The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-22 00:00:00

FROM TIIE EVENING PAPERS OF SATURDAY.
(From the Globe.)
The Englislh Registration B;11, the debate on the
second readingaief which oceupied a considerable part of
the sitting ofeste House of Commons lest night, is an
indication of good things to come to the Reform cause.
Experience has long -shown that the machinery of the
Reform Bill is inadequate to its purpose. The cum-
brous and complicated nature of its details has impeded
its healthful operation, and impaired its vitality. The
ancient " proprietors. of Parliament" have availed
themselves of its powers to regain the influence it
was enacted to neutralize. They have converted the
Registration Courts it established ;rite arenas of mis-
chief, where the (leeters have been harraesed and an-
noyed, by means of frivelJusi and vexatious objec-
t ens urged it, vast numbers against them, until,
to avoid the aenual journey to the Court and their
attendance at in with the trouLla and expense by
which these were accompanied, inaly have preferred
disfranchisement upon frivolous .objections to the fre-
queLey-recurring inconveniences of attendinp: to produce
their t Ves to the property out of which tip.), chimed,
or, if tenants, to establish their right against parties
woo were employed by political agents to serve hundreds
of notices of objections, in • the expectation that 'a few
would prove successful, either by failure of proof of qua-
lification, or by the parties objected to neglecting to ap-
pear. The various interpretations of the law by the re-
vising barristers was also another source of dissatisfac-
tion and vexation, and contributed large]) to-encourage
tee aeeets of the political parties in the county or bo-
rougti—who regarded only the interests of their em-
ployers, and were paid according to their exertions,
proportion to their success—to mul-
or, possibly, in
tlply objections against those who were known to b.o
adverse to their party. The revising barrister of one
year applied his legal ingenuity to detect errors
in the decision of his predecessor—nay, contra-
dictory decisions by barristers sitting under the
same root et the same tune, and on cases precisely
similar, were of constant occurrence. The complacence
with which this sce-saw mode of deciding cases was
practised would have been amusing to the spectators,
had it not been associated with reflections winch were
neither honourable to the law nor creditable to the
honesty of its practitioners. The annual battle ie the
registration courts has been a struggle for .
tical supremacy, in which the last-thing thought of was
the leeal integrity of the vote. TM: effect upon tic
public mind, from this state of things, was highly in-
furious, esce in a moral point of view. The lesson in-
culcate I by it is, that the end justifies the means ; and
proviced a vote be gained, or a eleini destroyed, the way
in which the object is attained is a matter the least de-
serving of consideration ; the ingenuity of the successful
party, and net the honesty of the claim, or the validity
ot't,ic objection, being the subject of congratulation.
We therefote cordially congratulate the country on
the Bill before Parliament, introduced by Lord John
Russell, for emancipating the Reform Bill from some of
these obstructions to its free and beneficial working.
(From the Standard.)
'lt well becomes this great and highly favoured na-
tion, which has attained to such an eminence in wealth,
in power, and in arts, to take the lead in every im-
provement of,the human race. The pract;ce of duelling,
the last remnant of the Romanist barbarism of the
middle ages, which seems to he obtaining new pre-
valence aat vigour in other countries, as they are
receding from civilization and Christianity, is at least
put upon its trill in England ; and if the press and
those others who have influence upon the pub-
lic mind do their duty, England will have to
add to liar wreath the glory of emancipating our
race from the savage self-imposed slavery of the
code of honour, as she may boast to have set the ex-
ample of dissolving a less hateful and cruel servitude in-
flicted by man upon his brother. It will be seen by a
reference to our Parliamentary report of last night, that
the Earls of Eldon and Mounteashel, and other Peers,
have made the proper use of the recent trial, by de-
manding of the Government some measure, or some
exertion to repress the resort to private combat, and
it will seen also that Lord Melbourne declared that
in his opinion the laws are strong enough to meet
the evil. This is suffic.ent ; when the First Minister
of the Crown, the representative of the executive
power, confesses that -the laws arc strong enough
to repress a crying evil, every hour's permitted
existence of tic evil is his condemnation, for it is his
duty to execute the law. A case has opportunely oc-
curred since Lord Cardigan's trial—will LordMeibourne
make use of the occasion to justify his assertion that the
law is strong enough ? We agree with his Lordship,
that the law is strong enough to drive duelling out
of England ; but a law suffered to sleep by its appointed
administrators, is equivalent to the absence of all law.
'['he question is now settled, that to fight a duel is
to commit a felony : will her Majesty's Ministers con-
nive at the commission of felony, and say tha:, it
is no affair of theirs, but eroperly wiihin the pro-
vince o'lhe inferior magistrate': But such i, not the
case. Robberies and ordinary breaches of the peace
,may be safely lett to the care of the inferior Magis-
trate, because those offences almost always call forward
a complelnaiet; whose importunity will force the
.func-
ticettry to his duty. A duel, however, rarely sup-
plies such a complainant die public 'ltilrifia'l.„sr
jured ; and if the paid servants of the publie do-not
exeit themselves to detect and punish tie itethors of
the injury, nobody (be will.
(From the Courier.)
The Railways Bill went through a second reading c n
Friday the 12th, and was to have been committed oe
Friday, the 26th, but we have good reason to believe
Mr. Labouchere will consent to its being postponed for
a week, to allow all the railway companies ample time
to consider the effect of the clauses by their experience
in working. We know, likewise, that the Committee
appointed at the iliriningliain Conlerence are most
anxiously doing their duty, and arc desirous to ascer-
tain the feelings and opinions of n it the Companies on the
matter. We sincerely trust, therefore, that none of the
Companies will act without previous concert with these
gentlemen. Now 'is the time for the large railway in-
terest to show its strength and extent ; but to do it
effectivel, it must be done by combination and a per
feet understanding. Tee Press and the public have
most unjustly boon condemning these vast undertakings
as monopolies, which most unquestionably they we riot,
and can only practically become sc, by superior accom-
modation and safety, evidence in themselves attainet tare
outcry which has laid the foundation for the present _
Bill—a Bill we have already expressed ourselves upon;
as being the most frivolous and unmeaning piece ei
legislation ever co icocted, and which shows the diffi-
culty of interfircree with the subject at ail.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

(From the Morning Post of Saturday.)
A gloom has hung over the Stock Markets to-day
in consequence, principally, or perhaps entirely, of the gener-
ally unpromising tenour of the news obtained by the Liverpool
packet-ship South America, from New York,, or we are not
aware of there having been anything else to affect them. The
United States Bank at Philadelphia had continued making its
payments in specie, which is at all events a circumstance that
must be satisfactory to our capitalists. But, on the other hand,
the ruffianism on the part of the American rabble, as exhibited
towards Mr. M'Leod, has.,been such as to diminish, for the
moment, the hope that had been entertained of an amicable re-
sult to the pending negotiations regarding that gentleman be-
tween Mr. Fox and Ms. Forsyth. The fall which had once
snore taken place in the value of the United States Bank shares,
the later sales reported of such property for time being as low as
48/ dollars the share of 100 dollars, seems an untoward event
for the holders, and, in fact, for the trading interests also. of
both countries, as indicative of a really worse state of affairs
than any of the published statements would appear to justify
the belief in. It is, however, to be borne. in ►wind that tehfe re-
stitution has been exposed to the incessant attacks e h
newspaper press of the two communities now foerssout yearsevery
assailantspnaeswt,eaoseidrttintaitatbleittneerntietsespofireitesterswithdifficul-
the
lo emerge
erf
he management of
ties in winch they 'have been invofavrc
`from faultless. This no
i s eminently
destructive - lfatte.l:i v:dit:eitiorri.en:
the United states Bank has been t increases
g
ill
itai,stoittieli
s.tto\o‘ol.t:hrne
hiain)l3t.,,oibigle.el
inesv timidls:
Lartless vilification of it from
illie proceeding against which the
oneyearpsr pretends dst 0 toye
adte.,sat ye,
end
dat
c i 5., should set their faces as one that
1. trading
that has been raised about this
of commerce. The clamour- ii i the nerves f
deductions from its' bill 't
stock assets have been devotedheidei.s efit bank
,liiiitasr,aset :latst,hevaiei
ja,pridibiti
atshaesfeli
r(ieadnudet7ozonhaab.,
bare
baava:
prejudice the
Sales have, therefore
~ been authorised
bank in th" eStV lc and in London at
i at New °I
both .
out to he very far below the actual value of •
Inaagtrust, tai'" ((with tle
dee ~..iteprracee,ii:t;aiait,e.
vestment.
...----

WOOLWICH, FEB. 19.—inteiligence reached
Woolwich on Thursday of the death of Brigadier•Geneml
Edward Thomas Mitchell, of the Royal Artillery, on the
05th January, of fetter, brJught on by reniatining too long
in wet clothes at Damascus. This gallant officer entered
toe serv.c •as Second-1 eutenant Scpteml.er S, 1803, end
was promoted to be firat-1 cotenant on the 13th of the same
month. He was appointed rapt in Sept..rrnber 5, 1811 :
brevet major March 17, 1814; brevet licutet air-colonel
July 22, 1830 ; 'regimeltal colonel June 11, 1638 ;
brigadie•-general, en a particul r rcrvim, October 30,
IS4O. In 1840, he was dt tached frAn Gii r..ltar ald com-
manded a guerilla division in ti e Sierra ce Ronda, and
seas t resent at the capture of Ronda, and Vlo comlats cif
Et. Brusque and of Bornoi, and the attack and
capture of Arco?. lie commanded the att'lliesry2.,
and
force occupying Tarifa, in 1810, 1811,
e L'itetlre
the Moulder, and, net-
ecnagaagi evdiciittl:l,llAtihecaLff,dai rnsdani‘dic,?ripricarastiidtroisan'ailidt
;Taattifti.,
of Baros,sa he wan sht thfrof,e
wound,
he was present at
vtiqiitandiPg the :eve. ity
ti'.gainst Marshal Victor. In
the final ethr.ce
of
The satist-tult and ca Aure of the forts
1812, he was pre
the ant
aSt.atlarnanca, the combat of Casticjon
a•nd., as. rcast letflie.out-postt'. S: rued in die Neilier-
anu many a..—c•l of - •
er 1
of 381
elr3x, e Atlhaey, , 1814,Nestti,
investment
td
andw-as
bporme
the ragiit attack on er-
and, ••
Zoom; conducted one of the columns and was se:-
en-op-
Isbaeannr dtd
na fter
not
the
0 eDf a eApetteiutmtcrebc
ve ely wounded on. this occasion in severA .place. In
8:;8, be went to !t,priit, and was appointed commander of
the Roy,l Artillery, serving there until the end cf 1840,
when he procectleti to Syria on particular service with the
rack cf Btigaiiet-General, and commander of the howl
Artillery engaged in the late successful contests in twat
quarter.
Brigatii4t-Gi-ner;4l M'tchell was universally be-
I:;ved by his brother officer:

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