The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, gATURDAY,-V.EBRUARY 20, 1841.

and the acquittal according to the rules of evi-
dence, what opinion must we form of them?
The whole executive power is founded on the
idea of giving active protection to the members
of the community, who in return promise it obe-
dience. It establishes Courts and subjects the
community to considerable expense to obtain
that end. Its especial business is to uphold and
vindicate the law. In this pursuit it spares no
expense, and is regardless of life. It had, in this
case, made great preparations to vindicate the
law against a man of high rank. An unusual Court
was established—great expense was incurred—for
nearly a month public attention had been fixed
on the proceedings—even the business of one
branch of the Legislature was suspended, and the
result was, while the offence was admitted, that
the offender was acquitted. Guilt was proclaimed
in the presence of the executive, and the rules
laid down for the guidance of the Court com-
pelled it to pronounce the guilty free. We can
come to no other conclusion on such a result than
that the rules of law and evidence which brought
it about are absurd, and quite unfit to be the
guides of conduct.
Some of out Contemporaries, however, prefer
these technicalities to substantial justice, and
would have a man acquitted or condemned, not
because he has or has not committed an offence,
but because his Christian name might not be cor-
rectly known. Unless these technicalities be ri-
gidly observed, we are taught to believe that
justice cannot be administered.
" Englishmen, instead of being protected by the law,"
says the Herald, " tried ‘by the administrators of the law—
convicted or acquitted according to law—would hold their
lives and liberties at the arbitrary caprice of lawless tribu-
nals—bound by no fixed principles—submitting to no uni-
versal rules of justice, but delivering their own crude and
inconsiderate dicta, mixed up with the passions, the prc-
judiees, the hasty feelings of the occasion. Anarchical
confusion would succeed to legal order and method. The
voice of pura, firm, impartial, considerate, arid passionless
justice would no more be heard- in the halls where its
throne has long stood amid all orders and authorities of the
monarchy, commanding; unassailable, and supreme."
This is fine writing; but the laws so much
boasted of are gross absurdities, which lead gen-
tlemen to say " Not guilty, upon my honour,"
when the guilt of shooting at another man, and
wounding him, is clearly proved ; and which
lead those whose duty and pride it is to vindicate
the law, to be parties to its violation. " Passion-
less justice " are fine words, but they mean in the
above sentence the fictions and rules laid down
by very passionate men, and very often laid down
to serve a bad purpose. To dignify the absurd.
technicalities which lead to the acquittal of a
SHEEN and a CARDIGAN as passionless justice, is
to degrade one of the noblest attributes of na-
ture. Justice we understand to be what GOD or
Nature commands ; the passionless justice of the
Herald is a mixture of antique iniquity and
modern falsehood, Condemned by all experience.
It is a mistake, we believe, to suppose that such
rules keep Judges honest, and ensure the due
administration of justice. Those who make these i
rules can always twist them to their purposes,
and the only guarantee we have of their honesty,
is that publicity which some Judges are ever
anxious to get rid of.
Though we admit that the Court of the LORD
HIGH STEWARD followed with great readiness
the ordinary rules of Criminal Courts, as they
happened to accord with its inclination, we must
not be understood as praising the consti-
tution of that Court. Suppose a Peer must be
tried by his Peers, why cannot a few of them be
selected by ballot, to constitute a Jury to try
him. In ancient times that was the practice.
Why must a Peer be tried by the whole body of
the Peerage ? Are these men of honour so afraid
that they will not trust a few ? Do they dread a
phcked Court? Such an apprehension, Black-
stone says, was the origin of the practice of sum-
moning all the Peers, which puts into our hands
the Peers' measure of the honesty of the Peer-
tt.;;e. They sought protection from the vices of
individuals by appealing to the whole body.
They fled to universal suffrage as their best pro-
tection, but whenever the people appeal to the
SAMC principle, they are sternly repelled, and
Old to rely on that principle on which the Peers,
when their own lives or property are at stake,
will not rely—the verdict of a select few.
Again, this multitudinous Court dispenses with
an bath. Why?_ It feed. and knows that the ob-
ligation to speak truth and act justly, is just
as great whether it be enforced by an oath
or not. An appeal to GOD does not in the case
of a Peer enhance the obligation. But the Peers,
setting such a just value on an oath in their own
case, impose oaths on other people as the only
security for truth telling. They trust themselves
and trust no other men. We are not aware of
any reason why the declaratiOn of any other man
on his honour or on his word should not be held
as valid as the declaration of a Peer; and as the
Gospel commands men -to swear not all, they may
think it right to follow the example of the Peers
in preference to obeying their commands, and
object to take oaths that they will do right or
tell the truth.
This multitudinous Court differs from all the
other Courts of the kingdom. It is established
for re special occasion—they are always in exist-
ence. It is constituted io try one of its own
members, and must come prejudiced to the in-
vestigation. They have not, except on rare oc-
casions, a special mission, but try causes in the
ordinary run of their every day business. It is
very numerous—they consist of a few persons,
and in several cases of a single Judge. It deli-
vers its opinions on its honour; other Courts are
bound by stringent oaths. But totally opposite
ae these institutions are, we shall be told by our
l 7 Contemporaries, in defiance of reason, that
they styp adapted to produce the same effects;
that both nre perfection, and make Great Britain
the admiration of tito worlds The Radicals can-
not stomach spch revolting ineoniistencies, and
while they admit the general good character of
our ordinary tribunals, they assert that no better
means can be devised to protect a criminal than
to subject Mil) to a special Court of his own fel-
lows, appointed iota t,liQ ppcgsion, and dissolved
the moment its work is done. `iota 040 of the
Earl of CARDIGAN has, in 'fact, revealed to the
public many of the existing absurdities of our
system, and will WWI Other its reform or its
destruction.

The more we report the proceedings of the
Court of Commissioners of Sewers the greater
necessity do we see for a special observance of
their doings present ftn4 past. In our Jour-
nal of this day will:be_ found a ItePOPt tguchjtig
transactions which occurred so far back as 1808
arid 1832. It would appear that the Commis-
sioners of the " good old times" could as readily
whitewash a dirty- job as some of their worthy
successors can attempt re rntlip Ote. worse ap-
pear the better cause. But the public will
naturally ask hoW has such a system been
allowed to evade the light of inquiry so
long '1 We presuut the reason to be that
there were no Member O of Virliament in the
Commission, or if there were, that they did
not like to soil their gloves by stirring in such
muddy waters. Private interest and public benefit
seem to have been convertible terms in those ir-
responsible times ; 4114 as the practice worked
well then, people of the .present day gird up and
exclaim, " why not let well alone ?" Be it so, if'
the householders of this vast metropolis are con-
tent to submit to an illegal drain on their pockets,
in addition to all ()they rates which they are com-
pelled to pay. If we rightly comptchend the ex.
tent of the powers. vested in these Commissioners
of Sewers, the sooner such a nuisance is abated
the better.
In fact, the Constitution of the whole Court
ought to be inquired into shn4ltanow§lyi or TR-
ther, before the Bill for a better drainage be pro-
, ceeded with.
-

The Marquis of NORMANDY, after reading the
Report in The Sun of this day, will at once see
the necessity of looking to this subject.

We on Thursday referred to the Danish claim
the elder Messrs. BARING, which has been paid,
and proceed now to contrast their case with that
of poor HAYWOOD, one of the shipping
claimants, whose claims the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER struggles with might and main to
oppose. The British traders to Holstein had
been warned, in the autumn of 1807, not to go
to the ports of that. country. Nevertheless,
many cargoes of colonial produce, amongst which
that in which the Messrs. BARING had an inter.

est, were, under a neutral flag, adventth‘ed to the
port of Tonnigen, and were seized on arrival-by
the Danish atithorities.
The traders to the Baltic, on the other hand,
were at the same period encouraged :to pursue
their voyage to the poits of that sea, both by the
Admiralty at home, and by Admiral Lord'GAM-
BIIM at Copenhagen. Sir HOME POPHAM, Cap-
tain of the Fleet, assured Captain HAvwooD,
that he might proceed up the Baltic in all safety,
as all had been settled. with the Danes, and
that should hostilities again arise, sufficient warn-
ing and protection would be given for the Baltic
trade. But as hasbeen repeatedly, stated, contrary
to all promise, and contrary to the usual practice,
the &kind and Baltic were premattirely deserted
by every British vessel of war, so that poor
HAYWOOD lost his ship and his property, and
was thrown into prison. The MesSrs. BARING
were then, and are now, immensely rich. Poor
Haywoon was, in 1807, a master and owner,
of a vessel, and for his station in life in compara-
tively comfortable circumstances. What has
resulted from the refusal of the Government to
respect his just claims ? Why, within the last
six years, himself and his family have been twice
'driven, by absolute destitution, to take shelter in
a workhouse.! The Messrs. , BARING are rich;
They disregard the warning of the Government.
Their property is seized. .They demand and re-
ceive compensation as a matter of course. HAY-
WOOD is not rich, but he is industrious and enter-
prising. With the Implied sanction of the Go-
vernment lie risks his all, and loses it thrOugh the
fault of that very Government. He, too, de-
mands compensation, and a CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER, a member of that very BARING
family, tells him that he must end his days in the
workhouse I

The House of Commons having, however,
thrice decided in favour of the class to which
HAYWOOD'S claini belongs, one would naturally
expect that opposition, from merely honourable
motives, must cease. Thank God we do not
live in a country where the caprice of an indivi-
dual is paramount to law and justice. The CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER spoke on Tuesday
night of the active canvass carried on by the ad-
vocates of the claims, but he omitted to notice how
pressing his own solicitations were on the occasion.
We can understand how he induces Messrs.
GOULBURN, PEEL, and Co., to join him, though
we cannot conceive by what sort of canvass he
has persuaded others calling themselves Liberals,
who had previously voted for the claims, now, on
this last occasion, to belie their previous voter.

Madrid Papers, of the 10th instant, have
reached us. The Regency, following the prece-
dent of the French. Legislative Assembly, had
issued the following Decree

" I. In conformity with the law of the 6th of November,
1837, the church of San Francisco the Great will serve as a
national pantheon. The mortal 14emains of all Spaniards ce-
lebrated for the virtues, talents, and services they have ren-
dered their country, will be deposited therein.-2. The Histo-
rical Academy will have the charge of that establishment, un-
der the control of the Minister of Interior, and will propose
to the Government the Spaniards worthy of being interred in
the pantheon. The Government will communicate its propo-
sals to the Cortes.-3. In case the present resources be not
sufficient for this object, the Minister of the Interior is autho-
rised to ask for a supplementary credit to tha Cortes.
(Signed) " Duke PE LA VITORIA,
" D. MANOEL CORTINA.
" Madrid, Feb. 7, 1841."

It is much easier for the Regency Ito establish
pantheons than to fill them, if the subjects are to
be chosen from among the worthies of modern
Spain. Not but that we think the bust of the
gallant RIEGO would adorn such an institution
more than that of MIRADEAU, which was the
first to adorn the pantheon of Paris.
But a still more important decree:of the Re-
gency is subjoined, and which is signed in the
Gazette by the Minister of the Interior. The
apology made for issuing it by the Regency is,
that the present system of taxation is imperfect,
and can only be properly remedied by, a know-
ledge of the pecuniary circumstances of indivi-
duals. We believe the truth to be that the Re-
gency contemplates raising a forced loan to meet
the immediate demands upon an empty trea-
sury .
" 1. From the Ist of March next until the 15th, inclusive,
the municipality are directed to demand of all proprietors of
estates, all merchants and manufacturers; an exact account of
their property and their annual revenues, including lands,
houses, flocks, or other property."
The celebrated bandit PELIENGO, who for more
than four year was :Wror of all persons who-
had anything to lose in,,,the,,,,vichilty of Murcia,
was killed on the 4thiusti, A reward. of 20,000
reals (2001.) had been stepeatedly offered for his
head, dead or alive, litit Up to the present month
the arm of justice had been too shdit to reach
him. On the 4th, hoWever, hunger compelled
him to beg a supper of two shepherds in the
mountains. They feigned compliance, and when
they found him off his guard, one of them sud-
denly struck him a heavyblow on the head with
a stone. The other, who was armed with a ras-
ket, fired at and killed him on the spot.
body was 'recognized by the authorities, a ie
reward of this shocking deed was claimed e
shepherds.
The Five per Cents. were done on the 10th at
2SI for cash, and at 29 1-16 at 60 days.

The Paris Journals of Wednesday have all
been received. They contain very little news of
any interest. The Dukes of ORLEANS and NE-
MOURS are busy among the Peers gaining prose-
lytes in favour of the Fortifications Bill. Nor is
the KING idle. It is a family struggle for the
perpetuation of a new dynasty.

Persons 'who affirm that they are well acquainted with the
opinions of the Chamber, pretend that the 200 votes given
yesterday were—

Against the law

For thelaw 93
And that of these 98 votes are comprehended those of two
Princes and the' Ministers. It was said this evening that in
consequence of this result the contractors had been directed to
slacken as much as possible the execution of the works, and
especially not to engage any more workmen. This resolution
would form a strange contrast with the increased activity with
which it was thought fit to push them after the vote of the
Chamber of Deputies.
'I he Journal.of Smyrna discloses a curious fact—
," His Majesty the King of Sweden lately caused an official
note to be written to his Consul-General at. Alexan-
dria desiring him officially to inform Mehemet Ali
that though not a party to the Quadruple A
lii-
pee, the Court of Sweden entirely adhered to the deci-
sions of the Conference at London on the Oriental question;
that it fully approved of the object of them, and means by this
declaration.to give a moral support to the equitable and phi-
lanthropic views of its Allies.
learn trqm a letter dated Bologna, 6th February, that
notwithstanding the pacific turn which the affairs of the East
have taken, in consequence of the submission of Mehemet Ali,
it is observed that the Italian Government continues their ar-
maments in the Roman States. Where there is no conscrip-
tion great exertions are making to enlist volunteers, and many
of the inhabitants of the Legations of 11Ologna and Feriara have
already enlisted in the troops of the Commerce.
WEDNESDAY, Fan. 17.
- f irst 'Ugliest Loweit Last
Price Pnce. Pricy. Price
Fre::eh 5 per Cults ll2 20 ... 112 30 ... 112 15 ... 112 20
434 per Cents lO3 .„ 102 ... 102 102
4 per Cents ll9 90 99 .„
3 per Cents 76 10 76 10 ... 75 90 ... 76
Fa ,k 01 trance
R
L Alai!
Le!gliam Bank "1,0 gas ... ...5145 ...5145
985 ... 885 ... 885
s p Bank
kr
Centss(tot ..
Shares
5155
08% ... 9834 98%
Loan 99% 98% .. 95% ... 93%
Sdanish Active
New Deferred ...a l3 ... 13 13
...
13
Neapolitan • 101 60 ... 101 60 ..101 60 . 'Ol 60
Roman ........................ .
• RAILWAY SHARES.
l
St. Germain ... . . ...... 717 so ,„ 717 50 715 717 50
, ... 435 ...435 435 435
....... •••• zwl 25 ... 326 '25 325 ... 325
Orleans . ... ... 488 75 ... 453 75 481 50 487 50
Strtshurg to Bale 242 50 143 75 ... 242 50 ... 243 75
iouen
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.ViipiNA, Fen 9•
five per Cents. Metalliques • .................h,.....,«.. 1011/6
Fose per Centll• ........... 99f
Threp per .. . ................. 7'34
Baal: shares
_4llgeineine Zeigung. Feb. IC ."
6NLUIAN NU N DS-13auss Ld , FEu. 17.
Actual Debt, }ci per Cent.
Rothschild's Loan, 5 per Cent ...... ..
Loan of Thirty Millions, 4 percent...~
3per Cent.
..... 6834
97%
Loan of City, 1832, 4 per Cent ........ 87%
Society of Conuncrce. 4 Yoper Cent lO2
Bank of Rcliginvo, 5 per Cent...-. ....... . - 1•8 q 1•8q
• National Society .
Exchange on London (shot t)
...Brussels Papers, Feb. 17.

nig DRAINAGII Correspondent re-
minds us that the places most complained of as
Pl7att I;ci.nf
of ourmala ria, disease, and death, are the
otowns.
He
says
that there arc'
few or no buildings now erected which are not
under-drained. The cellars of Liverpool and
Manchester, as well as the buildings of Saffron-
hip ff!d Cable-street; are not of this meratjun.
Alley 4 were 1110.4 ceatuities ago, Closes and
wynds chkto from the ages of feudalism% In fact,
then, what Lord Normanby's Bill is to achieve
is already in a great measure done or in progress.
Poverty has dtiven the people to all kinds of
shifts, and amongst -them to huddle closer to-
gether than is healthful. If the Legislature
will only take its heavy hand from their industry,
they will spring themselves into cleanliness and
fresh air. If there be any doubt of it; let the
parsons teach them the solid advantages of phy-

sisal purity. That will be an infinitely more use-
ful work. than inculcating hatred of rival sects, or
- lecturing on. incomprehensible dogmas. Let the
Commissioners of Sewers, too, do what they have
now got to do well before they are commissioned
to .do More. Half the drains of the metropolis
are .at certain .seasons. most offensive; • why does
not Lord Normanby order the construction of
• what are ealled fitink traps ? or why do not the
Commissioners, those paragons of excellence and
heavy rates, -construct them without orders ? if
-the mimberlessißoards, Commissioners, and Offi-
cials, who are -already. in existence, were to do
their duty, -we fshouht not .want new Boards with
more extensive powers, nor any new laws.
MASTER ,ILUMPHRRY'S CLOCK.-Mr. Beuler,
so well known for his songs and his peculiar
manner of singing them, has just published some
verses under this title, which have been set to
music by Mr. J. Clinton. They possess some of
the characteristics of Mr. Beuler's style, striking
antithesis, natural humour, and the ludicrous use
of words of similar sound with different mean-
ings, but in order to be duly appreciated they
must be heard from the lips of the author him-:
self. He alone can do them justice, and those
therefore who wish to judge of their real merits
ought to take the earliest opportunity of hearing
him recite them in public. No muse has been
more prolific than his, and he disdains no sub-
ject, and seems to rejoice as much in picturing
the beauties of "Sukey Snubs" as in describing
the majesty of King William and the British
'wry. They are
.all written in the language of
humour, but free from expressions likely to give
offence in any society, and contain not the
slightest allusions of an immoral tendency.
Workmen are busily employed in paving
Duncannon-street with wood, in order that
Divine SerVice in St. Martin's church may not
be interrupted by the noise of public vehicles on
a Sunday, and that passengers may not be put
to the inconvenience of going out of their way
by the interference of the police. Why do not
the .parish authorities connected with the two
churches in the Strand adopt the same simple
remedy, and not torment sick and dying people
in the narrow by-streets by the intolerable
rattling of omnibuses and coaches for four hours
every Sunday? If their object really was the
corwenience of the clergymen and hearers, they
would l have -done this long ago, and Itic can,
thererOre' only
.conclude that their object is to
make k'sflow of godliness: It is certainlY, sur-
prising-that the public should submit with such
patience to this arbitrary conduct, and be
stopped or turned back on a thoroughfare by
policemen, as if they • were committing a
trespass. . .