The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-30 00:00:00

[The Times.]

On Tocsday n Committee of the Privy Council
sat at Whitehall, to hear an argument on several
petitions presenteed against an Act of the Legisla-
tore of Upper Canada. The facts connected with
the case were shortly these :—The North-West
Company, after long and violent disputes with
Lord Selkirk, preferred a bill of indictment against
lout and others-for a conspiracy to injure the fur-
trade. The offence was alleged to have been coin-
' Milted at Furt on the most distant verge
of Upper Canada, perhaps beyond its boundaries,
but which, for the sake of argument, may be
conceded to be in the western district of Upper
Canada, Of this district the assize town is S
wich, where the bill was preferred, and Lord S.
attended with his witnesses, brought at a great
expense from a distance of 1,500 miles in the in-
terior. The Grand Jury deliberated six days on
the b:II, when, just as they were about to throw
it out, Chief Justice Powell adinurned the Coot
sine die; and Lord Selkirk, thinking the business
was at an end, dismissed his witnesses. Shoitly
afterwards a Legislative Session'Was held at York,
250 miles less inland than Sandwich, when the
Act now under consideration was brought into
the House of Assembly. That House consists of
twenty-four members, but of these ten had nor
arrived, being the more distant members, whose
constituents were most affected by the Bill, It
was passed by 9 votes only, out of 14 present ;
sent up hastily to the Legislative Council, con-
sisting only of ten members, of whom Chief Juts-
lice Powell was the Speaker, and most concerned
in framing the Bill; and it passed through that
house in two days ! It was preceded by no legis-
lative inquiry, by no message (rain the Govern-
ment, by no allegation of necessity, by no time
allowed for petitioning against it in Canada ;
and now before. the Privy Council, 11 mem-
bers out of the 24 who constitute the House
of Assembly, are petitioners to have the Bill dis-
allowed. However, it was instantly acted upon.
' The same indictment, which could not be found at
Sandwich, was preferred against Lord Selkirk and
his friends at York, and there (after some extra-
ordinary interferences on the part of the Nottli-
%Vest Company's agents) the bill was at last found.
It was contended, that the Bill was a departure
trout the principles of English law, in withdraw.
ing a man from his natural judges, the Grand and
Petty Inquest of his own district. It was Wither
argued, that the Governor had not complied with
the instructions laid down in the statute 31st
Geo. 111. c. 31, which 'direct :bat he should re-
serve all i,stnitordinary and unnsuai Mils for the
special consideration of his Majesty, without pre-
viously giving them his assent, uulesi they con-
tain a clause suspending their operation till the
Royal pleasure be known. The Privy Council,
after hearing. the arguments, separated without
pronouncing any decision.

DUEL PREVENTED.-A meeting be►ween Capt.
I'. and Mt. S , a medicll Gentleman, was pre-
vented taking place ou Wormwood scrub•, yei.
;ciia)? morning, by officers of justice. The
Captain was taken after the ground was measured,
and he was Irlt opun his honour to enter into bail.

" In thus perpetually representing every dis*
concerted scheme of the baffled Relormers as the
invention of Guvernmcnt, these witless scribblers
ate merely following, 11% humble imitators in the
train of the radicals. They have long made it a
favourite branch of their tactics to accuse their-
own leaders as spies 'of Government whenever
their projects were discovered or their plans de-
feated. And thus they foolishly think to evsde
the vengeance and abhorrence of the Nation, by
basely accusing their own associates or one more
treason than they are really goal of. But the
trick has been played off too often to succeed.
And though it may avail to sow the seeds of dis-
,sention in their own Societies and help some con-
temptible victim of low Ambition,to reign for a
season in the Hell of their combinations, assured-
ly it will deceive no one but their own deluded
followers.

" It is, however, right, that the public should
know to %viral', the loyal tom, of Bitiningliarn was
really indebted for that atrocious and inflamma•
tory placard which polluted its walls on Tuesday,
the 14th inst. a placard which, had it not tailed

of its intended effect, would have involved the
author in the guilt of high treason, and produced.
a scene of confusion and tumult, and, too pro-
bably, of bloodshed. We it4t then, and we fear
not that our questions can be truly 'answered in
the negative, was not that placard read, avprov-
ed, and adopted at a meeting of the Union So-
ciety ? Was it not printed by their order, and
' signed by tie Chairman, acting under their di-
rection ? IVas it nut placarded oil our walls -on
Tuesday, the 14th, before the arrival of the Man-
chester Mai, in order to lead the way for that
rising, of which the news brought front that
town was expected to be•the signal ? Was not
the SoCiety ‘vhich issued that placard, sitting in
lull expectation of the summons, which was In
call them front deliberation into action ? And
was not disappointment visible in the face of
every Radical, and mortification quivering oil
his lip, when the anxiously-expected Mail an-
nounced, that Manchester was quiet, and loyalt y
as yet triumphant We- adi not where that
infamous paper was prepared ; whether it WIIS
the production of SOUIC nritlut,itt cOnsultation in
Slacey-street, or sent down from that central
Committee of the Union wherever sitting, from.
whence the blind and deluded votari,s of Refotrn
in this toss receive their orders, But the very
moment of its appearance, the audacity of its lan-
guage, and the felt put pose of its appeal may
convince the most sceptiCal, that the pinjected
Ince:lug at Manchester was something more than
a mere invention to inspire terror; that, had it
no: been met by measures of prevention, suffi-
ciently decisive to strike a panic into the hearts of

its contrivers, it would have led to scenes' far more
criminal and more bloody titan that town has yet
witnessed; and that the contest there would have
been a signal for an attempt, however hopeless,
to imitate it here. While such, however, have
been the criminal inienlons of the leaders of that
infatuated body, we are happy to find strong
!ymptoats of a return to a sounder mind, and bet-
ter habits, among some who had unwarily joined
it. ,We hinted last week at the desperate folly of
taking taco to church, in order to teach them dis-
affee!ion ; and we now feel ant hotized to con-
elude, that, whatever was the covert intent of this
measure, it has completely disappointed its con-
trivers. We have marked the gradual decrease of
the numbers who have marched in military array
to Christ Church, front near 500 to 250, 225, and
on Sunday last to 100. We have also o:.terved
the altered conduct of those who have thus at-
tended ; and we have seen the bold stare of de-
fiance and the evident constraint and indiffereoce
of many, changed for a composed and respectful
demeanour. And to this we now may add, from
information which we know to be correo, that
some who had been closely connected with the
Society, and zealous sharers in all its schemes of
disaffection, have openly renounced it since they
first were taken to Christ Church, and have_de-
dared their intention of constantly attending that
Church in future, no longer as inselters .of Reli-
gion and its Ministers, but as humble and decent
worshippers of their God.
" We doubted not front the first that this would
be the case ; we relied with coofidence oo the
good sense and tight feeling of our townsmen ;
we were sole that no delusion would operate long
upon their minds, so strongly as to persuade them
that they were tight in thus tarrying defiance and
mockery into the presence of their Savioar, and
their God ; we looked forward with eht cold hope
to the salutary effect which acquaintance wi:h the
service of the Church would prodnee upon their
consciences ; and fully expected to find, that they,
who once were brought there to scoff, would re-
turn again to pray. 'fitt fact to which we have
:thready alluded, a fact of which we repe‘at we
speak from actual knowledge, and the marked pro-
priety of behaviour even of those who attended
ihe Church on Sunday last, as an associated body,
Convinces us that the wished-tor effect has been
produced. • And we earnestly hope, that, under
Pritvidenee, good may thus be brought out of
evil, and that the cause of truth, and holiness,
and peace, will be eventually promoted by ;hose
who meditated nothing but delusion, and iniquity,
Lind disoidei."