The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Lord Chancellor's evidence in the Committee
on the law of libel, embraces a variety of points of the
very greatest importance to the people of this country.
It is but justice to his Lordship to allow that no man
has laboured more than he has done, from the very be-
ginning-of •his career to the present day, to raise the
character of the nation, by education and the diffusion
of knowledge. The difficulties with which his Lord-
ship
,had to struggle in the outset, from the prejudices
generally entertained on the subject by the higher
ranks of Englishmen of all parties, can hardly be ap-
preciated in the present day. It must always be borne
in mind that the education of the higher ranks of this
country is in the hands of the Clergy----that the
Clergy, at the time we allude to, were almost to a man
hostile to the diffusion of knowledge among the mass
of the people--and that English gentlemen, even the
most liberally disposed, shared, more or less, the
views of their early instructors on that subject. It
required more skill and address to draw over so many
of the higher ' ranks to his views than would well
be, believed in the present day, when few men are
bold. enough to. question the advantages of education.
We have perused the evidence of his Lordship with
Much. satisfaction, and are satisfied that the publica-
tion of it will be productive of infinite good. His
Lordship's views are a legitimate consequence of the
principles which led him to promote the instruction of
the people. His Lordship shows, that in seeking to
diffuse instruction, he was thoroughly aware of the
impossibility.of preventing the people from turning
their instruction to account. We do not-wonder that
the Times should be such implacable enemies of his
Lordship ; and we trust that those who call themselves
liberal, after perusing his evidence, will be slow to
believe- that Henry Brougham will ever desert the
cause of the people. The first tax imposed on the
press had not the increase of the revenue in view,
but to put an end to cheap publications. Swift's
Journal to Stella, which reveals so many political
secrets, throws light on the motives of those who first
taxed papers in this country. On the 19th of July,
1712, he thus writes—" To-day there will be another
Grub, a letter from the Pretender to a Whig Lord—
Grub-street has but ten days to live ; then an Act of
Parliament takes place-that ruins it, by taxing every
half-sheet at a halfpenny." On the .7th of August,
1712, he writes 7---" Do you know that Grub-street.is
dead and gone last week ? I plyed it pretty close the
last fortnight, and published atleast seven penny papers
- of my own, besides some of other people s ; but now
every single half-sheet pays a halfpenny to the Queen.
The Qbservator is fallen ; the Medleys are jumbled
together with the Flying Post ; the Examiner is
deadly sick ; the Spectator keeps up, and doubles its
price ; I know not how long it will hold. Have you
seen the red stamp the papers are marked with ?
Methinks the stamping is worth a halfpenny." Such
is the manner in which Swift chuckles at the ex-
tinction of the periodical literature of the day. We
Owe to the Tories this attempt to crush the press
through taxation. What does Lord Brougham say ?
—" I am of opinion that a- sound system of govern-
ment requires the people to read and inform themselves
upon political subjects, else they are the prey of every,
quack, every imposter, and every agitator who may
practise his trade in the country. If they do not read
—if they do not learn—if they do not digest by dis-
cussion and reflection what they have read and learned
—if they do not thus qualify themselves to form opi,
nions for themselves, other men would form opinions
for them, not according to truth and to the interests of
the people, but according to their own individual and
_ selfish interests, which may, and most probably will,
be contrary to that of the people at large. The best
security for a Government like this, for the Legisla-
ture, for the Crown, and generally for the public
peace and public morals, is, that the whole com-
munity should be well informed upon its poli-
tical as well as its other interests ; and it
can be well informed only by having access to
wholesome, sound, and impartial publications.
Therefore, they will and ought to read the news
of the day, political discussions, political events,
. the debates of their representatives in Parliament,
and of the other House of Parliament ; and on not
one of these heads can any paper be published,
. daily or weekly, without coming under the stamp law ;
consequently the people at large are excluded, by the
dear form in which alone the respectable publishers
can afford it, while they pay the duty." If these are
the views of the Lord Chancellor, we may assume
that they are shared by other members of the Cabinet ;
and the probability is, that one of the first of the
taxes which will be repealed, will be the tax on news-
papers.- It might have been consistent with Tory po-
licy to tell the people their business was to act, and
not to think ; but this system necessarily terminated
with virtual representation. The people, having the
power, will not consent to deny themselves food for
the mind, because
.certain persons might wish to have
a monopoly of the best instruction. Two questions
naturally suggest themselves. How will the repeal of
the duty affect the existing newspapers? and what will
the effects be on the people themselves ? 'With respect
to newspapers, however important the consideration
might be to ourselves, the last parties whom the Le-
gislature ought to.think of are the newspapers. But
though we are well aware that some of our contempo-
raries are enraged at the Chancellor on account of his
proposal to repeal the tax, and that 'his Lordship
-owes the animosity borne towards him by the Times
to his wish to lower the price of newspapers,_ we are
quite satisfied that the existing journals will be gainers
by the change. To cheapen a commodity is to in-
crease its sale ; and we have more than once remarked
that from the great outlay necessary before it can be
determined- whether a, newspaper will succeed, an ex-
isting one must always have great advantages -in the
race of competition. The public would expect to find
.._ a newly-started paper as good in quality as one Of
those already in existence.. A bad publication may
be purchased in preference to a good one, when the
latter is dear in consequence of the Stamp Duty ;
but when good publications are as cheap as the
bad, they will naturally be. preferred. Newspapers
have gradually become, in this country, extensive
records of all that is interesting in the public life
of the people. The establishments necessary for
the supply of what is afforded by a newspaper are
exceedingly expensive ; and this will always ope-
rate against the undue extension of them. Lord
Brougham answers the other question thus :—" If in-
', stead of newspapers being sold for 6d. or ls., they
could be sold for id., I have no manner of doubt
. there would immediately follow the greatest possible
improvement in the tone and temper of the political
information of the people, and therefore of the political
character and conduct of the people. It is my decided
.and deliberate opinion, from very long and anxious
consideration, that the danger is not of the people
learning too much, but knowing too little. It is no
longer a question whether they shall read or not ; it is
- no longer a question whether they shall be instructed
or not ; it is no longer a question whether they shall be
politicians, and take part in the discussions of their own
interests or not ; that was decided long and long
ago. The only question to answer, and the
only problem to solve is, how they shall read
in the best manner ;' how they shall be instructed
and have political habits formed the most safe
for the constitution of the country, and the best for
- their own interests. I can devise no,other means than
making that accessible at a cheap rate, which at pre-
sent they must have at a rate they cannot afford, with-
" out hiving it bad as well as cheap., ' I wish to give it
them both cheap and wholesome. Lord Brougham
afterwards eulogises the people, as being generally mo-
rally and peaceably disposed, and very much inclined
to respect and submit to those above them ; and the
inference he draws is, that sound and useful doctrines
would be in the highest favour with them. We know
that his Lordship's views are open to controversy, as
first appearances are often very deceitful in politics.
But we are inclined to agree with his Lordship. How-
ever we must reserve what farther we have to say on
this subject for a future day.—Morning Chronicle.
We yesterday quoted a passage from the Standard,
in which the distinction is justly taken between incon-
.. sistency and the change of opinion which is consequent
.-..upon the change in the subject of opinion. Judgments
must of course vary with the variations in the object

upon which they are formed. When some stupid
fellow charged Sheridan with inconsistency, the wit
replied that the accusation reminded him of the rea-
soning of the entertainer of a convivial party, who
hearing his friends observe that it was time to take
leave, as the watchman was crying past three, ob-
served, " Why ! you don't mind that fellow, do you ?.
he changes his story every half hour." In performing
our duty of watchman we are assailed with the same
sage reproach, that for altered circumstances, forsooth,
we have an altered note : so even let it be, so that the
public perceive, as they ever have done, and ever shall
do, a fixed consistency in Our advocacy of the dearest
interests of our country. Our petty rivals are welcome
to shew that our opinions of certain men are altered,
but let them prove at the same time that the men are
unaltered, or they do nothing but expose their own
spleen and stupidity. We hold up the mirror to a
Proteus, but is the inconstancy in the reflection, or in
the being of many shapes ? Our lab Ours are attacked
with a foolish cry of " You said so and so formerly,"
but is not the first and the important question whether
what we say is true and just, and to the purpose now ?
With relation to the public. interests, we shall always
be found in the same position of duty ; but as indivi-
duals shift from the ground upon which we were once
proud and glad to show their eminence, so must we
alter our views of their desert. The inconsistency is
not ours, but theirs. If we have been deceived by the
specious mask of a Tartufe, is it the less our duty to
society to tear it from his face ? But it is alleged that
we disparage intellect we have before acknowledged ;
our answer is, that while- talents appear devoted to
good purposes, they are gilded by their objects, and
the powers and accomplishments to which we give a
generous estimation while they are employed in a
virtuous cause will naturally be subjected to a more
prying and a rigorous criticism when they are in the
course of perversion to mischievous uses. Our ene-
mies and distanced competitors impugn our motives.
Interpreting the conduct of others by the baseness of
their own natures, they are at a loss to conceive any
motive but a personal motive for our censure of a man
who has sunk in our esteem as he has advanced in the
path of a crooked ambition. Our motive is a motive
• which our jealous rivals never can understand, and it
must remain a paradox to them that a journalist can
speak truth for no. other object than truth. The old
shrew of the Morning Chronicle has screamed herself
hoarse in attributing base motives to us. May we ask
what are the motives of that journal in so assailing us?
Is there no envy in the case—no desire to stand in our
shoes ? Have the-coveted circulation and widely-spread
power of the Times no part in the Chronicle's eagerness
to vilify it ? Thee Chronicle would, for half our sale,
submit itself to the basest motive it assigns to uS. Its
motives, now in the service of a part of the Ministry,
are notoriously the motives of a lackey, and. with the
spirit of a lackey it hates our independence,, and still
more the proud success upon -which our independence
is based as upon a rock: The Chronicle makes great
boast of its consistency, and in .this . it is pretty safe,
for it has this advantage which we do not possess—,
-that no one has ever taken the trouble to remember
what it has at any time said ; indeed, few have ever
known, so private has been its publication, or so un-
heeded by those 'in the secret of its disquisitions. In
the spirit, however, of returning good for evil, we are
'about to lay claim to its gratitude by showing what few
can show—namely, that we have read, -and thought it
worth while to remember, an observation which. once
proceeded from it. In the Chronicle of the 13th of.
October last, there is this wholesome rebuke of its pre-
sent vicious practice :—" The longer we live, the less
we feel disposed to indulge in controversy ; and we
have a strong distaste in particular for controversy of
a carping and splenetic description. By pecking in-
cessantly at our adversary, and filsinuating that lie is
influenced by all manner of corrupt motives, we do not
necessarily establish the goodness of our own cause.
* *. In fact, the only way to render discussion sup-
portable for any length of time is to exclude from it all
which draws the attention of the reader to the writers,
rather than to the subject of dispute. A little good-
humoured pleasantry now and then may be borne with;
and we would not prescribe the application of ridicule
where it is fairly called for : " But we are much
mistaken if the press do not suffer in general estima-
tion by'offensive and personal controversy. The public
too, we suspect, are charitable enough to attribute
the lessons read by' one journalist to another, .to envy
and a spirit of rivalry, rather than to a strong love
of truth. _The homely adage of Iwo of a trade,'
will be but too apt to suggest itself to the reader, when
he sees one journalist over, lowing with zeal to expose
the sins of his brother journalist." So much for the
precept ; now for the practice of the preacher, and
then admire the vaunted consistency of the Morning
Chronicle :—" The Times newspaper is notoriously
now; and has always been, utterly- reckless with regard
'to principle—except -the principle of supporting-what-
ever opinions its conductors suppose may be acceptable
for the time, and that of destroying, no matter by
what means, whomsoever they deem it their interest to
destroy for the time. It was said by Rochefoucault,
that there is something in the distress of our best
friends that we are not grieved at ; and, perhaps, the
Times, in continually looking out for victims, is guided
partly by a wish to impress the world with a high idea of
its power, by the constant display of its ferocity, and
partly by catering for the supposed malignity of our
nature, in which the French . philosopher believed."
This is but a small drop from the scavenger's cart.
Much more of the same quality is daily shovelled up
by our amiable and decorous little rival. Railing is,
however, the allowed privilege of the loser. For our-
selves, if we handle our contemporary at all, it, shall
only be to use him for our sport. We cannot honour
him with any retaliation of his indignant strain.; No-
thing is so ludicrous as these small people in heroicS:
We should be chargeable With malignity to the poor
Chancellor if we did not feel touched at seeing his
defence in such puny hands ; indeed, his defence is
virtually abandoned, for the little aim of our little an-
tagonist has not been to show that the Chancellor is
not what we have painted him, but to daub us -over
with his foul- calumnies. Call you this backing .of
:-our friends ?—Times.
Public affairs seem to be at something like a stand-
still. Ministers, like schoolboys released from .their
labours, have most of them flown on the wings of holy-
day thoughtlessness to scenes of sylvan delight and
cheerfulness, leaving their lately oppressive charge to
the few who remain at, their posts for form sake. This
simultaneous flight seems as yet to have produced
neither harm nor danger ; indeed there are saucy
people bold enough to suggest whether no heads may
not be as safe as the sort of heads .which have of late
-been intrusted with the guidance of the' State machine.
At any rate the well-known saying of the Swedish
Chancellor was never more literally verified than in the
paucity of talent which now directs the public affairs
of Great Britain. This dearth of intellect, or at all
events of official qualification, is not more imputable
to the individuals themselves, than to the general state
of society at which we are arrived, in which a sort of
universal mediocrity 'appears to have taken the place
of that brilliant era of Statesmen for which this country
was, only a few years ago, so eminently distinguished.
It is scarcely credible that so many of the present race
as have lived in the age of North, Pitt, Fox, Burke,
Windham, and Dundas, should have fallen upon the
melancholy spectacle of seeing their large space in the
world supplied by names which we will not assume the
ungracious task of enumerating. But some men make
up in diligence and business-like qualities for their
want of mind.. That, unhappily, is not the case with
our present race of public men, many of whom; hold-
ing places to which they could, in past times, only
lave aspired to be the clerks, are, nevertheless, defi-
cient in all those clerk-like qualities by the display -of
which such men often raise themselves to higher
station. It has been said, and history on many occa-
sions confirms it, that public emergencies generally
raise up talent to meet their exigencies. Such emer-
gencies, however, generally imply a state of things,
such as public commotion or excitement, which we do
not wish to see arise. This would, indeed, be pur-
chasing public talent at much too high a price. But
that an emergency, though of a milder character, yet
of extreme urgency, at present exists, no one who
takes but a cursory view of our foreign or domestic
relations can for a moment doubt ; and we heartily
wish, without the smallest tincture of party feeling,

that we could see at the helm of affairs men fit to
meet, to combat with, and disperse the increasing em-
barrassments under which the country labours : at all
events, that the present race of public men would
perceive that they have a task to perform not quite of
such a matter-of-course nature as their apparent ease
and indifference would lead us to imagine that they
consider it.—Morning Herald.

We fulfil our promise of recurring to the Bill for
amending the laws respecting County Coroners ; a
Bill with regard to which the Attorney-General, w ith
all the nonchalance of a wearied sportsman who de-
clares he will not fire another shot 'till the morrow,
stated that the best way was to leave the subject till
the next session. From the cool manner in which the
labours of the House of Lords upon this Bill were
rendered useless, the public might be induced to
believe that its provisions were of little or no
moment ; and it is essential,. therefore, as well to
prevent such an impression, as to obtain a revival
of the Bill immediately after Parliament shall again
assemble, that the prominent advantages intended
to be secured by it should be generally understood.
For this purpose we shall shortly explain some of
its principal clauses, and our readers will then be
able to judge whether the delay of a single session
in the completion of such a measure is not of serious
public injury. It will be recollected that at the last
election of Coroner for the county of Middlesex, the
whole county was kept in the highest possible state of
excitement for a period of ten days, during the whole
of which time the passions of the lower orders were
' roused in every conceivable form in order to obtain the
election of that respected and patriotic individual, Mr.
Wakley. The keeping open a poll for such a length
of time must also have been attended with a very heavy
expense, and we believe we speak within the mark in
stating that it cost the successful candidate 4,0001. to
secure his election, although lie was a solicitor Of
known respectability, whose superior qualifications
and fitness for the office could not for a moment be
disputed by any intelligent and impartial elector.
By the new Bill it was intended to prevent the
recurrence of such an evil, for by the 3d, 4th, and
sth clauses it was proposed to enact that the Justices
of the Peace, assembled in their respective counties,
.ridings, or divisions, should, in some one of their Ge-
neral-or Adjourned Quarter Seasions which should be
holden before the Ist of January next, divide their
counties, &c., into convenient districts, and that they
should appoint one of the Coroners of their respective
counties to be the Coroner for each of the districts to
be formed under the Act, lists of the places in each
district being first made. And -by the 11th clause it
was declared that if the election of a Coroner should
not be determined on the view, and the parties should
proceed to take a poll, then that- such polling .Should
continue for one day only, for eight hours, and
'that no poll should be kept open later than four o'clock in
.the afternoon. By the 9th clause power was given to Co-
roners to compel the attendance of Jurors; and by the
10th clause it. was proposed to enact that surgeons and
other medical men should be remunerated when called
.as witnesses in case of post mortem examination and
evidence given thereon. Every person in any way ac-
quainted with the
.proceedings of Coroners' Courts
must be fully aware of the inconveniences and impedi-
ments to justice constantly arising for want of the pro-
visions of the two last clauses ; and yet the Attorney-
General takes upon himself to declare that the public
cannot be damnified by reason of the Bill being post-
poned till the next Session, although besides being de-
prived of the advantages intended to be secured by
those clauses, several counties may in the meantime be
kept in a state of ferment for a Space of ten days ; and
from the great age of one of the Coroners for Middle-
sex there are strong grounds for dreading a repetition
of the same scenes and consequences which disgraced
the last election in that county before a new Bill can
now be passed.—Morning Post.
The soldier Hutchinson, who was lately subjected
to the inhuman infliction on his bare back of no
fewer than 300 lashes, called at this office last
evening, for the purpose of receiving the various
sums which had been transmitted to us for the pur-
pose of enabling him to purchase his discharge. The
sums 'amounted in the whole to four guineas, which
were handed over to him, and which he received with
much' thankfulness. The wounds on his back are
healed.: but he complains sadly of weakness, and
appears, indeed, to be in a debilitated state. As to
soldiering," .as he termed it, he declares that he has
neither spirit or strength—that the latter is gone, and
that the former is so broken as to 'render him ashamed
of meeting even with the men of his own regiment.
Such, however, has been the invariable consequence of
the barbarous punishment which the poor fellow un-
derwent ; and we mention the fact, not as being any-
thing new in the history of military torture, but in
order that,the public attention may be kept alive to
the necessity of its immediate abolition, and that the
benevolent portion of our countrymen may
come for-
ward and rescue the poor fellow, by purChasing his
discharge, from the dreadful chance of a similar inflic-
tion. He declares that after haVing received2oo out
of the 300 lashes which he had to bear, he would have
given the world, had it been his, to have escaped even
one more I 'What awful brutality I—Talk of slavery
and near° driving—why they are trifles compared with
what is sanctioned by a Christian legislature towards
Christian men !—Morning Advertiser:

BANKRUPTCY COURT, AUG. 28.

(Before. Mr. Commissioner FANE.)

MESSRS. COLUIN, BAZETT, AND CO.'S BANKRUPTCY.
In this case the bankrupts were large East India mer-
chants, and were members of the agdncy house, the failure
of which, with others in Calcutta, some time back, created
a strong sensation both in India and this country. The firm
in Calcutta became insolvent in India, and passed through
the Insolvent Court there. A fiat was issued against the
firm in London on the 6th instant, and this day was ap-
pointed for the first meeting of creditors, and for choosing
assignees. _ _

Mr. Drake, the solicitor to the fiat,- stated that Mr. Wm.
Butterworth Bailey, the petitioning creditor, attended to
prove his debt against the estate.
The Commissioner suggested that the proofs should be
made in sicca rupees, as the contracts in India bad been
drawn up in that mode. •
Mr. Drake said it was proposed that that plan should be
acted upon, and the affidavit also stating the amount in
English money.
The Commissioner did not see the use of making the
proofs in English money, as inconvenience would be pro-
duced. The estate had to pay the money at the place of
the residence of the creditors in India, although the fiat
was issued in this country.
Mr. Drake thought that this bankruptcy should be con-
sidered 'merely as an English question.

The COMMISSIONER was of opinion that it could not be,
treated as an English question. All that he could do 'wag
to state the law, and that was, that the money must be
paid where the contracts were made. The creditors would,
therefore, have to receive their money in rupees in India.
Mr. Drake replied that the petitioning creditor, Mr. Bai-
ley, was ready to accede to the Couradecision.
The COMMISSIONER would state the rights of the par-
ties. Suppose a creditor was entitled to prove for 100,000
rupees, and that a dividend of ten per cent. was declared,
under these circumstances his right would he to receive
10,000 rupees in Calcutta, which he would either receive
himself or through an agent. If the party wished to have
a bill of exchange on London, and considered he had less
than he was entitled to, he could fall back upon his right
to receive the 10,000 rupees in Calcutta, with which he
might get a bill on England. It was right, therefore, that
the parties should make their proofs in sicca rupees, and if
they did not choose to go to Calcutta to receive their
amounts they must be satisfied with such .bills of exchange
as the assignees could give them.
Mr. Bailey then proved his claim for 35,180 sicca ru-
pees, and was appointed sole assignee.
No other proofs were made to-day, the greater number of
the creditors having already forwarded their amounts to
Calcutta. Further sums will be proved, -it is. believed, at
the next meeting.
The proceedings were then adjourned.
BOND AND PATTISALL'S BANKRUPTCY.

In this case the bankrupts were bankers in Change-alley,
against whom a fiat of bankruptcy was issued a few years
ago. Dividends on the joint estate have been declared,
amounting to 17s. 6d. in the pound, and this day an appli-
cation was made to the Court on behalf of one of the bank-
rupts, in order that he might receive the allowance to which
he was entitled by the Act.

Young appeared on the behalf of Mr. Pattisall, of
the firm of Bond and Pattisall, for a summons against the
assignees for their attendance before the Court, to show
cause why they did not declare a final dividend, out of

which -the allowance to the party for -whom he appeared
might be given. •
The Commissioner had no objeCtion to granting the
summons for the attendance of the assignees to show cause
why a final dividend was not made. He (the Learned
Commissioner.) had, however, considerable doubts if his
jurisdiction extended in a case like this to grant an allowance.
Mr. Young said there was a case in point, the bank-
ruptcy of Howard and Gibbs, where both partners had an
allowance.
The Commissioner said in this case the whole means to
pay the dividends had been supplied by the private estate
of one of the bankrupts. He would, however, grant a sum-
mons for the assignees' attendance.