The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-29 00:00:00

have two strings to Iris bow, as Don Pedro—
while he kept his infant daughter in Europe—
while his agents were perpetually engaged in fo-
menting intrigues and disturbances in Portu-
gal—while he retained the ambition of being
the founder of a Portuguese Constitution.
And who shall say that the sentiments of
the people of Brazil upon this subject
are not wise and patriotic, and such in-
deed as naturally spring from their actual posi-
tion, and their recollection of occurrences
yet recent ? Don Pedro devoted himself, by
the first personal and independent act of his po-
litical life, to secure the independence of Bra-
zil, and in doing so became a rebel to the Por-
tuguese Crown. He accomplished this object ;
but by the act which finally completed and rati-
fied his succsss, he relinquished in form, as by
his conduct he had already relinquished in effect,
all pretensions to his hereditary throne. This
renunciation was necessary to qualify him for
the independent throne of Brazil, and it was at
the sonic time equally necessary in order to
reconcile the Royal Family, the nobles, the
clergy, and the people of Portugal, to the sepa-
ration of that valuable province. In defiance,
nevertheless, of this solemn compact, of which
the permanent interests and the unchangeable
will of two nations were the guarantee on the
decease of his father, and upon no other foun-
dation than that of a testamentary dispositon
which that Prince had obviouslyno right to make,
Don Pedro resumed his claim to the throne of
Portugal, and proceeded to the performance of
actsproper only to the most absolute and unqn est-
ionable sovereignty. Is it permitted to any man,
or can it consistently with the peace and wel-
fare of nations be permitted to any Sove-
reign, thus alternately to renounce and re-
claim rights? But once more Don Pedro ab-
dicated his newly and unjustly assumed right to
the Portuguese throne, after having employed it
only to devise and promulgate a constitution
alien to the habits and odious to the feelings of
the nation. And after this second renunciation
he again reclaimed it, or continued rather to
perform acts of sovereign authority in mockery
of his formal abdication, in contempt of public
opinion, and in defiance of the confusion,
alarm, and weakness, to which such vacillation
must give rise in Portugal, and of the jealousy
and apprehensions which it was certain to excite
among his Brazilian subjects. He appointed a
Regency to administer the affairs of Portugal
in the name and in the behalf of the Sovereign
he had nominated, but would not assume an
appearance even of respect to the independence
of the Government he had thus him-
self set up. He pretended to issue de-
crees—to create nobles for Portugal—to govern--
that country,—in short, from the distance of
half the circumference of the globe. Ambition
without any portion of the energy or talents
which should accompany it, was never before ex-
hibited in a light so ridiculous, or in circum-
stances in which it was so sure to be at once
mischievous and unsuccessful. The Brazilians
were entitled by the compact which separated
them from the mother country, to have an inde-
pendent government, and a Royal family to
themselves. To these advantages Portugal had
the same title, as well as another still more an-
cient and irrrefragable in the fundamental laws of
her monarchy. The project which the Liberals
of Europe have so long promoted with charac-
teristic zeal, was in truth no other than an im-
pudent contrivance to defraud two nations of
their sacred and chartered rights. The patriotism
of the Portuguese people inflicted upon it a
signal and irretrievable defeat. We believe we
may now say that the congenial sentiments of the
Brazilians have ensured its total and final aban-
donment.—Morning Post.
Having an unfeigned veneration for the judi-
cial office as it is generally exercised in this
country, we wish to see it always filled by per-
sons who are capable of upholding its high cha-
racter, and competent to discharge its important
duties with satisfaction to the public. We be-
lieve that for purity of morals, intelligence, and
official integrity, no class of public men whatever
can surpass the Bench of Judges ; but it unfor-
tunately happens sometimes that one or two of
those learned personages continue to exercise the
judicial functions long after the impairing power
of years has made visible ravages upon their
faculties, and deprived them of intellectual and
physical energies requisite for the adequate per-
formance of an office which decides upon the
lives and properties of men. It would be ridi-
culous as well as against law to insist upon a
deaf man being sworn upon a jury ; and yet a
deaf Judge is not a rare phenomenon in our
Courts. It is true the Judge does not pronounce
the verdict ; but his opinions have in most
instances a great effect upon it ; and that
his opinions should be right, it is re-
quisite that he should hear the evidence
correctly, and have that discernment and clear-
ness of intellect, which will enable him to sift,
digest, and arrange the evidence properly-61n
plify what may be complicated—explain what
may be obscure—and show with logical accuracy
how it bears on the matter at issue. An excel-
lent Judge may occupy the Bench too long for
his own reputation and the interests of the coun-
try. Mr. Baron Graham and Mr. Justice Hol-
royd were remarkable instances of Judges pre-
serving their mental faculties unimpaired under
the depressing infirmities of age, yet neither of
them made way for younger men too soon. Mr.
Justice Holroyd was one of the soundest lawyers,
and one of' the most clear-headed and conscien-
tious Judges, that ever adorned the Bench. His
term judgments are masterly specimens of close
and luminous legal reasoning, and will have au-
thority as long as the law of England lasts ; but
he had an infirmity consequent upon his great
age, which latterly operated as a serious delay to
justice when he presided in Courts of Nisi Przus,
and it was his slowness in taking notes. If a
Judge takes a minute to note a sentence which
occupies another but half a minute, it is clear that
the evidence which is gone through in six hours
with the latter, will, with the former, consume
twelve hours. But, slowness in taking
notes is not the worst consequence of
the decline of physical powers to be ap-
prehended in an aged Judge—deafness is worse ;
and when that infirmity is accompanied with an
indistinctness of utterance which causes a Jury
to complain of not being able to hear a word of
the charge on which the fate of the cause, in a
°Test measure turns, it is a hindrance to the ad-
o
ministration of justice which ought not to con-
tinue. Do we put an imaginary case ?We only
state what actually happened to Mr. Justice
Burrough the other day, on the Western Circuit
—at Bodmin, we believe. Since then we observe
that the civil business of the Court at Bridge-
water was suspended for the whole day, owing
to his indisposition. In allusion to this circum-
stance our reporter' says, " ill one case—a min-
ing case—there are not less than ninety witnesses
in Bridgewater. They are here since Sunday,