The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-02 00:00:00

THE RIVER.

In consequence of the rapid thaw which commenced on
Wednesday night, and was succeeded by heavy showers of
rain, there was a general break-up of the ice on the river
yesterday, and the navigation of the shipping, steamers,
and craft received very little interruption, and a number of
vessels of every description arrived and departed in the
course of the day. Several coasters and colliers, which
ware kept out of the Pool by the ice, also came up in the
afternoon with the tide, which brought up a considerable
quantity of drifting ice, which appeared soft, and offered
little obstruction to the passage of ships and barges. At
low water there were vast masses of ice and large icebergs
on both shores, a good deal of which was taken up by the
flowing tide and dissolved. The change of the weather hap-
pened very opportunely ; for the navigation of the river
was almost entirely suspended on Tuesday. From Ha-
nover-bole-stairs to Rothcrhite-platform there was a con-
tinuous field of ice, extending nearly one-third over, and
the watermen cut out a passage through it to get their
boats in and out of King'a..stairs, midway between the
Platform and Hanover-hole. The floating engine, lying
off Rotherhithe, was ice-locked, and was cut out by a
steam-tug and taken to St. Katherine's, where there was
comparatively only a small quantity of ice. The engine was
moored in a place where it could be soon got attost
in the event of its services being required. At high water
on \Vcdnesd.ty evening the quantity of ice in the river wss
enormous, and from the Regent's Canal entrance, to the
Shadwell Dock on the north shore, there was a complete
block. The Dundee steam-ship, from Dundee, got under
weigh at three o'clock, and her passage through the Pool
was attended with considerable difficulty, as she encoun-
tered large icebergs and fields of ice flowing up with the
tide. The Vivid, Captain Agars, from Hull, arrived at
St. Katharine's at one on Wednesday afternoon, after a
26 hours' passage, with 35 passengers, and went through
the ice, which she met in large quantities in the lower part
of Gallion's Reach, in fine style. Captain Agars reported
that there was a large fleet of colliers in the lower part of
the river unable to get up, and passed 300 sail of vessels
in the Swin. Yesterday, many of the colliers were able
to get up into the Pool to discharge their cargoes. If the
frost had continued 48 hours longer, the navigation of the
Thames would have been entirely suspended, and coals in-
creased to an enormous price. The thaw was proceeding
last night, and much of the ice seen drifting on the
Thames in the morning had disappeared. The Gravesend
steamers still continue to depart from Blackwell.

WINTER AMUSEMENTS IN CHINA.— The
amusements of the Emperor of China's Court on the ice,
during the severe winters of Pekin, are thus given by Van
I3raam, who was one of the Dutch mission which pro-
ceeded from Canton soon after Lord Macartney's embassy :
The Emperor made his appearance on a sort of sledge,
supported by the figures of four dragons. This machine
was moved about by several mandarins, some dragging be-
fore, and others pushing behind. The four principal Mi
nisters of State were also dawn upon the ice, in their
sledges, by inferior mandarins. Whole troops of civil and
military officers soon appeared, some on sledges, some on
skates, and others playing at football on the ice ; and he
that kicked up the ball was rewarded by the Emperor.
The ball was then hung up in a kind of arch, and several
mandarins shot at it, in passing on skates, with their bows
and arrows. Their skates were cut off short under the
heel, and the fore part was turned up at right angles."
These diversions are more in the spirit of the Tartars than
of the Chinese, whose original habits were more effeminate
and quiet.
A person who has recently passed the Simplon
states that, at the village of that name, up to the 15th inst.,
the thermometer had not fallen there more than 10 degrees
below zero of Reaumur, or 91 above zero of Fahrenheit.

FROM TIIE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
(From the .71fOrning Chronicle.)
We this day lay before our readers important addi-
tional information respecting the case of Mr. Hill, in
the Ecclesiastical Court of Exeter, and the resolutions
agreed (al at a meeting on Monday last in Monmouth,
with regard to the case of Sarah Young. Mr. Milieu
has supplied us with the opinion given by Dr. Add ons
in the case of Mr. Hill, from which it will be seen that
the omnipotence oj Parliament, to use the well-known
expression, is impotence in regard to the Ecclesiastical
Courts. Parliament may pass an Act, prohibiting
Courts from entertaining suits fur tithes for sums under
101., but if they ehoose to entertain suits for a smaller
sum than 101., a party can only have the benefit of the
prohibition by appearing at the citation, and then the
iniquitous Court refutes to allow hint costs, which are
always high. In bringing before the House of Co.m-
mons, in 1839, his motion respecting Ecclesiastical
Courts, Mr. Hawes observed that it was often extremely
difficult to ascertain over what description of causes
any particular (Ecclesiastical) Court operated, and much
inconvenience resulted from this uncertainty. In the
majority of the Peculiar Courts, and perhaps in all,
there neither were nor could be efficient and experi-
enced judges, officers, advocates, or practitioners, the
emoluments being too small, and the number of causes
too few, to secure those requisites for the due adminis-
tration of justioe. The consequence was, that nn con-
fidence was reposed in these tribunals ; and delay arose
and expense was incurred in applying for letters of re-
quest, and in resorti'g to other means of escaping the
jurisdiction." As a proof cf. ignorance Dr. Lushing-
' ton stated that the.prantiticreirs of one of these Eccle-
siastical Courts did not know that an appeal lay from
its jurisdiction. But all this ignorance is displayed
at the expense of the unfortunate persons subject to
the jurisdiction. The Court may, through its igno-
rance, put a party to great trouble and expense ; but
the Court itself is vested with impunity.
The Court itself may be composed of a knot of
clergymen having the same interests as the suitor,
and suits may be entertained, in the very teeth of an
Act of Parliament prohibiting them ; but though it
may be obvious that the suits arc entertained for the
purpose of obtaining incomes to the members of the
Court and the practitioners, through enormous costs,
y:t corrupt motives cannot he brought home to any one.
If' the members of these tribunals avoid doing what no
man not a downright idiot would think of doing, they
may perpetrate all sorts of iniquity with impunity. We
remember, in the case of an action brought against an
inferior tribunal, hearing Lord Toaterden observe, that
errors of Judges ought to be viewed with indulgence—
that it was more important that they should act with
confidence on the opinion they entertained, than
that justice should be parsl, zed front hesitation and
anxiety respecting the consequences of their deci-
sions. In the case of Judges, like those of our su-
perior Courts, under the eye of an intelligent Btr
and public, a charitable construction of conduct can
be productive of little injury ; but in such dens of ini-
quity as the Ecclesiastical Courts of the country con-
fessedly are, the doctrine of Lord Tenterden (of which
they would be allowed to avail themselves), must give
impunity to the most revolting injustice. Mr. Hewes's
resolution, that the inferior Ecclesiastical Courts shoitld
be abolished without delay, was carried, but they still
exist, to the great oppression of the community. They
may know that they are flying in the face of an Act
of Parliament. ; but they know that the oppressed
party can only secure himself by an outlay which ren-
ders submission to his wrong the more prudent course.
They feel that they are vested with impunity. Par-
liament cannot protect the people from Courts de.
termined to set it at defiance, trusting to the
difficulty of distinguishing between venial and cri-
minal fallibility. The only remedy worth any-
thing is to abolish such Courts root and branch. In the
resolutions agreed on at the Monmouth meeting it is
stated " that the Ecclesiastical Court of Llandaff, which
has been in the habit of issuing citations for small
amounts of tithe, has displayed a want of respect for the
laws of our country, and exercised a power dangerous
to the liberty of the subject, which ought not to pass
with impunity." But we suspect this and every other
Ecclesiastical Court acting with the same barefaced
disregard of the law, may count on impunity. This
opinion we deliver with due hesitation ; but as the con-
duct of the Court of Llandaff has excited much indig-
nant feeling in Monmouth and the parts of the county
adjacent, and a subscription has been set on foot to
enable, the Widow fou.g to obtai7, redress, if redress 1,
to be had, it is not impossible that the point will be
decided respecting which we are in doubt. If any
degree of in•quitous practice, short of barefaced cor-
ruption, brought home to a judge, can serve as a
ground for punishment, it is to be found in the prac-
tice of the Ecclesiastical Courts. In the " Plympton
Papers," published some time ago by the Camden
Society, a curious light is thrown on the conduct of
Empson and Dudley, who, it appears, played very
different parts from what might be inferred from the
statements respecting them in our common histories.
These gentlemen, like the practitioners in our Ecclesias-
tical Courts, proceeded according to law. They hail
the same objects in view, the acquisition of plund.r,
but et they set law less at defiance than the Ecclesias-
tical Courts have done. To be sure, they flew at
higher game than Widow Young, and the other unfor-
tunate cottagers caged by the Bishop's Court of Landaff,
and hence their deathless renown. No man in England
can long hope to oppress the rich with impunity. Ex-
cessive fines and excessive bail figure conspicuously in
the Bill of Rights, though, in comparison to the inco.nes
of the parties, heavier fines and heavier bails than those
which led to the clause in the Bill of Rights are of
every day occurrence in our Police Courts. But no-
thing can be too heavy for a poor man, and nothing too
light for a grandee.