The Sun.
London, England, 1828-02-11 00:00:00

disgrace of a public trial, the chance of reform
would be more probable, and an opportunity held
out to them of relinquishing the yet unbeaten
path of criminality. That it appears that the
expense of prosecutions for felony in the county
of Warwick, exclusive of all other offences, be-
fore and after trial, during the period of the
last seven years, was 3.5,0124, being 5,0001. per
annum. That the average expellee of each pro-
secution is about 12/, That the average period
of imprisonment of each person convicted of
felony, including his imprisonment before trial, is
about six months; and as his food during that time
is about 3s. Id, per week, it fellows that each pri-
soner costs the county 16/. I Is. for six months."--
Now Warwickshire Justices have only to ob-
tain 'a copy of an Act of Parliament, 5 Geo. 4,
c. 149, authorising the erection of a Bridewell, and
constituting a summary jurisdiction for the county
-,,f Lanark and city of Glasgow, and to obtain
copies of the Annual,Reports of the Committee en-
trusted with its execution, and they will find at
once bow they may remedy the evil under which
they suffer. The Committee have printed Annual
Reports of the first three years. It appeari by
them that the annual cost of each prisoner in the
county of Lanark and city of Glasgow has been,
In 1824-5 £2 8 5
1825-6 .... 3 14 2
1826-7 3 8 3
_ _

Just about one-tenth part of the cost of a Warwick..
shire criminal. We shall on a future day copy .the
clause of the Act of Parliament, and give some de-
- tails from the Glasgow Reports, and show that it is
really not such a wonderfully difficult matter to
guard against being robbed, by attorneys and jus-
tice-clerks trading in prosecutions, if men could
summon to their aid only a little con-anon sense.—
Morning Chronicle.
We are pleased that Mr. Hume has taken up the
subject of the Savings' Banks. He says that they
c:dst the country half a million a year—not for the
`benefit of the poor, but for the benefit of
those who are fairly off in point of circum-
stances. We have heard many say that they
have doubts whether the Savings Banks for the
poor do good or harm, But why should they be
called Savings' Banks for the Poor ? How can the
poor make deposits ? It is much, i the Savings'
13ariks were looked into, but that most of them
would be found jobs—most of then set a-foot by
people who wanted comfortable salaries for doing
little or nothing. It would not be amiss if a Com-
mittee were appointed to investigate them. Many
of them, we think, would hardly bear the probe.
We have have heard many say that they are great
inducements for servants to rob their masters and
mistresses, in order that they may may have some-
thing to invest.-Ilforning Herald.
The annals of Parliament do not, we believe, fur-
nish an instance of a more valuable and elaborate
statement than that of Mr. Brougham, or of one in
which the dry technica ides of professional know-
ledge and experience lizre been dressed in such an
attactive form as,to keep tip and elude the fatigue of
six hours' attention. Enemies as we are to long
speeches in general, such a speech as this of Mr.
Brougham forms a striking exception even to such
an antipathy, combining, as it does, that which ,ve
have heretofore described as the best species of ora-
tory—the eloquence of facts. No man could have
brought so vast a body of facts into one oration, had
he not been able, as Mr. Brougham was upon this
occasion, to offer his own personal knowledge and ex-
perietece as a pledge for every one of them ;—such is
the advantage which every man must possess who
understands what he is talking about—an advantage,
by-the-by, which does not belong to all public
speakers, or even great orators. If we have any
thing material to object td in Mr. Brougham's speech,
it is the motion with which it conehided—viz. for an
Address to his Majesty to appoint a Commission to
inquire into the evils complained of. Now, as most
• of these evils are. such as admit of no dispute,
we think Mr. Brougham's object is sure to be
delayed, if not ultimately defeated, by being
referred to Commissioners. If that is black which
ought to be white, and all the world are convinced
of it, we see no use in appointing Commissioners to
iuquire into a fact which nobody disputes. On the
contrary, we know, from experience, that there is
such a thing as frittering away and mistifying the
most obvious truths, and that 'lawyers, especially
have a happy knack of doing this where their own pro- j
fcssiortal interests or prejudices are concerned; and,
even where no such intention exists they have a
sort of professional tendency to keep the corn 50
mixed up with the chaff, as to prevent their ever
being effectually separated; The Chancery Com-
mission forms a striking and recent confirmation of
this. That Commission was probably composed of
as honourable, enlightened, and well-informed men
as could have been appointed to it : yet what has
been the result %—that the whole subject has been so
enveloped and obscured in the mass of contradictory
and (in great part) interested evidence, which the
. Commissioners elicited from the different persons
they examined, that, up to this moment, no one of
the evils they have pointed out has been redressed,
and there seems a disposition rather to succumb to
the abuses which they have pointed out, than to en-
counter the task of winnowing the corn from the
mass of chaff in which it is enveloped and concealed.
Now this we think is the rock on which Mr.
Brougham's proposition is likely to be wrecked, if
he persists in his present motion ; and therefore, had
. we any influence with him, we would suggest the
• propriety of his separating the obvious parts of his
propositions from those which admit of doubt, and
therefore of inquiry ; and that, instead of referring
the whole to the Commission he proposes, he should
separate the one from the other, embodying the first
boldly and openly into a Bill, which we should
hope to see passed speedily into an Act ; while his
proposed Commissioners should be left to .discuss
and inquire into the points which admit of doubt.
Among those which admit of none we should class
the opening of the three Courts of Law to all prac-
titioners, by. abolishing the monopoly enjoyed by the
. Sergeants in the -Common Pleas, and that of the
. Sworn Attorneys in the Exchequer—the abolition
of Fines and Recoveries—the abolition of Welsh
Judges—the attendance of a Judge of the Ring's
;Bench in the Bail Court (a duty which might as
,readily be performed,by a Barrister, or even an officer
of the Court)--ind some others to which we need
not now allude. We cannot see why these great
and obvious improvements in the law might not as
well be at least attempted, if not accomplished, at
once; and if Mr. Brougham is not prepared to see
these points frittered away, and lost in a mass of
dubious inquiry, he will adopt this idea, and separate
them at once from the really doubtful parts of his
opoaed improvements. In short, there is this dif-
ference between Mr. Peel's reform and Mr.
Brougham
's
—that the former has proceeded cau-
tiously step by
Step, and has by so doing ensured
conviction and consummation
as he proceeded ;
whereas the latter, by
attempting too
much at once,
and blending obvious truths
with g uestionahla pro-
positions, stands a chance
of seeing the former lost
in the intricacy in which the latter will become in-
volved. We shall probably refer to the details as
they occur to us, but we could not refrain from
taking this general review of the subject.—/bid.
The more we consider the line of policy which has
of late been pursued with regard to our 'West Indian
Colonies, the more impress are we with the convic-
tion that that policy is erroneous. It has in general
been thought necessary that a Legislator should pos-
sess some knowledge of the subject matter on which
he undertakes to legislate, but where the Colonies
of Great Britain are concerned no such previous
qualification is required. An acquaintance with the
circumstances of the case is regarded as an absolute
disqualification in the person who offers an opinion
upon it, and the man who has spent sufficient time
among the negroes to form any idea of their Charac-
ters and wants, is'at once set down as one whose feelings
are prejudiced by the influence of the place, and
whose judgment is misled by the force of habit. It
s natural, indeed, that the feelings of men who have
ound comfort where they- expected wretchedness