The Sun.
London, England, 1832-02-16 00:00:00

indictment of petjury,upon theaffidasit, or they
May brink an aetion to :obtain Compensation-in
damages for the false. imprisonment. s But there
are cases in which the arrest itself may ruin a
man, and, though the law is.open to him, it is
only open upon such costly terms as he may
be too poor to pay, Unless he. snbmits to the.
degrading vexations of suing ire. forma pau-
penis. it, contrary to every day's experience, it
, ke :,untended that those remedies are effectual to.
I prevent the abuse of the law against persons who
are not of the Legislature, then it follows, as a
necessary inference, that they would also. be
effectual to prevent the false or malicious arrests
of Members of Parliament upon trumped-up
charges of debt. Why then are they not con-
tent with the protection thereby afforded, with-
out assuming a privilege which can only shield
them from the just demands of their bona fide
creditors ? We are glad that Mr. Baring has
obtained leave to bring in a Bill to limit this pri-
vilege of arrest, although we would rather see it
abolished. The object of Mr. Baring's Bill
appears to be to do away the exemption from
arrest in case of judgment debts remaining for
ti certain time unpaid, but to leave the privi-
lege as to arrest on mesne process untouched.—
We would have the whole privilege taken away,
because it is only just and reasonable that the
persons who are deputed by the country to
make laws should be subject to the laws of their
dwn making ; and because we are of opinion
' that, as soon as Members of Parliament found
tiseinsehres liable. to, be held to bail for debt, there
Would be. some chance that the law of arrest for
'debt,. Which works so much private evil and public
injury., would be entirely abolished. We need
not here repeat,the arguments which we have so
.often used in support of the proposition to abo-
lio the law of arrest for debt. When the Le-
gislature raised the bailable sum from 101. to 151.,
and subsegueutly from 151. to 201., it acknow-
ledgeo .the bad principle on which the.law was
grounded,. although it wanted the courage or the
'wlsdom to_ afford effectual relief. Mr. Hume,
pinsued for some time, with great apparent.
e4.rnesttiess, the laudable object of procuring the.
repeal of the law of arrest for debt, and we sup-
,,
phrted him ; ,hut.he has, for a considerable time
pt, been silent on the subject, and we., do
find that be; took the opportunity of Mr. Baring's
!lotion ,to re-assert. his opinions on this impoirs
taut question. The great argument in favour of
repeal of the law of arrest for debt, in a public
Oint of view, is the false crelit.and the habits
0 extravagance which it createsisiod the detri-
,
nit thereby done to the; moral of, society.—
Mornine. Heral,d.
• •
The petition from CaMbridge against the
Reform Bill, which was presented last night
by Captain Yorke, sounds like a note of prepa-
ration. The petitioners particularly objected to
the lOts franchise, and to the metropolitan dis-
trict representatives. We may thence conclude
that the great struggle will take place upon
those two points,' and that, though rumour as-
signs to the violent Anti-Reformers an intention
of grappling more directly with the principle of
the measure, the moderate party in the House
of Lords will be satisfied with a compromise to
the extent of the propositions we have men-
tioned. Perhaps it would be possible to effect
some modification of the 101. franchise, if the
Opposition would be satisfied with that alone;
but we have no idea that Ministers would or
could consent to abandon that part of their plan
which goes to enlarge the representation of the
metropolis. If the principle of extending the
franchise be at all recognised in the Bill, we do
not see upon what pretence the metropolis can
be excepted. Whether numbers, intelligenCe,
or property, be taken as the basis of representa-
tion, or whether in their combined influence
they are to confer the right, London and its en-
virons possess claims which cannot be frittered
away by the sophistry of interested parties. Doc-
tor Johnson, himself a Tory, acknowledged and
admired the intelligence of the people of Lon-
don. Is it to the most intelligent and active
part of the population that the Legislature
should be most unwilling to extend the privi-
leges of freemen ? We shall look forward with
some curiosity to the debate which is to en-
lighten us on this new principle of Government.
Morning Herald.
At the present time there are, upon the coast
of Africa, two colonies—one of English, the
other of American origin, constructed upon dif-
ferent plans, but intended to effect similar ob-
jects, namely, the gradual abolition of negro
slavery in the We!..t India colonies of Great Bri-
tain and the United States of North America ;
and also the interruption of the contraband slave
trade on the coast of Africa itself--the 'land to
which Christian nations have taught one of the
worst of crimes, the deprivation and sale of hu-
man liberty. One is the colony of Sierra Leone,
the other Liberia : the former a colony tinder
the authority and superintendence of the British
Government, though, we believe, originally a
settlement of the African Company ; the latter a
settlement upon a tract of country purchased by
the Colonization Society of the United States
fr9m African Chiefs, for the purpose of affording
an. asylum to emancipated slaves, and a residence
to.such free persons of colour who may be de-
sirous of emigrating thither from the American
territories. Of the colony of Sierra Leone much
haS been heard ; and much of what has been
heard has been lamented. We believe that it
has operated as a powerful check upon the con-
traband slave trade, on that part of the African
coast where the colony is situate ; but at the
same time, the climate is so destructive to the
hejskle of, Europeans, or whites in general, that
much of what. humanity
.gains in one. way it
loses in the other. if many blacks are saved
from the horrors .of the slave ship, and the
tortures and the lash of a hopeless bondage,
many Europeans are cut
.off its the prime of
life by pestilent distempers;—the track of that
mercy which breaks the chains of the African
is moistened with the tears of widows and
orphans, and the services of Christian: benevo-
lence are performed within the shadows of the
region of death. Liberia, which is situate in
the neighbourhood of the Cape Monteserado,
and the river of the same name and that of St.
Paul, is also very unhealthy to whites, but it ap-
pears not to be so with regard to coloured
people. It is true that those coloured people
from the North and middle American States
have to undergo what is called a season-
ing—that is, they generally take the fever the
first month of their residence, but it is. said to
have rarely proved fatal since accommodations
have been prepared for their reception- Those
from the other States either escape the fever al-
together, or have it very slightly. So Capt.'s,
Sherman, who has had some experience of the
place, declares; and Doctor Mechlin, the agent
of the Society, states that the bills of mortality
would show a less proportion of deaths than
those "of Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York.
But the great distinction between. Serra Leone