The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-29 00:00:00

Ant

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1847,

ness.

employed as the fly-wheel of an argument, are
nothing less than vulgar abuse. They are anything
but logical, and certainly can never be classed among
the recognised graces of rhetoric. It must first be
proved' that fox-hunting necessarily brutalizes the
disposition and clouds the understanding before a
fox-hunting justice can be regarded by any sensible
thinker as implying the moral and mental de-
gradation of the individual so designated. But
we have not the patience—we candidly ac•
-
knowledge it—we have not the patience to weigh
the eccentric epithets uttered in Parliament

or elsewhere, when a principle like that of the

Juvenile Offenders' Bill is at stake. When Sir
EARDLEY WILMOT, as far back as 1840, introduced a

measure of a nearly precisely similar character,

when, moreover, Sir JOHN (now Lord) CAMPBELL,
the then Attorney-General, declared that the prin-
ciple of that measure was wholly unobjectionable—
that principle being "that a child charged with felony
should not be compelled to hold up his hand, and be

arraigned at the bar as a common felon !"—it is surely

monstrous, it is surely absurd and indelicate

to object to the second reading of Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON'S Bill in 1847, because that prin-
ciple would thereby be carried into effect, because
these wretched children will be saved from the chance

of being arraigned at the bar as common felons, be.

cause they might by possibility become the victims

of a FOX-MUNTING JUSTICE! A young Member of
the House of Commons will know henceforth the

readiest means of becoming a statesman. Let him

study a certain chapter in BUFFON, and commit to

memory the five acts of Volpoxe, and then go
down, well crammed, to the Chapel of St. Stephen
and legislate.

Nothing is more difficult than to get people to re-
sign long-established usages, even after it has been
proved that their continuance is prejudicial to the
public welfare. There is certainly this advantage
derivable from the pertinacious adherence with
which nations cling to ancient habits, that
they are not abandoned without a thorough
investigation into their defects, or without its
being made abundantly clear that those which
it may be proposed to substitute for them are
far superior in every respect. Public prejudices are
not, therefore, to be contemned, seeing that they
are frequently preventive of rash and precipitate
changes. Still it is singular to consider the length
of time we have refrained from altering our system of
coinage in favour of the decimal principle. Had
the question been more prominently brought under
the notice of the public than it has, this alteration
would have been long since adopted. Two and twenty
years ago the subject was brought under the considera-
tion of Parliament; a Commission was appointed
on weights and measures in 1842, but beyond the
publication of its " report," nothing was effected. It
recommended, however, inter alia, the pound as the
primary unit, and the coining of a two-shilling piece,
a copper coin, the tenth of the two-shilling piece, and
another the tenth of the latter. The night before
last Dr. Bowinaci moved, in the House of Commons,
that the adoption of a decimal system of coinage cur-
rency and account would be a great public conve-
nience. The Chancellor of the Exchequer freely ad-
mitted the advantages of the system urged upon his
attention by the Hon. Member for Bolton; but, in
deference to the prejudices which he considered still
prevailed with the community at large in favour of
the ancient coinage of the country, he conceived that
the change should be gradually wrought. With this
view, he had no objection to recommend that a two-
shilling piece should be immediately struck. Upon
this intimation Dr. BowaxaG withdrew his motion.
A. great step has thus been gained in a matter which
is of greater importance in this nation, on account of
the vast range of its trade and commerce, than in the
several States where the decimal system has long
since obtained, and its value been fully appreciated.
We halve no doubt of the public convenience,
which it offers for reckoning money, becoming
speedily recognised by
needful is to familiap-
coini,required fors tihee
jopheonplße.ullTwhiethontheethnienwg
circulating medium on the de-
cimal' tirrinciplehabituad
is;
csoon as he shall have
oonfvedrsant with decimal
been rendered
weights and
the civilised
money, ihe establishment
measures' will naturally follow. In
world thetoinage of England is the :Ingle exce
to the decithal system. In p P ion
France zelgitira n 3
Holland, Naples, Rome, Sicily, Russia, Chinna --
Greece, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, Persia,
&c., the numerical principle of the coinage, and the
is decimal. Conisidering
method of keeping accounts,

Sir JOHN PAKINGTON deserves the encouragement,
and his proceedings demand the commendation of every
right-thinking man in the United Kingdom. His
conduct in introducing a measure for the speedier
conviction and more effectual reformation of juvenile
offenders is befitting the liberal and generous system
of legislation which has been latterly adopted by
Parliament. We are not less amazed than we are
grieved and indignant at the vexatious opposition
raised against this humane and most rational Bill
yesterday evening. We stigmatise this opposition,
advisedly, as vexatious. With all possible respect
for the convictions of those Honourable Gentlemen
who endeavoured to prevent the second reading, we
cannot but regard their conduct with sorrow and
suspicion. We would allude, however, less to these
vexatious oppositionists than to the arguments raised
against the proposal of Sir JOHN PAKINGTON by Mr.
ROEBUCK, and we would allude to these in a manner
very far removed from acerbity. However conge-
nial might be the indulgence of an acrimonious dis-
position in regard to the language uttered by the
Hon. and Learned Gentleman the Member for Bath
in reference to the provincial magistracy, we are in
no way disposed to consider the justice of his obser-
vations otherwise than with the most unruffled calra-
Mr. ROEBUCK objects to the summary
conviction and incarceration of juvenile reprobates,
because the jurisdiction might fall into the bands
of a fox-hunting justice ! Has the Honourable and
Learned Gentleman been recently perusing the carica-
tures in "Tom Jones" and "Barnaby Rudge ?" We
can only attribute this excessive horror against fox-
hunting justices to the fact of the Representative of
Bath having been inoculated with the sarcasms of
FIELDING and DICKENS. It cannot be supposed for
an instant that we are influenced by any sympathy
whatever with the "great unpaid; " we are familiar
enough with the ignorance, the immorality, and the
want of all legal information which may be discerned
among the gentlemen who adjudicate upon
local offences in the provinces. We know
perfectly well that the magistracy is by no means
immaculate, by no means remarkable for frugality,
by no means untainted by the vices and immoralities
fashionable in what is called civilised life ; but what
we are compelled to object to in the speech of Mr.
ROEBUCK, is the sweeping manner in which he
stigmatises an entire class. For, notwithstanding
his subsequent repudiation of such an intention, it
is evident, from the words articulated by the Mem-
ber for Bath, that the whole tribe of country magis-
trates were implied in his original observations.
Although we possess but little sympathy with
many of the local justices individually, we regard
them nevertheless, as a body, with some little respect.
A " fox-hunting justice" is a fine cant expression of
scorn; when employed in personal vituperations
upon the magistracy, it has been known to be
most effective. But the phrase is by no means
the core of a self-evident proposition : it is
by no means the symbol of any recognised ,
principle either in mathematics, or trigonometry, or
natural history, or jurisprudence. The words, when