The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-08 00:00:00

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

(From a Pamphlet with that title.)
The description of the gentlern,m appointed to these
offices are Retired Officers of the Army and Navy,
Clergymen, the Esquires or Landed Proprietors, or
other gentlemen of the county, who by their property
and influence scrape favour with the Lord Lieutenant,
and retired Shopkeepers and Merchants.
As to the first, viz., " Men of War," their heraldry
" chiefly founded upon ferocious merit or military ex-
ercise," stamps them at once as debonair gentlemen in
a peculiar manner, according to the aristocratical opinion
usually predominant among the upper classes, and de-
rived from our barbarous but warlike ancestors, But
such men of war decidedly are not the gentlemen fitted
for offices of " justice," if their qualifications be ex-
amined. Nurtured and tutored under a military and de-
spstic government, their minds are constantly inured to
one undeviating tendency, viz., an uncontrollable idea
that every offence must be met with the strictest se-
verity. Subordination being so necessary a provision in
the articles of,war, the conception is nourished in their
minds that the infliction of the severest penalties for
offences committed must he adopted, as alone sufficient
to produce obedience. Now this is not the feature per-
vading the criminal law at home. Its motto is " Tem-
per justice with mercy :" their's is " Punishment should
be extreme." Again, they are virtually commanded to
infringe both the moral and political law by duelling,
unaccountably termed the law of " honour." Still
worse, the cruel barbaric flogging system, besides the
scenes of bloodshed which in their duties they are com-
pelled to witness, and from such rank showers of blood,
are taught to build " the rainbow glory, and to shudder-
ing conscience cry, Behold the bridge to Heaven ;" surely
such must blunt, in a manner, the better feelings of
humanity. 'This education usually lasts till past their se-
cond score of years, before they mount the Bench of Jus-
tice. It is submitted, then, that it is morally impossible
that these wen, who as a general rule are too often
mere tools of slaughter, can be proper persons to ad-
minister vengeance for our insulted laws. True, some
dramatic author makes the Devil say, " The camp's
the school for civic right," but it is a fiendish remark,
and the bitterest piece of sarcastic irony that well
could be suggested. The writer wishes not to decry
the " men of war :" far otherwise. He laments their
necessity, but can imagine what must glow in a sol-
dier's heart fighting for his country and his home.
How often have the sharp thrilling notes of the fife,
the bugle's lengthened blast, and the hollow sounding
drum stirred up his young blood and kindled emotions
of visionary glory, " mingled with a mixture of melan-
choly and respect for that courage," and pity for that
thoughtless inclination for war which the profession of
arms so naturally enkindles in the untutored heart, in
short, rousing a crowd of sensations within "with which
sober rationality has nothing to do."
The clergymen come next ; their calling is a self-
evident objection, and for a clergyman, (professing
himself an ambassador of Christ, who himself declared
while on earth, I judge no man,) to act as a Justice
of the Peace, appears degrading to himself—an insult
to justice—a stain upon Christianity—a contempt of
the " Establishment"—a derogation of the oath of his
spiritual calling—in fact, such a man is a paradox.
Now the esquires and gentlemen of no particular
calling, whose worldly trading may extend to a load of
hay—a stack of corn—a fat ox, or some such commo-
dity. These are so often bred up to be lazy, that their
natural character usually attends them to the bench ;
' so that few regularly sit ; perhaps that is the reason of
there being such a host of J. P.'s. It is admitted, ta-
lent, ability, integrity, and humanity, (certainly good
qualities in a Justice of the Peace,) happily often pre-
dominate among them ; but then there is usually such
a degree of high bearing in their manner which they
cannot discard from the bench—then, as to the laws,
they know little or nothing.
Let us now take the retired shopkeepers or mer-
chants, who, (according to the motto " once a gentleman
always a gentleman," which the aristocrats are so fond
of acting on,) can never be gentlemen ; as, if their motto
be true, it must carry a retrospective idea, and that a
person once a tradesmen, who decidedly, in the eyes of
an aristocrat, was not then a gentleman, a fortiori can
never be a gentleman, because " once a gentleman al-
ways a gentleman." Now that this is the logical reason
of the said aristocrats can be avouched by their con-
duct, as shall afterwards be hinted at, and the difference
in the degree of respect with which such men are usu-
ally received ; but it is not the business of the writer to
inquire " why the knowledge, the skill, the expertness,
and the spirited hazard of trade and commerce when
crowned with success, should not be entitled to give
those flattering distinctions by which mankind are so
universally captivated," but to show that tradesmen
(retired or not) are not usually fitted for the Bench of
Justice. First, they have generally limited educations,
contracted ideas, and consequently unlearned heads,
hardly passing the bounds of their own affairs ; of mane
of whom, it is, alas ! too true, especially those attaining
affluence and notoriety, that their shop is their sanc-
tuary, their desk their altar, their ledger their Bible,
and their mosey their God ; and as to studying law or i
any other abstruse science, they would just as soon '
think of throwing their money into the streets—it would
in their estimation be as casting pearls to swine—be-
yond the law of accounts they seldom do or can go.
Such men being placed on the Bench of Justice are un-
fitted in every respect (as a general rule) to combat
with the intricate mazes and uncerta:nties of the laws ;
this the " aristocrats" who sit with them avowedly
admit.

To sum up this part of our subject, it only needs to
point to the age at which most Justices are appointed
to commence in their novel employ. They enter it
with preconceived and unfounded opinions, biassed sen-
timents, prejudiced ideas, impaired faculties, wasted in-
tellectual powers, morbid sensibilities, and in most in-
stances possessing not the slightest knowleege of law,
and with these they boldly but ignorantly imagine, they
can surmount the labours of an Administrator of the
Laws, attempting to learn as they proceed, and so it
goes—" always learning, always forgetting ;" for it is
contrary to known principles, that a man can acquire
proficiency iu any science, the study of which he has
scarce dreamt of till two or three score years have
passed over his head ; there may be exceptions to all
that has been advanced, but exceptions prove the rule.
Again, political influence or ignoble distinctions, being
the golden baits, always exercise themselves prejudicially
against the public good.
This part of our subject may be concluded by the
observation, that if the general rule in all professions
and callings, "that none can be competent who are not
trained to them" be true, why should not such a prin-
ciple be applied to our Justices of the Peace, anti it be-
come a general rule with them "that no man ought to
be permitted to interpret and administer our laws unless
he had previously studied and he
~,,Grne learned in them ;"
that sucks q rale has Leen hitherto ignorantly neglected
Is palpably glaring.
W

Good-Service --- -----
cthoemml
Gould,aet late
e.Acfdr.omßmi.r a;tlhceaSpli
Islas-1
i nSosfi
_d
jnulely7h
homes
e are much gratified in announcing that the
9i:LhS'eAardlTemh(ieriaBlOp
following distinguished Officers have I,te;ul wle':;ted for the
sinecure office 0 Lieutenant-General of Marines, held by
l'en,lc,n, con4eilueUt on the abolition of the
pensions
op.niti do;
Richard Arthur 0810), c
.ti,, Charles John Austen
(181(1), and Jeremiah t'oghlan (1810), C.B. Major_
Generals of Marines—George Elliot Vinicombc, and Sir
John Boscawen Savage, K. C. 8.,
K. C. H. The Marine
pensions are in addition to those already bestoweil upcai
officers of that gallant corps.--No,' ,-td .11-44ary Oa.
. '
:i'Eftc.
- The duty on the f importation of foreign wheat
has fallen to 2s. B.j. Mandeville, who wrote to prove that
private vices are public benefits, should hove liyed to gee
how the rogues in gain, lookiilu t
..., 14A0.ir 90,74 interests
`'nlo. luCi icicOliV9titg tltern.b.y tile grossest frauds, promote
the-general interesls of the community. It would have
enabled him to make a capital addition to the Fable of the
Bees. Here, as in smuggling, the Great Knave corrcgt,
the Great Fool.—M iT. ,
~, anc !ester tnti-_:
On i 4i-'4,4)1 itisti Fhb, iteatl quartets of the
second bat6lion cif the Rifle Brigade al rived in this town
Pe! packet from Bristol,' under the command of Major ,
frton, in the absence of
,Colonel Browne, who is ma lea'e, '
The force of the aides
here at pzc-iet?, is, three-arid-a,half 1
companies, amounting to 4.pA men. There are besides,
two companies at Brecon, under the command of Major
1-1444 i c.'l;-, ii.:ttipany at Pontypool, under Captain Law- '
rence i ono at Merthyr, under Captain Eaton ; one at
Swansea, under Captain Glegg; one company at New.on
and half a company at Montgoinery.—Merlin. A
LONG TRAIN.—On Sunday ::corning no
fewer than sixty-two carriages, drawn bX fjur engines,
Jett' the 1....!'ep4a station lot I.i-eit'cl 4. •I'he nure'lier of'
apas-
sengers mounted 'to 3,200. ')his exceids the famous
train that loft Nottingham for bheffi-eld a ew dais h,,-.40.r0,
which consisted of fitty-seven carriages, four engines, and
3,000 Passengers. I

4r: .„ • i.: ;
g 0.,,,,
, ,„qp,,, '• - i-4,;1,
',4*„. 0,-..•t5 41 ..'
'•••

C/4)t -g3ll-1+

LONDON:
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8."1840.

In resuming the subject of the New Zealand
Committee, ..Ve must necessarily confine ourselves
to the main principles at issue. To speak first of
the " able report," as Lord EL/OT's rejected draft
has been called, and of the extraordinary evidence
on which it was, founded, we must state that the whole
of the evidence is comprised in 133 pages, and that 73
of them are occupied by the evidence of Mr. ED-
I
WARD GIBBON WkKEFIELD. Our yesterday's
article showed clearly that the Committee was
really his Committee, and that its deliberations
were guided by him through the Chairman ; and as
we are assured by the Spectator that the report is
founded on the evidence, it is clear that the draft of
the report is altogether ?4r. WAKEFIELD'S. So
explained, we, apprehend it will have no more
weight with the public than one of Mr.
WAKEFtELD's pamphlets ; but the House
of Commons may look with suspicion on such a
perversion of the use of its Committees. It is true

the majority did not allow Lord ELIOT, Mr. F.
BALLING, MT. HAWES, Mr. HOPE, and Mr.
GLADSTONE, to make a cat's paw of them for_Mr.
WAKEFIELD, but only the good sense of the ma-

jority prevented his success. To see a single indi-
vidual, or a little knot of individuals, manceuvering
to get a Committee appointed for one thing, and

make-it pursue another—to trace them moving the
Chairman like a puppet, till at length the crotchets
or the schemes of an individual come forth bearing

,he sanction and recommendation of the delibera.-

tive authority of a Committee of the House of
Commons, amuses us by the cunning exhibited,
but degrades the authority of Committees.
The reader will not be surprised to learn that
Lord ELIoT's draft report, founded on Mr.
WAKEFIELD'S evidence, laid clown, as the basis

of future legislation, certain opinions of the Judges
of the United States, which have been quoted in

Mr. WAKEFIELD'S writings; though rational men
would have expected from a conscientious Commit-
tee, as these opinions refer to the occupation of
new countries, that some man or men eminent as

jurisconsults in our, own. country should have...been
consulted by the Committee, before attempting to
come to any conclusion. The Chairman was con-

,ented with the light thrown on it by Mr. WAKE

FIELD. With no better evidence the Chairman con-
cluded,
" That irreparable evils would ensue unless
Me Crown became Me sole proprietor of the whole of
New Zealand ;"a very pleasant conclusion, seeing that
the Croton in this sense means the House of Corn-
mons, which Lord ELIOT, one of its Members,
thinks should have the disposal of the whole of
New Zealand. The Noble Lord and his like have
governed England, in which they live, so admirably,
that the people, particularly the hand-loom weavers,
the Chartists, and the whole race of the bread-
taxed, must be delighted to see them extend their
benevolent cares over another England, on the op-
posite side of the globe.

But the main recommendation of the Chairman,
to procure which we have no doubt the Committee
was obtained, Mr. WAKEFIELD and his doubles
examined so minutely, and the whole of the machi-
nery set in motion, is this—" That the holders of
lands, not in cultivation, whose titles shall lave
been admitted by the "Commissioners"—for Lord
'ELIO'T's scheme, or rather Mr. • WAKEFIELD'S,
involves a new batch of Commissioners—" shall
therefore have a pre-emptive right of purchase from
the Crown at a price not less than 20s. the acre."
" That except in the cases before provided for, the
lands to be vested in the Crown shall be disposed
of by sale only at a uniform price, and not by-auc-
tion, such price not being less than 20s. per acre."
Everybody knows that this is the main principle of
Mr. WAKEFIELD'S scheme of colonization. Ac-
cording to the recommendation of Lord ELIOT, there-
fore, supported by Mr. F. BARING, Mr.,B. HAWES,•
Mr. G. W. HOPE, and Mr. GLADSTONE, the
sovereignty of the whole island of New Zealand is
to be seized by the Crown of Great Britain, and
virtually made over to Mr. WAKEFIELD and his
Company, to be colonized on his plan and under his
direction. His ambition is not- very limited, and
to attain' his vast object is worth all the trouble of
putting the machinery in motion we have described,
to beguile the House of Commons, and to make
puppets of some of its Members. What a dis-
grace, the Spectator will say, for the Administra-
tionrto be on the watch, and not suffer such an
elaborate scheme to be completed ! ,
I We should not trouble ourselves, however, with
this foolish Committee, nor the foolish proceedings
of Lord ELIOT, if this question of colonization
on the WAKEFIELD principle were not of very
coiiliderame nce to the public, and
importance
par-
ticularly to the working people of England. It is
not a little singular that Mr. WAKEFIELD, and of
course Lord ELIOT, have a great horror of
i Englishmen acquiring land in New Zealand
without paying their 20s. per acre. They call it
irregular, and put up their hands at it
as the naughtiest of all paw-paw, tricks.
A great Company, with a Surveyor-General, and
a Board, of Directors, meeting weekly in the me-
tropolis, may, for a few muskets and blankets,
acquire 20,000,000 acres ; but for individuals on
the spot to purchase a few score acres for a
single musket, to cultivate it, and supply ships
with stores, is a gross outrage against Mr.
WAKEFIELD'S and Lord ELIOT'S newly dis-
covered moral code. He, and of course Lord
ELIOT, predict from it all kinds of evil, as
if a regular survey, and a decent appropriation
of vast islands and continents, according to
a technical and prescribed form, never caused the'
least mischief to the aborigines—the aborigines of
New South Wales, and the Hottentots and Caffres
to wit, and never led to a single dispute, though
the unsettled and costly question of the. Maine
Boundary is at this moment impending, over. the
nation I To avoid all these irregular appropriations,
and put a stop to the adventurous English, who
have begun colonizing New Zealand after their own
fashion, which laughs at Mr. WAKEFIELD'S
scheme, and extends the British name without
pouring any fresh wealth into the lap of idle Lon-
don capitalists, Mr. WAKEFIELD, and of course
Lord ELIOT, propose that the Crown or the House
of Commons should monopolize the whole of New
Zealand. A monopoly of the land, before it is
brought into use, is one of the curses of Europe,
and that curse Mr. WAKEFIELD and Lord ELIOT
would inflict on the newly-discovered lands of th e
Pacific Ocean.
But now let the labourers of England, part.icu-
larly the destitute hand-loom weavers and other suf-
fering artizans, who may with propriety dews nd rt.
lief from a Government that will let no part of the
business of individuals alone—let them well remark
that this monopoly will operate, anti is intended
to operate, to prevent them acquiring land.
They may have it under Mr. WAKEFIELD'S
scheme, if they can pay 20s. a.i acre for it, but other-
wise they cannot have a rood, and must toil still
for those who have wealth. In fact, it was avowed
in the last number of the Edinburgh Review, that
the gist of Mr. WAKEFIELD'S plan was to prevent
the labourers of England from becoming inde-
pendent landowners, and was intended to keep them
labourers still. For that object New Zealand is
also to be monopolized. If Mr. WAKEFIELD be
not in league with the bread taxers, he deserves to
be, for he labours assiduously to serve their end
and object, of keeping the labourers poor, and
keeping them enslaved. In his evidence he over
and over again expresses alarm at the cheapness of
land in New Zealand, and boldly avows that he
wishes to make it dear by monopolizing it. All
that is done, however, under the most patriotic
guise, and individuals are to be prevented from ac-
quiring land, and society is to be 'modelled on the
WAKEFIELD, riot the OWEN scheme, exclusively
for the benefit of the people themselves.
The quarrel between Mr. WAKEFIELD and the

Government springs from the repugnance of the
Colonial Administration to countenance this giant
scheme of monopoly. By listening to it before
they were aware of its bearings, and by counte—
nancing it, they have deserved Mr. WA KETAELD'S
reproaches ; but they deserve none for discovering
their error in time, and stopping short of the point
to which he has driven poor Lord ELIOT. One
of the charges against the Administration isi. that
they were willing to let land of which that' had
acquired possession at ss. per acre. Air. WA.KE-
FIELD quotes that fact in his evidence more than