The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

' The Standard is furious at the decision of the Dublin Com-
mittee not to admit the votes of 92 freemen, registered within
six months before the election, which the merest tryo in these
' matters knows to be indispensable to the right of voting under
the Irish Reform Act. The Standard says, these freemen
have as good right to their franchise as to the shoes they wear.
Very likely ! We know no men so likely to wear shoes not
paid for as the beggarly freemen of the rotten corporation of
, Dublin. Our Contemporary's rage betrays his party. It is
perfectly clear now that had the Tories predominated on this
Committee, the clearest principles of law and justice would
have been trodden in the mire. A Tory Committee would
have placed every single man of the 92 freemen in question
upon the poll, as certainly as the earth turns on its axis, and
with as sovereign a scorn for the law or equity of the case
as sop's cock had for the jewel, or an Orange newspaper
has for truth. This question lies in a nutshell. Re-
gistration six months before the election is indis-
pensable under the statute ; these freemen were regis-
tered within the time appointed ; and consequently their
right to vote was just as good as ours to vote for the Pre-
sident of the American Congress, but not a jot better. News-
papers are not the proper organs for discussing legal questions;
but the present case is one in which it would be particularly
absurd in us to involve our readers in the mazes of a law
argument, as the point involved is one upon which it is
utterly impossible that any two lawyers, not Tories of alb
most inveterate description, or personally interested in the
matter, could possibly differ in opinion. We venture to assert
that but one lawyer of the two bars takes a different view of
the question from the:Committee ; and that lawyer is Mr.
West, one of the defeated candidates ! There are men of
such a constitution of mind that they would hold two
and two to be five, if it served their interest to main-
tain such a position. God forbid that such a man
should ever put on the Irish ermine 1 The votes of these
ninety-two low Orangemen would never have been tendered at
all but upon the profligate speculation that a Committee might
chance to be struck so utterly regardless of sense and decency
as to place them afterwards upon the poll. It was a new
thought to bring up this class of freemen at the last election.
The thing was never dreamed of at the first contested election
after the Reform Act, nor at the election in 1835, when the
Tories were in office. This class of freemen was as plentiful
as blackberries, but nobody thought they were good for voting,
or worth the bribes without which it is notorious that not even
the Protestant interest would induce these respectable gentle-
men to poll for St. Paul himself. Thus it was twice practi-
cally admitted that these freemen were disentitled to
vote. " Our antagonists," says Mr. O'Connell in his
excellent letter, " admitted it in the most emphatic
way ; that is, by acting upon such admission adversely to their
own interests." But is this all? No ! If this was a good
and lawful class of voters, " with as good a right to their
franchise as to the shoes on their feet" (supposing them in the
enjoyment of that decent article of apparel), how did it hap-
pen that so unexceptionable a phalanx was kept back until
the last hour of the last day of the election ? Why was not
this sacred band placed in the post of honour, upon the edge
of battle, in the front of Messrs, West and Hamilton's loyal
and constitutional supporters? They were kept back until
the fifth day, because Messrs. West and Hamilton knew that
their right to vote was not worth a straw, and they were
brought to the poll then because defeat was inevitable :
their votes were tendered, not for the election—for
there were not enough of them to turn the scale, and, be-
sides, the assessor had decided to reject them—but for the
chance of an unscrupulous Committee ! "in the hope," as Mr.
O'Connell says most truly, "of an outrageous Tory Com-
mittee ;" for outrageous, indeed, the Committee should have
been from whick a decision was to have been expected against
the sitting Members upon such a point. The Tories are
frantic because the Spottiswoode conspiracy has been so egre-
gious a failure. Such an amazing expenditure of knavery,
and no return—no profit !—Morning Chronicle.

The answer given last night by Lord John Russell to Lord
Chandos is calculated to excite some curiosity. It appears
that Lord Durham's gigantic outfit and threatened invasion
of the next two or three successive budgets has at length so fright-
ened the Lords of the Treasury, that Lord Glenelg is to make a
special report upon the subject, which Lord John Russell has
promised, for the satisfaction of Lord Chandos, to lay upon
the table of the House of Commons, no doubt with a view to
some solid retrenchment of that prodigality which had been
ushered in with the flourishing assurance that the Noble Captain-
General would "accept no salary." A fool if he did accept
one salary, when he could make a bargain by which the mate-
rials of half a dozen salaries will be at his Lordship's service.
However, a " report" from Lord Glenelg will be some fun at
least ; and a fresh set of instructions, bespoke by Sir R. Peel,
after he had smashed the old ones, will be still richer fun.—
Times.

We have before us an Official Report, published under the
sanction of the Metropolitan Police Office, headed " Criminal
Returns." It comprehends the " number of persons taken
into custody by the Metropolitan Police, and the results, in
the year 1837, with comparative statements for the years 1831,
1832, 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, and 1837." One of the new
features of this Report is a test of the effect of education or
the contrary. It classifies, under an especial head, the age,
sex, and degree of instruction of all the persons taken into cus-
tody, summarily convicted, and tried and convicted during the
year 1837. This statistical return furnishes materials for com-
mentary to which we shall take occasion of adverting. But
the most painful feature of the Report, is the proof which it
supplies of the continual augmentation of juvenile offenders.
It appears, from one of the Inspector's Reports, that of
2,356 committals in 1837, no less than 2,146 were for of-
fences against property without violence ; 1,669 of these
were simple larcenies, and the perpetrators, generally,
juvenile offenders ; some of the charges were stealing oranges,
a few apples, bunns, or a few halfpence. At the Sessions just
closed, a child was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court
to three months' imprisonment for stealing a few ounces of
acidulated drops. This alarming and deplorable fact is cor-
roborated by a late statistical statement of Lord J. Russell in
bringing forward his excellent Bill for the better administra-
tion of justice at quarter sessions throughout England and
Wales. The details showed the great increase of cases tried
at quarter sessions, of which a large proportion were the
cases of juvenile offenders. It may be summarily stated that
his Lordship proved that these cases had increased from 1,073
to 13,044. Lord John Russell's Bill will go far to contribute
a remedy to this afflicting social malady. But will it go far
enough ? We are satisfied of the negative. It cannot reach
the root of the evil. There is, like the head-money and blood-
money, stimulant at work which prompts the astounding aug-
mentation of trials for petty offences by children in the County
Courts. This Lord J. Russell's Bill will tend to mitigate or
repress. It is shocking to reflect that these children, for offences
caused by the laxity of parental restraint, or neglected educa-
tion, are subjected to an imprisonment which tends to harden
them, to deprave their minds, and to render them callous to
all moral restraints and future consequences. The rest of the
evil lies chiefly in the want of a general system of education
of which infant schools, on a better organized plan than the
present, ought to form a vital part. The confinement of
children of tender age in prison, whether the secluded, the
silent, or the gregarious system, is awful to contemplate.
They are sure to be lost for life. Of what use in society can
they be after subjection to such a penalty ? The human shoot
is mildewed and blasted for ever. The subject is worthy of
the interference of another Howard. We advocate the se-
cluded cell alone for the murderer. Is the infant that steals
an apple or a toy to be treated in the same manner? Is this
an equal measure of punishment ? Draco's system of inflict-
ing death for a trifle or a crime (the first because it deserved
death—the last because he had no severer punishment) wa
not a whit more savage, ruthless, unreasonable, and detes-
table.--Morning Advertiser.

The question which Lord Ingestre put in the House the
the other night was misreported in this paper. It did not re-
fer to the order given by the Admiralty to the British cruisers
on the coast of Spain to intercept supplies to Don Carlos, but
to the order issued in 1835, by which Captains serving on that
station were commanded to refuse refuge to Don Carlos,
should he seek it at their hands. This order was intended as
a set-off against the Durango Decree, but we arc sure that
our readers will consider it in every respect as reprehensible as
that remarkable paper. It is a virtual denunciation of Don
Carlos, the expression of impotent malice against a Prince
who had the courage to answer the call of his people, and to
defend the birthright of his children. Fortunately Don Car-
los is now placed beyond the anger or protection of the Bri-
tish Government ; but if he had failed, and the Christino
bloodhounds hunted him to the coast, would not our Ministers,
in refusing him a refuge in our ships, have been accessary to
his murder? The Durango Decree was issued for the pur-
pose of preventing foreigners from embarking in a quarrel in
which they had no direct interest. It has been called a blood-
thirsty decree; but what will be said of this mandate of the
Biitish Government, by which a seal was set on the head of
Don Carlos, and the general law of national humanity vio-
lated in his regard ?—illorning Post.
The necessity of referring election petitions to some other
tribunal than that which at present decides upon them, seems
to be admitted on all hands; but the difficulty of finding one
is quite as great as the necessity for it is obvious. Some per-
sons have thought that the subject of complaintmight be
investigated before a judge and jury ; but considering th e in-
terminable length to which the majority of these inquiries at
present extend,- what description of persons are those who,
as jurymen, could be expected to give up their time to such
lengthened investigations? Besides which, if party feeling
is the present ground of complaint, what security is there
that jurymen, even upon their oaths, will be more exempt
from this bias than the persons who are at present sworn to try
the issue ? The Judges themselves, without the intervention of
a jury, would probably form a mere competent tribunal; but it
may reasonably be doubted whether at any time, but particu-
larly at the commencement of a new Parliament, when, as at
the present moment, petitions are so numerous, such an addition
to the duties of the judges could by any possibility he made.
Another plan, a little more feasible, is that of appointing
some halfzdozen sets of assessors, to be composed of members
of the bar of a certain standing, to which these matters may
be referred in succession. But though this plan weuld pro.
duce the necessary knowledge and judgment for the occasion,
it may reasonably be doubted whether competent persons
would consult to leave their professional business for such a
kind of temporary employment ; while the lookers-up to pre-
ferment at the bar are generally known to have quite as
much of political partisanship as some Members of Parliament
themselves can have. In short the subject is one beset with
difficulties; but still the necessity for alteration is so great,
that we trust they will not be found insurmountable,—
Mornillg Herold.