The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-02 00:00:00

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4-, nat o

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, Al AF: CH 2, 1853.

" Delenda est Carth,ago l"

The monster nuisance that has so long oppressed
the nation is to be abated The Ecclesiastical
Courts are to be abolished, root and branch, so
that no remembrance of things so vile may be per-
petuated. The Honourable and Learned Gentle-
man the Member for Plymouth has eminently en-
titled himself to the thanks of the country for the
able and comprehensive statement that so clearly
pointed out the magnitude of the existing griev-
ance, and elicited the unanimous approbation of
the House. We say " unanimous," for although
there was some slight difference as to the nature
and extent of the remedial measures essential un-
der the circumstances, there was none as to
the necessity for reform---a stringent and
searching reform, Striking at the very root
of the evil. None are so utterly abandoned as
to be without friends—CALIGULA ! NERO ! had
mourners, who bewailed the fate of patrons—who,
whatever their atrocities, had been kind to them
personally—who enabled them to enjoy the com-
forts dear to every man, and who, whatever might
be their crimes against the community, had
merited the gratitude of these humble retainers.
&moil LEGREE had some of his numerous depend-
ants who regretted his downfall. And even the
Ecclesiastical Courts could not wither away—
" Unwept, unhonoutkd, or unsung."
Dr. R. PHILLIMORE, the gentleman who re-
placed the late Hon. Member for Tavistock—
unseated for want of the formal and technical
qualification.—the gentleman elected by an over-
whelming MINORITY of the constituency, was the
champion who flung his gage into the lists, prd-
pared to do battle on behalf of the appellant.
He did not, however, break his lance directly on
the shield of his doughty opponent. No ; that
was a feat beyond his powers. He did not ven-
ture to assert the purity or spotlessness of his
protege, he wisely and judiciously attempted to
" ride off on a collateral issue"—to raise another
point by which public opinion might be exercised.
Had ST. JOHN LONG been living and famous, we
might have supposed that the learned civilian was
his favourite disciple. He proved himself a
thorough proficient in the art of " counter-irrita-
tion"—of creating a superficial wound, worse in
appearance than reality, in order to attract the
virus from the more formidable gangrene. Thus
Dr. PHILLIMORE dwelt on the minor abuses,

professing not merely his own anxiety, but
that of " THE FACULTY," of which he is a distin-
guished member, for their reformation. He would
destroy those " detestable peculiar jurisdictions,"
concentrating all the power, and all the influence
of the hydra-headed abomination in the Levia-
than atrocity at Doctors' Commons—and thus •
bringing additional fish to the nets of his learned
brethren. It would be well to transfer the tests,- ,
mentary jurisdiction over real as well as personal
estate to the Prerogative Court ! Was there not
a report to that effect signed by men of high cha-
racter and unblemished reputation—and the
names of Chief Justice TYNDAL, of Lord TENTS"
DEN, and Lord WYNFORD were referred to, ill
order to push the " argumentam ad vereoun-
diam" to the utmost extent. Those distin-
guished jurists, fearing, perhaps, that they would
be unable to root up the baleful upas tree that
had extended its roots so far, were willing to
make some attempt to destroy its poison, and ren-
der it, if not wholesome, at least comparatively
innoxious. Poison, if sufficiently diluted, may
become harmless, and thus the eminent men above
referred to might have imagined that, as it was
impracticable under the then circumstances of the
case to eradicate the evil, the next best
course was to extend and dilute its strength/
so as to render it very much below proof ;
but " nous changeans tout cela." The prevailing
enthusiasm is for " legal reform," and the only
questions are as to the rapidity with which we
are to proceed on the course, and possibly as to
the goal to be arrived at. The Hon. and Learned
Civilian, the Member for Tavistock, thinks that
the abolition of 340 courts, their power and
influence being— transferred to the remaining 32
ecclesiastical tribunals, would suffice. We con-
cur with Mr. COLLIER, and we believe with
at least 600 of the chosen representatives of the
people in thinking, VIM such a reform would be
worse than useless—that there would still remain
32 courts too much ; and that they would only
prove more onerous and intolerable in proportion
to their increased power.
The speeches of the ATTORNEY and SoLicrron
GENERAL showed that it was not the Ecclesiastical
Courts merely that were in danger. So far as We
can gather from the significant limits of the learned
functionaries, there is to be "a consolidation of ,
these confficting jurisdictions, in order that justice
might no longer be divided into different de-
grees,
and different qualities." It is, therefore,
more than probable that an •effort will be
made to effect a con *Le and perfect fusion
be-
tween law and equity—to enable one jurisdiction
to render complete justice to its suitors. Mr.
COLLIER, under the fair promises that were made, '
the auspicious auguries afforded, judiciously Ira'
drew his motion, leaving the matter in the hands
of Government, but reserving to himself the right :
of taking the subject up again if it were not dealt
with energetically and efficiently. There is no
doubt, however, that the grievance will be fairly
grappled with, and that the Ecclesiastical Courts
will not much longer remain the stain and re-
proach of the British nation—the foul blots on
the national escutcheon.

Almost everybody nowadays appears to be
bitten with a horror of war, almost as fantastic in
its effects as those produced by the poisonous
forceps of a Tarantula. Inspired by it, some
have gone off dancing-mad in a detestation of
potentates whom they have been led by their fears
to regard as the champions of aggression. Actuated
by a yet more impassioned affection for peace, and
influenced by a still mere deeply-rooted abhor-
rence of contention, others have endeavoured to
pour oil upon the troubled waters of political
controversy by chanting the praises of inter-
national tranquillity. A certain identity of prin"
ciple is, therefore, actually to be traced between
Mr. COBDEN and those whose scurrilous vitupern"
tions may be said to have recently elicited his
arguments as a pamphleteer. Mistaken the latter
have proved themselves, to be sure, but sincerely
opposed many of them undoubtedly are in their
conscience to the dogmas maintained by those
who would resort to " Brown Bess " and the
bayonet for the settlement of every dispute be-
tween contending Governments. Whether these
foes of battle have been judicious in their method.
of giving utterance to their peculiar prejudices
and predilections--prejudices against campaigning'
and predilections in favour of arbitration.—revsw.
tont to be shown by some more ingenious dispn
than any of those who have yet advocated the
right to indulge at pleasure in indiscriminate 804
unmeasured vituperations. It can scarcely be
maintained, for example, with anything like
reason, that the best method of securing the con;
tinuance of quietude in Christendom is that el
assailing, with all the vocabulary of opprobri°ll
epithets, the supreme ruler of the Ws.,"
powerful race on the European continent.
lowing somewhat, however, for the phrenzY
fanaticism, it may be conceived that there has realii
lurked, in many instances, under this insolence ,
tone, so provocative of retaliation, a certain ec,
centric distaste for the once popular profession 01
the soldier. Just, for example, in the same Val
as the terror of falling from the brink of an ae°li.
Tity is said to prompt the timid not unfrequentlY
to throw themselves sheer over the edge of a preci-
pice. Diametrically different has been the courJe
pursued by the members of the Peace Society, other
wise known as the Society in favour of Arbitration.
Instead of eideavouring to guard the council
from becoming embroiled with its neighbours, by
insulting those neighbours upon every imaginable
opportunity, these aspirants, for another and 3
nobler age of gold—a millennium born out of the
blending of Christianity and Civilisation—We
sung the panegyrics of universal brotherhood as
fervently as though they really hoped in their
day to bend the 'spears into reaping-hooks and t°
beat the swords into ploughshares. Although yr°
have ever confessed, with all our respect for the
gentleness of their philanthropy, a total absence'
on our part, of confidence in the feasibility of
the enterprise entertained by these day-drexev
ing humanitarians, we must, nevertheless, 3e;
knowledge a larger sympathy for their utopian, but
still humane and generous, sentiments, when con,
trasted with the insensate folly and fury mingt
together in the vapourings of their antagoniars
—the fire-eaters already particularised. 11111
preference we have before now proclaimed, in lan-
guage sufficiently explicit, to be altogether
unmistakeable. Remembering this, we are grail;
fled to observe the cordial coincidence of opinion
very recently expressed by the chief of
the
monthly contemporaries. Blackwood, in
as
number for March just published, declares
much, plainly enough, during the course of a very
intelligent paper on the rival merits (!) of "
and War"—the writer remarking, indeed, in °
ne
part of his argument (p. 368)—" It is not
qiat we have the good fortune to side with -704
COBDEN, but we cordially agree in his disaPPr.°,,,.,
of the tone which has been assumed by a conslol
internal
affairs portion of the press in regard to the
affairs of France"—a sentence by which gag
virtually justifies the whole of the rem
est
pamphlet "17 9 3 and 1853," in terms of eart
and almost unconditional commendation. Tor
hcinia
s
can we be surprised that our contemporary -
speak out thus candidly even in reference to
tact and reason revealed in this matter bf the
bleat
Honourable Gentleman, the Member for the "'
Riding of Yorkshire, when we bear in renlelf,
brance the manly course adopted throughout, b°l7.
by the periodical and the representative. Bloc
wood has never, to our remembrance, upon this
vital question of preserving amity between Frail_
oe;
and England, under the respective eraPircovii
VICTORIA and NAPOLEON, truckled to tbcse
passions of the mob which have elsewhere' we
d
blush to think, been disgracefully Panderelioh
by English Ministers of State and by /3500 i
journalists. Mr. COBDEN yet more cl!startitu
has shrunk from anything like complicity with
the latter by raising his voice in indignant. a
_1;0.
against the injustice, and indecorum, and imPo'-`O7;
of these most odious scurrilities. Under all
instance
siderations, the conduct displayed in this:. I'LL_
dounds peculiarly to his honour, from
hi
by the Hon. Member for the West Riduclognslti.
tuting a signally courageous
deuce ; and although he may continue
.guY d
obloquies
a while assailed with all kinds of o
tokext of histoi bees

di graceful imputations, the day will ultimately
arrive when his boldness and honesty will be to
the full appreciated. Happily, it is already be-
"fling evident to larger and yet larger numbers
of the 'intelligent population, that we have not
counted without our host," as the saying is—
*ld Mr. COBDEN and those who agree with him
have not calculated without ample reason that
there are guarantees visible in France—yes, even
tll France, rather should we say peculiarly in
'trace—.for the continued preservation of peace
trween the nations of the Continent. Illustra-
:is of this are each day, as it were, being mul-
'Plied. Besides the diminution of the French
44"i'7 by 2,000,000 francs in the amount of the
tnnual expenditure ; besides the reduction of the
'"ench army last year by 30,000 men, and its
further reduction this year by 20,000, as re-
ee
been
promised by the EMPEROR—there have
Zell the renewal of the commercial treaty with
aid the talk of a yet more im-
A"'rtant one with Great Britain, and the
image with the youthful EUGENIE ; and
4.17'S but not least, the singular hesitation on
" Part of the Councils of the Tuileries to co-
°l3erate with the Cabinet of St. James's in a
~
liike demonstration in the Dardanelles ! Re-
e°uect, the plea for that hesitation was an un-
'willingness on the part of the EMPEROR to give a
rnetext for umbrage to 'the Northern Powers of
e Continent ! Fortunately, the difficulty in-
Lollred. in this new evidence of the anxiety
herd,7l the French Government to sustain, at all
az the interests of peace for Europe, has
peen obviated by'the happy issue of recent Dego-
ritions. The settlement of the quarrel between
4118tria and Turkey has dissipated the cloud of
_llncertainty that appeared for a moment to augur
4
4. divergence of policy in regard to foreign rela-
44)na, as viewed simultaneously from two different
Nuts of view—from Paris and from London.
414 obviated though the difficulty is, it has yet,
e most difficulties of the kind, left behind it
' not unsatisfactory remembrance. For through
it,t as already observed, we cannot fail to recog-
18e the solicitude in behalf of peace cherished by
the French Imperial Government—a solicitude
renderedk more noticeable by it than, perhaps, by
fins
previous incident since the new reign was
*01.4 inaugurated. Everything, indeed, appears
bencourage, nowadays, our pacific aspirations.
°getiler with the facts here commented upon
iCefiY by ourselves, must be borne in remem-
,.rance the sympathy expressed only a few days
Wee for the objects, the hopes, and the principles
th the Peace Association, by the Noble Earl at
e head of the present Administration. A recent
17eurrence in Turkey has shown us how war is
Ziled from by- the Emperor of the FRENCH--
re 7 a recent occurrence in Downing-street has
fo ealed how earnest is the homage entertained
t Peace by the Prime Minister of England.