The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-25 00:00:00

[MORNING HERALD.]

It ,is certain that the law exercises a good and use-
ful power, when it vindicates public morals and pro-
tects private character against the infamous attempts of
persons who speculate in indecency and falsehood,
either to gratify malice or extort money. The feelings
of all good. members of society—of all who respect
the peace and decorum of social life—must go along
with those dicisions of Justice which preserve the do-
meztic relations of society from the intrusion of writers
who make calumny a trade. But we cannot help ob-
serving, how strange a thing it is that the law should
show so much. favour as it does to another class of
shaMeless speculatorswe mean• those who cc,ncoct

all taanner of fraudulent and nefarious schemes to

cheat people of their money, and enable themselves to
roll. in wealth and lituries, and laugh at the silly
• creatures on whose spoils they riot. One would na-
tur4l!y think that the Press could not exercise its
power more usefully than in exposing the tricks and
frauds of such scheme-jobbers, and in preventing the
unwary from falling into their snares, as birBs fly into
the nuts of the. fowler. Yet to perform this
service to. the public is perilous, and intrepid
must his principles be who resolutely pursues it=:--so
distinction does the law make, in those matters,
between the-prbtection of virtue and the impunity of
But are not ;those confederacies of joint-stock
, sharperi and swindlers as destruCtive to good morals
and to the peace and happiness of society, though in
ss differe.nt way, as the licentious publications to which
we.have adverted? It must be admitted that they are,
and thatthe ruin which they produce is, in general,
n,tich more certain and' extensive. The fences of the
law are, however, too often the protection of knaves,
and the folly of mankind .their .freehold. .There is
, another class of speculators that support the principal
ones ; theseare the low attorneys—the greatest pests
-of society—the veriest nuisance that nestles under the
bran cliing verbiage ofthe English law. Su ch pettifoggers
invie of late more thin ever taken advantage of what they
consider to be a jealous feeling in the Judges towards.the
Public Press, and are incessantly , engaged in getting
up frivolous actions of libel, for the purpose of pocket-
ing the extravagant charges which the law allows under
thenamieof-costs. It matters ,not to them that the
cheracter of their client, or the damage which he pre-
,ter,d* to have sUstained, is estimated by the Jury at a
shilling or 'a farthing, they are Sure to get their costs—
that is, certain exorbitant charges which cover a bill
consisting -of several folios of larp paper, and which
bilis as effectual as Barrington s celebrated instrtt!
zotrt for transferring money, and abbut as honestly
al pied. These persons' in fact, make the forms of
law serve is an engine for extortion. It Would be
will if Juries were to exercise tors freltirtlythiin
they the ',oWer which. Lord giskitio s Act giros
decidingthl/31,0f on the -law as well as the fact in
caserof libel ;. but they are too apt to take the law
implicitly from the lips of the Judge, whereby this Act
of Parliament,, which was intended to render them in.
dspendsnt of. UdiCial. dictation, in such cases, becomes
a dead litter.- This privilege is in the people's own
isande, and while they call for other reforms's!' the ad-
rainiatralion of justice, ;they ought ti exercise ,that
which is already In-Their:power. But it would.` be well.
. if Mr. Peal would riot coitfiue. his plans of improve..
t luta' to the. Cr' itraina Code -alone, but would' 304'
into some other parts of our jurisprudence, espeeisdly
the law of libel, and make it more defined end certain.
Ilan it is. The bopks's're full of .Oontradictory deci-
;iiotie on this important subject, .and it iv time that a'
,great deal, which is=nbi discretionary with the Court,
2,1;0,1(13N Gseertained 4Y. the settled terms Of a legis
latitTtilactin tent: At '4IJ thexe iS one obvious'
improvement which we 1.5,,V404 take thq, to slug...
rat, and which we hope Mr.... Peel -will,heing, in a Of
tnc Session'to ,dzarditer, be if 'he does not, we
trot Mr. flutne iftierat, is, 'to leave'
Judi to derive
tei:4l4l.llrqr tx1.84P., M:3; ,FP4V Itti. L!„ndir
„ gs, more it- imperativs, thio
faty 114 n
where such ;satsill .chtmafces are obtained AS fill(4
• ,bot: 111Y(4 4C4l$ one, the plaintOl
Shark*" Ilia. 00361-- Tht:t $0!.41a great'
604§Nrcotititualtitbe 'Otto fot:,
which the low class ofa torneys i1V.'4342 gt 4"
',-4:211g up, on the cakulation that, if but a farthing

damages be obtained-from the Jury, their pockets may
be filled with the other sort of damages which the law
allows them, under the naive of costs. It is likely
that the,Judges themselves would have no objection
tcrbe relieved from a discretionary cower like that of
certifyirg to deprive a plaintiff of his costs, the exer-
cise of which imposes on them so unoleasant a respon-
sibility, that they, in consequence, hardly ever avail
theinselves of it. Much better, therefore, would it
be, if the law. were to direct. at once that costs should
not. be allowed where a plaintiff' has not established a
claim th.xriore than what may be called nominal da
,
mates, , This would prevent a great deal of the public
time being idly i titastimed; as it now is, in Courts of
Justice, to the, detriment of real business, by the
needy ,pettifoggers who are always ravening after costs,
and.converting the lbw into a vehicle of extortion.

Ministers are placed rather in an awkward situation
on the subjett of the " Bonded Corn Bill•, now in the
House of Lords. Owing to some clerical error or
negligence, the Bill is, as it has passed through, all its
.
stages in the Commons—in one of its clauses, abso-
lute nonsense. The Lords do not choose to stultify
themselves by doing the same thing ; but, being a
Money Bill, the slightest alteration.. made in it by
them would vitiate it altogether. The only modes_ of
curing it are by the Lords throwing out the Bill, and
leaving the Commons to acrid up another, which
would keep Parliament sitting longer than has been
calculated upon ; or by a Conference, as it is called,
which latter course is, we understatuVexpected to be
resorted to on Friday. Mr, Canning and Mr. Hus-
kisson, in whose department this Bill originated, must
feel rather mortified upon the oceasion; but to •us .it
seems rather as part of one general system of negli-
gence which . pervades such matters, than a soli-
tary and. striking instance of it. While clerks
in public OffiCel instead of giving the public a penny-
worth for their penny, and being kept up to the col••
lar as they ought to be, are allowed to spend their
time at clubs, or at home, and to drive down to their
deilis in their tilbUries, . three or four hours after they
should have been at work, who can wonder that ActS
of Parliament and other public doctiments come forth
in the crude state they do, and entail trouble and dis-
grace . upon the heads of the departments, as well as
great expence and . inconvenience to the public ?
Without particularizing any department, we believe
we may say generally, that no man can go to any of
under Govermnent without. being disgusted with
the laxity that prevails in it, as wellas the treatment he
himself receives. That he .will, -in fact, wonder
whether the underlings have any thingTeally to do, and
how the business of the .depart men_ t is ever per-'
formed. He will not Unfrectuently see a parcel of
booted dandified coxcombs lolling over the Newspa-
per, or discussing the odds upon the Derby, who,
if he asks them to attend to him, .will treat him with
disdain. . By. sufferance in one department, this loiter 7
ing idle spirit infuses itself into all ; and Ministers
will, in time, be obliged to write and copy their own
despatches and Acts of Parliament, of else be obliged,
as in these instances, to father any nonsense their
clerks may put into their hands. ?he evil, as far as
it regards legislation, is very great. The instance in
question is only one of many; and the House of
Commons can only protect itself from its recurrence
by deputing to responsible clerks of its own the duty
of seeing that Bills are engrossed with some regard at
' least to grammar and common same.—lbid.