The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-09 00:00:00

duce manufactures from Scotland and England,
that in proportion they-will introduce their re-
spective religious opinions, and that, therefore, in
time, the Irish will be emancipated from Cathy-
licism. Nowsuch an emancipation brought about
by time .and by interest—so far as masters, and
servants, and manufacturers, and wholesale and
retail dealers, and consumers, are concerned—
would probably be of more'real service to Ire-
land than the emancipation proposed by the Ca-
tholic Prelates, who want to be put on the State
Books as pensioners ; or the Catholic Big Wigs,
who wish to become Chancellors and advisers of
the King. We congratulate our Irish brethren
on the light dawning on them.—/biol.

There can' be no
lestion that the ti.is'eaed
1 " dbeen • igian has
state of the a ion 0.
no sTnali degree the work of the English gentry.
,
But ill tlianaging tne evidence before the Com-
mittee on Emigration, great care seems to have
been taken to exclude whatever might haVe a
tendency to impair the credit of the gentry for
wisdom, in their capacity of Magistrates. Great
benefit might have been derived from receiving
evidence on many of the points mooted by the
Rev. Mr. Brereton, namely, the intolerable op-
pression felt throughout the country, from the
arbitrary manner in which the unconWoOlable
powers vested in Justices tit) constantly exer-
cised. The Committee wished only so much
truth to be let in as would shew the extent of
the evil. But it is of the first importance to
trace the causes of an evil ; because, if we are
not thoroughly. acquainted with the causes, we
can never know.how to provide such a remedy
as shall guard against a recurrence olthem. The
case of the parish of Snettisham will shew the
mischievous agency of the.gentry in their magis-
terial capacity. " Under what system or sta-
tute," says Mr. Brereton, in his, late,pamphlet
on the Subordinate Magistracy and Parish Sys
-
teal (except the workhouse, if that even be an
exception) " do the Justices charge upon the
overseers of parishes the regulation of the em-
ployment or lelief of able-bodied labourers
There is absolutely none ; and yet it is practised
ey:yry day, by the absolute authority of the Jim-
aces or the perjury of the pauper. The follow-
ing case, which has lately occurred in this neigh-
bourhood, and which has been made public, will
illustrate better than volumes can do, the pre-
sent intolerable oppression of what- is called Ses-
sion Law; i. r. law which by votes of Justices,
decisions of Judges, and opinions of practising
Lawyers, set at defiance law, equity, 'and com-
mon sense :

" 'ln the parish of Snettisham, in the minty of Nor-
fulk, there is a great number of poor, for. which the far-
mers in the parish cannot find employment; but at the
distance of twelve miles a public work of excavating or
Widening a new river is going on, at which all'the poor
could obtain sufficient employment to enable them to
maintain their wives,and families, but they object to go
to such a work, or to endeavour to obtain employment out
of their own parish, and in consequence of such objection,
the overseers of the pariah refused to grant them parochial
relief.

" In consequence of such refusal, the Magistrates
acting for the Hundred in which Snettisham is situated
have, upon the application of these paupers, made orders
upon • the overseers to pay such weekly sums as they
thought necessary, according to the extent of the family of
the pauper
_applying; and such orders uniformly stated to
be Made upon the application of the pauper, who has
made oath before then, that he is very pour and impotent,
and not able to work, or maintain himself, when, in fact,
the paupers are able-bodied men, in perfect health, and
ready to go about their accustomed agricultural employ-
ment, if it could be provided for them within their own
parish.
" In the case Rex v. Collett, it appears that the case
was sent back to the Sessions, to ascertain what endeavours
the Parish Officers of Kelsale had made to obtain work for
their poor out of the parish as well as within it; and the
slagistratcs decided that, according to the evidence adduced,
the Parish Officers did not use due diligence to Snd employ-
ment for their poor, but it is not stated on what evidence
they came to their decision.l _

" It should be observed that some of the paupers are
single men, and some have wives and families.

" The Parish Officers are ready to give them certifi-
cates; if required, to go into another parish, where they can
find employment.
" Your opinion is, therefore, requested whether, under
all the above circumstances, the Churchwardens and Over-
seers of Snettisham can successfully appeal against the order
Of the Magistrates foe relief to the paupers, when they have
it in their power to find the paupers employment, by
which they vale earn their own living at a distance of 12
miles from their place of settlement ?
" OPINION.-.—l am of opinion that the conduct of the
Magistrates, in granting orders of relief under the circum-
stances stated is erroneous ; and none of the labouring poor
are entitled to relief, if the parish officers can find sufficient
employment for them, either in or out of the parish, within
the reasonable distance of 12 miles. But it has been de-
cided that no appeal lies against an order of relief--
Rex v. North Shields, Cal'd. 68.

" ' If the Justices, therefore, choose to persist in making
fresh orders, I know of no means of having the question
of right investigated.
" ' REX v. Cottarr was an appeal against the over-
seers' accounts, where the officers had granted relielwith-
out the sanction of an order. " ' M. NOLAN.
" 4 Oct. 21, 1826.' .
" Thus it appears, that though the Justices may inter-
feis in matters over which they have no legal jurisdiction, or
though they mayact erroneously, oppressively, and partially,
yet if they choose to shelter themselves under the cover of
an Order of Relief, there is no means of trying the question
of right; or, in other words, there is no appeal from. their
orders and directions affecting the employment and wages
of the people, and consequently the business and property
of the parishioners."
It appears that the gentry, not satisfied with
these uncontrolable and irresponsible powers,
actually call in Captain Rock to their assistance,
in order to deter any one under their jurisdiction
from murmuring at their sway. What. Mr.
Brereton says on this head is of great importance,
and we recommend it particularly to the attention
of those who attach such immense 'importance to
the residence of a Squirearchy on their estates.
The conduct of the Justices (he says) is not
only directly oppressive in acts and orders like
these, but the whole mode of sustaining their pon er
is no better than common barratry, mantenam, and
champerty in law. It would be, most desirable
that there should be nothing more than an order
founded upon an oath, however false and impious.
'But every one knows that resistance even to an
intimation of a Justice, exposes the parish of
ficers, and the parish, and the property, to the
danger of insult, plunder, and conflagration. Af-
ter the order was given in the Snettisham case,
70 able-bodied labourers appeared at the Petty
Sessions ready to swear impotency, and to intimi-
date in any way that might be suggested. A gentle-
man once told me, that imagining the parish Offi-
cers in his parish were too timid, he determined
to act as overseer himself. 'He soon received a
summons ; he declined to relieve on the direc-
tion i
of the Justices witliont an order. The
Justices mmediately rose, and said, we do not
intend-to do business in that manner ; and with
a. frown to the gentleman overseer, 'left the
Court. The next morning the gentleman's ser-
vant came -to-inform him that his horses were all
:flanked." These matters should all be inquired
into, because it is useless to talk of emigration,
and other plans for setting the country to rights,
if the gentry are to.be left, in. the possession of
uncontrollable powers,- which.they have already
exercised in so scandalous imaniter. When the
Poor Laws of England are spoken of, the
"abuses in their administration, the consequence
of ihOse arbitrary powers usurped by Justices of
Peace, are always confounded with the principle

of the laws. We have alivays thought with
Mr. Beecher, the Chairman for the Newark
Division' of the County. of Nottingham, exa-
mined by the Emigration Committee, that " the
expences incurred under the Poor Laws have
arisen principally from the non-administration
rather than from the administration of the Poor
Laws, from promiscuously relieving the, poor
without investigating their resources, Or ctiMpel-
ling their personal aertionst ; , . . lam
of opinion that the Poor Laws, if well admi-
nistered, would produce very different effects
from those which now result f'rom their opera-
tion. My endeavour has been to enforce . prac-
tically the priticipleS developed in the Statute of
rtueen Elizabeth, and elaborately confirmed by
the Report upon the Poor Laws promulgated in
1817 ; in one word, we constrain the poor to de-
pend upon their own resources for subsistence ;
we make up no wages out of the Poor-rates; we
pay no rents, we carry the. bastardy laws into
strict execution; and We limit circihnspectlY our
allowances to non-resident paupers. . . • •
No man is, in my estimation, legally entitled to
any parochial relief, beyond that which will
afford a bare snstenance ; tit 6iti. We give
pestptr, strider the present circumstances, the
lowest sum that seems sufficient to support life;
we avoid any intentionol mal-administration of
the Poor Laws ; we force the 'poor to seek
for employment; we Urge theirs to migrate,
in the .first instance, from their respective
parishes in search of occupation ; and after such
exertions, if no other employment is to be found
we supply them with the most servile kind of
works . .. At Southwell, with a po-
pulation of 3,051, we have now in the work-
house only one inale; four females, and ten chil,
dren ; and in forty-nine parishes, which, convin-
ced of the utility of the system incorporated in
my recommendation, and of which I am now the
visitor, with a population of 14,279, and a rental
assessed at 106,4101. a year, under the Pro-
perty Tax Act in 1815, we have never exceeded
seventy-one paupers for the incorporated house,
and yesterday 1 received an account that they
are now reduced to 54 ; consisting of 23 males,
17 females, and 14 children." Thus is3ejsee
how much depends on the due administration of
the Poor Laws. But the misfortune is, that the
Magistrates may either administer them ill or
well as they choose, and that they cannot in the
latter case be checked. If we wish, therefore, to
restore the country to a sound state, there is no
part of our system that demands to be more
thoroughly investigated, with a view to improve-
ment, than the powers given to Justices of the
Peace. They have unquestionably been great
corrupters of the country, acting, no doubt, in
many cases, with the best intentions, and in pure
ignorance -of the mischief' they were dOing.--.
Morning Chronicle.
. We . are somewhat disappointed in not being
able, even yet, to give some definitive intelli-
gence to our readers respecting the interposition
of the Allies in favour of Greece. On Sunday
night despatches were received' from Mr. Strat-
ford Canning, dated the 16th September ; and
yesterday there were private letters from Con-
stantinople of one day later. ,The former merely
announce, that up to the 16th no change...a.,44,-
position had been manifested by-the Turks ; that
they seemed to wait-silently and resolutely for the
result of the declaration of the Allies, prepared
to yield to force or to resist it as their fears or
their courage might dictate—or as the courss of
events, or the caprice of the Sultan, might re.
quire. The private letters entered more fully
into particulars, though of course they have not
the same claim to belief. According to them,
the negociations with the Allied Ambassadors
were ienewed by the. Divan on the 15th, and
with the prospect of a favourable result. They
add, that on the 10th the Ambassadors gave
notice to the subjects of their respective Govern-
ments to hold themselves in readiness to
leave Constantinople, as, in the event of the
Diplomatic Officiaries retiring from that capital,
some danger might accrue to
,the English
French, and Russians, who remained be-
hind ; but that this notice had been recalled, in
consequence of- a message from the Sultan
through the Reis Effendi, that the negochetions
might be renewed, accompanied by an intima-
tion that the Greek question might be accom-
modated. Although we have all along been of
opinion that to this the Sultan must come at
last,. we consider it as by no tneatis probable
that he has arrived at it yet. in the meantime,
the mere interposition of delay is of consequence,
and; though not so stated, it affords a sufficient
proof that on the part of the Allied Ambassa-
dors a hope is entertained of ,succeeding in the
object of their mission ; for it is .evident- that
had they conceived the Porte was only. seek-
ing to gain time for putting itself in such a
posture of defence .as might enable it to com-
pel other terms than they were disposed to
grant, they would hot have recalled the no-
tice which they had given, .and would have
instructed the commanders of the naval forces
in the Levant to put in force the measures
contemplated in the Convention. In d political
as well as in a moral point of view, it is ex-
tremely to be desired that the affairs of Greece
should be settled by treaty rather than by arms.
Although little can be added -to the horrors of a
war which has been carried on with almost un-
exampled ferocity, yet even that little must be
deprecated by every friend to humanity. The
continuance of the struggle daily deteriorates
the value of those possessions for which It is
waged, and daily exhausts those resources by
which its ravages are to be repaired ; its effect
on the character of the contending parties is
even more injurious, Rational liberty 'cannot
consist, with habits of long-indulged riot and re-
venge: Even a continued resistance to oppres-
sion may generate passions which refuse the
sway of regulated freedom. Ile of whom it can
be predicted, that, like the ancient hero, he is
nescius cedere, will generally resemble his proto-
type iii another of his attributes, jtirtz negabit
iibi rata. And if' ever a contest for inde-
pendence could give birth to habits and, feelings
incompatible With independence in its constitu-
tional and legal form, that which has so long
been maintained between the cGreeks and the
Turks might well he supposed to: do so, It has
been a war to the knife, guerra a cuchillo, in the
literal interpretation of the phrase. Nor would it
be easy to distinguish among the cruelties perpe-
trated from time to time during its progress,
whether the Cross or the Crescent has 'led its
followers to deeds of greater atrocity. Almost
all the great struggles for liberty in which nations
have engaged, have terminated in military des-
potism ; and politicians have expended much
wonder, and patriots much sorrow, at a catas-
trophe, which a deeper inspection into causes
and consequences must have naturally led them
to anticipate. The fires that are lighted up in
the hour of turmoil and bloodshed, and .nurtured
by deeds of daring and outrage, burn too
fiercely to be controuled .by the circuitous and
tardy processes of law. Its voice, drowned