The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-14 00:00:00

rendering any defence of the project unneces-
sary, and of passing off a sufficient quantum of
praise upon the individual supposed to be
aimed at. An artifice of this kind (for we
can call it nothing else), appears to have
been resorted to by some of the speakers at
the late meeting of the Mendicity Society, who
would fain have the world believe that
the marked and general condemnation the So-
ciety has received from the public Press, ori-
ginates solely in personal hostility to• some one
or more of its officers or promoters. For our-
selves, we beg to disclaim unequivocally any such
motives. Our hostility is to the Society itself
upon principle, as one which we consider 'to be
wholly unnecessary, and having, probably with
very fair intentions, done infinitely more harm
than good. It is not necessary to enter into the
question of Mendicity to show how far it is to a cer-
tain degree unavoidable, or how far it is just or
advisable to declare war upon private charity, or
harden the heart against its best propensities. But
admitting, for the sake of argument, that in
' a country where provision is presumed to be
made by law for every condition of human suf-
. fering, public begging ought on no account to
be tolerated, then we contend that the law has
provided ample means for its suppression ; and
that for a private society to assume the partial
doing of that which the police and parish
' officers ought to execute generally and impar-
tially, is a gratuitous and unnecessary tax
upon the community, and an interference
with established institutions, which if tolerated
in one case may grow into a dangerous and
mischievous precedent in others. With the
mode in which the Society may have ex-
ercised its assumed functions we do not wish
to interfere, still less are we inclined to listen to
the tales of those whom it may have disappointed
in the expectations they may have had of perma-
nent relief—but we must say that there is one
feature in its constitution which, as it curries a
false colouring upon the face of it, we most de-
cidedly condemn—we mean the practice of nam-
ing some of its officers as '6 honorary," which im-
plies, we presume, that they take office merely for
the honour of the thing►, when the smallest know-
ledge of human nature must show, were there no
proofs to bear it out, that their real object is
either to get money, or notoriety, which is often
money's worth. This is one of those species of
modern humbug against which we always have,
and always shall, set our faces. It for the
most part, too flimsy a pretext to impose upon
any hut the most egregious dupes ; and, in, the
case of this Society, has done more to set the sen-
sible part of time public against it, than any thing
which can have beers gained from the few who
have not had the penetration to see through so
shallow a proceeding. Truth and openness ought
to be time ground-work of every kind of success ;
and if those who volunteer the task of detecting
imposture begin by using it themselves, we are
hound to assist in unmasking it, and must rejoice
at its failure and exposure.

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]
We agree with Sir Francis Burdett, that with
respect to the Petition for Reform from Edits-
burgh, " it is not possible to support that parti-
cular question unconnected with the general
question of Parliamentary Reform." There is
but one question, namely, whether a Govern-
ment can be carried on which is subject to the
controul of a representation strictly popular ?
If it be determined that a fair, popular
representation, be incompatible with Monar-
chial Government, we have nothing to say. But
if it be determined that the people, to be free,
must be fairly represented, then we say, that if the
Representation of the Empire in general be not
fair, it is of comparatively little cconsequence
what the Representation of any particular place
may be. If the improvement of the Represen-
tation of any particular place were to be deci-
sively felt in Parliament, the petition from Edin-
tturgh might be of more consequence. But how-
ever gratifying it might be fairly represent.
ed, so long as the extension of the right
of suffrage to them would not materially
affect the general result, we do riot take
any great interest in the general, question. We
do not think that Scotland ought to enjoy any
particular favours at the expence of the country
at large. The system of popular Representation
is either good, or it is not. But it is clear enough
that the people of Scotland enjoy great advantages
from their having all the benefit of the Repre-
sentation of the Empire at large, while they are
exempt from the consequences to which popular
suffrage leads. For instance, we are firmly per-
suaded that one great cause of the superiority of
the Scotch agriculture over that of England, is
the perfect freedom of the trade of farming in
Scotland. If there were elections in Scotland such
as prevail in England, the land would not be let to
independent tenants on leases, but possessed by te-
nants at will, as four-fifths of the land of England
are possessed.ltis quite impossible that land can be
well cultivated while the tenant is not secure by
lease. It is, therefore, one question, whether the
people shall be freely represented in Parliament;
and another, whether a particular part of the
country shall or shall not he represented ? There
is no part of Scotland which could not easily
lind Englishmen to attend to its interests,if Scotch-
men were to hang back ; so that es far as com-
munication between the people and the [Aegis.
lature is concerned, the present partial system
would not give rise to any very great ieconve.
Idol' re. if the Empire at large be not effected by
the change in the representation of Scotland, we
do not see why the giving Representatives to
Edinburgh should be deemed a matter of much
consequence. It is not, as wehave said, our business
to concern ourselves with the advantage of parti.
vular parts of the Empire; our business is the pro-
sperity of the Empire in general. But were we to
speak us SCOlClunell, without regard to the interest
of the Empire in general, we should say, leave us
as we are ;—if you introduce the English system,
you introduce that slavishness on the part of the
tenantry necessary to give the landlord a corn.
mend over them,, which is unknown in Scotland.
No sensible Scotcliman can SUIVOSEI that there is
any thing in the inferiority of his climate which
secures the indepeudance of the Tenantry.

The Landlords in Scotland are independent of
the Tenants for Election purposes, and there-
fore the trade in land is perfectly free. The
Government of England is Aristocratical ; and
as far as party is concerned, though Scotland pos-
sess not even a vestige of popular election, it gives
as many Members to the Opposition as England
gives. The difference between England and
Scotland is, that more money is spent in publinc,-
houses in the former ; the result is pretty much
the same in both; for the people have, in reality,
as little to do with representation in England, as
in Scotland.

[BRITISH PRESS.]
We cannot help entreating the attention of the
public to the statement of the Committee, on
iVednesday last, respecting the Distress in Spital-
fields. It has already excited the sympathies
of the benevolent to a most praiseworthy extent,
and the pressure of calamity has been hitherto
lightened to a degree that must be most consol-
ing to those by whose beneficence so much good
has been effected. But it appears that the nearly
exhausted state of the funds has compelled the
Committee to reduce the scale of allowance to the
distressed Silk-weavers, and that the funds will
not much longer afford even this diminished and
inadequate relief. It is not always that those
who appeal to public benevolence are reduced to
misery by unavoidable misfortunes; but in the
case of the weavers of Spitalfields, we know
that their sufferings are not occasioned by their own
fault ; the charity extended to them can be open
to no abuse ; there is no employment for their
industry, and without the aid of those whom
God has blessed with wealth, their state is hope-
less. The Committee, we perceive, " suggest to
those ladies of distinction, whose example would
be influential,the propriety of ordering British silks
at their mercers as the most likely method of fur-
nishing employment for the distressed weavers ;"
and no doubt if the demand for this branch of
manufacture could be created by the influence of
fashionable example, or in any other manner,
much might be done towards giving bread to this
class of workmen and their families, who, when
the present donations are expended, will he
thrown destitute and without resource upon the
world. Great praise is due to the Bishop of
Chester, and to the other persons to whom the
management and disposal of the funds are especially
confided, for their unwearied and successful
endeavours so to apportion the amount of the
contributions, as to render them as extensively
serviceable as possible. The parish funds are
becoming every day more inadequate to the
relief of the families of the many thousand
Weavers whose looms are idle, and the gene-
ral poverty of the inhabitants of Bethnal-green,
and its neighbourhood, makes it quite im-
possible that the poor-rates can be increased to
an amount at all adequate to the demands that
would flow in, should the Committee be unable,
from the failure of their funds, to afford further
relief to the sufferers. But we feel satisfied,
from the deep interest which their situation has
already excited, that the urgent and affecting ap-
peal made by the Committee will not be with-
out its effect.

PORT Of LotinoN.—The trade of London em.
ploys about 3,500 ships, the cargoes enteri►ig the
Port being not less than 13,500 ; on an average,
I,IOU ships are in the River at one time ; to-
gether with 3,419 barges and other small craft,
employed in lading and unlading them ; 2,288
barges and other craft engaged in the inland
trade, and 3000 wherries or small boats for pas-
sengers. To this ective scene, which the Port of
London exhibits, are to be added about 8,000
watermen actually employed in navigating the
wherries and craft ; 4,000 labourers lading and
unlading ships, and 1,200 Revenue Officers con-
stantly doing duty on the River, besides the
crows of the several vessels. This scene occu-
pies a space of six miles o►r the Thames, from
two miles above to four below London Bridge
and Limehonse•

In GREAT BIIITAIN, the number individuals in
a state to bear arms, from the age of 15 to 60, is
2,744,847. The number of marriages is about
98,039 yearly, and it has been remarked, that in
63 of these unions there were only three which
had no issue. The number of deaths is- about
332,708 yearly, which makes nearly 25,592
monthly, 6,398 weekly, 914 daiiy,and 40 hourly.
The deaths among the women are in propor-
tion to those of the men as 50 to 54. The
married women live longer than those who con•
tinue in celibacy. In the country, the mean term
of the number of children produced by each mar-
riage is 4;. in towns the proportion is seven
for every two marriages. The number of mar-
ried women is, to the general number of indi-
viduals of the sex as one to three ; and the num-
ber of married men, to that of all the individuals
of the male sex, as three to ave. The number of
widows is to that of widowers as three to one ;
but the number of widows who marry again, is
to that of the widows in the same case, as seven
to fOur. The individuals who inhabited elevated
situations live longer than those who rettide in
less elevated places. The half of the individuals
die before attaining the age of seventeen years.
The number of twins is to that of ordinary births
as Ito 65. According to calculations founded
upon the bills of mortality, one individual only
in 3,126 attains the age of 100 years. The num-
ber of births 'of the male sex is to that of the
female sex as 96 to 95.—( Edinburgh Philosophi-
cal Journal.)
ORTHOGRAPIIY.—The following specimen of
correct orthography was exhibited a short time
since upon a tree at the door of a public-house in
the village of I3ickleigh, near Plymouth. A
London traveller, who chanced to put up there,
seeing the precious specimen, observed that the
person who wrote it was but a middling hand at
inditing.---" Railing, February 27, 1826-2
Gound pieces, And some Chinia, and a Silk
handkerchief, and some Cotton hankerchiefs,and
some Wascotes picess, Anti 'Sonic Cotton Shells,
and some Ileggings, and some Maganass Rum.
mers, and other Artiquils too many to menshon,
and every ticket
prize, to be railing for at
Monday Evening at the Church Inn Bicklei,—
February 27th, 1826.