The Sun.
London, England, 1824-07-20 00:00:00

summate this event is an object worthy of the
enterprising spirit of the most injured and most
able officer who ever graced the British Navy.
The French line-of-battle-ship the Jean Bart
arrived at Rio on the Ist of May. The Marie
Therese and Fame brigs of war sailed on the
same day for Valparaiso. On the 19th of May
the French frigate the Magicienne sailed from off
Pernambuco for Rio. The French continue to
maintain a naval force on the coast of South
America, certainly much larger than the protec-
tion of their very paltry commerce requires.

[New Times.]
The triumphs of peace have far more real
value than those of war, and of these triumphs
none combine to a greater extent the utility
which satisfies the judgment with the display of
beauty which pleases the eye of taste than im-
provements in the public buildings of a great
and opulent nation. Attention will therefore be
naturally turned to the proceedings of a Meeting
which took place on Saturday, End at which his
Royal highness the Duke of York presided.—
It was there proposed to attempt an enter-
prise, which, compared with most modern
works, cannot but be regarded as gigantic.—
The proposal is nothing less than that a spacious
Quay shall be formed from the New London
Bridge to that of Westminster, the whole of the
Quay to be supported upon arches. The details
of this plan will be found fully described by Co-
lonel Trench in another part of our Paper. There
can be but one opinion of its grandeur and mag-
nificence. The great question is with regard to
its practicability. This will be the object of
careful investigation with the Committee ap-
pointed on Saturday ; and as that Committee
consists of some of the first men in the kingdom,
both in rank and in ability, the result of their
deliberations may be expected to be decisive.

[BRITISH PRESS.)
The late case of Bodkin v. Carden and Others,
should be a lesson to us on the subject of Juries.
If a Jury retire to consider of their verdict, the
law is that they are to be kept without meat,
drink, fire, or candle, unless by permission of the
Judge, till they are unanimously agreed ; and if
they eat or drink at all, without consent of the
Court, and before verdict, it is fineable. It is
surely time that we purged our system of a law
so repugnant to common sense, and so at variance
with every principle of utility. One is really
surprised to find Blackstone gravely alleging as a
reason for all this, that it is " in order to avoid
intemperance and causeless delay." (Comm.
111. p. 375.) ; as if it were necessary for the
prevention of intemperance, that they should be
kept without meat and drink. As to causeless
delay, it is a solicism in language; the delay must
arise from the difficulty which one or more .indi-
viduals find in agreeing in opinion with the rest ;

the delay must have a cause, and Oils is it ; and
it can manifestly be removed only by mutual
reasoning, and a deliberate weighing of each
others opinions ; the result of which will be, if
things take their natural course, that those of su-
perior intelligence will prevail, and those of
minor capacity will at lust cottenr. Brit the at-
tempt 'to starve a man out of a pre-conceived
opinion, or to suppose that ho will see through a
difficulty clearer, without fire and candle; what
excuse is there in this enlightened age for such ab-
surdity ? Motives of a particular tendency are often
so mixed up with thoseof an opposite tendency,that
it will sometime:, happen that twelve men who

in criminal cases, are called upon to decide on
the guilt or innocence of the agent, will not all
readily bring their minds to the same• conclusion ;
but, under such circumstances, to withhold from
them not only all their accustomed comforts, but

to refuse them the very means of existence till
they are all of one mind, is. to reduce the clues»
tion of unanimity to a contest of physical strength,
and to subject the conscience to the controul
of moral necessity. What' chance has the
obstinacy of a juryman of seventy-eight iu

tiny struggle with the stubbornness of a fel-
low-juryman of five-and-thirty ? The likeli-
hood is, that his firmest resolutions will surren-
der, one by one, as his hunger gains' strength;
and that the force of his better judgment will at
last give way to the weakness of his constitution.
What advantage, moreover, we will ask, is ob-
tained by this irrational system of proceeding ?
Can the most ingenious sophistry chew any one
good end that can possibly he answered by it ?
We ought at this time of day to be better ac-
quainted with the constitution of the human
mind, than to Continue to operate upon it by the
same preposterous influences that suggested them-
selves to our rude ancestors, in the rudest ages
of their history ; and we trust that the spirit of
improvement which is now abroad will bring this
disgraceful feature of our judicial system within
the scope of its reformation.

[htOgNING IMILAT.D.]
We do not think that the Mendicity Society
(or their Secretary) will have gained much ground
with the public by their late prosecution. An
injury which a Special Jury, after an unheard-of
period of deliberation, value at only thirty shil-
bugs, is one which was hardly worth resenting.
—Where the Press is made the instrument of
unnecessarily wounding the feelings of Indivi-
duals, or of gratifying private resentment, the par-
ties injured were well justified in appealing to the
law for that redress,which Juries, in such cases, we
trust, will always give them ; but when the slip
of a pen, too high a colouring, or too warm a
feeling, occur in fair legitimate discussion, we
think nothing is gained to the individual, while
much is lost to public liberty by a prosecution.
We do not mean to insinuate that mankind are
generally more tenacious of that of which they
possess the least ; yet it certainly appears that
insignificant people are always blustering about
their reputation, while those whose character
(like that of the persons composing the Society in
question) is undoubted, generally bear with in-
difference the groundless attacks which are
made upon them. It is the Same, we be.
sieve, with the softer sex. We know, and
so do the public, how much humbug is
afloat under the garb of charity ; and we
conceive, that while the Press is compelled, oa