The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-23 00:00:00

Sions.

The Grand Jury have come into colli-
sion with the Magistrates on a subject which has
els where been agitated. "It is with pain,
however," they say, in their Report, " the Grand
Jury have to observe, that they have been refused
admission to that part of the gaol appropriated to
females ; and their surprise has been the more
excited, from its being reported to them from
authority, that the exercise of what the Grand
Jury conceive to be a duty would prove an in-
fringement on the rights of the Visiting Magis-
trates." Why should the Grand Jury be de-
barred from looking into all parts of the prisons,
and reporting on them ? If we wish to have
things well done, we can never have too few
actors charged with the responsibility of them,
nor too many inspectors. The reverse of this,
however, is, in too many cases, the rule in Eng-
land, where the responsibility is generally shared
by many, without any one having the power of
controlling. The Magistrates of Devonshire,
like the Magistrates every where else, are, it
seems, fond of excluding the public from their
meetings in general, but especially from those
where public money is concerned. They job,
it seems, into each other's hands; and are
we' to be surprized that the county rates,
under this secret system, _ should swell to an

amount exceeding the whole public revenue
at no remote period? We see, from an Ad-
dress to the payers of County Rates, in The De-
vonshire chronicle, that the Magistrates, so-
lemnly pledge themselves one to another not to
divulge what passes at. their Conclaves. Now,
we may be sure, that men are never anxious to
conceal what redounds to their honour. A
wish for concealment always supposes a conscious-
ness of improper practices. The love of con-
cealment will always be found strongest in Eng-
land where money is concerned ; for it is the
jobbing with brewers and distillers, on licensing
days, and the appropriating County rates in a
snug way, that Magistrates are more especially
fond of covering over with an impenetrable veil
of secrecy. The following observations with
which the Address in question concludes speaks
volumes
"It is the supineness of the people, to which may be
traced the increase of power that is daily and hourly
heaped upon the Aristocracy, and which bids fair to reduce
public liberty ; it has already all but subverted the Trial
by Jury, and established a despotic and arbitrary Tribpnal
in its stead, subversive of that character of inditierency so
essential to justice--a Tribunal which, in numberless cases,
is a party in the very cause it has to decide, and against
whose decision there is now, since Mr. Peel's new-fashioned
Legislation has been in vogue, no appeal.
" The late Mr. Pugh, the Coroner, set this supposed
right at defiance—refusing to be kept out of the room, and
insisting on and maintaining his right to be present. To
him the Freeholders were also indebted for a noble stand
against the Aristocratic influence in the County in his
Election for Coroner; and it is only for a half-dozen re-
spectable yeomen to go to the next Sessions, determined to
support their right, and they will obtain it.

4g Why, if all is fair, do they want secrecy? Why do
they all solemnly pledge themselves one to another not to
divulge what passes? I should be ashamed to make such
a promise.

"Do they sometimes forget to send in the money they
have collected for fines and penalties? One in the North
of Devon some time since did so :it was "an entire mis-
take ;" and he gave back the money to the party, and paid
the costs, when threatened with an action.

"Is it the favourite jobs, and jobs of favouritek? per-
haps it is--one of the petitions stated that as good a bridge
was built by their parish for as many shillings, as a simi-
lar one over the same stream bad cost pounds to the
County.

" If they will relieve themselves from suspicion, let them
voluntarily open the courts; if not, the public will com-
pel them."—Morning Chronicle.

In the probable event of the Grand Seignior
yielding to the joint remonstrances of the Allied
Powers, the next matter to be considered is—
what species of Constitution, or, in other words,
what form of Government, Turkey will permit
to her former slaves. We shall not now enter
into any reasoning to prove the truth of a posi-
tion which we had taken some weeks since,
namely, that the Porte only existed as a king-
dom by the sufferance and the policy of Eng-
land ; and it is further unnecessary for us to do
so, because it must be obvious that, whatever
the resources of Turkey may be, she would not
be much more than a good meal for Russia, ii
England were inclined to look on quiescently.
Policy has compelled us to uphold Turkey as a
kingdom ; and that same policy will not now allow
us to see her territory divided or improperly
despoiled. The late Emperor of Russia de-
nounced the provincial constitution of Greece as,
having-the ",revolutionary mark ;" and of course!
we presume that the present Emperor entertains,
a sunilar opinion. In point of fact, it is difficult
to say what form of Government would best suit
the interests of that people. Some are for a fe-
derative republic under an elective head—others
suggest the propriety of an independent sove-
reignty—but how an independent sovereignty
could be maintained in Greece we are at a loss
at present to imagine. If Greece were able to
sustain such a position either from her own re-
sources or aided by those of England, she would
undoubtedly be of essential service in the case of
Russia and Turkey coming into contact ; but we
are very much inclined to believe that there is a
very strong inclination in Greece in favour of
Russia as opposed to Turkey, which would
soon manifest itself, if great care were
not used in the selection of the supreme
head, as well xs the minor officers of the
Executive ; and we must again enter our protest
against the appointment of Capo d'lstria, to the
Sovereignty of Greece. As we said before, it he
be not a Russian by birth—he is a Russian by
habit ;-f—and if he have a particle of gratitude
in his composition, he must incline to the inte-
rests of Russia—though in so doing, he may not
altogether sacrifice the interests of the Greeks,
or unpardonably offend against the feelings of
England,' trance, or Turkey. We consider
there is a strong tendency, to union between the
Russians and the Greeks; because nothing can
more firmly knit men together than the belief in
the same religion ; and the more it happens to be
a religion of ceremonial and overloaded rites, the
more are they captivated and ultimately led away
with it. Hitherto the affair has passed off quietly
enough, but when the appropriation of the spoil
_or we had better say, when the distribution of
influence is to take place, then we seriously ap-
prehend will come, the bickerings and the divi-
sions. However, let us not anticipate evils, but
rather by opposing, end them." The British
Government cannot be too cautious in their deal-

ings with France and Russia; and they must
constantly bear in mind that prevention is not
only better but much safer than cure. France
is said to be panting after something about the
Mediterranean, or the Dardanelles, or the Ar-
chipelago, or indeed about any other place where
the principles of her Government might be trans-
ferred, and once transferred might be thereafter
perpetuated : but we say no. Charles the Tenth
already ruleis. (and how happily the French de-
light in telling strangers) over thirty millions of
people, and in all conscience that ought to satisfy
him. Besides he may now be truly said to rule
in Spain—an additional thirteen or fourteen
millions of people—gadwe would hope that so

very paternal, enlightened, and religious a Mo-
narch, would not violate a commandment by co-
veting any more. But be this as it may, we trust
our Government are fully aware of the people
they have to deal with, and that in endeavouring
to benefit Greece, they will not be inattentive to
what is due to England. !More we neither look
for nor expect.—Morning Post.
By the further prorogation of Parliament till
the 20th of December, Ministers have put an
end to all doubt upon their alleged intention of
assembling it before Christmas ; and have given
an awkward sort of contradiction both to their
own avowals, and those of some of their parti-
sans, of their intentions for making up for the
deranged and inefficient state of the last Session,
by an earlier commencement of the next. The
state of affairs, both at home and abroad, fur-
nish, we should imagine, sufficient reasons for
recurring to the sense of Parliament at the earliest
possible period. But the Whigs, it should be
remembered, are in power ; and it is a sufficient
reason with them that a thing should not be
done, that they have, year after year, when out
of power, been advocating its being done. For
our own part, we have always contended that,
upon general principles, without reference to any
peculiar circumstances in the state of affairs,
Parliament ought to be always assembled in No-
vember, about the time that the Courts of Law
meet, as was formerly the case. Were there no
other reasons for this, the very circumstance of
the House of Lords being a Court of Law, is
reason enough of itself for that Court being as-
sembled much earlier, and a much longer time,
than it is. In fact, what with the late piiiod
of meeting, the recesses, the circuits, the Qu7rter
Sessions, and the various other interruptions
which the business of Parliament meets with in
the spring, neither House probably meets more
than 100 days in the year, if so many ; and if
the state of appeals from Scotland, Ireland, and
our own Courts, is considered, ,the limited time
thus necessarily devoted to them in the House of
Lords, amounts, in some measure, almost to a
denial of justice. But what becomes of Mr.
Canning's promised Finance Committee, if Par-
liament is licit to assemble till February ? Is it
to be a mere tub thrown out to amuse the whale,

while the leviathan of expence is to revel and
wallow on unchecked and unannoyed ? Had
any serious and immediate good been expected
from it, it would have been the natural course to
have called Parliament together, and appointed
this Committee at once, so that its labours might
have been brought to bear beneficially upon the
next year's estimates; which must now, of neces-
sity, be formed without reference to it,' and the
evil day of retrenchment postponed for another
year, and not improbably for another Admini-
stration.—Morning Herald.
The newest panacea for the evils of Ireland--
namely, emigration, is one of those quack medi-
cines which only the most superficial pretenders
to statesmanship would think of prescribing as a
remedy for the distresses of a country wherepopv-
lation has by no means yet attained the point
which exceeds its natural resources. 'When the
population of Ireland was not more than one half
what it is at present, the wretchedness of the
lower classes was quite as great as now. The
increase of population has not created that misery,
it has only spread it over a wider surface. Emi-
gration, as long as the system of society is defec"-
tive, can produce no good. It is but attempting
to deal with the effect without removing the
cause. It is, to use the emphatic language of
Scripture, ‘" a washing of the outside of the
cup and platter while the inside is full of un-
cleanness." It has been ascertained that, there is
enough of waste land in Ireland to subsist com-
fortably, if reclaimed, at least three millions more
of people than the highest census, that can be
relied on, of her present population amounts to.
Ireland contains about eighteen millions of acres
in all—only about twelve millions, or two-thirds
of that quantity, are at present cultivated. Her
population is at present about seven millions, for
the statements of the Roman Catholic declaimers
on this head are grossly exaggerated, with
the intention of making the physical force,
which they always allude to for the purpose
of intimidation, appear more formidable than
it really is. In fact, the number of Roman
Catholics now in the country is near five mil-
lions, and there are about two millions of Pro-
estants of all classes, making altogether, as we
have said, seven millions of inhabitants. Now
supposing the waste land, which is one-third of
the whole of the land in Ireland, to be nearly as
fertile in quality as the other two-thirds already
under cultivation, it is clear that such land, if
reclaimed, would subsist three millions more of
people than arc at present in the island. But it
is well known that a great portion of the soil
which is not cultivated is of a richer and more
productive nature than that which is—namely,
the bog-land, invariably the best land in Ireland
when reclaimed. Therefore, we are safe in esti-
mating the additional number that could be fed,
in the event of such land being reduced under
the dominion of the plough, at three millions.
Does it not, therefore, show the greatest igno-
rance on the part of the Parliamentary Commit-
tee of the real state of Ireland, to represent her
population as redundant, compared with her na-
tural capabilities, and to recommend emigration
as a cure for the evils of the country. But what
else than error and absurdity could be expected
of a Committee, who, instead of proceeding,
like men of intelligence and business, to ascer-
tain facts, called in the whimsical theorist, Mr.
Malthus, as their oracle, and mistook pedantic
speculations for the dictates of wisdom ? No
wonder that their " book" is more ponderous
than instructive

We lately stated that Viscount Goderich had
promised the gentlemen deputed by the Malt-
sters to represent the inconvenience which they
apprehended from the operation of the new Malt
Act, that the subject would be taken into serious
consideration by the Lords Commissioners of
his Majesty's Treasury. We are now enabled
to produce a most satisfactory and authentic
proof that the Noble Lord has redeemed his
word, and that all the grounds of complaint have
been removed, by the modification of the objec-
tionable provisions of the Act, or at least of
those. which had been objected to. This proof
is contained in the following official communica-
tion addressed yesterday by Mr. F. Lewis to
the heads of the Committee of Maltsters. In
this important document it is shown that the
Act against which they had petitioned, as having
been passed through Parliament without the
Malting Trade having been fully cognizant of its i
provisions, was amply considered in the Commit-
tee,
and reprinted three times as amended—that

during the proceedings in Parliament many depu-
tations of persons connected, with the Malting
Trade were heard by the Lords ofthe Treasury, and
their observations respecting the different clauses
of the Bill examined in the most minute detail—

and that the Act itself is simply a re-enactment
of old regulations, with a very few new ones, the

object of which is, to establish uniformity of
practice throughout the United Kingdom.
Notwithstanding these facts, which completely
clear both the Legislature and the Government
from the charge of having lightly interfered with
the proceedings and interests of the Malt Trade,
their Lordships have consented to modify the I
operations of some of the provisions of the pre-
sent Bill, and to make certain allowances till,the
10th of October, 1828, which will remove the
possibility of any inconvenience being felt in
consequence of the new regulations. They also
direct the Commissioners of the Excise to
instruct their officers to keep such accu-
rate accounts as will enable his Majesty's
Treasury to judge whether it will be de-
sirable to prolong the indulgences now granted,
beyond the 10th of October next year. llor the
details of those indulgences we refer our readers
to the official document itself. The measures
adopted are of such a nature as to satisfy the
honest trader, while they afford security against
the fraudulent manufacturer of malt. It never
was the intention of his Majesty's Government
to harrass or take advantage of the former, while
it is their duty, at the same time, to guard the
Revenue against the clamour produced by the
latter. We say clamour, for we believe there is
no doubt that the present occasion has been
used toiaise more difficulties than really existed.
Viscount Goderich and Mr. Frankland Lewis
deserve much praise for the ready attention which
they have given to the subject, and the urbanity
with which they have received the numerous de-
putations of maltsters. Mr. Frankland Lewis
has showed as much gentlemanly conduct
throughout as he has evinced knowledge of the'
technical part of the subject, however difficult to
the generality of persons not in the malting
trade.—New Times.