The Sun.
London, England, 1822-06-21 00:00:00

TIIE LONDON JOURNA

7N.711.1.CTS FROM THE DAILY MORNING PAPERS,
June RI, 1822.

iMORNING POST.)
The House of Lords again sat, in Committee
rust night on the Marriage Act Amendment Bill.
_Lord Redesdale, as he had intimated,- introduced
his clauses in substitution of those negatived by
their Lordships ; and they were ordered to- be
printed as part of the Bill, in order,to their pro-
per consideration. Lords Ellenborough and
Holland severally complimented Lord Redes-
dale upon the pains width he had taken to em-
body the sense of the Douse on the present occa-
sion, and on the ability with which he had ac-
complished the task. It is perhaps not generally
known that Lord Redesdale devotes three
days in the week gratuitously to the transaction
of public business in the House of Lords.—
The Bill mith its amendments was reported, and
ordered to be recommitted on Monday next.—
In the House of Commons, the Scotch Juries'
Bill was discussed, on the question of its second
reading, which was ultimately carried without
division.—Sir N. Colthurst moved that the
House do resolve itself into a Committee upon
the. Butter Trade Acts, with a- view to increasing
the duties on foreign Butter. After some debate
the proposed measure 'was deemed inexpedient
and the motion was negatived without a division,

[NEW TIMES.]
We are well aware of the difficulty of report-
ing with verbal exactness speeches delivered in a
public assembly : and therefore we by no means '
pretend to charge Mr. Hume. with the words
which he is reported to have uttered ; but it is
very material to observe what these. Reports are ;
and to us. it appears that they,are such as ought
to be disavowed by the.Honourable Member.
The Times attributeS to him these words :
" The Government that could not stand Without a Church
Establishment, ought not to stand at all."
Thellorning-Chronicle states his words thus :
" He said, that a State which could not exist without a
Church ought not to exist."
Mi e do most sincerely hope that the Honour-
able Member will explicitly and distinctly dis-
claim principles so hostile to the Constitution,
and so stibc'ersive of the religion, the morals, and
the liberties of- the country. Mr. Hume
.is a
Scotchman ; but these principles .are as incom-
patible with the existence of the Scottish as of
the English 'Church.; . A Church establishment
both in Scotland and England is an essential
part of the %Constitution ; and it is utterly in-
comprehensible,. that it Member of Parliament
should avow so thorough a contempt for the
British Constitution as is implied in either of the
pas Sages above ,quoted.—We presume, that the
inhabitants of Montrose are people who do not
hold the Scottish Church in utter detestation and
abhorrence ; and if they do not, 'we put it to
them, as friends of that Church, bow they can
possibly return, as their RepresentatiVe, to the
Legislature, a man avowing sentiments such as
those ascribed by The Morning Chronicle and,
The Times to Mr. Hume.

LBRITISH PRESS.]
Mr. Kennedy moved the second reading of the
Scotch Juries Bill last night in the House, of
Commons. The principal object of the Bill is to
give the right of challenge to the prisoner in cri-
minal trial, and to take away the dangerous
method of determining cases of life and death by
a majority. It was opposed by the Lord Ad-
vocate, chiefly nn the grounds of the antiquity
of the present law, and the great advantages
which the Scotch prisoner had over the English
in the information as to the charge, the wit-
nesses, and the Jury, delivered to him fifteen
days before trial. Sir James • Mackintosh re-
marked on the similarity of the arguments used
by the Learned Lord to those brought in op-
position to the abolition of the heritable jurisdic-
tions. Changes of laws are to be aioided ; but
there are cases in which the" Legislature may be
'too reluctant. This seems to be one of them. It
is difficult to discover a good reason why the
English trial by jury, the excellence of which in
defence of popular right has never been called in
question, should-be withheld from Scotland. A
recent trial quoted by Mr.-. Kennedy, in which
the Judge, standing too much in the, character of
a party, was obliged to avoid 'the . exercise of
his functions, is of itself a very grave argument
against the mode of selecting Scotch juries.—
Had the connexion of the Judge, with that trans-
action been kept a secret, and the case tried in
any of the counties beyond Edinburgh, the Noble
and Learned Personage might have had to select
the Jury to try the offence, to instigate which he
had been a party. It would have depended
upon his conscience only to exercise his power
not--a nota mode of security which the tenour of
the English laws does not :set at a very high rate.
Lord Binning opposed the motion, :but Mr. Peel
conceiving that some, alteration was necessary in
the mode of selection. 6 the' jury,' supported it, in
the hope that it might assume a less objectionable
shape in the Committee. The Bill was then
read a second time, and ordered to be committed
on Monday next.

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]
Mr. Wilmot brought in a Bill last night for
Consolidating the two' Provinces of Upper and
Lower Canada, which is to be read a second time
this day. When Sir J. Mackintosh , stated his
objection to passing such a Bill without affording
time to the people of the Provinces to express
their opinions,-. Mr. Wilmot observed, that " it
could not be constitutionally necessary to con-
sult the opinion of the people of these Provinces
before Parliament proceeded to legislate on this
subject, since their present Constitution was de-
rived from an Act ofthe British Parliament, did
was of course subject to any modification which
-the Legislature in its wisdom might think fit to
adopt." 'We say nothing of the merits of Mr.
Wilmot's measure, nor of its adequacy or inade-
quacy as a corrective for the abusesin the Govern-
ment of Canada, which, like all our Colonies, has
been a field for gross jobbing. But this power
of setting aside Colonial Conititations The