The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-23 00:00:00

HIGH WATER, AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THUS DAT—Morn. 29 min. r.ft. 2 —Even. 55 min. aft. 2
To•Moznow—Mom. 40 min.. aft. 12—Even., 9 min. aft. I

TUE WEATTIER--Sum OFFICE, JUNE 23.
THERMOYSTER, IN Ti SHADE.
60-14-weat thin m orni
hest Blase noon esterday.
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Ind during tlae night.
74 "414 dal UOOD.

BANAMTEB, 30.27.
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"4.8* light, with fine summer weather.

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LONDON' :TUESDAY, (TUNE 23, 1857.

Sir CHARLES BARRY wad again hauled over the
coals, last evening, in the Lower rion3"- of Par-
liament. Aa usual to no practical good purpose
whatever in the way of diminishing the old ex-
travagant expenditure complained of, loudly._
but still persisted in, pertinaciously ! It is the
old, lamentable, muddling, intolerable story all
over again :---Parliament grumbling and paying,
and Sir CHARLES BARRY all the while (down to
the very end of the chapter) entirely unsatisfled.
The only possible solution to this bewildering
problem, the only credible explanation of this
otherwise inscrutable mystery, the only conceivable
Clue through this most involved and intricate

of labyrinths must, we take it, be the very one
hit upon last night by Mr. MALINS, when ho said
that "this story, in fact, like every other he had
ever heard of, has two sides to it 1" Beyond all
doubt, that is the only imaginable loophole of
escape left to us out of all this whirl of " confu-
sion worse confounded." And, as affording direct
corroboration of its easily-conceivable accuracy,
we find floating, as it were, upon the very surface
of the squabble the following particulars :
Parliament is indignant with Sir CHARLES BARRY
because he has already received 54,7531.—
whereas not more than 25,0001., at the very
utmost, had been originally fixed upon as the
amount of his remuneration. Sir CHAS. BARRY,
on the other hand, is indignant in his turn be-
cause, while other architects (as a rule) are paid
at the one average rate of 5 per cent. upon the
outlay—HE, the architect, not of an individual,
but of the Imperial Legislature itself, is remune-
rated with a beggarly 3 per cent, instead—con-
trary, as we have said, to the customary scale in
his profession.

Yes—there are, without doubt, two sides to
this story as to all other stories. Mr. MALINS
was in the right. The Honourable Gentleman
has, we repeat, hit it. This, after all, is the only
explanation. It is nothing more than a new
illustration of a very old comedy—All in the Wrong.
Parliament and Sir CHARLES BARRY are both
enormously to blame—and yet, at the same time,
shamefully illtreated. The architect (for the most
part) has received only a paltry 3 per cent, upon
the outlay—amounting, it is true, already to the
respectable aggregate of considerably more than
50,0001. sterling. And the Treasury at the same
time has had to bleed (to " drop its blood for
drachmas ") to the extent of—well, the sums really
are not very easily calculable ! At any rate, with
a view to give some faint idea of these
enormous disbursements, let us say that one simple
estimate, under 300,0001., was originally voted
by the House of Commons for this purpose some
years back—when it was first proposed to erect
the new Legislative Palace at Westminster.
Truly " one simple estimate" under 300,0001. !
For in lieu of that sufficing as a maximum—
a minimum of 2,000,0001. has already been
exceeded ! Then —as we have said nearly
300,0001. was voted as the necessary sum for the
construction of the new Houses, or, rather,
Palaces of Parliament. In 1854 there was ano-
ther estimate of 284,0001., just to finish with
according to the assurance then given to Parlia-
ment by the late lamented Sir W. MOLESWORTH.
Nevertheless, in 1855 there was also voted and
spent (beyond that 284,0001.) a huge total of
1,700,0001. And now, in 1857, Ministers
have taken another vote of 162,0001. addi-
tional ! And even this won't be the last
by any means—we may be sure of it. It
would be the extreme of the most ridiculous
credulity to imagine it. At any rate there are
two or three reflections that come in to our aid—
in the midst of all this lavish expenditure—by
way of consolation. It is consolatory to remember,
for example, that while we are (no doubt of it)
paying for the luxury beyond all anticipation—
we are building up for the admiration of future
times one of th© noblest monuments this age Aill
leave of its splendour, of its wealth, and of its
munificence. It is immediately consolatory also
for ourselves—forgetting posterity, that is to say,
and thinking only of ourselves, of this present
generation—it is immediately consolatory to
remember that we have an able and conscientious
administrator at the head of our public works
department—a man who is resolutely bent upon
steering a medium course between the extremes of
parsimony and extravagance. It is not yet quite
two years since Sir BENJAMIN HALL first occupied
his present delicate and responsible position—the
right hon. baronet having been appointed to the
office on the 24th of July, 1855—and already
he has extorted a panegyric from the honourable
Member for Lambeth (the recognised successor of
Mr. JOSEPI HUME, as the Economical Auditor-
General of the Public Accounts), " Wiscount
Wimems," as Punch calls him—W. W. the
Incorruptible ! Quoth Mr. WILLIAMS, last even-
ing in the House of Commons, " The Right Hon.
Baronet (Sir B. HALL) is, in fact, the first Com-
missioner of Works who has offered any decided
check to Sir CHARLES BARRY." Surely that is
saying a great deal—that is giving us some con-
solation, some immediate and substantial consola-
tion ! Sir BENJAMIN is our " check" upon Sir
CHARLES BARRY. But while we say this do not
let us forget, in extenuation, or, rather, in expla-
nation, of the conduct of the last-mentioned—
the Great Architectural Delinquent and
Adorner of the Age—that he (Sir CHARLES
BARRY) has had to work onwards, as best
he could, through all the grand conglom-
merated obstructions of our system of circumspec-
tion ! He has had to act under all sorts of con-
flicting Committees, and Boards, and Commissions!
Under a Committee of Taste, and a Committee of
the Fine Aits !—a Committee of Inquiry and a
Committee of Supervision !—a Kitchen Com-
mittee, and a Committee of we don't know what
other department ! Consulting now with the
Treasury, and now with the Board of Works, and
now again with the Treasury—and so on almost
interminably. So that if we will have our Go-
vernment conducted upon the principle of circum-
locution—very well, in that case, we Must con-
sent to pay the penalty !

The first fruits of the labours of the Statute
Law Commissioners, were last night laid before the
House of Peers in the shape of Eight bills, conso-
lidating the laws with respect to larceny (including
burglary), malicious injuries to property, forgery,
offences relating to the coinage, the game laws,
libel, and the laws relating to tho accessories to
offences. They are not, it appears, merely conso-
lidations, inasmuch as the amendments suggested
by the Criminal Law Commissioners have been
embodied in the different bills, as if they had
already received the Legislative sanction. This is
in accordance with a very judicious resolution of
the Upper House in 1854. It is to be regretted,
however, that the bills only relate to the Statute
Law, leaving untouched the Common or unwritten
Law. The great object of obtaining the whole
law in relation to a particular subject in a single
statute, so clear and intelligible that any
person may know what ho is required to do--
and what he must leave undone, with the
nature and extent of the penalties to which ho will
be liable, in the event of a wrongful act either of
omission or commission, will not bo completely
attained.

It will, however, be a decided step in ad-
vance, a movement in the right direction, from
which we may anticipate further improvements
that will eventually place the criminal laws of
England in as satisfactory a position as that to
Which those of France were elevated by the Code
Napoleon. At present the English lawyer is
compelled to examine some 50 volumes, of gigan-
tic dimensions
have been repealed,—
a large proportion of which
others may be regarded as
obsolete, while in many instances there are con-
flicting enactments. All those matters must be
considered, and, if possible, reconciled. " The
glorious uncertainty of the law" is thus produced,