The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURN.b;4.4S

The Gazette of last night contains the announce-~'
ment of a Commission under the Great Seal, appoint-
ing Charles Shaw Lefevre, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel
Charles Rowan, and Edwin Chadwick, Esq., his Ma-
jesty's Commissioners for inquiring as to the best
means of establishing an efficient constabulary force
in the several counties of England and Wales. We
believe this Commission will be supported by men of
all parties, and we know that the Duke of Welling-
ton, for one, expressed his sanction of the object of it
a long time since. We remember too that Sir Robert
Peel observed in his place in the House of Commons,
that a rural police had now become essentially neces-
sary in this country, which had outgrown the institu-
tions which at one time were sufficient for the preserva-
tion of order. Indeed the issue of such a
Commis-
sion has been long demanded from all parts of the
kingdom. The great increase of crime of late years
gives rise to painful reflections ; but when we consider
that, except in some of our great cities, there
is nothing like a preventive police—no officer
charged with the preservation of order—and that
thieves and the other members of society are left
to fight it out as they best can, it does surprise
us that matters are not worse than they are. It
may truly be said, that at the present moment
there is almost an impunity for all thebutic
eiai
heaviest
crimes. crimes. The man who is wronged, es
the rural districts, reflects that if he prosecute he
exposes himself to the malice of the relations of
the offender, and, at all events, that after a few
months' imprisonment the party will again be at
liberty to seek his revenge. There is at the same
time, we admit, a great deal of wanton interference on
the part of over-busy individuals with the harmless
pleasures and occupations of the people, and an inno-
cent man runs often a great risk, of suffering from an
inadvertent breach of some statute, from an injudicious
exercise of magisterial discretion, a heavier punish,
meat than the real criminal. But, upon the
whole, society suffers most from the excessive im-
punity of the present day. There is no sys-
tematic action—no combined movement on the part
of those who are intrusted with the preservation
of order. Take Blackheath, for instance, which
is in the four parishes of Greenwich, Lewisham,
Charlton, and Lee : the metropolitan police only
acts in one of these parishes, and a vagabond hops
from one parish to another, and laughs at the consta-
ble. In England each parish is an independent re-
public, and it is not more difficult to get the Swiss fe-
deration to act together than a dozen English parishes.
The theory, that every violation of the law affects some
party, and that that party may be trusted with putting
the law in force against the offender, is found, likea
many other theories, unsupported by fact. There is .
often no proportion between the injury received and
the trouble and expense which must be incurred to
bring the offender to justice. Besides, the party who
is already a sufferer is called on to suffer still more in
the way of sacrifice for the good of society. It is true
of late years judges and magistrates have often awarded
expenses to the prosecutor out of the County-rates.
But even this is discretionary. And it often happens
that one man who is anxious for a journey to the as-
size town prosecutes some trifling affair on the specula-
tion of obtaining payment of his travelling expenses ;
while another man who dreads a journey conceals a
heavy offence. It has been customary, too, of late years
for parishes to undertake prosecutions in cases where the
public feeling is deeply interested; but an opinion has
been given that payments for such prosecutions out of
the poorerates are illegal. The expenses of coroner's
inquests, too, have been declared illegal demands on
the poor-rates. So that the Commission has not been
issued till the necessity has become abundantly evi-
dent. Mr. Shaw Lefevre, who, as Chairman of the
Committee for inquiring into the Administration of
county-rates, has had abundant opportunities- for
making himself acquainted with the subject for which
this Commission is issued ; Colonel Rowan, who has
from the first been at the head of the metropolitan po-
lice force—the best body of the kind in Europe, we
may say in the whole world ; and Mr. Chadwick, the
intelligent Secretary of the Poor-law Commissioners,
arc well fitted for the inquiry intrusted to them. The
Commission is to be quite gratuitous : so that on this
occasion it .cannot be made a matter of reproach to the
Government that their only object is to give places to
their hungry followers. We have no doubt that these
gentlemen will discharge ably and conscientiously
the important task committed to them.—Alorn. Chron.
If any proof were required that the House of Lords
fulfilled a necessary duty in rejecting the several artful
and fraudulent measures attempted to be imposed on it
by the Government, a very plain one may be found in
the history of the Whig endeavours to obtain for their
adherents and dependents the exclusive management of
all the corporate charities in England. The Whigs,
finding it impossible to insure to the new Dissenting
Corporations the patronage of the charities by the Cor-
poration Reform Bill, cunningly introduced a provision,
according to which, unless Parliament should pass an
Act for the regulation of the charities before a certain
(lay, the Chancellor was empowered to take order for
their due administration. This clause once assented to
by the unsuspecting Conservatives, the real object of
the Whigs being to throw the charities into the power
of the Dissenters, and of their own party, the door was
open to them to make this perfidious attempt. They
had only to pursue such a course as would prevent the
passing of any Act to regulate the charities. The chari-
ties would then devolve upon the Chancellor, who, it was
conceived, would regard the Whig interests as superior
to all considerations of justice, or the rules of the Court
over which he presides, and would have no scruple in
using a discretionary power to put out all the former
trustees, or at least as many as would give to the new
ones of his selection a decided majority in all the con-
cerns of the charities. It was conceived that the dis-
posal of the considerable revenues of the charitiestwaodudlid-
tmnal influence in the
give to the Whip.
P
.
end Dissenting party a great
Parliamentary and local elec-
tions, and the unscrupulouuse s which they were eager
perfectly we!, known. With these
to make of it was
views the Whig leaders in the lie' use of Commons,
mention of the
with their usual sly cunning, omitted all .!
charitieS in the Corporation Amendment 1;1.1.1, for that
Bill they intended to pass, its real object being tip cover
some of the mistakes of the new corporations, and to
seat them firmly in their ill-gotten places. The betel'
Bill was therefore introduced with apparent negligence
into the Commons, as a mere matter of course, and had.
well nigh passed without much remark, until some of the-
Conservative Members, detecting its real objects and
manifesting some opposition, it was pushed through
the House, in its later stages, with a shameless haste.
How fairly and candidly this Bill was dealt with by
the Peers, and how basely and faithlessly their gene-
rous treatment was repaid by the Whigs, shall be the
subject of further observation. Suffice it now to say,
that the proceedings upon this Bill making it clear that
some Bill must be introduced concerning the charities,
the Whigs reluctantly, and at a later period of the
session, caused a Bill to be brought in by one of theit
underlings upon this important subject. This Bill wag
obviously never meant to pass. The charities were
effectively placed by it in the disposition of the Radical
Mayor in almost every Corporation. The Conserva,
tives, with much candour, endeavoured to amend the,
Bill, suggesting that the only method of insuring an
impartial administration of the charities, was to allow
no advantage to either political party ; and their amend-
ments were directed to this end. Their amendments
were refused, and this mockery of a 811 was sent up in
the crude and immature state in which the Peers
thought proper to reject it ; and who can blame them
for the rejection of such an imposture ? This was
exactly what the Whigs desired and intended. But it;
would not have suited their purposes to have raised
the cry of triumph. No ; they have ulterior views ;
they had a further party advantage to obtain, at the
expense of honesty and fair dealing. They unscru-
pulously turned about and abused the Peers for re-
jecting their Charity Bill. Conscious of the fraud they
intended to perpetrate, they cried out shame and sin upon
the Lords for the rejection of so admirable a measure,
hugging themselves all the while at having gained their
ends by its rejection. Now, whether they have gained
their ends or not, it may be easily believed they have
left no stone unturned to do so. The new Corporations
are all set in motion—the Radicals and Dissenters of all
shades and denominations chuckle at the success of th