The Sun.
London, England, 1847-08-20 00:00:00

kinth - ni

1 ON )1)/i, FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1847.

Among so many revelations of horror and so many
causes of heart-burning—while the circumstances of
bloodshed connected with the duel between M. BEAU-
VALLON and M. DUSARRIER, and those of the fatal
rencontre between Lieutenant blnsato and Colonel
FAWCETT are being simultaneously revived in the
Criminal Courts of London and Paris—while the
imagination is revolted at the details of brutality
elicited day after day in the witness-box of the Old
Bailey, or appalled by the intelligence of the murder
of the daughter of Marshal SEBASTIAN; in a bed-
chamber of her own h6tel at the French metropolis—
while we are stunned in one direction by the broils and
recriminations of the electioneering antagonists, and
in another filled with abhorrence by the disclosures
of many infamous occurrences—it is pleasant to con-
sider the generous and ennobling sentiments just
uttered by Sir ROBERT PEEL to the more reflective
portion of his Tamworth constituents. After the
more barren topics of political controversy and party
contention, it is agreeable to examine the speech de-
livered by the ex-Prime Minister upon the possible
extension of happiness among our fellow-creatures by
the further diffusion of the knowledge of Christianity.
In the abstract, there is nothing for which we have
imbibed a greater loathing than those meetings of
mock-philanthropists, in which there is a pretence of
charity—and a pretence only. The counterfeits of
benevolence can, however, be very readily detected.
They can be detected as easily as though the proposition
were to send a supply of pocket handkerchiefs to
the Ashantees, instead of disseminating the Scrip-
tures among our more indigent and ignorant fellow-
countrymen. For ourselves we would as lief follow the
Godly example of DANIEL Qun.r, by frequenting Little
Bethel, or emulate TONT WELLER, by attending the
Brick-lane Branch of the Ebenezer Temperance As-
sociation, as we would think of becoming subscribers
at the vast majority of the meetings convened for the
distribution of books and brochures for the regenera-
“.... ..r th,t nearer classes. Ad our rep ugnance
ari=es principally from a conviction that thereis a
great deal more of relig ion in a pound of good beef,
or a basket of sound potatoes—when the question
is the aid of the humbler members of the commu-
nity—than in a stereotyped tract or a sermon printed
upon vellum.
Sir Bonsai is,
n however, a privileged supporter of
Bible associations.
His Parliamentary and Ministe-
rial career is the guarantee of his sincerity. He is
none of your agricultural SAINT. BERNA nns, who
label their electioneering banners like so many boxes
of ointment, with So-aNn-so, the poor man's
friend !" The ex-Premier,
insteadd t o the
more mbl area oendi
ensgt
has aspire
his virtues in sareenet,
glory of bettering the condition of tmhe labouring
classes, by the removal of unjust i
stead of distinguishing himself as ‘,I3Z
imposts. In-
stead
Sir
ROBERT, the poor man's friend," by becoming a
genteel purveyor of homilies to the million, he has
contented himself with such obscurer labours as that
of destroying a system whereby the' more opulent
divisions of society were protected, and the more
indigent were burdened with the incubus of indirect

taxation. Hence it is that Sir ROBERT
intellectual
i
sort of privileged advocate for the more sa
and spiritual kinds of benevolence; hence it is
that his name is in itself a guarantee for the
integrity of tho motives of such descriptions of typo-
graphical philanthropy.
Those who have been lately persisting that the
Right Hon. Baronet is a disguised emissary of the
Papists—a sort of Jesuit in the National Family—will
be distressed at the decisive refutation of these asser-
tions contained in his speech as chairman of the Tam-
worth Bible Society. A declaration of dox Protestantism more ortho-
could not be desired by the most
strenuous antagonists of Dr. PUSEY. The whole
harangue is aromatic with the Thirty-nine Articles.
Sir ROBERT not only repudiates Popery by his at-
tendance as chairman at the annual assembling
,of the Tamworth Bible Society, but he quotes

T II E

The Right Hon. Baronet inculcates one principle
in the course of his speech, which even Protectionists
and Free -traders must coincide in admiring—
namely, the principle of universal tolerance. Sir
ROBERT aspires to see the time when religionists
shall forget their feuds and breathe nothing but a
spirit of brotherly affection for each other. The
aspiration is almost too dazzling to be real ; but in
our day the abolition of the corn-laws was an ignis
fauns.

An important reform is seldom achieved in any
matter until some case of extreme hardship has
taken place. It may be manifest that there is some-
thing defective in the system, something radically
wrong, and urgently requiring an alteration, but
until the public mind is thoroughly aroused by some
of its practical results, no efficient steps will be taken
for its amendment. The horrible cat, the abominable
practice of corporal punishment, was not less re-
pulsive or disgusting before poor WRITE became
its victim at Hounslow, but it was his shocking fate
that awakened the sympathies of the people, and
occasioned that universal demand, temperately but
firmly expressed, for justice to our gallant soldiers,
and the total abolition of so degrading a punishment
—a demand that proved irresistible in its mighty force,
and led in a few short weeks to those beneficial and
happy results for which philanthropists had in vain
struggled during a series of years. It has been
said, " that hard cases form bad precedents," but
such is not the fact. It is by their means
that questions are stripped of the fallacies with which
they had been clothed and exposed in their naked
iniquity. They furnish the best illustration of the
lengths to which any point may be carried, and afford
an unanswerable argument to the reformers, who
desire that similar enormities should never again be
perpetrated under the sanction and toleration of the
law.

The question of imprisonment for debt has for
some time past attracted the attention of those desi-
rous of improving our national code. The questions
of how far it can be dispensed with—and what checks
(if any) should be interposed before the power is
given to the creditor of incarcerating the person of
his debtor, and subjecting him to the demoralization
and injury of being removed from his ordinary oc-
cupations, and associated with the inmates of a prison
—of being deprived of earning a subsistence for
himself and family, when, perhaps, his default
has been wholly occasioned by misfortune, and there
has been no misconduct fairly ascribable to him—have
been long and warmly debated. Some well-disposed
men assert that it is absolutely required for the main-
tenance of our commercial transactions that such a
power should be retained, and that in every instance
the creditor should be authorised to seize upon, and
detain in custody, the person of his debtor, until
satisfaction is made either by payment of the debt or
an appeal to the Insolvent Courts ; while others
maintain that no imprisonment should be sanctioned
until there had been a hearing before some competent
tribunal, and the debtor had failed to satisfy the
presiding judge that his default was owing to a want
of means, and that he was willing to do everything
within his power to discharge his just liabilities. The
latter principle has recently been introduced with
respect to debts under 201. The result is said to be
very beneficial, and it is believed that its exten-
sion to demands of every degree of magnitude would
be exceedingly desirable. By the present system,
where the claim exceeds 201., the debtor can be
punished, and perhaps his entire prospects in life de-
stroyed, before any inquiry has taken place ; by the
other, he should at least be heard, and have an oppor-
tunity of explaining his conduct, and submitting any
proposition for the satisfaction of his creditors before
the sentence of imprisonment could be carried into
execution. This is apparently more equitable and
some of our most distinguished legislators have
advocated its adoption. Perhaps the former system
might be useful if creditors were never influenced by
vindictive feelings, but, unfortunately, we find daily in-
stances of oppression, where, although there is no
reasonable prospect of their position being improved,
or their claim liquidated thereby, all the engines and
contrivances of the law are put in force, and the
original loss greatly increased, merely in order to
gratify a feeling of vengeance.
A case has just been stated in a letter to a Con-
temporary, bearing the initials of a well-known
philanthropist, and which having been extracted from
the report of the Commissioners of Lunacy, may be
fully credited, and it is hard to conceive a stronger
illustration of the recklessness with which the law is
put into operation by some creditors—a recklessness
that would appear to require the interposition of
some effective checks between the parties. A
naval officer had for twenty years past been
suffering under an aberration of intellect in
aidition to a total loss of sight. He was quite
blind, and an incurable lunatic. He had, during that
period been sheltered at the Haslar lunatic asylum,
and ls. 6d. per diem of the half-pay to which he was
ywataco. • ...avias•LoCIIJC h+• a...or...Left re viz.-0a to lair
country previous to his affliction was devoted to his
maintenance, the residue 3s. 6d. per diem being paid
to his wife for her own support and that of his
family, who, with the exception of drawing to much
fro:n his limited means, appeared to have totally aban-
doned him to his fate—ths wife havin; only once
called to see him, and one of his sons having also
paid a single visit to his suffering parent during
his twenty years' confinement. The wife, however,
contracted a debt to a person who at the time was
ignorant even of the existence of her husband.
When pressing for his demand, he was informed of the
fact, and of the state and condition of the unfor

tunate gentleman, who, in the eye of the law,

was his debtor. It would seem clear, under

such circumstances, that he would incur no
further expense, that he would not think of
forcing the blind lunatic from the asylum, where he
was carefully attended to, and allowed all the
humble comforts suitable for his unhappy situation ;
but such was not the case. An attorney was found
; to issue a writ, and proceed to judgment and final
execution, and the wretched victim of the debtor-and-
creditor law was seized upon and consigned to a
debtors' prison in the month of December last, his
humane creditor being well aware that although
legally, he was not morally responsible for the debt, and
that there was no fund for the payment of his demand,
and believing that the lunatic would be discharged
by the Insolvent Commissioner in the month of April.
It is almost impossible to conceive by what motives
or feelings the creditor was influenced to adopt such
only
a course, but the facts speak for themselves, and ren-
der every comment
whe whether
e wholly h
theo Lellysguipselarfltuuroeuws. Ito nt

sanction the existence of a power which is subject to

such fearful abuses.

A communication received from Rome mentions
that the amnesty originally granted by his.HoLINEss
has been extended to the ecclesiastics and military

. those memorable words of CELILLINGWORTII—
"By the religion of Protestants I do not un-
derstand the doctrines of LUTHER, or CALVIN, or
MELANCTHON, nor the Confession of Augsburg or
Geneva, nor the catechism of Heidelberg, nor the
articles of the Church of England ; no, nor the
harmony of Protestant confessions; but that wherein
they all agree, and which they all subscribe with a
I greater harmony, as a perfect rule of their faith and
actions—that is the Bible—the Bible ; I say the
ißible alone is the religion of Protestants." Surely
1 after that no qualms of conscience can justify any,
converted Protectionists from procrastinating the evi-
dence:of their political allegiance to the ex-Premier
through fear of his unholy sympathy with the doctrines
of Popery ! Maynooth grants are surely nothing to
the purpose; nor good-natured hints about the obli-
teration of the penal laws against the Catholics; nor
equally good-natured demands for the extension of the
blessings of national education to the spiritual lieges
of Pope Pius IX.; no, nor even Oxford votes for a
dubious religionist like the Right Hon. W. E. GLAD..
STONE. PEEL-and-Popery forms a very pretty piece
of malignant alliteration, but henceforth it is
vapid and inapplicable. The Catholics must stand by
themselves : they are no longer strengthened by the
imaginary connivance of the ex-Premier. The Pro-
tectionists can still solace themselves for the loss of
one pet alliteration by another still remaining in their
vccabulary. Sir RALPH THE ROVER, who, according
to the poet, " tore his hair, and cursed himself in his
despair," was decidedly not a better theme for those
fond of a little melodramatic extravagance than Sir
ROBERT THE RENEGADE.