The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-25 00:00:00

Henry Colburr, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

Now ready, in 2 vols. small SW).,
REVELATIONS OF PORTUGAL,
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY TO LISBON,
AT iHE CLOSE OF 1846 ;
With a Picture of the present State •f Spain.
BY T. M. HUGHES, ESQ.,
Author of " Revelations of Spain."
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough• streat.

Now ready, in 3 vols. post Bvo., price It. I Is. 6d.,
EXPERIENCES OF A GAOL CHAPLAIN,
COMPRISING
ItEcOLLECTIONS OF MINISTERIAL INTERCOURSE WITH
CRIMIN &LS OF VARIOUS CLASSES, WITH THEIR CON.
FESSIONS.

A very clever book, with very smart and effective writing. In
strength of composition it seems akin to the' Diary of a late Phy6i-
clan,' and equal to the deeper parts of ' lloz."rhere is hardly a
reason why the' Experiences of a Gaol Chaplain' should not be as
popular as the writings of Warren or Dickens."—Speetator.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.
To be had at all the Libraries.

STAMP AND TAX OFFICE ASSURANCE
SOCIETY.
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Insure a sum payable at the death of a Member. ---
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The Committee have had it intimated to them, that the advan-
tages of this flourishing Society are not generally known, they
therefore avail themseivee of this mode to invite all who are eligible,
viz., holding any appointment ender the Honourable Commissioners
of .:tamps and Taxes, to partake of its benefits.

The Entrance Fee is very moderate, and regulated by scale, as to
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Those joining the Society previous to April sth, 1547, will date
their entrance from April, 1846, the amount being paid in advance.
Tho present payment at the death of a member who has sub-
scribed from the commencement is 601., and after next April, 801.
For forms of application, and further particulars apply to,

ROY,
. .
ALEXANDER O Secretary.
Stamp-Oftlee, London, Feb. 1847.

ItAILWAY siIAYEs BY PUBLIC sABE.
MESSRS. LAMOND and Co., RAILWAT
RIIARE AUCTIONEERS, beg to thank their Friends
Ind the Public for their continued support and patronage, and
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take place every Trunar and FAIDA r, at One o'clock, at the
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OiTlces. flail of Commerce, Threadneedle-street. London.

HE WEATHER.—Su OFFICE, FEBRUARY 24.
TETERMOMETER, Lowest, 29; Ilichest, 40 ; Noon, 35
BAROMETER, 30 24.—WIND E., fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-FIRIDGE THIS DAY.
Horning .. 18 minutes after 10. i ETenlng .. 59 minutes after 10.

I W 35 with peculiar pleasure we observed the course
taken by Sir JOHN PAKINGTON, in moving for leave
to bring in a Bill for the more speedy trial and punish•
meat of juvenile offenders. As was inevitable in the
present enlightenment of the Legislature upon the
grievances arising from the protracted abeyence in
which the matter has been hitherto lying, leave was
readily granted. The entire question of reform
i❑ relation to this prolific class of criminals will
naturally come, therefore, before Parliament out of
the discussions upon the proposed measure of Sir J.
PAKINGTON. In the absence of any comprehensive
scheme of education, it is consolatory at the least to
behold something like preparation for the lopping oir
of one of the most baneful branches of ignorance.
That the indiscriminate imprisonment of youag
children, pending their trial at the criminal courts, is
productive of a scarcely calculable amount of injury,
has been long evident, and (what is more) long
acknowledged. The transitionfrom a childish pecca-
dillo to a deliberate larceny is thereby characterised
by an awful rapidity. An unnatural stimulus is
given to the villanous propensities which might
otherwise have been weeded out in their innocuous
blossomings, but which are from vicious companion-
ship prematurely forced to bear the fruits of sys-
tematic sin. What the Hon. Baronet the Member
for Droitwich instanced, in the case of a little girl of
scarcely twelve years being confined amidst all " the con-
tamination of the female side of the prison," during a
considerable interval previous to her trial, might be
instanced a hundred fold from the pages of the
Prison Inspectors, as well as from the domestic
narrations of the suburban rookeries. From that
malign abandonment of the tender offspring of the
ill-informed, their ductile intellects are tutored to
crime before the power of discrimination between
right and wrong has assumed a place in their intel-
lects. Before they are in any measure capable of
judging matters which have baffled stronger intellects
than theirs,' even when matured by age and cultiva-
tion, these children are seduced into the perpetual com-
mission of offences against the law, and in defiance of
the principles that regulate social decency and national
morality.

" Eheu me misarum! Cum mihi paveo,
Tura Phormio me excruciat animi."

"Alas !" they might exclaim almost in the language
of TERENCI, "when I hare most reason to be troubled
for myself, my natural protector, the Legislature,
plunges me into irreparable misery." It remains for
that Legislature to redeem its own character as
the natural protector of the poverty-stricken
and despised, by reclaiming the children whom it is
even now transforming into the antagonists of its au-
thority. We cannot cause the dead generations of
what were once juvenile offenders to lire again, and
to live in sobriety and happiness, instead of villany
and opprobrium ; but we may, if we list, prevent the
similar ignomy and similar wretchedness of similar
generations. The finger of the law can stay that
wheel of crime; we look for its interposition.

There are few subjects more worthy of the serious
and attentive consideration of the Senate than that to
which Mr. HustE on Tuesday night directed the no-
tice of the House of Commons. The enormous expenses
that have ever attended the passing of private Bills
through either House have proved a bar to the intro-
duction of many measures of great utility, by which
small localities, or the estates of individuals, might
be materially benefited ; in fact, it has hitherto
acted as a prohibition to all but the very wealthy,
and the comparatively poor have been prac-
tically excluded from a participation in the
advantages to be derived from legislative inter-
ference in their behalf. The same may be said of any-
thing where the outlay, or the money to be raised or
expended, does not exceed a few thousand pounds
for, although the value of the proposed measure may.
be obvious to the meanest capacity—although it may
be wholly unopposed, or even anxiously desired and
petitioned for by every one whose interests are in
any the slightest degree interfered with or affected
thereby—still there must be at the very least 5001.
and more, probably double that sum, wasted in legal
and Parliamentary expenses before it can receive the
necessary sanction or authorization. This is a crying
grievance, and one which we trust will be removed
during the present session. Much good has an-
' doubtedly been effected by such of the recommenda-
tions of the Special Committee of last year as have
already been adopted and acted on. Under the old
system witnesses were frequently detained from their
homes and families, and from their ordinary occupa-
tions, for several weeks, at serious inconvenience to
themselves, and at an expense of several hundred
pounds per diem to the promoters, while the stand-
ing orders were being proved ; while, by the recent
regulations, the matter is disposed of in two or three
days at the farthest. But much still remains to be
done. Why might not the evidence of witnesses as
to merely formal matters, respecting which there are
no disputes, be taken by affidavits, sworn before
duly authorised commissioners, in like manner as
that now adopted in Chancery proceedings, leaving it
optional with the Examiners, if they thought proper
so to do, and if it was required by either
party, to demand that such witnesses should
attend in proprid person 4. By this means, to
which we can perceive no reasonable grounds
of objection, vast expenses would be saved.
Why should there not be a fixed table of fees, whether •
of counsel, solicitors, or Parliamentary agents, by
which the amount should be regulated, and a proper
mode of taxation adopted ? The fees of the Houses
should also be materially reduced, and we doubt not
that by a judicious reform the expenses of obtaining
private Bills may be reduced to a mere fraction of
what they at present amount to.

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