The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The French Ministerial papers of Monday, in
continuing their accounts of the Royal progress
of Louis Philippe in the western departments,
announce an excess of enthusiasm, and a degree
of loyal satisfaction, which may or may not be
exaggerated in their columns ; and which, if
truly depicted by the journalists, may or may not
be pretended on the part of the people, the Na-
tional Guards, and the local authorities. Into
the discussion of newspaper exaggeration or of
popular hypocrisy we cannot at present enter.
We shall only remark, that as every department,
—nay, almost every arrondissement,—has its
own journal, published at its chef lieu, and as a
fair proportion of these journals are in opposi-
tion, any notorious exaggeration in the official
or demi-official papers of the capital would be
sure to meet with a keen provincial antagonist.
The great body of newspaper readers in France,
or the great encouragers of factious discussions,
are the Carlists and the Republicans, and both
are so opposed to the policy of the Cabinet, or to
the popularity of the Court, that nothing could
escape them which could degrade or injure either.
But there is one thing which neither the Moniteur
at Paris, nor the provincial journals in the de-
partments, can falsify or invent—we mean the
speeches of the authorities, civil and military—
of the chiefs of the National Guard, of the
Mayors and Prefects, of the tribunals of justice,
and the Chambers of Commerce—addressed to
Louis Philippe, and his Majesty's replies.
These are, at least, authentic, though they
may not be true ; and they speak a language
which, making every allowance or abatement for
complimentary flattery on the one hand, or
grateful illusion on the other, let us into the
most important secret of the improving pros-
perity and growing industry of France, and
particularly of the western departments. The
authorities in some places seem to have been
very frank with their new-made instrument of
royalty, and his Majesty appears to have been
equally frank with them. Thus, at Lisieux,
the King was reminded of his promises at
the revolution of 1830, and a hope was ex-
pressed that he would never allow the flattery
of his courtiers to overpower his engagements
to his people. His Majesty replied, that the
people had their flatterers as well as princes,
" flatterers who overpowered the truth by
intimidation, or perverted it by calumny." The
speech and the reply show at least that the in-
tercourse of the citizen King with his western
subjects has not always been marked by a rival-
ship in fulsome compliments. But there is one
fact in which they all agree—that the country is
flourishing—that the laws are strictly executed—
that industry is encouraged—that trade has re-
sumed more than its wonted activity, and that
general prosperity prevails. Thus the Mayor
of Cherbourg having reminded the King that on
his accession to the throne he had asked some
favours for his town, the King replied that he
(Louis Philippe) had only accepted the crown
to save the State from civil troubles and external
war, and added that the nation now reaped the
fruits of this determination. " France," he
said, " was now prospering in a state of free-
dom—her public credit had been restored—her
commerce had resumed its wonted activity.
She could now under the shade of peace-develop
all her resources, and the only thing to be
guarded against was, that this prosperous career
should suffer no interruption.' On the sth inst.
his Majesty left Cherbourg for Caen, where he
arrived on the 6th, and where he met with the
same reception as at Cherbourg, being addressed
in a similar style on the state and prospects of the
country, and echoing in a similar manner his con-
viction of its growing prosperity. The first
President of the Royal Court tells the King,
" that they had seen credit reviving and in-
creasing, commerce and industry extending with
astonishing and almost unexampled rapidity,
while the public force insured external peace."
His Majesty replied, " A growing prosperity is
everywhere seen, public credit is revived, our
commerce is restored to its wonted activity, our
workmen have everywhere employment, the
French name is respected abroad, and public
order is secured at home." The President of
the Tribunal of Trade at Bayeux uses the fol-
lowing language, as applicable to the part of the
country with which he is connected :—" Sire,—
Here, as elsewhere, commerce is in a growing
state of prosperity, and our city is not behind
the rest of the kingdom in its progress." In
the course of his speech the President alludes to
the alliance of France and England as "an al-
liance with a great people, who first founded the
freedom of commerce, and are the powerful
auxiliary of civilization." To this speech his
Majesty answers--.' You are right in appreciating
as you do the good understanding so happily
established between France and England, as
much for the commercial interests of the two
countries as for the general peace of Europe.
It is thus that we have been enabled to establish
public credit, to restore trade to its former acti-
vity, and to assure our internal prosperity, at the
same time that we maintain respect for the
French name abroad." If it were necessary, we
might quote many similar passages from the
addresses of the authorities, and the answers of
his Majesty, accompanied with some statistical
evidence of their truth from the provincial pa-
pers, but the foregoing extracts may appear quite
sufficient for our object. In remarking upon
this state of things, we need not remind our
readers that we have never been the eulogists or
apologists of Louis Philippe, and that, on the
contrary, we have been compelled to denounce
several of the measures of his Government (par-
ticularly the persecutions of the press and the
placing of Paris in a state of siege, after the
insurrection of June, 1832, had been over-
powered) with almost as much warmth and in-
dignation as the most outraged of his own sub-
jects ; but we are, nevertheless, very willing to
allow that his policy in general has been singu-
larly useful to France, and that by it the coin-
meicial disasters al.d the shock to indus-
trious habits, which follow every poli-
tical convulsion, have been speedily re-
paired or compensated. Perhaps no revolu-
tion in the Government of a great peo-
ple was ever attended with less. bloodshed, or
provoked less reaction, than that of July, 1830.
Nobody has, in the course of the three years
which have since elapsed, perished on the scaf-
fold for his political opinions ; and no act of
banishment or confiscation has taken place. The
laws, with the exception of the libel law, have
been exercised with a lenity hitherto unknown,
even in ordinary times, and no scrutiny has been
made into the private habits or opinions of any
political sectarian. By the severe repression of"
tumultuous meetings, confidence in the stability
of order has been restored ; and by the expressed
determination of the Government to support a
pacific policy abroad, all fear of an immediate
external war has been removed. The conse-
quence has been seen in the revival of public
credit to an extent which has raised the national

securities above par, and in the restoration of •
the activity of private trade and industry. Capi-
talists have been relieved from that anxiety and
terror which induced them to shut their coffers
against the borrower, and are now prepared to offer
their stores to promote enterprises of public or
private utility. The Chambers have liberally
granted the large sum of 4,000,0001. sterling to
promote the execution of works of national
usefulness, or the completion of public monu-
ments already begun ; and we believe that at no
period, for several years past, have improve-
ments of all kinds more occupied the invention
and industry of the manufacturing population.
Whether the pacific policy under which these
blessings are enjoyed proceed from the fears or
the humanity of Louis Philippe, the result has
been equally advantageous to the French nation.
The consolidation of its institutions in tranquil-
lity, the amendment of its laws, the extension
of its commerce, and the diffusion of education,
are of more value to France than the conquest
of the Belgic provinces, or the conversion of
the half of Europe to republican doctrines. It
is still the interest of the French Government,
as well as of the French people, to maintain
the same pacific relations with other States, and
to cherish the same regard to internal order and
industry ; and let not the despotic conspirators
of Toplitz, who pretend to be the enemies of
anarchy, think that they can gain anything by
crossing the path of a mighty people in such an
inoffensive and laudable course Times.

The Provincial Journals, of the last fortnight,
abound with able commentaries on the " Par-
liamentary Boroughs Incorporation Bill," which
is received with great favour. Indeed it could
not be otherwise ; because most of the popular,
unincorporated, and heretofore unrepresented
large towns, have been not only wholly without mu-
nicipal government, but all of them bereft of even
the semblance of municipal constitutions. The
Ministerial measure is, therefore, hailed as a
great popular gain. The Provincial Press are,
therefore, alive to the value of the essential
principles of municipal organization, but adven-
ture much free and independent commentary on
some of the defective points of the Bill. All
of them, without exception, remonstrate against
the election of Aldermen for life. They justly
argue, that it is the very worst feature of the
existing corporate system—that it is destructive
of the principle of responsibility, and offers a
premium for malversation and abuse of trust.
We shall hereafter give some extracts from the
country newspapers, which point out many local
inconveniences in the measure, and demonstrate
many additional advantages that might be at-
tained by various alterations of and additions to
the Bill. Some veto is also universally claimed
in the respect of the Crown appointment of the
Recorders, and the reasons for which are unan-
swerable. Self-government is the great paramount
principle of a municipal constitution. If English-
men cannot now govern themselves, in provin-
cial legislation and executive control, no Go-
vernment can be effective ; and the people will
evidently submit to no system of police, inde-
pendent of themselves. The old principle of
bail for security of life and local property was
admirably adapted for an advanced state of so-
ciety, and we cannot politically retrograde in the
present times. The country municipal system
must also be revised. The country will not much
longer submit to the aristocratic imposition of
enormous rates arbitrarily levied and irresponsi-
bly expended ; and the days are drawing to a
close when flocks of Clerical and Tory Magis-
trates, nominated by Tory Lord Lieutenants,
can job with impunity in roads and bridges,
and sit in secret conclave over the municipal go:
vernment of populous and wealthy counties.
The Tories have had their day; the " fulness of
their time" is come, and they will make some
small atonement for their past misrule and local
tyranny by giving up the ghost with a good grace.
The wedge driven in by the past session of Par-
liament in the approaching aperient and punish-
ment of close Corporations, will regenerate the
public mind of this great nation, and will lead
to the rapid formation of new public character.
Brighter lights appear above the political horizon,
and we congratulate the consistent and perse-
vering friends of liberal principles on the aspect
of the times !—Morning Chronicle.

In another column will be found a Circular
from the Horse Guards, professing to discou-
rage the use of corporal punishments in the
army : we say professing, because we are fearful
that its effects will be the reverse of discourage-
ment. Those who remember the discussions
which took place on this subject during the last
session of Parliament, and the admissions con-
ceded by some of his Majesty's Ministers in
the course of debate, will regret that the cause
was not permitted to remain as it stood, dis-
countenanced by the House of Commons and
the Ministry (though not so distinctly by the
latter as could be wished), rather than made
the subject of such a document as the Circular
to which we allude. There was a general feel-
ing, as the question stood before, that Govern-
ment was anxious to put down flogging, though
it did not take the most direct course for that
purpose—the omission of the clause in the
' Mutiny Act by which it is authorised. The
consequence of such a feeling would be to
make commanding officers cautious or using
the lash for fear of incurring the displeasure
of the ruling Powers. But now that the
Circular has enumerated certain heads of
offence in which that brutal punishment
may be resorted to with the express sanction
of Government, the motive to caution is taken
away by the explicit declaration that in some,
and those not a few, cases, flogging may still be
inflicted upon the backs of British soldiers.
We do not impute to the Government or to the
authorities at the Horse Guards an intention of
promoting the increase of corporal punishments
by this notification, but such we fear will be the
result, for the martinets of the army will put their
own interpretation on the document which, taken
in one sense gives countenance to an obnoxious
law denounced by public opinion. The wording
of the ci cular is also objectionable, for its vague
and indefinite import. After enumerating the
different heads of offence to which corporal
punishment may be applied, it concludes with
the words "or other disgraceful conduct." Now
if this be not calculated to afford a wide latitude
of construction, sufficient to embrace almost any,
class of offence, according to the inclination of
the tribunal, we know not what construction
means. The fact, we apprehend, will prove that,
with a fate not unusual in the history of halt
measures, more mischief will be done by the
paltry attempt of the Horse Guards, than if mat-
ters had been permitted to rest in their former
position, undisturbed by any meddling, until the
clause could be repealed, or the Ministry could
undertake to pledge itself to such a measure.
Morning Herald.

The moor proprietors and tenantry of Nor-
thumberland are about to form an association for the sup.
pression of poaching,

OLD BAILEY, SEPT. 11.

THE SENTENCES.

Shortly after two o'clock the RECORDER, accom-
panied by Mr. Alderman WINCHESTER, the Sheriffs,
and other corporate officers, entered the Court to
pronounce sentence upon the prisoners convicted
during the present Sessions who had not already
been sentenced. _ _ .

The RECORDER, after a most impressive and feel-
ing address, passed the awful sentence of death upon
the following prisoners:—
Henry Perry, James Harris, Robert Wright, John
Reynolds, and Joseph Steadwell, for robberies from
the person ; William Field and George Treagle, for
cutting and maiming ; Daniel Clarke, Edmond
Pickard, John Williams, John Willis alias Hutton,
Thomas Johnson, and William Tilbury, for house-
breaking ; Lewis King, for stealing and embezzling
a letter intrusted to him while in the employ of the
General Post-office; George Russell, for burglary;
and Charles Reynolds, for maliciously shooting with
intent to do some grievous bodily harm.
TO BE TRANSPORT ED FOR LlFE.—William Strauss,
Elizabeth Wrattan, William Haydon, Henry Cole,
Caroline Ann Buckman, Charles Shephard, James
Taylor, and David Dundas.
On being asked in the usual form what the priso-
ners had to say why sentence should not be pro-
nounced according to law,
The prisoner Dundas, who stood convicted of
forgery, said that he begged the indulgence of the
Court for a few moments while he stated a most
material injury he had sustained at his trial. In
the first place, he had to complain that Mr. Adol-
phus having accepted a brief to defend him, had not
attended and gone on with his case; and lastly,
has had to complain that the principal witness
against him had committed gross and corrupt perjury,
as he could prove by comparing the testimony he
had given before the committing magistrate with
that which he deposed to on his trial.
TKE RECORDER explained to the prisoner that
the Court could not now interfere with the verdict
pronounced by the jury who had tried the case,
and could only entertain matters of law, such as a
legal objection to the conviction on the record.
The prisoner said he had nothing to offer in those
respects.
The RECORDER said that if the matters com-
plained of by the prisoner should be found deserv-
ing of further mature consideration, the course to be
pursued vt as by an application to the Secretary of
State for the Home Department. The Learned
Judge then pronounced the sentence of transporta-
tion for life in the usual form.

It is worthy of remark that the prisoner Eliza-
beth Wrattan, who, it will be remembered, was the
female who assumed insanity when arraigned on a
charge of forgery, was amongst the above-named
prisoners; and though there was a degree of vacancy
in the eye and wildness in the manner, she pre-
sented generally a far different appearance and de-
meanour to that she had manifested during the in-
vestigation as to her state of mind, and her subse-
quent trial.
To BE TRANSPORTED FOR 14 YEARS.—John
Bergin, Ralph Benjamin, George Johnson, William
Wythe, William Cleary, Stephen Markwell, George
Webb, Lewis Thomas, Thomas Goddard, Olympia
Edwards, Sarah Jones, James Hughes, Rchard
Herring, William Jewell, John Rees, John Patten,
Joseph Leyland, Mary Thompson, Sarah James,
James Seymour, John Langley Crowley, and William
Smith.

The remaining prisoners were disposed of as
follows :-45 were sentenced to transportation for
seven years, and 53 to various periods of impri-
sonment, differing from two years to ten days. One
juvenile offender was ordered to privately whipped.
THE LATE FATAL FlGHT.—Thomas Ready was
placed at the bar for judgment, convicted of man-
slaughter, arising from the pugilistic encounter at
Whetstone.

The RECORDER, addressing the prisoner, said
that he stood convicted of the offence of man-
slaughter; and in the sentence about to be pro-
nounced, the Court had given the fullest considera-
tion to the conduct of the prisoner had pursued
when assisting in the illegal transaction which had
terminated in the death of a fellow-creature. The
Court had found that the conduct of the prisoner
had not been marked with those circumstances of
aggravation which attached to many men who had
assembled on the occasion in question. The Court
hoped this would be a sufficient warning to the
prisoner not to engage in affrays in which he had
now found he could not control the tnisconduct of
others; coupled with this, the Court further enter-
tained a hope that the prisoner would never again be
engaged in a similar transaction. It was tinder all
these circumstances that the Court was induced to
pass a lenient sentence, arid that sentence was, that
the prisoner be imprisoned in the House of Cor-
rection for two calendar months, but without hard
labour.
The prisoner bowed respectfully and retired.
The sentence on Susannah Lee, whose case was
reported in the Times of Saturday last, was deferred
until next session, in order that she might be given
up to her friends on a proper application.
The Court then adjourned to Thursday, the 17th
of October next.