The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-05 00:00:00

institutions have this twofold presumption in their
favour—that they have obtained the approbation of
the good and wise of successive generations, and
that society has commonly so adapted itself to these
institutions as to render a violent revulsion from them
likely to produce as much evil as good. But this
presumption, of course, involves the qualification that
the institutions have really been approved of by free
agents, and that the social state has not outgrown
them, instead of adapting itself to them. Now this
qualification applies, as we think, fully to the State of
Jersey (we confine ourselves, as far as possible to that
among the Channel Islands, as the one to which our
investigation has been most particularly directed).
The constitution of government in the island is a
singularity in the whole civilised world, the sole exist-
ing remnant of the political system of the eleventh
century. Now, to believe that this constitution has
had the deliberate approbation of the Jersey people
for eight centuries, is to suppose that the inha-
bitants of the island differ from all the rest of
mankind. The history of the island, however, at-
tests the fact, that the people of Jersey have not
been free agents in the matter, If by free agency we
are to understand the exemption from a sinister
influence, as well as fro4=brute force. The history of
the island tells why the Jersey people have rejected
the benefit of English law, and the honour of consti-
tuting an integral part of the metropolitan state
of this great empire ; or, if history do not give
full satisfaction upon the point, perhaps the matter
will be found fully elucidated in the records of the
Customs' Board. And how has this political isolation
operated upon the people of Jersey ? Good laws are
among the first wants of a people, and what sort
of laws have they in Jersey ? The old Norman code,
the old martial law of a purely military age—the
law which has been rejected by all the nations
of Europe that ever submitted to it, and to which in
its extent England never would submit. The COM.
hinder is still the " institute" of Jersey law, and even
its language is preserved in legal proceedings five
centuries after that language has been rejected from
our English courts. " The common law of England,"
that wisest code that ever was framed by hu-
man wisdom, because resting upon the primary.
principles of justice ; which few and nciples
were, by the provisions of our S ancestors,
adapted to the equal benefit of all of the
people—the common law of England, the basis of
our own legal constitution, and the basis of tha
constitution of the United States as well as of the
Code Napoleon, by which so much of Europe it.
now governed—the common law of England hair
no place, never had any place, in Jersey.
In England men are sure of having justice aclmi,pis-
tered in consonance with equity and reason ; in the
United States also, and in France, we meet only the
principle of our common law, but between the shores
of France and England, and in the dominions of
Queen Victoria, we find a law which no Englishman
can fully understand, and which, as far as
it is intelligible, fills one with disgust. The
Englishman on one side and the Frenchman on the
other have spurned this most absurd law (most
absurd as applied to our age); but it is the law of a
British island, but a few leagues from London,
according to our present rate of travelling not
above 10 or 12 hours' journey from Westminster
Hall. If this were simply absurd, that would be
bad enough, for absurdities cannot be safely in-
dulged in matters of government ; but it is now
greatly worse than absurd. The Channel Islands,
hitherto and still of little value to the empire, may
be made of great importance in the new mili-
tary and commercial relations which Europe
has been made to assume by the introduction of
steam navigation. But, in order to obtain this
importance, they must be made rich ; and to be
made rich they must be made thoroughly and in
all respects English—English in language as they are
already in habits and interests ; subject to English
laws and to the English system of revenue. Rich the
islands will never be while Englishmen fear to trust
their property, and even their persons, to the mercy
of the local laws. In such case the highest
destiny of the islands must be to con-
stitute a refuge for insolvents and an en-
trepot for smugglers. Surely the inhabitants will
be ambitious of a higher destiny. Private interests
will of course excite an opposition to such a reform,
but it cannot be that the mass of men living
within sound of British law, and having it offered
for their acceptance, will reject so great a benefit.
What the Channel Islands are may be easily told.
What they would be with augmented wealth and
improved harbours no man can imagine who
does not fully appreciate—as who does ?—all the
wonders that are about to be developed by steam na-
vigation. We are firmly convinced, from all we see,
the value of these islands would be multiplied tenfold
to the islanders themselves within a very few years
of their perfect incorporation with England ; while
the gain to the empire, even under the bead of abolish-
ing the contraband trade, would be enormous.

IRELAND.
MINISTERIAL POLICY IN IRELAND.

DUBLIN, OCT. 2.—On Friday last an address fzm
the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, composed of the uni-
tarian clergy who had seceded from the Presbyterian
Synod of Ulster (now designated the Irish General As-
sembly), was presented to Lord lleytesbury by a depu-
tation, consisting of the Rev. Dr. Montgomery, Rev.
Fletcher Blakely, Rev. W. B. Minniss, and Mr. K. G.
Smith. I subjoin the address, with the important and
very significant reply of his Excellency:—
" To his Excellency 13aron Heytesbury, Lord Lieutenant-
General and General Governor of Ireland.
" May it please your Excellency,—We have the ho-
nour to approach you, on behalf of the Ministers and
Elders of the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, specially as-
sembled, to offer our most respectful congratulations on
your Excellency's appointment to the chief government
of Ireland.

" Our satisfaction in making this customary homage to
the representative of the most beloved Sovereign who
ever swayed the sceptre of these realms, is greatly en-
hanced by the consideration that you occupy your pre-
sent exalted position in consequence of the distinguished
ability and prudence so long displayed by your Excel-
lency in other lands, in discharging the delicate and im-
portant duties of high offices connected with the► honour
and interest of the British empire.
" We should feel ourselves guilty of deep ingratitude,
did we not also declare that we approach your Excel-
lency witk still augmented satisfaction, as a nobleman en-
joying the confidence of her Majesty's present Ministers,
to whom all the Nonconformists of these countries are so
largely indebted for the late extension of the principles
of justice and toleration, in passing the Dissenters'
Chapels Bill, and to whom we ourselves are under special
obligations for th• peace and security in which we now
enjoy those most valued properties, transmitted to us by
our ancestors, or created by ourselves, for the promo-
tion of what we humbly believe to be pure and un-
defiled religion.'
" As lovers of our native land, and all its inhabitants,
we rejoice to believe that your Excellency brings to the
arduous task of governing a population of mixed races
and creeds, the invaluable qualifications of sound consti-
tutional information, great political wisdom, an earnest
desire to administer existing laws with scrupulous im-
partiality, and a full determination to recommend such
conciliatory changes and improvements as may tend at
ono to secure the peace and prosperity of Ireland, and
to confirm the iitegrity and power of the United
Kingdom.

"The people of this country are proverbially ' fond of
justice,' and pre-eminently sensible of kindness—both of
which your Excellency's established reputation assures
us they shall abundantly experience at your hands ; so
that, under the blessing of Divine Providence, your Ex-
cellency may enjoy the delight of beholding confidence
superseding distrust, affection displacing alienation, aid
the chaos of religious and political strife settling
into the organised forms of social harmony and national
prosperity.
"For ourselves, we unhesitatingly rely upon the con-
tinuance, by your Excellency, of that equitable and
impartial attention to our civil rights, as a church, which
we hare uniformly experienced from your Excellency's
predecessors in the chief Government of this country ;
and, on our own part, we pledge ourselves to the conti-
nued use of our best exertions in promoting loyalty to
our most gracious Sovereign, obedience to the laws, awl
the extension of mutual forbearance and good-will
amongst all classes of our fellow-subjects.
"Signed at Belfast, this 24th day of September, 1844,
on behalf the ministers and people of the Remonstrant
Synod of Ulster.
" W. B. MINNISS, Moderator.
" FLETCHER BLAKELY, Clerk."
To the foregoing, his Excellency made the following
reply :
" To the Ministers and Elders of the Remonstrant Synod

of Ulster:

" Gentlemen,—I
the address with which you have
assuming t
" The
to my services has;received with much satisfaction
Battering h o Government
expressions
soif this o
nshonoured me, on my
i country.t contains, with respect
in foreign countries, demand my warmest
acknowledgments : and I am no less bound to state my
conviction, that her Majesty's Ministers will derive the
highest gratification from the assurance you convey to
me, ' that the Nonconformists of these countries con-
sider themselves largely indebted to them for the late
extension of the principles of justice and toleration, in
passing the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, and for the peace
and security in which they now enjoy those most valued
properties, transmitted to them by their ancestors, or
created by themselves.'
"As regards myself, Gentlemen, you may be assured
it is my earnest desire 'to administer • •
existing laws with
scrupulous impartiality, and with a full intention to re-
commend such conciliatory changes and improvements as
may tend at once to secure the peace and prosperity of
Ireland, and to confirm the potter and integrity of the
United Kingdom.
" Happy, indeed, shall I be at the close of my admi-
nistration to find, as you are pleased to predict, eonfi-
i denco superseding distrust, affection displacing aliena-
tion, and the confusion of religious and political strife
settling into social harmony and national prosperity.
" Your patriotism, Gentlemen, has always been un-
doubted ; but I hail with gratitude the pledge you now
offer, of your continued determination to contribute, by
every means in your power, to promote ' loyalty to our
most gracious Sovereign, obedience to the laws, and the
extension of mutual forbearance and good-will amongst
all classes of your fellow-subjects.'
N FIRYTBSBURr."