The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-09 00:00:00

THE RECORDER OF BULL,

What has happened to our learned and eloquent
Recorder ? How is it that he has commenced the
Sessions business of the new year without the
delivery of one of these luminous charges to the
grand jury with which he delighted, instructed,
and, we hope, improved many more than the throng
which filled his court, on every previous occasion,
since his appointment as Recorder of the borough
of Kingston-upon-Hull ? It cannot be that he
regards them as good seed that fell among thorns,
or was scattered by the wayside, or was strewn
upon a rock. We published every word of them
to be read extensively in Yorkshire, and only to
see them the day afterwards transferred entire
into the columns of two or three of the London
daily papers. Surely this is fame, and success,
such as ought rather to prompt to continued
labours in the same direction. One of them we
know was even destined to higher celebrity. It
was the one in which the Recorder dwelt upon
the danger and the folly of maid-servants dress-
ing above their stelt;oP• Navin Teaohed the !
hands of Miss Burdett Colitis, that lady had it re-
printed as a tract, and circulated for the benefit
young people in her neighbourhood, and in attend-
ance at schools in which she took an interest.
Under these circumstances, we are to some extent
warranted in inquiring what has induced the
Recorder to leave us without a charge at the com-
mencement of the new year I' At all events, we
are warranted in expressing a hope that he will
not persist in restricting his observations to the
mere business of directing attention to the state of
the calendar. Why should the gifted author of
a "Diary of a late Physician" not continue to do
for Hull what Mr. Recorder Hill has so long and
so ably done for Birmingham—make his charges a
vehicle for elevating, improving, and refining the
moral character of the people ! The trial of pri-
soners must afford an intelligent, enlightened, and
vigorous-minded judge unusual opportunities of
tracing the connexion between miserable dwell-
ings, crowded with wretched inmates, and desti-
tute of the means of observing the laws of
common sexual decency, and that profligacy,
which inevitably leads to an appearance in
the felon's dock. This is a subject which requires to
be dwelt upon by the judges, not once, but scores
of times. At present the poor are pushed and hud-
dled out of sight that the eye of staid respectability
may not be offended by their raga, tatters, and gene-
ral squalor. If they fall into arrear of rent it is
competent for their landlords to sell their little
furniture at a fifth of its value, and even purchase
it themselves at that price, and then throw them
naked and destitute upon the street without the
least fear of legal consequences. Many of the
poor arc too ignorant to know when they are
wronged, and for those who do the law is a luxury
which they have no means of purchasing. Judges
might do an immense deal by calling the atten-
tion to the sufferings of this class, capable of
being easily and socially remedied. We have
often felt surprised that among our philanthropic
associations, there appears to be none for protect-
ing the legal rights of the poor. Magistrates do
their best, and in Hull we have an excellent Stipen-
diary Magistrate, who does all he can in the way of
protecting and advising them ; but more is wanted,
and especially more is desirable, in the recommend-
ing on high, social, sanitary, and moral grounds, a
7c-neral improvement in their dwellings. We touch
upon this question to show how much there remains
to do, and how unwilling we ere that our learned
and eloquent Recorder should be content to sit
mute in the midst of such disorder. What is it to
him if we now and then seem to turn a deaf or an
impatient ear as he wrings our withers too keenly
His words will not be lost. So long as the Press
records them, or there is a youth to listen to them,
they will bear their fruit in due season. Remember
the words of hope for all that speak or act well,
irrespective of immediate results, "Cast thy bread
upon the waters, and after many days it wilt return
to thee." There is a tide whose waves lave the
shores of heaven, and what we cast upon them is
never lest.—llull Advertiser.