The Sun.
London, England, 1802-01-30 00:00:00

CHATERS V. BELL

This was an argument upon a case reserved for
the opinion of the Court. The Action was brought
by the Plaintiff as Indorsee of a Foreign Bill of
Exchange, against the Defendant, the Indorser ;
and the defence set up upon the trial was, that
the had not been protested for non_payment
the day it became due, but that although it had
been noted, the protest was not drawn up till
twenty days afterwards.—A verdict was given for
the Plaintiff, with leave for the Defendant to en-
ter it in his favour, if the Court should be of opi-
nion the protest was irregular.

1 Mr; Cotriti-iir Contended the fill Was regularly
protested. A demand had been made on the accep-
tors the day it' became due, and it was noted for
non-payment ;
,but the protest was not drawn up
in the regular form till a futtire day. A protest
was nothing more than an instrument intended as
an authentication of the faEts attending the refusal
or inability of an acceptor to pay a bill ; but such
formal instrument was only necessary to be pro-
duced on the day of trial, in, order to entitle the.
holder to recover. It might be compared to a
judgment in the Court of King's Bench, which be-
came necessary to he proVed upon the trial of a
cause. It could not be urged that the Court had
not pronounced the judgment, because it had not
been entered on the precise day upein the judgment-
roll. In like manner, it could not be said this bill
not been protested, Merely because the. formal pro-
test- had.not been drawn up at the time.
Mr. Grails, on the other side, maintained that
it was impossible the difficulty • arising from the
Bill not being duly protested, could be got over.
The necessity of a protest on a Foreign Bill of Ex-•
change had never been disputed ; and he subthitted
that notice of nonpayment by
.the Acceptor could;
only be kiveti by a protest, and given otherwiSe it 7
was no notice at all. He-quoted i Molloy, c. r. see.,
3 is and Ventris to shew that a prOtest was in-
dispensable ; and ob:ierved, that all the books on the -
Law of Merchants spoke of a prdtest as the .thing
whiCh Was not drily to accOgipany the notice,
but to convey the notice. He did•titit consider the
noting a Bill as equivalent to pidteTiih4- it ; because,
if an Iricidiserpiid a Bill Withont, having the pro-
test, he could riot afterwards recover of Accep.
tor: The reason a necessary to be
drawn up by a. Notary Public was, that there-Might
be a knocim ptililic do'cu.rtio.nt to Frc,ve the Bill had
been denianded and dis'hono-,:red; besides, therC Was

j this &ft ichezi tetWeal bill and prote id
proteit required a titaiiip;,
Mr. CoußTur having repiied;
Mr. Jtistice.GßOsi Said; he laboured Under in:,
superable difficulties; There appeared to have
been a mistake in the terms in which the case Wzij
drawn up. - It was stated that the bill was tidt
protested, instead of which it Should have !iced
stated, the bill was drily protested; thciuklyndt do
the day payrtient *as demanded. He knei:O. it Wai
constantly the praaice only to note bills; and not
to draw tip the protest till afterwards. Such a
pra6tice might greatly tend to the evasion of th 6
Stamp Ad, and the injury of the revenue. The
case was of most alarming magnitude to the com—
mercial part of the Country ; and in its presehi
shape, the Court would do very wrong to pronounCe
a judgment; He had no doubt but that those whci
had drawn up the case intended it should meet the
main question;

•
It was understood the case was to be amended
but for the present, as Lord KENYON Was not pre:
sent, the business was ordered to stand over to
another day.

The case of COLLET v. Lord KEITH was called
on, but ordered immediately to stand over.—The
Court broke up before one o'clock; Mr. Justice
GROSE being obliged to go to Guildhall to sit at
Nisi Pries for my Lord KENYON.

At a Meeting of the Noblemen, Gentlerne'rii,
Clergy, and Freeholders of the County of Gal.-
way, held by public notice from the High She._riff, on Thursday the 7th of January inst. the
following AddresS to the Earl of CLAN-Rt CARD Es
Lieutenant-General, &c. was proposed and
unanimously agreed to..

MY LORD,
We, the Noblemen, Gentlenten, Clergy, and Fi-ceolders
of the County of Galway, as,:inbled at Loughrea, by public
notice from tat; High Sheriff; cannot omit this opportunity
of your reit:oval from the Command ofth Jestern
to express the high sense of the benefit; that resulted front
your distinguishectexertions us that situation, combining the
penetration of a Statesnian • with the_ prompt activity of ,a
Soldier.

We have not nict here to inquire into the cause that has
put an end to your Lordship's military power in this Coun-.
try, but 'Sic feel great comfort in reileeting, that that step
was taken at a time when yout abilities were no longer ne-
cessary.

We are fully sensible that your prOfcsiona/ talents would
have produced the best eill!ds, even where your natrie, and
family ( who.3e marked charaderiStics for cenuries back have
been loyalty) were unknown; but here they could not but
be, a.:3 in tact they were, decisive, when combined with your
property, high influence, and general popularity.
We beg leave to assure your Lordship, that yolir. private
virtues, and public conduct, have made an impression that
cannot be obliterated troth the hearts of your grateful Couti
t rymen. . .

WALTER BUTTER, Shtriff.
The High Sheriff having left the Chair, and
CHRISTOPHER ST: GEORGE, Es -q. king called to
it, resolved, that the Thanks of this Meeting be
given to our worthy High Sheriff, for his readinesS
in convening the County, and his very proper cob_
duff in the Chair.

SIR,
As the question with regard to the melioration•Of
the livings of the Parochial Schoolmasters of Scpte
land, whiclr will be broaght before Parliament im-
metliatyy after the Recess, is an. object of national
impordfice, •and but little understood on this side
the Tweed, may I be permitted, throsagh Abe me-
dium of your excellent Paper; to mention
,a few
fiats with regard to the present. situation of this
respectable and useful class of• men, and to suggest
a method in which it appears to me :their livings
might be considerably improved; withoutlessening
their industry in teaching, and at no great expellee
to the Landed Interest.
Soseally as the year 1646, Parish Schools were
established in Scotland, by an aft of; the Scottish
Convention, and though this law was abrogated at
the Restoratioo, they were again established upon
their• original footing by the Ist William 111.
passed in the year 1696. By this latter AO it was
ordained, that in every parish there should be a
.Schoolmaster qualified to teach English, writing,
accounts, and the elements of the Latin language.—
'The ricrninatioti .of the Master was lodged in the
hands of the Heritors of the respeCtive parishes,
who were bound to provide hi:la in a school-house,
and in a salary of whiCh the maximum. was
ILL zs. ad. 8-12ths, and the minimum.sl. I Is, id.
sterling, according to their' valued rent.—
This provision, small as it may seem to us at this
day, and in this part of the empire, was, a hundred
years ago, in 'Norah Britain, an objeft of sufficient
importance to attraCt the attention of men of the
first classical abilities. Accordingly, the Parish-
Schools were filled with able and efficient Masters.—
At these humble seminaries, the children of families
of rank and fortune were prepared for the Univer-
sities ; and so moderate were the school fees, that
the humblest cottager in the parish was enabled to
bestow upon his sons the advanta2,Nes of_ a classical
educ.ationo—lt is not to be wondered at then, -that
a taste for literature has been so prevalent in Scot_
/and, and that the middling and lower classes of-
socieay there have possessed a degree of information
which we shall look for in vain amid the same rank
of life in any other country of Europe. But times
are altered—money is now so much ;depreciated,
that the sum .which was an objeCt a hundred years
ago, is so no longer.—No additions have been made
to the salaries, and few to the rates of teaching, in
the•Parothial Schools of Scotland; since their first
institution'; and it is a feet which I am' warranted
in stating from the most undoubted authority, that
at a medium calcelation, the whole emoluments
arising from one of these sealinaries, do not yield
the Master mare than 201. per annum. Now, Mr.
Editor, the tate of :wages fur the commonest-day-
labourer in: Scotland is is. 61 or as. per day, sd
that as matters stand at present, the man who is in-
vested with the important and respectable office of
forming the minds and morals of the rising genera_
tion, is in a worse condition than the lowest .de-
scription of the labouring poor.
It is easy to foiesee then, that unlessa more ade-
quate provision be instantly made, the Parish
Schools cannot be supplied with Teachers, or, if
supplied at all, it muss needs be with men who are
altogether unqualified to answer the purposes of the
institution. But granting the necessity. of a more
-adequate provision, which all must allow, a ques-
tion of some difficulty occurs with regard to the
triode in which it is most advisable to make
on the one hand, you increase the salary to such a
degree as to enable the Master to live independent
of the fees of teaching, there is great danger, that
-instead of operating as a motive to diligence, it will
render him inattentive to the duties of his office :
-and if, on the other hand, you attempt to improve
his situation, by raising the school fees, you, in_this
case, completely shut out the lower ranks from the
means of instruction, and check that universal &if,
fusion of knowledge, which it is the glory of the
Parochial Schools of Scotland to have hitherto so
successfully promoted. •In order to avoid both these
inconveiliencies, I would think it advisable that the
whole of the proposed augmentation should be paid
by the Landed Proprietors, but a third part of it,
only upon certain conditions.—Suppose that the
Legislature shall appoint 301. sterling as the mini-
mum of salary. Of this sum, I would propose that
201. should be paid unconditionally• but the re-
maining tol. I would give to those Masters only,
the number of whose scholars was proportioned to the
'population of the Parish, in a certain ratio to be fixed
by Parliament. If the ratio be so scholars for every
• toot, souls, then in a Parish consisting of zOOO the
Master will not be entitled to the additional Joh
unless the number of his scholars amount to too,
and so in other Parishes according to their respective
populations.—l have fixed upon the number of pu-
pils as the standard by which the conditional tol.
• is- to be given, or withheld, because this, in ge-
neral, is 'the safest criterion to judge of the
Teacher's diligence. And when the state of the School
accords with the specified condition, the Landed
Proprietors should be essiand to pay the conditional
salary, upon receiving a certified Report of the num-
bers from the Clergy of the Distria, under whose
Management the• Parochial Schools have been lately
placed by a decision of the House of Peers.
In this way, I think, would the situation of the
Parish Schoolmasters he considerably improved, and
' their exertions excited at no great expence (consi-
dering the importance of the object) to the Heritors,
and without depriving the Poor of the means of
instruction, by raising the school fees higher than
" tltey ccidd afford.. And if, in addition to the salary
- thus; judiciously applied,. the Masters were provided
by, the Landed Interest with dwelling-houses, and
' exempted from all taxes an'' 4urdens, we
should yet see them restored to respectability among
- their Parishioners, and to the enjoyment of that
• moderate competence, to which their laborious and!
important duties so justly entitle them. Such, Sir,
• are the few thoughts that presented themselves to
me upon- considering this subject ; and however;
uninethoditsally they may be thrown out, or how
ever indistinctly expressed, they are suggested by;
and a re_ regard to the interests of my Country,

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