The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-14 00:00:00

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY
Exiractsfrom the Morning Popers,April 14,1826.

[THE Trama
We have recently adverted to the mischievous
tendency of a class of projects which frequently
fiud their way through Parliament without public
eatic, because they are introduced under the title
of private bills. Many absurdities, many jobs,
and many pernicious schemes, have run through
their different stages, and come out acts of Par-
liament under this passport. We hardly know in
what class to place, or how to characterize, a bill
to regulate the Potteries, (appointed for discussion
this evening), which, though it extends to a whole
denomination of manufacturers, is by a strange
misnomer called a private bill. If it is not a project
for conferring a monopoly on certain individuals
in the trade, it is a pernicious absurdity. It
professes to establish one uniform mode of count-
ing and reckoning all kinds of earthen ware,
stone ware, and iron-stone ware, throughout
Great 'Britain and Ireland—to limit the sizes of
such ware to those contained in the schedule of
the Act—to compel the manufacturer to have
such ware stamped, and to observe all these re-
gulations under severe penalties. Now it cannot
fail to strike us, on the slightest consideration,
that this is creating labour for a Government Of-
ficer, and imposing trouble on the manufacturer,
for no conceivable protection to the public or ad-
vantage to the trade. A piece of earthenware
does not require, like the coin of the realm, the
King's stamp to mark its purity or its size.—
It would seem to us that a jug or a
soup plate might be safely sold by the
potter, and do good service in the hands or on 1
the tables of the community, though they did
not come exactly within the dimensions prescribed
by the bill ; and that it is no more necessary to
regulate the size of a wash-hand basin than the
length of a curving•knife. If any bounty was to
be paid on export, as,formerly in ►he case of our
linen.manufuctures or herring tishery,or tiny duty
was to be levied depending on the purity of tl►e
clay or the form of the article, a good reason
would exist for ascertaining its value and regu-
lating its make ; but no pretence of this kind is
advanced, and none of course exists. Neither have
the compulsory clauses of the bill any ►evident ten-
dency to answer a purpose which is prominently
advanced—namely, to compose differences, or
regulate contracts, between the master and
the workmen. The interference in such a case
may be mischievous, but cannot be beneficial—it
may multiply disputes, but cannot prevent them.
If such be the inefficiency of the measure to do
good, it is left exposed to all the objections which
are justly brought against unnecessary restrictions
on trade, and vexatious interference with private
tastes and interests. Is a manufacturer to be
liable to penalties and informations if by accident
he makes a dinner plate of larger dimensions than
" ten inches imperial measure ;" and must an ar-
ticle be broken, though executed with all the
tasteful finish of the Nyland vase, if by being
gauged it is found to hold an c• ounce of distilled
miter" snore or less than an excise criterion of
of grace and beauty ? We understand petitions
are preparing against this absurd measure, and
we have little doubt that they will be successful.

rNtw Times.]
Mr. Hume has given notice of a motion, next
Wednesday, for 6C a Select Committee to inquire
what laws exist which interfere with the Trade
and Manufacture of the United liiugdons in its
details." This is fishing for legislation with a
rep
,t:ance! kis throwing the net over the Sta-
tAtei:Aook ;. so that something :nest surely be
caught. Hitherto we have felt the inconvenience
9tgtowl then appointed our Committees to dis-
cover, if they could, a remedy. Now, we are to
have a Committee to tell us whether there be an
inconvenience, or not! The Hon. Member for
Montrose is peculiarly happy in wording his no-
tAteli—witnetis his late brilliant attempt to get at a
return of monies, paid either to heirs,or executors,
ear administrators, or personal representatives in
gaitirai—an attempt which ouly failed because
nobody could inform him, exactly, what it was
that In mould. Suppose a Committee appointed,
nod, sitting with exemplary patience to read
through the Statute Book.; in some eighteen
liSotabs, or thereabouts, they may, perhaps, find
that there are three or four thousand laws which
interfere with trade or manufacture—aye, but
do they hitt rfere with their details ? Why, it
will be rather difficult to say how a law can in.
teitere with trade, and not affect its details.--
rcini is the interference beneficial or the contrary?
CoMmlttei !lave nothing to do with what ;
they are only to report on the fact of interfer-
ence. But let. us help ant poor Mr. Hume, and
suppose his Committee appointed to inquire what
1401 interfere with trade or manufactures injuri-
ously.—Good heavens ! What a fertile field for
complaints ! And what a source of disputation
aniong the parties examined ! Every particular
Statute Will have its supporters and its oppo-
sers; and eui kno after all ?—(We beg Mr.
itatroe's pa'rdon for speaking in an unknown
•
tongue)—But, in h plain nglish, what good is to
ho got by all this bustle? What sort of Statute
has the Honourable Member in his mind's Ile ?
Ali the world knows how' he immortalized him=
self by his memorable Combination Law, which
stuck from the end of one Session to the, begin.
wind of the next, and then was repealeth There,
however, he had a distinct object in view ;
whether good or bad may be doubted. Here be
ieems to he setting forth on atn ocean', without
chart or compass, and what terra incognita of le-
gislation he may discover, Fate,herself can hardly
guess. In short, the motion eppears- tows to he
sort of political Somnambulism ; and no doubt
he'll talk in his sleep about it in such a manner
ail 10 Cool.ollod every body awake that hears
him.

thlOrtNll4o HERA L1).1
it is the Coillmoti practice of those who tire en•
gaged in any project 'which falls under the lash
of Publish censure to impute the hostility it meets
with to personal pique towards themselves. This
kind of raanseusre answers the double purpose of