The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

If the accusation against the King's advisers be
well founded, that their own real purpose in the Bill
which they hare now brought forward, avowedly
for the restoration of peace in Ireland, and of obe.
thence to the laws, is to "enforce the continued
payment of tithe to the Protestant clergy, no
greater criminals were ever dragged to the bar of
public justice than Lord Grey and his associate Mi.
nisters. Mr. O'Connell, in the course of his speech
on Monday evening, charged the Government
openly with that unworthy and treacherous design.
It is needless to say that we heartily acquit them of
such stupid baseness, but it may not be altogether
superfluous to add, that the imputation is one the
onus of disproving which rests decidedly upon those
who stand charged with it by the Learned Gentle-
man. The Parliament of last year denounced the
tithe system : the Sovereign, in his speech from the
throne on the sth instant, informed the nation in-
telligibly enough that the clergy ought to be other-
wise supported than by tithe. The country,
from one end to the other, is prepared and eager
For the substitution of a less harassing expedient.
Lord Althorp, however, and Mr. Stanley both
make speeches upon the state of Ireland, in neither
uf which can be found a syllable directly pledging
Government to the introduction of a Bill for the
abolition of tithe, and therefore leaving the Cabinet
open to the imputation of the worst motives which
their political enemies may deem it advisable to fix
upon them. We, in common with many others who
wish well to the Reform Ministry, are unfeignedly
anxious that they may furnish a prompt overthrow
of all such hostile conjectures. If otherwise,—if
now, after demanding.and obtaining from Parlia-
ment powers unknown to the British Constitution,
which nothing short of the most rigorous necessity
could justify,—if now, instead of striving to allay
discontent, and thus to abridge the period of their
own self-sought despotism, they attempt by means
of the resources placed at their disposal for far dif-
ferent ends to bolster up that very obnoxious griev•
ance the tithe-system, with the hopes of a release
from which they have deliberately inspired the
whole community, why, it will be a triumph
for Mr. O'Connell and the agitators, the most
exulting that ever was achieved,—a most cruel
humiliation for the upright and confiding friend,
of the " Reform Government," and to Ire-
land (we say nothing now of England) the infal-
lible signal of extended convulsion and calamity.
But we can have no fears of such a deplorable re-
sult ; the Government knows too well in what spirit
the support which it justly boasts of from Parlia-
ment and the nation has been yiel.led, to stop short
in the discharge of its most sacred obligations at the
moment when it has received an unlimited acces-
sion of means for defending its own rights and
those of the entire commonwealth. No ; Mr
O'Connell's misconstruction of the views of Minis-
ters will be promptly and fully rectified. As for the
executive clauses of the Bill, we would respectfully
submit to the framers of it, that the police, &c.,
should possess no power beyond that which the ex-
isting law conveys to them—of breaking into and
searching the habitations of the peasantry either for
suspected persons or for illegal arms. Arms ar'
scarcely ever concealed in dwelling-houses; the hiding
places for them are secret and well-contrived re-
ceptacles, often at a distance from any house; buy
you might dig up the foundation of every cabin in
the island without finding one mortal weapon.
Again, a magistrate's warrant is made by the new
Bill sufficient authority forentering any house within
a proclaimed district, and seising any inhabitant who
may be summoned to appear before the searching
party. Why, how superfluous and even inconsistent
is any such power. When absence from home is made
a crime punishable—and we do not say, but under
certain circumstances, justly punishable—by this
Act, it is surely the i-nterest of every inhabitant to
answer to his name when called for. lie need not,
we should think, be looked for very cunningly when
his failing to come forth and show himself may be
taken as proof of absence, and therefore of liability
to severe punishment ; that at least might, according
to all fair speculation, be left to the prudence of the
party himself, and in such case, as well as in ths
search for arms, the ransacking of the domestic
sanctuary, the home of our fellow-subjects, may, with
due regard to all the most essential objects of the
Bill, be very safely avoided. Observe that we are
not contending for a sacrifice of any authority at this
moment in force under the common or statute law
of England, whereby transgressors may be effectually
hunted out, and crimes prevented or punished; we
only pray that the projected law may not be loaded
with a greater number of odious provisions than ne-
cessity calls for. 'We can now but hint at one or two
other points in the new measure which appear to us
to be objectionable. Courtsmartial upon other
than military offenders are less and less to
our taste, the more we reflect upon them, not for
their unfitness to administer justice fairly ; by no
means. Were it a mere question by whom one would
wish to be tried, in a country split into parties, one
might prefer a tribunal of unbiassed military gen-
tlemen. But what is the case in Ireland ? The
army has heretofore been popular with the lower
classes in that country ; henceforth, however, the
troops are to assist on all occasions in executing the
obnoxious duties of the constabulary police. They
arc then sure of sharing the obloquy of the latter.
A bad feeling is engendered between the army and
the mob,—mutual exasperation increases with the
progress of the now half civil, half military service.
The officers whose troops will have, perhaps, been
fighting with the mob, imbibe the partisan spirit,
and pass harsh sentences on culprits brought before
them, or are supposed by the people to entertain
such sentiments; and let their judgments he ever
so jast, they will always be suspected of iniquity in
their character of judges. Is this a light in which
it would be desirable to place officers of the British
army in the eyes of their countrymen ? Indeed, ex-
cept under positive and recognised martial law in
any part of the King's dominions, it is impolitic,
we might say inhuman, to force. upon military men
the political or judicial functions. Leave them
where we find them, a strictly executive, that is a
subservient power, and they cannot be objects of
reasonable jealousy, as they certainly will not be of
popular antipathy or vengeance. Why not appoint a
bench of three or five barristers (of reputation in the
courts) to try all offences under this Act, assisted
by special juries, to which none should be sum-
moned but men of independent fortune in their se-
veral counties ? Few, if any, attempts that we
know of have been made to intimidate men in the
rank of gentlemen from doing their duty; that prac-
tice, on Mr. Stanley's or Lord Althorp's own
showing, has been reserved for the poor. Again,
is the power of flogging to be exercised or not un-
der the new measure ? If it be, there is not, and
cannot be, a more impolitic provision. The floggings
of the rebellion have outlived almost every other
recollection of that dreadful period. The Duke of
Wellington's amendments relative to courtsmartial
have been prompted evidently by a humane profes-
sional anxiety to exonerate his military brethren
from the pressure of a too severe responsibility, and
are so far improvements of the Bill; but our own
desire would be to have the courtsmartial entirely
abolished. 'We do not see why the military power
which is assumed to be able to protect a military
tribunal from violence should not be equally able to
protect any other tribunal, however constituted.—
Tintesi.

It may be interesting to our readers, and it wilts
certainly be important to Ireland, that the result o
debate in the Commons last night, dull as it wasr
should be pointed out. The Government had last
Might au opportunity of redeeming their pledge of
affording practical remedies foradmitted Irish abuses.
If a reference is made either to the observations of
writers, the petitions presented to Parliament, or
speeches within the House, no subject has been
more frequently pressed upon public attention than
the abuses of the Grand Jury system, and the fraud
and jobbing with which that system has been at-
-tended. The plan of the Government, 89 explained
by Mr. Stanley, has met" with-the contnfrelice of

almost every speaker of every opinion. The princi-
ples which it embraces are of infinite importance. It
is proposed that in future leases this burden should
be transferred from the occupiers to the owners of
the soil. This will be a great and practical relief to the
peasantry, and those who impose the tax being, in
future, the direct payers of the tax, will act under the
immediate check of their own individual interests.
The power of intrusting particular persons with
the execution of particular works will be abolished;
and thus the favouritism through which the greatest
extent of corruption is introduced will cease to exist.
The defendant, the tenant in arrear, or the fraudulent
associate in illegitimate gain, can no longer be pre-
ferred, but an open system of contract will be pre-
scribed in all cases. Engineering skill and science
will be given to aid the local knowledge of the grand
jurors and magistrates. The payment of money
wages to the poor labourer will be enforced, and the
rate-payers being associated with the justices and
juries, will obtain a potential check over the admi-
nistration of a fund wasted where it is not misap-
plied. The whole catalogue of affidavits for ac-
count will be replaced by a regulated system of
report and audit, and upwards of 100,000 deponents
who are now brought forward at every assizes to
swear to matters in which they have a direct pecu-
niary interest, are relieved from the insecurity and
the temptation to which, in such an anomalous po-
sition, they are exposed. The result of Mr. Stanley's
clear and masterly statement has been most gratify-
ing; from Mr. Lefroy to Mr. O'Connell,

From each wide extreme,
The moles dim curtain to the lynx's beam,"—

all was congratulation and compliment. This, at
least, should be remembered when the wrongs of
Ireland and the neglect of the Government is again
alluded to. Had any of those gentlemen who call
themselves the popular Members for Ireland been
asked before the session what were the most press-
ing evils of Ireland, they would have stated, the
Irish Church, the Grand Jury Laws, and Vestry As-
sessments. The first the Government propose to re-
form, and we trust effectually ; the second Mr.
Stanley has now dealt with ; and to the third is
applied the conclusive remedy of entire repeal.
l'hia is the proper way of defeating the Anti-
Unionists. The great grievances of which they
complain originated in that den of corruption an
Irish Parliament. The United Parliament is se-
dulously employed in remedying or abolishing the
frichrful evils occasioned by Irish legislators.—
Times.

We are convinced that, for the sake of the la-
bouring classes, too much attention cannot be be-
stowed on the connecting the abstinence from labour
on the Lord's Day with a7religious sanction. Such
is the cupidity of the people of this country, the
eagerness to become suddenly rich, that w.thout the
sanction of religion, we are satisfied one day of rest
would soon be grudged to the labourer. We have
no doubt that the capitalist who has embarked
money in machinery, often secretly repines at the
necessity for keeping his mills idle even for one day
only in the seven. But when the law has prodded
for abstinence from labour, it has done all that can
be done. The law cannot make those pious who
are not inclined to be pious, nor can it give to all
men the same notions as to the mode in which that
time which is not passed in labour ought to be em-
ployed. The law has said that men shall not carry
on their ordinary callings on the Lord's Day. Most
people will allow that the religious sanction ought
ro go so far as to secure the observance of the law.
But a number of petitions have been presented to
the House, the prayers of some of which were
read last night, complaining of the profanation of
the Lord's Day. Now, it is not so easy to agree
on what profanation is. The Bishop of London,
for instance, considers it a profanation of the
Sabbath, that all persons who are not rich enough
to keep their carriages, and who are not sufficiently
strong and active to use their limbs for half a dozen
miles at a stretch, should avail themselves of the aid
of a stage-coach or a wherry, to escape for a few
hours, during a fine summer's day, the smoke of this
great metropolis. Some people go so far as to think
even walking in the fields on the Lord's Day a pro-
fanation. In all countries in which Calvinism has
ever had a footing, it would seem that the repres-
sion of all cheerful feelings is deemed essential to the
due observance of the Sabbath. Who has not heard
of the Puritan—
" Who hang'd his cat on Monday,
For catching of a mouse on Sunday ?"

Bishop Burnet, with all his partiality for the
Evangelical party of religionists among us, was not
blind to their weaknesses. In the conclusion of his
History of his Own Times, speaking of the men of
trade and business of this country, he observes, that
though "upon the whole they are the best we have,"
yet " want of exercise is a great prejudice to their
health, and a corrupter of their minds, by raising
vapours and melancholy, that fills many with dark
thoughts, rendering religion, which affords the truest
joy, a burden to them, and making them even a
burden to themselves; this furnishes prejudices
against religion to those who are but too much dis-
posed to seek for them." So far were these ideas
of mortification carried, that in Scotland even a smile
on Sunday was considered a deviation from pro-
priety. That worthy man, Richard Baxter, gives a
most instructive account of the struggles he had,
when a boy, to abstain from participation in the re-
laxations in his native village. Several Members
last night appeared to think that the Committee on
the Lord's Day of last session allowed themselves to
be too much influenced by their Puritannical notions
regarding the mode of observing the Sabbath. Mr.
Warburton said,
" He could not agree with the report of the Committee of
last session on the subject. If that report had merely declared
that the labouring classes should not be called upon to work on
the Sabbath, it would have met with his concurrence; but when
it appeared that the object of the Committee was not only to
put an end to all amusement, but to all that exercise so neces-
sary to the smoke-dried population of large towns, he felt quite
unable to concur in such an object. He thought that the
Committee ought to be re-appointed, for the last Committee
had taken evidence only on one side New evidence ought to
be taken on both sides of the question ; and he thought it
would then appear that many of the statements made before
the Committee of last year were wholly without foundation."
Mr. O'Connell said—

" lie felt satisfied that they could not increase piety by Act
of Parliament—(Cheers)--nor would they enforce the love of
(Sod by legislative enactments.—(Hear, hear.) There were
Statutes at present in existence which inflicted punishments on
those who carried on their calling on a Sunday. The morning
of a Sunday, by a man of religious feelings, might be devoted
to his religious duties, but the afternoon of that day was re-
quired by the labouring classes for relaxation.—(Hear, hear.)
The course that had hitherto been pursued, tended very much
to drive men into public-houses."
Most of the Members who spoke on the subject
seemed to think that the re-appointment of the
Committee was necessary, on account of the nar-
row principle by which that of last session had been
governed in the inquiry. It was indeed said by
Lord Ashley in its defence, that the inquiries of that
Committee had " been conducted with no view of
abridging the recreations of the people," and that
" their sole object had been to protect the con-
scientious observer of the Lord's Day." When the
Legislature provides against the desecration of Sun-
day by the pursuing of an ordinary calling, it goes
as far as it can safely go. In the mode of observing
the day, men will be governed by their peculiar
views of religion; and in a free country no tr.an has
a right to impose his particular views on others.
One man feels his devotion stimulated by the as-
pect of green fields ; another prefers to pass his
time over a devotional book in his chamber. But
there would not be more reason in the lover of
green fields compelling the recluse to imitate his
example, than there would be in the recluse com-
pelling all persons to seclude themselves on a Sun-
day. The churches will always be attended in this
country; for without ever taking. into account the
religious consideration, it would be difficult to point
out a mode of passing the time more in accordance
with the notions of the people of a raw humid cli-
mate like this, than attending the celebration . of
divine service. Under these circumstances, it can-
not be amiss to remind the over zealous of the wis-

dom of the maxim of " letting well alonc."—
Olorning Chronicle.

The more we consider the proceedings of the Re-
formed House of Commons on the question of
abolishing " Naval and Military Sinecures," the
more we are surprised; and we are confident that
the people, when they understand the nature and
object of the motion of Mr. Hume, must be mi-
serably disappointed. But as little more than one
halt of the Members of the House voted, we expect
those Members who neglected their duty by not
attending, or skulking and not recording their vote
on so important an occasion, will be called upon to
account for not being at their post of duty. We
say skulking away front their duty, as it has been
stated by some friends of Ministers that upwards of
100 Members who were present at the debate went
away arid did not vote; and that the absence of
Members on whose support the Ministers had cal-
culated with certainty, has shaken their confidence
in that overwhelming majority with which they
calculated on carrying every measure through the
House; and the more so, as that confidence, we
are informed, had been so much increased by the
overwhelming majority against Mr. Tennyson's mo-
tion for the removal of the grievances of Ireland,
that the Ministers had resolved to drag their sup.
porters through the odium q.t. supporting sinecures,
and of defending the appointment of Lord Fitz-
elarenee, for both of these they have certainly done
by the course they have adopted. If, as was stated,
these sinecures were given only to the old merito-
rious officers, let en inquiry be instituted, and when
the estimates come before the House, let another
trial be made. But we would prefer to take our
stand on the principle that no sinecure ought to
exist, and for the satisfaction of an oppressed people,
in whose nostrils the very word sine Cure stinks, we
would have all of them abolished. Returns have
been ordered of the several sinecures that have been
abolished since 1811, and also of the sinecures now
remaining; and when both are laid before the House
of Commons, we trust that the sense of the whole
House will be in favour of their immediate aboli-
tion. We say so, because, taking the revenue and
expenditure for 1832.3, there is an actual excess of
expense of half a million, so that the people, instead
of receiving relief from taxation as they expected,
must now make up their minds to have additional
taxes imposed to pay the interest of that excess,
and to add to the amount of the already almost
overwhelming load of debt. If offices where no
duty is done are not abolished, how, we ask, are the
establishments and expenditure to be reduced?
How are the assessed or any other taxes to be taken
off? Let all the constituents who have sent Mem-
bers to Parliament to obtain relief from taxation,
consider well the conduct of their representatives,
and look to their future votes.— Morning Chronicle.

If the maxim of the Constitution be true that all
persons are equal in the eye of the law, as ad-
ministered in the Courts of Justice, most certain it
is that the eye of taxation, or that branch of law
administered under the especial auspices of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, is not quite so im-
partial. It is the great characteristic of our fiscal
law to treat the rich as spoiled children, to whom
it is tenderly indulgent, while it devours the poor as
its natural prey. We have often adverted to this
inequality, and we have ascribed its origin to the
circumstance of the legislators themselves generally
ranking among the rich and great, and so having an
interest in framing taxation Bills after the fashion of
those lawyers who are branded with the imperish-
able reprobation of Holy Writ. Changing but one
word of the context, the indignant passage of
Scripture will be t qually applicable to our fiscal
legislators—" Wo unto ye also, ye tax-makers,
for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne,
and ye, yourselves, touch not the burdens with one
of your fingers I" Conspicuous among the practical
proofs of the gross and scandalous partiality of
taxation is the probate duty—a tax to which we
called public attent►on some time ago, as well as
to the legacy duly—two of the most glaring
instances of oppressively unequal taxation that
are to be found in the va,t volume of our fiscal code,
proving the truth of Goldsmith's well-known line—

" Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law."

The able exposure of the unequal operation of these
and other taxes, such as the stamp and auction
duties, by Mr. Cobbett, in the House of Commons,
will, we trust, be productive of some practical be-
nefit to the country. If any thing could make those
partial and grinding imposts more odious than they
already are, it was the defence set up for them by
the " candid" Lord Althorp ; who stated that, in
almost every other item of taxation—the assessed
taxes, for instance—the same principle was acted
on. So it is, with a vengeance! The principle of
taxation which extorts, for the premises of a shop-
keeper on Ludgate-hill or Cheapside, more than is
paid by such noblemen as the Duke of Northum-
berland or Devonshire for their princely residences
and baronial castles, is a principle of aristocratic taxa-
tion which it will require a more captivating elo-
quence than that which Lord Althorp possesses to
make the people of England satisfied with. In fact,
that the assessed taxes, which were originally imposed
on the express condition of being war taxes only,
should now continue in existence, in this the seven-
teenth year of peace, is one of the grossest instances
of breach of faith that a Government ever committed
towards a generous and betrayed people. Instead
of mitigating the pressure of those taxes, the present
Administration has screwed them up, by inordinate
surcharges, to a higher point than ever they were
before. But the truth is, the whole system of taxa-
tion must undergo a thorough Reform.—illorning
Herald.

We said yesterday of the " coercive measure"
that it was very clumsily framed. Our assertion
was pretty strongly confirmed by what took place
in the House of Lords last night. The most con-
spicuous and fearful evil of all which Ireland at this
moment endures is the impossibility of the adminis-
tration of justice by the existing laws and the cus-
tomary tribunals. For the removal of this mischief
Lord Grey proposes the establishment of a military
court. To this court he purposes to give partly the
powers of a courtmartial, partly the powers of a
court of oyer and terminer. Intending to give
his court partly those powers arid partly these, he
gives his court no powers whatever. It is not a
court of oyer and terminer; it is not a courtmar-
tia). Lord Grey means it to be both ; but Lord
Grey has made it neither. The " coercive mea-
sure," if it had been passed without amendment,
would have constituted for the trial of certain
offences a perfectly new court of judicature, pos-
sessing the privileges, and regulated by the
usages, of no recognised court whatever. Of
course it was necessary for the Legislature to
provide rules for the proceedings of such a court,
How any matter was to find its way into court,
how it was to be handled in court, how it was to
creep out of court ; and these things should have
been accurately defined by the Bill whence the
court was to derive its existence. No such thing
was done. All the clauses of the Bill which relate
to the establishment of this new tribunal are to be
forthwith remodelled. It seems that Lord Grey,
intending to judge Ireland by courtmartial, did
not think it desirable to take counsel with any
military officer. It is the policy of the Whigs in
whatever they do to avoid scrupulously the
advice of all who are best qualified to advise
them. They may not always incur our censure ;
but they take pains always to deserve it. Having
been compelled to inflict this much of our blame
upon Lord Grey, we are willing to recompense
him by calling his attention to the compliments
which were on Monday evening bestowed upon
him by one of his most influential friends ; by
one of whom his Lordship is reported to have
said, some twelve months ago, that he would rejoice
if professional promotion should disarm the oppo-
sition or secure the assistance of so powerful a
champion. " Were they," said Mr. O'Connell on
Monday night, " were they reasons worthy of a
Statesman to whom the destinies of a great people
were intrusted ? Reasons, did he say ? Why,.
the drivellings of old dealing senility—thc ravings of

antiquated old womanhood—were more dignified
than the feminities so garrulously put forth as rea-
sons for the measure he alluded to." We have
watched Lord Grey with no careless interest since
he took into his withered hands the helm of Go•
vernment. We think that we do not exaggerate
the embarrassments of his position; we trust that
we do not measure unfairly the length and breadth
of his moral courage ; but what we say we say de-
liberately, and upon the faith of frequent experience.
Since Mr. O'Connell has described the rhetoric of
Lord Grey as " the drivelling: of old doatinz seni-
lity, the ravings of antiquated olcl womanhood," we
think it probable that Lord Grey will shortly be-
stow upon Mr. O'Connell the Irish Attorney-Gene-
ralship, or any other preferment which the saga-
cious flatterer shall require at his hands.—illorniug
Post.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, FEB. 19.