The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-03 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Slx,—Having read your observations on the claims put
forth by the shipowners to the renewal of that protection
which they formerly enjoyed under the old navigation law,
and by the withdrawal of which, as they allege, they have
suffered so severely, I take the liberty of sending the ac-
companying tabular statement of the British trade at the
Sound during the last fifteen years. By it, Sir, you will
see at a glance how much the British trade has increased
in that quarter since the treaties of reciprocity were en-
tered into, and how completely the predictions of the ship-
owners have been falsified by the results of experience.
I am, Sir, your's, &c.
Whitby, Yorkshire, Dec. 31, 1831.

PASSAGE OF THE SOUND.

A. B.

A Statement of the Number of British Ships which passed the
Sound, from the Year 1816 to the Year 1830 (both Years inclu-
sive), being the eight Years preceding, and the seven Years that
followed, the Signature of the First of those Treaties with the
Northern Powers, usually denominated the " Treaties of Reci-
prceity "
READ. -COMP A RE.-JUDGE.
Years. Ships. Years. Ships.
1816
1817
1818 5,052 1826 3,730
1819 3,708 1827 5,099
1820 :3,597 1828 4,391
1821 2,819 1829 4,791
1822 3,097 1830 4,‘-'39
18./3 3,016
0 I Total in eight years 27,309
0 " The British flag will soon I

Total in seven years 30,966

no longer seen in the Baltic."

" They desire, publicly and solemnly, to record their
own humble protest against the adoption of a system,
which they conscientiously believe must, if extensively
acted on, have the effect of increasing the naval power of
foreign nations, by the destruction of the British marine."
" Nor, indeed, did they conceive it possible, that, on re-
consideration of a question so important in all its hearings,
the illusions of theory could triumph over the practical tes-
timony borne by experience to the sonndness and wisdom of
our navigation system."—Report of the Special Commit-
tee of the Shipowners of London, dated May 30, 1824.
" That your petitioners have no hesitation in declaring
to your Lordship, as their most decided conviction, that
the disadvantages to which the British shipowners would
be thereby subject, would be such as to make it impos-
sible for them to compete with the shipping of other
countries, particularly those in the north of Europe; and,
consequently, that the greater part of that portion of the
British trade with them which the British shipowners now
enjoy will eventually be carried on by the shipping of those
countries, in like manner as the intercourse with the United
States, under the same system, is chiefly carried on in Ame-
rican shipping."—Petition of the Shipowners of London
to the Privy Council, dated August 4, 1823.
GENERAL RESULT.

In the eight years when the system considered so deci-
dedly favourable to British navigation was in operation,
there pasvd 27,309 ships. Annual average, 3,413.
In the seven years when the system deemed so peculiarly
disastrous to British navigation has been in operation, there
passed 30,966 ships. Annual average, 4,423.
Omitting the years 1816 and 1318, in the former of
which the British trade at the Sound appears to have
been comparatively languid, and because in the latter a
remarkably large importation of grain took place, we
shall have 20,409 for the total number of British ships
passing the Sound during six years preceding the recipro-
city treaties. Annual average, 3,401.

,4 Say not thou that the former times were better than
hese, for thou dolt not inquire rightly after that matter."
Whitby, Jan. 22, 1531. (Tunes. )

The whole of the machinery for giving effect
,0 the Criminal Law in England is so clumsy,

and so ill adapted to its object, that, if it were
wished to favour crime, invention could hardly
improve upon it. In the Lambeth-street report,
in the Chronicle of yesterday, the prosecution for
the supposed murder of Mrs. Walsh will, it is
stated, be a most expensive one, and the parish
of Whitechapel is endeavouring to throw as much
of the burden as possible on the county of Mid-
dlesex. In the late case of Bishop and Wil-
liams, an accidental circumstance threw a heavy
expense on one parish, St. Paul's Covent.-
garden. It is tolerably clear that the interest
of the country and the interest of the inha-
bitants of a particular parish are far from being
the same in these cases ; that while it is the in-
terest of the country that crimes should not
escape punishment, it can hardly be the interest
of a particular parish to put itself to a heavy ex-
pense on this account. In the case of Bishop
and Williams, the strong feeling of indignation
led the parish authorities to exert themselves to
the utmost, that the criminals might not escape ;
but it is (ike clear that parish authorities who
should load their parishes with heavy expellees
on account of prosecutions would run the risk
of unpopularity on that account; and it may ac-
cordingly be taken for granted, that in ordinary
cases troublesome prosecutions will as much as
possible be avoided. If the prosecution by pa-
rishes be a duty which must often be imperfectly
discharged, individuals will be still less inclined
to put themselves to the trouble and expense of
prosecution. This is ably shown by Mr. Ed-
ward Gibbon Wakefield, in his evidence before
the Committee of the House of Commons on
Secondary Punishments :

' When I expressed an opinion," says Mr. W. " that a
great diminution of crime might be brought about by a
gond system of punishment, I also expressed an opinion
that great service would be done by the institution of a
perpetual Court. I ought to have added, that by a per-
petual Court very little good would be done without a
system of public prosecution ; the system of private pro-
secution is perfectly understood by the London criminals.
The main occupation of a regular criminal, when he
enters Newgate, is to devise means for tampering with
his prosecutor, either by restoring the goods stolen or by
bribery, or in a great number of instances, and perhaps
nearly in all capital cases, by appealing to his feelings or
humanity ; the consequence is, that in a very great num-
ber of cases there is no real prosecution, though there be
a formal one. The way to account for the number of
formal prosecutions, not real ones, is this—the prose-
cutor enters into recognizances, which he is afraid of
_ . . .

foefeiting ; when, therefore, he has been tampered with,
or his feelings of humanity excited, he goes through the
form of a prosecution, but frames his evidence in such a
manner as to procure the acquittal of the prisoner.
" Might not that be equally done if there was a public
prosecution ?—lt would be much more difficult : the pro-
secutor, in the first heat of anger at being robbed, takes
the prisoner before a Magistrate, gives evidence that pro-
cures his commitment for trial, and is afterwards per-
suaded to vary his evidence to save the prisoner. If the
prosecutor were merely a witness, and had given his evi-
dence in the first instance, the public prosecutor would
tike care, if he varied his evidence much, that he should
be prosecuted for perjury.
" The depositions are always handed over to the Judge.
—I am aware of that; but that can have very little effect
London, where the average period allowed for the trial
of each person is, I believe, about eight minutes.
" Do yon mean to say that these formal prosecutions, in
which it is meant to procure an acquittal, take place
frequently 2--I have not a doubt of it.
" And you think that the evasion of prosecution is part
of a regular system ?—Yes.
" Part of the education of a thief, and not the result of
any peculiar sagacity in any particular case ? It is the
regular system with every prisoner in Newgate, from the
boy of fourteen upwards.
" Are there not solicitors who are employed by the
prisoners for that purpose ?—Yes, when there is money
to pay them, they conduct it.
" Is it not singular that that should be the case as to
formal prosecutions, when there is such a large proportion
convicted ?—ln capital cases the proportion convicted is
less than half. In th.it case there is a❑ additional method
of tampering with the prosecutor by appealing to his
feelings of humanity.
" Do yon think there is much resort to the subornation
of witnesses ?—A great deal."

M
r.l
criminalsWth the
ko e
escape
has
to
system
scl
apeors s t
hpehwr
private
punishment distinctly
isphromieiut h
they
prosecution
gives( facilities
iese r
ve.
There can be no question, that, were there res-
ponsible public prosecutors, the escapes would be
less frequent, and this again would lead to a di-
minution of crime, and, consequently, diminution
of expence. When it is seen that in Scotland
the public prosecutor seldom indicts without ob-
taining a conviction, while in England the con-
victions are comparatively few, we must admit
that the different result must be greatly owing to
the difference of system. The committing ma-
gistrates, we know, were at one time exceedingly
careless ; but we are persuaded that, with the
utmost care on the part of the magistrates, the
circumstances detailed by Mr. Wakefield would
lead to a number of acquittals of persons actu-
ally guilty, and properly committed for trial. It
assizeut e d
is ridiculous to throw on parishes or on indivi-
duals the conducting of expensive prosecutions,
gt
o theh"t instituted
which are matters
porfopseucbultiocrisntteirleesirt.
exlptetilseecsuisn-
ctoamseasr
Yoftoconalvlioclvion ; and this again has led to
lrioas,==joeni:
towns. The whole system is lax, irregular, and
t o great
e,l
aabuse,ble p a
burthensome. The counties complain of the heavy
rnitieasnytop
burthen, and we have no doubt, that, smarting
as the rate payers are under the pressure, they
will, ere long, compel an alteration. We per-
ceive from a letter from Mr. Bentley, the Chair-
man of the Kent Central Association, in the
Kent Herald of Thursday last, that the men of
Kent are bestirring themselves to obtain relief
from the burthen of the county rates.

" In our last week's Paper, he says, " a correspondent,
under the signature of Windex,' complains of the enor-
mous amount of the county rate, urges the necessity of
my mievdhieartee mi s e atshuere sc
htoa
rcrihleacnk
fthis
the increasingCentralevil
verely suffering? Thus publicly called upon, I beg leave
asonmdeaski
Association when the interests of agriculture are thus se-
to state, that this important subject has not escaped my
observation ; as a proof of which, I refer to a memorial
to the Magistrates, in the same paper, drawn up at the
desire of the rate-payers of the surrounding parishes, and
published with the view of obtaining the co-operation of
the other parts of the county in the attempt to abate this
accumulating grievance. That it ought to be abated, is
the unanimous opinion of those upon whom the burden
principally falls—the occupiers of the land; and there
appears no plan so likely to effect this abatement, as for
those who are aggrieved to. vote resolutions and present
to
h ooughtic,ev.
et bro be
ethhacet merelyexert
xuae
upon
therithmemos
consider the rate-payers, not as parties whose opinions
rt ibhcueuyt t
wuri ilslt a
cmreemaseoroilletheisx
in-
struments of taxation. This feeling may have been pro-
ducedt
questions relative to the affairs of the country; I trust,
selves., as there cannot be a doubt but that a general ex-
Po.rnspueusppspursoliei
ntnvseeesdtinhvoeoeifssrsttaroohexcfesc.ipatrehs
respected,
enhad,eg, impatience
3a is t
ra undertMagistrates
appear t e
ex-
pression of their sentiments would in this case be attended
with benefit, for it is my sincere conviction, that the pre-
sent profuse expenditure is to be attributed rather to the
inadvertence of the Magistrates, than to their disposition
to oppress."

The county-rates of this country are, in fact,
almost equal in amount to the revenue of king-
doms of the second class. It is hardly possible
that a better system should not lead to a great
diminution in the amount of this burthen. We
cannot change for the worse, for the wit of man
could hardly devise a system more favourable to
crime, and more expensive, than that which now
exists.—Morning Chronicle.

It is observed in The Sun of last evening that
With but few exceptions, the Country Jour-

nals—and we have perused some dozens of them
this day—are all strenuously advocating the crea-
tion of new Peers, as the most fitting mode of
commencing the public business of the new year.
All, too, seem nearly equally hopeless of the
success of the Reform Bill, unless such creation
is promptly resorted to. We hope the Ministers
will see the necessity of setting the country at
ease upon this subject ; it is really one of para-
mount importance, and beside which all others
sink into comparative insignificance. As for con-
ciliation, Government may be the gentlest of the
gentle, the meekest of the meek, towards their
malignant adversaries the Ultras, yet gain nothing
but contempt and ridicule for their pains. The
Anti-Reformers must be awed into submission."
They must, indeed, be awed into submission ;
and who that had any wits about him did not
see, since the rejection of the Reform Bill, that
they must be compelled to adopt it, and that no
measures short of compulsion would be of any
avail to procure its acceptance by them. We I
never doubted the fact—we never believed in
the reported conversion of Peers to the cause of
honesty and constitutional right—we have always
said that Peers must be created, and that there
existed no other means of saving the country ,
from convulsion and anarchy. Thank heaven,
our cotemporaries of the Press are all of the
same opinion now ; and if so is there not some
ground to suppose the community think with us ?
A Cabinet Council was held yesterday, which 3
lasted during four hours. We cannot, of
course, be supposed to know every thing that ri g
transpired at it, but we know that the subjects of
discussion wei e the creation of new Peers, and b
the selection of individuals for promotion, and
that the Cabinet was unanimous upon both _
points. Earl Grey leaves town to-day for
Brighton, on a visit to his Majesty, and for the
purpose of taking his final commands upon the r
subject. The King is firm ; and there is, there-
fore, no doubt of the result ; for who shall
vanquish both King and people ?—Morning
Advertiser.