The Sun.
London, England, 1822-03-29 00:00:00

[NEW TIMES.]

We call the attention of our readers to. our
Assite..4epift:from Lancaster, by which it will
seen-be that a true billfOr perjury has been found
against itidgway, who, at the last Assizes, was
conVicfed, on the prosecution of the Constitu-
tional Association, of having published a sedi-
tious libel; and also against one Daniels, who
joined in an affidavit, with a view to procure
Ridgway a new trial, after that conviction. It
is not for us to anticipate the final result of this
indictment; but if it should turn out that Ridg-
way has perjured himself and suborned another
individual to commit perjury, the case; will be
one evincing as flagrant a degree of impudence as
ever was known. Ridgway appears to have
acted as an agent in the circulation of Carlile's
seditious, and blasphemous publications at Man-
chester.. A person named Mellor purchased
one. .of him. On the evidence of 'Mellor,
Ridgway was Convicted ; but he• applied for
a new trial. , In this application he did not ven-
ture to swear. positively that he never had
sold the libel.iri question, but he rested on the al-
legation that MellOr,in the course of his evidence
had mentioned a certain board as having been over
the shop window ,at the time ; whereas Ridgway
and Daniels both sWoreat it had been removed
some months previously.. Whether there was a
board . or not, was in itself perfectly immaterial ;
but Ridgway charged Alelior to have sworn falsely
onthat point. The charge was rebutted by the affi-
davits of five or six other persons who had seen the
board : and the Constitutional Association has very
properly thought it due to public justice to put this
fact in issue, ititlit Most solemn manner possible.
There is another point of in which the find-
ing of this bill deserves particular notice. When
the new trial was moved for, a Learned Barrister
ventured to:, surmise that the Members of the
Constitutional Association might have been guilty
of subornation of perjury. This insinuation drew
from the Judge a proper reprimand ; inasmuch

as it was, totally unsupported by the evidence
in the case. Not a shadow of ground for so
font an imputation on the prosecutors has ever
appeared'; but it is very remarkable that the
party himself, from whose instructions we
must presume the Learned Counsel to have
spoken, now stands indicted of that very crime.
This reflection will probably teach some gentle-
men to be a little more sparing of the abuse which
they are pleased to level against individuals as
honourable as themselves. The Constitutional As-
sociation has become the object of most virulent
attack, for no other reason that we can discover,
except that it puts the law of the land in force
against a class of offenders most pernicious to the
peace and good order of society. Is this—we
ask any candid man—is this a reason for attribut-
ing evil motives to the Association ? Why should
sedition and blasphemy not be punished ? What
harm is there in restraining those offences? If,
indeed, the prosecutions of the Association had
been directed against trivial, insignificant, or du-
bious publications, we might think them super-
fluous. But that is so far from being the case,
that every libel which. they have prosecuted has
been confessedly of the most gross and infa-
mous nature.

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]
The discussion upon Mr. .Western's excellent
measure for " more frequent gaol deliveries,"
gave occasion to the expression of an opinion, that
the Judges are inadequately remunerated. That
a period at which all their expeuces (excepting
taxes) are reduced full 30 per cent. below the
average of the last twenty years should be chosen
for the augmentation of their salaries—a period
too, when the call for an unsparing retrenchment
is loud and universal—has excited no little sur-
prise. The independence of the Judges is
doubtless one of the greatest and most valuable
securities of the liberty of the subject. But, it
may be asked, are there no other methods of
rendering their independence above suspicion ?
Perhaps the declaring the Puisne Judges incapa-
ble of promotion to the Chiefships would be a
step, beyond all others, of the highest importance
to the purity of the administration of justice.—
I The Puisne Judges, nine in number, now
receive 40001. per annum. It is under-
stood that out-goings for Circuits, and what
is called Land-tax, &c. reduce their stipends to
the net sum of 32001. The Chiefs, including the
Lord Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and Master
of the Rolls, are six in number ; their profes-
sional incomes vary from 25,6001. per annum to
60001., and some of them possess patronage to an
enormous amount. It has long been the pride of
England, that justice has been administered more
impartially and ably than in any country in the
world. This has in a great measure been owing
to the description of the individuals who have
filled the judicial office. They have been gentle-
men in general issuing from the middle class of
society, and some even from a still lower class,
who, by dint of their own personal abilities, legal
acquirements, and private character, have raised
themselves by their peculiar and superior fitness
to this most honourable distinction. Had the
office been paid at a higher rate, it would have
been questionable whether it would often have
been enjoyed by this class of lawyers. It would
have been an object with Parliamentary Pa-
trons, for their own immediate connexions. There
would have been upon the Bench of Justice, the
same tribe of Beresfords—Veruons, Manners Sut-
tons—Barringtons—Cornwallises—Pelhams, who
now, with a score of other relations of Peers,
hold all the richest Sees in the United kingdom.
The best interests of the Church have long con-
fessedly suffered from the enormous prizes it
holds out to the cupidity of great families, who
seize upon them as the price of their support of
Government, regardless of the total want of pro-
fessional merit or reputation in the individuals
with whom they thus burthen the establishment.
It is to be feared that a similar calamity would
befal the law, were the labour of the Judges
much reduced, or their salaries much raised.—
While there is a great deal to be done, and not
more to be received than is sufficient to support
duly the dignity of the office, the public may ge-
nerally depend upon having promotions to the
Judicial Bench, from among those who may have
other claims than those of relationship to Peers,
or recommendations of Borough-mong.ers.

[MORN ING POST.]
•
*A discussion arose in .the House of Commons
last night, on Sir Robert IN ilson s presenting a
Petition from Bethnal Green, praying, in one
breath, for Hunt's:release and a Reform' in Par-
liament ; the latter., of which .was demanded in
terms which .could-onlybOntentled to insult the
House. The Ilon.7Veinber «rho preSented the
Petition was so conscious of‘this that a'sense, of
the respect he ovikl:p :Parliament'prompted
him, though on no-Occasion a.CCaSedi:oftoo much_
discretion, to specify and read aloud certain
manifestly obnoxious passage's. Thes§•passages
it was knaVisbly attempted , to palm upon
the common sense of,,Parliarnent,'-as'..not con-
veying the sentirtients.Of *the Petitioners them,
selves, and perhaps the assistance of some
Special-Pleaders of practice did enable them,
to . skulk from :the ..legal responSibility of
such conduct. But is it to be endured that, as
in this instance, a studied preparation of every
calumny which. every destriPtion of persons for
every purpose may have uttered against the House
is to be thrown in its teeth with impunity, by
some anonymous Club of Quidnuncs at Bethnal-
green, under the name of a just and lawful Peti-
tion for the Redress of Public Grievances ? The
immediate decision on the question for bringing
up this Petition showed that Parliament were
not to be thus treated, the numbers being-17 to
67. So far all was smooth water. Mr. Hume,
however, or as the Hon. Gentleman might, in his
own constant phrase, be called, Mr. ‘C Trouble-
the-House" was determined to disturb all the
mud at the bottom of the Opposition, and, ac-
cordingly, on rising to present a Petition from
Monmouth, did contrive to effect his object. The
previous division, he confessed, quite bewildered
him, and he was, as unfortunately for all his au-
ditors he usually is—at a stand. The Monmouth
Petition prayed for a
.Reform in parliament, like'

that from Bethnal-green ; and Mr. Hume, alwayi
diffident, could see no difference between one man
making a request of another in the most abusive
or the most respectful terms! The Hon. Member
went still further in compounding simples—he
proved that the House had no right to reject any pe-
tition without hearing it read, by proving his own
ignorance of the common Parliamentary forms. Mr.
Hume's brain, we are sorry to add, became so heat-
ed with the attrition of these incongruous ideas that
the Speaker, to prevent combustion, was obliged
to throw cold water on the Hon. Member, and
call him to order. Forgetting that Sir Robert
Wilson had read the objectionable passage, and
thus, himself, condemned it—forgetting that peti-
tions have frequently been rejected before being
brought up, he, in asserting that the House had
no right to do so, also forgot that the question,
which on every Petition is put from the Chair,
viz.: whether it be brought up or not, would be
nonsense if the right did not exist. We must
also say that besides the exception taken to this
Petition, there are many other reasons for ob-
taining the sense of Parliament, at that early
stage of the proceeding. Although the substance
or wording of a Petition may not be censurable,
the manner of " getting it up" may be very im-
proper, and form a solid ground for refusing to
receive it in the first instance. For our own
part, we are unchangeably of opinion that the
only way to render the inestimable right of Peti-
tion worthless is to abuse it ; and therefore, that
when the people so far betray their own inte-
rests, Parliament is bound to interpose and pro-
tect those interests for them.

[BRITISII PRESS.]
The Newspapers of the south of Ireland still
continue to exhibit scenes of outrage on the part
of the peasantry. But though our indignation be
excited by these statements, we cannot withhold
the expression of our regret and pity when we
learn that distress, amounting in some instances to
absolute famine, presses upon the great mass of
those unfortunate people. The south of Ireland
has now suffered for many months the infliction
of a calamity hardly to be equalled in the sin-
gularity of its circumstances in any page of the
history of that country ; but as yet no attempt
has been made to ascertain the motives that
have influenced the conduct of the criminals.
The arrivals yesterday from Ireland shew
that mere force alone is inadequate to pre-
vent the continuance of the outrages ; we find
that murders are still perpetrated, assemblies of
armed men are held, and the usual acts of noc-
turnal violence are committed. No one can tell
the cause of this shocking state of society, and
the Marquis Wellesley says that no one shall in-
quire into it until the evil has ceased to exist.
We suspect that, should this time ever arrive, the
Statesmen who now discountenance inquiry as
unseasonable, will then object to it as unneces-
sary. Fears are in the mean time seriously en-
tertained that the misery of the peasantry will
be still further aggravated by a failure of the po-
tato crop ; and if such should unfortunately be
the case, we will venture to predict that the
Marquis Wellesley's time for investigating the
causes of the present outrages will be deferred
much longer than he seems to anticipate.