The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

'lf the rumours recited in the last clause of our city ar-
ticle be, even bOt in part, well founded, the King of
France's opposition fleet in the Tagus may cease to be. as
useful in preserving the peace of Portugal as Mr. Canning
boasted, if it cannot, however, preserve the, peace, it
may serve to give a turn to the war. Should the constitu-
tional and-sereile,parties in that country bring their dis-
putes to the fate of arms, we should say that a British
fleet, supposing one to have been casually, in the port of
Lisbon; had nothing to do in the business : but the oppo-
sition fleet of his Majesty the King of France, manned by
British seamen, paid by English money, and placed in the
Tagus for the purpose of controolling the land forces of the
said King of France, is in a very different situation. If the
Servile!! make, head. against.the Constitution, it is obvious
that• they: are enabled to do so through the contiguity of
Spain.s.-that is, of France, for Spain is France now ; and
the a opposition fleet" must, of course, defend the party to
which-its presence gives confidence :if not, it betrays that
party; it excites it to measnres to which it would not
otherwise have resorted, and deserts it when those mea-
sures 'create resistance. Were we among the 'Portuguese
politicians, we should very so•n put the, utility of the op-
position fleet to the test ; for we should pursue the rebels
that sought shelter in Spain—attack the first town that
received them--and then, if -the Spaniards pursued us
across the frontier, call for the aid of the marines on board
the King of France's opposition fleet.--Tinier.
A Report, which bee been printed by order of the
House of Commcins, on the subject. of " commitments
" for , contempt" of Court, is, we trust, the forerunner
only ,of some contempt* on the part of -the Legislature
to cut away or restrain a branch of the Equity process,
which is in its origin and- principle no less odious, than
in its practice it seems liable to operate upon individuals
with a severity often proportioned to their ignorance and
incapacity of self-defence. The Report in questioe is in
answer to an address of the Ranee of Commons, for re-
turns of the several persons who have been committed to
the Fleet and other gaols in England and Wales, for con-
tempts, 'under process of the Courts of Chancery and Ex-
chequer„,eince the iWI of July, 1820, with copies of their
several commitments, stating who have died, and who
have been discharged, and when, and how many now re-
main in custody ; also a return of the number of, persons
who were confined for contempt on the 11th of July afore-
said, and how many of them have died or been dischargs
ed, and at what time, and how many remain in custody.
On turning over the papa of this, voluininous return, it
would be unfair to, say that .we hive lighted on many in-
stances of imprisonment of very long duration; although
some there are, for years, together,, and numbers for several
months. Yet what disasters may be accumulated upon a
family from the commitment of its chief or most active
member for even one month or- leis I What loss of credit
and disturbance of, business, and inevitable and irrepar-
able ruin Between five hundred and six hundred
prisoners have become such in the different gaols
of England and Wales, exclusive of the
,Fleet pri-
son, from which no return, but an evasive sort of
apology has been received to this process of contempt
since July 1820. The numbers in the Fleet would, it is
probable, much exceed in amount the whole contents of all
the other gaols, it being the grand receptacle of Chancery
and Exchequer prisoners. But let the numbers be great
T. small, the practice ought to be severely sifted, and so
tar as we can judge, subjected to considerable alteration.
It is known to be a continuation of the old process of the
Star Chamber, and a worthy substitute for the peine forte
et dure, had recourse to for the extortion 'of evidence which
could in no other way be obtained ; bat long
_since, in
every form
,except the present, rejected with abhorrence
by the humanity of the law of England. Any man, who
pleases to file a bill against a person in obscure life and
humble circumstances, may get him incarcerated on pre.
tenee of his refusing to answer, when his only offence has ,
been a perfect ignorance of the forms of eluity, or an ins.'
bility to pay the enormous expence of getting an attorney
to prepare and put in an answer to the false allegations of
his persecutor.. That such, cases have occurred we think
the public is already informed, through the complaints ad-
dressed, in more than one instance, to' the House of Com-
mons ; that they should not be repeated, every one will
agree; and, indeed, when we recollect that this imprison-
, ment for contempt is not so often for the satisfaction of a
debt. (the ordinary principle of a writ of capias in the
Conits of Common Law) as for the compulsion of testi-
mony, or under pretext. of compelling it, there are few who
will be disposed to recognise it as a fair and characterittie
method. of proceeding against the personal freedom of
.t~nbtlirh men.—lbid.
Tto public, we believe, will readily give us credit for
having been neither the advpcates nor apologists of Mr.
Hume, on the subject of the unfortunate disclosures which
have taken place relative to the (reek Loan. There was
one observation which we made upon the occasion (viz.
that Mr. Home's patriotism, like Acres's couraged, " oozed
out at his fingers' ends ") which seemed to be felt as
- keenly by Mr. Hume himself as any thing Which has been
said upon the subjeet. The truth is, that having no party
or private ends to serve, and looking upon the characters
of public men as publieproperty, end ItnoWing too, the
value of Mr. Iltune'i past and prospeetive services to the
state, it was with unfeigned regret that we raw his chit-
racter involved in a low struggle for money, and foretold,.
as the event has, pro.ved, with what eagerness any slur upon
so formidable an opponent to abuse and corruption would
be caught et by thote.who thrive anti fatten-upon public.
plunder. Our readers, therefore, cannot be surprised that we
have been no parties to the kind e* dead-set which lies been
made against Mr. Hume by part of what is considered the
independent portion of the 'Press. There are views and
motives; there are' wheels within wheels, the nature of
the intricate Machinery of which we do not recess to on.;
derstand or unravel ; but this we are convinced of, that.
those who are most,loud hi condemnation of Mr. Humes
ran just as readily shut their eyes to affairs of ten times
greater moment, when similar motives, do not urge them
to a similar-display of zeal. Retaining the same opinion
of condemnation and of regret which we originally ex-
pressed upon the subject, it is -due to Mr: Hume to say,
that the part which he has taken during the few days on
which the, present Parliament has met, has been more than
suffiCient wipe out twice the extent of his trantigree-
elm :The extent. of Mr. Hurne'e selfishness resolves
itself into 0544 We heartily wish that there were' among,
those who so. warmly, condemn him, none' whose love
of rtionoY.ltas not Wen improperly gratified (and that too
at the expense of their own country) to the extent of many
time as many 010116444 g: Whatever may be Mr. Home's
demerits in the single-instance of the Greek Loan, we may
confidently challenge any amen to impute personal motives
to him in any onetranch of 'his Parliamentary, Conduct.
Here he stands at least , pure and unsullied i"and, while
many, of the Gentlemen opposite," by whom he ;„ ant
sounded, are ready to eerie any opportunity of deserting
him, and of warehipping " the powers that be," he has
been and Continues the n°ll4ll,llll4°lrdsing sdvocate of that
reform and,economy whiclifrthg cauntrY at knee is so
ileeply interested. The effectual exposure Nebio, lie made
vietitihitt
to
of the dead-weight system, on Wednesdey last, is a strikiny
proof of this. His statements ,upon that.
eontn
occasion,
patiently Weighed and considefifd, toast
y
the mind of every impartial man. et where, arpzsing,
occasion, were the persons who hakonly been promising,
earnest and a
few months ago, to their eonetituente,
un-
ceasing endeavour to redo.* the public hardens.
st?a
the greater part of them were its' silent as th ;
white such as did speak were 'mind the ready, vo t ary
edvoeates, of "things as they arerand the:eulogists 'of a
system which manifestly goes to make, what has been con-
sidered, and which is, in its nature, &s.temporarl burden,
perpetual I We are- glad, therefore' to find that Tx. Hume
is notulismayed, onto be deterred from pursuing the tenor
of his useful career, by the unfair and exaggerated use
which has been made of, his one error. We repeat our
regret that that error has ever been committed. But the
ptinlie at large have justice and discrimination enough to