The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-11 00:00:00

THE ~1171i*.,h, LONDON, FR, i DAY, DECEMBER 11, I$ M.

vilify that part of the Holy Bible which is called
the Old Testament." Now, having no respect
whatever for the fictions of the law, we have no
hesitation in branding such accusations of a pub-
lisher as a monstrous tissue of falsehoods, and to
affirm that it is a disgrace to any man who has
the least respect for truth to defend such a charge.
We care not about its being the customary lan-
guage of the law, for truth and men's liberties are
not to be sacrificed by and for such absurdities.
Further, this said aspersing and vilifying the
Bible is said by Sir JOHN CAMPBELL, at least..
such is the language of the indictment, which he
used arguments to sustain, to be greatly " to the
displeasure of Almighty GOD." Who knows that ?
What worm dares to say that the Almighty GOD
is displeased with another worm for uttering or
writing a fcw words ? Who is the vain and arro-
gant man that claims for himself the task of inter-
preting the thoughts of the VIosT HIGH, and
demanding that a man be punished for having dis-
pleased Almighty GOD ? What name does the Court
deserve:which, being instituted to do justice and
protect the people, punishes one of them because
he displeases the ALMIGHTY? Can He not
punish those who displease Him ? To doubt it, to
undertake to protect or avenge Him, to describe
Him as displeased, while He showers prosperity and
contentment on the man said to displease Him, is
far more impious,more blasphemous,more dangerous
to religion than anything Mr. HETHERINGTON
ever published, or Mr. HASLAM wrote. Such,
however, was the crime charged against Mr.
HETIIERINGTON, which Sir JOHN CAMPBELL
endeavoured to substantiate, and of which a Jury,
who arc as much deserving of reproach as the prose-
cutor, found him guilty. Such is the crime for
which the Court will hereafter pass sentence, un-
dertaking, like the Inquisition, to decide for the
ALMIGHTY, and punish actions as displeasing to
Him, at which He, by the course of nature, shows
no displeasure.
_ _

At the present time, when a great portion of the
Whig press will support the ATTORNEY-GENE-
RAL or be silent, leaving The Sun to defend the
great principle of free inquiry and free printing, as
they left it to defend the same sacred and noble
cause when it was assailed in the person of Mr.
HA rtmErt, we think it our duty not to be silent.
As we should assail any Tory Attorney-General
who had instituted such a prosecution, or carried it
on, so we cannot allow it to pass unstigmatized
because it has been instituted by a Whig At-
torney-General. We know that the wisest and
best
,politicians of the party deprecate such proceed-
ings, and not the less because they will call forth
in many independent Journals, to the injury of the
Whigs, an expression of honest indignation.

We read with great pleasure the many proofs
which the addresses from all parts of the country,
and the numerous presents sent to her MAJESTY,
supply of the loyalty of the people. It is a gra-
cious and a grateful feeling, akin almost to devo-
tion, a just pride in our native land, which, in ho-
nouring her MAJESTY, seems to render a homage
to the ALMIGHTY for the many blessings He has
vouchsafed to England. While such feelings per-
vade the community, they appear to us so kindly
and so amiable, that we shall never despair of its
fortunes.

A little consideration might, perhaps, however
give them a somewhat different direction. Though
the head of the State, and therefore worthy of all
the respect which belongs to that, her MAJESTY
cannot, from her age and her dependence on her
Ministers, have contributed much to that national
greatness which is almost worshipped in her. The,
true sinews of our strength, it will scarcely be
denied, are the labouring classes, now unhappily
much, if not completely, estranged from all above
them,—and now unhappily treated by the other
classes, and in tur❑ treating them, with no little
unkindness, not to say ferocity. Unjustly, and
even cruelly, have they been used, and though
long accustomed to respect, obey, and work for
the upper classes, they have at length thrown off
all regard for them. We believe that some of this
mutual exasperation might be removed were the
upper classes to begin, as in duty bound, to evince
owards their humbler brethren a more kindly
The peace of society requires us to
cultivate good fellowship in all ranks. We
earnestly wish, therefore, that our loyal people
would bethink them how much the lower classes
need to be conciliated, and would direct feelings
which are now wasted on the Throne towards

eelini.

their toiling and suffering countrymen. Loyalty
may be honourable, but justice is csscntial to the
safety of the empire. The QUEEN has more than
justice ; the loyal addressers should now do justice
to the people.

The whole of the Paris Journals of Wednesda)

have been received. A report of the death o
the Emperor NICHOLAS prevailed on the Bourse o
Lille, but letters from the Hague, of the Gth inst.,
state it to be wholly unfounded. The war feel-
ing does not apFear from the Journals to be at all
abated in France. On the contrary, nearly all the
ultra-Liberal Journals rejoice that there is an end
of the English alliance, and recommend France to
throw herself into the arms of Russia. Now,
therefore, is the time for the friends of peace to
bestir themselves. Unless a restoration of the
good feeling which existed between France and
England, prior to the ratification of the Treaty of
July, speedily take place, we pronounce war to be
inevitable. With such armaments as France and
Germany are preparing, the peace of Europe be-
comes an impossibility. True, there is no longer an
object to fight for, such as in private life would
justify an appeal to a Court of Quarter Sessions.
Fiance has sustained no injury, save what she has
inflicted upon herself. She was asked to partici-
pate with the other chief Powers of Europe in re-
storing the Syrian sceptre to the SULTAN. She
refused, and the act in which she was requested to
participate was performed without her. We have
always admitted that on the occasion of signing
the Treaty there was a want of courtesy towards
France on the part of the Great Powers. No
secret ought to have been made about the signing
of the Treaty. Previous to its being signed a copy
of it should have been placed in the hands of the
French Ambassador, and the day it was signed it
ought to have been officially communicated to
him. There was no occasion for secrecy—none
even for the semblance of reserve. But though
he Four Powers ware wanting in that courtesy due
o France as a first-rate European State, her pre-

sent Ministers, who ate fully cognizant of all the
circumstances, have themselves declared that no in-

tention existed of insulting her ; that the neglect
did not amount to an insult ; and that nothing had

taken place to justify an appeal to arms. Why
arm, then ? Why involve France in a ruinous
load of war taxes, when nothing has happened to
disturb the general peace ? Besides the
settlement of the Eastern question, which the
French Government admitu to be virtually dispo-
sed of, what has France to fear from the Allies ?
Have they or any of them been mad enough to
threaten an invasion of her territory in any part of
the world? Do they, except in the Eastern ques-
tion, which concerns England an hundred times
more than France, interfere• in any way with her
policy, internal or external: She admits not
having been injured ; her statesmen, most tenacious
of her honour, declare that she has not been

suited. Why, then, we repeat, alarm Europe by her

armaments ?

But because France has not been treated with
all proper courtesy in the affair of a Treaty
which has virtually ceased to exist, she claims
the right of being
suspicious of her neighbours,
and consequently of being prepared to resent any
ill offices they may contemplate against her. This
is a dangerous delusion. Her suspicion of her
neighbours must beget severally an equal amount
of suspicion on their part. They too, will, natu-
rally provide for the worst, and thus the policy of
self-defence becomes inevitably aggressive. When a
nation is at med to the teeth, the temptation to try
its strength is irresistible. The impulses of a whole
people transformed into warriors are as strong and
as decisive as those of a pair of school-boys to to=t
the appalling terrors of a new pop-gnu or a freshly
purchased pocket-pistol. And if this be true of
every people, how
much more so is it of the
people of France, to whose diseased imagina-
tions excitement of some kind or other is as
necessary as quiet is to the happiness of the
less mercurial inhabitants of England, Austria,
and Prussia ? France in arms cannot be at
peace. With the hundreds and thousands of mili-
tary adventurers having nothing to lose but their
swords, and everything to hope from the chances
of war, she must either take the field against a
pretended foreign enemy, or she must again pass
through the fiery ordeal of another revolution, far
different from the last. One or other of these re-
sults must happen if she persevere in her prepara-
tion for war. And both are equally to he dreaded,
for both, in the end, must come to the same thing.
Another revolution would be but the preliminary
step to a general war.
It is the duty of statesmen, not of journalists, to
propose measures for the conservation of the peace
of Europe. We would therefore be stepping out
of our province were we to do more than suggest
the necessity of another European Congress to
arrange any differences, and hear and remedy any
complaints among the different States of Europe.
Whenever disputes arise between nations, it is thus
that they ought to be settled. With the progress
of science, and particularly of steam, must come
a time when nations, like individuals, must be go-
verned by fixed laws, or some one Power must absorb
the dominion of half the world. To illustrate our
meaning the progress of steam has brought
Vienna nearer to the seat of the British Govern-
ment now than Edinburgh was in the beginning of
the seventeenth century. And with this increased
proximity, and the increase of intercourse conse-
quent thereupon, increases the chances of disputes
which would involve Europe in endless war,
were no attempt made to improve the administra-
tion of international law. National dignity can

never be incompatible with justice, and all that
justice requires is easily attainable by arbitration.
The ultinza ratio regum in the time of Louis
XIV. was a campaign ; why not now a Congress
Even the worst diplomacy—that of a CAS-
TLEREAGH at Vienna, or a CHATEAUBRIAND
at Verona—is better than the most successful war,
with its taxes, tears, blood, and accumulated mise-
ries of widowhood and orphanage.
The preparations for the
.funeral solemnities of
NAPOLEON were proceeding with the utmost ra-
pidity on Wednesday.
We have given, in another part of The San
all the miscellaneous news in Wednesday's Journals.-

CHURCHMEN AND DISSENTERS.—The Churchmen
reproach the Dissenters with adopting their creed by
way of trade. That the accusation is false appears
certain from the fact that the Dissenters must pay for
di,sent, while to Churchmen is appropriated a large
portion of the annual produce of the industrious people.
If such a charge were, made against the Churchmen it
might at least have more probability. If it were ap-
plied to the priests of the Church of England, it would
be eminently true, for they all swear to one formula of
faith, though they differ amongst themselves, and they
do this committing perjury in the way of trade. In
fact the whole functions of the priesthood are assumed
and practised for pelf, and to the Churchmen and their
priests belongs the reproach of embracing a religion by
way of trade.
CuusAN.—Mr. Wyld's little map of this island and
the surrounding Archipelago will be found very useful
in reading the accounts of the operations of the British
squadron in that quarter. It is a curious circumstance,
but at the same time a striking proof of the scanty
communication we have had with the Chinese, that, al-
though thtee or four of the principal islands have Chi-
nese names, all the rest appear to have been christened
by the sailors as they
approached them. We give the
following specimens:—Buffalo's Island and Buffalo's
Nose, where one of the sailors in the passage to Chosen
was devoured by a shark ;
the Calves, Vernon Island,
Beak Head, Two Sisters, Two Boseys, Bell
Hand, Burnt Island, Tiger's Cub, Dead Man, &c.
The sunken reek on which the Melville struck is dis-
tinctly laid down, and it is, therefore, surprising how
Admiral Elliot run upon it with such a good chart in
his possession. The following is the account Mr.W yld
gives of the port of Tieg_hai :--" The rise and fall of
the tide makes a difference of about twelve feet. Toe
time of high water at the fall and change is about
twelve o'clock. The tides are very irregular, and vary
according to the wind and the eddies, produced by the
number of islands. At
the distance of two leagues
among the islands, the irregularities of the tides arc
such, that there is sometimes a difference of two hours
in the time of high water at the two places:'

CIIANCERY COURT-(THIS DAY).

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL V. WILSON-THE CORPO-

RATION OF LEEDS.

This case, which was specially appointed for to-day,
came before the Court, upon information and bill filed
by the Attorney-General, on behalf of the present, cor-
poration of Leeds, who sought to recover certain pro-
perty belonging to the corporation, which bad been
alienated, as was asserted, by the old one, by illegal and
abortive instruments. The short facts of this case appear
to be as follow :—The corporation of Leeds was first
constituted by a charter granted by Charles 11., in the
13th year of his reign. By that charter there was to
be a Mayor, 12 Aldermen, and 24 Assistants, who
were named by the Crown, and who were to nqme their
successors. The parties so named by the Crown were
created Trustees of the Corporate property, which was
to be applied for the good rule and government of the
borough of Leeds. As was matter of history in 1835,
tl.o Government thought of introducing a measure for
the reform of corporations, and one of the provisions
of that proposed measure was that the parties were
to elected by the popular voice, and not by their own
body. In that year the old corporation determined
that their successors should have nothing to do with the
property of the corporation, which consisted of 6,500/.
Thi ce per Cent., and 5001. which had been lent to the
Commissioners of the Leeds and Wakefield Road,
resolved to alienate it, and for that purpose two
deeds were executed, giving _ the property in
trust to three gentlemen of the names of Wilson,
Beckett, and Blades. In those deeds, however,
no trusts were declared, and no application or
appropriation pointed out. Mr. Wilson, Mr. Beckett,
and Mr. Blades, knew nothing of this transaction till
June, when a letter was written to them stating that
the corporation had transferred those sums to them,
and that they were at their disposal. After this the
corporation took the opinions of ,Sir F. Pollock, Sir
W. Follett, and Mc. Milner, the Recorder of the
Borough, as to their power to alienate the property,
and those opinions being against that power, certain
members of the corporation, in their private capa-
city, presented a memorial to Messrs. Wilson,
Beckett, and Blades, calling upon them to dis.
pose of the funds they held in trust, by giving
5251. to the Recorder, 1051. to the Deputy Re-
corder, 750/. to the Leeds Infirmary, 500/. to the Leeds
Free Hospital, 2501. to the Public Dispensary, 1,0001.
to the Incumbent of St. Mary, 1,000/. to the Incum-
bent of Christ Church, 500/. for the purpose of erecting
a gallery in St. Mark's Church, and the residue to pay
the debts of the corporation. The Recorder and De-
puty Recorder refused to receive the money ; certain
sums, however, had been disposed of, and upon the
passing of the Municipal Reform Act, the new corpo-
ration elected under its provisions, found no corporate
property belonging to the borough of Leeds. Being,
however, afterwards informed of the aliena-
tion which had taken place in 1835, of the
corporate property they came to the resolution,
under the 97th section of the Municipal Act, to call in
question that transaction, and filed the present informa-
tion and bill to have it set aside.

The Attorney-General, Mr. Jacob, Mr. Wigram,
and Mr. Walker appeared on behalf of the information ;
and Sir Charles Wetherell, Mr. Bethell, Mr. Loftus
Wigram, and Mr. Atkinson were counsel for the
defendants.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, at considerable length,
contended that it was not in the power of the old corpo-
ration to alienate their property, but that, if it was,
that alienation not being complete, was void both in
law and equity.
Sir CHARLES WETHERELL, at the cone.usion of the
Attorney-General's address, took an objection to the
case proceeding further, on the, ground of want of
parties, the relators having made only five of the
members of the old corporation defendants instead of
the whole number.
M. BETHELL and Mr. ATKINSON followed on the
same side.

The LORD CHANCELLOR overruled the objection.
Mr. WIGRAM then proceeded to address the Court
upon the whole case, on behalf of the relators, fol-
lowing the Attorney-General. The Learned Gentleman
had not concluded when we went to press.

ROLLS COURT-(THIS DAY.)