The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-02 00:00:00

Zfle -311 x.

LONDON
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1839.

It is said by a Liberal Morning Contemporary,
who seems to wish to preclude the Press from the
police offices during all preliminary investigation,
that " nothing shocks a stranger so much as the
abuses of the Press connected with police cases."
We presume that " foreigner" is to be understood by
" stranger and, so presuming, we take the opportu-
nity of drawing public attention to the practice, we
regret to say of the Liberal party, of setting up the
ideas and institutions of foreigners as a standard by
which England should be guided anti judged.
Whether it be a Francomania or a Russomania it
is equally to be condemned, because it enables the
Northern Bear or Johnny Crapaud to dictate to
us. Why should we care what a foreigner thinks
of us if we are prosperous and happy? What our
own people think of our institutions is of much mere
importance. Our abject ought to be to make them
contented, not to win the approbation of foreigners.
They have of late borrowed much of us ;—our repre-
sentative institutions, our mechanic arts, our free
Press, the use of which they set rn not exactly to un-
derstand. At present our Liberals seem impatient
of the obligation, and resolved to borrow from the
French in turn. We do not object to any pro-
posed scheme, merely that it exists in those coun-
tries ; but as they are avowedly governed on des-
potic principles, that an institution is adopted by
them, and is therefore in harmony with the prin-
ciples of their Government, and in opposition to
those of ours, is a prima fide reason, unless our
ancestors have been humbugged for ages, and all
political science is a delusion, for doubting its
utility, and for subjecting it, before adopting it, to
a rigorous investigation.
The instance that calls forth the admiration of
the Chronicle for foreign institutions is this—
The master of a vessel belonging to Ipswich, we believe,
having been robbed in a place of bad fame, was coolly
told by the mistress of the house that it would be better to
tint up with the loss than to be shown up in the newspapers.
This woman spoke, no doubt, from experience, probably
knowing that ninety-nine out of a hundred individuals
would rather put up with the robbery than have their
names mentioned in a newspaper, in connexion with
visiting such places. But we do not see why a man who
applies for the assistance of the police in such cases ought
to be shosvn up, as it is called, any more than the frequenters
of such places who have nothing to complain of."
Whereupon our Contemporary says—
" With respect to the proceedings previous to trial, se-
crecy is often necessary on many accounts. Suspicions of
all kinds are eagerly caught at, when the object is to get a
clue to the discovery of crime ; but it is hard to innocent
individuals that they should suffer in their reputation from
suspicions which may be proved perfectly groundless. The
different courts of police should endeavour to arrange some
sort of system, by which publicity may be combined with
the regard due to the reputation of individuals. It ought
not to be considered an usurpation on the rights of the
public, if the courts drew aline of distinction between trials
and inquisitions, and endeavoured to enforce their regula-
tions by some sort of injunction to reporters."
Now, this very apprehension of being shown up
in the papers, as it is called, which means, merely,
that by keeping bad company a man may be badly
treated, and that it will be made generally known, is
one of the surest guarantees against keeping such
company. Our Contemporary would destroy it. He
would at the same time destroy the publicity of po-
lice investigations, and make what he calls in-
quisitions, corrupting at once our language
and our institutions, and impeding the course
of justice. The publicity given to the first
investigations into the finding the members of
Greenacre's victim brought him to condign
punishment ; anct our police annals teem with ex-
amples both of innocence preserved, and guilt
brought to light, by the publication of " inquisi-
tions." In the present state of the law, too, the
publication of such inquiries seems the only means
of punishing opulent and yet notorious criminals. If
the police investigation into the Bishop of CLOG-
HER' affair for example, could have been sup-
pressed, he might have passed at this day for a
most virtuous man. He would probably not have
had occasion to flee from his bail bonds, and might
now have been strengthening by his vote and interest
the Jocelyn, or Tory party, in the House of Lords.
On these separate grounds, which we have illus-
trated by known facts, of the publicity of police
investigations promoting the detection of guilt,
and the knowledge of innocence, and the punish-
ment of crime in quarters otherwise unassailable,
we beg leave to protest at once against making the
" inquisitions" secret, and the trials only public. It
would hand over the fame and fortune of individuals
into the keeeping of Police Magistrates, of whom the
new ones to be appointed by the Home Secretary,
under Mr. HAWES'S Bill will not be an atom
more trustworthy than the present race.
The wish to substitute secret inquiries for public
investigation, may be taken as an illustration of the
prevalent disposition amongst the Liberal party to
adopt foreign systems. Summary jurisdiction, ex-
tensive police, the suppression of all public meet-
ings but such as are ordered by the authorities,
compulsory systems of education, a general guardian-
ship of the people, as if the Government was the
mother of the society, and the people were its babes,
are all adopted or strongly recommended by men
calling themselves Liberals. This unreasonable
and anti-English policy has done more than the
Ministers with their Tory inclinations, and the
Chartists with their adoption of the Tory arts,
to drive the bulk of the people into the arms
of Toryism, because it is at least English.
To borrow from other countries is not
the mode to improve our institutions. Their
distinctive characteristic, as compared to the institu-
tions of the Continent, and which has much con-
tributed to the independence and enterprise of
Englishmen, is that derived from our Saxon ances-
tors of allowing each little community, locality, or
parish to govern itself. The distinctive character
of the Continental institutions is to govern every
part of society from one centre. The relative pro-
gress of the nations of the world gives us no reason
now to depart from the Saxon principle, and take
up with that of the Celts. We heartily wish to
preserve the friendship of France, but we have no
wish to see England adopting the institutions of the
despotic, vain-glorious Gauls.

We see from the police reports that three licensed
victuallers were fined at Bow-street on Saturday,
51. and 4s. 6d. costs each, not, as the new Act spe-
cifies, for opening their houses on Sunday before
one in the afternoon, but for not shutting them at
12 on Saturday night, about which the Act says
absolutely nothing. Mr. MINSHULL, however,
with that piercing acumen for which some
Magistrates are distinguished, said, the
Act was too clear to admit of any
doubt, and he accordingly inflicted the full
penalty—a penalty, be it remembered, not em-
bodied in the 47th clause, but tacked to the tail
of the Bill for any supposed offence for which
the framers had neglected to award a punish-
ment. So, according to Mr. MiNsuuLL's
interpretation
every publican that keeps
his house
open o f
one the
Minute after the hour, however
respectably the house may be conducted, and how-
eve' fc,pectabk, tiw company., filled 31. for
each offence, and will be subject to the intrusion