The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-16 00:00:00

E SUN, LON rsifY.,'., TUE3DAY, MARCH 16, 1341

English praetce, it appears to us, requires the.
tertiunt qui-1 of " not proven." The sympathies of the
01(1 Bailey bar are, w 6 must say, on Cid same side with
their In ire, and with all the inmates of the gaol ; eith
them, rll policemen are what they were designated in
Courvoisier's case, bloodbounds,—and witnesses, per-
secutors of the innocent. Entire innocence is always in
peril in the dock, and has no other security than in the
aid of counsel. When an extension of summary punish-
ments in the case of juvenile delinquents was lately
proposed, the Old Bailey bar was in arms for the de-
fence of the right of Jury triels, and the legislature was
scared from much needed and highly beneficial reterm
by their outcries of danger to the innocent. •
The very rule for which the English practitioners
endeavour to maintain a superstitious awe, the rule
forbidding the interrogation of the accused in any st lee
of the procedure, either at what was originally intended
to be his examination, or at tie trial,—that rule which
shuts the mouth of the guilty for fear he may commit
himself, also shuts the mouth of the innocent man who
may be accused, and prevents him giving the circum-
stantial explanations which he ; lane could give in
answer to any questions put to hire. Au innocent
person could really be in no more dangerous hands
than in those of a practitioner of the class belonging to
the criminal courts, who inveteretely act on the latent
,and cannot open
his that their client is guilt
his mou.h svtliout endangering himself.
In the doubtful case where an accused person woull,
by his explanations in answer to fie interrogatories of
a judicious Magistrate, obtain an earle liberation, hav-
ing h's tongue tied by the English procedu e, being
advised, as he arrays is, by his attorney and counsel,
when he has one, " not to disclose his defence," but " to
reserve himself until his trial,"—he is committed and
endures a long term of imprisonment,4l:ea an anxious
trial, in itself a punishment, before he obtains his ac-
quittal. And here on the favourite legal ground for
the exclusion of testimony, viz , interns`, we might
fairly challenge the competency of the pract:t'oners of
the criminal courts to give an opinion on the subj ct.
If such a question were determined merely by dicta, we
believe the disinterested practitioner! of other courts
would as eat to the reform. An titer ley who resists
the commits al of his client for trial, or who favours such
explanations as may have that effect at the first stage
of the procedure, feveurs a course in which some
five or ten guineas of costs arc obtainable, in-
stead of a prolonged course of severe! hazardous
stages, from which twenty, thirty, fifty, or a hue-
dred guineas of emolument are obt iirel, or more,
according to the means of the accused ; who, inde-
pendently of any question of guilt or innocence, may
always in this petition be tarmed "a v:etins of the
law." The substitution of a pure procedu e for the
present course in England, which gives to the ninety
per emit. of clear and undoubted cases of guilt, de-
fences on such false assumptions of persecuted inno-
cence, and of malice and dishonesty of witnesses, as
were displayed in the defence of Courvoisier, would
present to the imagination of the practitioner the appa-
rent loss of ninety per cent. of his business—we say ap-
parent, because the professional aid of nuneats de prison
would nevertheless be frequently required t submit ex-
tenuating circumstances. Summary convictions before
the professional Magistrate would, it must be confessed,
occasion a dire diminution of business and professional
emoluments in the superior Courts ; and wis might put
it to the gentlemen who practise in them, whether they
arc competent t) judge calmly of anything which may
so powerfully affect them.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ROLLS' COURT, M.4nen 15.

BOURNE V. TILE PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL STEAM

NAVIGATION COMPANY, AND HARTLEY.

This was a maion on behalf of the plaintiff for an in-
junction to restrain the defendant, [dal t'ey, from seibeg or
transferring, three ite tm-vessels called the Braganza, the
Royal Tar, and the Tagus, to the Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company. The object of the appli-
cation wag to prevent the defendants from violving an
agreement into which the plaintiff all-ged they had en-
tered with hitn,the plaintiff being the patentee of an inven-
tion for improvements in steam machinery, and which
itnprovement, it was said, the defendants had engaged to
apply to certain wsstls belonging to them, and to pay
to the plaintiff, as a remuneration, one-third of the
amount of the saving of fuel which might be made by
means of his machinery.
We defer a detatled report until both sides shall
have been heard. The case, in which there is a great
mass of conflicting evidence, is likely to occupy a couple
of days.
.•
•

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE DAILY PAPERS yr YESTERDAY.
(From the Globe.)
The Times has returned to the question of tl e St

Sulpice Se ninary. On Tuesday last we answered its
article of the preceding day. It now, on the very day
of the discussion, returns to the matter. We cannot
now touch upon every point of sophiAry in its oLscrva-
tions, nor unravel the jumble of ideas into which it has
purposely fallen. Our Contemporary's notion as ta the
supremacy of the Sovereign, to which he triumphantly
refers, is perfectly unsound. It is a supremacy in tem-
poral not in ecclesiastical matters : it is not negative
of different churcl7e.7, but the reverse. Henry VIII. was
declared head, not of the Lutheran but of the Catho-
lic church ; and though many discouragerrenti were
employed in after times to put down the latter church,
they have since. ben removed, and it is, if not an Eita-
bliehed, a recognised Church. The case is the re' erse
in Canada. No such discourngementsba, e been emrleyed
there ; and f they had, it would not only have been con-
trary to good faith, bat we shoal I have lost Canada
fore this, as we shall if we don't mind what we are about.
The notion in Canada is that the Catholic is an
established religion there. As to the poi- t of
national organ or not, that is quite a different
affair. A Church may be, as we have ic-
stances in other countries, an Established Church,
albeit not the national organ in religious matters. With
respect to the passage quoted in the former Canada
Act, that it was not intended to operate, nor did it
operate, as a defeaz ince of the right of prope ty or
lands enjoyed by the Seminary of Sr. Suipice—it sim-
ply operated to take away the claim for the future
to tithes, dues, and other persona payments, &c., from
individuals not of the Roman Catholic faith. The other
points we need not again refer to. The doughty if shop
is, w e bcliev not. very strong in the hole of persuading,
even his own Carty of the policy of insulting the Ca-
tholics of Canada, and repudiating ;he spirit, if not
terms, of treaties and laws which had teen -acted upon
for so long a time.
(From the Standard).
We should be extremely sorry to be tbligel to
fear that public attention is not steadly fixei upon
the debate which will take place this night in the
House of Lards upon the Bishop of Exeter's motion
relative to the San Sulpice Ordinance. The affa'r is,
as regards the present and the future, of a degree of
importance which it is impossible to overrate. Toe
House of Lords, if we may respectfully speak the
truth, is upon its trial before the people. if the
Ilouse decide according to law, and in the spir't
of the Protestant Comf tution, it will regain the
position in the opinion of the country which iv occu-
pied two 3 ears ago. If, yielding to any iDfillftle,,
how much soever respecteil, it connive at revoking
the Reformation, it will continue to sink, or—
we must not conceal the truth—it has been sinking
since the passing of the Irish Municipal Corporation
Bill, the Clergy Reserves Confiscation Bill,- and soma
other such Bills. We know as well as any can
that the maintenance of its proper rl lee by
the House of Lards, is as necessary to the
public good as to the safety of the aristocracy itself,
arid that notbirg but a generrl ruin can follow the
hurled ation of that branch of the sovereign power ;
but the Peers cannot be saved in spite of them-
saves, and it weco the put of an enerril, net
of a friend, to conceal from them the truth, that
their hold upon public confidence has diminish el and is
diminishing, under that guidarice to which they have teo
oftee submitted. The question to be subm'tted to
their Lordships is a simple one. It is this :—will they
permit the Queen's Ministers to carry back her Ma-
jesty's empire to the superstitions of the fifte :nth
and to the policy of the thirteenth century ? The
ordinance signed by Lord Sydenham is in direct vio-
lation of the Acts of Henry the E'ghth, Edward the
Sixth, and Elizabeth, for the e:tablishment of the
Protestant faith in all the British dominions ; but it is
more—it is in violation of the Acts of Henry the Se-
cond and Edward the First, for restraining the grasping
cupidity of the Romish Church, and securing the inde-
pendence of the Church of Eigland, even while that
Church remained in connection with the Papal Sec.

SUICIDE OF A TAX-COLLECTOR.-0a Sun-
day afternoon the body of an elderly man in mourning wa;
taken out of the NO-.v River, at H ,rnsey, and it was pre-
sently ascertained that the deceasei was Mr. Matthews
who had been known many years aa a trade;man carrying
on the busilcss of an oil and ckaurman i i the King,:Lind-
road. He had not long since, however, relinquiihed that
business, anir retired to live at Dalimn, where he buried his
wife about a fortnight age, since which he has btea in a
dejected state of mind, in comequenee of his recent be-
reavcn ent and pecuniary difficulties. lie was a eallecl or
of land tax, and had of late been repeatedly called upon is
vain for a settlereent of accoutes, which he evaded from:ine
to time, and it is feared that a serious defalc,fon w.ll be
diFcoterod, lie had been ini:sing since last Wedneseav,
and was last seen on that day hovering about the r't or at
Hornsey.
' WARWICK STEEPLE ACES.—liigh expecta-
tions have been raised, and we have no doubt will be gcl-
tified to the fullest extent, by the announcement of not
only one capital steeple race here, on Friday next, but
another on the same day, and over the same ground, by
farmers' and traders' horses, the Race Committe.,
very liberally offrred 20/. in addhien to the subscription
arising from the entries. This double attraction vii 1, no
doubt, bring to the field a large concourse of specta'ors,
who will have an excellent view of the running, as. the scone
'of the exciting display will be admirably adapted to their
convenience—the starting and the close of each race being
at the front of the Grand Stand.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

---40..-

HOUSE OF COMMONS,.IIIARcg 15.
The SPEAKER took the chair a' the usual tinD"-'•

On the motion of Mr. STRUIT, the Derby Gas
all was read a second time, and or to be com-
mitted. _ •

The Eceleefield Inclosure Bill was read a second
ime on the motion of Mr. BUSFIELD.

The Collymeaon and the Southorpe Ineloture Bus
were read a third time and passed, on the motion of Sir
G. CLERK.

Sir B. HALL presented peftions from the Dire:-
tors of the poor, and the vestrymen of S. Pancras,
against the Middlesex Sessions BPI.
Oa the motion of Mr. H. BERKELEY, the Bristol
als Bill read a second time and ordered t) be
comm't

Mr. BAINES moved the tecond reading of the
North Midland Railway B]). 11...,ad a second time,
and ordered to be committed.

Mr. SHEPPARD pre:eTted a petition from a-nurn-
her of chemists and druggists agaiost the B 1l now before
the House for Reforming the Method Profe;sion.
Mr. C. BERKELEY presented a petition from
Chcltmlinm to the same effect.
Mr. DIVETT presented a petition from the Town
Council of the Borough of Newport in favour of tke
Jews' Declaration ; also from a congregation of
Protestant Dissenters, complaining of the jurisdiction
of the Ecclesiastical Courts, and praying for the release
of Mr. Baines, and for the abolition of Church-rates.
Sr E. WILMOT presented a petition from War-
wickshire, praying for some a'teration in the New Poor-
-1 tw.

Sir BENJAMIN BALL presented a petition from
be borough of Mary lehone, against the Poor-law Con-
inuance Bill.

Mr. TOWNELY PARKER, presentigl a petition
from certain landholders in Lancashire, complaining of
the inercwed expense to which tl:ey had been sub-
j eted by the operation of ae N.2w Poor-law Bill, and
praying for a return to the ancient system ; also from
twenty-s.x Guard als of :the Union of Preston, against
the cont nuance of the powers of the Poor-law Corr.-

their authority, and disputes consequently arose. After
a certain period Lord Gleneig and the Commissioners
agreed that Caret tin Hind,narsh could not carry 0:1 the
affairs of the colony to any useful purpose, and Col. Gave-
ler was appointed Govereor in his stead. On his arrival
he found the administration of justice, and every
portion of the colonies in a most deplorable state.
Subscepently it appeared that the expenditure
very far exceeded the revenue of the colony.
The etpenditure, which at first was about 20,0031. or
30,000/., rose to 80,000/. or 90,000/. a-year, and af-
terwards to the enormous expense of 120,000/. In
July list the Commissioners reported that state
of affairs, and be immediately said that that
rate of expenditure must stop, that the Go-
vernor must be required to account for it ; and
that as the Colony had been founded by Acts of
Parliament., ho would immediately, at the commence-
ment of the next S rssion of Parliament, move for the
appointment of a Committee to examine into the
whole question of what ought to be done with
respect to the Colony. Ie the month of November, after
further representations from the Commissioners, aad re-
presentations of their tetsl inability to pay the bills
which were drawn from the colony, he requeete 1 tie
attention of the Treasury to the subject, and they
appointed one of the Lords of the Traasury to make a
Report to them with regard to the financial affairs
of the colony. A Report was made, and tic opiciun
of t'..e Treasury, as wel as his own opinion,
was that in the exieting state of the anirs of the
colony, it vas necessary, if the col my was to be pre•
served,that Government shou'd propose to gueran tee the
parties who were tilling ta lend their money on secu-
rity, and that a loan should be prop sel far that pur-
pose. The effect of that deel3ea'ion did not produce a
loan to the colony, but it did quiet the alarm which
at the moment prevaileti, and induced perties to
withhold demands for payment of the expens, s that
had been incurred till the nucting of Parliament.
At the meeting of Parliament, as this was a subject
exceedingly complicated in its nature, and as Palle-
ment itself by its own Acts protected the colony,
he thought it was much better that a Conrail:ace
should be appointed, of which the several Members
might make themselves masters of the whole transac-
tion, that that he should enle ivour to explain the whel
of the allies-of the colony to the Souse, and to adopt his
opinion, because it had appeared to him that a demand
for inquiry was certain t la:e made which it would not
be posiible to resist. He had no hest,tion, however,
in seating in what respect he thought the Acts re-
lating to South Australia were dell,ctive—in whet re-
spect they had contribute.] to the prece it state of
affairs ain the colony, and what was the general course by
which Parliament should be guided, without sying what
pelted tr provisions should he made in legislating
for the future in regard to this colony. The filet
Act roasting to South Australia, was, as he conceived,
founded on two general principles, one of them he thought
an excee lingly sound and Useful principle—a principle
which had been acted upon he!hre, to a certain degree,
and which had been acted upon since to a much larger
degree ; viz., the principle that uncultivated public
lands in a colony, instead of being, as in former times,
granted in very large proportions to individuals without
the in :arts of cultivating them, should be sold at a cer-
tain price, and the price thus obt tined should be
employed in sending labourers to the market—( Hear)
and so induce people of capital to come forward in aid
of the colony, and at the same time supply labour, so
necessary for the progress of the new colony. So far
as that principle was embodied in the South Austra•
lien Act he conceived that Parliament acte I wisely
in enacting it: But it appeared to him
that at the same time they had adopted
another principle that was far more doubtful, and in his
opinion it was one that could not be carried out sue-
cessful'y in the colony of South Australia. That prin-
ciple was that the colony was to be what was called self-
supported ; that the whole of its expenses, administra-
tiv e judicial, and eth: rwise, was to be de-
frayed without auy demand being made upon the
mother country. It was proposed that this should be
done by two modes ; first, by the revenue received in the
col my, and second, by the means afforded by tie
emigration fund. Now he did not think that it was
probable that the revenues of the colony could be
able to pay the expanses that must naturally
occur in a new colony. In a small colony of course
the expenses of justice, &c., must be as great as in one
that was six times larger, therefore the principle was
not a sound one. In the second Bill there was a
provi:ion that certain loans might be made upon
the faith of the emigration fund, with a proviso
that at the end of the year not more than one-fifth
of the whole sums received from the sale of I tnd should
he owing from the revenue fond. Tee. obvious
consequence of that was that the colony was to be sup-
port el by loans. The intention was ti at elehough at
certain times such loans were to be paid, yet there were
to be large sums constantly borrowed, which were to
defray the ordinary expenses of the celery. Now there I
were various %vitas in which such a provision might be
eteeeded with dangerous reeel:e. In the first place so
long as such loans were [Anted, while the extent to
which they could be raised was not defined, the local
Government had net a sufficient check not to enter into
needless expenditure. In the reet place the / I.rn
went on the suppo:ition that there vas almost an
incxheu.tible amount of loans, and that the sale of
1 wenn every year realise a certain suer.
But it eves impossible to calculate tie profit which would
be derived from such a source. In the third place, difli-
culties may overtake the colony at its commencement,
such, for instance, as the necessity for repe ling enemies,
or repairing harbours, which might be Wended with
great expense, and the colony might by those means
become embarrassed ; so that the proposed system could
no longer be carried, into effect. There was also
in the second Act a provision, which was in itself
very dangerous or totally impracticable. It said that
there were to be loans on the emigration fund, but that
at the end of the year the money was to be repaid up
to a certain amount. Now the Commissioners might •
go on incurring fresh loans, on the assumption that there
would be means to repay them ; and, in the next place, it
might be found impossible, as was the case last autumn,
to comply with the provisions of the Act. When
they had exhausted the emigration fund they had no re- 1
source for • making fresh- loans, and their.credit would
have fallen. The persons who could lend the money
would look to two things—first, tie revenue of the
colonies, and then the expendituos, which might be .
100,000/, while the revenue was but 20,000/. Tnat
would he no inducement to them to lead their money.
They might next inquire into the future resources of the
colony which might f e found inadequate to the demands on
it. He had now stated in whit manner those embarrass-
meats of the colony had arisen. He thoeght those
embarrassments were derived from the Acts of Par- I
lianieut by which that colony was governel. He •
regretted very much that that which he considered a
sound principle, namely, the. sale of lands at a certain
price, and the application of the sums arising from those
sales—either in whole or in part—to tie purposes
of immgration —that so sound a principle should
t meet with approbation. The Act to which he lad
re'erred had other previsions, which he thought were
ruinous to the financial affairs of the colony. But
while he stated that with regard to the finances of
the colony—a-1W he certainly would not express any
strong opinion on the subject, he would say there
were resources in the colony which • would fur-
nish means of paying off all the liabilities of
the colony. It was a colony which, even at the
present periol, contained very cosiderable resources with
much industry, and with a considemble appearance of
exertion, and it would, he was convinced, if it was sup-
potted by Parliament, get out of the difficulties which
had arisen around it. He did not think that Parlia-
mcnt ought to agfel in the continuance of the present
system. He bad very gre at doubts whether they
ought to rase any money for the purposes which the
Committee approved of-56,0001, which it wai pro-
posed should he applied to immigration ; however the
Committee had adopted that course, and his (Lord
John Russell's doubt was rather whether it
was not better to hold an inquiry into
what was preferable to adopt, than to make such an
effort now. In proposing that they should relieve the
colony from its financial embarrassments, it was not
perhaps necessary that he ehould state his opinions es
to the manner in which the colony should be in future
governed—(Hear, hear)—but he Lid no hesitation in
stating that he thought the principles of Government
which were applied to the other celenies !ihoull be
apilied to it. That making what provisions they
thought proper respecting the sale of land, and the
application of the money derived therefrom, tie
was of opinion that the provisions which placed the
control in the hands of the Commissioners, and not
under the control of the Treasury, should be repealed.
He thought if the Crown had anything to do with
relieving it from its present embarrassments, it should
have a direct control in the appointment of its
executive and government ; that the correspondence
between the Governor and the S crettry of State—
(Hear, ar)—and that with respect to all financial
statements and demands—that these questiOns, as in the
ca:e of the old col moles, sheen be referred to
the Treasury, and that they should express their
opinion upon it t 3 the Secretary of State before any
steps sere taker,.—(Hear, hear ) He could see no-
thing but mischief it that anoroaleus kind of govern-
ment, in which the Crown had no apparent discretion,
leaving in fact eery thing to the Commissioners, was
permitted to exist. If the House thmight the Govern-
ment of South Australia should be represented—
although that was not his opinion—he should
be rea-iy to give his assent to it. He thought the other
suggestion the most advisable one—(Hear, hear)l —and
he feared that every succeeding year Would on y
dine-.
crease the difficulties that would arise if theyawhich
parted from all those ancient principles
the colonies of that country had flourilielefonoT. he No-
ble Lord concluded by
.Lord STANLEY saimdootilien
to inquire into the
gNhoishll3c-L°.orel ?ad. stated
very correctly that in the Committee
Acts relating to South Australia, and to consider the
• • of money; very little diffe-
renceprolltety of advancing a summ
that e,y, t
prevailed on one points
what-
ever step it might be advisable to take, should