The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

Last night's Gazette contains the notice of an
ecclesiastical promotion in the Church of Scot-
land, which reflects credit on . the 'Home De 7
partment of the present Ministry, and furnishes
a solid ground for rejoicing that the hateful
Dundas despotism, which so long oppressed and
disgraced the Scottish nation, is now irrevocably
ended. The Rev. John Paul has been appoint-
ed to the church and parish of St. Cuthbert,
commonly called West Kirk, in the Presbytery
of Edinburgh, vacant by the death of the Rev.
Sir Henry Moncrieff. This .parish is in the
gift of the Crown. Under the Ministry of Lord
Liverpool, and the imperiuns in imperio of
.Lord Melville, whose business was to " manage"
Scotland,—that is, to sell to the best customer
the loaves and fishes as they fell,--this living
would have gone, like other political merchan-
dise, to bear 'its part in consolidating that exe-
crable systein, which made it impossible for any
man or corporation to raise hand or voice against
the domineering power. On the formation of
the present Government, it became a thing un-
derstood, that there should be no jobbing iniddl--
men for the management of Scotland—that
for its degradationiinto a family borough. Tile;
distribution of offices was to enure to the i'vlini-
ster especially responsible for the manner in which
the trust should be exercised. The Home Se-
cretary, obnoxious to blaMe for bad appoint-
ments, thus became the recognized authority
under which all vacancies were to be filled. In
the present instance, on the death of Sir Henry
Monerieif, we have heard and believe, that the
parish was offered to the most eminent minister
of the Gospel in Scotland, the eloquent and en=
lightened Dr. Chalmers. Dr. Chalmers, as it
is said, conceiving that the sphere of his useful-•
ncss was more extensive as a professor of divinity
in St. Andrew's, where a large body of the youth
of Scotland might receive his instructions; than
as the pastor of a single parish, gratefully de-
clined the favour. On which the Noble Mar-
quis at the head of the Home Department let
the heritors, at whose expence the stipend of the
clergyman was provided, and to whose benefit
his ministry would in great part redound, to
select a At member of • the Church according to
their own judgment ; and, approving their
choice, without hesitation confirmed it. This,
we repeat, is another ground of congratulation
to Scotland, that she has been at last set free.—
Times.

It is an extraordinary thing, that while Spain
is in such a miserable condition as to be indebted
to French troops alone for protection, from the
horrors of anarchy, and while Colombian priva-
teers make a prey of her commerce in the very
mouths of her harbours, she should dare, and,
what is still worse, be allowed to insult the Bri-
tish flag, and plunder British vessels, under the
batteries of Gibraltar ! It is not a solitary in-
stance of such aggression to which we allude. It
appears by all the recent accounts from that quar-
ter,„ that the first 'audacious insult to our eolour
hav' en allowed to go unpunished, a seriP,,-,
of _ at attacks have been followed Up by the
sT, .rs against our Merchantmen,. and
.tie been taken by our -Authorities at

• or, as far as we know, by ourGovern-
home, to protect our commerce from
,:uch violence, and vindicate the honour of the
.country. Na doubt the Spaniards, if called to
account for this conduct, would attempt to jUstifc-
thenuelves on the ground of their attacks 'being
directed to the prevention of smuggling ; but!
this-is no plea fora violation of the law of—na-
dons. If they have not adequate force to protect:
their own coasts against the inroads of smugglers,
surely that is no reason why they should break
through the usages of civilized States, and in-
sult the British flag in its own waters ! When'
hiS Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence some
time since presented a pair of colours to'the
Royal Marines, he, very properly, as we men-
tioned at the time, alluded, in eloquent and for-

cible terms, to the conspicuous share which the
Royal Marines had in the capture -of Gibraltar,
which he designated as one of -the most im-
portant conquests that had ever been made by a,
British force ; but little did the Lord High Ad-,
miral imagine at the time that he would so soon
hear of the British flag being insulted under the
very ramparts of that fortress. We are sure that,
whatever want of national feeling and energy
may exist elsewhere, the Lord High Admiral
will never connive at any attack upon the honour
of the country which may fall within the line of
his duty to vindicate. We are friends of peace,
and peace is best preserved by showing a deter-
mination, whenever it is necessary, to resist and
punish aggression.--Morning Herald.

Next to furnishing its readers with the current
events of the time, we know of no more useful
way in which the popular part of the press can be
employed, than in bringing to light and correct-
ing those manifold frauds and abuses which, in
a complicated state of society like our's, must be
for ever arising. To this object we flatter our-
selves our own endeavours have long been not un-
successfully directed, and, without hazarding any
charge of knight-errantry, we may lay claim to
the merit of having laid bare and protected the,
public from a continuance of more imposit,nn
than it has probably fallen to the lot of
tijoo),:ift
iihinwtleig:lfe-lriboc.oThmEot
Bubble
falioleltrahelrt,esoe impostorsceehaffr,ese etameiaite en.ssdsloly‘votNief'riswttanltltetlhasaksdenkr.doasul
vdtuirnipeeotxmhnpeaognscatium;:
we
m pions
tsi,o
nbse the,
high or low.: Of the variousai
prac-
tised upon the public,l none are more reprehen-
sible than those which are carried on under co-
lour of the law. Few people have time, courage,
or inclination, to question the right or the ho-
nesty of those who profess to be armed with
that , authority to which all men pay either a
ready or implicit obedience. We are iuduced
to make these remarks, owing to our attention
having been drawn to what we believe to. be a
gross fraud, for ever going on under the colour
of law, .in the shape
of certain
awn f (ri
from
(in
ae
ntt Thye
ecwt
p); so
phkraeoints,
!noted by it. We had thought with our corre-
spondent, for the militia, by which large sums of
of many, and those very often needy persons,
service without
aretiw cpounbtliiicuisalY
el
vthat this abuse had been confined to
one County ; but another, whose letter we pub-
lished on Thursday, convinces us that such is
not the case ; though we still think it will be
spondent,
found to prevail principally in the counties more
immediately connected' with the metropolis.
What we would contend is, that any drawing
for the militia at a time when there '
is no inten-
tion of calling it out either for '
service or for
exercise, is useless ; and we 'will venture to
Arm, that upon inquiry it would be found that
of the persons drawn for the militias of the coun,
ties where these perpetual drawings prevail, not
one half would be found to their
they called upon ;
and that, consequently, fresh
balletings must take place whenever they are to

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