The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-08 00:00:00

[MORNING CHRONCLE.]

A, contemporary considers the case which oc-
curred at the Lancaster Assizes (given in our
Paper of Tuesday),, as an instance of the mis-
placed tenderness of the Law. It is, we think,
rather an instance of the accommodating loose.
ness of the Law, and the tenderness of the Mi-
nisters of it. The tenderness in this case was, in
fact, excited by the severity of the Law, and
the absurd quirks of the Law were made use of
to defeat its rigour. The Law hangs for for-
gery ; the Judge and Jury were averse to hang
the prisoner for forgery ; a Claw was found,
or fancied, and they gladly 'availed themselves
of it, to save the prisoner's life. Had the Law
been milder, we are very certain that the humane
Judge would never have made out, by means of
a. magnifying glass, that an r in the indictment,
was a tick in the forgery. It is thus, indeed,
that justice is every day evaded, in consequence
of the severity of punishments ; and that, the
law when too harsh is cobwebbed in its own
quibbles. Notorious delinquents escape any
correction, because the punishment allotted to
their offences is abhorred by humanity. The
quirks of the law, which would otherwise be de-
tested, are regarded with a sort of • favour by
many, as they serve on occasion to baffle
its fury : they are like the foibles of a
savage tyrant, which, though contemptible in
themselves, seem gracious when they are
brought into play to stay the excesses of
his more deadly vices. The whole system goes
in a circle. The laws are suffered to remain
loose and uncertain, because the Legislature is
rash and unskilled ; the fault of the one on the
side of severity, is to be neutralized by' the fault
of the other on the side of uncertainty. The
Legislature let loose their monsters on the cul- ,
prit, under the full assurance that the Judges can
throw about them meshes of quirk and quibble,
which can at any moment render them powerless
and innoxious to the criminal. The misfortune
is, however, that though the administrators of
the law can altogether paralyse, they cannot
temper its violence ; and there is consequently no
medium between avoiding a cruel punishment
and suffering a criminal, encouraged by his
escape, to return, uncorrected, to plague the
community. What is mercy to the one is thus
cruelty to the many. But do the many regret to
see a rogue, guilty of forgery, escape death, by
means of an immaterial'error in the forms of law
No ; they rather rejoice at it, because punish-
ments are with us more odious than crimes: But
this would not be the public feeling, if :punish-
ments were more moderate; in that case honest men
would feel injured if they saw knaves escaping jus-
tice by quirks of law. The use that is now made
of the most insignificant informalities would be
viewed as 'an itvolerable abuse if punishments
could be considered=-we will not say with appro-
bation, but—without abhorrence. Let, therefore,
etery'manwho has an interest in perpetuating
the absurdities of the law, uphold the severity of

the law, let him argue that its looseness is good,
as it affords a convenient opening for escape from
undue rigour; and that rigour on the other hand
is harmless, as there is always some way of
eluding it when the prisoner is an object of com-
passion ; and let him, above all things, when a
Judge and Jury, from their reluctance to give
effect to the severity of the law, have availed
themselves of a trifling flaw in forms, never fail
to describe it as the lenity of the law.

[NEW TIMES.]

While one Journalist lavishes his abuse on
Banks and Bankers, another throws out imputa-
tions on the whole body of booksellers. " The
Bank of England," said a writer about a week
ago, " has refused for the last three weeks to
discount any bookseller's bill." This broad asser-
tion startled us at the time. We could hardly be-
lieve that it was altogether unfounded,and yet we
were tolerably certain that it could not be correct.
We have therefore taken some time to inquire
particularly into the statement ; and we find, as
we had anticipated, that it is wholly untrue. It is
only necessary to look at the advertisements in
every day's Newspaper throughout the year to
see that the book trade is in any thing but a
state of depression. It is only necessary to con-
sult the financial accounts of each succeeding
quarter to see that the consumption of paper is
as great as at any period. The paragraph to
which we advert had two pernicious effects.—
It tended to exaggerate the general alarm,
which had been in a great measure created by
similar articles ; and it threw an unjust discredit
over a whole branch, and a very important one,
of the trade of the country. As the paragraphs
against " eminent London Bakers" must, if cre-
dited, create a want of confidence among Pro-
vincial Bankers in their London correspondents ;
so a-paragraph against the London Book Trade
must distress and terrify the country Book-
sellers with reference to the houses %ith which
they deal in the Metropolis. It is quite dis-
graceful in the directors .of the public press to
insert articles calculated to produce such ex-
tensive mischief. It is like the madman, who
tosses about firebrands, and says, " Am I not in
sport ?" however, as it has fallen to our lot to
give an authoritative contradiction to several
other mis-statements calculated to injure public
credit, and as our assertions in those cases have
not been questioned, we trust we shall obtain
full credit, when we repeat that the paragraph
above alluded to against the book trade is totally
destitute of foundation.