The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-05 00:00:00

I°XDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1853•

the Office of Examiner The Offi
the 'ght received its third reading, and passed
-c,opresentative branch of the Legislature. It
-"gh direct
t scarcely have been worth while to
1141.tionlar attention to the present measure, which
el.elY" rectified an omission in an act of last ses-
hell) but that it was made the opportunity fora
em imcalled-for attack on a gentleman who.
bl.long occupied it distinguished position in
;"110 estimation one whose eminent ser-
%lee's-although they have been fully recognised,
e Post of honour, and, let us add, of difficulty
to
. esponsibility, having been frequently assigned
41,4. I nl--have never been adequately or at all re-
uperated. CHARLES VILLIERS is, in truth, at
Da , 410ment an honour and a reproach to his
ti:tu.Y.,----an honour, for the indefatigable zeal, the
industry, the extraordinary talent
(4 fre '1
abilitY with which he fought the battle
faa,,e trade at a time when it was not
el:I:killable to be a Free-trader for the
ceZBl+ with which he insisted on the ne-
c•spe---3rof " unrestricted competition," more
the elan ;
Y .11, matters of primary necessity, and
4,114 lgour and eloquence with which., he de-
......0fe,e the iniquity and atrocity of a bread tax
illaPosts that increased the price of human

food—taking from the scanty coffers of the very
poorest of the poor, to add to the overflowing
coffers of the rich. He was at the same time its
reproach—for in the hour of triumph his invalu-
able services were disregarded, or, at least, re-
warded only with empty praise, and loud, but un-
meaning, professions of thanks and gratitude, un-
accompanied by any substantial testimonial of
public feeling. The Right Hon. Gentleman
might- in. 1846 have properly adopted as his
motto--

"llnus seminat, alter metat."

The good seed which he was the first to sprinkle,
had gradually ripened in the Legislative soil.
Undeterred by former failures, and strong in the
justice of the sacred cause of which he was then
the chosen champion, he, year after year, brought
forward the motion which became associated with
his name, until that which at first only excited a
sneer of derision, and which the pompous plati-
tudes of some aspiring underling were deemed
saflicient to rebut, became sufficient to draw forth
all the talent of the then Administration,
and to call into action all the energies
of the whippers-in for the time being. At
length he triumphed—fully and completely
triumphed. The principles which he had advo-
cated, under very different circumstances, became
in the ascendant. That, which once merely raised
a "red-tapist" sneer, ruptured the bonds that had
previously cemented the union of the most power-
ful party that had ever supported a Ministry. It
created a split in the Conservative ranks that had
brought the Russell Cabinet into place and power,
and led to the dissolution of the League, and the
division of the funds between those who had most
ably advanced its objects, and the collection of
new subscriptions for adequate testimonials.

But in all the distributions of the loaves
and fishes—in all the ovations bestowed on the
, triumphant champions—CHAßLES VILLIERS, the
most meritorious of all, Ni-as forgotten. He was
not a RussELL, a GREY, or an ELllorT—no place
could, therefore, be found for him amongst the
family-party. Although a Member of the old
aristocracy—a descendant of •one whose issue had
achieved the Royal dignity—he was disqualified
on the score of blood (!) for a place in the Cabi-
net, and it would scarcely have been worth his
while to haVe accepted any inferior position.
While, on the other hand, there was an equally
objectionable disregard of his claims—possibly on
account of the aristocratic blood and connexions
to which his more fortunate competitors could
lay no claim. And so the assets were divided,
and the subscription-lists filled, without any re-
ference being made to the inestimable services of
the man who had been par excellence the champion
of Free Trade ! ! !
During all this time, Mr. VILLIEns had held a
situation in the Court of Chancery, conferred on
him in 1833, before his voice had been uplifted
in favour of unrestricted competition—aye, be-
fore any agitation on the point had arisen. This
might-possibly have proved the very inadequate
excuse for the scandalous ingratitude exhibited
towards him. He held an office for life—of
which he could not be deprived except in'
case of misconduct a contingency by no
means likely to occur. Last year—in one
of the measures of legal reform introduced by Lord
ST. LEONARDS—the office, that of Examiner, was
placed on a totally different foundation from that
on which it had previously stood. Its duties'
were materially altered, and an option was given
to each of the occupants either to resume
the office with a higher salary, or to retire on an
"allowance-pension" (is not a proper term)equal to
three-fourths of the previous salary. This option
Mr. VILLIER S availed himself of in a different way
from his colleague. He decided on retiring
—the other on accepting the increased salary.
This determination was unequivocally announced,
although not carried into practical execu-
tion before the resignation of the date Minis-
try. The situation (Judge-Advocate General)
now held by the .Right Hon. Gentleman could
not, therefore, in any degree have influenced the
result. When, however, he found ghat he held
another and more valuable appointment, he freely,
voluntarily, and of his own motion, lodged a docu-
ment in the hands of the Solicitor of the fund on
which his claim was charged, precluding him from
receiving it so long as he received a higher salary
from any other office. And, yet, this was the
subject on which it was considered expedient, and
decent, to create a discussion as to the propriety
of the case—in which an attempt was made
to raise the cry of " a job," and to cast odium
on Mr. HUME and other Liberal Members, who
only refused to be parties to depriving, by an
unanticipated clause, a respected Member of the
House, of that to which he was entitled under a

previous statute as fully as any other Hon.
Gentleman was to his hereditary estates. The
insidious attempt totally failed. It was, perhaps,
ne'er intended to be successful, so far as to de-
prive the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman of
his just rights, but it fled equally wide of the
mark so far as it aimed' at any impeachment
of his fair fame, and high and unblemished re-
putation.

We much regret the position which the Earl of
DERBY has taken on the Canada Clergy Reserves.
It is not a question on which' he ought to embar-
rass the present Government. When he declined
acceding to the request of the Colonists no fur
tious opposition was made to his course, and it
would have been altogether in better keeping had
he left this battle to Sir HARRY INGLIS and the
Bishop of EXETER, and allowed the matter to
proceed, so far as the head of the late Ministry
was concerned, sub silentio. The temptation
appears, hoviever, to have been too great to use
the petitions which were to have been entrusted
to the Lord Privy Seal, to represent this promis-
ing and gifted young statesman as an apostate.
The result, we fear, must be in almost every
mind, that Lord DERBY appears too much of the
partisan, and that the Duke of
moreARGYLL' than
S frank-
ness and statesmanlike lang,uage have
sustained his former reputation.
The pith of Lord DERBY'S argument—that by
which he sought to produce an impression—was,
that the Clergy Reserves bad all the rights of
property ; literally the beginning, middle, and
end of his appeal was on behalf of " the rights of
property." All the legal quibbles of his speech
were obviously of little importance to its main
drift ; and we were rather sarprised that he was
not more fully- and distinctly met on this ever-
recurring phrase. It is clear indeed that the Act
of 1791, as we have shown from the first, dis-
tinctly left the reserved propohy open to be dealt
with by the Canadian Legislature as it thought
good. It is notorious, also, that after the re-
served land became valuable, it became increasingly
the subject of dispute and irritation until it had a
iltargeeansnheat7
tihnereufesrien,g
btehepruentefnordteudnathte
atrtelellinon4o;
it had any other character than that of property,
which the Government might at any time apply
to other uses.

It was the Act oflB4o alone which professed to
divide it by a kind of compromise between the
Episcopal Church and other denominations, in a
manner which many statesmen on this side of the
water hoped would not be disturbed. The plain
matter of fact, then, is, that all title to the name
of property is derived from that Act, and not
from anything approaching to immemorial pre-
scription ; indeed, Lord DERBY himself appears to
have little more to allege for the finality of the
Act of 1840 than the hopes of over-sanguine
statesmen—a poor title for property. Yet it was
only by combining a title disputed till 1840, and,
we may truly say, disputed ever since, that Lord
DERBY co\ild make out a title at all. His Lord-
ship, how giver, seemed to lay the chief stress on
the circumstance of the reserves having been set
apart by the Clio wx, while the land belonged to
no one but the CROWN, and that, conse-
quently, the claims of all future comers
were anticipated. Every squatter and emi-
grant found the land consecrated by the pro-
prietor, who claimed the whole country. Now,
passing by the acknowledged fact that the Act of
1791 interpreted the Royal Proclamation of 1775
as permitting the Colonial Legislature to modify
the property gianted by the Proclamation, we
take much higher ground. We maintain. that

neither the CROWN nor Parliament can give away
airy national property in perpetuity, and least of
all to any body of persons, or corporation, having
but a life interest in the property—a life interest
possessed Solely on the ground of national service.
It is surely undeniable in this country, that one
Parliament is competent to repeal any act
which a former Parliament has made. Ho-
nesty, of course, leads us to respect the pe-
cuniary interests which have grown up under
the repealed Acts, but further obligations
there are none. In the case of the Clergy Re-
serves, the CROWN, the representatives of the
people, and the Parliament afterwards, appropri-
ated one-seventh of the unappropriated lands to
the maintenance of the Protestant Church which,
it was presumed, would arise in Canada. Na-
tional property was set aside for a presumed
national want. The property, however, was given
to no individual, for inhabitants there were none;
it merely provided payment of a certain kind for
officials whom, it was supposed, the future inhabi-
tants would need, and would be glad to pay by
this means. There was no parting with the pro-
perty by the Government to any one whatever—
there was no reception of it by any one who could
be aggrieved by its resumption. And now, in
this present year, 1853, the only property held
in the Reserves is that of the life inte-
rests of those who receive grants from them.
That undoubtedly is theirs. No one denies it.
The Canadians are forward to avow their respect
for it. Beyond that there is nothing which
an individual can buy, or sell, or devise by
will, or in any way treat as property. It can
be only thoughtlessly termed the property of
the Protestant Church. The fact is, that,
though the lion's share goes to the Episcopal
Church, all other sects, Catholics not excepted,
participate in the money.' But the truth is, that
no one but the electors, who are supposed to
desire " secularization," will suffer by it any loss
of property. The clergy, in any case, are to
have their, grants for life. It is just the
electors themselves who will have to pay
their own clergy, who would be losers by
the " secularization " of the property. The
71/. per annum now paid, for instance, to
each of the Bishop of LoNnoN's proteges would
have to be raised by the congregations themselves.
We had marked some sinzular self-refutations and
inconsequentialities in his Lordship's speech, which
give the whole too much the air of special plead-
ing, but we prefer to grapple with that which
he thought his strength.
The members of the Government spoke most
creditably to themselves. Both the Duke of
NEWCASTLE and the Duke of ARGYLL gave utter-
ance, and in too hearty a tone to permit of the
least suspicion, to the soundest views of colonial
policy. Both of them asserted in the strongest
terms the right of the colonies to arrange every-
thing relating to their own internal affairs them-
selves, and maintained that the CROWN ought to
retain its veto for Imperial purposes exclusively.
We could not better express our own views than
in the admirable concluding words of the Duke
of ARGYLL'S speech :

"He had no hesitation in declaring his opinion, as a
member of the Church of Scotland, that the interests of
that church in Canada, whatever they were, must he
represented only by their own local members, and that
he did not consider it to be his duty as a public man,
merely because he happened to be a member of that
church, to act on his own opinion of its interests in con-
nexion with the internal affairs of Canada ; on the con-
trary, he held it to be his clearest duty to agree to the
measure proposed by her Majesty's Government, being
convinced, as he was, that not only with respect to
Canada, but with respect to all our colonies, the prin-
ciple on which we must in future proceed was simply
this—that in all matters of purely internal concern—
nay, more, in all questions which gave rise to religious
feelings and religious animosities in the colonies—the
colonial Legislatures must be left to deal with them as
they thought fit ; and that the power of the Crown to re-
view the colonial acts should not be (as suggested by the
noble earl) recklessly thrown away on our colonial,
empire, but maintained solely with the view of enabling
the Crown to judge whether the acts were matter of
local or imperial concern."

It is not to be forgotten that a Bishop, and a
Bishop of OXFORD, too, spoke out manfully the
most liberal views of Colonial Church policy.
SAMUEL WILBERFORCE once before' taught their
Lordships some unwelcome truths on the Corn
Laws.

We reserve our notice of the debate in the
Commons last night for another opportunity. The
Bill was read a second time by a large majority.

It is difficult to conceive how a system like that
so clearly and graphically described on Tuesday
evening by the Hon. and Learned Gentlemen the
Member for Plymouth should have been suffered
so long to continue in force without some decided
efforts being made for its amelioration. This
omission is the more extraordinary when we con-
sider the universality of the feeling in fa-
vour of legal reform, and the magnitude of tho
abuses that had sprung up and were flourishing
in rank luxuriance in these hotbeds of corruption.
While the Courts of Equity and Common Law
were being cleansed of many of their impurities ;
while the County Court system was, growing into
its present importance ; while every grievance
appertaining to Westminster-hall or Lincoln's-inn
was unsparingly exposed, and boldly grappled
with; , there were no less than three hundred
and seventy-two tribunals, sprinkled throughout
the length of the land, that elicited the
loudest complaints from all who had the
misfortune to come within their operation. There
was not one of the number that did not cover
some gross abuse which might be made an
instrument of grievous oppression. Every petty
ecclesiastic, dean, archdeacon, &c. &c., should
have his own court, with its well-paid officials.
Well might they be termed "detestable peculiar
jurisdictions," for "detestable" theywere, and "de-
testable" they will continue, so long as they are per-
mitted to retain any portion of vitality. Those who
were largely, exorbitantly paid totally disregarded
the duties confided to their charge, while the real
workers were so far underpaid that the business
was absolutely neglected. Nothing less than a
sweeping and radical measure can now be ac-
cepted. The whole edifice must be pulled down,
that a new and suitable building may be erected
on its ruins. The people now demand that "Jus-
tice" should be administered as one grand and
comprehensive whole—that the suitor should not
be bandied from court to court, and subjected to
ruinous costs in each, without being enabled to
obtain complete relief in any. The first step
towards the attainment of this desideratum is the
total abolition of the Ecclesiastical Courts ; and
no exertions that can be made can do more than
delay for a very brief period their impending
doom.

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.—Mr. Smith, the spirited
lessee and manager of Old _awry, takes his benefit on
Monday, when it is to be hoped the patrons and lovers
of the English drama will rally round him in great
force. Perhaps no man has done so much to revive
the fallen fortunes of this national establishment as Mr.
Smith, and it is only right that his exertions in that
direction should be encouraged, if they cannot be amply
rewarded. Fie has provided a most attractive bill of
fare for the occasion of his benefit, and we sincerely be-
lieve that this, his first personal appeal to the public in
.his own behalf, will meet with the hearty response of
an overflowing house.
THE AUSTRALIAN STEAM-SHIP.—The inspection of
the Australian was made by Captain Curtis, R.N., on
Thursday. The defects in the fastenings o
af the en
officigines
discovered then have been made good, nd an al
trial yesterday is stated to have been so far satisfactory
that, after a final examination to-day by Captain Lowe,
R.N., it was expected she would obtain a certificate
enabling her to proceed on her voyage.
MlNT.—According to a return (printed yesterday)
in five years ending 1852 the amount of gold, silver,
and copper coinage made at the Mint was 19,838,3771.
is. 2d. Last year the increase in gold coinage on the
preceding year was 4,341,8591. Bs. 2d. ; on a part of
silver, 101,728/. 6s. 7d. ; and the increase in copper was
2131. 16s. In 1853 the sovereigns and half-sovereigns
st4mida:RedorAseclaital4LiemowlenltoAlur.
the following
amounted to 8,
T74h2e,r2e7wo le. r
el518:01114d,
5. ,sa2nd florinsi 18m51aAito
e
last year.
N
ImfLoniltsltoewOe
nognSTesANtaaspine
standing
Railway o; rsdtearsinmesi,ghwt
obkie
n h ds,Ni
dispensednGagannwOddni
orderst Ddh c...n_olsatk
ro:
eons
dikeYostefhus intotaWnet
Junction
con-
sideration
eaye;asDe Dean
the Great
ownmes'otuernth,
Rlnailtwh aUnd'kCi
Ponty-
pool Railway ; Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundeea Railway.
In dj.uPriocnt
Junction
Railway the standing orders were declared
with, and the bill is consequently not
lost. Also in the case
of Poole Harbour and Port the standing orders were
declared not dispensed.with,