The Sun.
London, England, 1826-03-11 00:00:00

T tr. LONDON JOURNALS'.

DAILY
Extractsfrom the Morning Popers,Mareh 11)1826.

[BRITISH PRESS. I
Great credit is due to Mr. Peel for having
turned his attention to the consolidation of our
Criminal Laws ; it is a task of great labour, but
it, is one which, if effectively executed, will en-
title him to live in the grateful remembrance of
posterity. Centuries ago the great Lord Bacon
said, addressing himself to his Sovereign, " your
people are so ensnared in a multitude of Penal
Laws, that the execution of them cannot be
borne." This great .Tudge complained of the
excessive accumulation of the Statutes in his day,
and yet they were then comprised in two vo-
lumes! The mere enumeration of the offences to
Which our penal enactments relate would at pre-
•sent occupy more space. To extricate them from
the confusion in which they now lie dispersed,
and to reduce them, not only into a reasonable
compass, but into a rational order, is a labour
from which a mind of ordinary strength would
shrink with dismay. But great, however, as this
service of arrangement will be, there is a task of
not less difficulty, but of infinitely greater Import-
ance still behind, the revision of the Criminal Laws
themselves, the imperfection of which have long
been a subject of complaint by all our leading
lawyers, statesmen, and moralists, who have
made our system of Penal Legislation the subject
of public comment. Blackstone, after remarking
strongly on the defects of our Criminal Code,
goes on to say," these have chiefly arisen from
too scrupulous an adherence to some rules of the
ancient Common Law, when the reasons have
ceased upon which those laws were founded."
When we consider how much the security of pro-
perty depends upon the perfection of this branch
of our laws, it is manifestly of the utmost comie-
quence, not only that they should be methodized,
but that they should receive that amendment
which they so essentially require, and which the
welfare of the community has long► and so ur-
gently called for. We trust it is Mr. Peel's in-
tention to submit them to this philosophic sur-
.vey. The task cannot be entrusted to better
hands.

rill': TIMES.]

In the paper pre,ented to Par and en-

titled '' Civil Contingencies, we find, among
many cuiloui articles, the following charge for
the year 18'25, viz.—" Commission for inquiring
" into the state of his Majesty's settlements, the
" Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, and Mauritius,
on account of salary and contingent expences,
".and including 1,0001. outfit to Commissioner
" Blair, 13,6481. ls. 10d."—What a sum is here!

--and for what ? We should like to know if the

public have received any value for the above ex-
penditure of near 14,0001.? The Commissioners,
among other things, were appointed for the pur.
pose of inquiring into, and reporting on, abuses
committed at the Cape ; and of checking, if it had
been po.sible, the proceedings of Lord Charles
Somerset. The proof that they had performed
the first part of their duty would have been
an official statement of what they saw and ascer-
tained iu the shape of public abuse ; and the
'best evidence of their activity in the second
branch of it', would have been the reformation of
the Governor, or his recall to England. Now we

lament to say, that in neither division of the im-
portant duty intrusted to them, do these well-
paid Commissioners of Inquiry appear to have
rained or deserved their emoluments. They have
not—(at least Parliament and the public know
nothing of o—they have not transmitted a single
report to Etlghtid ; all the intelligence which

exists respecting the alleged malpractices of the
Colonial Governor and his dependents being de-
rived front private letters, echoing the general
voice of the colonists, and heaping one reproach
upon anoilier against the obnoxious person who
chnrged.with having oppressed and trampled
eni his fellow-subjects. So long as his Lordship
-shall
hold his government, it must be presumed
thet the inquiry has been conducted in. a manner
calculated to favour and support him ; and thus
that, instead of making a pecuniary effort to get
,rid-of at grievance universally exclaimed against,
•tbe-public has, In addition to his enormous salary,
paid It squad of Commissioners makty thousand
pounds to. keep Lord Charles Somerset in office!

[r4 u'tv TIMES.,

The folinwing,of time tilt. 17th instant, is from

a Dutch Correspondent :---The steam-bout will
resume her station to•morrow week, and sail re-
gularly from Rotterdam every Wednesday ; and
early in April We shall have the communication
opened twice a week by steam. The States Cott•
rant, of yesterday, contained official accounts of
the military operations in Java, to the V2th of
October ; but their interest must be superseded
'by arrivals on your side, of vessels with later ac-
counts. From the official accounts, as published

, .
here, it is however ►lain that a harassing and pro.
tracted warfare is carrying on aping the Dutch,
and that the safety of the colony will continue to
cost the Mother Country dear. The legi,dative
measure necessary to authorise the Government to

contract the lOati required for Java, has het•n got
through ; and some cariosity is now excited to

know~ what steps will be taken to raise the
'money, in the present unfavourabie juncture.
The Royal Trading Company's bonds are 1% to
14 per cent. lower than other descriptions of
Stock, which Os 41. per cent. interest is guarani.
teed to them by Government, opens a field
for comment. Money is scarce here, us well
at in other places, at present; but, neverthe-
less, the crisis in the commercial world ha 4 led
to no great disasters here. The general re.
Striction or credit has led to some sacrifices
of goods, anti about eight thousand 'bags of
co ee have, within these few days; been sold
for ready money, at the low rates of 6 to ,fif
ativers• The article must, it is supposed, remain
depressed, for arrivals continue to take place:--,
TiOtaytian subkidy is to be paid in coffee, and the
iinual export from the Havannah is enormously
14ereasing, besides which, the commercial' and
financial distress of Germany is very great, and
tile means of the consumers of the articles ,are