The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-04 00:00:00

01'1bintgitlt

I ONDON, 210NDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1847.

Peaceful as is the intelligence latterly received from
our Oriental possessions, we are not inspired with a
more secure confidence in the permanence of the pre-
sent tranquillity than the dwellers upon the green
slopes of a burning mountain. The latter are as
much accustomed to the eruptions of the volcano a:.,
they are to tl:e blooms and verdure by which the
calcined soil is periodically covered, and the lulls of
one interval are only enjoyed with the breathless in-
terest of men who are satisfied by experience that it
must be succeeded by the most perilous convulsions.
Precisely of this intermittent character have been the
periods of quietude and disturbance by which the
historic narrative of our Eastern Empire has been di-
versified since the days when WARREN HASTINGS lent
our troopers for a consideration, and the warlike
CLIVE added fresh glory to the standard of Great
Britain by his prowess and his victories. Whenever
there has been an unusual struggle of arms or diplo-
macy either in or around the peninsula of Hindostan,
it has been invariably succeeded in good time by a
temporary pacification. Treaty after treaty has been
considered by the more sanguine as conclusive, and
as inaugurative of the introduction of a new and
nobler policy into the Asiatic territories—a policy
whereby their resources may be fully developed,
and their -institutions ultimately remodelled.
Treaty after treaty has proved to be only
equivalent to a momentary--
e armistice. The energies
which, if properly
directed,
conduced to the happiness ,lmight have long since
prosperity of the Oriental multitudeaclibi ensuring the
ytc have been em •
ployed only in concocting
conspiracies
and enkindling yet more virulent an'ial
from a vivid recollection of these occurrences, as ilt
predominant
ill slt
as from a conviction that duplicity is the
characteristic of the population of the
countries of the Asiatic continent, that we regarde:
accounts of the tranquillity prevalent in those domi•
pions with distrust and suspicion.
Never, perhaps, has the quietude of the East been
more universal than it is at this moment. Jaws
seems to have erected his temple at Lahore, and his
duplex visage has doubled its original duality
and looks blandly towards the four quarters.
From east, from west, from north, from south, the
tidings cf continued amity are received. Even the
most ruthless of the native warriors appear to have
trnsiorined themselves into Iconoclasts by'breaking
the images of the demons of battle, and beating their
swords into ploughshares, and their daggers into
reaping hooks. The spirit of conciliation has become
übiquitous, and the supreme government is so far
deceived by the apparent solidity of the present
pacification, that it is contriving a wholesale re-
duction in the standing army—a reduction of
NEWS 111111 ~magnitude as to reduce the military
----,-;-. - xpo...rture of the Company by above a million.
....__) such ils,me are satisfied with the present position of
affairsleo g the frontiers of our Oriental empire, we
1., cannot regard a disbandment of such an extra-
j
'-- ecdinary description as rash and precipitous.
1.144 too mach reliance should not be placed upon

_

~:t`

any peace, however flattering may be its appearance,
France displayed to us in a striking manner at
the commencement of this nineteenth century. The
history of that country narrates that such was the
conviction of its then Republican Government
in the maintenance of an European tranquillity
for at least some considerable time, that the ink was
scarcely dry upon the parchment signed by the ple-
nipotentiaries at Amiens than the French forces were
either disbanded or dismissed on furlough, while
the artillery was actually broken in pieces and
thrown into the furnaces. In the midst of these mis-
judged evidences of confidence the noise of war
again startled the disorganized army of the Consulate
into activity.
Under all circumstances—at least until the
Age of Gold is revived, or the Millenium esta-
blished—it is wisdom on the part of a legislature to
be prepared for war in the midst of peace,
For, of itself, a deteriorated maritime or military
force is something provocative of assault to an un-
principled and more wily neighbour. How much
greater, therefore, should be the caution of the
Anglo-Indian Government, seeing that it is encom-
passed on all hands by races as notorious for their
hatred of their European conquerors and their
passion for carnage as they are eminently skilled in the
realisation of their most treacherous wishes. What-
ever reduction may be made in the army, whether
that reduction be proportionately large or com-
paratively small, it should be conducted with the
most viligant forethought and the most elaborate
circumspection.
For the minor particulars conveyed from India by
the extraordinary express in anticipation of the over-
land mail, we refer to the dispatches published in
another column of The Sun. From these accounts it
will be perceived that the expected resignation of the
Governorship of Sinde by Sir CamtLss NAPIER has
been confirmed, and that the return of the hero of
Meeanee to England has been hastened by the continued
indisposition of Lady Nari Ea. Among the more inte-
resting details will be found the description of the
murder of the atrocious ABDOOL SANIDD by the
King of BOKHARA, that sovereign having beaten out
the brains of his Minister with an axe, for being
principally instrumental in contriving the destruc-
tion of STODDARD and CONOLLY. According to the
sanguinary creed of the idolaters, the manes of those
unfortunate officers are now appeased. The quarrel
between the Ranee of LAHORE and SIRDAR TEJ
SINGII—the capture of the ex-Maharaja of NE-
PAUL, in the midst of the slaughter at Sergowlie—
the proposed incorporation of the Lower In-
dus with the Bombay Presidency—the conjectures as
to the probable successor of Sir CHARLES NAPIER,
—the revival of the loan project in the dominions of
the NIzAM the depredations still perpetrated in
Rajpootana by the followers of DooNGHun SINGH—
the non-assembling of the durbar on Sundays in
Peshawur—the success achieved at Kusmore by the
police under Lieutenant YOUNGHUSBAND—and the
outbreak which had taken place at Golcondah, in the
district of Vizagapatam—form the principal topics.of
consideration in the intelligence brought overland,
cui Marseilles.

The Act 9 and 10 VICTORIA, c. 95, for the more
easy recovery of small debts and demands in Eng-
land, is now in full operation in all parts of the
country. I is impossible to estimate too highly the
importance of that statute, and of the several pro-
visions thereby introduced, to the vast majority of
the people, to all those in the middle ranks of life,
engaged in trade, who are accustomed to give credit
for small amounts to their customers, and to the
petty tradesmen, artizans, operatives, and labourers
whose exigencies may compel them to incur debts of
that description. Heretofore these small debts were
recoverable either in the superior Common Law
Courts at Westminster, or in local Courts of limited
jurisdiction, established from time to time in various
parts of the country, under different authorities.
Statutes were passed in 1844 and 1845, consolidating
and extending the powers given to these lesser
courts, but the Act of 1846, now under notice,
swallowed up all the others in itself. Wherever
it came into operation all inferior jurisdictions
were abolished, nay, that of the superior courts was
practically taken away in all cases which came within
the sphere of the courts established in pursuance of
its enactments—for (save in certain excepted cases) "if
an action shall he brought in the superior courts, for
any cause other than those in the Act specified, and for
which a plaint might have been entered in any court
holden under the Act, and a verdict shall be found for
the plaintiff for a sum less than 201., if the action be
founded on contract, or less than 51. if it be founded
on tort, the plaintiff shall have judgment to recover
such sums only, and no costs ; and if a verdict shall
not he found for the plaintiff, the defendant shall be
entitled to his costs, as between attorney and client,
unless in either case the judge shall certify on the
back of the record that the action was fit to be tried
in the superior courts " (section 129). Few
persons will, of course, be willing to risk such a con-
tingency, even though they should believe themselves
entitled to recover still larger sums. The pro
verbial uncertainty of the law is considerably en-
hanced by this provision, and if every case at all
doubtful as to the amount, as well as in all those
which, however important to the parties concerned,
certainly come within the limit, recourse will be
had to the newly-created tribunals for redress. The
Act, therefore, with the rules and orders adopted,
may be looked on as a complete code for the reco-
very of all sums not exceeding 201., and also the
recovery of possession of tenements, the annual
rental whereof does not exceed 501. Actions of re-
plevin may also be brought in these courts. These
simple facts will satisfy any person at all cognizant
of the very large proportion which such cases bear
to the general business of the country of the abso-
lute necessity of correcting all the defects contained
either in the Act itself, or which have been intro-
duced into its administration contrary to the intentions
of the Legislature. Different opinions, too, necessarily
prevail amongst the judges on several points, and conse -
quently there is a difference of practice that is ex-
ceedingly prejudicial to the public interests, to which
it is essential that some fixed and definite rules re-
cognised in all the courts should be adopted. Under
this head we may particularly instance the differences
that exist with respect to what has been termed
splitting causes of action, or two or more actions
being actually subsisting at the same time between
the same parties. This is only one illustration of an
evil of considerable magnitude.

The object of the statute most undoubtedly was to
benefit the poorer and the humbler classes, by afford-
ing them a cheap and easy mode of recovering the
demands to which they may justly be entitled, with-
out the expense and delay attendant on an applica-
tion to the superior courts, and also for saving the
debtors the enormous costs to which they would be
subjected— costs far exceeding the amount of the
original debt. It may, however, well be doubted
how far this desirable object has been at-
tained; we fear that, however plausible the
term "cheap law" may appear, however sound it may
seem in theory, it is not so easily reduced to practice,
but that mischiefs greater than those it was intended
to remedy, and much oppression and individual
suffering, together with cases of the greatest hardship,
loudly demanding redress, are daily occasioned by the
attempt to bring it into operation, there can be no
doubt. We shall from time to time point out some
of the defects in the law itself, and in the made of its
administration, and also that which appears to be
great injusticii
indvidaunaolts.
lin her and unmerited hardship sustained by
part of our columns a letter will be
found from Mr. A. CLAstie, a highly respectable
tradesman resident in Jerrnyn-street, complaining,
with great apparent reason, of a decision by
which
he
considers himself to be seriously
aggrieved. The
facts of the case are therein Bet forth so fully
and so temperately, that it is quite unnecessary
here to recapitulate them. Mr. CLARK has
ably stated the consequences of the interpretation
of the law, which the judge has announced; he ques-
tions the propriety of his judgment on every one of
the grounds on which it was given, and he would
willingly carry the case before the highest tribunals, in
order that the law on the subject, which he feels to
be so important to himself and every tradesman in
the British dominions, involving, as it does, the
authority he is to possess, in what has heretofore been
termed " an Englishman's castle "—his own house,
should be finally settled. If the Learned Judge is