The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-28 00:00:00

- taming

- -
LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1846.

Nothing whatever can now prevent the triumphant
settlement of the Bill. Not all the oratory of STANLEY,
the wit of DISRAELI, the assiduity of BENTINCK, the ac-
clamations at Willis's Rooms, or the official edicts from
Bond-street, have been successful in damping the ardour
of one single Free-trader ;—the Protectionists are de-
fenceless, their Damascus blade has shivered off at the
hilt. Whatever bile may have been excited amongst
individuals by bitterness of recrimination or acrimony
of censure, must be allayed, so far at least we are fain
to anticipate, immediately upon the close of the discus-
sion. When the excitement consequent upon discom-
fiture has become somewhat abated, and when the subse-
quent calm affords them an opportunity for reflection,
we are prepared to witness a sequel of change
in the sentiments of those who have most violently
opposed the measure—a sequel almost as gratifying,
though scarcely of such national importance, as the con-
versions antecedent to the Ministerial proposition.
Much as; certain among the agricultural landlords have
iaveighed against the abolition policy, incessantly as
they have stigmatised and traduced its advocates, we
are more than sanguine of their ulterior adhesion
to its cause, and of their permanent satisfaction
at its working. We are convinced that the
charges of unconstitutional intimidation against the
League, of inconsistency against the Premier, of revolu-
tionary recklessness against the representatives of the
people, and of subserviency against the present Govern-
ment, will all become dissipated before the sun-burst of
emancipated commerce. Those who have hitherto been
foremost amongst the antagonists of the innovation will
merge into the most enthusiastic of its admirers, because
we entertain a solemn conviction that the landowners
will prove the chief recipients of benefit from its opera-
tion. Such are our anticipations, and those anticipa-
tions are based upon experience ; they are inspired by
a remembrance of the Ed.nburgh manifesto from Lord
JOHN RUSSELL ; of the candid avowals made by Sir
ROBERT PEEL ; by the more recent acknowledgments
of the Earl of ESSEX, as well as of other Legislators,
but above all by the memorable majority of ninety-eight,
by which the Lower House of Parliament approved of
that measure which, year aster year, within those very
walls, had met only with r:ierisive opponents and a con-
tumelious rejection. Nor do those anticipations
resolve themselves into a specious hypothesis ;
they are deduced not merely from: modern
reminiscenses, they are accordant with the les-
sons inculcated by history and antiquity. Whenever
a,ny Great Truth has been propounded seriously, and for
the first time, among mankind, whether it be a truth
in science, in natural philosophy, in legislation, in mili-
tary tactics, or even in more heaven-born themes of con-
templation, their reception has always been accompanied
with similar vicissitudes, similar causes of tardiness,similar
incredulity, and similar bitterness of antagonism. It is
first broached by one man, or by a scanty few; those
few are treated either with indifference or with obloquy;
they persist, however, in the utterance of the truth,
and it gradually spreads and spreads among the popula-
tion with a steady and indomitable progression, until its
old enemy, Ignorance, dwindles down from power to
insignificance, from insignificance to nothingness—until
Prejudice is conquered by Fact. When COLUMBUS first
advanced the feasibility of circumnavigating the globe,
and the likelihood of encountering new regions in that
circumnavigation, the monarchs of Christendom suc-
cessively treated him as a visionary, and the
children used to mock at the old man in the streets of
Spain as the " mad sailor." WATT, in like manner,
when endeavouring to perfect the steam-engine, was de-
rided as a dreamer. The originator of those wonderful
specimens of mechanical ingenuity by which the labour
of our factories is so marvellously simplified, was, upon
their introduction, scouted by the artisans as Benefactor
was never scouted before. Yet, in spite of this uncouth
opposition on the part of Ignorance and Prejudice,
America has been discovered, has become the seat of new
empires, has imparted a fresh stimulus to the intellect
and trade of the old world, snd has proved a mine of in-
exhaustible wealth to the nations of Europe.
The steam-engine has been brought to a point
almost beyond the reach of improvement, it has
become the administrator of comfort and luxury to mil-
lions, performing the utmost diversity of labour, and
promises at length to draw the most remote places into
familiar intercourse, The spinning machines have su•
perseded hand labour almost entirely, and yet offer
greater facilities for employment. Such invariably and
inevitably is the fate of every great innovation when that
innovation is based on truth ; spite of rancour, or abuse,
or misrepresentation, it ever ultimately triumphs : it is
not to be retarded by misapprehension or chicanery— it
is germinated in the human intellect, and consequently
has a sympathetic chord for its appreciation in the po-
pular mind—it is evoked for victory.
Everything tends to demonstrate the speedy advent of
that victory to the Great Truth of Free Trade. Let the
Lords expedite the triumph which the measure is des-
tined, sooner or later, to achieve, and let them facilitate,
as far as Parliamentary decorum will permit, the dis-
comfiture of Ignorance and Prejudice.

Mr. O'CONNELL, on Monday evening, paid a well-
merited compliment to the just and upright intentions
of the Government with regard to Ireland. Ile stated
that since the administration of food to the starving popu-
lation there had been a vast reduction in the amount of
crime in that country, which he ascribed in a great de-
gree to the beneficial exertions of the Premier. Sir IL
PEEL questioned whether this reduction was not in
great degree owing to the steps which had been taken
with respect to the Coercion Bill. Whatever may be
the cause to which it is ascribable, we have now the ad-
mission, on the highest authority, that this happy reult
has been attained, and that peace and tranquillity are
again restored to our sister island.
So long as outrages and disturbances were rife in that
country, and the ordinary powers of the law were
found to be insufficient for their suppression, we hesi-
tated not to yield our humble support to the Govern.
ment, and to call upon the Legislature to arm the Exe-
cetiewith means adequate for the purpose, and not to
withhold any of the necessary appliances. But
we also most strenuously urged the necessity of
particularly
d 1
the
ettsures
same oftimkindness and conciliation being at
causes of complaint should be removed, and rtiu
that the relationship between landlord and tenant, the
hle'
teterrima causa belli, the fertile source of discord and
disaffection, should be ameliorated and improved, by
which means Ireland would be rendered a prosperous
and happy country. Already much has been effected.
The glorious principle of free trade, by which the many
will be so greatly benefited, has passed the representa-
tives of the people by a large and increasing
majority, and there is no longer doubt or danger as
to its ultimate and entire success. Three measures
of the greatest consequence have been announced by the
Government as having been already prepared, by which
some of the most crying grievances relating to the occu-
pation of land are likely to be taken away, and which,
as indicating the favourable intentions of the Ministry,
and the sincerity of their determination to grapple with
the difficulties with which the case is environed, will be
gratefully received by the people as a large instalment
of justice, as a most acceptable and valuable boon. In
other matters, too, the members of the Government have
evinced their anxiety to deal liberally and fairly with
the people of that country.
Measures have been introduced into both Houses of
Parliament, and received with all but unanimous appro-
bation, having for their object the purifying of our
statute-book from the last remnants of bigotry and in-
tolerance—the sweeping away all traces of the abomi-
nable and vexatious penal code.

The religion of the vast majority of the Irish people
is no longer to be insulted by the existence of obsolete
and universally condemned enactments; they are in
every respect to be treated and recognised as our equals.
The old, and happily abandoned, watch-word of Pro-
testant ascendancy has no longer an existence in the nation,
and the most perfect freedom of opinion is accord( d
to every man. Can we then wonder that this improved
spirit on the psrt of the Ministry, sad of the Legisla•

ture, should be attended with the happy results to which
we have alluded? We always believed the Irish to be a
people of high and generous impulses, easily won by
kindness, and ready to abandon all feelings of resent
ment the moment the exciting cause was removed and
the hand of friendship extended towards them. They
have proved that we were correct in that opinion, that our
estimate of their character was correct. Sir R. PEEL
has shown that he can argue from analogy, that he is
not slow to avail himself of the signs of the times, and
that he is ever ready to extend a principle which has
been found to work well, so far as it has been adopted.
Nothing can possibly be more favourable than the fruits
which have hitherto sprung from conciliation. Follow
up the system—no longer evince suspicion and distrust
—let our Irish brethren receive the benefit of the im-
proved condition of 'their country. The Coercion Bill
could only be justified by the inevitable necessity that
existed of vindicating the law, and putting down with
the strong arm violence and bloodshed. That necessity
has now happily terminated—a milder treatment has been
found efficacious, a healthy action has been restored.
" Cessat ratio, cessat lex," is a universally ad
mitted axiom, the truth of which has never been
questioned or denied. The cause, which unhap-
pily evoked the necessity of such a restriction Of
the liberties of the subject has ceased. Even if the law
were now in actual operation, it should be forthwith
terminated. A graceful opportunity is afforded to the
Premier of acknowledging that he is no longer com-
pelled to press the Coercion Act rapidly through
Parliament, and of adjourning, if not totally
abandoning, its further progress, unless the re-
newal of disturbance and outrage should impera-
tively demand the carrying out of its provisions in all
their stringency and severity. Such a course would in-
deed add many wreaths to the laurels he has already
gained for, himself, and plant him firmly in the hearts
of the people as the Minister of their choice—then, in-
deed, might he bid defiance to the attempts of faction,
or of disappointed monopoly, to shake him from the
proud eminence on which he would be placed, and
from which he could not be removed so long as he should
be influenced by justice and moderation.

We have lately thought it our duty to call the public
attention to the constitution of the Royal Court of
Guernsey, the extraordinary and raried powers assumed
by that Court, and the mal-administration of the law,
occasioned by clothing with the judicial authority men
who are wholly unqualified by station, education, or
legal acquirements, for so high a trust.
This evil is greatly increased by the fact, that the
jurat as such, derives no income to render him indepen-
dent of his ordinary trade or calling. He may descend
from the bench, on which he has been acting, in a
legislative, an executive, or a judicial capacity, and re-
turn to his counter, to vend, perchance, a gallon of
spirits or a yard of broad cloth. There is not, there-
fore, that pecuniary independence which has ever been
considered indispensible to the purity and integrity of
the judicial bench. When the " res angusta domi" pre-
vail it is scarcely possible for the man even of the most
exalted mind, to free himself wholly from surrounding
influences, to assume that calm disinterestedness so ne
cessary to the fit and proper discharge of the
important duties entrusted to his care. Can he weigh
the balance with an even hand, when he must
be well aware that by a slight inclination or leaning t 9
one side he may be enabled to oblige a valued customer,
a useful associate, or one who has it in his power to be
of much service to him in his trade or business ? Be-
sides, how can a person who is obliged to earn his daily
bread, by the exertion of his industry, devote a sufficient
time to the acquisition of such legal knowledge, as may
be sufficient to qualify him to become the expounder,
the interpreter of various and complicated codes, re-
quiring a large amount of labour, an almost unbounded
devotion of time and industry, to not merely the ori-
ginal attainment, but even the proper keeping up of the
skill and learning already acquired. The man who
would desire to discharge such functions with pro-
priety, should devote a considerable sum of money to
the purchase, and much of his time to the study, of
those works in which the decisions and judg-
ments of our higher courts are chronicled and
reported. Without such a devotion he is
unfit for the situation he aspires to fill, no
matter how great his natural endowments may be.
The law is a jealous mistress, requiring an exclusive at-
tender', an ardent, a zealous pursuit on the part of
its professors ; nay, in our own country it has been con-
sidered as indispensible to subdivide its branches. We
have, therefore, the equity and the common law barrister,
the equity draftsman, the special pleader, and the
conveyancer, each of whom finds full and sufficient
occupation in the cultivation and practice of that parti-
cular portion thereof to which he has applied his talents
and industry, and devoted his time. A gratuitous legal
()pinion, even when given by a man of high professional
attainments in constant practice has ever been con-
sidered as worth the sum it actually costs—viz., nothing.
It is still worse, when the exposition of the law is a
gratuitous one, more particularly when there is no suffi-
cient controlling power to revise and correct the judg-
ments of such a tribunal, if erroneous.

The evils of the system, which we have already pointed
out in our former articles are, therefore, fearfully in-
creased by the want of that sound judgment and legal
knowledge, which would point out the danger and warn of
the consequences which might result from some illegal or
unjust decision. It has been said that
" Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

Quacks will venture on experiments at which the highly
educated and talented physician would shudder; the man
with a slight sprinkling of some few legal principles,
picked up perhaps merely by an attendance at some
petty court, will arrogate to himself a degree of know-
ledge, and utter his dicta with a confidence which the
most talented and able lawyer would not venture to
assume. Propose to such a man the most difficult
and doubtful point, some vexata questio which has
exercised the ingenuity of lawyers, and puzzled, per-
haps divided, the Bench itself, and, without hesita-
tion, without taking a moment's time to consider, he will
pronounce an absolute and unqualified opinion, assuring
you that there is; not the slightest difficulty in the case.
Such a person, if invested with any authority, will extend
it far beyond the limits of moderation, and will dare or do
anything for the furtherance of that fancied authority, or
the support or extension of some favourite theory. We
recollect the case of a magistrate, the brother of a
former Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer,
in Ireland, who had committed and detained for
some hours in custody a barrister, who had appeared
before him in some case, and who had pressed his argu-
ments, as the magistrate thought, too far, the Learned,
Chief Baron, addressing him, said, " Brother, brother
you have the greatest courage of any man in the world.
I often wished that I could have ventured on such a
step when annoyed and tormented by some of them, but
I dared not. You little know the nest of hornets you
have brought about your ears." And so it turned out.
Bar meetings were held, the profession throughout the
country took to itself the insult offered to one of its
members, proceedings were instituted, and large damages
were given against the man, who, in his ignorance, had
exceeded his authority. In our columns will be found
an extract from an able and talented contemporary, con-
taining its own comments upon the conduct of one of
the Jurats who chose to avail himself of the
position he occupied, to inflict a most unwarrantable
indignity on gentlemen holding commissions in her
MAJESTY'S service. The honour and integrity of
the British army has ever stood unimpeached, and un-
impeachable. It is that high and chivalrous feeling on
their part, the undying devotion, the esprit de corps,
which induces the British officer to sacrifice even life
itself to the service of his country, to the maintainance
of the character and honour of the body to which he be-
longs. This feeling has been attested for centuries, has
been written in letters of blood on many a hardly-con-
tested and well-fought field. In what age, nation or
climate, has it not been exemplified ? There is no part
of the civilised world, no quarter of the globe, where the
services of our gallant brethren have been required, that
the result has not been invariably the same. Their
valour in the field has
ari biennnedteteahntge
tiiihatonlyyothiueawrss iot
nehfvictory,
which
equalledever remained
ecrdi bc:hyh,
at
andtih.t hnheeeeydiyrb
have
ii,atmo-
derationahvee,
uhoeobserved
adtereruv vsietaedt
di
undeviating
dtl
compactsfha
ttieai humanity in tedy
o
w un-
tarnished
hye entered.s eseek
k tiin
t h eTi
rh
praise, ehaht
Roo
dnj s
justify
su, t honour
fnoydf
the
everyt h e British name has been)
adds new laurels to their unblemishes
ducrceeputtantgiodna.y
honour of the British
But
army ? It is but an attempt
" To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
And add a perfume to the violet."
sure to -s
It is written in characters which cannot be
impeached or gainsayed. Words are superfluous
,
in such a cause, but were there a fiecps,it
there are gallant men who can use the pen as wellfJ
the sword,
numerousan d any
and
insult
ableto
defenderstheßritishAfrrmonl among sty is
produce
its own ranks.
The learned Jurat may find, in the words of the
Chief Baron already mentioned, that he bas indeed
brought a nest of hornets about his ears, and may well
wish that he had not ventured to assail that Which
stands on a pinnacle, towering far beyond. the reach of
h
any shaft winged by his feeble and.

From Brussels we learn that on Tuesday, the 26th,
the Minister of the Interior presented to the Chamber
a project of law authorising the free ipportatiou of corn