The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have read an account of certain proceedingsat the
petty sessions of Dorset,,July 29, and have been heart-
,
tilthj:n
by them. Six little boys, four from six years old
to or nine, and the two eldest of the party about
ten years of age, were brought up before the magis,
tratesbefore magistrates assembled in Sessions !.—for the
crime of stealing apples in an orchard! ! The poor
little things uttered piteous cries on being dragged into
this formidable presence—they had, as it seems, no
parents near them. The deadly offence was said to
have been committed during church time. A. constable
diseovered one of the parties to the prosecutor : this child,
of Course,lon being questioned, 'peached; and six' others
were laid bold of, who likewise confeseed themselves
guilty. The four little ones, it appeared, had been enticed
by the bigger ones—that is, an infant of six years was
bribed by one of ten, offering him a halfpenny—and bul-
lied, by having " his hat thrown over the orchard wall
"before him," to Clamber in and bring away two or three
bandsfull of pears and apples to his seducer, who waited
outside the wall to receive them. This was the atrocity
for which the miserable little creatures were brought be-
fore the frowning majesty of public justice. The gentle-
men on the bench, as is reported,.seemed to shudder—
well they might—at the thought Of destroying the sense
of shame in such untutored children, of exposing them to
the,corruptions of a prison, and rendering them callous to
thadisgrace of it. The case, besides, was still more cruel,
because the only evidence of guilt that existed waS drawn
froth the confessions of the children themselves—confes-,,
sions extorted under extreme terror. It is inferred, we know
not with how much truth,by the reporter, that feelings akin
to revenge' on the pert Of the prosecutor were at the bottom
of this extraordinary accusation; for, indeed, it is stated
to have been alleged that the two eldest nrchini had been
expelled u Sunday-school patronized by the prosecutor,
for not attending church so regularly as he wished them
on t!,ie Sabbath. The poor little beings were all this
while crying most piteously, and deprecating: the ven-
vatinee which pursued them, but in vain : their .extorted
confession was urged by some humane spectator, as a plea
against the legality of the evidence on which they were
accused; but the Act of Parliament was brought forward
on the other side, and parchMent, we all know, is not
incumbent' with bowels--no, nor is a linen surplice either,
if we ,may judge by facts; for, on reading through the re-
port of this disgraceful and disgusting business, in the
hope Of seeing that, as the children had. no parents Or re-
latives to protect them, the clergyman of their parish at
least might have sent some parochial functionary to take
care that-common justice was
,administered to his infant
flock, we perceived with horror, that no such friend was
near them, but that the Rev. George Chamberlain, rector
orthe parish, hi:itself attended, and discharged the pipus
office of a pastor, by helping to consign the ,babes and
sueklings, under his own guardianship,for different periods
t 0.., 4retulmill I 1-2Vinee.

It is well known that the Joint-Stock frauds have fur.
nished Material for'the manufacture of several new mem.
berm of Parliament, The gains of dishonest cupidity have
been, in more instances than one, applied to the purposes
of political ambition. The jobbing which took place in
the last Parliament respecting► delusive schemes was bad
and disgraceful enough—the infusion of a new portion of
sordid:ingenuity into the represntation is not likely to im-
prove the dignity or wisdom of the Legislature. After
the South-sea scheme, several Members were, expelled the
House who had participated in the profits of that abomi-
nable transaction, lint so niuce has our moral sensibility
adVaneed in the present enlightened age that no Member
of either Pouse who shared in the Joint-Stock frauds of
the present day has been thought to dishonoUr the House,
or ordered to withdraw himself from its society. On the
contrary, the (louse itself is made an object of further
speculation with those who have already •pocketed-by the
most scandalous contrivances,. the money of the deluded
public. Mr. Clarke at the meeting.of the Cornwall and
Devonshire Mining Company, said that n fraud to the
nTOP9t, or 19)0001, has bean .committeti in that concern.
Let this sum,- be applied to the making of Member* of
Parliament, and what result will it give ? Estimating
the priceiof ii seat at the; average of 5,000/., here we have
"material" for the manufacture of, eight Members of Par-
liament. Now; five frauds of the nature describedby Mr.
"Clarke' 'and of the extent, would furnish material for the
manufacture of forty Membera of Parliament, the number
that constitutes a House. and is sufficient to vote away all
the money of the nation 1 . But instead of five, how many
bOndreds of those fratidii hive we not witnessed within
the last two yetkrB, until we.do not know whether to be
more astonished at the andacioua depravity of the contri-
vers of such,sehemes, or the hopeless folly of their vic-
tims I—Mtrening.Herald.
Notwithetandig the long accounts in 'some of 'papers,
atilt the decay of trade mid matiellectures, and the stag-
nation of commerce, scarcely any one feet of importance
can be gleanedfrom them. The greater part of the state-
ments may be_regarded as, idle gossip, and quite of a piece
with that which sometimes comes from the City, manu-
factured en the Royal Exchange, by ii few individuals,
whose interests are immediately concerned. The one de-
serves just about as much credit OR the other. Though
these doleful strains are chaunted dity after day, it seems
evident to almost every ono, that things, as they are call-
ed, both in the manufacturing district* and in the com-
mercial world in general, are on the tern for the better.--
lii other woiti4 fewer goods have been made lately by the
pnwer-looms and other machinery, the consumption has
remained Much about the aame, and the consequence is,
that the supply and demand are gradually approximating,
and probably will soon he alike. Indeed, it is not un-
likely dust ,if. things . remain
..in, this state for some time
to come, the demand will weed the supply.. This is
a natural connequenee of the stop put to machinery in so
many parts of England, and we trust that the manufacturers
aleisolt from the. past, and be cautious how they
again Put their machinery in Motion, in the way they have
done of late years. About a year ago the production of
goods was so rapid, and' on such a large scale, that the
whole world would hardly havoibeen requisite to fattish
a market for the supply. We trust,, therefore, in case,Of
• the revieal of trade, that some moderation will be evinced
in the use of the power-looms and other machinery, and
that, those, who put, them in motion will not act on the
principle that seemed to have actuated our manufacturers
for the last tweety years: Their only object has been not
to=proportion the supply to the demand, but to produce
the greatest possible quantity of goods in a given time,
*Omit considering what market they should find for
than.; whereas their caleulation ought to have been,
whether if a thousand pieces of any description had been
thrown off, they should be elite to sell them, and, if sold,
get
.peid. Such a 'calculation 'never,appeers to have been
entered into. They all forgot. that .it was possible to
overstoek the market, and that what was good reasoning
for fifty years past, might be bad reasoning for fifty years
to come. When Sir 'Robert Peel commenced business,
a block printer could not 'print a piece of calico in less
than two or three days The same may be effected now
by machinery in one or twit minutes. Sir Robert thought
if he printed 1,000 pieces in one week at his different
establishments,' he did, well. Of bite., hewever, a calico
printer was thought nothing of who did not throw off froM
3,000 to 5,000 pieces in one week. When so many werejoing
on at this rate, and every one strivingto eexcel:enather in
.
the quantity of goods produced,tos it b A
? e_ll these cir-
wentlered!it
that the market 'should be over-stocked
cumstances, however, seem to
have escaped the notice of
our manufacturers; and, nothing, perhaps, but the late re-
vulsion could have opened their eyes, and brought them to
Alta senses. 'Percy Mist now ,be aware that these have
been the chief, if not the only causesof the glut in the
English, and in every foreign market for. This, however
a al-
ti been the case in one branch of business only,
most every description of trade and
manu rAC tures was
overdone in a similar manner. The consumption could
the
:not nor did not keep pall:1110, Of rig increase m. d r
production, and eonsequ. ,entitUttr d aPPLI" • °

tA;;\

ift its

some time, to languish. The time, however, appears to
have arrived when articles of every description are more
proportioned to the demand—the imports are fewer than
they were last year; the consumption remains about the
same, and the supply and the demand are becoming more
nearly balanced. In consequence of the cheapness, too, of
all sorts of imported commodities, foreigners are frequenting
England in greater numbers than formerly, and helping to
carry off the surplus. By, and by the markets will be re-
lieved; the goods will gradually be cleared out of the
warehouses, not only in England but in every foreign
state ; and if our manufacturers do not return to
their old system of striving who 'should make the
most goods, it is probable that in time the demand
will exceed the supply. The panic will then be
all on the other side, and the country papers will
be filled with long and flaming accounts of the improve-
ment and prosperity of trade. Nothing can be more pre-
posterous than to suppose, as some do, that trade can
become extinct ; for so long as there are people in the
country there must be trade; and if the people are pro-
tected in their properties and lives, and allowed to live in
peace—if they enjoy rational freedom—if they are not
harassed with passports and other foolish obstructions to
trade, as in foreign countries—if they have the good for-
tune to live under a King who does not interfere with
the liberties of the people, who institutes no prosecutions
for libel against himself, who allows every one to enjoy
his own opinions, political as well as religious, and act in
any way he may think fit, provided he does not disturb
public tranquillity—if, in short, the lives and properties of
the people continue to be thus protected, and their
thoughts remain free, we may rest assured that the coun-
try will remain populous, and trade will flourish as an ine-
vitable consequence. The trade caused by births, mar-
riages, and deaths alone, as we mentioned some days ago,
amounts of itself to no trifle. This, however, when com-
pared with the whole of the internal trade of the coun-
try, will not appear of great moment. The latter has
been computed by some at one thousand millions annually.
Thus a tax of five per cent. on the internal trade of the
country, would produce a revenue sufficient to pay the
interest of the debt, and the apenees of Government.—
Moraine. Herald.

The following communication relates to a very great
evil in our Judicial system—the crying abuse of making
remanent:. Our Correspondent observes, that the public
had reason to expeet that the Judges would devote suffi-
cient time for the discharge of their duties on the Circuit,
since the addition made' to their 'salaries. We rather sup-
pose that the defect lies in the system itself. Before the
addition to the salaries; the Judges,.we believe, were eel-
(him accused of not leading a very laborious life; and if
they tasked their strength "to the utmost, an addition to
their salary. could not enable them to go through more
business. But, if the Judges, are not equal to the labour,
a new arrangement ought to be adopted—a matter, one
would think, of no , great difficulty—if a sincere desire
existed to consider the public interest as well as the .con-
Venience of Lawyers:—
Since the increase that has been made in' the salaries of the
Judges (made too at a period of unexamplg national distress), the
public hall reason to expect that they would. devote sufficient time
for the discharge of their duties on the Ciicuit, and that the crying
abuse of making remanenta would be discontinued. That expel.
tation, we regret to say, has been 'disappointed. Remanent: have
been made at many places at the present Summer Assizes • arid at
Shrewsbury, not less than six important causes have been left un-
tried. A similar number was left at one town on the last Western

Circuit. The expence occasioned to the parties by this practice,
Minty nothing of the vexation and disappointment occasioned by
it, is most enormous. But great as these evils are, they are bi-
lling, compared with the failure of justice it often produces,
either by the death or disease, of witnesses, or inability front a va-
riety of reasons to come a second time to an Assize Town at an in-
terval of eight mouths.
is,difficult to imagined that teatime of conduct, productive
of au Much grievance, should have been so long,peraisted in by
the respectable individuals in question, every one of whom, we
hesitate not. to tulutiti in his private character, would most eon-
' Scientiously avoid the infliction of .any. injury. It .con otliY he
accounted, for by the force of precedent, which is too otosn fol-
lowed, without, consideration, especially in the law, • Tiothlog can
he osier than to provide a remedy for this mischief; .:betas the
judges do nor scent dispostml to apply it, Parliament is called upon
to interfere. It tray be difficult .to calculate with precision the
exact number of days necessary for the business at each place, Pe-
erage the business to be done cmi,not be ascertained until the
Assizes commence ; but when time enough has not been allowed,:
and the judges are obliged to go into another County to open the
commission, they may always return to try the causes they leave
behind them, and for which purpose a formal adjournment should
always be proclaimed., After the most liberal and even generous
treatment the 'Judges have recently experiencied, no objection can
be anticipated to this marks* on their pert, on the ground of its
ahbreViating their vticatiopek but should this be alleged by them,
they , must be taught thatillicir private convenience cannot any
Inn" be °4l3oted 'l4 lArtio'llarr at Intelt expence of the
pubima interests..-./goraino Chronicle..