The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-13 00:00:00

return.

Leave was given last night to the Lord
Advocate to bring in a Bill for reforming the
municipal constitution of the royal burghs in
Scotland. His proposal was that the Bill be
read a first and second time proforma', and then
be referred to a Select Committee consisting of
all the Members of the Scotch burghs. As these
burghs are, and always have been, perfect
Augnean stables, the river cannot be too soon
turned through them.

We have more than once adverted to a sub-
ject which at present occupies a considerable
share of the attention of a large portion of the
community ; we mean the better observance of
the Sabbath. We think we may lay claim to
having shown some anxiety for the correction of
the real abuses which prevail in this respect,
and we have seen with pleasure the feeling which
has been manifested by the public upon it ; but
we would entreat our friends to let theirs be zeal
according to knowledge.
The petition from Staines and Laleham, we
see, prays specifically for checking the naviga-
tion of barges on rivers on Sundays. Now this
is, we think, being " righteous over much," and
may give a handle to those who wish the Sun-
day to he considered in the same light as any
' other day, to oppose any check upon the system
of demoralization now going on. If the prin-
ciple advocated by the Staines petitioners (only
five in number, we observe) were completely
followed up, all vessels traversing the oceans
must on the Sunday he left to take what course
the currents may please, unless they were in a
situation to come to an anchor, because the care
of the sails would occupy the attention of the
sailors, as the care of their barges occupy the
attention of the men, as they float up or down
the stream. In short, there would he no say•
ing where we should stop, if we were once to
descend to particulars like this; and we are very
sure that doing so would not increase the mo-
rality, comforts, and welfare of the people.

We are enabled to state, from undoubted au-
thority, that Mr. CHARLES GRANT intends
submitting to Parliament, before the Easter
recess, a series of resolutions, expressive of the
views and intentions of Ministers with regard
to the East India question. In the Bill which
is afterwards to be brought in, Government pro-
poses to throw open the trade to India—to allow
Europeans to settle in any part of the interior
of the country—to extend the liberty of the
press, and to assimilate, as far as practicable,
the political institutions of the country to those
of Great Britain. It is unnecessary to add,
that the power at present possessed by the Go-
vernor-General, of sending back to Europe
those who are in the displeasure of the Govern-
ment, is to be abolished. The Government is
still to be vested in the hands of the Company ;

but the power of that hitherto all but omnipo-
tent body will be so much abridged as to divest
it of much of its present importance. Indeed,
we know for certain, that in anticipation of the
changes about to take place, the Company are
already contemplating very sweeping reductions
in their vast establishment.

In the House of Commons last night, Mr.
BULWER obtained leave to bring in a Bill for
the better protection of dramatic authors, which
Bill, observed the Hon. Gentleman, " proposed
to allow them the same copyright that was, by
the existing law, given to all other authors. It
also enacted that no play should be performed at
any theatre without the author's consent, and
that if played without his consent, he should
have the right of applying to a Court of Law
for damages against the proprietor of the theatre
where it was so played, the maximum of the da-
mages to be given to him to be fifty pounds, and
the minimum, ten pounds, for every night the said
play was so performed." Mr. G. LAMB ex.
pressed his approval of the provisions of the
Bill, with the single exception of the ten pounds,
which he " thought would be too large a mini-
mum of damages to be given in some cases."
We do not quite see the force of this objection;
but as it is of no particular moment, either one
way or the other ; as it is " neither so deep as
a well, nor so wide as a church door, it may
pass," as Mercutio says.

We shall look to the results of Mr. BUL.
WER'S Bill with no little curiosity. It is more
important and comprehensive in its character,
than may appear on the first cursory glance over
its provisions. It is neither more nor less than
a grand experiment on mind, which is to solve
the problem whether pecuniary encouragement
is alone sufficieNt to create, foster, mature, and
call into active exercise all the loftiest faculties
of genius—for there can be no question that the
production of a sterling tragedy, or a sterling
comedy (we descend no lower in the draina-
tic grade of excellence), requires intellect
of the very highest order. Hitherto the cry
has been, " We have got no first-rate
dramatists, because we have got no first-rate en-
couragement for them." That cry, Mr. BULWER'S
Bill will silence for ever. Then comes the im-
portant question, is pecuniary recompense, after
all the main inspiration of genius ? Is it a
more zealous quickener, than the love of fame ?
Will the munificent rewards proposed by Mr.
BULWER'S Bill present us (always excepting
SHAKSPEARE) with another Elizabethan age ?
We apprehend not. Money may be a quickener,
but it is not the creator of genius ; else,
how comes it, that notwithstanding a superior
work of fiction has for years past fetched the
highest price in the market, we have had among
us only one SCOTT, one BULWER, one CooPER?
The Bill brought in last night is bottomed
on the principle that sterling dramatists will
always be found, if there be found also adequate
pecuniary encouragement. We doubt, we re-
peat, this theory. Men who sit down to write
tragedies or comedies under the mere inspiration
of the pocket, will be pretty sure to render their
productions worthy of their inspiration—and no
more. Good dramatists do not write, as
lawyers plead, or parsons preach, because
they are likely to be well paid for it,
but because they cannot help it—because they
cannot controul the promptings of their genius,
any more than BURKE (notwithstanding all his
exertions, and they were Herculean) could help
scattering the flowers of wit and fancy over his
immortal speech on the dry subject of" Econo-
mical Reform." If Mr. BULWER'S Bill do really
succeed in supplying us with an abundance of
good dramatists—observe, we speak only of the
better order—we shall look on the fact as a
phenomenon unparalleled in the annals of
intellect.

If Mr. BULWER, in addition to his present
Bill, which is an admirable experiment,
and cannot be too warmly commended, could
contrive, by any subtle device, to bring
in another, to compel the proprietors of
Drury-lane and Covent-garden to reduce the
size of their houses one-third, (at present, from
their enormous magnitude, we feel strongly
tempted to echo Mercutio's anathema, " A
plague on both your houses"), he would add to
the obligations he has already conferred on the
amateurs of the sock and buskin. To see any
thing under an elephant, or hear any actor un-
gifted with a forty-parson power of lungs, is now
all but impossible at either of the great theatres.

Brussels Papers mention the arrival of the
Queen of the FRENCH in that capital on the
Bth instant.

On Monday night Mr. FAITHFUL (of
Brighton) gave notice, that on the 16th of April he should
move the following resolution :—" That the Church of
England, as by law established, is not recommended by
practical utility; that its revenues have always been sub-
ject to legislative enactments ; and that the greater part,
if not the whole, of those revenues, ought to be appropri-
ated to the relief of the nation !"

Lord ELLENBOROUGH is said to be about
to unite himself with the daughter of a Noble Lord, in
Wales—a young lady.

ELECTION COMMITTEE.—The third Re-
port of the Committee has been printed, but only adds, to
its previous analysis, the petitions presented on the 4th and
sth of March. The petitions in favour of the better ob-
servance of the Sabbath now amount to 104, and the
signatures to 21,587 ; in favour of the Abolition of Sla-
very, 89, with 26,127 signatures; in favour of Corpora-
tion Reform, 21, and 14,41.7 signatures. On the two
days embraced by the Report only five additional peti-
tions were presented against the Irish Disturbances Bill.

We understand -that Government has it in
contemplation to amend the system of convict labour, and
that, preparatory to a new arrangement, orders have been
given to circumscribe the employment of the convicts at
present in the hulks, by reducing the quantity and dura-
tion of their labour in the dockyards. It is further said
that no more convicts will be added to these establish-
ments, which will be gradually done away with, as the
convicts can be got rid of by transportation, or by serving
out their time.—Devonport Telegraph.

On Friday, a Court of Lunatic° Inquirendo
assembled ht the Crow❑ Inn, Rochester, to inquire into
the state of mind of Liewenant CROWTHER. H. PREN-
Ttcr, Esq., presided. When Lieut. CROWTHER was in-
troduced to the Court, he stated that he had bee❑ confined
some time at the Lunatic establishment at Fort Clarence,
St. Margaret's, Rochester, but that he was now com-
pletely restored, and intended shortly to take a trip to
Brighton. He said that he should order a new carriage
to be built for him, the spokes of which he intended to
be of gold, as he had lately had left him 100,0001. The
Jury shortly came to the decision, that Lieut. CROWTHER
was not in a fit state to manage his own affairs.

DALKIETH CORN MARKET
Wheat. Barley. Oats.
First 66s 04 3Os Od 22s Od
Second 46s Od 26s Od 19s Od
Third 3Bs Od 21s Od 16s Od

'l.—March 7.
Pease. Beans.
30s Od 30s Od
26s Od 26s Oct
223 od 22s Od

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (THIS DAY.

FROM LLOYD'S.

DEAL, MARCII 12.—Wind E., moderate.—Arrived his
Majesty's ship Scout, and remains with the combined squa-
dron ; and Postboy schooner, from London, for the westward.
PORTSMOUTH, MARCH 19..—Wind E.N.E., fresh.
PLYMOUTH, MARCH 11.—Wind E.N.E., fresh.—Arrived
the Renown, Clark, from Charente.
FALMOUTH, MARCH 11.—Wind E.N.E., strong gales and
squally.

COWES, MARCH 12.—Arrived the Edward, Cormacks, from
Charleston, very leaky, fore and mainmast sprung.
LIVERPOOL, MARCH 11.—Arrived the Hero, Fowler,
from Savannah.

LLANELLY, MARCII 11.—Arrived the Express packet,
Croscomb, from Swansea, in a sinking state, bound to Bordeaux.
Sailed the Tapley, Tapley, for Bengal.
WATERFORD, MARCO 10.—Arrived the Eliza Williams,
Barnes,' Martha Pope, Jones, and Victoria, Hodge, from London.
MILFORD, MARCH 11.—A large vessel, with painted ports,
is sunk off St. Gowen's Head. All vessels coming down the
Bristol Channel must at low water, give St. Gowen's Head a
good birth. A box shipped on board the Barleycorn, of and
for this, has been washed on shore ; the vessel is supposed to
have foundered.