the machinery of the law into
operation, and have by the assistance of these
District Courts been enabled to do so cheaply
and expeditiously.
But something should be done. There should
be some little wheat with so much chaff. Even
FALSTAFF had a halfpenny-worth h ' fpenny-worth of bread to his
gallon of sack. Three Bills
have accordingly
been introduced—a, Registration of Deeds Bill, a
Charitable Trusts Bill, andat length Codifi •
a cation
of the Statute Law. We do ,
not, by any means

unt lerra.te the advantages that may, and probably
will, be derived from judicious enactments on these
important and interesting subjects. The offences
of tb o existing Administration are of omission
rathe r than commission. It is not for what they
do, but for what they leave undone, that
they are to be censured. There is no doubt
that legislation was required on each and
every one of the topics on which he has ven-
tured "to screw their courage to the sticking
place," and if it be judiciously and discreetly
brought into operation, great benefit will be con-
ferred on the community. Before we pronounce
a decisive judgment on the new projects relating
to registration, or charitable trusts, we must see
the details and the machinery by which they are
to be carried into execution when the bills be
printed. "Security of title," facility, and cheap-
ness of transfer are the great objects to be at-
tained. The evils arising from the present system
in Middlesex, and Yorkshire, and in Ireland, are,
however, perhaps greater than the benefit derived
therefrom. There can be no doubt that in some
respects it is beneficial ; but there are many great
objections to which it is exposed, and which, if
practicable, should be obviated. There are diffi-
culties connected with the subject, but they are
not insuperable. In every other civilised nation
real estate can be transferred much more expedi-
tiouiy, cheaply, and we believe me may add with
greater security than in great Britain or Ireland.
There is really no reason why a similar practice
should not be introduced in this country, and with
equally beneficial results. The chief impediment
appears to be lest some suitor, who once in a cen-
tury, might be so fortunate (II 0 as to become
involved in a litigation of the JARNDYCE v. JARN-
DYCE class—should be deprived of the baleful in-
I heritance. They " manage these matters, how-
ever, better in France." And there is no reason
why real estate should. not be transferred as speed-
ily and securely as personal property, why
lands or houses should not be conveyed as
rapidly, economically, and safely as investments
in. the Three per Cent. Consols, or in any Rail-
way or Joint Stock Company. The necessity is
that there should be a registration of " titles,"
not of " deeds ;" and we regret to say that Lord
CRANWORTH'S measure is directed to the former,
not to the latter point, and is, therefore, more
calculated to perpetuate than to remove the
existing abuses.
At present, we shall—following the example of
Lord ST. LEONARDS—pass over the Charitable
Trusts Bill. Something ought to be done on the
subject, but whether the present measure will
meet the exigency, is another point, on which
we shall reserve our opinion. The con-
solidation of the statute law is, however, a
matter on which there need be no reserve.
That has long been demanded, and acknowledg-
ments are due to those by whom the boon is to
be conceded. We return thanks, on this point, to
Lord CRANWORTH, and only regret that the initia-
tive has been so long delayed, and that much time
must elapse before the new digest or codification
of the statute law can receive the legislative
sanction.

England and France are now vieing with each
other in the expression of the most pacific policy, and
of the most amicable feelings, as well as of their de-
termination to maintain, if possible, the most friendly
relations between their respective Governments.
What think the raw-head-and-bloody-bones panic-

mongers after this ? How about that fire-eating

enthusiasm which only the other day prompted to
such extraordinary indecorum a gallant officer
like General BROTHERTON ? Was Mr. COBDEN
so very ridiculous after all in his argu-
ments about the preservation of international
tranquillity ? That honourable gentleman, ever
since the publication of his remarkable and
humane pamphlet, " 1793 and 1853," has been
subjected to all kinds of. sneers, obloquies, and
vituperations. We anticipated that such would
be the case immediately the brochure made its
appearance. But -while declaring such to be our
conviction, we took the earliest opportunity to
avow our no less earnest belief that the time
would inevitably come, sooner or later, when the
reasonableness of those enlightened views would be
appreciated and rendered apparent. Well—the time
has come "sooner"—at any rate it is coming, and
that with unexpected rapidity. Already the
rulers of both countries, the Administrators of
Imperial France and of Monarchical England,
have reiterated, in terms admitting of no misap-
-1 prehension, their solicitude, in spite of all that
has been said by warlike factions, to preserve un-
broken amity oetween thej foremost races of
Christendom. Sir CHARLES WOOD'S absurd speech

at Halifax has elicited from his Ministerial col

leagues the most satisfactory, because explicit and
pacific, explanations. M. BILLoes atrocious
pamphlet has simultaneously drawn from the
Councils of the Tuilleries the most manly and
straightforward disavowal of those criminal sug-
gestions on the part of one of the avowed
organs of Legitimacy. This is well. It augurs
happily for the peace of Europe, for the prosperity
of England, for the stability of affairs in
France, and for the steady and progres-
sive advance of the great movement of civili-
sation. Look at the disavowal of the warlike
intentions attributed to the Imperial Government
by the self-sufficient and blustering author of the
" Lettres Franques " the disavowal already
alluded to, the disavowal attributed to the
hand of NAPOLEON 111., but at any rate
appearing in his official journal, the Moni-
teur. Nothing could be more out-
spoken. It says—" The EMPEROR, like France,
wishes earnestly for peace (veut la paix), a fruit-

ful and honourable peace, the repose which is
suited to the nation ; and it certainly is net from
the old parties that the heir of NAPOLEON the
Great will ask counsel in any matter of honour or
of national dignity." Clear enough that, we take
it, and in all respects sufficiently significant.
Then turn to the companion revelations—the state-
ments made yesterday in both Houses of our Im-
perial Legislature as to the foreign policy (so far as
concerns France) cherished at this juncture by the
English Government. The intemperate and un-
statesmanlike language used the other day on the
hustings at Halifax, by the Right Hon. Baronet
the PRESIDENT of the BOARD of CONTROL, when
addressing his constituents, has been so far pro-
ductive of good that it has led to those now un-
mistakeable explanations. That language, how-
ever, may now, we rejoice to say, be altogether
forgotten—forgotten, as of no sort of value or

importance whatsoever. For it has been signally
expiated--Sir CHARLES WOOD having fairly
gown down on his knees, and confessed his peni-
tence. " Nothing," said the Right Hon. Baronet
in the letter read to the House of Commons, in
his absence, last evening, by Lord JOHN RUSSELL
—" Nothing could be further from my intention
than to use any words which could be considered
as offensive to the EMPEROR ; and I regret that
any expressions should have fallen from me on
that occasion on which such an interpretation
could have been placed." Simultaneously, as
it were, in both Houses, the same pacific
assurances were uttered by the two pro-
minent leaders of the present Coalition Ca-
binet—namely, in the Lords by the Prime
Minister de jure, the -Earl of ABERDEEN, and in the
Commons by the Prime Minister de facto, Lord
JOHN RUSSELL. The former said yesterday to
the House of Peers most distinctly, in answer to
the question put to him in his official capacity by
the Marquis of CLANRICARDE—" I am happy to
assure the Noble Marquis that the best possible
understanding continues unbroken between the
two countries of France and England, nor is
there anything that appears the least likely
to endanger or diminish the cordiality of that
understanding." The Leader of the Commons
went, if possible, still farther in the utterance of
a like declaration : " The relations," said he,
"between the two countries are, I am happy to
say, of the most friendly nature : and with re-
spect to European affairs generally, the best pos-
sible understanding subsists between the two Go-
vernments." Scarcely have these assurances
fallen from the lips of Lord JOHN RUSSELL and of
the Earl of ABERDEEN, when there is received in

this country by means of the Submarine Electric
Telegraph a report of the memorable and remark-

able speech with which his MAJESTY the EMPEROR
yesterday opened the Session of the Senate, and of
the Corps Legislatif, at the Tuileries. In that
document, after remarking that the financial posi-
tion of France has never been better during the
last quarter of a century, his MAJESTY announces
that "the effective force of the army, already
diminished by 30,000 men during the last year,
will soon undergo a further reduction of
20,000 ! " Another and substantial guarantee
of the sincerity of the pacific policy with
which the restored Empire may be said
to have been formally inaugurated ! Everything
combines, therefore, to encourage us in the hope
that the peace of the world has become of late so
strongly secured, that Christendom may witness
with increasing joy the calm development of
• civilisation.

RICHARD COBDEN is a tyrant and a coward.
Denounce him, post him before all Europe and
America, and Asia too. He thinks the leading
articles of newspapers are little read, compared
with their news itself, and he regards the former
as of far less importance than the latter. Satis-
factory enough, indeed, to the vanity of our pro-
fession is the tribute he offers to "the talent, to
the transcendent ability" with which those articles
are written, but to think them less important, or
less read than the news, is an unpardonable sin.
Hence Mr. COBDEN is kindly offered confessorial
assistance in the profoundly difficult art of self-
knowledge, and his spiritual adviser tells him that
by sober introspection, he will discover that he is
intolerant of criticism and opposition, and that he
wants "to suppress all teachers but himself."
Nor that only, but that like many other tyrants,
he has but a craven heart. " Know thyself," Mr.
COBDEN, and thou wilt see that thy contemptuous
defiance of Russia, and thy withering attacks on
Austrian loans for crushing Hungary and Italy,
combined with thy respectful behaviour to the
elected EMPEROR of France, prove thee a coward.
You freely censure those you fear not—you crouch
where you are afraid.
Now, there is a great deal of truth in Mr.
COBDEN'S remark, which, moreover, he has several
times made before, and especially in the point of
view which he was taking. To a very large pro-
portion of readers the news, distinctively so called,
is the more important, and to vast numbers far
more interesting. What numbers who look, as
soon as they open a morning paper, at the busi-
ness news which concerns them, leave the political
articles till night, and perhaps post the paper to
a country friend in the evening without reading
them at all ! How many look at the evening
papers for the market intelligence of the day, and
how many in the country prefer an evening paper,
because it gives such intelligence for one day more,
in fact, than the morning papers which arrive at
the same time ! Then the sporting world, the
tale-loving world, and the fair students of the
catalogues of marriages, births, and deaths—very
great altogether must be the number who care
more for news thanp for editorial comments
upon it. Besides, Mr. COBDEN was address-
ing a special class, and has always made
these remarks in connection with a special
object—the newspaper readers, namely, which a
mechanics' institute could furnish, and the vast
class who now never read a paper at all, or who
resort to the beer-shop or the public-house to see
one. He is right enough, in respect to this class.
They are either too young or too illiterate, or too
contracted in their notions, to care for much but
the last novelty or the gossip of the day, though
the young mechanics will of course have acquired
an interest in all the higher discoveries of Art and
Science. Mr. COBDEN also knows full well that
the members of almost all our Governments, ex-
cept perhaps the great genius of the last one, and
two or three in the present one, are dreadfully
afraid of the people's gaining political knowledge,
and that this fear alone stands in the way of his
favourite project of cheap 'newspapers for the
million. lie knows, also, that mechanics' insti-
tutes object to the admission of politics within
their walls ; hence he was led to put in the strong-
est light he could the little mischief (as Cabinets
, and Committees, not Mr. COBDEN, deem it) which
the political articles in the newspapers would do.
The young mechanics would assuredly care chiefly
for the news. So would the country bump-
kins, who would read his penny sheets ; and
that is the plain account of the whole affair. A
very harmless affair indeed, and whichl would
never have been noticed at all, had not Mr.
COBDEN censured the belligerents, or at least war-
provoking language of some magnates of the press.
Now, as to the cowardice of Mr. COBDEN. The
appropriate answer to a Russo-phobia was to show
that Russia was powerless to injure England ; the
same thing was not true of France. The appro-
priate warning to speculators in an Austrian Loan
was that Austria was bankrupt, and the money
the price of the blood of freedom. But, in re-
gard to France, with a powerful navy a few hours'
sail from us, and an immense army besides—it is
not appropriate to say that she is not an object of
fear, but that she is so if you quarrel with her.
We grant that it would be Consummate golly of
Louis NAPOLEON to inflict upon France as well as
upon us the miseries of a war because of the as-
sumptions of newspaper Editors ; still, if, as a
certain journal asserts, that journal (and others
too, we presume,) reflects faithfully the general
opinions of Englishmen, and if those opinions
are excessively provoking to Frenchmen, nay,
if they only are provoking to the man who,
according to the same journal, has centred in his
own hands the whole of that physical force which
could cesu—chifthissnuroetry,
sthraodueldanwdacromarmiseer,
a war might be
cala-
mities. By their own confession,
be the case,
power of the man whom
jour-
nals would be chiefly answerable for all its
the best security for the
ltheylies,
ke him to it, then, is to
vo the
forge,despot of
of,
as
faras France. Tino
thmpero-
we are to
s, ydeetscsritrboengaesr fetters for the land they profess
to mourn over. It seems, however,
spend millions more to raise an army and navy,
e ands is Emperor at
j nt of lecturing Franc
oyme
e of taxes we are to pay
safe under whose prof ection we may have the
pleasure. Millions
indulge in vituperation
pens of journalists, may nt
hi se ti
re r s
E, npi don of
e r theer.
Millions more
cur
rt
nextthe todnegteriesneoigfhbenr, CabinetanMd
ults as these, either
talent," lead to any such res
Should "leading articles," though of "transcendent
they would become as
they are now unin-
waritselfan,
dorthwear admirers
readers taxation
odious in
trioeattirwe fancypresent
illiterate and the mere hun-
tersteresting to
A for cowardice, and it
Mr. COBDEN'S ref for novelty.
WO Write common sense, in
impatience of gthheutgr great
with him or differ from
Freetrader's
own, whether we agree
him
the credit of being
him, we can hardly deny
t hit the mark ;
aaiindteaasehtion
overweening
occasionally he evinces a rather
are not wanting
con-
ceit of his own opinions, there
the S
andi racular.
one of the best tempered of disputants, and if
tcriters widely famed for
we have
in English newspapers
leading articles
we may add, however,
partly stated our opinion
.;
observation and long
that from a pretty extensive
As to the general interest nfluence of the
experience,of newspaper
the best por ion
great interest to all . consider-
readers, and that their which
influence the non-
able
with the minds
we are persuaded that they are of
reading circle. Theh
important, since wit .
of
all
opinions
make
Editors the most
but the use which
of it greatly enhances
few have time to wade
Not to mention that
intelligent editor
tnheavitthsencoenrtaie
all
yldis
avpropriate
value of a paper.
with
'ncorrectness ; on
through
its truth, or
hints on its value,
various journals are
all debateable points the.
presents in
all which an
and, like barristers,
obviously counsel
lect all the bes p
t omts on each
h
they can and dot e
its
on essence,eacld a ,
for the
side, and leave i other subjects,
On many
to give the verdict.
merely
ely their honest advo-
give not
moreover, they impartial judges;
great jury of the nation
cacy, allowance for the prepos-
indeed, with reasonab e
from which none of us
sessions and party bias,
eral object of the Press
are free, we believe the entints and to advocate those
but the decisions of
stand the test of trial. Truth
opinions which will judgmeutire y
is to deliver those