The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-20 00:00:00

LONDON UNIVERSITY.

Mr. Austen, Professor of Jurisprudence, de-
livered his introductory lecture on Tuesday
night, before a numerous audience. After de-
tailing at considerable length the reasons which
prevented his giving at one view an outline of
the subject his course would embrace, the Pro-
fessor announced his plan to be analytical, and
that his first care would be to define certain
terms in common use, but little understood,
such as Law, Right, Obligation, Person, Thing,
Forbearance, &c. Going logically to work, he
would then treat of the divisions of Law into
the municipal or that derived from the sovereign
power of the state—the Divine—the Moral—
and the Natural Law, as inferentially applied to
matter, motion, Sec. Alluding to Governments,
Mr. Austen declared his opinion to be that all
were equally lawful, provided they really pos-
sessed the sovereign power ; that comparing
States like Mexico and Colombia, with England
and France, the only difficulty was to determine
whether in the two former there existed a Go-
vernment de facto, and that in the United
States it was not easy to say in whom it really
resided. In adverting to the distinctions between
written and unwritten law, and the expediency
of codification, he expressed himself convinced
that in a civilized state of society the formation
of a code could never be impracticable, but that
its desirableness was a question simply of time,
place, and circumstances. We have not space
to follow the Professor in his explanation of a
system of unwritten law as a method of apply-
ing principles, nor to his divisions of equity—
a term used in so many different senses, which,
with us, is wholly opposite to the written equity
administered by the Roman Prxtors. Mr. Austen
finally announced that he had some time been
engaged in the compilation of tables on the
Roman plan, as a groundwork to students, of
the terms and principles in jurisprudence. The
Lecture of last night was extremely, but withal],
siogularly diffuse ; and we believe was thought
very dull by the majority of the audience. It
contrasts unfavourably with Sir James Macin-
tosh's celebrated Treatise on Jurisprudence, the
style and eloquence of which are so much more
attractive than the manner of Mr. Austen. Our
remarks, however, do not, in the least, apply to
the matter of the Lecture, which, as far as we
can judge, gives promise of an excellent course.

STEAM CARRIAGES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Stn,--Permit me, through the medium o
your excellent Journal, to offer to the public a
few remarks on the advantages that may be ex-
pected to result from the invention of steam
carriages. No one, I apprehend, will venture to
dispute that, to a great manufacturing country
like this, facility of conveyance is of the first
importance. Time is, in fact, wealth ; and in
proportion to the rapidity with which intercourse
can be maintained between distant parts, must
be the increase of the riches of the community.
By the establishment of steam-carriages and the
use of rail-roads, goods may be conveyed
with celerity and ease from the place
where they are manufactured to the best
markets. By means of this conveyance Coo
a greater equality in the prices of the different
markets will be established. Facility of intercourse
will induce customers to resort to those places
where the articles can he obtained at the fairest
prices, whilst it will enable the producer to send
his goods to those markets where a 'fair value
may be obtained for them. Thus will be pro-
duced a general level of prices; calculated on
the one hand to ensure a great remuneration to
the manufacturer, and on the other to enable the
purchaser to obtain what he wishes at a fair
price; and, in the present distressed state of in-
dustry, can we too highly.value such advantages ?
Facility of production will be incmased ; this
'will lead to augmentation of capital, and that
again to increased demand for labour. Where-
ever rail-roads are substituted for the
present roads, if we take into account
the expences of horses, road repairing, and
other charges on the present system, and
those of making the rail-road and working the
steam-carriages on the new plan, we shall find
there will be an immense saving by the latter
mode. In the next place, here is a profitable
opportunity of investment for the now unem-
ployed capital of fundholders ; the demand for
iron would raise the value of that article, and the
coal proprietors derive advantage from the great
consumption of coke. The agricultural interest,
too, would derive equal benefit from it. The
farmers would be enabled to send their corn and
other gOods. to market at a cheaper rate, and
would obtain at a fairer price those manufac-
tured articles of which they stood in need ;
whilst, if the soil now appropriated to the growth
of oats was rendered of no value, in conse-
quence of the diminished number of horses, it
might be used for wheat. Thus might a
cheap supply of wheat be obtained, without
our being dependent on foreign supplies.
Nor are these the only advantages to be
expected from this measure. Communication
between different places would be maintained
more expeditiously, whether for' matters of pri-
vate business or for affairs of state. In time of
war, ammunition, stores, &c. might be moved
with a despatch hitherto unprecedented ; and
bodies of troops might be transported to any de,
sired points with facility. Indeed, when I con-
template the vivifying effects of this invention
upon trade; when I see, through its adoption,
how industry may be aroused from its present
lethargy, and commercial enterprise endued with
fresh life; when, too, I reflect that this may be
accomplished not only without detriment, but
with positive advantage to agriculture, I would alter
the saying of the ancient philosopher, and e4claim
" Give me science and I will move the world."
No longer confined to the closets of the learned,
science has gone abroad amongst the nations,
and exercises a gigantic sway on the destinies
of empires. By it we have conquered the dis-
tances of space, increased the powers of time,
overcome the adverse 9 tides of the ocean, and
the opposing currents of the air. May its powers
increase and multiply, and may England be the
foremost in the discoveries of peace, as she }gas
hitherto been in the triumphs of war !
I am Sir, your 111,Imb1e Savant,
ALPHA.

In the afternoon of Friday se'nnight, a man
arrived in Gloucester for the purpose of purchasing tint-
ber, but falling into the company of one of the frail sister-
hood, he was unable to resist her pressing solicitations to
treat her with a glass of liquor, and after visiting one or
two public houses, he fmally,retired with her to a lodging
house of an infamous description. On awaking in the
morning, however, he found that his fair companion had
not only relieved him of her presence, but had also eased
him of 301., being all the money be bad ix liia pocket,
end leaving him no very agreeable tale to communicate to
lilt wife on hie return heme....Clte/tenham Chronicle.