The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PLTBLIC JOURNALS.

compromise the supremacy of the Crown—we must
confess that the language of Lord Gosford is not
so explicit as we could have wished. It would
have been much more satisfactory to the Con-
stitutionalists to have been assured that their
lives and property would still remain under the pro-
tective control of the British Sovereign. Lord Gos-
ford merely tells the Canadians that the demand for a
"regulation to ensure the proper appointment of'Mem-
hers of the Legislative and Executive Council " is
strictly within the line of duty of the King's Commis-
sioners to take into consideration, and finally to submit
their conclusions on the subject to his Majesty's
Ministers. Now, with our experience of Whig Com-
missions, we have a right to mistrust this trifling with
the grand principle which is at stake. There should
have been no wavering—no diplomatic mystery—about
this notable project of the French party. It would
have been more manly and statesmanlike to have
avowed at once that the Crown would not sacrifice
this valuable prerogative to have. it transferred into the
hands of the Canadian O'Connell. A Radical organ
does not attempt to • conceal the manoeuvres of Pa-
pipeau. In an article, which evidently emanates from
the paid agent of revolution in this country, it states—
" Why should not the House of Assembly pass a Bill al-
tering the Constitution of the Council—just as our House
of Commons will, at no very distant period, bring in a .Bill
to alter the constitution of our House of Lords ? But
would the Legislative Council pass such a Bill ? Certainly
not. How then, is it to become law ? Simply thus—let
Lord Gosford be provided with forty blank mandainusses,
and let there be a Creation of Peers,' for the express pur-
pose of bringing the measure through. This is quite in ac-
cordance with Constitutional principles,' and would, with-
out doubt, take amazingly."
This declaration is explicit, and we cannot but la-
ment that Lord Gosford did not speak out on so im-
portant a question. We shall look with much curiosity
to the next arrivals for further details of the proceed-
ings of the Royal Commissioners.—Morning Post.
From an intelligent
_gentleman who has recently tra-
velled in Prussia, and who takes a strong interest in
the reform of our criminal code, we have learned that
the Prussian Sovereign, though an absolute Monarch,
has a strong aversion to capital punishments, and is
bringing about the abolition of those cruel and useless
exhibitions by a practical amelioration of the law. The
crime of murder is the only one now punished with
death in Prussia. Would we could say so of Eng.
land I To show the gradual amelioration of the law as
to executions even for murder, and along with it the
.gradual diminution of the crime itself, let us take a
period pf 15 years, ending with last year, and divide
it into periods of five years each, it will be found that,
in the first period of five years, the number of con-
victions for murder in Prussia was 69, and the execu-
tions 47. In the second period the number of con-
victions was 50, and the executions 26. In the third pe-
riod the convictions were only 43, and the executions were
diminished to 16. We showed on a former occasion that
the gradual diminution of capital punishments in Bel-
gium, and their practical abolition during the last five
years has been attended also with a remarkable reduc-
tion in the amount of crime. So unnecessary are ca-
pital punishments proved to be for the protection of
Society—unnecessary, did we say ?—they are worse
than useless ; for where they are most prevalent crime
most abounds. Why is it that the despotic Govern-
ment of Prussia is more tender of shedding the blood
of its subjects than the constitutional Government of
free and enlightened England ? Now, let us take for
England and Wales a period of 21 years, ending with
last year, and subdivided into periods of seven year.;
each—we are obliged to take those periods instead of
five years, because they are the
.periods fixed upon in
the Parliamentary Returns (No.: 217)—what are the
results ? In the first Seven years we find that the
number of executions for various offences was 649,
there being 141 convicted of murder. In the second
period the executions were 494, the convictions for
murder being diminished to 113. In the third period
the executions were reduced to 355, the convictions
for murder being diminished to 105. Thus we see that
in this country a reduction in the number of capital{
punishments has been attended with a diminution
Of the number of the worst class of offences. But
does it not reflect deep disgrace on the rulers of
the English nation that the enforcement of
,the laws
which are intended to repress crime should be so san-
guinary, compared with the practical application of the
laws in Prussia ? To show the relative disproportion
rae punishment in the two countries !pore
clearly, let 1;s take a glance at -the relative population
of 1)0111. The population of Prussia, according to the
official census of 1826, was about 12+ millions. The
population of England and Wales, according to the
census of 1831, was upwards of 13,800,000. There-
fore, in 1826 the population of the two kingdoms
must have been pretty nearly equal. But what an
awful disproportion between the amount Of human
life in the, one and the other kingdom annually cut
oil' from society by ethe sword of the law ? The
Prussian Government loOks more to the ieformation-
of offenders, while our GWII rulers are• but too much
disposed to believe, in spite of all experience, that the
great efficacy of criminal law is in its exterminating
examples I When we speak of the rulers of England
in connection with the • severe enforcement of vin-
dictive law, let us do justice to the Supreme Ma-
gistrate, and separate the character and feelings of
our august Sovereign from those of his constitu-
tional advisers. We know that George IV. was
exceedingly averse to executions. We have upon
the best authority the fact which we formerly
mentioned of his anxiety to save the life of a
subject against the opinion of the Members of his
Council, and his frequently endeavouring, by earnest
and protracted argument, when the Recorder of Lon-
don's report was under consideration, to induce them
to change their minds, and to prevail upon them rather
to advise mercy than sacrifice, for as the King of Eng-
land is not an absolute Monarch like the King of

The Tory Journals, conscious of the weakness of
their expiring party, and driven to recruit their
dimi-
Dished ranks with any Swiss they can enlist, would
have the credulous portion of the community—the
timid and indifferent, a miserable minority, utterly
.destitute of any influence on. public opinion—believe
that the long " threatened revulsion," or, as the cant
phrase is, "a reaction," is now about to take place in
good earnest. Every reflecting person will detect
the imposition when the " apostate journal" leads
the pack with this deceitful and well-known
party cry. The following is an extract from-
the " apostate journal :"—" In Northampton-
shire, Sir G. Robinson, formerly a member and sup-
Lorter of the Whig party, who proposed the present
ord Fitzwilliam for the county in the year 1832,
has now aiven Mr. Hanbury a flat refusal to vote for
him,—and Why ? Because, on O'Connell's declara-
tion at Newcastle that the 'Whigs now are not the
Whigs they were five years ago,' and on his (Sir
(George's) own opinion, that the present Whig
Ministers have the violence, without the honesty, of
professed Radicals,' (which is luminously just and
true), that they are about to sacrifice the Church of
England and Ireland to appease the insatiate appetite
of Irish Priests and English Dissenters, that their
organ and Lord Mulg,rave s patron, O'Connell, has
declared war against the House- of Lords, 'and that
Mr. Hanbury, the Whig candidate in opposition to
Mr. Maunsell, is still a supporter of that same repro-
bated Ministry. He, Sir George Robinson, so far
from giving Mr. Hanbury his vote and interest, wishes
heartily that he may be defeated. This from a ge-
nuine Whig l Again, read the address of the Hon.
and Rev. Littleton Powys, another stanch Whig, to
his tenants and parishioners, at Titchmarsh, in the
same county of Northampton, in further testimony of
a revolution already begun—a revolution in political
feeling—an abandonment of dishonest men by the ho-
nest ; and then answer, whether there be not yet hope
for, England, or whether there still remains a spark of
it for the forsaken of their principles and their country,
the unhappy vassals of those arch enemies of Great
Britain—'Popery, slavery, and arbitrary power.'",—
There is not a word of truth in the statement respect-
ing Sir George Robinson, as far as respects the Sir
George Robinson so conveniently cited as a laudable
example of political apostacy. The present Sir.
George Robinson is not the individual thus cited. The
Sir George Robinson, uncle of the present Baronet,
who was many years a representative of Northampton-
shire, and who proposed Lord Milton, died last year,
And to the day of his death was a stanch supporter of
the Whigs, and of Liberal principles. The present Sir
George Robinson, his nephew, is a Parson, who was
always considered. -a sham Liberal, and as a person
wearing a political disguise during his uncle's lifetime
for substantial reasons. The real Simon Pure of the
Northamptonshire Conservatives cannot influence half
a dozen votes ; while his•uncle possessed not-only ex-
tensive personal influence, but the weight of
invariable consistency and integrity as a Public
character. So much for the Reverei2cl Sir George
Robinson, whose backsliding wilt have no local
effect in his county. Again, as to ." Honour-
able" and other " Reverend" Littleton Powys—
here is a second " trifling mistake." This " other
stanch Whig" is a notorious Northamptonshire-Tory.
The family of the Po,.vvses were " constitutionally"
Tories till :he Noble nephew of the Reverend Little-
ten i'owys_the 'present Lord Lill—adopted
ral opinions, and was,justly reckoned as an enlightened
seceder from Toryism. The Reverend uncle cannot
influence the votes -of his own parishioners, nor even
poll his-plrish clerk, and Lord Lilford is the avowed
supporter of the principles of Mr. Hanbury. More-
over, Sr Culling Smith; a stanch friend and canvasser
of Mr. Hanbury, was cradled in a Tory family. Sir
Culling Smith, on Tuesday last, in a canvassing
speceln very pertinently observed, as reported in The
Sun of- Saturday, " I come for the express. purpose
of promoting- the return of a Nctuber of the same
principles as the present Government, and I can-
not understand what the Tories want to govern
fne unless merely to get into place, for all Re-
for2is will be carried into effect, all abuses remedied,
, and 15urdens equalised, by Lord
ALlbourtic's Ilinisrv." Thus far, at least as regards

histl('C

iNiurtha

adininistered

vaunted' rev:

131011 IS a gross

. . •
hnposnaon But the tactics of the Torica are notcon-
fine:lto false claims of conversion. Quacks, in ad-
vzrtisio:a eures, always run do,,vn regular practitioners.
iona- their numerous devices is that of burlesquing
the opinions and professions of _their opponents.
(Ma a few days since the " r:state jburnal
ticatco its readers to a palpable untruth, directly
irrouthia to Mr. Simo:on of York, an attempt to
get two, , infant ma'oas, his children, christened
14' ill° mock names of " The Earl of Kent "
and -t‘ the Marquess of Yorkshire," thereby im-
puting republicanism to the parent. infants of
the age of those upon whom Mr. Simpson was
thus reported to have wished the waters of bap-
tslii,to be poured would scarcely be the dupes of such
rcraoc:l falsehoods. Why was :\i
L r. Simpson, a re-
spectable and intelligent inhabitant of York, thus ma-
ligned mod injured ? ,Simply -.because he was the
recent acaive Cheirman of a liberal candidate for that
city ; and therefore it was thought expedient to asperse
his character. The whole story was a fiction, as is
vouched by a letter which we received to-day from a
highly respectable. correspondent in York. But thus the
Tories seek to delude the country for a time, by claim-
ing conversions for which there is no foundation, and
by imputing to their opponents political opinions and
republican doctrines they ncver professed. That cause
must be in a failing state which requires to be thus
propped by falsehood and calumny.—Morn. Chron.
The progress of events in Canada cannot fail to at-
tratt. the most fixed attention. and excite the most in-
tense interest among all parties who have a regard for
the maintenance and prosperity of our colonial poses-
Sions. The Administration of Sir Robert Peel was
11‘.: persnaded of the vast 'importance of the subject,
and judicious and conciliatory measures were in con-
templation to bring the existing disputes to an adjust-
ment which, while it did not compromise the dignity
and honour of the mother country, would effectually re-
:-;:lond to the luipes and satisfy the constitutional and
tional wishes of the loyal population of Lower Canada.
The present Government, following the excellent ex-
ample of the late Cabinet, and departing from the for-
mer course of Whig policy, sent out a Royal Commis-
sion, with instructions to endeavour to heal the
differences originated by the 'Trench faction, and
excited and encouraged by the revolutionary de-
magogues at home, who have substantial reasons, like
those of Mr. O'Connell in Ireland, for carrying on a
system of agifation destructive of the best interests of
the inhabitants of Lower Canada. The first seeds of
the labours of the Commissioners have been sown.
'That they may produce good fruit must be the sincere
wish of every Englishman who anxiously looks for-
ward for the happiness and worldly welfare of his fel-
Aiw-countrymen, and their descendants, in distant
.lands The speech. of Lord Gosford at the opening,
of the session of the Le9i,slature of Lower Canada, on
the 27th of October, is published this day in our co-
lumns. It is a very lengthy document, but it is one
which otTbt, nevertheless, to be attentively perused,
the whole bearings of the question are care-
fully and elaborately treated, and will no doubt be
much canvassed and discussed by the people of
Canada. How far the sentiments expressed in the
address will operate towards a happy settlement of
the alleged grievances cannot •as yet have been
ascertained with any degree of certainty ; but the
indications already manifested in Lower Canada do
not inspire much confidence at present. The designs
of Papineau aim at a total exclusion of the British
inhabitants from the Canadian Parliament, and from
the exercise of any power in the executive Govern-
ment. It is impossible to conceal from the public
this proposition on the part of the French faction. If
the appointment of Members of the Legislative Coun-
cil given up by the Crown, and rendered elective,
Canada would be lost to us for ever. It is to be hoped
that the. House of Assembly will not sanction the
views of the factious on this' vital point. But, at the
same time that we trust that the Royal Commissioners
are .properly instructed to resist sternly—that they
are not invested with a particular authority to

of c:itrci-

Prussia, the public must be aware that it is unconsti-
tutional for him to extend the mercy of the Crown to
a criminal, unless in conformity with the advice of his
responsible Ministers. We also know that to sanction
the execution of a subject costs his present Majesty a
great struggle and great pain ; not only that, but he is
accustomed to urge every point that can strike a con-
siderate and humane mind in favour of the prisoner
whose case is under consideration. It is greatly owing
to his Majesty's own merciful anxiety to save the lives
of his subjects, that the extraordinary and unprece-
dented circumstance has occurred that, during a period
of two years and. a half, there has been no execution
in the metropolis of this empire, under a jurisdiction.
which, extending over the City and the county of
Middlesex, embraces nearly one million and a half of
people. Where, then, is the necessity for the
great number of executions, that annually take
place in other parts of England ? Two criminals
are now ordered for execution, in the county
of Surrey. Their crime, and the remembrance
of it ought to be buried in the silence and seclusion of
the prison-house. The attracting the curiosity and
attention of young and old to the offence by the pub-
lic spectacle does great mischief to public morals. It
pollutes the imagination, and tends to disseminate the
depravity. There is a place set wholly apart for such
culprits in the House of Correction, Cold-bath-fields,
where they cannot associate with others, and where ju-
dicious coercion, moral discipline, and seclusion pro-
duce their due effects upon the wretched offenders.
This prison, we have reason to believe, is under ex-
cellent management. At all events, if its moral disci-
pline should fail to convert such offenders, its walls
and bars can prevent society from ever being' contami-
nated by their presence. There are crimes which it is
better for society should be covered with the oblivion
of the solitary cell than dragged under circumstances of
horrible interest into the light of day. Copies of re-
ports of such executions are hawked about the .streets
and villages—disgusting details are given to gratify a
vicious curiosity—and thus the exterminating severity
of the law, is made instrumental in polluting the morals
of the people.—Morning Herald.
Curiosity not unmixed with uneasiness had been for
some time entertained with regard to the proceedings of
the commission to the Canadas, of which Lord Gos-
ford, appointed also Governor. General of those in-
teresting provinces, is the chief. A copy of the speech
delivered by his ExCellency on the 27th ult. has arrived,
and will be found in another column. The conflicting
interests, or more correctly speaking passions, by which

btuoria 9 d

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1831

the course of government and legislation has for these
few years past been disturbed, especially throughout
the lower provinces, and a spirit raised on one side,
which seemed capable of being appeased or satisfied
with nothing short of a substantial separation from all
controul by the Imperial Government, however the
sovereignty of • the King- of England . might in
words and for a season have been acknOwledged,
have had the unfortunate effect of throwing
every day fresh difficulties across the path of a just
and-solid accommodation. There would be no wis-
dom, because there would be no honesty, in denying,
that much of the discontent, which from small begin-
nings has grown to so painful and formidable a pitch,
and served as a stock whereon to ingraft the bitter
fruits of animosity and disaffection, may have taken its
origin in a system of overbearing and provoking mis-
government. There is no doubt that the same leaven
of unrighteousness, which has before now caused a
. fermentation in other colonies of Great Britain, has
been more or less mixed up with the administrative
measures pursued by successive Governors of Canada ;
overlooked, if not connived at, by the Colonial De-
partment here ; and that until within these half dozen
' years, little pains had been taken to employ any
cure, or even palliative, of the increasing mis-
chief. The list of Governors-General of Canada
--contains, we suspect, hardly any names but those
of military men ; mid amongst them the single offi-
cer whose name, as' a civil administrator, was really
popular with the Canadians was that of the unlucky
Sir George Prevost, who forfeited by one fatal error in
the field all the honours, and they were not a few,
which he had richly earned by his services as a civil
.and political functionary. But Sir George Prevost
was a Canadian born. In the earlier stages of colo-
nial existence, and when the colonists cannot help
themselves, they submit of course, and without an
attempt at resistance, to whatever policy the parent
State may adopt, and to whatever grievances, thereby
entailed upon them, her officers and representatives
may inflict. Jobbing in all its branches has flourished
throughout the British colonies—corruption under
every form—and despotism, exasperated only, but sel-
dom checked or mitigated, by remonstrance. The
abuses were borne because the colonists were weak.
But the Canadians becoming gradually more sensible
of their own importance, and encouraged,. as well by
their ripening strength as by their close proximity to
the United States, and hourly intercourse with Repub-
licans, have latterly been given to multiply their com-
plaints, and to enlarge their claims, until they pretty
clearly intimated that " self-government" was the grand
prize for which they contended, or, in other words, if
strictly construed, a deposition of their • colonial cha-
racter, and an absolute release from the dominion of
the British Crown. We do not profess to state mi-
nutely the several topics of dissatisfaction, an inquiry
into the justice of which was the declared object of
Lord Gosford's mission ; but among-the constitutional
changes proposed by the malcontents, one would ap-
pear to be the total transfer of the power to nominate
the Legislative Council from the Crown to some de-
scription of colonial electors. We gather this father
indirectly from a passage towards the close Of the speech
delivered by Lord Gosford, than from any formal proof
within our knowledge ; but such a concession would
amount at once to monopoly of all the powers of le-
gislation by the democracy of the province, depriving the
Crown through its local representative and his ad-
visers of all effective'clieck and all substantial authority.
This we take for granted will hardly yet be given up.
The present is not the time to argue the question
.whether colonies are beneficial or otherwise. That
question has been practically decided by Great Britain,
whose empire may be called a colonial empire—and
whose commerce, which is identified with her maritime
power, is supposed by most people to depend upon
the retention of her transmarine possessions : into that
question, we repeat, we arc now called upon to enter.
England_ maintains the Canadas, as essential to her
western commerce : and, 'having so decided, she is
bound in common consistency—first, to make her do-
minion as easy as possible to herself, by making it to
them a beneficial and conciliatory Government ; second,
not to proceed in the way of concession to the demands
of the colonists beyond that point at which her sub-
stantial power over them stands unimpaired end perfect.
A discussion upon the detailed subjects of Lord Gus-
ford's speech might not be very interesting to our
readers generally. Its tone and spirit are mild in the
extreme, and even deprecatory of the disapproval of
those to whOm he addresses it. We heartily wish his
Lordship and colleagues a successful issue to their
arduous enterprise. If the gentleness of the speech
be met by a corresponding temper on the part of
Mcssrs„Papinean and Company, greatly shall we re-
joiceand not a 'little, we frankly admit, will our pre-
sent hopes of good be exceeded.—Times.

The abandonment by the Tories in their speeches
and writings of all appeals to argument and reason,
is perhaps one of the highest compliments that could
be paid to the intelligence of the British people..
The reasoning portion of the community could no
longer brook the outrages committed on common
sense by the false assertions and sophistries by which
it was attempted to delude it—consequently the Tories
have changed their course of discussion, and, as a
forlorn hope, appear now to direct their attention
solely to the ignorant, prejudiced, " brutal," bigoted,
and intolerant. In proof of this we need only refer
to the leading Conservative journals for the last six
months. First, a
.horrible shadow was attempted to
be cast on the progress of Reform by the unreal
mockery of Dens 's ghost—and, like Banquo's issue,
" Popery," " Slavery," " Arbitrary power," " Reli-
gious persecution," " Murder," and " Protestant
Ixtirpaticn," were conjured up and paraded in ter-
rific and awful array through the vista of futurity.
Then a lady, calling herself "Priscilla," demented
by alarm and fired by sectarian fury, poured out a
.woful denunciation, declaring she took " the ten vir-
gins for example," which was eagerly copied into a
leading journal, as the language of inspiration, and
made the subject of a lugubrious commtntary. Next,
after this lady of ten virgin power, came mutilated ex-
tracts from Commission Reports, which the public were
assured caused " an unprecedented sensation," a fact
which would never have been even suspected were it
not for the far sighted
vision of the Times. These
ludicrous absurdities were interspersed, not relieved;
with the grossest and most disgusting abuse of the
nt Ministy and Daniel O'Connell, without

prese -- AziL
whom it would appear that certain journalists might
throw down their pen for lack of argument. All this
time it was firmly contended that the feelings of the
country were decidedly opposed to the existing Go-
vernment, and that the people yearned after the re-
newal of Tory domination, with its plunderers and
persecutions. Accustomed as we are to the duplicity
and falsehood of Conservatism, we imagined that this
assertion originated in a delusion rather than wilful de-
ception, and so strongly did this impression operate
upon us, that when we lately perceived a leading Ja-
nus-faced Journal announce that a " great revulsion
of sentiment had taken place in public opinion," we
imagined it to be an admission that the people were
awaking to their true interests, that Toryism was at
a discount, and that the Times itself was once more
turning round to the popular cause ;—but we were
mistaken—the " revulsion of sentiment" is against,
and not in favour of the Cabinet of Lord Mel-
bourne ; and, as it is asserted, " Constitutional Re-
form," whatever is meant by the phrase, is to be
effected
y by
" a strong Conservative Govern-
ment." Amongst the first, and hence we infer the
gravest, charges against the Government, is, in the
language of the Times :—" The manifest, though
tacit, encouragement given to the outbreak of fac-
tious blackguardism in both countries, much of which
we deem it an honour to have had directed against
ourselves." We are glad to find the Times cry out
against " factious blackguardism : indicates reform
where it was much wanted, though it is difficult to
refrain from laughing at any complaint on that score
and from that quarter. The letter of Sir Francis Bur-
dett respecting O'Connell is, hailed as a symptom of
the " revulsion of sentiment. " This address," as is
stated, " was to the feelings of gentlemen, not of
Whigs." As Sir Francis is classed with the latter,
we leave him to acknowledge the compliment thus im-
plied in the jonrnal which first published his letter,
and we are inclined to believe the appeal from the
" new Whigs to the old" will be as little acceptable to