The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-24 00:00:00

in the country. The public, from these consi-
derations, appear desirous of a change of sys-
tem, and are thetefort favourable to Lord
BROUGHAM'S Bill.
The measure will, no doubt, do good in
getting rid of those numerous aristocratic place-
hunters, for whom the LORD CHANCULoR
has hitherto been bound to provide. Small in-
sited must be the stock of legal knowledge of
him who is not fitted for the arduous office of a
Commissioner of Bankrupts 1 It would, with-
out question, be a relief to the mind of an honest
Chancellor to be deprived of the burthen of a
Species of patronage which has never yet con-
ferred any more credit upon the Government,
than it has advantage on the public, and we fully
believe that Lord BROUGHAM will be rejoiced
to be altogether delivered of the incubus. But,
we are sorry to say, that we have witnessed the
results of so many schemes of Law Reform, from
which the public has derived no advantage, that
we grow somewhat sceptical as to the benefits
which the nation will reap even from -a measure
j like the Bankruptcy Reform Bill, whose grin-
, ciple is decidedly good. There never was a
more signal failure than the Commission of In-
quiry into the Common Law—and the several
Chancery Commissions within the last few years
have been notorious for the manner in which
they have trifled with the general expectations.
The Reform of Parliament is comparatively
easy, because every one is familiar with the sub-
' ject ; but in a country where Jurisprudence is a
science not studied, the Reform of the Law is a
matter that must ever be attended with the ut-
most difficulty. If the wisdom of Jurisconsults,
says BENTHAM, be taken as a guide, it is one
thing ; but if popular applause be the object, it
it is not very easy to accomplish a substantial
good, by courting the ephemeral tribute of
vulgar approbation. Far be it from us to attri-
bute to Lord BROUGHAM the wish to catch a
fleeting popularity, but when we see eight or
ten different schemes of Law Reform in pro-
gress simultaneously, originating from Ministry
and Opposition indiscriminately, we cannot be
without apprehension that the gain to the nation
from so unsystematized and ill-digested a course
of legislation, will be infinitely less than the
public, in their sanguine hopes of Reform, are
apt to imagine.

The all-absorbing Reform Bill has prevented
a due share of notice being taken of that excel-
lent measure, the Game Laws Amendment Bill,

now going through the House of Lords. By it
the present unjust and absurd system of qualifi •
cation will be abolished—the sale of game will be

egalized—and the whole character of our legis
lation in regard to game will be placed on a
Footing more consonant to equal justice and to
the wants of the present state of society.
The Game and Forest Laws are a part of the
feudal system, of which, in most countries of
Europe, there are more remains than there ought
to be, but whose oppression has been peculiarly
mischievous in Great Britain. They have led
to a state of civil war between poachers and
preservers—have been a main cause of the
demoralization of the peasantry—and have been
the subject of the most unkindly feeling
between landlords and tenants, if not be-
tween the higher, and the middling and lower
classes, in general. Founded on the prin-
ciple of exclusive privilege, they have upheld a
most absurd anomaly in jurisprudence, namely,
The recognition of property in a class of animals
ferce naturce, and which are in truth no more
so than sparrows or field-mice.
There ought to be no law particularly appli-
cable to game beyond the ordinary law of tres-
pass. Because the Earl of WESTMORLAND is
an hereditary Legislator (GoD save the mark !)
is that any reason why his Lordship should be
privileged to shoot partridges, and his te-
nants not ? Can any system be more out-
rageously preposterous, in a country which
boasts that it has reached the ne plus ultra of
civilization ? It was truly said by Lord TEN-
TERDEN, that any change in this system must
be for the better, and so ashamed of it, already,
are many of the landed interest, that, in regard
to their own tenantry, they have, in fact, abo-
lished it, and given up their exclusive rights.
The Earl of RADNOR is an example of having
Very disinterestedly practised as he has preached
in this respect.
But there are some who say, by removing the
Game Laws you will remove the country gentle-
men from their estates, for, without their shoot-
ing, they will not know how to fill up their
time. Valuable citizens these, in truth ! and
hard would it be upon them to deprive them
of their amusements! We hear constantly
of the important services rendered by the
country Squires in their several districts,
and yet it is said they will renounce their
public duties, if the middle classes are ad-
mitted into a participation of their par-
tridge-shooting ! Such arguments are both too
selfish, and too childish, to have any weight,
unless, perchance, among hereditary Legislators.
The plain sense of the case is, that every man,
who can afford to pay a reasonable duty for a
licence, ought to be at liberty to shoot, provided
in so doing he does not trespass upon lands
which he has not the permission to enter. The
Bill has some restrictions which appears to us
useless ; but it would be invaluable if it went
no further than to legalise the sale of game, and
so to permit that which, as experience has
shown, the law is wholly impotent to prevent.

We direct attention to an important letter from
our correspondent at Canterbury, who mentions
that at a public Reform meeting, lately held in
that city, one of the speakers recommended the
people to abstain from payment of the taxes
should the Lords throw out the Bill, which re-
commendation was received with loud applause
Who, after this, will still persist in saying that
the people are not in earnest—are not deter-
mined ? Why, they are rising in every village
throughout the kingdom ; and as for the towns,
there are actually scarcely twenty inhabitants in
them, who are not (if not from inclination, at