The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-28 00:00:00

[Til TI M EL]

Forty-nine days out of eighty-four during
which the business of the present Session has
been transacted, says Mr, Peel, forty-nine doseshave been devoted: to the affairs of Ireland.
Yes we add and devoted to little purpose.—
Motion succeeds motion—grievance thickens on
the back of grievance—petitions, and corn-
plaints, and remonstrances, and menaces, come
shouldering each other into Parliament; one
day from ,a Secretary, of State, with an in-
stilled:l'Pur, ,aCt it; his pocket ; the next day
from an trish county Member, demanding,
ip the ramp of that chaos which he deno.
minutes hissgitvory, soyie means `of ascertaining
what it is, that under the eye and Government
of Trigland has confounded with in her all the

natural relations of order and intelligence, of laws
and public morals. Anon we find the leader
of a faction boldly reprobating the King's At-1
torney-General for daring to prosecute as trans-
gressors of the law. those for whose exclusive
benefit the law of England had been framed; the
power of the Crown been hitherto exercised,
and by whom, from time „immemorial,. the fruits
of Irish taxation had be,en enjoyed, and the pri-
vilege of levying additional taxes been mono-
polized. Lastly, there issues a prayer from' the
opposite party—not for a monopoly of wealth or
power—not for even a share in the privilege of
laying on or of consuming taxes, much less for
that of insulting and oppressing the major portion
of their fellow-subjects at their own discre-
tion and with full impunity—but they pray

that the Jlouse of Commons; or a Committee of
its members, will be pleased to consider of their
petition, which. petitidn is neither more nor less
than that justice shall be fairly administered !
This, we need hardly tell our readers, was the
prayer of a petition from the Catholics of Ire-
land, presented by Mr. I3rougham, and recom-
mended by him on Thursday evening, in a
speech of which it is not too much to say, that it
ought to•go down to posterity among the most
powerful examples of English eloquence, and
as, perhaps, the most complete exposure on record
of the corrupt administration of Irish law. The
motion of Mr. Brougham, under the fatuity of men
in office, under the fate which apparently sweeps
thern on, and Ireland with them, to overwhelming

misery and confuSion—was, almost as a matter
of course, rejected. They say the system is good.
They praise the gentlemen of Ireland—and the
Judges—and the Magistratesthe Chancellor
Manners, of whose decrees, when appealed
against, one half have been reversed—and the
Ex-Attorney-General Sarnia,- who wrote a letter
of instruction to Lord Chief Justice Norbury,
to humbug' the Country Gentlemen about Ca-
tholic emancipation: One Orangeman gets up
in his place, and pronounces that the way to
tranquillize Ireland is to put down the Ca-
tholic Association. What has raise& that
hotly into activity, and influence, and notice ?
Was it not the wild attempt to keep, down those
interests of which that Association is the repre-
sentative r Another man says—" You give 0

no specific facts in support of this petition."
Facts I why, what is universal notoriety but the
strongest of all evidence?' Are not these facts?
Is all this nothing?
" Why, then the world, and all that's in't, is' nothing
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing."
What is Lord Itedesdale—the anti-Catholic Lord

Redesdules admission, that there was) in 'truth,
no one, standard of Irish justice ; or Judge
Fletcher's charge ; 'or the late volumes of eVi.
deuce' at the bar of the House of Commons ?

What, again, this appalling fact, that a whole
nation, or those who speak for more than six
millions of men out of seven, come forward, and
in bitter language charge the Government with a
system of gross injustice ?

[unITISII 'PRESS.]
The interment of Abel Griffiths,. reported in
all, the daily prints of yesterday, was, as to the
manner of it, a dishonour to the Ettglish cha-
racter. it was a .sight fit for savages in the
darkest era of barbarism. The body was put
into a shell, and was attended by a corps of con-
stables and watchmen, who proceeded up Mount-
street, down South Audley-street, into ,Stanhope-
street, accumulating, at every step, a fresh crowd
of followers ; thence Into Park-lane, through
Hyde Park Corner, along Grosvenor-place, to
the grave, at the four cross-roads, 'formed
by Eaton-street, King's-road, 0 rosvenordptuee,
and Pimlico. The corpse of the unfortunate
man was here taken, out, wrapped in a winding
sheet stained with blood, and, with these horrible
grave-crothes about it, it was covered with a
large piece of Russia matting, and, being fasten:
eel round with a strong cord, Was, thrown into a
hole, five feet deep, which was filled up, and
the frightful task being performed, the graVe-
digger, constable, and watchmen, went their
way; leaving the crowd disgusted by the
shocking scene that had been exhibited before
them. , What must foreigners think, When
they read this relation of the penal laws of
Efigland, which can thus Attack the dead
body of a culprit, and put the mark of their
vengeance on its shroud ! It is incredible the
evil that is produced by familiarising the minds
of the lower classes to show like this ; such
dreadful experiments on human feeling ought
never to be made. A . wise government should
for ever abstain hem it, if it were but from mo-
tives
of policy, putting common humanity out of
the question. Were such a sight often exhibited
to the populace,rit would wring every benevolent
feeling out of their hearts. What, if they re-
flect at all, must they think of Parliament leVfing
a million of money for the buildiug of 50 n eov
churches, while it can thus, in its capacity of legis-
lation, violate every precept of mercy enjoined by
that system of Christianity which it professes to
teach in them. Can any thing be more removed
froM the lessons taught by the mild and merciful
Foutider of tin Christian faith than such a brutal
spectacle as this ? Are our legislators of the
present day not enlightened enough to perceive
that it reverses the effect on the common people
which it was intended to produce, and instead of
strengthening their abhorrence of the crime, ere-
lays an abhorrence of the punishment ? The
deplorable act of this poor guilty being, on
, whose de'ad body this revolting outrage was
exercised, in strong evidence 'of a disordered
brain. A Jury might well have inferred that
mind ,to,,be bereft of reason, which had so
wholly lost all controul over itself, as to perpetrate
an act so full of frenzy. Besides, when a
' man is dead, the law has no more dominion
over him. Our virtuous indignation may rest
upon the crime;
,but it= should the with the
criminal. Those who could smear his shroud
with blood, and treat his breathless body with
contempt at the grave, may inspire horror; but
horror is not 'a feeling which punishment Quilt
to excite In antinstnnce ; it is neither congenial
with the spirit of our religion, nor with the moral
instinct of our nature. We trot that the Bill,
now in its progress through the House, to alter

and amend the law relating to the interment of
the remains of -any person found felo-de-se, and
which permits them to be buried in the parish
church-yard, will be speedily passed, and that
the metropolis will never again be disgraced by
such a scene as was presented at the burial of
Abel Griffiths.

[siciairmd mEttALD.I
We have read a good deal that has been lately
written on the Usury Laws: it appears that the
professors of law are in general alarmed, lest
Mr. Onslow should persist in his Bill to do away
with the Usury Laws. Take law' professors in
general, their knowledge is contracted. It is
Confined principally to the practice of the Law
Courts, and the study of law and other autho-
rities ; because Lord Bacon, Lord Littleton, Mr.
Coke, or others, thought certain things, wrote
therri on paper, and got them printed, that such
printed thoughts must necessarily be just thoughts:
And such has been, and is, the infatuation on
the minds of most people on the instillation
of generally received truths, that very few peo-
ple, after studying and implicitly believing in
such authorities, have dared to differ in opinion
from the authorities their preceptors at school
and at college originally taught them to reverence.
This is one reason why most men are so startled
when any thing new is 'proposed.- They have
been probably too lazily inclined to think
for themselveS ; the greatest part of their
lives has been passed in poring. over the
works of Locke, Bacon, Littleton, and others,
at the same time accompanied with a strong
prejudice to accept as truths whatever these
Or other men have written, without, per-
haps, reflecting, that though these thoughts
are printed and bound up in a book, that
by possibility these very writers, like all
other men, might have been mistaken in the
opinions they uttered, and that they might
have left behind them opinions, of which, if
they were now alive, they would be glad to
give a different version.. There has been mach
written and printed oit the subject of what
is called usury, or the taking interest for
money lent. To. the best of our recollection,
the Old Testament usury altogether,
and the New Testament; the more particular
guide of Christians, is extremely inexplicit on
this' subject; As far as we retueniter; Je-
Stir Christ" repeatedly said,. according to the
accounts transmitted us by the Evangelists,
" Give uato'. them' that ask." Both the Old
and the New Testament; therefore, are
quite at variance with the doctrine of taking
any interest for money lent,- and, consequently,'
all the authorities who have printed books on
the propriety of taking only a certain rate per
centum, had neither the Mosaic nor the Christian
authority for their intructions to us. Suppose we
therefore consider it simply as :a question of
policy,- how far it may be judicious on' the part
of any Government to allow people to lend their
money at what rate of profit' they please. The
people of England are chiefly a commercial' people,
and take them in general they are very fond of
money. A certain proportion lit the way of
adding something every year, to their heap ;
another, though possessed, of Wealth left them
by the first-mentioned accumulators, fond' of
getting rid of that wealth in expensive living,
gambling, or other ptactiCei ; and, therefore,
desirous of a constant supply of ready money for
pleasurable and loose purieses. A third' pro-
portion, which is by far the greatest, are those
who daily or weekly earn Money, and who
spend it as fast as they acquire it. Now the
doing away the Laws respecting Usury would
certainly, please, the first-named class of people
—those who are fond' of accumulating 'some-
thing every year; it would also, probably.,
please those Who are in the practice of spending
their gains as fast as they are earned. The
latter class, are for the most part engaged ii
trade or professions,
,and take them in general;
they, will not borrow, except for the. purpose of
making a preitt of money So borrowied.'

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

(Fran: the LiverpOol Courier, Junc.2t.

~SPAIN.—Those perplexities in which the con-
duct of France in invading Spain must necessarily involve the
British Government, and which we foresaw would arise from'
the establishment of a Regency under the controul of the French
army, are evidently thickening about us. England will; doubt-
Levi, be put to the trial by an Ambassador from this newly
created Government, acting in the name of Ferdinand, and
With which, as long as another Government acts in the name
of Ferdinand, with himself at the head ofit; we cannot, consis-
tently, hold any relations. If we refuse to send an Ambassa.
dor to, or to receive a Minister from; this Regency, in what
relation do we stand to France and to the other Allied Powers ?
—lf we de, we gibe up the honourable stand made on the
honest prinCiples of politlcal justice in our negociations.—
This is, unquestionably, perplexing ; but the hopes of Some,
and the fears of others; that we may thereby be plunged
into a war, do not appear likely, at least for the present, to
be. realised. If, indeed, 'the Allied Powers were disposed to
make war upon us, we should be placed in critical circus s.
stances, and they might find in our rejection of an Arnbassa»
doe from the Spanish Regency, that creature of their own, as
good a reason of war as is usually given when a hostile in-
clination previotisly exists'; but the cue, as it actually stands,
is difficult. The Allies are rather afraid of our hostility,
and it is for us to judge when the pressure upon our honour or
our interests is sufficiently great to demand an effort to relieve
ourselves. The course of Government is, we conceive, very
straight-forward. 'Should' France press our acceptance of a Re-
gency Ambassador, let him be ordered off; and should it be
urged that Ferdinand is under controul, a point not yet, however,
made out,', ready answer may be found in this, that he is cer..,
tainly not more under the controul of his own subjects than the
Regency is under the direction of the French .coMmanders.
This, it is true, is a reproach to Trance; bathe reasons given
already by our negociators for the secession of this country from
thd Allied counsels on the Spanish :question has; already re.
preached her. She has taken offence, . dttbtlesS, already, and
will take allenee again • but that reUsoti why we should
follow up reproach indolYence by war. If site 'thinks her of-
fencetoo mighty to be expiated by any thing less than revenge,.
lei her strike the first blow and-she will not fihd us unprepar.
ed. We must net' iiMporite with' the principles we have laid
down;. and, on .the other hand, we ought neither to heequarrel-
some nor inert. A state of things tits grown up, and is not yet
fully matured, which4requims us to. be watchful and prepared ;
but France will not, at present, give us a full and unequivocal
MSC for counnencing hostilities.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JUNE c),
EGG V. LORD COLERAINE.

This action waif brought by the plaintiff; a well-known gun-
smith, to recover of Lord Coleraine, better known as Colonel
Hanger, the amount of a bill for worki done to his order so long
ego as the year 1777. His Lordship in 1817 went through the
bill, and affixed his initials to the items, which he admitted to
be correct, and afterwards paid 35!. on account, reducing the
debt to 131., 14s. exclusive of interest.

Mr. CAMPBELL, for the plaintiff, admitted that he could not
insist on interest upon the ordinary items, but claimed it upon
a draught given on the 7th of March, 1778, for 171. 6s. bd.,
the interest on which-was 361. 7s.—(A laugh.)
The LnaD CHIEF JUSTICE held that interest was not
payable on the order produced, and
The Jury, under his directions, found a verdict for the plain-
tiff—Damages 131.145.