The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 24, 1861.

able to avoid all the more vital questions of the
crisis. Amongst the accounts of what is doing
in the House of Representatives we read that
Mr. LOVEJOY offered the following resolutions :
" 1. Resolved—That in the judgment of this house it is
no part of the duty of the soldiers of the United States to
capture or return fugitive slaves.
" 2. Resolved—That the committee on the judiciary be
instructed to inquire into the expediency of repealing the
law commonly called the Fugitive Slave Law.
" 3. Whereas Major Emory, of the United States army,
resigned his commission under circumstances showing sym-
pathy with rebellion against the Government, therefore
resolved—that his restoration to the service was improper
and unjustifiable, and that this house, in the name of the
people, demand of the executive his immediate removal."

After some little discussion the resolutions were
ordered to lie on the table, by a vote of 87 against
62. Thus far, therefore, Congress has already got ;
it will not reject proposals pointing, not to amend-
ing the Fugitive Slave Law, as the President pro-
posed in his inaugural address, but to repealing
it. We have little hope that this higher and
better tone of action in regard to slavery
will make much way in the house yet, still we note
with pleasure anything worthy of the position of
North. Americans may rest assured that we should
admire a little display of moral courage infinitely
more than we do their magnificent demonstraticns
in the way of volunteering. We are, we confess,
pleased to see that our descendants, after so long
a peace, are yet so ready for war, in fact,
thorough JOHN BULLS when their blood is up, worthy
children of the older JOHN. But we should like
also to see them imitate their parent in the plain
blunt way in which he would certainly settle this
controversy. He would assuredly say, that he had
had enough of slavery, that it was a horrible thing
in itself, and that now it had created all this mis-
chief he would take good care it should create no

judges whether they had done the complainant
t civil injury or not.
From this judgment, the Free Church appealed
to the highest Scottish court; the only remaining
appeal, we believe, being to the House of Lords.
This Court, termed "The First Division of the Court
of Session," has confirmed the decision of the Lord
Ordinary, in a judgment so clear that it would
almost seem like litigiousness to carry it further.
The Lord President observed, respecting the Free
Church, that, as a voluntary body, it had " a con-
stitution and rules, to which its members had volun-
tarily subjected themselves ; and in so far dir& they
had done so the civil courts would not hold that
they were entitled to complain when these rules
were observed, unless there was something in them
contrary to the law of the lani ; and in the view he
took of this case it was not necessary to inquire
whether there was anything in them of that
character or not. The pursuer alleged that the
constitution and rules to which he had subjected
himself were violated in the proceedings against
him, to his loss of emoluments, and injury to cha-
racter, and he asked this Court to repone him, and
to give him damages." The Free Church, the de-
fendants in the case, flatly denied these statements ;
and it was impossible for the Court to know till
the facts were before it whether a wrong had been
committed or not. The Court did not propose to
restore him to his ministry, but to redress the
civil injury if there were one.
He supposed the strongest case of tyrannical con-
stitution of a voluntary body; yet, if the complain-
ant had freely submitted to its rules, he would be
without remedy. " The defenders," he said, " were
exercising an absolute and uncontrolled power in
depriving the pursuer of his office, but they were
bound to exercise a lawful right in a lawful man-
ner—namely, in accordance with the rules to which
the pursuer had submitted himself. It might
be that the Assembly had not violated their rules,
and that they were entitled any morning to take
six ministers' names from the ballot-box and de-
pose them, and, if so, the pursuer could get no
redress, unless again there was something in these
rules which the law could not recognise. But the
court must inquire into the terms of the contract,
and into the facts of the case, before they could de-
termine whether the pursuer was or was not en-
titled to such redress as this court could give." On
the other hand he observed that, " A minister was
just as much entitled to rely upon his compact as
any other man, and a breach of that compact,
whereby he and his family were thrown upon the
world to starve, was a wrong which could only he
left without a remedy in a country where law was
unknown."

He went on to observe that the liberty of the ma-
jority might be the slavery of the minority ; but the
law would be slow to infer a man's consent to such
a contract without clear proof ; it is not the kind of
liberty which the law of this country favours. Still
less does the law favour or even recognise the
liberty of one party to a civil contract to break
it with impunity, or to interpret it in his own
favour to the prejudice of the other party. The
interpretation of all contracts belongs, in the first
instance, to the Civil Courts, to the effect of as-
certaining whether they involve civil rights; and,
in the next place, if they do, of vindicating or
giving redress for the violation of those rights ;
and, although every human tribunal must be fal-
lible, history has shown that nowhere else can
these powers be nagEe safely lodged. Rightly
viewed, they are, in his, not powers, but duties
which, when required by any of her MAJESTY'S
subjects, be their religion what it may, we have
no choice but to perform.
It is difficult to see what reply, can be invented
to this remarkably lucid statement of the relation
of the civil courts to voluntary religious
societies. In England the most radical of sects
freely acknowledge it. It was but last year we
had occasion to notice an interesting case which
Sir HUGH CAIRNS and Mr. ROU.NDELL PALMER
conducted before the Master of the Rolls. It related
to the retention or deposition of a minister, on
doctrinal grounds chiefly, but also on ecclesiastical
ones, in one of the first Baptist congregations of
the country. Ministers of the highest standing
in that democratic sect gave freely all the evidence
requisite to clearing up the facts of the contract
between one of their ministers and his congregation.
They never seemed to doubt the right of the court
to know everything bearing on the alleged griev-
ance. We feel quite confident that our friends of
the Free Church had better go and do likewise.

LATEST NE ;S.

PARIS, JULY 2a.
The appeal of M. Mires and Count Simeon, will,
be heard on the 12th August.

NAPLES, JULY =.

The Popolo d'ltalia of to-day announces that the
brigands have invaded the town of Zigarise, and
forced the inhabitants to join them. They bur ned
the national flag, killed the captain, the Syndic, and
several liberals; and, after plundering and dents-
tating the places, advanced on other parts of the
country, where, however, they met with a strong re-
sistance from the troops and the National Guard.

Brigandage has recommenced around Naples.
Chiavone has been beaten by the Italian troops
near Liri.

More favourable accounts have been received
from_Cotronei (Calabria).

TURIN, JULY 24.

The Opinione of to-day says :--" The confessor
of the late Count Cavour has been summoned to
Rome by the Pope, who desires to learn details of
his last moments."

A decree has been published, fixing the terms of
the National Loan, which are in accordance with
those announced yesterday morning.
The minimum price, and the other conditions,
will be fixed later.

ROME, JuLy 23.

In the Consistory held to-day the Pope pro-
nounced a short Allocution, in which he expressed
his satisfaction with the conduct of the Episcopacy
and the Italian clergy.
He deplored the aberration of some ecclesiastics
of Milan, Modena, and the kingdom of Naples, and
lamented the spiritual loss caused by the vacancies
in certain dioceses.

The Pope gave it to be understood that he was
grateful for the occupation of Rome by the French
army, without, however, dissimulating the abuse
which, he said, the enemies of order had made, and
will make, of the painful act of France in recognis-
ing the Kingdom of Italy.

CONSTANTINOPLE, JULY 17 (via Marseilles).
Safetti Pasha, President of the Grand Council,
has been dismissed.
Fuad Pasha succeeds him.
Ali Pasha bas been definitely appointed Minister
for Foreign Affairs.
Palace and departmental reforms continue to be
effected.

MADRID, JULY 24.
Yesterday two warehouses at the Madrid Station
of the Northern Railway were destroyed by fire.
The Royal train and a great number of carriages.
were also burnt.
The loss is considerable.

THORN, JULY 23.

A funeral service was celebrated yesterday in all
the churches of Warsaw, in honour of the late
Prince Adam Czartoryski.
All business was suspended.
The Archbishop officiated in the cathedral. On
entering his carriage the people unharnessed the
horses, and then dragged it to his residence. A
great crowd followed.

THE HAGUE, JULY 23.

The Second Chamber, in its sitting of to-day,
unanimously agreed to the bill authorising the go-
vernment to pay to Hanover the sum of 169,963
German thalers for the redemption of the Stade
dues.