The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We presume the f4te of the Test all • d Corpo-
ration
Acts is decided by the discussion on
Tuesday night last; and it is but fair to sav
that the Established Church, though there may
have been some " busy meddlers" within its
body, has left the matter generally to be decided
by the rational conviction of the national repre-
sentatives in Parliament. Lord John Russell
seemed to acquiesce, for accommodation's sake,
in the establishment of the declaration proposed
by Mr. Peel, reserving to himself, however, the
right of collecting from the organs of the dis-
senting body whether they would be content
with the boon proposed. This may be a good
practical way of proceeding, but yet we think it
hardly constitutional. Parliament should upon
all occasions enact what it thinks right, leaving
those who are personally affected by the enact-
ments to proceed as they think proper ti-der
them. It should not be first inquired of any
delegated or self-obtruded bode of men,
" will that satisfy you, or will you be con-
tent with that ?" for by this mode of pro-
lgiaorioide7 ;Waen d
have often
flatter b
eltioarse oanrlgyu
et,o
legislate up to i
ceeding the delegates are made to prescribe
tgbe oeee
snf
soei
rProeanal
their views, and not for the
sto the Catholics. And
the b
s we know not who the organs of the
this point when treating of the subject of con-
be,'—how on
nhose n, slOl rjebeyt
e whether they do realty
speakdwihs osemn
the sense
nor
body
noosdfey
co
ofut mayhe universal dissenting body.r
course
If they are of the Unitarian class, for example,
they belong to the sect with which, not only the
English people generally, but even the great
mass of Dissenters, have the fewest and feeblest
sympathies. With respect to the declaration it-
self, we trust that it will be adopted without con-
test, as calculated for the present to establish
tranquillity upon a much-controverted subject
and we even trust, further, that it will sink
into disuse, on account of its being discovered
that the Church, as an establishment, has no-
thing to apprehend from the designs of those
who dissent from her in ever-varying ways, some
the most opposite to others in doctrinal points„
The only case, probably, where the conse-
quence of not making the declaration may he
called into effect by removal from office, wilt
be where strong passions are excited by other
subjects of difference in a corporation than those
of a religious nature. The declaration, it will
also be observed, only proposes to secure the
Church against the arm of power, " 1 will not
exert any power or influence which I may pos-
sess by virtue of my office to injure or subvert
the Church." The Clergy of the Establishment
may say, should the Dissenter refuse this decla.
ration, " Then it is by power that you mean to
subvert us, as you have already done." To the
attacks of reason and learning the Church is still
open, and ever ought to be ; for we are con-
vinced that her purity depends upon the freedom
with which her doctrines are investigated, and
her conduct regarded, or even watched ; ami
being thus observed,—being thus incessantly
tried in the furnace of controversy,—she wilt
not only be a shelter and home to her own chil-
dren, but a beacon to those who differ front
her ; guarding wanderers on the ocean of doubt
and dissent from deviating into too wild and ex-
travagant courses of faith and practice, and ever
recalling them to the view of her fixed and steady
light.—Times.

A paper has been printed by order of the
House of Commons, which exhibits but a me-
lancholy picture of poverty in the lower orders
of the English nation, or of improvidence and
neglect of duty in the upper classes with regard
to their administration of the public money.
The paper we allude to is a return of the funds
levied by parishes under the poor-rate system,
throughout England and Wales, for the year
ending March 25, 1827 ; of that portion of the
gross sum so raised, which has been expended
for the relief of the poor—the only avowed or
justifiable object of such a species of taxation ;
and of what has been bestowed on other pur-
poses. We grieve, and our sorrow is mingled
with no slight alarm, that the poor-rate should,
during a year not marked by any very general
privation or calamity, have amounted at the end
of it to almost 7,800,000/. I. This in the 13th
year of peace, and after the necessity of re-
forming the poor laws had been brought repeatedly
and most earnestly home to the attention of the
coof ttheryer
lg. i
st ;1111 ea nof
t as compared
eom England.pa r ed withA
aa aggravation
year, the poor-rates had increased by nine per
cent., or about 700,000/. sterling. There was,
no doubt a considerable share of local distress
among the manufacturing districts during a part
of the period cited, consequent upon the Cotton
Bubbles of 1825; but they will not account for
the frightful additions to the sum-total of the
fund, since the agricultural counties, with only
three exceptions,—viz., Berkshire, Hampshire.,
and Suffolk, where the rate has been reduced
2,4, and 5 per cent. ; and with the farther ex -
ception of Sussex, where it remains; stationary,
—have all partaken of this unwhc,iesome growth.
Why, fifty years back, the entire revenue of
Great Britain fell short of the sum now raised
for the maintenance of her paupers, and of those
who Nzanage them. The expense of manage-
ment only, apart from the fundswhich have been
distributed for the direct benefit of the poor,
amounts to between a fifth and sixth of the
whole sum levied, or above 17 per cent. This
is a branch of the system which calls for the
closest scrutiny ; the " other purposes than the
elves for wit-
nessing of the poor," being an indefinite and there -
1113uut relieve, by
fore suspicious denomination of account, no
small ingredient in which would, we are afraid,
be found to consist of overseer-dinners and the
like sort of ceremonials befitting the vocation of
number of select vestries through-
revelries to which a nice palate and keen
contributions
alfuptettiltties document moften
s supplies lOt also with a state
npeasrsisiiiilgoffiinciseersri
eir
tfltkilteliiellietgoind°o;snrte7Oapialpelold among Englishmen of
expedient, we will venture
e sw who
which
comfortthey themselves
site to every notion which
litomvilleistanstattihYbi.oele longs to a free constitution, or ought to
be endured by an intelligent people. A select
vestry is a close corporation, self-elected so often
as vacancies arise, responsible to no power but
itself, and possessing, what the House of Com-
mons does not, unbounded control over the for-
tunes of the public, which, after the first ap-
pointment of the vestry, is carefully excluded
from every shadow of elective power. What-
e
ver
parish,ratethe
theyse may enforce ; there is none tee
vestry please to impose upon
their
gainsay them. Whatever abuse or corruption it
thinks fit to ordain or tolerate in the employment
of the revenue thus wrung from the people, there
is none to question. It is the most terrible pre-
rogative committed to the most unassailable of
agents, a rotten borough erected in the heart of
each parish, miscalling eta members
-the reprec.en-

V

tatives of the community, and exercising a sway
at once unbounded and irresponsible. Parlia-
ment, we are sure, if it listens to the voice of
every quarter of England,—from Marylebone to
Penzance,—will revise and cut away this modern
excrescence upon the constitution of the country.
. .

"We have before us a copy of Mr. Brougham's
elebrated speech on the State of the Laws, pre-
pared with the advantage of the corrections of
that Gentleman, which will be published this
day. The receipt of it has naturally drawn our
attention to the prospects which were opened to
the country by the acceding to the Commission
for an Inquiry into the State of the Law. Are
the expectations held out about to be realized ?
When we know the persons who are to have
the management and direction of this Inquiry,
we shall be able to predict the amount of advan-
tage the country is likely to derive from it. We
have heard that sir. Sugden is to have the direction
of the Inquiry, and we have heard it with some
degree of alarm. Mr. Sugden is allowed, in the
profession, to he excelled by no man in profound
legal knowledge, and dexterity in the applies-
,
!ion of his knowledge. But more is required in
an Inquiry instituted with a view to remedy the
defeets of the law than a minute knowledge of
that law. A man may possess more knowledge
in the 14w than any of his brethren, and his very
eeperiority may endear to him the very defects
of that from which he derives his reputation.
And, indeed, it is a matter of notoriety that no-
thing is so rare as to find great professional
;gill unaccompanied with a strong dislike
of ehange. Bacon makes the Judges and
Lawyers say,- in answer to his projected
Refiirms, " It will turn the Judges, Coun-
sellors of Law, and Students of Law, to
schoOl again, and make them to seek what they
ehall hold and advise for raw ; and it will impose
a new charge upon.all lawyers, to furnish them-
?selves with new books of law." B it, indepen-
dently of the natural dislike of me ; who derive
their consequence from a knowledg ,tof the intri-
cate labyrinths of law to the suhstitution for
them of a straight-forward coerce, which de-
stroys the value of their painfully acquired mo-
nopoly, the narrow-mindedness inseparable from
that exclusive devotion to one pursuit, without
which the highest degree of skill cannot be ac-
quired, must in a great measure incapacitate a
man for judging wisely between what is and what
ought to be. Bacon repeatedly alludes to his
acquaintance with other subjects than the law of
Englend, as giving him an advantage in execut-
ing the task of its improvement; for it is by
comparison alone that we become able to ap-
preciate the reel value of any thing. Mr.
Brougham, in his speech, forcibly combats
the strong prejudice of lawyers against innova-
tion. " But I do not (he says) merely cite,
Against alarms or scruples, that bold and wise
and safe measure of Lord Grenville ; older au-
thorities, and in the Courts of Westminster,
are with me. I will rely on Lord Hale, whose
celebrated Treatise of the Amendment of the
Late (far less studied, I fear, by our Juriscon-
sults than that of Fortescue) well exposes the
folly of such fears, with their origin By loag
use and custom (says he) men, especially that
are aged, and have been long educated to the
profession and practice of the law, contract a
kind of superstitious veneration of it beyond what
s just and reasonable. They tenaciously and
rigorously maintain those very forms, and pro.
icectings, and practices, which, though possibly at
first they were seasonable and useful, yet by the
.ery change of matters, they become not only
useless and , impertinent, but burthensome and
iicouvenient, and prejudicial to the common
justice and the common good of mankind ; not
considering the forms and precepts of law were
not introduced for their own sakes, but for the
use of public justice ; and, therefore, when they
become insipid, useless, impertinent, and possibly
derogatory to the end, they may and must he re-
moved.' Such is the language of Sir M. Hale.
After Lord Coke and Littleton himself, there is no
higher authority in the law than Shepperd, the
author of the ' Touchstone,' who, in another of
his works, called 'England's Balm, or Propo-
sals by way of Grievance and Remedy, ,S.c. to-
wards It;:e Regulation of the Law and better
Administrii.tion of .Justice,' reminds his legal
brethren, that taking away the abuse of the
Law will establish the use of the Law—stabilii
usum qui tollit abusion ; and that rooting up
the tares will not destroy, the wheat.' " That
Mr. Sugden is one of the superstitious vene-
rators of forms, proceedings, and practices which
are barthensome and inconvenient, end prejudi-
ciel to the common justice and the common
good of mankind, alluded to by Lord Hale, is
but too rpparent from his published pamphlets,
and his speech in the House of Commons in the
discussion on Mr. Brougham's motion. He evi-
dently considers that state of the Law the best
which is the most inaccessible to the people, end
which produces the most to the Lawyer. " He
coofessed," he said, " he looked with no little
alarm at the disposition which he saw beginning
to prevail, of attempting rash innovations, and
striking, under the vain hope ofamendment, at
the root of that system under which the country
had flourished for ages." Vain hope of amend-
ment ! System under which the country flou-
rished ! The country flourished under the small-
pox—were we, therefore, to resist inoculation ?
All innovations are not rash, any more than all
ancient practices are not necessarily iyise ; and
the use of reason is to enable men to retain the
old when change would he for the worse, and to
decide on innovation when the new is better
than the old. Rashness may as Y. 'e 1 1 be shown
in rejecting innovation, as in admitting it. But
who does not see that the feeling which dictated
these words was a hatred of innovation merely
because it is innovation ? " Laws he considered
not to be so much made by the wisdom of man
as to have been formed and improved by time ;
and he thought that nothing was more absurd in
that point or view than to suppose that any in-
dividual, however profound his wisdom or ex-
tensive his know Ledge, could form a code of
laws for the purpose eif governing the property
and rights of the people,
.end thereby supersede
all the wisdom of the ages .which were past."
Now let us only mark the absurdity contained
in this tirade, which shows how ill-suited the
Wet of mind possessed by Ur, Stigden is, not.
withstanding his extensive. knowledge of the
Law of Property, to take clear and compre-
hensive views. No man, however profoued
his wisdom, or extensive his knowledge,
could form a Code of Laws to supersede the
wisdom of the ages which are past ! And why ?
How, good Mr. Sugden, is the wisdom of ages
produced ? By more extended experience. in
the time of the Norman Conquest, many things
o ere deemed good which we nosy deem evil;
and many things in the present day are deemed
good which the more extended experience of our
successors will discern to be evil. We repeal a
Jaw because it is deemed to be impolitic, and
on frame another because we imagine it will be

productive of benefit. If a man frames a code
of laws, what else does he do but proceed it i the
course by which we have arrived at the sum of
the wisdom of ages which we possess? He
avails himself of the discoveries which have been
made, he profits by the experience which has
been acquired in past ages, he endeavours to
separate that which the experience of past ages
has proved to be folly from that which the same
experience has proved to be wisdom. Every
past age has dropt some of the wisdom of a pre-
ceding age, when it has been discovered that
that wisdom has been folly, The process of
epuration has been constantly going on. If
all the laws and usages and maxims which have
been current since the beginning of the world
were to be presented to the existing generation,
in a mass, in what a state of embarrassment
would it not be ? A Code is merely an endea-
voila; to convey the knowledge of law derived
from experience and reflection, freed from the
abuses and imperfections which experience has
also revealed, in the most luminous order. It is
turning the wisdom of ages to account, and faci-
litating the process of adding to that wisdom.
Where we see a decided hatred of innovation,
merely because it is innovation, displayed in so
marked a manner, we cannot help auguring un-
favourably of the projected Commission of which
lie is to have the management. Without a
knowledge of the law its abuses cannot of course
be known, and reform supposes adequate know-
ledge. But it is by no means a necessary qua-
lification fm a Legislator that he should possess
that minute knowledge of every peculiarity in the
law which distinguishes a Sugden. An inferior
degree of' knowledge, with an acquaintance with
the subject of law in general, and a mind well
disciplined by liberal knowledge, will enable a
man to perform the task in a sufficient manner.
—Morning Chronicle.
According to the Angsburgh Gazette, " the
President and Government of Greece, convinced
of the necessity of meeting the calls of the State
by extraordinary expences, have agreed on the
urgency of a new loan, which is to be negotiat-
ed in England by Count Viarie Capo d'lstrias,
brother of the President, who is now at Corfu."
Considering the situation in which Greece is
placed with regard to her former loans, really
the Government appear to have been reckoning
without their host. It is very easy to talk about
borrowing, but we should like to know where
the lenders are to be found. Of this, however,
the Greek Government may be assured, that no
money will be forthcoming unless ample security
can be given, which we think they have it not in
their power to offer. But if we have been in-
formed correctly, which we believe we have,
Count Capo d'lstrias strained every nerve to raise a
loan of two millions sterling when in England,
He wished to get this proposed loan guaranteed
by R ussia, England, and France. Russia in-
stantly offered to guarantee her share—namely,
one-third ; but the Duke of Wellington peremp-
torily refused to accede to any such measure on
the part of England. " Too much money,"
his Grace said, " had been already sent out of
this country to Greece and other States, either
unable or unwilling to keep their faith." The
question of the loan was mentioned to a great
capitalist, who treated the subject very coolly ;
but who, however, agreed to mention it to
another eminent contractor, whose reply was,
" No—l cannot think of lending a million of
money to people, to who I gave, the other day,
a hundred pounds in the way of charity." Un- •
der these circumstances, we will leave our readers
to judge what chance Greece has of raising a
loan in England.--,•-elforning Herald._
. .
The Tythe Commutation Bill now before the
House of Commons is likely to effect a consi-
derable alteration, and we think improvement, in
the relative situation of the Clergy of the Church
of England and the Landed Interest. The
amendment of Mr. Secretary Peel, which limits
the term for which commutations can be effected
under the authority of the proposed Act, so far
changes its character aaeo convert that which
was before a confiscatory and revolutionary mea-
sure into a regulation the most salutary and bene-
ficial. The Bill, as originally introduced, enabled
the incumbent of a parish, possessing of course
no more than a life interest in the tythes, to
alienate them for a fixed money payment in per-
petuity, to the prejudice of the patrimony of the
Church, and of time income of his successors for
ever. The Bill, as amended by Mr. Peel, will
enable the incumbent to contract with his pa-
rishioners for a fixed money payment in lieu
of tythe for a certain limited period. It is
only necessary to take the most general
view of the nature of tythe, in order to
appreciate the importance of the alterations
suggested and successfully enforced by Mr.
Peel. We lament to say that this conserva-
tive alteration was resisted, because we cannot
but regard the occurrence as an additional
symptom of the spirit we have long per-
ceived to be abroad of hostility to the Church of
England, and to all the other valuable and an-
cient institutions of the country. Within a few
centuries the value of money has undergone de-
preciation to a very great extent. Suppose an
annual money payment in lieu of tythe had been
fixed generally throughout England antecedent
to this change, is it not evident that the provi-
sion for time Church would at the present mo-
ment have been utterly inadequate ? And who
can say with any confidence, that an equal de-
isreciation in the value of money may not occur
rn fature, or that an annual payment in lieu of
tythe, to be 119 w fixed in perpetuity, may not in
the course ofyeare beeome as insufficient as the
payment would have been at the present day,
that had been fixed by a permanent commuta-
tion three or four centuries ago? To urge the
adoption of such a measure must be taken there-
fore to imply either a great ignorance of the sub-
ject, or an titter careicsS3;co or a determined
hoetility to the permanent security and indepen-
dence of the Church. Great inconveniences,
among the greatest of which may be reckoned
the discredit or unpopularity of many of time
Clergy, have however been found to arise from
the practive of' levying the tythe in kind, or of
taking in lieu of it a commutation, subject at the
will of the parties to perpetual change. We be
lieve that for one Clergyman who has been ex-
toetionete, there have been one hundred ready
for the sake of peace and harmony to forego a
large proportion of their just demands. But
nevertheless conflicts and bickeringe, anSI animo-
sities, have .frequently arisen between the Clergy
and their parishioners, the effect of which has
been, and could scarcely fail to be, injurious to
the interests and comfort of both, and to coun-
teract time efforts and abridge the usefulness of
the former. It was desirable to apply some re-
medy to this evil ; and the Bill, as amended by
Mr. Peel, is perhaps the most safe and effectual
remedy that could have been devised. The
Bill now resembles, in its most important features,
the measure which Mr. Goulburn applied to

Ireland, and which has been for two or three
years in beneficial operation in that country.—
Morning Post. '
We look with much confidence to Mr. Peel,
in the course of his legislative labours for ame-
liorating our Civil and Criminal Code, that he
will propose some changes in the law as it now
stands, affecting debtor and creditor. It is a sub-
ject every way worthy of his enlightened mind
and benevolent character. There is not, we ve-
rily believe, a law in our Statute Book which
hears upon its face more r,f the character of rude
and barbarous legislation than the one referred
to. The power it gives to every one to injure
and ruin another, from motives purely malicious,
is frightful; and the more frightful, because
every day it is so exercised. It is not the lust
and conscientious creditor who invokes this law
against the unfortunate debtor ; but the exaspe-
rated or malignant creditor, in whose hands it
becomes an instrument to carry desolation into
families, by consigning the husband and the
father to prison. Humanity, reason, and jus-
tice, alike condemn the principle of this law,
which, in its practical operation, enables a cre-
ditor to tell his debtor, << You owe me twenty
pounds, which you cannot pay by the fruits of
your labour and industry ; to prison with you,
and find the means of paying me there, while
your wife and children go to the workhouse."—
We shall take other opportunities of reverting to
this subject.—New Times.