The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-03 00:00:00

LICENSE OF COUNSEL.

The measure of license is to be found in the great
object for which courts and lawyers exist, viz, the adaii-
nistration of justice. The limit fixed by that object has
notoriously been passed in the frequent treatment of
witnesses. The practice materially d:minishes the worth
of Courts of Justice to the nation. It is a not uncom-
mon prevention of justice.
There has been much mystification about tl'c duties
of a lawyer to his client, as if they were paramount to
all moral obngation. Now, what is that the client hires
by his fee ? A knowledge of the law, which he himself
has not. A position, the result of character, talent, and
practice, with judgeand jury, which he has not. A facility,
gained by experience, of eliciting facts from stupid or un-
willing witnesses, which he has not. And a readiness of
log'e, observation, and speech ; which he has not. By
the opportunity of hiring the use of such qualities, for
the purposes either of accusation or defence, the ends
of jesticc are manifestly promoted. The use of these
qualities may be bought. and sold honourably and use-
fully ; but a lie cannot be bought and sold honourably
and useful'y, Slander is not a proper subject of pro-
fessional barter. Money cannot rightfully pay for
murder, nor for sheltering the known murderer front
justice.—Chronicle.

Weeds may be prevented from growing on gravel
walks by watering the walks with salt znd water. The salt
will •also kill the weeds already there; and if these are large,
they should, of course, be hoed up and raked off. •

,~

PRI

4AR.

EFFECT OF MONOPOLY.

Table showing the ex-duty price of West India Sugar
in Mincing-lane, and comparing the same against that of
foreign Sugars:—

London, July 3, 1840.
The Gazette of this evening will quote the
. .

average price of British Plantation INCuscovado Per Cwt.
Sugar, exclusive of duty, at ..... 50s. lid.
The actual quantity of West India Sugar sold on account
of the importers, in the week ending the 30th June,. ac-
cording to the returns made upon oath by the West
India Sugar Brokers, in conformity with the Act of Par-
liament, and on which quantity the above price is com-
puted, consisted of 1,511 hhds. 147 trs. and 65 brls.
Foreign Sugars raised by free labour are this week worth
from 20s. to 235. per cwt., and are, quality for quality,
28s. per cwt. cheaper than West Indian Sugar.
If any portion of this enormous difference of price reacted
the unfortunate negroes, and, by increasing their comforts,
tended to elevate them from the wretched condition of
blind ignorance in which it has been the policy of the
planters to keep them, the people of this country would
derive some gratification from the generous sacrifice they
are required to make in the prices they have to pay for colo-
nial produce; this salutary effect will not, however, follow.
The 28s. per cwt. excess of price beyond the actual value of the
suga.., &c., will be lavishly spent by the proprietors as fast as
they get it, in the pursuit, most likely abroad, of vain and
silly amusements. Whether, therefore, the price of
Sugar be 255. or 50s. per cwt. is a matter of utter in-
difference to the West India labourers—their wages will
remain the same.

In renewing the baneful monopoly in Sugar for an-
other year, it is fair to suppose the Government had two
objects in view, namely, to promote the interests of the
free labourers and to discourage slavery. The benefit
likely to accrue to the free blacks from giving their mas-
ters ten millions a year has been already stated. Tho
intention to retard the well-doing of the slave-owners by
excluding their produce from our consumption will, in a
very short time, be surely frustrated, because the high price
this nation will have to give for Sugar, will en..ble dealers
to pay the duty on foreign slave labour Sugars, and
to distribute them throughout the country. Had a limited
quantity of sugar, known to be raised by free hands, been
thrown upon our market three months since, at a duty
exceeding that on West India Sugar by 6s. per cwt., and
had this difference of duty been put aside for the purpose
of forming a fund, to be afterwards applied in providing
religious instruction to the black population, then, indeed,
the motives attributed to the Ministers would have been
carried out. The free labourers would have derived emu-

tial advantages, and the price would have denied the con-
sumption of slave-labour Sugar in Great Britain. As it is.
West India body, and the foreign slave owners, will share tho
between them the spoil accumulated at our cost, through
the medium of exorbitant prices.