The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-28 00:00:00

['MORNING CIIK.ONICL.]

We have from the first expressed our opinion,
that .# more improper site for a palace than Buck-
ingham House could not have been selected.
This spot unites every possible disadvantage, and
no creatures but cows ought ever to have lived
on it ; it is marshy, in a hollow, and in a de-
testable neighbourhood, and further, it is a
sort of coil de sac, and therefore unfit for a
palace, which, as a grand object, ought to be
placed in a great track, where it may be seen by
the world. Of Buckingham-house tine never have
seen any thing but the chimneys, a good view
of which is had from Piccadilly. As loyal
men, it has been a great grief to us to think
that our King was going to live in a hole, and,
some time ago, we gave vent to our inward trouble
on this score, but our Courtly Contemporaries,
taking alarm at our demonstrations of loyalty,
abused us unmercifully for our pains, and one
of the ungracious varlets did us the injustice
to say, that if his Majesty had chosen a better
spot for his Palace, we should have run about dis-
tracted, with hair on end, crying out that the
cows and the cockneys were about to be defraued
of their rights. We now, however, find, that
people in general are of opinion that is not right
that the King of England should hide a Palace in
Pimlico, and a paragraph which we copied yes-
terday from a Sunday Paper, states that this
abominable plan is abandoned ; we have also in-
formation from other quarters that this is the
case, and we rejoice that it is so, for though de-
cided enemies to lavist•tin9, the public money on
mere show, we are still more adverse to drib-
bling it away on mean schemes, which would
make no sort of return, either in credit to the na-
tional taste, or in ornament to the capital, and
which would prove most expensive in the end,
for if his present Majesty were content to
live in a hole, we doubt whether his suc-
cessor would follow his example, and a reason-
able demand would be made to a Parliament
for a new residence by a future King, who might
not like to live like a frog. If a palace must be
built, it is the best plan to build it at once to the
best advantage. We certainly do not like the
idea of trenching on Hyde Park, but the top of
Constitution-hill seems more free from objection ;
and if the King of England does not fence him-
self in against his loving subjects, the space taken
from 4 4 the cows and the cockneys" for the mere
house would be very inconsiderable, particularly
as the ugly pond might be filled up. Why should
not the palace of the English King be as open as
that of the French King I

[MORNING HERALD.]
The abstract which we publish in this day's
paper of the result of the commitments to the last
Old
,Bailey Sessions, will be found fully to bear
out and confirm the remarks we made a short
time since, as to the very small number of the
prisoners at these sessions who are tried by the
Judges, and the great proportion of cases, the
trials of which consequently devolve upon per.
sons holding judicial offices appointed by the
City of London. Of 173 cases, it will be seen
that only 19 were tried by the three Judges whoat-
tended the rota,and as those tried by theßecorder
were (all 'but o►►e) City cases, four-fifths of -the
prisoners committed for offences in the county
of Middlesex were tried by the two City officers.
It is not necessary for our purpose to inquire
(and it would be painfully invidious to do so)
into the ability of both or either of the persons

we allude to—what we contend is, first, that the
county of Middlesex and the City of West-
minster, where cases the greatest both in num-
ber and importance must necessarily occur,
ought not to be placed in a different or worse
situation in this respect than in any other county
in the kingdom; and, secondly, that the appoint-
ment of Judges exercising functions of such high
importance to the community, resting ssith a
Corporation (which has hitherto, we believe, been
in the habit of selling the first step which leads
to its higher offices), is an anomaly in jurispru-
dence, if not a serious encroachment upon the
prerogatives of the Crown, with which the liber-
ties of the people are so closely interwoven.—
It appears to us that it would be quite as fit for
the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to appoint the
King's Ministers as his Judges ; and that Sir
William Curtis might just as well drive up to
Downing-street, and take the seals from Mr.
Canning, as that the Corporative Body should
have the power of dealing with the lives and
liberties of such of his Majesty's subjects as are
charged with criminal offences at the very seat
of Government. We trust that we shall
not be told that the trial of criminals is
of less consequence than the other duties
of the Judges, and may therefore be con-
signed to supernumeraries thus appointed ;
for, if it were so, then why should the Judges
be at the trouble of going the circuits; and
why should not the Mayor of York and the con-
stable of Lancaster appoint the Judges for those
large and important counties ? But the fact
that the practice we allude to is a defect in our
judicial system, which is felt and acknowledged
by all who have paid attention to the subject;
and we trust that the time is not far distant.
when Mr. Peel (who is the most effectual prac-
tical reformer the country has witnessed for a
very great number of years) will turn his atten-
tion to an incongruity which ought not to con-
tinue.