The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have received a private letter from Frankfort, which
informs us, upon the best authority, that the measures
adopted by the late Congress of Vienna, consist— '
Ist, Of a reciprocal Convention establishing certain abstract
maxims of Government, which the German Sovereigns engage
individually and jointly to uphold.
2d, A tribunal to be instituted under the name of Compro-
misions Gericht (Court of Compromise), for the decision of
differences between the Sovereigns and their subjects. This
tribunal is to be summoned by the Diet at the applica-
tion of the parties ; and when it has pronounced judg-
ment, reference is to be made to the Diet for the execu-
sion of the sentence. It was intended that this tribunal should be
allowed to exercise its functions at the application of only one of the
two parties; but it is believed to be owing to the spirited remon-
strances made by the King of Bavaria, that the competency of the
tribunal will be limited to cases in which both parties shall declare
their willingness to abide by its decisions.
3d, Regulations to counteract the political tendency of the educa-
tion given in the German Universities ; a Curator is to be named
in each University to superintend its disciplin , and the students
are prohibited from entering into secret associations.
4th. The censorship of the press is to be maintained throughout
Germany, and no paper is to be published without a permission,
which may be revoked in case of misconduct.
Other questions are understood to have.been treated on
in the Congress, the principal of which are Commerce,
Lotteries, and Austregal Judgments (Pasta Conventa) ;
but the final decision of these questions will be left to the
Diet.—Morning Chronicle.
It may easily be supposed that all the bills which have
passed the Commons, or are in progress through that
House, will not pass the Lords. Were there no other rea-
son for making a selection, the want of the requisite time
would render it necessary to make one. Lord Wharncliffe
having last night called the attention of the Lords to the
state of the business of the House, observing that there
were several measures now before them which would re-
quire no small portion of time to be devoted to their consi-
deration, Lord Grey answered that several of the bills
could not pass this session, and he instanced two, for
altering the criminal law of the country taking
away the punishment of death in certain cases. One
reason (said his Lordship) why all these alterations
should not be made this session was, that as yet
they had established no good system of secondary
punishments. The Lord Chancellor observed that the Bill
for the abolition of imprisonment for debt could not pro-
perly be passed this session ; and with regard to the Bills
for the alteration of the criminal law, his Lordship made
an observation, which, in our judgment, is deserving of the
utmost attention :—" With respect to Bills for the altera-
tion of the Criminal Law, he thought that they ought to
be introduced on the recommendation of men whose atten-
tion had been particularly directed to those matters—that
alterations, instead of being made as now, should be taken
up and made in a systematic way. He hoped that the
Criminal Law Commissioners, some of whom were
most versed in these matters of any men in West-
minster Hall, would favour the country with a
report on the matter before the next session,
and call the attention of Parliament to those changes which
ought, and those which ought not, to be made in the
general system of our criminal law." There is, unques-
tionably, great force in these observations of the Chancellor.
We do not, of course, want to deprive Members of Parlia-
ment of the right which they now possess of originating
Bills ; but it is obvious that too great facilities are at pre-
sent allowed to crude experiments in legislation. Some
check should be instituted in the way of standing commit-
tees of men chosen for their knowledge and experience of
the different departments of law, to which Bills should be
submitted in the first instance ; and though the Member
who failed to obtain the sanction of the Committee
might not be precluded from afterwards appealing to
the House, it is obvious that in many instances
the Member would be satisfied with the decision
of the Committee, and, at all events, it would be
necessary for him to make out a strong case for the inter-
ference of the House. The Lords of the Articles, in the
Scotch Parliament, had the power of absolutely preventing
the introduction of measures of which they disapproved.
This, of course, led to great and manifold abuses ; but, on
the other hand, the systern of the British Parliament is also
open to very great abuses. The statute-book is at present
crowded with contradictory enactments ; and were it not
that Acts of Parliament are, in nine cases out of ten, so
clumsily framed that, in the language of lawyers, a coach
and horses may be driven through them, many of the laws
would be productive of the greatest mischief. We trust
that something like consistency will be aimed at in our cri-
minal legislation, and that every Member with a crotchet
in his head, and with no other qualification than a restless
activity, will not be allowed to bring in Bills at discretion.
Some difficulties ought to be overcome before a Member is
allowed to introduce a measure 'to the House.—Morning
Chronicle.

The second reading of the Poor Laws Amendment Bill
in the House of Lords is fixed for this evening. Two
courses are open to their Lordships with respect to this
measure—either to reject it at once on the second reading,
or altogether to remodel it in Committee. The former
would, perhaps, be more generally popular among the
body of the people, who, with Cobbett, are anxiously look-
ing to the Lords to save the poor from the grindingtyranny
to which the Bill exposes them. The latter, however, is
certainly the more wise and statesmanlike course, and
would insure the approbation of all the reasonable and
humane portion of the community, who wish the
abuses of Poor Law administration to be reformed
with a strong hand and without delay, though they
would - preserve inviolate the principles of that
great and just law, which, while it has protected for more
than two centuries the lives of the poor, has proved
throughout the same period an equally efficient safeguard
to the property of the rich. If the latter course be adopted
we trust to see the Central Commission shorn of its uncon-
stitutional and unprecedented powers, and reduced to a
branch of the Home Department, similar to that suggested
by Mr. Pitt in 1795, having for its duties the collection of
information relative to the practice and working of the
Poor Laws in every part of Britain, the publication of
an Annual Poor Law Budget and Report, the establish-
ment of an umfom and intelligible system of parochial ac-
counts, and the issuing of " Rules, Orders, and- Regula-
tions" for the relief and employment of the poor, and
the erection, management, and superintendence of work-
houses, not compulsory, but recommended to the adoption
of magistrates at Quarter Sessions, who should have power
in case of adoption, to inforce them through their several
counties. In this shape the Central Board will be of great
use without being empowered, as under the Bill it is, to
workl irremediable mischief at the will of two or three
crotchetty political economists. Let this be done, and the
gly i
stopped,
as the Bill directs,
to the Secretary of
blall,otnh-ane
lc
set system
June,tem u nslpBa3rins,
leaving
State alone to sanction its continuance after that epoch
in cases of extreme emergency. Let the settlement
and bastardy clauses remain in the mitigated form into
which they have been gradually moulded by the Com-
mons, Mr. Miles having, in fact, succeeded in rescuing
from destruction all that is valuable in the existing Bas-
tardy Law, while admitting the removal of its defects.
if the Bill be passed in this shape, it will probably
And,
effect in a safe, mild, and prudent manner some. part o'f
that amelioration in the practice of the Poor Law) for
which the best friends of the poor have been so long
anxious, and which it would be vain to look for from the

•

LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 8, 1834.

The Tories will, ere long, see the danger they
incur by their ill-omened coalition with a party who
have only one feeling in common with them—hostility
to the existing Government. On every other subject
they are distant as the poles. The former boast of
being Conservatives ; yet they cheer on a section of
the House of Commons, whom they never could

satisfy, whom they never could agree with in any
one material point, and whom they have not unap-
propriately described in their vocabulary as Destructives.
Their object is to undo all that both Whigs and Tories
have been supporting for centuries. They would do
away with the connection between Church and State
—they would give the elective franchise alike to the
poor and to the rich—alike to the man who had not a

stake in the country and the man who had millions—
they would have annual Parliaments—vote by ballot
—reduce the Sovereign to the rank of a Chief Magi-
strate without his power—nay, abolish sovereignty
altogether—and, last of all, compound with the
State creditors for a time, and, finally, become
bankrupt. These are the men that the PEELS, and
the BARINGS, :and the STANLEYS are urging
on to annoy the Government in every possible
way—to vote against them in season and out of
season, and, with the assistance of the Opposition in
the House of Lords, to retard every measure of im-
provement, and bring the country to a state of confu-
sion which they fondly but vainly hope will call for
their interference. There never were men more mis-
taken, and they are mistaken, too, with their eyes open.
The party to whom we allude—the party whom their
Tory colleagues have styled Destructives, make no
secret of their intentions. They declare openly that
their object in backing the Tories and in voting
against Ministers on every occasion is to turn out the
present Government and place the Conservatives in
power but for a few weeks. They will then join the
other party, vote against their new friends, and not
rest
satisfied till they have a Government at least half
Radical and half 'Whig. If they do not accomplish
this, it will be snore owing to the firmness of Earl
GREY and the good sense of the country than to any
foresight, or prudence, or statesmanlike conduct of
theirs, on the part " of the remnant of a broken
faction." The Irish Members had a specimen last night
of what they might expect from a Conservative Govern-
ment. Sir R. PEEL harangued with great rage and fury
against his Majesty's Ministers, and blamed them
for not bringing forward sooner the question of the
renewal of the Coercion Bill—he even seemed is:-
dined to express sympathy for Mr. O'CoNNELL on

We feel great pleasure in stating, that the pre-
amble of the Great Western Railway Bill has been
carried in the Committee of the House of Commons,
after an unexampled contest of 55 days. The Bill
will now be soon sent up to the Lords, and be fa-
vourably dealt with ; for it will prove more beneficial
to the West of England, Wales, and the South of
Ireland, than people at present imagine.

It will be seen from the debate in the House of
Commons last night, on the motion of the Marquis of
CHANDOS for an Address to his Majesty, expressing

the deep regret of Parliament for the distress which
prevails among the agricultural interest, and praying
for a reduction of taxation, that landlords are in a fair
way of reaping the fruit of that sordid policy which
blinded them to the consequences of corn-law restric-
tions. They are beginning to feel that injustice, against
whomsoever committed, is in the end as destructive of
the happiness of the agent as the object. This must
ever happen, as it is not in the nature of things that any
prosperity can be lasting which is purchased at the
expense of the well-being of others. The landlords
had their day ; they imposed taxes, and removed them
at their pleasure ; they sacrificed everything to high
rents, never dreaming that a time would come when
the certain ruin in which they involved manufactures
would swallow up them and all their wide-spreading
possessions.

Let it not be suppoSed, however, that we do not
deeply sympathise with our perishing agricul-
turists—that we do not share the feelings of all who
regret that the punishment of evil is not confined to
the perpetrators. But let us look to the root of the
evil ; let us calmly inquire the causes which have pro-
duced such lamentable effects ; and then let us see
what good is likely to be effected by an address ac-
knowledging the existence of what nobody denies, and
praying for a remedy which we recommend the adop-
tion of by the Government, though we know it 'can
only afford very partial and very inadequate relief.
Lord CHANDOS states, in the resolution which he
submitted to the House of Commons, that the agri-
culturists are in a very distressed condition. This is
admitted by every person. And to alleviate that dis-
tress, he calls for a reduction of taxes. But does the
Noble Lord think that farmers believe high rents to
have nothing to do with their grievances ? Does he
forget that Corn Laws were enacted, not for the
benefit of the farmer, but the land-owner, and that
taxes were trebled, to preserve to the landlord the
quiet enjoyment of that monopoly ? Is he aware
that the necessity for heavy taxes is mainly owing to a
restricted trade system ; and that the best way . to
enable the Government to reduce them is by open-
ing our ports for the free reception of foreign produce ?
Bad laws are always the most expensive ; and in sup-
porting trade restrictions at an enormous expense, the
country has shown itself no wiser than a fisherman
who would bait with a trout to catch a minnow.
It is both curious and instructive to trace the pro-
gress of the present agricultural distress. In 1815 Mr.
ROBINSON, sanctioned and supported by CASTLE•
REA GII, introduced the present corn-law restrictions,
in a Bill which was hailed by the whole of the landed
aristocracy, as a measure which would secure to them
the high rents obtained during the war. The effect
of this Bill, as regarded the manufacturers and trades-
people, was entirely overlooked. The landowners had
the power to enrich themselves at the expense of every
other interest in the country, and they did not fail to
avail themselves of it. The Bill was carried by
triumphant majorities, and all went on merrily with
the landlords. In the mean time trade rapidly declined.
The import duty on foreign grain acted as a prohibi-
tion ; and foreign corn-grow-ers, finding there was no
longer a market for their produce, were obliged to de-
cline purchasing o'„-
,r manufactures. Distress first
manifested itself in Scotland N - iecia 11
silk and shavvl Glasgow vceavers of ny among the
gow and Paisley ; and
to such an
extent did it increase, that, between the
yeas 181:, and 1819
Chart, twenty thousand artizans, from
pa:rt of the country, had emigrated to America,
carry-
ing with them that s • uperior laioNvledge in several
branches of trade, which enabled the 61 f
anu acturers of this

country to compete with foreigners under many striking
disadvantages. The consequence of this was that ma-
nufactures on the most approved principles grew up
and flourished abroad by means of English skill and
industry, and wherever we carried the products of our
labour out of our own country, we found ourselves
crushed by the successful rivalry of British outcasts.
This increased the general distress, and, as a last re-
source, the burthen of supporting the poor fell on the
poors' rates, while taxes were augmented to supply the
means of putting down insurrections, and preventing
smuggling along the coasts. A state of things so
disastrous was not long confined in its baneful opera-
tion to one class of the community. Agriculturists
soon discovered that there was as much, if not more,
wisdom in employing men usefully, so as to make them
support themselves, as there was in pauperizing them,
merely to throw them on the parish. Thus the evil
re-acted on its perpetrators ; and thus to their short-
sightedness and injustice is attributable all the distress
of which they are now the victims.

Lord A LTHORP, we are happy to observe, expressed
himself willing to remit taxes on farm-servants and
horses, which press heavily on agriculturists in the
rural districts ; adding that should the state of the
revenue admit of it he would extend to them still
further relief. We know ourselves that it is an ex-
tremely difficult thing for the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER to undertake the reduction of any tax
at the present moment, as he is yet but partially ac-
quailed with the effect which the reductions already
madebmay have on the revenue. But we are delighted
to find that something more can still be clone without
danger ; and we are glad that the agriculturists are to
reap the advantage of it.
But let not the agriculturists continue to deceive
themselves on this question. The landlords may tell
them what they please, but we warn them to beware
how they listen to them in future. They arc ruined, it
is true, but their ruin has been effected by high rents
and high restrictive duties, not by high taxes, which
are merely the natural consequences of such rents and
restrictions.

His Majesty's packet the Plover has arrived from
Vera Cruz and Cuba. She left at the Havannah, on
the 4th June, His Majesty's ship Larne, and Fin:fly
schooner, with a schooner, under Portuguese colours,
and 217 slaves on board, which she had captured on
the south side of Cuba about a week before.

Letters from Vienna say that the moment Don
MIGUEL landed, he departed for the Austrian ter-
ritory.

A proposal has just been published for forming a
Joint Stock Bank, to be called the National Bank of

Ireland, which, when completed, must confer great
benefits on that country. Amongst the Committee
are the names of several of the most influential and
practical gentlemen in Ireland, and eminent merchants
in England ; and if the selection of the Directors be
such as it ought to be, the success of the undertaking
must be certain. Ireland contains within herself all
the materials necessary to great wealth and prosperity.
Her resources in agriculture are almost boundless.
Along her sea coast her fisheries may be made avail-
able to the wants and comforts of the people, and her
manufactures may be much enlarged by an in-
crease of capital. The people are intelligent
and industrious, and only want capital to produce
great wealth by means of these resources. Private
Banks, however well conducted, cannot furnish

the means necessary for great public under-
takings. It is only by a combined effort
of capitalists, that great public good can be
produced ; and it is for this reason that we are
pleased to observe the monied interest of London
looking to Ireland for a profitable investment of a por-

tion of their superfluous capital. In that kingdom, as
we have already said, the sources of wealth are bound-

,ess. Millions of acres of land may be reclaimed

from an absolute state of nature, and converted into
cultivated fields at a very trifling expense. The people
of Ireland will soon find employment in abundance,
not by the intervention of gold or silver, but by the
introduction, generally, amongst them of a sound system
of banking, in which credit may be made to supply capital.
This is no theory. It has been well illustrated by the
experience of Scotland, where, during the last hun-
dred and fifty years, the face of the country has been
entirely changed, not by silver and gold, for these

precious articles were only known amongst them by
name, but by the introduction of an admirable system
of banking, founded on mutual confidence, and on a
well-regulated credit ; and having for its security nearly
all the land and internal sources of wealth in that
kingdom. By the operation of joint-stock banks,
villages have been raised into populous, and beau-
tiful cities. Waste lands have been changed into
wheat fields. The fisheries now give valuable employ-
ment to nearly two hundred thousand families, and
manufactures of every description have been intro-
duced, and have flourished in an unusual degree.
These are amongst the beneficial effects of that mutual
confidence betwixt man and man, which the introduc-
tion of joint-stock banks has conferred on Scotland,
and no acts of legislation, no compassion from
more civilized neighbours, nor any charity which
the humane could confer, nor subjection to law
which the power of the bayonet could enforce,
could ever have produced the moral and physical
changes, which have occurred in Scotland since the
introduction of that system of banking, which has
conferred on that poor country so many benefits. In
England, although the system of mutual confidence,
which a well-regulated and solid system of paper
culation creates, has not yet reached that state of per-
fection which it has reached in Scotland, still the people
have gained many benefits and numerous advantages
even from an imperfect and restricted system of bank-
ing ; for from 1797 until 1819, when gold and silver
could not be found to supply the circulating medium,
a period when the intercourse amongst her inhabitants
had no other medium than paper money, the English
acquired great eminence amongst the nations of the
earth. Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce
flourished in an unprecedented degree, and industry
introduced great wealth into that kingdom. -
By exchanging home manufactures for the products
of foreign countries, the people of England were sup-
plied with an abundance of everything, and labourers
found plenty of employment. The sudden change in
the currency, which commenced in 1819, necessarily
affected the condition of the labouring classes in Eng-
land ; but the joint-stock banks which arose soon after,
such as the Bank of Birmingham, the London and
Westminster 13ank, the Manchester, and Leeds, and
many other banking associations, give promise of coun-
teikalancing much of this evil, having already conferred