The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-20 00:00:00

7th inst..—

" On the 13th inst. the Spanish sloop Perla, cruising off
the coast of Biscay, captured fire of the insurgents' barks, and
took on board 100 prisoners. The Biscayan insurgents were
expected to arrive on the coast on the 13th or 14th. Rodil,
who is pursuit of them, Was to arrive there o the 16th

after having completely victualled himself at Bergara. Don
Carlos is said to be at Guernica, where he has sworn to main-
tain the privileges of Biscay."

It is hardly possible to conceive how a country so
enlightened as England, so rich in institutions which
have preserved the most valued rights and privileges of
the people, amid all the horrors of civil war and revo-
lution, should be without a code of known and recog-
nized laws for the punishment of the most ordinary
offences against society. That a country so proud
of her liberties, her intelligence, and her wealth,
should be as destitute of a fixed criminal code,
from which her people might learn the penalty of
transgression, as Indian hordes of the records of
their ancestry, is a fact so surprising, that were it not
so familiar to us, we should start at the relation of such
an unparalleled anomaly. And yet here we are—the
pride of the universe, if we may credit ourselves—the
wisest, the bravest, and the best people that ever
existed—the nurses of Freedom, who rocked the
cradle, and guarded the wanderings of the youthful god-
dess from puling infancy till she had grown to maturity,
ail expanded her wings over other climes—unequalled
inthe excellence of our constitution—unparalleled in the
simplicity, purity and truth of our religion—unsur-
passed in industry, enterprise and mechanical skill—
unrivalled by land, and unmatched by sea,—here we
are—the subjects of these and a thousand other equally
mcdest boasts, trusting to oral traditions and unautho-
rized precedents for the infliction of punishment on a
colvicted felon The rogue may be hanged, trans-
ported for life, or a number of years, imprisoned,
or whatever else the Judge pleases, provided the com-
mon law decisions have established a precedent. Thus
the lives of all offenders, where the contrary is not
provided against by the statutes, are entirely at the
mercy of the Judges, who, if blessed with a good
appetite, and a happy digestion, may sentence them
to imprisonment ; but, if afflicted with morbid feel-
ings, and a want of temper, may consign them to the
gallows.

We have been led to make these remarks, the prelude
to many others, by casting our eyes over the First Report
of the Commissioners for preparing a digest of the
Criminal Law, 'which is now before us. The Com-
missioners have but begun their labours, and in this
report have only been able to offer a preliminary digest
of the statute and common law " relative to the of-
fences and punishments of homicide, theft, robbery,
burglary, housebreaking, and forgery," no trifling list
truly, though far from including one half the offences
to which persons and property may be made obnoxious.
The Report is a careful selection of the statute and
common law on the subject of these transgressions,
with totes, in which the conflicting opinions, and
precedents of judges, form a curious comment
on the wisdom of our ancestors. Where • the
common law became notoriously inefficient in con-
sequence of the changes every day taking place in

_
our social. relations, and the various new divisions
which have arisen in the tenure of property, Par-
liament interfered just so far as to leave the abuses of
the whole system a thousand times more obvious than
they were before. The interference was humane, and
most desirable as far as it went ; but the con-
trast between the common and statute laws, rela-
tive to the same class of offences, was thereby
left so marked, and the discrepancy in the
punishments, where there was none in the crimes,
so great, that the report presents a mass of the
most glaring absurdities, the most gross instances
of iniquitous judgments ever placed on human
record. Common law is in fact a bundle of
old sayings, by which an enlightened community
would not leave the lives of their dogs to be judged.
But why call it law ? There can be no law without
a penalty ; and here the penalty is never known
before the commission of the crime, nor even then
till judgment is pronounced. Some quibble may be
discovered favourable to the prisoner, and though he
may have committed murder, he stands a good chance
of being again turned loose on tile community.
But even this is not the worst feature in this.
Punishments are devised and inflicted, rather to deter
from crime by a wholesome fear, than to avenge justice
on delinquency ; and, therefore, whatever favours the
escape of one criminal, will be always looked upon as
affording an equally favourable chance to all future
ones. Besides, there is hereby a precedent established,
which offers immunity to the ingenious villain, whereby
men are taught to believe, that; after the ex-
ample of LYCURGUS, we punish not the crime,
but the clumsiness of the execution. We shall return
to-morrow to this subject.

Our contemporary the Morning Post is, we see,
labouring hard to write up the frantic meetings which
have lately taken place among the Orangemen in
Dublin. To-day he gives us a long speech per-
petrated by Parson HAMILTON. To-morrow he
threatens us with a still longer one perpetrated
by Parson SULLIVAN. We trust he will follow
up this bright idea, and give us—for there is

abundance of materials—one oration per diem for a
month at least to come, and if this does not sicken
his readers—does not make their very gorge rise
at the bare mention of the word " Orangeman," then
are they in a condition to cross the Bay of Biscay in a
swell, without the slightest risk of a nausea. The
Rev. G. HAMILTON'S speech, to which our contem-
porary has treated us this morning, is a rich speci-
men of clerical intolerance and clerical casuistry.
The Rev. Gentleman scouts the idea that the " Pro-
testant Church should be made commensurate with the
spiritual wants of the people"—such a notion is far
too vulgar and common-place to suit the measure of his
towering conceptions ; on the contrary he is of opinion
that the number of Protestant shepherds should be in
exact proportion to the fewness of the Protestant
flocks, and that those who argue otherwise uphold the
damnable doctrine that " error is to be countenanced,
because it is held by numbers."

On this showing, the Irish Church, as at present
established, is just every thing that it should be, and
never so near absolute perfection as in those Catholic
districts, where it is the least needed. Pity the Rev.
Gentleman cannot impress this doctrine on the mind
of an age which he astounds by his eloquence and
bewilders by his rhetoric ! Pity he cannot convince
the infidel" Papists in particular, that nothing can
possibly be more conducive to their temporal and spi-
ritual welfare than to pay a handsome amount of tithe
to a Protestant parson, who, though he holds their
creed in virtuous abhorrence, is far too orthodox a
churchman to extend the same aversion to their cash !

The harvest in the neighbourhood of Louth goes on
as prosperously as can be desired. The greater part of the
white corn is down, and considerable breadths have already
been cleared ; and, although, in some places, the smut has
partially appeared, still upon the whole, we have the pleasure
of stating that it will be found au abundant one.--Boston
Herol2,
I •

NEW STATUE OF CANNING IN WESTMIN.

STER ABBEY.

This statue, executed in marble by Chantrey, out of the pro-
ceeds of a subscription set on foot and maintained some years
ago by the friends and admirers of the deceased statesman, has
lately been placed upon its pedestal in Westminster Abbey.
It stands in the north transept, surrounded by the cumbrous
and crumbling monuments of the olden time ' • and by the
newness and purity of its material, but still more by the simple
dignity of the design, presents a marked, and, in some res-
pects, a harsh and displeasing contrast to the pompous and
time-honoured (i. e. stained and mutilated) elevations in its
neighbourhood. This observation forcibly applies to the two
monuments erected to the Newcastle family on the right and
left, one of which is nearly as big as a moderate-sized house, and
rich in architectural ornaments . and devices, carved in
many-coloured marbles of great rarity. The statue of
Mr. Canning is placed in front of one of the pillars
which support the roof of the transept on the eastern side. It
is upon a modest circular pedestal of dove-coloured marble.
The face looks towards the organ-loft. The figure is en-
veloped in a senatorial gown, the folds of which are sustained
by either arm, crossed over the chest. The attitude is that
of an orator in the act of addressing, with calmness and deli-
beration, a public assembly. The head is thrown back, the
left leg somewhat advanced. In the right hand is a scroll of
paper, and at the feet are two thick volumes, which may be
" Hansard's Debates," or " Ridgway's Collection of State
Papers," as the reader's or spectator's fancy may suggest.
Mr.- Chantrey would seem to have borrowed the original idea
of the attitude and character of the figure from Sir Thomas
Lawrence's very happy portrait of Mr. Canning, exhibited by
the Royal Academy eight or ten years ago. The statue is,
in all respects, worthy the fame of the great sculptor. There
is no stiffness or formality ; but all is easy, natural, and grace-
ful, and, above all, it is like the man.
To produce a resemblance, is, after all, the master secret of
the art. Mr. Chantrey has done this ; and, in doing it,
has avoided that heaviness and vulgarity so painfully conspi-
cuous in another statue of the same subject, not a hundred
miles from the Abbey. We cannot compliment the committee
on taste upon the selection of the spot upon which they have
planted this production. They were probably limited in their
choice of situations ; but an erect statue should have a central
position, and, if possible, stand alone. Underneath the pave-
ment of the north transept are the vaults which contaiLl the
ashes of Fox, Pitt, Grattan, Londonderry, and lastly of Can-
ning. Facing the statue which is the subject of this notice,
are the monuments to Lord Chatham and Lord Mansfield—
the latter by Flaxman, representing the Judge seated upon the
bench of justice. The following, which seems to be a very
humble imitation of Mr. Canning's splendid composition for
the Pitt monument in Guildhall, is the

INSCRIPTION.

" George Canning, born 11th April, 1770. Died Bth
August, 1827. Endowed with a rare combination of talents,
an eminent statesman, an accomplished scholar, an orator sur-
passed by none, he united the most brilliant and lofty qualities
of mind with the warmest affections of the heart. Raised by
his own merit, he successively filled important offices in the
State, and finally became the first Minister of the Crown. In
the full enjoyment of his Sovereign's favour, and of the con-
fidence of the people, he was prematurely cut off when pur-
suing a wise and enlarged course of policy, which had for its
object the prosperity and greatness of his country, while it
comprehended the welfare and commanded the admiration of
foreign nations. This monument was erected by his friends
and countrymen.