The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-20 00:00:00

OURT OF CHANCERY.--(THIS DAY.)

The LORD CHANCELLOR ;as occuph d the whole of the
°lting in his private room, upon a petition in the matter
Lord Ward.—His Lordship will deliver judgment in the
ping cases, at the rising of the Court:—Shaw v.
ea, Pell v. Stephens, Walburn v. Ingilby, Kiln3inster
'4nel, and Darlington V. Darlington.

CHANCERY COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

EARL OF RITPON AND OTHERS, V. HOBART AND

OTHERS.
,!.4r. Pstrvs applied this morning on behalf of the
!,llntiffs, who are the General Commissioners under the
qof the 2d of George 111. for draining the low lands
O. fens in Linenlnshire, and for the protection of the river
'ltharn, for special injunction to restrain tie defendants,
t trustees under the Act for draining lands in the district
Nocton, from erecting or using steam engines for the
!rpose cif.throwing the waters on the lands in the dis-
ct of Nocton into the river Witham. From the
,ett account of the Learned Counsel it appeared
64 the lands under the control of the de-
dants were originally drained by windmills, but in
tiler to carry off the water on the lands in a less space of
'r
me, the defendants were erecting stcam-engines, the
'!et 'f *Melt would he to choke up the dikes appro.
hated to the purposes of draining, and cause the water
low with such rapidity, and in such large quantities
t() the river Witham, as to destroy its banks.
The Learned Counsel was addressing the Court when
Reporter left, and the case appears likely to occupy
whole day.

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TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sta,—lt is quite amusing to observe the horror expe-
iLeOced by the Tory portion of the press, at the slightest
Nication on the part of the present Government towards
ILreform of the manifold abuses bequeathed to them as heir •
:,r44 by their predecessors. In no department of the
:Late is it more requisite than in the army ; and yet a hue
bd cry bas been raised on this subject, by certain inte-
Ited individuals, in order to alarm the minols of the timid
;tltensitive, and prevent, if possible, the labours of the
elect Committee being attended with any beneficial re.
All this is perfectly natural ; the defenders of the
;Present system are those who would suffer most by its ex.
°lai tire and destruction ; and when such great ban-dogs as
t
Duke of Wellington and Lord Fitzroy Somerset have
tat thought it beneath them to open their mouths on the
tecasion, we are not to be surprised at the 6' yelping
t'eble" which arises from their hungry followers, and inte-
ie.
tined partisans. But the public are not to be misled by
e apparent candour of the two " Noble Authors."
Atm assumed his real shape at the touch of Ithuriel's
1,11,5 a r ; and thus the staff of Reform, like the wand of
'ttatlequin, has changed the Duke and his quondam Secre-
-11, from gallant warriors into interested scribblers. This
1110 t to be wondered at ; they and their aristocratical
taunexiona have been
" Lodged and fed at public charge"
I°ol4o long to relinquish without a struggle the warm cover-
tZ of their numerous sinecures ; and, therefore, do we
ad them arraying themselves in the rusty armour of pri-
'lege and precedent, and sallying forth, in defiance of
public opinion, to defend those abuses which they either
'"ltered or created.
Let not the public, however, be led astray by the voice
a(
"lying prophets," or the outcry of their followers.
hen every portion of the state requires reformation,
hY should the army be exempt from its salutary info-
ilice, and its abuses upheld, because those who are already
ell provided for would suffer by such a procedure ?
After 18 years of peace, is the country to be still saddled
with the task of pensioning the holders of imaginary
leernmente? Are the obsolete situations of the " olden
t 'Ole" to be still kept up, as a means of affording compen-
sation for the performance of duties, which have long
fallen into desuetude ? The very idea of it is
monstrous, involved as we are in a labyrinth of
Acuities, and deafened by the cries of a starving
population. Let us not, therefore, he alarmed at the selfish
clamour of those souls in purgatory, the sinecurists ; or
;'ttgine that a reduction of these establishments, would
;heavy upon those who have deserved well of their
wintry, and have little else to support them. There
45 bat few of this class who participate in the "loaves
Sad fishes." The distributors of them reversed the miracle
of old, and instead of feeding the multitude, reserved the
u°llnty of the country for themselves and their immediate
connexions. They were not like St. Martin, who divided
ail cloak with the beggar. Their charity began at home ;
and though it certainly covered a multitude of sins,
they were the sins of their friends and relatives,—
sort of bastard charity, which could only exist
in a selfish atmosphere, and became fresco the mo-
'tient it ventured beyond its partial influence. Like
the drunkards in the Tempest, when plundering the ma-
gician's wardrobe, they answered each expostulation by
ezelaiming-66 0, ho, we know what belongs to a frip-
?try and incontinently commenced clothing themselves
lo the stolen apparel. In short, the public purse was
hy the Gallant Duke and his flowers, in the same
ight as the " good warm watch-coat mentioned by
Sterne, " with which the possessor was not content to
toter his own shoulders, unless he could also cut out of i t
Petticoat for his wife, and a pair of breeches for his
'On;" and in this design it must be confessed they have
tacceeded admirably.
Can we wonder, therefore, at the outcry they have
raised? Like persons subjected to the torture of the In-
quisitien, the moment these abuses are compressed in the
tigorous grasp of Reform, they cry out, and, by their
Pitiful exertions, endeavour to arrest the arm of the execu-
tioner. It is not the injury the service would sustain by
title proposal of the Committee which alarms them, but the
"fetus it would make in the income of certain individuals ;
not the salutary check it would place on the exercise of an
absurd privilege, but the pecuniary disappointment it would
inflict on certain Field-Marshals, Generals, Colonels, &c.
All these personages start forward, put the lance in rest,
and muttering some unintelligible nonsense about the
hatred of the Whigs, assail the champions of Reform with
the rusty weapons they have hastily snatched from the
dusty armoury of past abuses. Gallant cavaliers ! who
would fain make us believe they are the advocates of the
heat interests of the country, instead of being the defenders
a corrupt and worn out system, created chiefly for the
nenefit of the higher classes, and which every real lover of
the army would rejoice to see shattered to its foundation.
These disinterested gentlemen, however, are not con-
tented to plead the existence of certain musty privileges :
they also remind us that the number of these governments
*as much greater in former times than at present. What,
Sir, are we, with all the advantages which the march of
Iturnan knowledge has afforded, to recur to the darker
Periods of our history for obsolete precedents to sanction
the extravagance of this? Are we to derive no benefit
'ram experience? Are 18 years of peace to glide by un•
,Productively, like the lazy stream which spreads its waters
into a stagnant marsh, instead of carrying away the ina-
Purities which clog its channel ? And shall we, because
the expenditure of the public money at the commencement
and during the wars of the revolution, was profuse
lied unexampled beyond measure, continue it with equal
Prodigality now that the cause for it has ceased ? I
remember the advocates of slavery pleading for its conti-
nuance, on the ground of its having existed from the
earliest period ; but I believe no one gravely thought
that a sufficient reason for perpetuating a system so
repugnant to the rights of mankind, and the feelings
of humanity. It is in the same spirit, and with the
carne view, these constant references to the institutions
of the previous century are made. The zealots of a certain
Party are anxious to erect a standard out of the
fragments of the past, to regulate the expenditure of the
Present, instead of putting them tip as beacons to remind
us of the extravagance of our predecessors. They have no
doubt left us much that is worthy of preservation ; but
these reasonerswould have us bluffly adopt the evil, as well
" the good. If it be wisdom to retain the institutions of
the past, without questioning their propriety, why have
We expunged the " trial by battle," and other absurdities,
from the statute book ? Simply because they were incon-
sistent with the advanced state of civilization we had
'cached ; and it was therefore fit we should exercise our
Judgment, in retaining or rejecting the materials they
have bequeathed us. Age may sometimes impart value to
Lumen institutions, but not always ; and time, is not in
every case, the beautifier. Old women, as we well know,
are not quite so agreeable as old wine.
The fact is, Mr. Editor, the advocates of past abuses are
making a great struggle, to retain the hold which a suc-
cession of corrupt administration had enabled them to ac-
quire over the resources of the country. They perceive
that the time has at length arrived when the public will
not allow the revenues of the state to be squandered on
those who do not work, and are therefore making indefa-
tigable exertions to make " the woree appear the better
reason," in the hope of being permitted to retain the emo-
lument for themselves, if they cannot succeed in bequeath-
ing the office to their successors. They are willing to sit
like an incubus on the body of the community, and oppress
it with their leaden weight—but they do so in fear and
trembling, as they cannot but feel conscious that the
giant will soon an aken from his slumber, and indignantly
shake if the useless burden which has encumbered him for
ages. VINDEX.