The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It will not have escaped the attention of our
readers that Lord Althorp, on Thursday last,
introduced into the House of Commons a Bill,

limiting the future pecuniary emoluments of the
Chancellor to the moderate salary of 14,000/.

a year, and that on the same day Lord Brougham
introduced into the House of Lords a Bill for
abolishing the offices of Clerk of the Hanaper,
Patentee of the Subpcena Office, Registrar of
the Affidavits, Clerk of the Patents, Clerk of
the Custodies of Lunatics, and Patentee for the
execution of the Bankrupt Laws ; thus sepc.-

rating from the Great Seal by one blow its most
valuable patronage. These measures are wholly
distinct, the one being by no means a conse-
quence of the other ; and the disinterestedness
that has approved the former arid originated the
latter, deserves, as we think, more attention than
it has yet received, either from Whig or Tory.
It is well known the Chancellor's income has
hitherto been principally derived from fees, tl e

amount of which, prior to the present century,
was, however, much too small to afford any rea-
sonable remuneration for the labour of an office
of so uncertain a tenure. It became, there-

fore, the usage for the Chancellor to supply this
deficiency by bestowing certain places in his
gift so as to benefit himself or his family Thus
Lord Northington, we believe, in 1766, pro-
vided for his three daughters, by granting the
office of Registrar of Affidavits in trust for them,
and similar appointments were made by his suc-
cessors. In the golden days of Lord Eldon,
the increase in various descriptions of Chancery
business productive of fees, and in the number
of Private Bills in the Lords, was so immense as

to yield him an income infinitely greater than
that which any of his predecessors had received,
and which certainly for some years did not ave-
rage less than 20,0001. per annum. But his
Lordship did not on this account think it neces-
sary to give up one particle of his patronage.
The Scotts, the Surtees, and the Wilsons be-
came familar names in Equity Practice, however
unknown were the persons who had the good
fortune to bear them. Parliamentary Papers,
too, bear abundant testimony that Lord Eldon
was not less alive to the value than to the num-
ber of' the places which he had the power to dis-
pose of; and no legal Reform, however trifling,
was permitted, without full indemnity to sinecure
patentees and officers whose emoluments it was
likely to affect. It is unnecessary to state that
this system remained unchanged during the three
years that Lord Lyndhurst held the Seals ;
and that Lord Brougham, as he is the first
Chancellor since More who has risen and
left the Court dry of causes, so is he also
the first Chancellor, nor indeed idly to de-
nounce,but actually to abolish, a system detrimental
to the public, but which has filled the coffers of
his predecessors to overflowing. Although too gene-
rous to be rich, he hasrefused to increase his mode-
rate fortune, by making his officers trustees for hint
of the fees which they received, determined, if
any exactions were practised, it should not be
said of him at least, " that he sat in judgment
upon abuses, from which, if they existed, be
would himself derive a benefit." Deprived of a
large part of his income by a law of his own pro-
posing (the beneficial operation of which the
commercial world has now learnt to appreciate,)
he has not condescended to draw the attention of
the public, or even that of his colleagues, to the
loss he has sustained, and he accepts, without
hesitation, a salary one-third less in amount than
the income of those whom he has succeeded.
But he does not stop here ; he voluntarily (and
as many think unnecessarily) proposes to divest
himself of lucrative appointments, that as much
belong to him as any portion of the fees that
may be received, before the Bill, which com-
mutes them for a fixed salary, shall have passed
into a law. We repeat it, that this last act of
the Chancellor is one that deserves the especial
thanks of the nation. He had, indeed, con-
demned the system, but as long as it continued,
—and it has not been his fault that it was not
sooner altered—he had a just right to derive the
same advantages from it as the Northingtons and
the Eldons, and particularly when the first of the
series of his Legal Reforms had mulcted him of
7,0001. per annum.—Morning. Chronicle.
The expression of opinions both through the
political press and the legislative representation
of England, has been already loudly pronounced
against the recent outrage of the Germanic Diet
on German freedom. Our Government is thus
supported by the moral influence of a great and
enlightened people, in pressing upon the two
despotic Sovereigns of the Germanic Confedera-
tion, the necessity of repealing their Turkish de-
cree against the rights and independence of their
smaller constitutional confederates. It is like-
wise justified in every attempt which may be
made by our diplomatic missions to detach the
Princes of the smaller states from a policy which
must inevitably endanger their present tranquil-
lity, and ultimately reduce them to the condition
of feudal vassalage to the more powerful mem-
bers of their union. We cannot for a moment
doubt that our Foreign Minister has already
made a zealous use of these elements of influence
and power, and that the secondary German
Princes
smoimghet a
of
fs
wellrteh e r
b taughtfeor
mmeerdt be
aa
tsissoeedlii
aetveeest that they
might eaet
like
they
might as well be blotted out from the
list of Sovereigns—as be bound to adhere to
the instrument of oppression which they have
lately been compelled to sign. This part of the
question, therefore, we consider as entirely set-
tled. Only one voice has been heard on the
west of the Rhine relative to German affairs—...
and that voice has been one of indignation at the
audacious proceedings of the Diet, and of en-
couragement to those Princes or people of the
Confederacy,who may, in preservation of their
own
and franchises, resist its tyrannical
m
somethe doubtsreis anothielarype beenarto
viof
rights
we the ques-
shall attempt to remove—another
species
i tit
whicharmouroefnint of
fightingw hicthhseoneat eusdeeielyf ourG errithat
freedom, and which, although it may not be
requisite for accomplishing our immediate purpose,
we must show that we are entitled to use, it the
insolence and violence of the oppressor should
warrant an appeal by their victims to our pro-
tection. We maintain, then, that the language
and the due interpretation of treaties give us a
right of forcible interference, should our moral
influence and diplomatic remonstrances be de-
spised. As it was the German people, confi-
dently relying on the promises of constitutional
freedom held out by their Princes, who. mainly
contribute to roll back the inundation of French
conquest,land-mark
m and
po
eb
wl i teerr, a teed
one
o everyf the ancient
first
objects of the Allies when they met at Paris on
the overthrow of Buonaparte, and could proceed
in their turn to a new arrangement of Europe,
was the reorganization of Germany. The Con-
federation of the Rhine had fallen with the hand