The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-19 00:00:00

ebrentrut 7.,,1nt

LONDON. TUESDAY. AUGUST 19 1851

We would invite the respectful attention of tbose
ingenuous hut too credulous persons who have suffered
themselves to be misled by the preachments of certain
of our professional philanthropists into the belief that
the inhabitants of the islands of the E :stern Ocean
are not the bloodthirsty pirates that wicked Sir
JAMES Baootes represents them to be, but are, on
the contrary, a mild and amiable race, and that their
islands, instead of being the scenes of murder and
cannibalism, are so many tableaux vivans from "Paul
and Virginia," —we would respectfully invite the atten-
tion of all such persons to the intelligence which has
been received from the Maud of Formosa of the mas-
sacre of the crew of the British ship Larpent. It ap-
pears that the Larpent sailed from Liverpool for
Shanghai on the 3d May last year, and that on the
night of the 12th September she struck on a rock in
the Chinese Seas, and the persons on board found
it necessary to take to the boats and abandon her.
Captain GILsoN, his mate, and six men got into one
boat, and the rest of the crew and the only passenger
got into the other. Shortly after the boats were se-
parated, and the large boat, in which were twenty-
three persons, reached the shore after the lapse
of a few hours, at Mut-faer, in the island
of Formosa. Here, on landing, they were
attacked by the natives, plundered of every-
thing, and forced to proceed to sea to save
their lives ; the boat becoming leaky, they were com-
pelled to make for shore, and landed at another point
of the island, hut, no sooner had they set foot on shore
than a murderous fire was opened upon them by the
natives, who had lain in ambush, and Mr. BLAND,
the passenger, together with eighteen men out of the
twenty-three were killed. Four men HILL, BLAKE,
BERRIES, and HARRISON, saved themselves by swim-
ming, and found shelter under the cover of two coral
rocks, from which places of concealment they wit-
nessed the massacre of their companions, whose bodies
were horribly mutilated by the natives, and after-
wards decapitated, the heads being thrown together
in a heap upon the beach. A junk appearing in sight,
HARRISON swam to it to ask assistance ; he was shot
as he neared the junk, taken on board and imme-
diately beheaded. BLAKE and HILL escaped by night to
the mountains, when, after suffering severely from
hunger, they approached a field in which some natives
were at work, who seized them and reduced them to
slavery. Tne natives subsequently discovered
BERRIES, and he also was made a slave. After a
lapse of five months they were sold to another
master, and ultimately succeeded, on the
Ist of May, 1851, in escaping to the
American barque Antelope, where they were
kindly received and conveyed to Hong• Kong.
Whilst in slavery they heard that two white slaves
were in another part of the island; these they ima-
gined must have formed part of the crew of Captain
GILSON'S boat. The island of Formosa is nominally
subject to China, but the Chinese Government either
will not or cannot put down these piracies. In 1842
Sir HENRY POTTINOER made a formal complaint to
the Chinese Government on the subject of the mur-
der of the survivors of the wreck of the Nerbudda
and the Ann by the authorities in Formosa, but it
seems that the complaint was not attended to. We
trust that no time will be wasted in attempting to
negotiate with the EMPEROR in the present instance,
but that a British force will at once proceed to exe-
cute summary justice upon this nest of pirates, and
that in order to secure fur the future protection to
British subjects, and respect for the British fidg, a
British settlement will be at once established 0;on
the island. The inhabitants of the interior are re-
presented as being partially civilised, and as devot-
ing themselves to agricultural pursuits and to
the breeding of cattle, and would, no doubt,
be but too glad to have secured to them the blessings
of regular government, and with them we might
form a commercial connexion which would be here-
after of great value; the whole coast, however, is in-
fested with pirates, and as the Chinese Government
refuses to restrain their plundering and murdering
propensities, it is a duty we owe to ourselves and to
the other commercial nations of the world, to do that
for ourselves and for them which the Emperor of
CHINA either cannot or will not do.

A very important resolution was recently adopted
at Lancaster by the members of the Northern Cir-
cuit, which will, we trust, have the effect of placing
the practice in the county courts on a much sounder
foundation than it had previously been. It was then
decided that there was no reason why the gentlemen
of the bar should not accept of guinea fees in those
courts, and that they should, if they thought proper,
be at liberty to attend regularly, although not actually
engaged in any case. We trust that we shall ere
lung witness the practical results of these prudent re-
gulations, wt,ich promise to be equally beneficial to
the profession and to the community in general.
It is certain that the county court system will be con-
siderably extended before the close of the next session
of Parliament. The jurisdiction of the judges wily
be increased, and a further considerable reduction will
take place in the number of causes brought into the
superior courts. There can be no doubt that
the interests of the Bar will be materially prejudiced
thereby, so far as the exking soureel, of emolument
are concerned, and that professional incomes will be
very considerably reduced unless new channels be
opened. The voice of public opinion has declared in
the most unequivocal terms in favour of cheap and
speedy justice. The Royal Commissioners have also
published a report, recommending the abolition of
these cumbrous and expensive technicalities, by
which justice has been, if not prevented, at least im-
peded. That report must also be acted on, end 1852
will probably be noted as the year of the most exten-
sive and comprehensive legal reforms.

If the members of the Bar do not meet the public
half way, if they rpfUse to conform to the impending
changes, they will inevitably be sacrificed in the
struggle ; but if, on the other hand, they are pre-
pared to render their assistance, and to endeavour to
make the new tribunals as efficient as possible, they
will themselves be considerable gainers in a pe-
cuniary point of view.
There is now nothing to prevent the attendance of
a regular Bar, in all the more important districts,
of learned and experienced men, whose services may
be easily and cheaply obtained, and whose very pre-
sence, although not retained, will ensure the fairness
and regularity of the proceedings, and prevent the
judge from giving way
to any fits of petulance or
ill-temper, inducing him to decide without a due con-
sideration of the principles of law applicable to the
case. The great, the only drawback to the present
county court system is, that it has hitherto discouraged
such an attendance. The only person under a dis-
ability was the barrister. Not only was the right of
exciusive audience abolished, but even pre-audience
was denied. Not only were the attorneys permitted
to step into his shoes, but they were allowed to retain
each other, one preparing the brief and collecting the
evidence, and then endorsing it with a fee at least as
high as should be given to the barrister. But this
was not all. It was not even necessary that
the advocate should be a member of either
branch of the legal profession ! Any per-
son with sufficient influence to obtain the
permission of the presiding judge, and sufficient
brass to undertake the management of matters totally
beyond his province,
daisraebtadiinreyr.waTs might be heard with or without
The
eonuly person under any species ofniortunate barrister. He could
not 1,-+e beard without the intervention of an attorney 1
pSo that those of whom it was esEc.ll
y desirable to