The Sun.
London, England, 1834-05-27 00:00:00

MESNE PROCESS.

A BILL FOR ABOLISHING ARREST UPON
MESNE PROCESS, EXCEPT IN CERTAIN

CASES.

Whereas it is expedient to abolish the law and practice
of arrest upon process for the commencement of personal
actions in all cases, except as hereinafter mentioned ; be it
therefore enacted, by the King's most excellent Majesty,
by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual
and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same, that no per-
son shall be arrested or held to special bail upon any pro-
cess for the commencement of personal actions issuini out
of arty court whatsoever, for any cause of action accruing
upon or after the first day of January, one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-five, except for causes of actions upon
bills of exchange, promissory notes, money bonds con-
ditioned for the payment of money only, and instruments
under seal for the payment of money, where the cause of
action originally, and also at the time of issuing the pro-
cess, shall amount to the sum of twenty pounds or up-
wards, over and above and exclusive of any cos's, charges,
and expenses that may have been incurred, recovered, or
become chargeable, in or about the suing for or recovering
the same, or any part thereof.
And be it further enacted, that every affidavit of debt
for holding to special bail, made upon and after the said
first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-five, for any cause of action, except as last aforesaid,
shall, besides the matters now required by law to be stated
in such affidavit, state, that such cause of action accrued
before the said first day of January, one thousand eight
huddred and thirty-five ; and that in default thereof, such
proceedings may be taken and had, as are now or shall
be hereafter taken and had, in the case of a defective affi-
davit of debt. _ _ .

Provided always, and be it further enacted, that it shall
and may be lawful for any of his Majesty's Courts of Com-
mon Law at Westminster, or any Judge thereof, upon an
application ex parte, and being satisfied that any debtor is
about to abscond, in order to avoid payment of his debt or
debts,- or to assign or •in any manner transfer, or cause or
procure to be transferred, h►s property or any part thereof,
in order to defeat or impede his creditor or creditors in ob-
taining payment or sansfaCtion of their debt or debts, to
make a rule or order that such debtor may be arrested and
held -to special bail for such sum (not being less than
twenty pounds) as to the said Court or Judge may seem
fit ; whereupon such proceedings may be had, and such
debtor arrested and held to special bail, in the same man-
ner as persons now are or by the practice of the said Courts
hereafter may be arrested and held to special bail, by the
rule or order of the Court or a Judge.
Provided also, and be it further enacted, that nothing
herein contained shall extend to alter or affect the autho-
rity of the said• Courts at Westminster or of the Judges
thereof, to make rules or orders for holding to special bail
as now enjoyed and exercised by them. .

It is understood in the fashionable world that
Almack's Ball to-morrow will b. one of the most
splendid of the season, as most of the subscribers will
appear in their court dresses.

ETON ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL.—The
Annual Dinner of the Noblemen and Gentlemen edu-
cated at Eton College took place on Saturday at
Willis's Rooms. It was celebrated with more than
usual ceremony, and on a more splendid scale, in com-
pliment to the Head Master, Dr. Keate, who is about
to retire, after having for many years filled the situa-
tion with such distinguished approbation. The com-
pany did not retire until a late hour, the Speaker of
the House of Commons accepting the office of Presi-
dent at the next anniversary.

We understand that Messrs. Smith, Payne,
and Smiths, the bankers, whose house was petitioned
against a short time ago, as a great obstruction in the
new line of road from London bridge, through Prince's-
Street and Moorfields, finding that as the improve-
.l.4s advance, their house presents a very palpable
--I,Yeadre, have consented to remove from that situation,
• -in order to enable the London Bridge Committee to
complete their projected improvements in the most
desirable manner. • These highly respectable bankers
have taken the Soilth Sea House, in which they intend
to carry on their 'extensive business.

• ~~l

LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 27, 1834.

The tithes are a tax ; they do not belong
to the landowners, but to the Church. The
Church is not the clergy, but the body of the
faithful ; and of this body the clergy are the
ministers. Their interest in the common pro-
perty of the christian community is a life inte-
rest ; but dependent on the due performance of
certain duties imposed by the KING and the
Parliament, who act as trustees for the commu-
nity. The Irish clergy have ill performed their
duty, or the people would have been in a totally
different state to that in which they are now
found. In many parishes there are no churches,
and in a great many more, there are no con-
gregations. Is it just that those who cannot, '
or will not, perform the business for which they
were appointed, should still receive the wages,
whilst they make no adequate return for them ?
The nation says it is not, and no ministry would
long be endured in this country which proved
itself so unjust as to despise the sensible and
honest opinion, on this subject, of the people
of England.
It is on this question, however, that two, or
at the most three, members of the cabinet differ
from their colleagues. If they should continue
so to differ, they will doubtless resign their
seats. But why should this break up the
ministry ? Their places may be filled up--
not perhaps with more able or more honour-
able men, but with men whose views are
more in unison with those of the people
of Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland cannot
remain as it is : coercion bills have been
passed, the repeal question has been settled.
we trust, for ever ; but never can this fine
country be effectually improved, its people
united, or its trade, manufactures, and agri-
culture really and permanently flourish, until
the national resources are applied to national
rather than sectarian or personal purposes.
But who are to make this application ? Who are
to judge of the fitting time to make it ? They
who formed the Cabinet, who carried the
Reform Bill, who have preserved the peace of
Europe, and who have made up their minds
to act upon this as on other questions on princi-
ples, and in a manner which (if time be allowed
them, to destroy the national ills one at a
time), will enable them so to effect all neces-
sary reforms, as to satisfy not only the justice
of the case, but the honourable feelings of the
country.

Not to give them time—not to enable them
first to settle that great measure of reform now
nearly completed, which is second only in im-
portance to Parliamentary Reform—woUld be
unjust, ungrateful, and unwise. Let the
Poor Laws Bill become the law of the land,
Let not so great, so difficult, so salutary a
measure, be endangered. Let us not run the
risk, on the one hand, of having the bigoted,
and despotic, and plundering Tories for our
rulers, or, on the other, a government which
could not last, and might end in a military
despotism. We hope Mr. STANLEY and Sir
J. GRAHAM will continue to support the exist-
ing government for their own sakes, not less
than the sake of the country ; but if they have
made up their minds to uphold the abuses and
misappropriations of the Irish Church, we tell
them hoßestly that they will not be endured by
the country ; and we venture to assure Lord
GREY, that if he fill up their places with men, in
whose reforming spirit and energy the country has
confidence, he has nothing to fear. The nation
will stand by him as they did with regard to
Parliamentary Reform. The KING will, we
doubt not, also prove faithful to the righteous
cause of reform ; and as to the House
of Commons, if they will not, let him
do what he did before :—the people. are
of one mind, they are honest and faithful
to those who truly serve them, and they
will find representatives who will do their

duty. But we hope no such necessity will
arise. At all events let us fii st settle the Poor
Laws and redress the grievances of the Dis-
senters. We can see nothing but danger in
any material change whilst these questions
are unsettled.

We direct our readers' attention to a full re-
port of the meeting of the master tailors, which
will be found in another part of The Sun.

All that. relates to the settlement of the poor
is vicious in principle, and repugnant to the
feelings of Christian charity. There should be
no right of settlement. The circumstances
with which it is attended raise a bar to the
intercourse of labour, which ought always to be
free, and at liberty to seek employment where-
ever employment is to be found, whether it be
in one parish or another, in one county or an-
other, or in one country or another. This is
the principle of industry. Then, as to charity,
relief should be afforded when the object requires
it, wherever the person requiring it may happen
to be at the time, whether it be in his or her own
parish, or county, or in their own country ; or
in any other parish or county, or even in a
strange country. The necessity of affording
relief should be a matter of strict inquiry in
every case, and when it is found to be required
it should never be withheld, but it should never
be extended to the able-bodied. They ought
to live by their labour, and the utmost that
should be done for them is to find them em-
ployment of a severe and lowly kind, and to
pay them less for it than they would be
paid for work if they found it for themselves.
For the able-bodied there should be no settle-
ment, or right of settlement, whatever. And if
to the orphan young, who are not strong
enough to work, and to the aged and the infirm,
from whom their strength has departed, relief
be confined to the poor-house, then the only
inmates of the poor-house will be children who
have lost their parents, or whose parents or re-
latives are unwilling or unable to support them,
and the aged and infirm, whose relations are
unable or unwilling to support them. Relief
at home must be left to spontaneous charity,
which in this country, notwithstanding . the
abuses of the poor laws, has not been destroyed,
and would operate more extensively and more
usefully than it now does if these abuses were
removed. Here we must look to the well-
being of society at large, and not confine our-
selves to the well-being of individuals. The
mass of society must be kept sound, although
a few individuals should suffer. The mass
of society has become tainted through the
abuses of the poor laws, and we must now
pursue the course necessary to remove the taint,
and to render it again sound.

We marvel that the question has never been
put and repeated until the solution is found,
how it happens that in this industrious and
intelligent country labour and money capital are
not only in want of employment, but the quan-
tity of unemployed labour and capital has con-
tinued to increase for the last twenty years, as
is manifest from the fact, that the poor rates,
which were 5,418,8451. for the year ending in
March, 1815, were 7,036,9681. for the year
ending in March, 1832, and that Exchequer
Bills, though in 1815 they were a third less
than their present amount, were then at a dis-
count, whereas now they sell for a premium
equal to the interest receivable upon them for a
year. The vulgar way of accounting for all
this is the amount of our national debt and
taxes ; but our national debt was greater in
1815 than it is now, and the annual amount of
taxes levied in 1815 was upwards of thirty mil-
lions more than are levied now. Whatever,
therefore, may be the cause of the increasing
want of employment for labour and for capital,
it is not the amount of the national debt, or
;he amount of taxation, which has been greatly
diminished since 1815.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER is
thwarted in his endeavour to commute tithe,
and to remove the abuses of the poor laws,
though it is manifest to all the world that tithe
in kind and poor rates press heavily upon agri-
culture. He dare not venture to meddle with
the present corn law, though lie has declared
that it does not work well for the British far-
mer. For ten years at least he cannot redeem
the error he has committed in again conferring
upon the Bank of England the power of over-
issue, the abuse of which is incident to the
power. But he can render an essential service
to general industry by funding the whole of the
Exchequer Bills now afloat, amounting to no less
than 33,752,0001., which can be funded at an
annual expense of little more than a half Per
cent. beyond the interest now paid upon them.
By funding these Exchequer Bills he wall be en-
abled to reduce the Four per Cents. and the Three
and a Half per Cents. with infinitely more ad van-
tage than he can do at present, because so much of
the capital represented by these Exchequer Bills
as does not find for itself employment in works of
industry will be laid out in the purchase of Three
per Cents., so that a smaller amount of them
will be required to be given in exchange for the
Four and Three and a Half per Cents., to be re-
duced by all the increase of the price of these
funds to be thereby raised ; and when these
stocks shall be reduced, they should be reduced
upon such terms as should leave no room for
dissentients ; but if dissentients there should be,
they should not be paid by the Bank, for every
such payment is an over-issue of bank-notes.
Neither should the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER ever again resort to the practice of
renewing Exchequer Bills which we have shown
to be to the State what accommodation bills
arc to a merchant. They may be resorted to
upon occasion to meet a pinch, and overcome
an emergency, but should never be renewed.
Exchequer Bills, moreover, are the main means
of the over-issue of the Bank, which by occa-
sioning expansion of the currency at one time
and contraction at another, has made every
branch of industry a gambling transaction, and
thereby makes capital afraid to embark in works
of industry.

COURT OF CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY.)

HARRINGTON V. LONG.

The discussion of this matter again occupied the morn-
ing. The question was, whether the pla:ntiff in the pur-
chase of a debt had not been guilty of that which, in law,
is called maintenance, and on that ground deeared by act
of Parliament to be illegal? The Master of the Rolls de-
cided that he had, and the present was an appeal from
that decree: _ _

Mr. KNIGHT, for the respondents, stated that the
Master of the Rolls had given the counsel on the other
side the amplest opportunity of looking into the authorities,
and discussing the point.
Mr. TINNEY, for the plaintiff, begged to know from
what authority the learned counsel made that statement ?
Mr. KNIGHT.-Have I not just said that my client
has so intructed me ? _

Mr. TINNEY (with much warmth)—Then, if my learned
friend has received such instructions from his lient (though
the authority is not material), Ido not believe them ; and
I beg distinctly to state that I won't believe what
, (naming Mr. Knight's client) says,
I would not believe what
would misrepresent any case, or state any falsehood to
answer his own purpose.
Mr. KNIGHT—WeII, I am astounded.

- -
The LORD CHANCELLOR—ReaIIy, Mr. Tinney, you
ought not to make such a statement ; it's a perfectly un-
justifiable expression ; it's a cruel statement of a profes-
sional man.

Mr. KNIGHT—One cannot but be surprised to hear such
a statement at the bar, the more especially as coming from
a gentleman of Mr. Tinney's well known and mild dispo-
sition.

The LORD CHANCELLOR—It was uttered in the heat of
the moment, and 1 am quite sure that Mr. Tinney, upon
an instant's refiexion, must feel that he by no means ought
to have made use of such an expression.
Mr. TIN NET-Why, my Lord, one cannot help smart-
ing under the misrepresentations that have been made, and
the manner this case has been conducted on the other side ;
and although I may have uttered an expression under ex-
cited feelings, yet I do so far adhere to my statement as to
declare that I do not believe the instructions that were
given to my learned friend.
The LORD CHANCELLOR—Oh that you are at perfect
liberty to say, but the other really was very severe—cruel.
Mr. KNIGHT—WeII I shall take no more notice of this,
except to express my regret that gentlemen at the bar
should permit their personal feelings to be worked upon by
any case.
Mr. TINNEY (after Mr. Beams had whispered some-
thing to him)—My Lord, if your Lordship really thinks
that in the heat of the moment I have given utterance to
an expression which I ought not to have used, and that I
have not yet followed that up by all that I ought to say, I
am quite ready now to acknowledge
The LORD CHANCELLOR—Oh, no, no, Mr. Tinney, I
think you said quite enough. It was merely an expression
upon the impulse of the moment. You have a right to
say you do not believe the instructions given on the other
side; and I am quite sure that -- will feel per-
fectly satisfied with the explanation.
Mr: BEAms—lt had better be taken altogether as a
hasty expression, and without having been accompanied
with any intention to wound the feelings of any one.
The Loan CHANCELLOR—Oh, certainly. Now let us
go on if you please.
The arguments were then proceeded in till his lordship
rose at twelve o'clock.