The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-12 00:00:00

ing.from the bode of the people to wealth will be as •
319,288 of Catholics to-
,31,060. to Protestants;
that is, of all land in the market, four-fifths will come
into the hands of Catholics. We believe:it is now
tolerably well understood that power follows .pro-
perty, and that 110 Government against.which . pro-
perty is arrayed can stand. It has been showu,by
able political writer:, that the great blunder commit-
ted by the Stuarts was the not •understanding that
the Constitution of every country constantly changes
with its constituent powers; and that property hav-
ing changed hands. in England, there was a corres-
ponding change in power. In an admirable "Essay
on the Constitution of England," of which a Se-
cond Edition was published in 1766, this position
is enforced in a very happy manner. " The spirit
of discontent (says the writer), that is, the spirit of
riches, power, and ambition, bad gone forth among
the Commons; and as it diligently sought food for
itself in James's conduct, it could not fail of finding
it. His folly and his wisdom, his vices and his
virtues, furnished equally matter for complaint. .
. . . It is the nature of all animal force to take
pleasure in exerting itself, as if it were instinctively
independent of any consequences proposed by such
exertion. A young bull shut up in • a field, with-
out enemy or rival to disturb him, as soon as his
horns begin to sprout will level his weaponed-head
against the first tree or post that happens to present
itself. In like manner, King James's Commons,
rejoicing in their newly-acquired powers, employed
.them indiscriminately against every thing he ap-
proved of—civil and religious, foreign and domes-
tic." We wish the faction who are striving to pro-
voke the Catholics, would take warning from his-,
tory ! The Catholics are anxious to conciliate ;
they know the advantages they- derive from the
Government under which they live, and their con-
nection, with us.

At the close of the King's Bench sittings, in
Middlesex, after last Trinity Term, there remained:
for trial about 350 causes, whereof about 50 were
special juries. Of these latter but one has been
since sii4Posed of, the well-known case of Cooper
v. Wakley ; it- had been previously postponed, und-
o pledge given by Lord Tenterden that he would
try it before Christmas. Our sttrement exempli-
fies very strongly the manner in which the time
of the first Court of Common Law is consumed in
hearing suits which derive importance only from the
costs accumulated during their progress, while
causes of real magnitude, such as are usually tried
by Special' Juries, are neglected.- This could sot,
however, happen without the connivance Of the
.Court ; as the Judge may, at his discretioo, select
causes of any description for trial. Why, then, it
will be demanded, does'Lord Tenterden postpone
such as are of grave importance to give precedence
to those trumpery matters which make up the mass
'of Common Jury causes ? Every • rational man
must lament that fatal facility which, from the lack
of tribunals affording a cheap decision for petty suits,
is enjoyed by the less respectable portion of attor-
pies in this country for bringing actions with a view
solely to the costs. Lord Tenterden cannot design
to abet their &slimiest practice; bui if he deferred
the trial of actions of this descriptioni would so
many be brought ? Does not his pride revolt at the
drudgery of determining questions level to, the fa-
culties of a village lawyer? Can be have so per-
verted an ambition as to aim rather at the popular
effect of dispatching a long list of paltry causes,
than at the solid reputation to be acquired by the
judicious application of his talents and learning in
the adjudication of .matters worthy, from their in-
trinsic. importance, the judgment of the Chief Justice
of England ? Or is it, that the emoluments of his
Lordship's son, and. associate,- Mr. Abbott, de-
pending rather on the quantity thin quality of the
business done, this -consideration determines the
Chief Justice's preference of causes which admit of
the more speedy dispatch ? Alack, this left-handed
wisdom infects, in this .money-getting age, the
highest no less than the humble St-places !