The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Our attention has been recalled to the sub-
ject of the deplorably defective state of the laws
and their administration in our trans-Atlantic
possessions, by the intelligence received by the
last Jamaica packet, that the Kings of France
and of the Netherlands were busily employed -in
introducing into their respective colonies amend-
ed laws, and an improved judicial system. The
proceedings referred to in the French West
India colonies we suppose to be (what it is sur-
prising has not been done before) the substitu-
tion of the simplicity of the Code Napoleon for
the old, and in many respects objectionable,
code in force there. Holland, we believe, at all
times supported a standing commission of ten
members, delegated to inquire into and report
upon all kinds of colonial abuses. Our colo-
nies are far more extensive, and, we fear, not
less subject to mal-administration. It is not
surprising, therefore, to find the island jour-
nahsts expressing their fears that England may
be encouraged by the above example to intetfere
in like manner in forcing improvements upon
her colonies. And we must say, for the conso-
lation of our brother journalists, that in such
expectation (not apprehension) we most assu-
redly participate, We are of opinion that it will
not be possible for England long to neglect so
grave a duty. We have received many letters
from correspondents on the unpleasant sub-
jects—of the exposure of the traffic for the
principal judicial situation in Barbadoes,—of
the suspension of the Chief JUstice of Grenada,—
of the close and alarming. sympathy between the
Legislature and the judicial functionaries in
Antigua, manifested in the extraordinary vote
of a sum of public money to defray the ex-
penses of the Judges, in supporting what
is alleged to be an extra-judicial opinion,
and, apart from the peculiar case of Mr. Osborn,
which is still judicially pending, upon the
frightful power claimed by the colonial courts of
disbarring, and thus effectually silencing, by de-
priving of their means of livelihood, all inde-
pendent and upright advocates ; of all which
particular facts, at a distance so remote, we
cannot of course procure the authentic informa-
tion necessary to guide us in forming an opinion.
But, as a general result of all we have heard a►►d
read, we arc satisfied that amongst the subjects
demanding the attention of the Legislature at
an early period, an amelioration of the system of
laws and judicature in our colonies stands justly
prominent. But it is surprising to what extent
public atttention requires to be kept alive (by
the instrumentality of an honest public press) to
abuses in these distant possessions. What is
the ordinary result of inquiries instituted into
such abuses ? Complaints are made ;at first
but faintly heard from a distance, and long
unheeded ; they become loud as well as deep,
and the occasions of them are such as can no
longer be defended, or even palliated. A com-
mission is therefore granted ; in the course of
years reports are made, and remedies suggested ;
the subject is canvassed for a time with-anima-
tion, if the topic be exciting to a party, then it
sinks into silence and oblivion. Thus in a
majority of cases, the proceeding terminates with
enquiry. The Commissioners may have dis-
charged their important duties with zeal and
intrepidity, but, their usefill labours at an end,
what has been done, and what remains to bb
accomplished ? The country has only been
surveyed, not levelled ; the com►nunicatioiis
planned, not opened ; the roads marked out,
not made ; the heavy task of clearing and
grubbing the woods, of subduing and 'pulver-
ising the soil, of enclosing, and tilling,: arid
planting—all necessary before we can look- for
fruits of increase—yet remain to be done, withltti
one willing td undertake them. Thus—
" * -
Enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry, -
And lose the name of action."

We would usefully remind our readers, that,
in consequence of numerous complaints and
representations of judicial abuses in the West
Indies, Lord Nugent brought the subject of the
administration of justice in those colonies under
the consideration of Parliament in the course of
the Session of 1822. Mr. Wilmot Horton,
then Under Secretary of State for the Colonies,
consented to the appointment of a legal com-
mission, and moved an address to his Majesty
for that purpose. One equity and one common-
law practitioner were properly selected for the
appointments, Henry Maddock and Forcunatus
Dwarris, Esqrs., both gentlemen of considerable
literary and professional acquirements. Mr.
Maddock died abroad, and Mr. Henry, for-
merly President of the Courts at Demerara, who
was particularly
.versed in foreign colonial law,
and whose judgment in the case of " Odwin
and Forbes" has always procured him the re-
spcet of all lawyers, was appointed Senior Com-
missioner. The Commissioners visited and have
reported upon nearly all our West Indian and
South American colonies. The objects of the
commission were to ascertain whether the charges
of uncertainty, delay, and expense, were well or
ill-founded ; whether there was any thinr, in thr;
system, or the proceedings of the Counts, e; in
the constitution of the Courts themsffives, fa-
vourable to the growth of these or other evils ;
in short, fully and carefully to review and ana-
lyze all the Colonial Court:„ supreme and sum-
mary, legal and equitahe, civil and criminal, or-
dinary and extraordinary. Our limits will not
allow us to outer into the objects of the com-
mission more fully at present. In a future
article we shall show the results of their extend-
ed inquiry, and the necessity of adopting some
efficient measures foundod upon the reports.—
Times.

It appears from the feelings expressed in the
Irish newspapers, and in such letters as have
reached our hands, that the fate of the tnen who
had been convicted at the first of the Cork trials,
and left for execution by Baron Penuefather, con-
tinues to be the object of extraordinary interest
and solicitude. As nothing can involve a more
serious responsibility, so nothing can present a
more delicate subject of animadrersion, than the
exercise of that, great prerogative, by which the
Crow„ interposes, or declines to interpose,
.ween the sentence c,i. the Judge upon a r,apital
convict, and its execution by the Sheri. Nye
shall not he suspected of treating lis'otly the au-
thorities with whom that sacred sower is lodged,
so far as regards the administration of justice in
Ireland. But remembering that the Lord Lieu-
tenant and his Secretary
we b yt less reluct ace in . that
tie
must
and lain q,( ears o.f the Crown in
non
presumedact under the ad~kc received beltlhe jttii
ikilia)gt:eliorg tmteo::
conjuring
deeplyif link atieutly and
final. counsel ti: fnis. \c
stake the eettii;o:ies yl)es representative on
which that hi`h
ivary might feel
14Qts'''(nadt It eo:.
,over the people
of the SQuthern province. - Remote from the
et e, and perhaps inco)•,pl,?tely 'informed, it
impossible for ii London, -journalist to assume

that the consequences'of revoking. or executing
a judicial sentence must be neither snore nor
interest must determine the promotions in gene-
ral ; and if the son of a Nobleman or commoner,
possessed of half a dozen boroughs, enter the
Church, it would be deemed an insult to
question his fitness for a Bishopric. In the
same manner, if a Bishop, possessed of ample
patronage, have half a dozen sons and as many
daughters, all the sons are found qualified for
the Church, and all the men in whom the
daughters see the qualifications of husbands are
usually presumed also to be able churchmen.
The Bar or Medicine requires talents, and there-
fore this pursuit is not for every child. Trade
demands assiduity and sagacity ; and those who
do not possess both, are more likely to lose what
they began with than to gain more. Agricul-
ture, too, cannot be carried on without some
ability ; and hence we know of a young gentle-
man, whom his parents were obliged to remove
from agriculture, his talents being below the
level of a farm, to the study of theology, that he
might enjoy a family living. We are far from '
wishing to say, that among so many thousands
there are not several able men, but, by the ad-
mission of those best able to judge, the number
is far from what it would be, were livings not
disposed of through Parliamentary interest. We
say nothing of what is stated by Dr. Arnold, of
Rugby, regarding the glaring insufficiency of
the education of the clergy. In Dr. Thomson's
History of the Royal Society, we are told
of the celebrated Halley, that " while Astrono-
mer Royal, he was frequently visited by Queen
Caroline, who was a most distinguished patro-
ness of literature and science. The late Dr.
Maskelyne used to relate a conversation that
passed at one of these visits ; upon what autho-
rity he told it we do not know. Queen Caro-
line expressed her regret at the smallness of his
salary as Astronomer Royal, and offered to use
her influence with his Majesty to get it increased.
Dr. Halley requested the Queen not to make
any such application ; for, said he, the conse-
quence of an increase of salary will be, that the
place will came in time to be bestowed on the
younger son of some nobleman, totally unfit for
the office, but drawn to it merely for the emolu-
ments." This anecdote is characteristic. It
may be safely laid down, that whenever in this
country the reward for any situation exceeds the
usual ratio of reward for the description of ability
required, it will be seized by the possessors of
Parliamentary interest. Talent is not excluded
from the Church, but talent is not indispensable
in- the Church ; and it is a cushion on which I,
the great may very conveniently repose. In vain
we blame the Ministry for bestowing their pa-
tronage improperly. The Ministry can only
carry on the business of the country through
Parliament ; and so far from Parliament being a
check on the Ministry, the latter are the only
check the country possesses on the rapacity of
Parliament. We look on the various Com-
mittees appointed from time to time to inquire
into the expenditure, as so many devices for re-
straining, through the sanction of the more wise
and virtuous Members, the inordinate eagerness
of the mob of Members for the public money.
All sorts of livings, ecclesiastical and civil, are
insufficient to satiate the ravenous maws of the
claimants. Our contemporary remarks with re-
gard to the Lindsay family, who, by the Bishop
of Kildare running his life against leases, have
become possessed of 3,0001. a year '‘ at the ex-
pense of the Church—the Church's tenants,"
that Dr. Lindsay is one of two, or at most of
three," pro-Popery Bishops to be found on
the Irish Bench. He is brother-in. law of the
good Lord Hardwick ;' and was by that Noble-
man converted from the Anti-Episcopalian creed
of the Scottish Church into an Irish Bishop."
But Dr. Lindsay is not singular in his conversion
to the Church possessed of good livings.
Though out of the, two millions, or two millions
and a half of Scotchmen, there are not above
Arty thousand Episcopalians ; two-thirds of the
gentry are Episcopalian, because, no doubt, the
Presbyterian Church holds out no temptation
for younger sons. The Presbyterian gentry of
England, now a numerous body, have from simi-
lar motives slid over to the Church. The
entry of every country are of the Established
Church, when it possesses good livings ; and
they are always liberal enough to prefer the creed
of a neighbouring Church, when that Church
possesses better livings than their own, from
which they are not excluded.—Morn. Chron.

The letter addressed by Mr. Walker, the
Magistrate, to the Guardians of the Poor of
the parish of St. Ann's, Limehouse, relative to
the administration of the Poor Laws, and which
will be found in another part of our Paper, is
deserving of serious attention. The worthy
Magistrate attacks those laws, both in principle
and practice. He avows that he has a " thorough
conviction, from long experience, of the impolicy,
cruelty, and unchristian tendency, of the Poor
Laws." We admit that there is much that is
objectionable in the theory, as well as the execu-
tion of the Poor Law system. We allow that
it is calculated to create paupers, as well as pro-
vide for them ; but still we are not prepared to
go the length of Mr. Walker, and consider the
41Aition of the system desirable. It seems an
obvious suggestion of Christian charity that the
State should make some permanent provision for
the relief and support of that portion of man-
kind that are unavoidably reduced to a state of
helpless pauperism ; but the condition of such
relief should be so limited as not to operate as
at temptation and encouragement to idleness,
eareless habits, and the satisfied debasement of a
servile dependence. If the relief contemplated
by those laws were confined within its original
limits, and only afforded to the " lame, the blind,
the impotent, and the infirm"—to those cases,
in fact, where indigence is the result of the act
of God, and not of the vice and negligence of
man—the principle would be sanctioned by every
sentiment of humanity and religion. But when
this relief is taken from the active, the moral,
and industrious classes of society, to be indis-
criminately, squandered upon the lazy, the
profligate, and extravagant, the consequences
are most debasing and pernicious. One
of the greatest checks upon immorality and pro-
4igal habits among the inferior classes of society,
is the consciousness of vicious and idle conduct
kleing followed by the bitter sufferings of want
and destitution. This is the great law of na-
ture, which the English Poor Laws, as at pre-
sent understood and acted upon, may be said to
have effectually repealed. Hence much of the
demoralization now too apparent among the la-
bouring classes of this country ;—hence a disre-,
gard of character--a preference of the bread of
beggary and dependence to that which is honestly
earned by the sweat of a man's brow. In this
respect, and in paying a portion of the wages of
the employed labourers from the poor-rates, the
present system is exceedingly impolitic and dis-
graceful. There are many other defects and
,
abuses, but none equal in importance to those

which we have mentioned. The reprobation
which Mr. Walker flings upon the Poor Laws
is too sweeping and indiscriminate. It is clear
that he has not sufficiently thought upon the
less than those which he anticipates ; but we ac-
knowledge that our fears are strong of the results
to be lookerl for from refusing an extension of
mercy to the convicts above alluded to. We
fear the effects of their death by the executioner,
because that portion of the public on whose
minds it is v.ished to operate by an example of
signal punishment, will be apt to more than
doubt that the punishment has fallen upon guilty
men, and will therefore only feel compassion for
the victims, mingled with indignation against the
authors of their suffering. We believe that there is
no question as to the general prevalence of a per-
suasion that Leary and his alleged accomplices
were not found guilty by due course of law,—that
is to say, on incorrupt and indisputable evidence.
If, then, the multitude be not satisfied that the
punishment has been deserved, is it credible that
they should accept it for themselves as a warning
against criminal courses ? They will not, in
such case, remind each other that conspiracy
and murder are certain roads to the gallows, but
that as innocence_is no protection, there may be
better policy in crime. So much for the ap-
pearance of this execution to the people, and for
its probable effects upon them. But there is a
still more important view of the matter—we
mean not its apparent, but its real justice. To
our minds there presents itself the most per-
plexing doubt whether these four men could have
been guilty of the atrocious purposes wherewith
the informers charged them. Two subsequent
juries disbelieved the evidence on which the
verdict of the first was given. From the delays
which have taken place since the close of the
trial, it is obvious that such doubts must have
been shared by those official persons with whom
would rest the final decision of Government.
Had the case been a clear one, sound policy re-
quired that the culprits should have been hanged
at once. But since the difficulties of the ques-
tion have been grave enough to occupy Govern-
ment for about three weeks, the wretched men
ought, we submit, to have the benefit of so
much procrastination, and to escape a punish-
ment which, after the hopes engendered by the
suspension of it, might be almost termed cruel.
It is said that Leary has got a reprieve until
April, but that the rest are likely to be executed.
As at present instructed on this subject,we would
earnestly deprecate any such discrimination. The
case of Leary cannot in common sense be sepa-
rated from that of his companions. The same
evidence affects them all, or ought not to affect
any of them ; and Leary, if guilty, was, consi-
dering his age and station, even more guilty than
the others. But we do still trust, that under
the circumstances, Government may be able to
reconcile with their sense of duty a pardon for
all the prisoners.—lbid.
The Standard of last night has the following
observations on the state of the Church Estab-

lishment :
" We are Church Reformers, as sincere as the
Earl of Mountcashel himself. We think, however,
that we further the Reformation, so much to be de-
sired, more .effectually, by directing the attention of
the public to specific cases of neglect or abuse, as
they arise, than by general accusations. We have
not scrupled to arraign the besetting sin of the Eng-
lish Bench—the neglect of the zeal and talent by
which the literature of the country has been adorned,
the safety of the Church as a temporal establish-
ment assured, and the best interests of religion pro-
moted. This is a guilt by which, if it be per-
sisted in, the Church (we still speak of the tempo-
ral establishment) will fall, because it ought to fall.
Whether it proceed from nepotism, or an aristocratic
spirit of caste, perfectly disgraceful in any one, and
most sinful in a churchman, we are unable to say."

Bishop Warburton writing to Hurd, so far
back as 1752, says—
" Reckon upon it, that Durham goes to some
Noble Ecclesiastic. 'Tis a morsel only for them.
Our Grandees have at last found their way back
into the Church. I only wonder they have been so
long about it. But be assured that nothing but a
new religious revolution, to sweep away the frag-
ments that Harry the Eighth left after banquetting
his Courtiers, will drive them out again. The
Church has been of old the cradle and the throne of
the younger Nobility. And this nursing mother
will, I hope, once more vie with old imperious
Berecvnthil:—
Lmta Deum partu, centum complexa'Nepotes
Onmes Ccelicolas, omnes supera alga tenetites."

You mention Noah's ark. I have really forgot
what I said of it. But, I suppose, I compared the
Church to it, as many a grave Divine has done be-
fore me. The Rabbins make the Giant Gog or
Magog contemporary with Noah, and convinced by
his preaching. So that he was disposed to take the
benefit of the Ark. But here lay the distress : it by
no means suited his dimensions. Therefore, as he
could not enter in, he contented himself to ride upon
it astride. And, though you must suppose that, in
that stormy weather, he was more than half-boots
over, he kept his seat, and dismounted safely, when
the Ark landed on Mount Ararat. Imagine now to
yourself this Illustrious Cavalier, mounted on his
hackney, and see if it does not bring before you the
Church, bestrid by some lumpish Minister of State,
who turns and winds it at his pleasure. The only
difference is that Gog believed the Preacher of
Righteousness and Religion."
We ivill not offer such an insult to the un-
derstanding of our contemporary as to assume,
even for the sake of argument, that he really
conceives it possible that, under a Constitution
like ours, valuable preferments in the Church,
any more than in the State, should be given to
men merely on account of their merit. Far be
it from us to pretend to say what the English
Constitution is. This, however, may be said of
it, that, in order to command majorities in Par-
liament, the various offices in Church and State
must be distributed among those possessed of
votes, or form part of the machinery through
the instrumentality of which men possessed of
votes find their way into the Legislature. It
does not follow that all Bishops, Dignitaries,
and holders of rich livings in general, must be
noble, or even of the gentry ; but if they are not
themselves highly connected, and possessed of
Parliamentary interest, they must be favoured
by those possessed of such interest, in conse-
quence of services as tutors, or early friendship.
The presumption is, that in ninety-nine cases
out of a hundred the best livings will fall to the
lot of stupid men ; because in the families of
those possessed of Parliamentary interest, there
must be numerous individuals unable to make
their way in the world by their talents, for whom
livings in the Church or lucrative situations un-
der Government are especially desirable, and
it is not to be expected that the claims of
strangers should be attended to in prefer-
ence to the claims of kindree.. Whoever has
read the Correspondence of Lord Collingwood,
must have been struck with the constant lamenta-
tions of the veteran that the navy was filled with
men utterly useless, whose only claim to their
situations was Parliamentary interest. His Lord-
ship continued at sea year after year, while the
state of his health urgently demanded a little re-
pose ; because, in the multitude of Admirals
cre .ted through interest, there was not one to

whom, at that time, the safety of a fleet could
be entrusted. In the Church, there must be
one or two men in it to redeem it from utter
worthlessness, just as there were Nelsons and
Collingwoods in the Navy ; but Parliamentary '
subject to be competent to distinguish between
the use and the abuse of the original plan for
the support of the poor. He confounds the
good with the evil, and expresses his censure in a i
manner which shows that his opinion s
less dictated by wisdom than influenced by pre-
' judice.—Morning Herald.
The Lord Chancellor, we are happy to per-
ceive, has given a severe rap on the knuckles to
the Commissioners in one of the bankrupt lists.
As a punishment for an alleged neglect of their
business, his Lordship has ordered them to re-
fund all the fees which they previously had re-
ceived, and has transferred the bankruptcy in
question to another list, and only in mercy
spared them from paying all the costs to boot.--
This is as it should be. If men are paid for
duties which they do not perform or complete,
surely it is fit that such payments should be re-
funded. But then—refunding !—what a word
for the ears of a lawyer ! It never before was
heard, we believe, within tha walls of Westmin-
ster Hall, as applied to the profession itself; the
descent into which, for money, is as easy as a
certain other descent, described by Virgil, but
the return as difficult, and hitherto as impos-
sible. It may be very agreeable, no doubt, for
Learned Gentlemen to enjoy the long vacation,
an enjoyment not a little heightened, we pre-
sume, by the means of doing so, even should
such means be gathered from the wrecks of in-
solvency—but then, what these same persons
call the quantum tneruit ought not to be lost
sight of; and if both creditors are kept out of a
dividend and bankrupts deprived of their certifi-
cates, that those who are paid for forwarding
both the one and the other may enjoy a learned
leisure, it savours rather too much of the well-

known line—
., And wretches hang that Jurymen may dine."
The Lord Chancellor, therefore, is, we think,
entitled to the thanks of the community for put-
ting his finger upon any instance approaching to
this, when made apparent to him. We do not
believe, if common report is to be credited, that
the instance is singular; and we trust, therefore,
that, though the punishment is confined, the
effect will be general, and that this will be looked
upon as one of those examples of a severer kind,
which are sometimes recommended to be made
" pour encourager les autres."—lbid.
A great deal of misconception appears to pre-
vail on the subject of the Spanish expedition to
Mexico, and, the chances of success to which it
may be fairly considered to have a claim, and
which it may not be unimportant to remove. At
the time of the first intimation of the expedition,
we laid before our readers several valuable ar-
ticles from a correspondent, who was, from the
knowledge of the country and of the people of
Mexico, peculiarly well fitted to give an opinion
on the subject ; and we may now repeat, that the
tenour of these communications afforded no
ground for crediting the success of the invading
expedition, unless, in the first instance, it suc-
ceeded either in corrupting the Mexican General
or raising up a party in the interior favour-
able to its views. It is true, that we men-
tioned at the same time, as some ground
for apprehension, that the most influential
Mexicans sighed after the titles and dis-
tinctions which they would enjoy under a mo-
narchical government, and that many of them
were not only desirous, on that account, of see-
ing the ancient regime restored, but that were
the Spanish Government to relinquish its claim
of suzeraiuete, and to send them Don Francis
de Paul as their future King, there could be
little doubt of his elevation ; but now, on the
one hand, the fidelity of Santa Anna appears to
have restrained the silly longings of the Mexican
Chiefs ; and, on the other, the Spanish Govern-
ment has hitherto refrained from taking the only
step which, as we then stated, offered a plausible
ground for anticipating success. We consider,
therefore, provided the Mexical General continue
to prove faithful, the result of the Spanish expedi-
tion as already certain and decided. The clergy
have no influence in Mexico, nor indeed in
almost any part of South America, beyond what
is fairly their own, as the result of an assiduous
discharge of their duties, and for a reason the
very reverse of that which gives their brethren
such undue and pernicious influence in Spain
and Portugal—they are remunerated by stipu-
lated salaries, as in France, and do not derive
their revenues, as in Spain and Portugal, from
endowments of land, or other property. The
clergy, in a word, are not wealthy ; and being
also not very eininenttly distinguished for learn-
ing, exert but a very feeble controul over the
opinions and actions of the people. Their in-
fluence, therefore, though no doubt exerted in
favour of the ancient regime, is scarcely worth
being placed in the scales, and is no doubt also
paralyzed, in part, by the dread of incurring the
vengeance of the State, from which they at pre-
sent derive their revenues.—Morn. Advertiser.

On Saturday night, in the pit of the Adelphi
Theatre, a gentleman named CHARLES HINDE was robbed
of his purse, containing eight and a half sovereigns, a 51.
Bank of England note, dated 27th of August, 1829, No.
13,342, and a Si. note of the Andover bank, payable at
Messrs. MALTERMAN and Co.'s, London.

The lace factory established at Mount Ken-
nett, under the auspices of a spirited Englishman, already
employs upwards of 300 children, all girls, who are thus
saved trans the many evils incident to idleness and vagrant
habits.--Limerick Chronicle.
RAILWAY THROUGH THE KINGDOM.—
The experiments that have taken place show how desirable
it is that a line of railway should be constructed, if pos-
sible, through the island, from south to north, or at all
events from London to Edinburgh. A work of this kind
would be of prodigious importance, not merely for the
purpose of facilitating the ordinary intercourse which
takes place between different parts of the country, but also
in a political and military point of view. In case of in-
vasion or internal commotion, the whole disposable force
of the country could, with the aid of such means of con-
veyance, be brought to act on any given point in an amaz-
ingly short space of time; a circumstance which would
enable Government considerably to diminish the number
of troops, which, under other circumstances, they might
be compelled to keep up. It appears to us, that in order
to secure the execution of a work of such first-rate im-
portance, Ministers ought to cause a survey to be made of
the best line which presents itself for the formation of a
railway, such as we have described, without paying the
slightest attention to the town or districts near which or
through which it may happen to pass. A power should
he obtained from the Legislature, to grant a certain sum
per mile to any company, who, being about to construct a
railway, would make it wholly or partly upon the line laid
down, and in a manner which should be prescribed to
them. By the adoption of this plan it is probable that a
considerable portion of the national railway might be
constructed at a moderate cost ; and the remainder then
be completed at the public expense. If some plan of this
kind be not adopted, it is probable that many railways will
be so formed as to afford little assistance in the construction
of that national work, which, at some period or other,
mast be undertaken.-41ranchester Paper.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.