The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT 'OF-THE PUBLT .JOURNALS,

•
part of the public will see
with = regret that the General Registration Bill,
was lait•night thrown out by less than an eighth
part of the House of Commons, representing,
We hope, a still.sinaller proportion of the intel-
lect than Of the nuMbers of the whole. The
" Country Gentleman"interest was alive, as on
other occasion's; to opPoie this great amendment
in laws affecting property. --We do protest that
in our judgment the same arguments which jus-
tify the: courts..in providing custodes for infants,
and Otter peons incapable of self-protection,
migict.be'applied with much public and indivi-
dual benefit to the class of legislators above re-
ferred to; s'eulterly incompetent do they appear
to the .Undersianding of the plainest and wisest
regulations, introduced for the especial service of
themselves and their- 'families. The Country
Gentlemen have often displayed the like folly
in their resisrahce to an abolition of the usury
laws.-7 tines.

. We hardly know whether we'shOnld'be justi-
fied in calling the report Of the Factory Commis-
sioners "a lame and impotent conclusion," being,
as it is, precisely.the,same in effect which every
person not interested in infanticide had come. to
before thek gentlemen started on their, happily,
useless expedition ; but that it is precisely the
reverse of what those who called them into- ac-
tion intended it should be, no one who has
attended to the matter can for a moment doubt.
The magna est veritas, et prevalebit, never
was more strikingly exemplified than on this
memorable occasion, when, after every effort has
been made to disguise and smother the truth, it
has only shone forth in brighter colours, and in
a more commanding and overwhelming aspect ;
establishing a moral victory not the less valuable
in the eyes of reason, justice, and humanity, for
that it is gained on behalf of helpless innocence
over heartless tyranny and oppression. But
why, let us ask, were the Government so insane
—they had no popularity to lose, and whose
duty it was to throw a shield of authority
over every injured 'subject of the Crown—
why were they, .we say, so insane as to
throw their weight into the opposite scale,
and thus draw down upon themselves,
first the odium of inhumanity, and then the dis-
grace of defeat ? Why were they, who were so
anxious to unloose the far less galling fetters of
the African slave, so unnecessarily alive to the
disgusting task of finding an excuse for treat-
ment of British- nfants at the cruelty and injus-
tice of which the heart shudders, and the tint!)
of which was established beyond the possibility
of the remotest doubt ? And to the miserable
tools of this mock inquiry, what shall we say,
but that, desirable as money may be, reputation
is to an honourable mind ten thousand times
more valuable; and that to have been among
the number of those who were employed to bol-
ster up this stain upon the age and upon our
national character, will be, we should imagine,
that upon which an honourable mind will look
lack with very little satisfaction.—Morn Herald.

We do not wonder to see the same persons
in cne and the same breath counselling what
they tom a swamping of the House of Lords
by a large addition to its numbers, and its total
extinction as a branch of the Legislature. It is
admitted on all hands that it would require an
addition of, at least, fifty Peers to that House to
neutralise its present majority; and this accom-
plished, what would its decisions resemble but
those of a packed jury, to whose verdict no
weight or importance isor ought to he attached?
Reduce the House of Lords to this state of
vassalage and contempt, and the second step, if
not a necessary consequence of the first, is, at
any rate, a very 'easy one. But where, we would
ask, are the fifty English, Scotch, and Irish
Gentlemen to be found, who are ready to submit
to the degradation (for such it would be) of
being made Peers merely for the purpose of
serving a party? And what becomes of that
party's weight in the country, especially in the
other branch of the Legislature, if 50 of its most
influential adherents are thus withdrawn from
their present stations in society? We doubt
whether the Whigs have duly considered this
point ; whether they really could find materials
with which to add this wing, or rather this
basement story to the Upper House. And
even when they have done so, what security
have they that their object would be accom-
plished, and that this half-hundred of swamping
Peers will be the mere time-serving, compliant
voters which it is intended they should be ? Is
a test to be framed and administered to them,
or are they to be asked for pledges? And, if
RO, will they submit to this still lower degrada-
tion ? Will Sir John Hobhouse, for ins•ance,
if he should be one of them, submit to give
those pledges to Lord Grey as the price of a
Peerage which he refused to give to his
Westminster constituents at the hustings ? And,
if not, what security has Lord Grey t hat his
new Peers, or at least a sufficient number of
them to turn the scale, will not leave him in the
?arch, and, under colour of " standing by their
poker," reverse the very object for which they
nave been created ? In short, in whatever point
for view this project is looked upon, the more it
calis for unequivocal condemnation. In the
first place, its necessity is more than doubtful,
and in the next its practicability utterly impos-
sible. The House of-Peers, as at present con-
stituted, has shown that it is ready to yield to
public opinion, clearly and unequivocally ex-
pressed ; and there is no just reason to fear that
it will for the future do otherwise. At any
rate, the Whigs have done nothing since the
passing of the Reform Act to bring this point
to the test, by putting the Lords in the wrong.
On the contrary, they have themselves beet) gra-
dually losing ground in the eyes of the country,
and there is probably few things that would be
more gratifying to many among the warmest of
their former adherents, than that they should
'ox,/ receive their coup de grace from that very
-louse }which others among them are proposing
;o annihilate.—Mo-ning Herald.
The General Register Bill was thrown out
last night. This reflects little credit on the Re-
formed Parliament. The arguments urged
against the measure were either trifling or con-
tradictory. The Yorkshire Members opposed
the measure, because Yorkshire possessed al-
ready a system of registration from which they
derived great advantage. If registration be an
advantage to Yorkshire; it must be an advantage
to other counties. The Members of other coun-
ties opposed the measure as generally disadvan-
tageous. The real secret of the opposition is,
that were property more secure, country attor-
neys would have less employment and less influ-
ence ; and the Members are afraid of the country
attorneys. The speech of Mr: Pease against
the measure is quite a curiosity in its way. rule
deeds must be sent to London, and parcels are
sometimes lost, and when they are large ti.e con-
veyance is expensive ! And this is ill.

guage "of legislators returned by popular
constituencies Morning Chronicle.

Mr. Cobbett explained last night in another
~epistle, and vehemently abjures all alliance with
the Tories ; but avows that he will approve and
support "anybody" for a whole year, at the
least, "who will take off the malt tax and the
house and window tax—who will repeal tile
Whig Septennial Act—who will repeal Sturges
Bourne's Bills, and drive all the Malthusian
devils back to their native hell." He further
liberally says, that he will give time for doing
other things to any Ministry or Parliament who
would do these commendable deeds. Mr. Cobbett
is extremely liberal, and we would recommend him
immediately to open a negotiation with the Carl-
ton Club. But he must be extremely credulous, if
he really fancies that a Tory Cabinet will gratify
his wishes in these respects. Indeed, Mr. Cob.
bet knows better, and is only putting a little salt
on the tails of the Tories in order to catch them.
We have no doubt that the Conservatives will
go very far to get back into office. Their re-
cent coalition in Staffordshire with the Currency
Political Unionists proves their chameleon na-
ture, but they are notwithstanding little likely
to give or redeem such pledges as Mr. Cobbett
exacts. Mr. Cobbett's abuse is extremely harm-
less and consistent with his well-known habits
of political vituperation. We only regret that
it is not now accompanied with the usual por-
tion of sense and spirit which redeem his per-
sonalities. But the fact is, that Mr. Cobbett
has committed a capital blunder. He should
have kept out of Parliament, and has entered it
too late. As an orator he gives the system an
occasional blow in a soft place ; but the re-
formed House of Commons is not his proper
theatre, and what the county gains by his
speeches it loses in the Register. Moreover,
Mar-plot never yet succeeded in the long run.
He ought to have taken a lesson from the fate
of Mr. Hunt, who, with all his cunning, was
instantly seen through when he began to fight
the battle of the Tories under radical colours.—
Mo7ning Chronicle.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JUNE 19.

GOLDEN V. LADY WYNYARD.

Mr. C. PHILLIPS stated this to be an action brought
by the p:aintiff, who was lady's maid to the defendant, for
having given an improper character of her, by which she
was unable to obtain a situation. The plaintiff had lived
two years and two months in her former place, from which
she had a good character; but after she had remained in
the service of the defendant two months, the defendant
told her she must leave. Upon the plaintiff asking for
what reason, the defendant told her that one of the ser-
vants had received an anonymous letter,in which she (the
plaintiff) was stated to be a bad character. The plaintiff
wished to see the letter, but the defendant told her it was
burnt. The plaintiff subsequently had procured a situa-
tion, provided her character suited. Application was
made to the defendant for her character; upon which she
wrote a letter to the party applying, stating that she be-
lieved her to be sober, honest, and clean ; that her reason '
for parting with her was from an unpleasant report cir-
culated among her servants that she (the plaintiff) was
known to be a woman of bad character, which had been
made known to one of the servants in an anonymous let-
ter, and having been reported to her (the defendant) she
had felt it right to discharge her, and had recommended
her, if the charge was false, to punish those who had
injured her character.

The Learned JUDGE thought the action was not main-
tainable, as no malice could be proved. The pliintiff
would go out of Court without any stain upon her cha-
ricter. He should recommend a juror to be withdrawn.
Mr. ERT. (for the defendant) immediately assented to
this, and a juror was withdrawn.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, JUNE 19.