The Sun.
London, England, 1834-02-12 00:00:00

that the Prince is deceived by those around him,
and not fully aware of the jeopardy in which
such proceedings put his character. The state-
ment of the accounts will bear us out in the
remark. His debts are put down at 83,00111.,
the expense of keeping up the establishments
in this country is reckoned at 20,000/. a year,
far too much ; and taking the period the Prince has
been out of the country at two years, instead of
a large surplus on the sth of April, there wiN
he a deficiency of 23,000/. Is this meant as a
loophole for getting out of the engagement in
April ? The surprise of the public certainly
would not be greater at such a consummation,
than it must be on finding that the debts of the
Prince amounted in 1831 to 83,C00/. Well
might Mr. RoBINSON say that he was not satis-
fied with the explanation ; no one in the House,
indeed, appeared to be satisfied, at least no one
volunteered, as on the former occasion, a word
of praise. There was a little of satire in the
Hon. Member's motion (a quality for which we
did not before give him credit) for a return of
all the moneys paid into the Exchequer, &c. &c.,
when he knew that the return when he got it
would contain only one little significant word —nil.
The original grant was extravagant, but quite
in keeping with the policy of the high Tory
Government to be merciless to the tax payers,
and prodigally lavish in the expenditure of the
public money—granting pensions and places,
not as rewards for services, but as bribes to prop

. .
up their political power. The present Govern-
ment have felt the consequence by the opposi-
tion which most of their plans have met with from
the highest to the lowest officer in every public
department.

In the House of Commons last night, Lord
ALTHORP, in reply to a question put to him
by an Hon. Member on a former evening, stated
that it was the intention of Government shortly
to introduce a measure for the establishment of
Local Courts of Justice. This announcement
was received with loud cheers—a convincing
proof that, wherever else the measure may be
in disfavour, with the representatives of the
people it is rightly appreciated. We are sur-
prised that it was not originally brought forward
in the Lower House. It is essentially a House
of Commons question, addressing itself, not to
the titled and wealthy, but to the poor and
oppressed classes of society. It is poverty's
best friend—if poverty can be said to have a
friend in a country where Mammon is the uni-
versal idol—the sacred teg,is which is to protect
it from the assaults of the raJacious and the
unprincipled. What then had their Lordships
to do with such a question ? What possible
interest could they have, as at present consti-
tuted, in attentively considering its deserts ?
How could they be expected to think favourably
of cheap justice, when one of their most pro-
minent Members derives a princely income from
i!s most flagrant abuse ?
It is clear, from their supercilious mode of
discussing it last session, from the utter i'scorn
with which they treated its details—front the
feverish and splenetic impatience with which
they flung it from them as " a thing ac-
cursed"—that the House of Lords either did
not, or would not, comprehend the nature
of the measure. Either their ignorance or
their obstinacy, or possibly both, bewildered
them. Faction too, no doubt, had a good deal
to do with the question. It was tainted with
Whigism—therefore it must be corrupt. It
was suggested by the LORD CHANCELLOR—
therefore it must be superficial. It smelt of
Reform, therefore it must be unsavory in aristo
cratic nostrils. Thus, for the space of one
whole year, owing to their Lordships' combined
ignorance, obstinacy, and factiousness, have the
people been deprived of one of the greatest
blessings that can be conferred on society—
safe, cheap, and expeditious justice

We have little idea that the House of Lords
will throw out the measure this next time. They
will try hard to do so, of course : ELDON will
weep, and LYNDHURST will sneer ; WYNFORD
will prose, and ELLENBOROUGH will have
recourse to sophistry; nevertheless the Bill will
pass, even though, in addition to this oppo-
sition, four and twenty Bishops uplift their
crosiers against it. The truth is, every day that
passes works a silent but perceptible effect on
the popular influence of the House of Lords,
diminishing the sphere of its authority, and widen-
ing the lines of demarcation between it and the
people. What their Lordships may attempt
with impunity one session, they must not so
much as dream of the next. Last Near, for
instance, they rejected the Local Courts Bill
with contempt ; this year, however sulkily, they
will pass it—backed, as it no doubt will be, by
the deliberate sanction of a vast majority of the
representatives of the people.

On the motion of Lord ELLENBOROUGII,
a Select Committee was appointed in the House
of Lords last night, to " consider the means of
facilitating the exchange, division, and enclo-
sure of lands lying in common fields, meadows
and pastures, and to report their opinion there-,
upon to the House." After one or two ques-
tions of little or no public importance had been
asked and answered, the Huuse adjourned till
Thursday.

Mr. HUME last night moved for a Committee
to inquire into the expenses charged by return-
ing officers at the last election, with a view to
fix a uniform rate of charge, and also to consi-
der by whom the charges should be paid. The
Hon. Member's motion was agreed to, and very
properly, for there is nothing that more impera-
tively demands the attention of a reformed
House of Commons than the present extrava-
gant system of electioneering expenditure. Sir
SAMUEL WHALLEY threw out a hint that the
whole costs of election should be borne
by the nation at large. On the motion of
Mr. WARD, another Committee was ap-
poi►nted to inquire into the best mode of ob-
taining correct and authentic lists of the divisions
of the House, with instructions to report thereon
without delay. In the course of the evening
Bills were brought in by Sir T. FREMANTLE
“nd Mr. O'CONNELL for the disfranchisement
of the boroughs of Stafford and Carrickfergus.