The Sun.
London, England, 1828-05-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Under the head of" Quertes,by a Correspondent,"
will be found some inquiries on,the proceedings of
the Powers forming. the triple alliance for the pre-
servation of Greece. Thei queries are important.
The proverb says, "My Overtly mall not tell my
tale." We have always asserted, and proved the
rectitude of our opinion, that .there was nothing to
apprehend from Russia. Had. that Power been
such as has been represented, her troops would have
been long ago at Constantinople, both by the
Bosphorus awl by the route of the Principalities.
The absurd obstinacy of Turkey has afforded.sufli-
rient pretexts. At the same time our Government
might have a general apprehension of the overthrow
of the balance of power in Europe; and to this
point, no doubt, tended the passage in the de-
spatch, which is described as saying " that the
European Powers... could " never view with
indifference," &e. But -,we.,think our corres-
pondent is wicng in supposing that any estrange-
ment exists between the Courts of St. Peters-
burgh and St. James's : the principle laid down by
our Government i; too reasonable to occasion the
slightest offence. 'We giei7e this occasion of saying
a few words on the proposed. division or line of de-
marcation between Greece and Turkey. We are
always sorry to see a kind of Anglo-Scottish Lord's
name mingled with affairs of high State policy, for
the truth is, that thOtigh an irreptoaChable man, he
is not competent to such subjects ; and being Prond
and shalloerbe must he the dupe of any states-
roan of ran2k—Prince Metternich for example 7
whO will condescend to pay hini attention. How-
ever, wiser. heeds, as we have heard, than his, were
foadvertently misled as to the boundaries of Greece,
and had thought of excluding Attica, with its me-
tropolis of eternal fame, from the state which 'will
be formed. At the sante time the Greeks them-
selves hail put forth the most preposterous claims
respecting' the boundaries of their empire, wishing
that they should comprise Thessaly and even Mace-
donia ! We should think that the pass of Thernio-
pylsa, and the chan of mountains westward, might
be not an improper line. Or if this were thought
too great a spoliation of Turkey, a line might be
drawn from the ancient Enriptls, embracing. Thebes,
the country of Pinder and Epaminondas, as well as
Attica, to the western point of the Corinthian isth-
mus; or to the summit of the Sinus Crissaus. do
the subject of our Ministers charging Russia with
having infringed on the treaty of July, we may pEr-
haps be able to say, in the way of explanation, that
they only argued that Russia had ceased to hei a
mediator along with France and England, by becom-
ing a belligerent on a quarrel of her own ; but this
point is now set at rest by Russia consenting to l'et
her fleet act with the English and Freneh squadron,
as if *no separate cause of quarrel existed.—Times.

Br A CORAFSTO

Was not a Memorial addressed by the Court of' St. PR-
tersbrii to that of London, en the 28th of February,
detailing, in a fair gad candid manner, the precise.state of
affairs between nitwits and Turkey, and adding, the most
unequivocal disclaimer of any ambitions views of aggran•
dizement?
Did not this. Memorial remain unnotice'd for a month,
and, during that interval, was not the British Cabinet
earnest id its endeavours to induce the French Govern-
ment to declare the treaty of the 6th of July as virtually
annulled by the acts of Russia ?
Were not these endeavours ineffectual, France having de-
clined entertaining such a proposition, or any propositiOn
not coming from the two Courts conjointly?
Did not this result produce a note from the British
Foreign Office, endeavouring to prove that Russia hail
infringed upon the treaty of the 6th of July, and
ending in words to , the following effect That
whatever Might he the result of the war, the European
" Powers could never view with indifference any irarisan-
tion between a Power so formidable as that of Russia,
" and one so comparatively weak as the Porte ?"
. Was not a note addressed to the French Government by
our Foreign-office, and by the former.tranernitied to S.
Petersburgh? and is not the substance of Such a note as
follows?
The Treaty of the 6th of July being in itself vagn ,
p the British Cabinet are desirous of fixing four points.
'"
section 1.--Greece to be limited to the Morea a
" the adjacent islands, so that the isthmus of Corinth mai.'"
become the northern boundary of the State. This pro-
" pOlition recommended on the following grounds
cause an isthmus is more easily defended than an ex'
" tended frontier: because the inhabitants of the Moren
are the only real Greek population : hecalr.: the terrii-
" tory being smaller, the inhabitante will be less exposed
" to internal dissensions.
a Section 2.—The Turks to be indemnified for theii•
" possessions in the Afore; and adjacent blends ; thp
" amount of indemnification to be rettled by Greek,
" :lurkisli, French, and English Commissioners. In ease
" the Porte refines to send a Commissioner, the determi-
" nation to rest with the ether Powers. The Greeks to
" pay to the Porte a tribute fixed according to the revenue
" collected from 1814 to 1821. The Greeks to nominate
" the President or Chief, but the Porte to have one veto
the first appointment."
Has the result of these transactions been a gradual
estrangement between the. Cabinets of Great Britain and
St. Petersburgh, the risk of excluding Capo d'fstria from
the office of President, and the admission that Athens
formed no part of Greece, and that Aristotle was a bar-
barian?
Has the Athenian Thane of Aberdeen consented to these
litetary and historical propositions, and is England likely
to be iemefitted by such a course of policy?—lbid.

Mr. Huskisson, as it appears to IN, had better re-1
fleet on what he is doing in this measure or system
of measures whieh he is projecting, but which he
bas not yet explained, for a settlement of the (pies.
tion between thia'cotintry and the Canada&. In his
speech the othei night, we do.not think that the
Colonial Secretary met the subject in that spirit
which alone ought to govern a British Statesman in
devising.a new policy for our colonial possessions.
His fending and proving about Lord Dalhousie, and
trying to screen his Lordship from the censures of
the British Parliament, was scarcely wise in Mr,
Fluskisson. The most successful demonstration of
Lord Dalhousie's rectitude before the people of this
good for nothing._ country, is g—or, indeed, worse than
none—if the Canadian colonists cannot be convinced
and therefore conciliated by it. The truth is that a
contest for power or right with a colony will never
do, even though the colony be ever so unjust and
wrong-headed. Unless
can make the Canadians
toy
.more anxious to remain under .British away
/hart to shake it off, And more attached
to Great Britain than to a nearer neighbour,
it is futile to fancy that we ever can con-
tinue to rule them. if their interests would,
in their own eyes, be better consulted by
quitting
this country than by adhering to 'her,—if they can
gain any thing by the separation,—if they see an
English Minister attempt to make out a case for
England versus Canada, or for A: British Governor
versus a Canadian Parliament, it is all over; the
colony takes fire, and will not he worth the °ex-
pense, or bloodshed of a contest (an unstier,essful
contest) to preserve her. The Legislative Coutt;:jl
must he remodelled or abolished.: That there i s
real-admii.istration of some sort to charge against
Lord Dalhousie, seems probable,—notwithstanding
Mr. lluskissoh's solicitude to throw every thing
upon the " system," and to exonerate the man,—
from the fact that Sir T. Kempt is on the happiest
terms with the contiguous colony of Nova Scotia;
and that when Sir Francis Burton was taking leave
of Canada, the present complainants against Lord
Dalhousie expressed
the deepest .affection and gra-
titude towards t lie worthy Baronet.—fbid,.

Though much that fell from Mr. Huskisson On
Friday night, With regard to Canada, was of a very
questionable nature, and gave even rise to doubts as
to his qualifications for Colonial AdMinistration, and
though ihe.Pfeparation of the evidence, to be sub,-
witted to the select committee must be a good deal
influenced by the peculiar views of the Minister, we
are inclined .to believe, notwithstanding, that the
labours of the Committee will be productive of much
benefit. Something must be done of a more derided
character than what was suggested by Sir .fames
Mackintosh,—" What he (1‘11.." Huskisson) had
stated," said Sir James," shoWs that hiS-plan,is not
e_.aleulated to remedy the grievances of which the
Canadians complain, and which have a solid fonnda•
Om I do not know what other plans are to be

brought forward-1 do not see my way to the end
'of .the 'dispute—and think -the wisest .measures
would be those that are least boastful—to send out
a temperate. Governor, with full instructions to be
candid, and supply him with an Administrative
Council that should know and consult the opinion
of the better classes of the people, which should
introduce such reforms as would be necessary to put
an end to the disputes, and infuse a better spirit
into the Administration than it has known for the
last ten years." As far as we are able to under-
stand the disputes between the Canadians and the
Government, reforms of a much more extensive na-
ture are imperiously demanded. The Criminal Law
is that of England, the Civil Law a mixture of the
Roman Law and Customary Law of 014; France.
The English Law of Evidence is applicable to
commercial cases ; and with respect to the lands
held in feu and common soccage, the rules of Eng-
lish Law must govern the decisions.. After the
irruptions of the Barbarians who overturned the
Roman Empire, the various races living in our
country were each governed by their. respective
laws, so that seven or eight systems of law were in
force in the same reign. This, no doubt, created
great confusion even in such primitive times; but
the confusion produced by this bodge-podge of Ro-
man, English, and French customary law, must be
out of all proportion greater. . The consequence is,
what may easily be imagined—the Juelges
.are com-
pletely freed from altrestraint, and the uncertainty
of the law gives rise to much unprincipled
The Judges too have multiplied all manner of fees
and delays, for the purpose of enriching.their fami-
lies and dependents, ,who fill all the lucrative offices
connected with the law. The law must be re-
duced to something like uniformity, and this will
•be a fair "subject for investigation in the, Committee,
Mr. Huskisson has a very convenient way of argu-
ing. .At this moment,
.the English are unques-
tionably the people who have made the farthest ad-
vances in all that relates to production. This
prosperity is the result of a variety of causes ; but
Mr. Huskisson places it chiefly to the account of
English law. " That system of jurisprudence (says
he) which had so much contributed to advance the
prosperity of this country and her dependencies."
The class of reasoners to which the Right Hon.
Gentleman belongs has always. been pretty nume- •
rous in this and every other country; and in the
same manner as the prosperity of England is now
attributed to its system of Jurisprudence, it was
long the fashion with many to attribute its backward
state equally to the law. When Andrew Yarrinton,
a.great improver in his day, published, in 1677, his
" England's Improvement by Sea and Land," he
endeavoured " to demonstrate and make it .appear
that England and Ireland are the only northern
kingdoms unimproved," and he , laid the blame en
the law of England, which he contrasts with the
Dutch
.law, and endeavours to show that the latter
is infinitely superior on account of its cheapness,
and the facilities it affords for the disposal of land.
" Though in the three maritime provinces (be says)
they (the Dutch) have neither good water nor good air,
yet are their lands at fifty years' purchase. Now observe
England lies within twenty hours' sail of Holland, and is
stored with many and much better ports than olland
hath ; and our ships, by reason of the deepness of our
rivers, can go out and. come in with much greater burdens
than theirs can, and we lie as well to the Baltic. as they,
and much better to the Mediterranean and West Indies
than they do. And in England are noble seats to he pur-
chased, and a good air. Now, reader, dost thou think
that the great Dutch merchants, and others rich in cash,
would stay there, if we had here public security for our
lands', that they might safely purchase here? I say they
would come over in swarms, and would willingly give thirty
years' purchase for lands here. So that the merchants coming
from theriCe, and buying estates here, will bring away the
great riches from them, and so increase trade here, and
thereby the Dutch will decline gradually every year more
and more, and Within very few years their beloved mistress
will depart, and will come and settle herself with us. And
as we are an island, which G©d and nature bath fitted for
trade, if we once
,fit ourselves with laws answerable, then
the greatest part of the trade of Europe will be with us.
And pray now, what lawyer knows
a title ? But you wilt say I talk that gentlemen of England
cannot have moneys for land ; it iv not so ; and that I say
lawyers know no tides, I ought to have my pate cracked ;
for money is plentiful, and lawyers are cunning enough to
spy put good titles. As to both I would it were trite for
- the sake of the poor gentlemen, and the lawyers too. But
as.to the greatest part of them, that have thousand pounds
a-year, the world knows they are so far front borrowing
four thousand_ pounds; that they can't borrow four hundred
pounds, and I dare say some Lords also",-,
Post hoc ergo propterhoc has long been an ap-
proved mode of reasoning. We should not wonder
if when Ireland comes, ins the course of time, to be a
prosperous country, in spite of Orangeism and Ex-
clusion Laws, some future Huskisson should give
them the credit of the improvement. Great want
of candour wits displayed by" Mr. Huskisson in many
of his statements. The following may be taken as
an instance :—ln his repay, he observed, " Thefact
that in a petition from eighty-seven thousand per-
sons; there were on!y nine thousand Raines signed,
the rest being marks, was a lamentable proof of the
little attention which had been paid to the people of
Canada by its Legislature." Now this is one of the
loudest complaints of the Canadian Legislature
against the English Government, that it has done
every thing to retard the education of the people.—
FrOm 1817 to 1823 the House of Assembly an-
nually passed a Bill for establishing Schools through-
out the Co'lony on the plan of those in.Ecotland and
New England, wbich Bill was annually rejected by
the Legislative Council, that is the Governinent.
The funds for education in, the Colony, which are
ample, have, been rniSappliect.for purposes of patro-
nage and seoterianism• Mr. HuskisSon is either
grossly ignorant of the affair§ of the Colony,-or very
Aittle.troubled with conscience, when, in the teeth
of the numerous Reporta and Staments embodying
the grieVances of the Canadians with respect to the
denial of education, he could make a statement so
utterly irreConcileable with truth.—Morning Chro-
nick.

For the highest crimes that are punished by impri-
sonment the term of captivity in this country does not
exceed three years. Therehave,indeed,beena few in-
stances, in modern limes, of an individual being
sentenced to five years' imprisonment, but those
were cases where the punishment was accumulative,
on account of the repetition of the criminal act.
But though three years' residence within the walls of
, a gaol is a sufficient satisfaction to our laws for the
commission of even very aggravated crimes and mis-
demeanours, yet we often hear, in this civilised,
luimane, and Christian country, of peysons being
prisoned five, seven, ten, fifteen, and even twenty
years for debt I Thus is poverty treated worse than
crime, and misfortune chastised as the most odious
of all delinquency!' There was an instance, a short
time ago, of a gentleman having been teleased from
the Fleet prison after a captivity, we believe, or
twenty years, during which time he lost the use of
his limbs, and when he moved out of his room, or
back' again, was carried on the hack of one of
his fellow-prisoners. We mentioned, iM Thurs-
day, that a 'Mrs. Amos. had died there, whose
husband, once a respectable person in the neigh-
bourhood of Ashford, in Kent, survives her
in that abode of misery, and is now in the
eleventh year of his captivity ! The first prayer
that a Christian is taught to utter is that ,which
contains the passage, " Lord forgive us our debts,
we fear the history of English pri-
as we forgive our debtors. If this be the condi-
tion of mercy,
zons will afford. but an unhappy illustration of the
way in 'which it is practically understOod among us.
But the passage which we have quoted comes from
the Gospel, and the practice which we condemn
springs from the La; ; and yet. high anthoritiea tell
us that the I,aw is " the perfection of'reason;" and
• that Christianity—LO r, in other words, the G” HGospel—
is " part and parcel of the Law of England,
ow
is this to be accounted for; unless .we. are more
pleased with words than the things which they sig-
nify, and like to deceive ourselves 'and tunuSe, our
vanity, by absurd fictions; that will not bear the
touch of investigation ? Twenty years' 'confinement
for debt, in a country where great eriminals(like
Wakefield, for instance) receive but three yeari,

is an odious disparity, and tells severely against
our sense, both :of social, policy and moral justice.
We are aware that there are some people of so dis-
honest a disposition, and so obstinate in their injus-
tice, that they will rather lie in gaol for life than pay
their debts, even though they have the means; but
this is no reason why persons who have been merely
unfortunate, or who have committed what is called
a contempt of Court, should be also imprisoned for
a length of time to which no criminal is subjected.
There are some persons who will not pay particular
debts, because they feel that they have been made
the prey of schemers or fraudulent persons; and yet
such debtors, who have been the victims of fraud,
may be kept in prison for life. In every case where
a man owes just debts, and will not pay them,
having.property, it is easy to make a law to attach
his.pioperty, whether landed or personal; but in no
rase ought a man's freedom to be taken away but
where there is a charge of criminality. It' such a
law was passed, to supercede our present Law of
Arrest, the. vicious eystem of credit would be done
away, and with it many evils to society.—Morning
Herald.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

119 E OF COMMONS.

NOTICES OF MOVONS AND ORDERS OF THE DAY, WHICH
STAND IN THE ORDIR•BOON FOR THE FINSERT WEEK.
MONDAY, MAY S.—OR,DIERS OF THY DAY.
1. Offences sgainst the Person pui—Committee.
2. Law of Evidence Bill—Committee.
3. Galway Magistrates Bill—Second reading.
4. Cities and Towns Improvement'(listind)

mittee.
5. Settlement by Hiring Bill—Committee.
6. Palen alannfactures (Ireland) Bill—Committee.
7. ' Stamps Promissory Notes Bill—Second reading.
S. Stamps Allowances Bill—Second reading.
9. Rigiits.of nxecutors Bill—Committee.
10. Register of Hornings ( Scotland) B i 11—Secomi reading.
J. Customary Tenure Bill—Committee.
12. Parochial Settlements (Scotland) Bill—Further
consi-
deration of Report:
,3.. Salmon Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Bill—Com-

rnittee.
14. Assessment of Lessors (Ireland) Bill—Second reading.
15. County Bridges Bill—Second reading.
16. Freeholders in Districts Bill—Committee.
17. Madhouses (Scotland) Bill—Committee.
18. Cities and Boroughs Polls Bill—Committee.
19. Ways and Means—Committee.
20. Supply-Committee.
21. Election Trial Acts Consolidation Bill—Third reading.
22. Bills of..Eichange (Ireland) Bill—Further considera-
tion of Report.
23. Consolidated• Fund Bill—Third reading.
24 Freeholders ilegistration Bill—Committee.
25. Corn Trade (Isle of Man}Bill—Committee.