The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-27 00:00:00

PRICE 7D.

whiskey, but to stick to his pipes and keep sober,
lest the fiery nature of his native drink should bring
him into some scrape out of which not even his sta. e
of blindness, aided by the melody of the instrument
on which he played, might be sufficient to release him.

THE SOOTHING SYSTEM ILLUSTRATED..

(From the Examiner.)
' 2f yqu enti°llll't hiceentrriteribe.
t to
Eac ;that was levelled at me"
kis well knIS all the world (which means.
), that Ministers are the
.--having, however, this one
le have one, by-the-bye),
to their enemies. A
ce of this propensity has
Lord Althotp has been
Lancashire Tory, to whom
)easing civility. He did
,ommunication, as a man
)ull, asking him what had
.nd wherein he was dis-
rage tossed, tore, and gored,
!eft him speechless !
The affair was, it seems, as thus :—Lord Al-
thorp received a letter from a gentleman named
Philips,* stating, in insulting terms, that Mr.
Hulton, of Hulton Park, a Lancashire Magis-
trate, had withdrawn from the Commission of
the Peace, in consequence of expressions used
by his Lordship in the House of Commons, in
allusion to the massacre ; or, as Lord Althorp
terms it—and we beg the term may be remarked,
for we have much to say on the unfortu-
nate transactions at Manchester" in 1819.
When it is considered how few Tory Magistrates
there are in the country, and how ill one can
be spared who had taken a part in " the Man-
chester transactions" of 1819, need we be sur-

prised at Lord Althorp's eagerness to come to
explanation with the malcontent ? He wrote to
hint what would be called a very pleasing letter,
such as, coming from a Minister of State, with
a great seal to it, notifying the exalted corres-
pondence in the post town,—could not have
failed to soften the resentment of any magistrate,

who had not had a hand in the Manchester

•••-- --- -
transactions. But see the force of habit !—Mr.
Hulton instantly charged upon this peaceable
Nobleman, in the Peterloo manner, cut him
down, and trampled him under foot !
Lord Althorp concludes his letter, disavowing
any intended allusion or offence, by saying—
" I did undoubtedly refer to the circumstances of the
case (the Manchester massacre, termed by his Lordship
trans-iction•'), in general terms of disapprobation ; but
I did not apply those terms to the Magistrates—still less
to any individull Magistrate; and, therefore, unless you
have seen a report of what I said, very different from that
which appears in the Mirror of Parliament, I think it
impossible that you should have retired from the Bench of
Magistrates in consequence of what I said in the House of

Commons-"
It is one of the greatest discoveries of modern
times, that when any considerable public mis-
chief happens, nobody Is to blame. The stars
formerly had to answer for all crimes arid mis-
carriages ; but since the improvements in astro-
nomy, they have been found innocent, and are
no longer responsible for our calamities—had
they not been timely set right in public opinion,
the Georgium Sidus would have borne the blame
of all the ills that have afflicted the country.

Now, however, the stars and garters of the Peers
are the only ones apostrophised as malignant
causes of mischief. The instigations of the Devil
succeeded, but, like an overworked advocate, he
sunk under excess of business, and died of fa-
tigue in the American war. Refinement then
struck out the grand discovery, that the force 01
circumstances had to answer for all courses of
action, and that events could be untoward, and
transactions unfortunate, without any fault at-
taching to the persons ostensibly acting in them.
This philosophy, which so wonderfully advances
the cause of charity, has not yet obtained footing
iu our Courts of Justice ; but, we foresee, and so
doubtless do the lawyers, that their business will
be utterly at an end whenever it is acknowledged
there. Murder has not yet got the name of an
" unfortunate transaction," but when it does so,
it is clear that humanity will have greatly gained,
for the indictments will be laid for " unfortu-
nate transactions," without any personality or
occasion for a prisoner at the bar; and thus the
odious character of the murderer will cease to
exist—the thing, to be sure, may still happen
untowardly ; but what is a thing to a name ? and
words, indeed, are things, the representatives of
things, and as much superior in consequence and
power to them, as a Member of Parliame't is of
greater authority than his constituency. Had
an earlier improvement of phraseology given to
the Massacre of St. Bartholomew the name of
the Transactions of St. Bartholomew, that action
would doubtless have been regarded with more
indulgence. As for the atrocities of the French
Revolution, adopting the nomenclature of Lord
Althorp, may we not soften them under the de-
scription of the Philosophical Transactions ?
Lord Althorp disapproved, as he explains, in
general terms, of the circumstances of the " Man-
chester transactions ;" " but," says he, " I did
not apply the expressions of blame to the Ma-
gistrates." And doubtless he intended to carry
them to the exclusive account of the unfortunate-
ness of the transaction, which is a thing essen-
tially impersonal. But here we come to one of
those instances of crassitude, proceeding from a
country life ; Mr. Hulton, in his reply, after
lecturing his Lordship on his politics, touches
thus rudely on this delicacy in his diction :
" Your Lordship states in your letter, that though you
did 'refer to the circumstances in general terms of disap-
probation, you did not apply those terms to the magistrates '
To whom may I ♦enture to ask, did these expressions
refer ? There were only two parties ; on the one hand,
the civil authorities, with the military acting under their
orders ; on the other, Messrs. Hunt, Carlile, and their
compatriots."

Here is a man who supposes that parties are
necessary to an unfortunate transaction—nay,
who seems to think that a transaction has trans-
actors, as an action without the help of the
trans has certainly its actor. There are, we
admit, some " unfortunate transactions" in which
parties are accountable, and may not only be
personally blamed, but personally indicted, and
most personally hung by the neck till dead ; but
these are cases in which a mob are on the active
side of the transaction, as at Bristol, and not op
the passive, as at Manchester. Put the magi-

This letter is so presuming and impertinent, that it is in-
conceivable how any man of common discretion could have beer
induced to attend to it• The writer admonishes the Noble Lon
to " pause" (a very favourite recommendation with the noonles,
in his rash career, and apprises him that " sound judgment" is
indispensable in his situation. Such a judgment would instantly
have conveyed the letter into the fire. In another place will hi
seen the Chronicle's just remarks upon it.