The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

Honourable Gentleman the Member fur Abingdon
argued, that because it was the practice that the oaths
should be taken on the New Testament, that " the
onus should be thrown upon those Rho desired to de-
part from the practice to show that it could
be lawfully done." Now, with all respect for
the acknowledged learning of Sir RIEDERICE
MENGES, we must express our unqualified
dissent to this proposition. Baron ROTHSCHILD was
asserting not only his own rights as a natural-born
subject of Great Britain, but the rights and privi-
leges of the numerous and influential constituency by
which he was elected as a representative. It was not
on his side that the onus lay of showing why he should
not be deemed disqualified on account of the religious
principles which he conscientiously entertained, or
why the city of London should not be partially
disfranchised, but for his opponents, who en-
deavoured to resist the just demand and to
exclude the Honourable Gentleman from the
Legislative Councils of the nation of which he was a
free citizen. They should have shown that there was
some express enactment on the subject, or at least
some previous decision of the House itself on the
point that would constitute a precedent sufficient to
warrant a decision contrary to the judgment of every
judicial tribunal of the country for the last century
and a half, since the leading case of Ommicuire V.
BARKER was determined by the Lord Chancellor
(Lord HinnwicxE) and the three Chiefs of
the Common Law Court?, Chief Justice
WILLIS, Chief Justice LEE, and Chief Baron
PARKER. In that important case, the princi-
ple of which has never since been impeached or con-
troverted, Lord HARDWICKE declared that "all that
is necessary to an oath is an appeal to the SUPREME
BEING, as thinking him the rewarder of truth and
avenger of. falsehood." The Noble and Learned
Lord added—" This is not contradicted by any
writer that likknow of but Lord Coss, who has taken
upon himself to insert the word Christian, and is
the only writer that has grafted this word into the
oath." •

WILLIS, C.J., assented to this reasoning, and used
these remarkable words—" The nature of an oath is
not at all altered by Christianity, but only made more
solemn from the sanction of rewards and punishments
being more openly declared. The form of the oath
varies in countries according to different laws and
constitutions, but the substance is the same in all.''
These opinions would appear to be conclusive on the
question, although no enactment had subsequently
passed the Legislature. If the substance of the adju-
ration was complied with, the form signified
little, providing it were really looked upon as
binding on the conscience as an appeal to a SUPBEMS
BEING, "the rewarder of truth and avenger of falsehood,"
to witness the ceremony. The religious principles
acknowledged by every creed and sect would con-
sider such an appeal of the most formidable character,
if made falsely. But the Ist and ?.1 Vic., c. 105,
added temporal to the eternal punishments that
might be inflicted for its violation. It was thereby
enacted, that in all cases in which an oath " shall
have been administered in due fJrm, and with such
ceremonies as such person may declare to be binding,
every such person, in case of wilful false swearing,
may be convicted of the crime of perjury in the same
manner as if the oath had been administered in the
form and with the ceremonies most commonly
adopted." There is thus every sanction, spi-
ritual or temporal, that could possibly be
desired to give full validity to the oath or oaths
that may be taken by Baron RoTriscrunD on the
Old Testament, and it would indeed have been
strange if any body of educated gentlemen had come
to a different decision in the present day.

Having thus determined that it was the substance,
and not the form, of the oath that was essential, the
second point arises, which is under discussion even
while we are writing. Are the concluding words of
the oath of abjuration, "on the true faith of a Chris-
tian," matters of substance or of form ? Do they
constitute any portion of what is to he faithfully
observed by the person taking the oath, or are they
merely parts of the religious ceremony, which are mere
matter of form, and which may dispensed with when
repugnant to the feeling and not binding on the
conscience of the juror ? On this point we entertain
as little doubt as on the other. And had it nut been
for the strange, ill-timed, and unfortunate declaration
of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, that "it was not in the
power of the House to dispense with these words,"
and that he should feel himself compelled to vote
against their omission from the oath, wa should have
considered that the second point was necessarily
governed by the decision in the first. It is unneces-
sary to enter into the consideration of the reasons by
which the Legislature was actuated in framing that
oath, and requiring all Members to take it before
entering upon their Parliamentary duties. It is well
known that there was at that time a claimant to the
crown of Great Britain, who asserted himself to be
the King de jure, and against whose pretensions it
was desired to pledge every person of weight and in-
fluence in the country. It was not the object to ex-
clude Jews, or the members of any other religious
persuasion, and the words " on the true faith of a
Christian" were added merely for the purpose of
giving additional solemnity, and were as clearly a
portion of the "form as the swearing on the New
Testament, and could therefore be dispensed with in
like manner ;" and this we trust will be the decision
of the British House of Commons, although the head
of a quasi-Liberal Ministry has adopted a course and
made a declaration so deeply to be deplored by every
true friend of civil and religious liberty.
It is true that Baron ROTHSCHILD might, if so
disposed, take the form of oath framed for Roman
Catholics, in which the words " on the true faith of a
Christian" are not contained ; and that he might get
into the House by an evasion of the true intent of the
Roman Catholic Relief Act, in the very same manner
that it is attempted to exclude him by an undue ex-
tension of the Act which provided for the taking of
the oath of abjuration. Bat such a course would be
unworthy of the sacred cause of which Baron RoTrti-
CHILD is the champion. He, at least, will not shrink
from a fair decision on the merits, or shirk the
true question at issue—a question which
we fully concur with the Hon. and Gal!ant G;nt!e-
man the Member for Middlesex in considering "the
greatest party question of the age, the question of
prejudice against progress, of intolerance and bigotry
against the principles of civil and religious liberty."
Although we have argued it merely as a judicial
question in the preceding part of this article, we are
fully alive to its deep and vital importance, and we
only desire that the feelings of the citizens of London
should be taken thereon by Lora JOHN RUSSELL'S
again coming forward to solicit their franchises.

We have frequently, during the present session of
Parlianient, called the attention of the Legislature to
the present unsettled and anomalous condition cf the
landlords and tenants of Ireland. We look upon the
Land Question as one of the paramount evils of that
country, and would deem its settlement almost a pana-
ceafor its social and political disorders. We enter-
tained hopes that this urgent and important question
would have received the due attention of Parliaments
and would have been legislated upon in a manner
satisfactory to owner and occupier ; but, alas ! in this
as in many other matters of deep importance to the
peace and well-being of the common weal, we have
been sadly disappointed, fir it would seem the session
of eighteen hundred and fifty will close its labours—
as the Ministerial phrase is—and leave Ireland, and its
land-question grievance, as they found it in eighteen
hundred and forty-nine.

Ireland is indeed an unfortunate country I Hard
and awful are the proofs she must place before the
British Parliament, ere she can claim the attention of
the Alin:ster of the day, and now the cumulative
evidence of another winter of crime and blood will,
perchance, be added to the dark catalogue of agrarian
crime which has so long and so fearfully proclaimed
the necessity of the adjustment of the relations be-
tween the occupiers and owners of land in that unfor-
tunate portion of the empire.
Though we cannot hope that any legislation
can take place on this subject during the pre-
sent sittings, yet we cannot allow the session to
close without calling attention to the sub-
ject, in the hope that the Government will be pre-
pared at the next meeting of Parliament to introduce
a measure based upon principles calculated to give
satisfaction to all parties concerned. The Bill of Sir
WILLIAM SOMERVILLE, though, we believe, well in-
tended, was not based upon sound principles. The
only true grounds upon which this subject can be

legislated upon are the conditions of the " Plantation
of Ulster." By these conditions the settlers on the
confiscated lands, that is the tenant+ or occupiers of
the greater portion of the north of Ireland, were en-
titled to a large share of the privileges of their land-
lords, these landlords themselves holding their estates
not for their own individual profit or advantage alone,
but also in trust for the discharge of certain public
duties imposed by the Crown for state purposes.
It was the intention of the English Monarch to
colonize the confiscated lands in the north of Ireland
with Protestant settlers. The strongest inducements
were held out to English and Scotch Protestants to
settle in Ireland. The Crown only granted lands on
the conditions that such settlers as should be found
bold enough to risk their lives, by settling in a country
where every native would look upon them as intruders
and enemies, should form an independent yeomanry,
holding their land by secure tenures and at moderate
rents. This is the foundation of the Ulster tenant-
right—a right as strong and indefeasible as any right
of landlordism in that portion of Ireland included in
the " Ulster Plantation."

The terms of inducement held out to tempt Pro-
testants to emigrate to Ireland, and locate themselves
on the lands of Ulster, are plainly set forth in several
charters and orders in Council during the reign
of JAMES I. This Monarch was looked upon
rather favourably by many of the Celtic chiefs,
in consequence of his relationship to the blood-royal
of Ireland—a circumstance of which, it is said, JAMES
himself frequently bossted. And, taking advantage
of this predisposition in his favour, he determined to
adopt, on a larger and more secure basis than his pre-
decessors had attempted, the policy of colonising
the confiscated lands of Ulster with British Protestant
settlers, and for the purpose of carrying this plan
into full effect, we find that in the year 1608
a State paper was printed . and issued
under the authority of his MAJESTY and the
Lords of the Privy Council, entitled, " A collection
of such orders and conditions as are to be observed
by the undertakers upon the distribution and planta-
tion of the escheated lands of Ulster."

This official document, which forms the basis of the
ultimate titles of the greater portion of the Ulster
proprietors, goes on to set forth the terms upon which
these lands were to be distributed among such of his
suljects of merit and ability as would undertake to
carry into effect the terms imposed by his MAJESTY,
—first, these lands were granted, not for his
MAJEsTr's own private profit, nor for the private
and absolute profit of any individual or company
alone, " but to do service to the Crown and the Com-
monwealth."

In the charter granted in 1613 to the Irish Society,
when the London companies became the proprietors
•of the whole county of Derry, his MAJESTr more
fully and explicitly declares the public objects of the
" plantation," viz., " To establish the true religion
and to recal that wretched province from superstition,,
rebellion, calamity, and poverty, to religion, obe-
dience, strength, and prosperity." In pursuance of
this project the forfeited lands were parcelled out to
undertakers, the present landed proprietors of Ulster,
in graduated proportions of two thousand, one thou-
sand five hundred, and one thousand acres—bog,
mood, mountains, and unreclaimed land forming no
part of these allotments. Several stringent conditions
were imposed by the Crown upon these undertakers
or head-landlords, but no condition was more
stringent or imperative than that they should make
fixed estates to their tenantry, which, if they failed to
do, they rendered their own estates liable to for-
feiture at the discretion of the Crown. It is manifest,
then, that the undertakers or landlords of Ulster
have no absolute right of ownership, but are the mere
trustees of the Crown to carry into effect the
several conditions to which we have referred, and
that the Ulster "tenant-right" is as much a grant
from the British Crown, and should be held as sacred
as any other proprietary right whatsoever. In the
portion of Ulster where this custom is strictly ob-
served the most beneficial effects have been expe-
rienced, and we confidently believe that its extension
to the whole of Ireland would be etninently calcu-
lated to secure the peace and prosperity of that
country. We cannot devote more space to this sub-
ject to-day, but we will repeat what we have before
frequently urged, that the Ulster " tenant-right"
should be defined and legalised, and extended to every
tenant in Ireland.

During the course of the last week large public
meetings have been held in various towns in this realm
of England, for the purpose of devising some method of
expressing the national respect for the memory 'cf Sir
Robert Peel, and similar meetings have bean held in the
metropolis for the purpose of raising subscriptions to
erect a national testimonial of respect to the memory of
the Duke cf Cambridge; but, whilst it -is graceful and
decorous for a nation thus to give expression to its
feelings of respect and gratitude for the memory of
its dead benefactors, it would be most indecorous, not
to say indecent, were that same nation to treat with
neglect the claims of its living benefactors. We are
sorry to be compelled to admit that to this reproach
England is but too open, as the melancholy fate of poor
Weghorn bears witness. Let us not put it in the power
cf other nations to reproach us with neglecting the
claims of one who hate although in a different manner,
been as great a benefactor to the nation as even Lieute-
nant Waghorn himself, we mean Mr. George Alfred
Walker, the great Apostle of Sanitary Reform, the man
to whose (for a long time unaided) exertions we owe
it that the atmosphere of our large towns is no longer to
be poisoned by the putrid exhalations of the grave-
yards, and whose claims have been ignored and himself
treated with neglect by a Government which has
unscrupulously stolen his ideas, . and, gipsy-like,
spoiled them by perverting that which was intended
for the benefit of all mankind into a gigantic job, for the
exclusive pecuniary proat of the richest clerical body
in the world, which unblushingly lays claim to a vested
interest in the propagation of pestilence, for the giving
up of which it demands and obtains an enormous com-
pensation. That, however, which the Government has
neglec:ed to do the people, we are happy to learn, are
doing. This evening there is to be held, at the Old
Cheshire Cheese Tavern, near Drury-lane Theatre, a
meeting fur the purpose of forming a local committee to
collect subscriptions for a Walker Testimonial ; and
we trust that similar meetings will be held in every pa-
rish of the metropolis.

TIRE I TUB STRAicD.—About half-pat two
o'clock this nu?rning, great alarm and excitement prevailed
in the neighbourhood of Off-alley, Strand. It appears that
the son and daughter of Mr. Mansfield, a hair-dresser, occu-
pied the lower rooms on the ground floor, and while asleep
in bed were aroused by the clothes burning around them.
An alarm, of course, spread in every direction, and instant
intelligence was forwarded to the Chandos-street fire-brigade
station, and in a few seconds the firemen and engines were
iz attendance from that place. Meznwbile considerable
damage had been done, but the firemen soon extinguishei
the dames. lhe two individuals above named were dread-
fully, burned in endeavouring to stay the progress of the fire.
which was caused by placing a lighted candle ou a chair too
near the bedstead. l's/o p.rtion of the property is insured.

On Saturday, IL E. the Earl of Clarendon, Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, honoured Mr. P. Phillips's Diorama
of her Majesty's visit to that country with his presence, and
expressed to Mr. Phillips his delight at the accuracy of his
painting, and'complimented him,on the selection of the vari-
ows views.

Ma. GEORGE STErnErgs.—We regret to learn
that this gentleman, who has been for many years devoted
to literature, and amongst whose works.. may be named the
dramatic poem entitled " The Hungarian. Daughter," "The
Voice of the Pulpit," "The Manuscripts of Erdely,"
" Pere la Chaise." and the tragedies of Ile Vampire, Ger-
trude and Beatrice, end Nero, lkc.—is reduced to a condition
of extreme pecuniary' difficulty' and distress. Of late
years Mr. Stephens has been compelled to depend altogether
upon his literary industry for the Support of his family. A
protracted and painful disorder has rendered it impossible
for him to leave the house fur months.• From this cause he
has been disabled both from seeking literary employment
and, from tilling the duties of any occupation which
necessitates absence from home. Under these cir-
cumstancest it Is proposed, by a benefit appointed
to take place on Wednesday (to-morrow), at the
Soeho purpose Theatrerpo,,e
o (late Mias
fg min Kelly's),his an-s terme eetr,gSe
no
chyo
ast well as by private subscriptions, to raise a 'fund for
h
d7i3;trDes :
The
a speres play
pieces selected for the occasion are Sh k 6of
_Henry /Y., Pcu t the First ; the last act of Mr. Stephens's
tra!redv of Murtinuzzi• and the petite •
.4/i. he committee: among whom
comedy of Time Tries
Douglas Jerrold, Mr, tharlesare
,numbered Mr.
Knight, Mr. \\ es:land Mars-
ton, Mr. George Lovell, &c., earnestly invite the sympathy
and co-operation of all who may be willing to recognise the
double claim of genius and suffering.

Tof
EXTENSIVE FORGERFES 1.11.0; R 33AMC OF Aus-
TRIA•—BIA3iINGIIA3I, manli
ex-
terior, named James Hill, was to-day,ageerntelcoms.nily
te
trouble, apprehended by Mr. Stephens, the active chief so.
perintendent of the borough police, charged with forgeries
upon the Austrian Bank, at Vienna, to the extent of 15,000/.
The prisoner was taken at one of the principal hotels in the
town, and had in his possession at the time of his apprehen-
sion forged notes of la each,,printcd in Birmingham, to the
amount stated. He will be brought up for examination be-
fore the magistrates at the public-office, on Wednesday next.
The quiet and dexterous manner in which he was captured
by Mr. Stephens is highly commended.
We are happy to state, upon good atehority, that
the Duke of Hamilton is progressing towards recovery as
rapidly as the nature of his late severe accident will admit.