The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-16 00:00:00

himself as the master `of "a flack of men, with whOse
prOperties, and feelings, he thought himself at liberty to
do as he chose, with no consideration whatever but that.of
hit own good-will and pleasare. The French Rivolution,
and the subsequent conquests of that nation, had one good
efieet--they made people and Princes more intimately
qtiainted with each other. They forced absolute monarchs
to listen to the language of a potentate bred in the 'demo-
cratic sehool, ,and placing one great support of hie power
and one great means of exte»dinghis influence in the ef-
feet which he calculated on producing on the Minds of the
multitude. The praise of the people (not that of emir-
tiers) began then to be considered by Princes as true"
fame, and riot only as farne; but as poWer; and the only
real power' of Sovereigns. The proofs afforded by
history showed them that monarais are not' .finally
estimated by the opinions of Courtiers or of hired pane-,
gyrists, but by: the unbought voice of the people, by
whom and fOr whom Kin!,:s reign; and they determined
to trust for respect and power' to them Ante, as The real
and the only source of their power. In these observations
we do not refer to thiS country, whose 'Stivereignii have
far more than a century uniformly identified themselves
with the people. We refer to. Russia, where, after a long
Ourso of deApotisrn, the late Monarch began to labour
studiously for. the good of his Country ; and the present
testifies a still more decided inclination tei attach himself
to public opinion, as the best guard and security of his
throne. has shown this by his • anxiety to give pub-
liCity to the facts which 'rendered the executions at St.
Petersburgh necessary, and by the general tone of his state
papers on this Subject. The Emperor Paul would never
have published a manifesto like that of the EmperOr Ni-
chOlits.—BritidtPress.

LAW INTELUGENCI .

COURT OF CHANCERY, Au t I.
JOINT STOCK COMPANIES.

VAAANDAU V. PErs:a Mooar ANDOTDERS.-1.11111 case, it
will be remembered, .untleneent a lengthened discussion during
the sittings at Westminster,. in Trinity Term last. The plaintiff
it a Solicitor, and having purchased' eighty shares in the British
Annuity Company (of which the defendants are the Directors),
cbmplained of having.been unfairly dealt by, and had tiled his bill,
plraying that the Company might be dissolved. No fewer than
fOrteen answers had been put in to the bill, all signed by one
Counsel. His Lordship had, at the hearing of the case, expressed.
an opinion that the suit against so many defendants could not he
usefully prosecuted.
HEALn taw applied to have tbe,bill dis Missed without pay-
ment of coats, awl cited a case decided by Lord Tlairlow, in
Which such a course had been pursued.
I Mr. HART, on the other side, contended that such:a practice
Was perfectly novel, and if the ordinary rule were departed front
in the present instance, a most dangerous preeederit,would he es-
tablished. There was no pretence, he submitted, for this appli-
cation, and the unusual interference of the Court was not to be
Called for because Mr. Van:landau happened to have thrust his
hand into a hornet's nest.
The LORD Cluncam.oa thought a very wide distinction teas
to be drawn between the present case and that decided by Lord
Thurlow. In the latter case, his Learned Predecessor, he thought,
bad done perfectly right in making such an order. With respect
to Joint Stock CoMpanies, about which so much bad already been
said, both in'Atia out of this Court, he bad already expressed his
opinion ; and he always thought that such Companies could only
be legally sanctioned with respect to which either the King's Char-
ter had been granted, or an Act of Parliament obtained. It had,
therefore, always been thought salutary, that the King's subjects
should know on whom they could effectually depend. There
could be no doubt but that there were many bodies of a very uie-
ful kind, acting in great numbers, who were not bound together
either by Act of Parliament or his Majesty's Charter, and these
had hitherto had the grind sense to keep their iteStia out of a CoUrt
of Justice. These bodies had ken guided by o sort of moral role,
and appeared to go on very well; but it was astonishing how
many persons 'had blindly enrolled themselves in these Joint
Stock CoMpanies, without reflecting, for Ent instant to What

they were subjecting themselves, His Lordship then adverted
to the measures which had been adopted by Lord Iledesdale,
for the purpotie of correcting tim evil so loudly complained of
wittt respect to these 'Joint Stock Companies. The first step
totearde a remedy Of the evil wad, that each member was vino-
pelled
.to tegister his name in a sort of memorial; hot in many
these companies, there ware such a legion of names that this
was found to be impossible; then the Secretary or Treasurer of
the'comprmy was to be sued in the name of the CoMpany ; but it
turned out that sometimes the Secrets' y was not worth one farthing,
and nothing was gained by the judgment. Every individual
member was then made liable to execution undei the judgment
against the secretary, and this was found to succeed ; hut there Was
found to he still one thing mote warning, fur, idthough by these
means the public could sue a Cenipany ao legally formed, yet there
was no mode in which one member could sue another member of
the same Colitpany. I.tt the last year this improvement was made:
It had been intimated that he (Lord Eldon) kneW nothink ahnut
these Joint Stock Companies ; perhaps be 'Might know yeti, little
but his object had, at least, been a good one, in endeavouring to
warn people of their danker, by engaging in these schemes. What
bail caul whenthie Motion was lust beard, and what he now re-
was tt,is....:.that if it wia*impossible to sue such a Company
as this with effect, it was a strong proof that a Company so
constituted could not be legal. 'With respect to the, fourteen
answers put into the bill, he never would visit upon the solicitori
blame which, if at all, ought :to be attachable to the counsel who
had signed them. It appeared that fourteen different (but in fact
the saute) answers hail been put in, and fourteen different • (but
sitiiilarly worded) *schedules had been attached to each ; arid it
also appeared that three or four of the most respectable counsel in
Court had stated their express approval of thin Cootie. He hail
stated, therefore, that it was impossible to arrive at any satisfactory
conclusion. The application now watt' to dismiss the bill without
payment of costs. This he could not eionsent to. The bill, how-
ever, might be dismissed, and Mr. Heald would take nothing by
hia motion.