The Sun.
London, England, 1830-07-02 00:00:00

,
at forgery. !nail crimes larearmatinees may and uo
vary the degree of horror with, which the perpe-
trator is regarded. We have seen as many mur-
derers as forgers objects of public compassion ; but
an atrocious case of forgery excite; an abhorrence
scarcely inferior to that excited by a brutal murder ;
and justly, for in such a CttAtt as that of Fauntieroy, for
instance, the disgusting depravity and the frightful
ruin which marked the crime of forgery, and its con-
sequences, could scarcely be paralleled by the most
savage murder recorded in our criminal history.—
Timm

The: speeds of the Lord Chancellor, last night, in
the Committee on the' Forgery Bill, was unques-
tionably ingenious. According to his Lordship
there is not a greater reluctance to prosecute for
forgery than for other capital offences, as the returns
gave nearly the same proportions of acquittals to
convictions in all (vim! cases. But, as was ob-
served by Lord Lansdowne, this statement of the
Noble and Learned Lord, so far from militating
against his (Lord Lansdowne's) proposition, went,
on the contrary, to prove the inefficiency of capital
punishment in all eases except that of murder; and
beginning with forgery, in the first instance, they
might gradually amend the whole system. The Lord
Chancellor gave a clever account of the motives
which actuate prosecutors, but he did not go to the
bottom of the subject. " Ho believed,' be lurid,
" that a general reluctance on the part of prosecu-
tors prevailed in ell capital offences, and not more
with respect to forgery than any other. If he en-
derstood the mutter rightly, the reluctance evinced
by prosecutors partook of a mixed feeling ; in the
first place, there was no personal advantage to be at-
tained from prosecuting, while, on the other hand,
great personal trouble nod expense were incurred
All i hese things, then, served to deter a prosecutor ;
but when asked, it was, of course,much more grateful
to his self-complacency to attribute his reluctance to
a feeling of humanity, than to the whole mixture of
sensations that were at work' in his mind.—(lleac,
hear.)"-- In this analysis, the Lord Chancellor takes
too low an estimate of humeri nature. He hos for-
gotten that it is part of our nature to be powerfully
affected by the opinion
,which others entertain of us,
and that we endeavour to do that which causes us
to be well thought of, and to avoid doing that which
will cause us to be held in die-esteem. Why is it
hit the coward in this country leads an miserable
a life, though he may have the satisfaction of know-
ing that the act of cowardice rescued him from de-
struction, end may have property, and health to
enjoy it ? Why, but because he feels that he is
despised by every man who keows him. Now, in
the ease of prosecution, the opinion of the society
in which a man lives, has no doubt much to do in
determining his conduct. If it were deemed as
meritorious to bring a forger to justice as to bring a
murderer, then a prosecutor would have en induce-
ment 'to incur the expense, und encounter the trouble
of prosecution, to gain the good-will of his fellow-
citizens. But so far from receiving credit for, these
exertions, a prosecutor knows that sanguinary pu-
nishments are generally held in great abhorrence;
and that to prosecute a Mall capitally for forgery, is
to earn for himself the reputation of one who
delights in the blood of his fellow-creatures.
The Lord Chancellor seems to have no suspicion
that a man is ever actuated by any other motive than
direct personal advantage. Why our very follies
generally originate in a desire to be well thought 'of
by our neighbours. No man in tt desert island
would trouble himself with regard to ninety-nine
in a hundred of the things which now occupy our
thoughts, in order to be of consequence with
the world. The great secret in criminal legisla-
tion is, to have the punishments in accordance with
the feelings and opinions of the people ; for where
opitiron and law are at variance, the law will
be either unexecnted, or partially executed. Where
opinion and law hermenize, the man who
.gives
effect to the law Nam the good opinion of his
neighbours, and the people are thus led to concur in
executing the law I and we need hardly observe,
that, without the concurrence of the people, very
little is to be done, either in the way of prevention
or punishment. 'II he sophistry of the Lord Chum-
cello'', . too, was conspicuous, when lie observed
" that there ivaa another point for which the sup•
porters of the alteration took credit ; they pro-
posed a still more effectual punishment in the
,place
of that of ' death ; and the effect of severe im-
prisonMent ought to be more dreadful to the feel-
ings of a man capable of weighing the comeepuinces.
Bur, as it appeared to him, just the reverse of this
was the ease; the dread of death was e imieersid
foiling of our nature; and to nil other punish-
ment*, though they might really be more dreadful
throw that of death, yet they required thought, Bed un
effort of the mind to perceive the point, and he,
therefore, thought it unwise to get rid of this
instinctive feeltig in the mind of matiess(llear.")
But the question is, not between death and im-
prisonment, but between a slight Armee of death,
and nearly the certainty of imprisonment. Bishop
Stillingileet observes, that the most ardent
lover would decline an interview with his mis-
tress, if hi knew that ho should pass from her arms
to certain and immediate death. But allow him a
chance of escape, and the case is altered. Thi sol-
dier on the eve of battle, though be knows numbers
will fall, yet trusts to the hope of his own escape.
The chances of ercape may be so many as to eXtin-
guilt!' altogether the apprehension of danger. Thus
a man who has lived needy fifty years in the World
without seeing a mud dog, can hardly be considered
fool-hardy if he do not imprison himself in his cham-
bers for fear of meeting with one, though the inters-
papers are filled with lugubrious communication on
the subject. Those who larva attended to the that-
ter say, that, one with another, the duration of the
life of a thief in London is .longer than that du
OM in' several mechanical employments; and are
we to wonder that is thief should think only of i:the
good without troubling himielf with the chances
against him, Snicks of chimneys have fallen through
roofs, and the whole inhabitants of a house have been
consumed by fire in the night time; yet Hoist per»
ions in' good health lay
,their heads on their pillow
Without thinking either of chimneys falling or hires.
Why may not the forger calculate the chances, of
escape _as well as his neighbours when they are so
Jenny treitim I' " But," said his Lordship, " Ville
new punishment proposed was more efficient, that
of death was consequently less efficient; and if so,
he wanted to know why the forgery of wills istas
still to be left to the Nei efficietit punishment oifly,
viz. that of ileath.---(Hear, hear.)"—.The same
fallacy occurs here. It is assumed by those Who
Make the distinction between foreleg wills and forg-
ing otherporpera (we offer no opinion on the poinrl at
proem), that the public opinion would sanction death
for forging wills, and not for forging other things;
so that in the ease Id ' wills we have the choice of
certain death and certain imprisonment; 'whereate in
the other 'case we hnve'eertain imprisoment and a
eery flint chance of death. The amendment of the
Lord Chancellor, meking the forgery of trettafers of
stock and negociable securities capital, seas suceerois
foul. Out a (lit/sloe, the number* Were 77 to 20 in
favour of the amendment; so that it would appear
society is oddly constituted in this yountry. Tbe
Lords are either four tunes proportionally wiser
then the Cumtruons, or the Commons four time pros
portionally wiser than the Lords. Is it not tangles
lar, in a COO in Ii h 'W.l.c.. party motives are not eon.
caned, there should, in men belonging generally to
the same order in society, be stieh a disparity of
'opinion ai is evinced by I=ll in the Common*, and
4 to I In the Lords ?-11tOrning Chronicle.
The demise of the " Birmingham 1., ree School
Bill" was erroneously presumed. It appears to
have been a ease of suspended animation and pre-
mitturtt ' interment, The " Governors" notwfth-
inserting the decision of the Lords' Committee, in
the polite . intioitiOn conveyed by the original nil*
inurils!"' or a tortliightiOitOccedea a,tithiwtlilteiiica,t:eh.
i reoriteks inessere, oe the.expiration a their period
"t 14"1""* in the .meanwhile a public town's
r 610:table, snot numerous ejnonititelog:ve'reinyested
iiirOing wets held, on Tuitials Ay' in' I I

With plenary powers to negneinte and agree on rens
%enable terms of arrangement. Two meetings of
the Governors and this Local Committee were sub-
sequently held, with no successful result. It wre.
expected that the Bill would then be withdrawn, in
deference to the opinion of the majority of the.inlet-
bitants. but the Governors re-appeared at the Lord's
Committee on Monday, and succeeded in passing
the Bill through that ordeal on the following thy.
This impolitic perseverance was perfectly csesistenr
with the spirit which concocted a Bill of odious see•
tarinn proscription, and which introduced it into
Parliament without deigning to afford even a sha-
doW of *rinses notice to the large arid mallow
town beneficially interested in the Trust. But we
would not now ungraciously allude to the past ; we
would only hold up the result as a wholesome and
salutary experience for the guidance of the Gover-
nors in future. When a local Bill of such incom-
parable importance is opposed by intelligent and
opulent parties in a populous commercial town, it
in not so adroitly managed as a friendly suit in
Chancery, or a Report from the snug recess of a
Master's office, pro forma clnfirtned before an
Equity Judge, on the consent briefs of Counsel,
handed to the Registrar by the common Solicitor.
We would now, however, express our hope, than
all unworthy feelings of triumph or disappointment
will give place to an honest and dispassionate desire
in all parties to secure next Session an extended
opproprustion of the revenues of this munificent in-
stitution for Public Education. The Governors, in
some of the provisions of the Bill, have manifested
a liberal spirit to provide for a popular system of
commercial education and instruction in the Arts
and Sciences. We hope that they will now
communicate to the town the reasons and grounds
on- which they differ from the inhabitants who
have opposed their measure. We viewed this
local contest as one of national importance,
The decayed state of the Endowed Grammar
*heels of England, exposed in the valuable Re-
ports of the Charity Commissioners, excites increas-
ing attention. We hear of many 'instances in which
inquiry is proceeding, and where the light must
break into dark places. This is not the age in
which the subtle and legal constructions of ancient
Charters, defined by Courts of Chancery, will limit
the improvement of such useful institutions for
Public Education. When close bodies of " Go-
vernors," self-elected, apply to Parliament to in-
crease their own powers, they must expect parties
beneficially interested to try to extend their interests.
The exigencies of the present times, not the de-
parted and limited objects of by-gone days, must be
considered and provided for in these local Bills
The division on the third reading of the Bill wins—
Contents, 16; Non-Contents 22; Tellers, Lords
Shaftesbury and Radnor.—Morning Chronicle.
One of the most striking faults of the Duke of
Wellington's Administration, next to compriiing so
many efficient persons in their respective depart-
ments, has been an extraordinary ignorance of the
real state of the country, accompanied, as is too
often the case on such occasions, by an unwillingness
to be informed. Fora statesman to put one leg of
his compass upon Downing-street, and, inscribing a
smell circle, say, "this is my world—by this test I
will judge of the country—within this limit none
shall enter," would be as absurd as for a General to
expect to draw his supplies from within his own
camp, or to expect to learn, from within its limits
only, the state of the country he has to pass through,
or the movements and forces of the enemy. Yet
this, or something very much resembling it, has for
n long time been the apparent condition of the Ad.
ministration. While the distress of the country has
been such, that every men out of doors knew and
felt its extent and pressure in his own person, the,
Prime Minister spoke of it as partial; and now, that
ached starvation has been for u considerable time
staring a great part of the population of Ireland in
the face, till they use at length surged by hunger
to acts of criminal desperation, all that the
Prime Minister knows or has heard upon the sub-
ject is, that " its some parts of Ireland provisions
have risen in price." If knowledge be power,
surely there never were a set of men so little ate-
bidet's of possessing it as our present rulers ; and
the maxim that " ignorance is bless" seems with
them to be a much more acceptable and convenient
dogma. It was the, peculiar characteristic of Mr.
Pitt's Administration that he. was himself the real
head of every depot ment, knowing every thing, and
therefore presiding over every thing. But talents
of so high au order as his are not now to be met
with; and the eountry,knowing this, would be con-
tented if only moderate knowledge, and competent
industry and zeal, were brought to bear upon each
department. In more than one of these, however,
it cannot :be denied that the, present Govern-
ment has exhibited a lamentable insufficiency ;
insomuch' so as to have become in one de.
pertinent the ridicule • of other Governments,
and in some matters of domestic legislations, little
less at home. Yet some of these persons have
the vanity to think themselves the very Solomons of
their generation, end that the ignorance is on the
side of those who judge of their actions, not on
their own. If we mistake riot, they are about to
receive a lesson which, we trust, will not be lost
upon them. The period of n general election is one
in which the Government is put upon its triad by
the people, end when a license to speak plain truths
is admitted on the one side, and exercised on the
other. Though we trust that the elections will
every where be peaceably con ducted, yet we trust
the people will seize the opportunity, wherever it
presents itself, of telling both the Government nod
their Representatives how far they are satisfied with
the pnosti as well ns what they expect for the fere.—
The former must now be prepared to receive its
knowledge from a wider circle than the mere coterie
of official men and their interested hangers-on; and
due result we hope will be, not the election of a mere
compliant Parliament, but the awakening of the Go-
vernment to a due sense of the wants and situation
of the country.-11forning Herald. '

This evening the Chancellor of the Exchequer
is to state, in the Committee of Supply, the course
which ha means to pursue as to, carrying on the
public service till the assembling of the new Par-
liament. This intimation was given to the House
of COmmons in consequence of Lord Althorp ask-
ing the Right Iloo.Dentlentan Whether he intended
to press ani of the remaining estimates—take sums.
on Recount of them—or propose n vote of credit ?
Though the Chancellor of the Exchequer deferred
his, precise explanation, he gave the /louse td under-
stand that, instead of urging forward the estimates,
it ie his Intention to take a sum on account of the
remaining estimates generally. If he succeed. in
this plan,, he may consider it it fortunate .eircum,
stance that he is not obliged to proceed-with the
estimates in dOtilil, is in that case the close of• the
year would hardly have seen the termination ntthe
seisien, huts accident has done more for Minis-
ters than their own ability could ac,hieve and events
are likely to rescue them for the, present, at lean,from difficulties
.which theist,
own Whdom could not
hare surmounted,.-Morning Herald;

The “t„„ti„„ the iruhlic.eatmot be too forcibly
drawn, either to the emirate, or to the resuir of the
debate which took place on Wednesday• last, on
the question of dissolving. Parliament, without
making any provision for the- demise Of the Crown,
nod agreeing to a vote of credit, Ivithout know-
ing by whom, or for what purpose, it might be
employed. 'Yesterday we gave a syllabus of the
debate; but from went of space, and a desire 40
give the observations of the hpenkell at the
greatest possible length, were under thi Wee
sayof ebridging the observations which We
-
should otherwise have felt it' our duty to Make.
Cn reverting to the subject it . must, we think,
strike every one of our readers, as it has struck UP,
and, we believe, more,then three-fourthe of the
;MAO, that the whole of the talent of both I louses
war arrayed in invoni. Of the elintinnenee a the deli-
Iterations of Pariiiimetit, for the-purpose of coin.
eluding the business of the Session---sattling' the
question of the Regency and placirig Mit -Civil