The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-26 00:00:00

441111 e
,

LONDON.
THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 26, 183 b.

Mr. HUME obtained leave, last night, to bring in
a Bill, founded upon the recommendation of the Se-
lect Committee which
_had been appointed last session,
to inquire into the state and management of the Light-
houses in the United Kingdom. This is a circum-
stance which, we are sure, will be learnt with great
satisfaction by every man connected with commeree.
Prolific as was the old system of government iii jobs
and abuses, there was perhaps no department of it in
which they were suffered to attain more luxuriant rank-
ness than in that of the lighthouses. As a proof of this we
have only to mentiop that the total amount collected in
1832, from shipping for light-houses, although con -
siderably reduced within a few years before, was
240,3041., and the total expenses 96,9871„ leaving a
surplus of 143,7541., of which 60,3221. went into the
pockets of private individuals I During the last lease of
the Winterton, Orfordness, and Dungeness lighthouses,
the Crown received a net surplus of 96,843/.,and the les-
sees of 78,9411.; Lord BRAYBROKE'S share in 1823,
1824, and 1825 being alone 40,1841., or 13,4141. per
annum ! Several other lessees have received ten or
twelve thousand a year from the same source. The
Committee consider that the Northern Lights should be
transferred to the care of the Trinity House ; but Mr.
HUME thought that all the Light-houses should be
placed under a Board of management. The Committee fur•
ther recommend, that the dues levied should be re
duced to the lowest possible amount ; that the Lights
should be improved, and new one erected wherever ne-
cessary ; and that all Light-houses, in the hands of
private individuals, should be transferred to the Cen-
tral Board of Management.

The second reading of the Lord's Day Observance
Bill was carried last night by a majority of 76. With-
out impugning the motives which induce its supporters
to press this subject upon the attention of the Legis-
lature, we cannot help thinking that their purity of in-
tention is coupled with much error of judgmelit.

The present laws, if properly enforced, dre -quite
sufficient to suppress the disgraceful scenes witieh are
occasionally witnessed in, and around; the mitropolis
and other largely peopled towns ort Sabha* ,days.
The brawls and drunkenness, the brutalizin2,lamuse-
ments, and depraved levity which here'and there violate
the quiet decorum of the day, are as revoltinlg to the
well-regulated portion of the communityas, by eFample,
they are injurious to the evil-disposed ; this is the:kind
of .desecration which should be 'prevented',"
,and
which the law, as it stands, is fully adequate:to meet
without making more. It is fruitless to attempt„by
any puritanical discipline, to interrupt the deeorous
enjoyment of harmless recreation ; if such an !atiempt
were to succeed, it would be productive of greater evil
than good, by generating a sullen dislike to the reli-
gion that imposes, and the law that enforces, a restraint
so unnecessary and irrational.
Before any fresh acts of legislation are ma4e, let a
proper attention be_given to those outrages oil
morals, of which the law is already cognizant ;iila the
Police receive a simple instruction to 'Watch and to in-
tercept those cases which are continually-occu7' big on
Sabbath-days—such, for instance, as, street . drunken-
ness (and its off-shoot vices), when offensivily con-
spicuous for turbulence and depravity ; the sh..;ln'‘e less
insolence and vulgarity of those gangs of blackguards
which infest the suburban parts of town; the disthrbance
of the public quiet caused by the bugle-playi!iig cads
of the short stages (the interdiction of whilol 'dis-
graceful practice, by the way, merits the attention of
Alderman WOOD, in his omnibus regulatioi Bill) ;
the thieves-whistling groups of pigeon callers!and re-
probates ; and other similar indecencies whichi require

1,, J
-JI

no line-drawing of discretion to determine' Pit"
seemliness—let these -transgressions of Sab4a-ti3-"
propriety be checked (there needs- no extension, of .41e
laW's power for such a purpose) and a much ogre
chastened observance of it will result than from 11'
closing of tea-gardens to the toiling artizan, or
1
t.'e
baker's oven to his dish of meat and potatoes. f°
discreditable toleration of the irregularities just:llr
stauccd is not only a scandalous subversion of Pb!
decency, hut has a .pernicious tendency by farnilia
ing the thoughtless to barefaced violations of a da,r
set apart for religious observances aad the cherrin;
tranquillity of mind and body; restrain those misd,ing4
and if not a more reverential, at least a more repulabli
observance of it will be effected.
The introduction of Bills of thiS nature, thou.V
manifesting a very creditable•zeal on the part of a fel
rigid Sabbath-day disciplinarians, casts 'an oblique re'
proach upon those who deem it wise to oppose thew'
which it is not altogether pleasant to be subjected lA'
It was partly on this account, and because, as 1:e
proved incontestably, that the Sunday was mote
rigorply observed at present than it was thirty Or
forty years ago,- that Mr. WA.RBURTON moved 110
the Bill be read a second time that day six months'
For reasons of a similar nature, Mr. POT rER secondea:
the motion, in a brief, sensible speech, .in the course at
which he introduced some pertinent extracts freer t'f
charge lately made by Dr. BUTLER to the clergy°
the Archdeaconry of Derby, to the el'ect that peaPle
never would, and never could, be made religious by
Act of Parliament. The Bill, though it have passed
,
the second reading, will of course be materially altered
in Committee.

Lil

was in the
This evening Mr. TOOKE will move
House of Commons " the Address to his IVIAJEsI
beseeching him to grant his , Royal Charter (15
Incorporation to the University of London, evr
approved in the year 1831, by the then Le r
Officers of the Crown, and containing no Othe.
Divt"
restriction than against confirming degrees in ,
city and in Medicine." The Tories, as a 'natter
of policy, will hardly resist the adoption
this Address, in its present form ; dud, thereferi
we do not anticipate much discussion upon it to-niginc;
-The full arrangements for throwing aside the mask ilaof
not been completed, and so the Address, as a matter;
course, will be agreed to, the Government reservl°,
to itself the right of examining and, opposing the Pirtive
visions of any Bill prepared and brought in on.•
subject. If the Government pursue not t.
course, but at once oppose the Address, the el..s
try may take it for granted that Sir 10°6- a
PEEL imagines himself more secure than. he 130
when he sanctioned the introduction of the die
for legalizing the Marriages of Dissenters. 0° '6O
principle embodied in the address, we have not sr fa •
for comment to-day. The Universities of
Cambridge, and a few of the Isletronolita°
dical schools, opposed the granting a charter to the vifilst
versity of London in 1831, which would enable,
' learned body to confer degrees in Divinity arsd Mec4,l-es
These objections, whether just or unjust, bay° ct;,,
attended to by the heads of the London 'Univers- is
who now come forward and pray his MAJEsilieb
concede to the infant institution those privileges i is
were not denied by its enemies. Such forbeare°ce
highly praiseworthy.
We are glad that the question of breach of priwil6e
was not pressed yesterday in the case of Sir WI: 00
CODRINGTON. It is always a most invidious ac:
the part of the House to resort to that mode of
eating its privileges ; and considering that s° tlll es
the Members become judges in their own causes, 13•
would best consult good taste, and maintain the
by abstai°l"
racter of the House in public estimation,
from such a course, unless in very extreme cases' des,
The subject which gave rise to the foregoing T'f,
tion was an accusation made on Thursday last by Siro
CODRINGTON against some of the Governmentotliceroj
of interfering at the last election for Plymouth in fav°,,,
the Government candidate. This accusation we Per; ci(
is confirmed by an article in the Devonport
pendent, as well as by a spirited declaration, sige scs
600 electors and inhabitants of Plymouth, in liseis
to the address of Sir JAMES COCKBURN .04 plc
both which we insert elsewhere. This unwarralros
exercise of Government influence would seems t
what has already been brought before Parliarnenider
have been very general at the last Election. C°lls.sify
ing the critical situation of the Conservative Dl°
and that their struggle at that election was ($3,, lo
which depended the very existence of their partie'd
were fully prepared to learn that they had, res°rt des
g
any means to support their candidates. But the itta
tion is, whether any Government should be Perri:ol)i'
to exercise such a power over the consciences a'°,,efer,
nions of electors ? The only effectual ways boot
to prevent the exercise of that power is not to 'ills of
to exist : and that can only be effected. by inesl
• the Ballot.
to
It appears by the Official Returns made 1-113 co'
'Mary -last, that the number of persons taken irit° the
tody by the metropolitan police constables in tier,
year 1834, was 64,269—whilst in 1813 110 ICSS,g
seventy-two thousand eight hundred and t;te,''
four persons were brought. before the tneg-isissiti'
and in the following year - upwards of des
seven thousand. Thus, by comparing the t'v° 'sad
an INCREASE is shewn of nearly eight thcnjotBll
Now, if we compare the year 1831 with 1833'1'1
increase, but a decrease, a progressive and Viellres#;
siderable decrease will be given —a u,l:
amounting to eight thousand five hundre.
cos co
fifty-five. And if e. comparison be instituted b cress'
1832 and 1833, a still further progressive ae de'
will be seen—between these two years there 'soots'
crease of nearly eight thousand. Compare, tbbe-oss of
ber of captions by the Police in-1832, with t tholr
the year ending January Ist, 1834, and thethirtc
sand two hundred and seventy-four will be ool'
stilt on the last year ; which year, again, Bsle-d
eese
pared with the preceding one, exhibits 't
a" sof
of five thousand six hundred and ninety. C
,arlsl'
thing demonstrate more clearly the beneficial %%Of ear
of the institution than this progressive deerease,,an f'if
tions for offences cognizable by the 111etroP°111:0 t
.
lice? The Return from which we have
numbers, furnishes us also with evidence on 0011
can, to some extent, safely rely, since figure; the (16'
err—that, happily, crime and offences are °n
crease in London. of
Pip
We have received the whole of the Paris Pil' 19'
Tuesday, with accounts from Bayonne t° t rose"'
instant. The CITIZEN KING continues hie P • 'lll4
tion of the Press . with unrelaxing severitli C005'4
Editor of the Quotidienne—a Journal of fe_irJtie
to via/ in tiati
derable influence—was thrice brought Chris tf
course of three days, for libelling his most I Coo
Majesty the KING, and in the true spirit °as° 1)14
equity, was for each separate offence sentell'ereSl
fined and imprisoned during a period and for 8%. bettor
which shews that Constitutional freedonl ie
than a farce in France. The libels conlPr-
were ebe
were the most harmless effusions possible' of •
• Ithe 1 le-tbr°s tile
by the way compared with ion yass
Constitutionnel. The subject •of both upese
American claims : the second -being tbe so.snel.
copy of a letter from the Kl7sTes

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