The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-03 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, Nov. 3.—On Wednesday last the fol-
lowing Degrees were conferred

BACHELOR IN DIVINITY.
Rev. Henry Bey Knight, Michel Fellow of Queen's.
MASTERS OF ARTS.

Rev. Ralph Maude, Brasenose.
Thomas Gerard Leigh, Brasenose.
Rev. James Temple Manse], Student of Christ Church.
Rev. Thomas Hope, University.
Algernon Grenfell, Scholar of University.
Rev. F. Chambre Steel, Scholar of Jesus.
Rev. John Philip Sydenham, Exeter.
BACHELORS OF ARTS.

John Thomas Bridges, Wadham, Grand Compounder.
Richard Jervis Statham, Exhibitioner of Corpus.
Charles Scott, Brasenose.
William Bannerman, Braseoose.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREPERIEENTS.

The benefice of Newport, vacant by the death
of the Rev. Dr. Buckeridge, has been presented'
by the Lord Chancellor, to the Rev. William Sand-
ford, M.A. son of Folliott Sandford, Esq. of the
Isle, near Shrewsbury.
The Rev. Dr. Trenehard has presented the Rev.
W. Bowen, perpetual Curate tsf Keederchurch, to
the Vicarage of Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire, void
by the resignation of the Rev. Thomas Thorrias.
The Rev. R. Hutchings, Vicar of Shoreham, has
been presented to the living of East Bridgeford,
Nottinghamshire.
The Rev. James Lupton, M.A. has-been appoint..
ed a Surrogate in the Bishop's Court of Oxford, for
the purpose of proving wills and granting marriage-
licences.

The Chancellor of the diocese of Oxford has ap-
pointed the Rev. Dr. Moore, of Langford Vicarage,
near Lechlade, one of his Surrogates for granting
marriage licences.
There are now sixteen candidates for the Head
Mastership of Rugby School.

Amongst the distinguished company this week
in this city, were Lord and Lady SIDMOUTH, whO spent
some time in visiting all its " lions."—Bath Herald.

CATHOLIC RENT.—On Sunday last, a most
numerous meeting of St. John's parish, Waterford, took
place in the parish chapel.—Tipperary Free Press.

Sir WALTER 'SCOTT has published his prin-
cipal prose works in six octavo volumes, They consist of
his Lives of Swift and .Dryden, and the various biogra-
phical sketches from " Ballantyne's Novelist's Library ;"
Characters of George 111., Lord Byron, the Duke of York,
the late Duke of Bucclencb, Lord Somerville, Miss Seward,
John Leyden, and Sir Ralph Sadler ; Paul's Letters to his
Kinsfolk ; an Essay on Chivalry, another on Romances,
and a third on the Drama. The Worthy Baronet's arti-
des in the Edinburgh and in the Quarterly Review, and
his various pamphlets relating to the currencyand banking
in Scotland, and published during the late panic, are not
included In these volumes.

The anniversary of that benevolent and welh
conducted institution, the Lunatic Asylum, was celebrated
yesterday. The church was filled, and the receipts at the
doors amounted to upwards of 2801. Afterwards there
was a public dinner at Thurland-hall. There were present,
J. E. DEt4tsoN, Esq. of Ossington, who, in the absence of
the Marquis of TiTcHrIELD took the chair. His Grace
the Duke of NEWCASTLE, the Right Hon. Earl MArtvEal,
Admiral S9THERON, Colonel GARDINER, &c. honoured
the dinner with their presence. • In the evening, there was
a ball at the Assembly-rooms, and the clear sum accruing
to the eharity is nearly 2501.....-Nottingham Paper.

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The decision of the Jury in the ease .of
" Beaumont v. Thwaites" gives rise to some
painful reflections on the present state of the
law of libel.. Let us observe, on entering upon
this subject, that we entertain no hostile feeling
whatever against the plaintiff'; .and we do not
believe that we are so blinded by our partiality
to the profession of which the defendant is a
member, that we cannot frigidly view his case in
its relation only to the. public interest. The
Morning Herald republished certain parts of a
report, drawn ill) and prezilously printed and
published by a Parliamentary Commission. It
is not pretended that the journal made partial
and mutilated extracts with a view to injure Mr.
Beaumont's character, more than the official re-
port injured it ;—it is not pretended that the
passages in.the journal are not faithfully. copied
from the official document, as a man may copy
all that relates to a particular subject from any
author whatever—the exchange of arms, for
example, between Glaucus and Diomede, from
Homer—the prediction of the future destruction
of Jerusalem, from the sacred volume ; it is not
pretended that the Parliamentary Repo., was nut
previously published ; and for this simple repeti-
tion—this art of duty to its readers and to the
public at large—the Morning Herald is prose-
cuted, and has to pay, only nominal damages it.
is true, but is thereby subjected to costs, amount-
ing to . some hundreds of pounds. Were we in
the place of the Herald, we would ieave no
stone unturneil to set aside such a verdiet, and
that not for our own sake, but for the sake of
the people of. England, who haVe a right to re-
ceive, and bear, and read, in any form that may
best suit their convenience, that which has been
officially printed at their expence by a piortion of
their representatives duly commissioned. There
are other grounds, we presume, upon which the,
verdict might be set asidesueltas the omission
to prove judicially that the publication in the
journal was a reprint of the report published by
order of Parliament ; but the whole case, and
its merits, ought certainly to be brought again
to the consideration of a jury. Still, however,
that which it is most painful for us to ob-
serve, is the renovation of attempts—Mie be.;.
lieve through the want of consideration—to
fritter away the liberty of the press:lf
the press may not republish, that which a
Parliamentary Commission has already printed,
except at its own risk, what may the press
publish ? Not a Royal Proclamation certainly I
And very few . acts of Parliament ! For the
preambles of most of those instruments run in
some such form as the following—,. Whereas it
has come to our knowledge, that divers personv
hare illegally, riotously, and of malice pre-
pense,' &c.: or, Whereas divers wicked and
cruel acts have at various times been perpetrated.'
These charges might, by ingenious inuendos, be
proved to mean particular persona, who, accord-
ing to the interpretation of the law proposed iii
the late trial, would have a right to obtain da-
mages for slander and defamation from the jour-
nalists who should publish the acts; or would at
least lay upon him the burden of proving that the
persons complaining were not the persons meant in
the acts. WeNvill, however, go farther than merely
prove the erroneousness of the preceding proposi-
tion. We will assert that the press ought not to
have any cause to fear, from the honest andfaith-
fill relation of any public act, 'proceas, or speech
whatsoever, whether the same has or hasrot been
published before by authority : and that it is not
only for the interests of the people, but -2 so for
the security of the GoVernment, 'that all appre-
hension from the publication of such matters
should be removed. For if the occurrences,
deeds, or speeches, on which the press seizes be
of a dangerous tendency, then are they pointed
out and made known by the press to theguardians
of the public peace. The press, in that case, is the
informer. If a man onlythinka ill ofhisneighbour,
the press certainly cannot expose his thoughts; but
if one speak ill of another's public conduct, in
an assembly lawfully convened, or vilify his ad-
ministration of a public office, it is better that
the charge should, through the press, be brought
to meet the accused face to face, in order that,
if false, he may refute it with equal publicity; or,
if true, he may sink under it, than that it s.hould
he suffered to creep forth by stealth, end kill a,
reputation in the dark. And we will add, tha
this is not only the justice, but also the law of
the case,—the law, as generally administered by
those who are its ultimate judges in cases of libel
—the jury ; and if, through surprise, inadvert-
ence, or a miscalculation of the effect of their
verdict, a jury has been found to make a contrary
decision, this is only a proof of the liability of
' wan to err.—Times.

shop-
windows, relativeho p.
We publish two interestingeehtisisteihson documents moeipit
to the causes and the state of crime, as well as to
the respective rights and powers of Magistrates
and Grand Juries in Middlesex. The first is
the presentment of the Grand Jury at the pre-
sent Sessions ; the second, a narrative of certain
transactions to which Jurymen and Magistrates
have been parties. That portion of the present-
ment which describes and deplores the increase
of juvenile delinquency withinwleciclot-iiilnetyy,armeeritsthe. deepest attention of Government. We can-
notcensures of those shopkeepers (pastry cooks and
help concurring with thieyGnraeleiddJouirdyyilllifttheir
other dealers in eatables more especially), who
spread out before the eyes of" starving children,"
i t I
projected
within i t oor
halhalf
three a c
if.eoests of
thteh the
footpath, ground,
un-
ablethiol
eairrdt
hands
acnroedvssei
srtteo,d withtaatki(
ei wp,iloilisice:
up
:fiooinnmdaorw;,l'isiachrwestands for rolls, pies, and confec-
tionary,
ought to'be considered as so many seductions to
petty larceny • and the parties robbed of articles
thus wantonly risked, might, with strict regard
to justice, be punished for the.guilt which then
invited: The.itriptisonment of infants of tender
years, and their consequent exriosure to an inde-
lible taint of depravity, we,hold to be among the
disgraceful Upon another point
proportion of the which constitutes a large
circumstances characteristic of English law, the
most cruel and
sub-
ject matter complained of by the Middlesex
been settled ; but certainly a question of such
to be left in doubt
infinite importance ought not , , . .
It seems that the. majority of the Grand Jury
Grand Jury, we are not sure that the law has yet
have been anxious to investigate the condition of
and have insisted on the privilege as a
right
The Magistrateshave resolved to oppose
tthheehrgtiagols ht, but have shown no unwillingness to
permit the visitation as a favour. Issue, we think,
ought to be joined on this question ; and by
some quiet and inoffensive expedient, an ami-
cable suit ought to
.be instituted in the King's
Bench, to determine the specific powers of the
Magistracy, and to establish as well as define the
tenure by which the jurors retain their trust. If
the Chairman has a right to discharge the Jury,
Ipidos
jaluryofmatyli:
ibuilslpsitseubo-f
ase so understood. ' If, on
theimm sub-
mitted eoedtdhi
eiaort immediately
them,,l oi .
dn: tthilleeeti r(i
tidrbi