The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-07 00:00:00

we trust, either. themselves see the necessity of
fulfilling voluntarily ar►d zealously the task they
have undertaken, or will frame means of dis
countenance their own blackslidings.—illorning
Herald.

Though the details are often tiresome and dis-
gusting, there are few topics of a domestic nature
in which the public in general are more interested
!Ilan in the proceedings at Police Offices; nor
can the Press be better employed than in
wa'ching narrowly, but, at the same time, with
liberality and fairness, the way in which povvers
which exist, and others which are assumed, are
exercised by a class of persons who deal so
largely with the liberty of the subject as the ma-
gistrates of the metropolis. Every now and then
a new vagary seizes one or more of these gentle.
men, who to the " glorious uncertainty of the
law" add the inglorious want of uniformity in
the practice of it. As a specimen of this, a dic-
tum has lately been announced from one or
more of the Police Offices, stating that the
King's subjects are not entitled to avail
themselves of professional assistance before
a magistrate—than which nothing can to our
minds be more unjust and absurd. If laws were
really so clear to every moderate capacity that
those who run might read, then, perhaps, there
might be sonie sense in requiring every man to
understand them, and to insist upon his being
his own counsellor or attorney, as the case might
be ; but when we know that the i\lagistrates
themselves often cannot construe Acts of Parlia-
ment without the assistance of their clerks—and
that, even then they are sometimes guilty of the
grossest blunders—to tell unlettered men that
they shall flounder in the meshes of the law
without any means of extrication, is a species of
refined and ingenious cruelty more worthy of
Turkish than of British justice. In the higher
Courts we hear it continually urged that a man
must appear by attorney, and that even the
commonest motion must be made by Coun-
sel. While Lord Mansfield's celebrated dic-
tum, that " the man who is his own
Counsel has a fool for his client," is constantly
quoted upon those who venture to plead their
own cause, is it to be borne that in these minor
Courts, where the judge is less equal to his
duty, and the client in general less able to de-
fend himself, the latter shall be debarred the
privilege, which belongs to him every where
else, of seeking for, and obtaining, that assist-
ance which may enable him to cope with the
" glorious uncertainty" in which he is involved?
It would be as reasonable almost to tell a drown-
ing man that no boat shall put off to his assist-
ance, or a sick man that no medical aid shall he
have. Indeed, so preposterous is the idea, that
it seems almost to justify Lord Milton's doctrine
of individual resistance ; and, if persisted in, we
trust that some person will be found with the
courage and the means to resist it to the last, by
carrying it, if necessary, as a constitutional ques-
tion, before the highest tribunal of the State.—
Morning Herald.
In the present deplorable state of Ireland,
whatever plan may be proposed holding out a
reasonable prospect of reconciling existing feuds,
without material prejudice to the rights or inte-
rests of any party, ought to be met with the
most favourable consideration, and Mr. Stanley's
Bills for the adjustment of the tithe system,—
that fruitful source of agitation and discontent,
may fairly, we think, be so characterized. It
appears to us to be a safe, temperate, and equi-
table measure, and as such it will, we have little
doubt, receive the ultimate sanction and appro-
val of all who honestly desire to see a remedy
applied to the distractions of unhappy Ireland.
Mr. Stanley proposes to introduce three distinct
Bills on the subject. By the first, the tithe
composition, which by universal consent has
been attended with the most beneficial effects
wherever it has been adopted, will be made
compulsory and permanent, subject only
to variation with the price of
agricul-
tural produce, aid, will become charge-
able on the landlord. The second Bill provides
for the establishment in each diocese of an Ec-
clesiastical Corporation, formed of the Bishop
and clergy, for the purpose of collecting the
tithe, and dividing it in the proportions to which
each individual is entitled ; or, in the event of
the tithe being redeemed by the landlord, to em-
ploy the sum in the purchase of estates, the rents
of which will be applied in the same manner.
The third Bill offers to landlords the means of
redeeming the tithe on easy and favourable
terms. We trust that each of the three classes
affected by the measure will see reason to be
satisfied with its provisions. With regard to
the occupier of the land, it will relieve him from
all those petty vexations to which the collection
of the tithe in minutely small sums has hitherto
subjected him, and which has always been
put forward as the main grievance he has
to complain of. This class of persons must
be fully aware, notwithstanding the efforts
made to deceive them, that were tithes
utterly annihilated no benefit whatever would
accrue to them. They can have no in-
terest in the commission of a flagrant outrage on
property from which they would derive no ad-
vantage. If tithes were extinguished their rents
would be proportionally raised. Under the pro-
posed system their rents will probably be raised
by the landlord in consideration of the charge
transferred to him, and from which they are re-
lieved ; but no injustice will be done either to
themselves or to the clergyman, while, in the
other case, gross injustice would be done to both.
To the landlord this measure is more than just ;
it is partial. The charge imposed upon him can
be no just ground of complaint, since he will
only pay as tithe the increased rent he will draw
from his tenants ; and the terms at which he
will be allowed to redeem the charge are
decidedly advantageous and profitable. We
now come to the consideration of the third
party, the Protestant clergy. Mr. Stanley's
Bill does not secure to them all that is strictly
and of right theirs. They will nominally sur-
render, it appears, about fifteen per cent. of their
just dues (we say nominally, because the fatal
extent to which the Popish conspiracy has been
suffered to proceed actually despoils them at the
present moment of their entire income, and ren-
ders the law a dead letter) ; but in return for
this surrender there is secured to them what they
will probably, under such circumstance, accept
as an equivalent, viz., a fixed, certain, and per-
manentprovision. In place, too, of drawing an
uncertain livelihood amidst never ceasing litiga-
tion and disorder, they will have the heartfelt
gratification of being enabled to withdraw them-
selves from those scenes of vexation and dissen-
sion which were always repugnant to their feel-
ings, and in which they never willingly engaged.
We heartily trust that this judicious and, we
are sure, well-intentioned attempt to restore peace
to Ireland will obtain a fair hearing and trial,
despite the blind and headlong opposition to
chat
o u n factiontr.
—M
worhning which
isP otshte curse of the Sister
Country.—Morning .