The Sun.
London, England, 1827-08-14 00:00:00

core advocates and opponents of the measure, and
that Mr. Peel himself is'aniong the latter, we
have no doubt ; but, on the other hand, we have
quite as little that the most noisy and vehement
en both sides are themselves indifferent to the
question in the abstract, and render it the stalk-
ing horse to views and purposes of their
own, totally foreign to the grounds upon which
they profess to support or oppose it.—
Who, for instance, can look for a moment
at the injudicious conduct of the leaders of the
Catholic Association, and not perceive that their
whole conduct gives the lie to their professions?
or who, on the other hand, can look at. the con-
duct of many of the advocates of the opposite
side of the. question, and not perceive that the
cause of the Established Church is, in their
hands, nothing but a struggle to maintain its
abuses, in what they consider its main recom-
mendation, the integrity and entirety of its funds
however unequally distributed and disposed of?
If the question itself were but cleared from the
incumbrancea which both these parties, for their
own purposes, choose to load it with, it would
• soon•cease to be a bone of contention and a
source of political excitement throughout both
England and Ireland. This is a view of the
matter not, we believe, generally taken, but is,
ace are convinced, a just one, and, if so, ought
to put dispassionate persons on both sides upon
their guard, against lending themselves to. objects
and purposes so foreign to their own. It is ex-
tremely desirable, for instance, that such men' as
• Mr. Peel, whose talents and integrity are so
useful and valuable to the-country, should not be
driven into retirement by the false colouring
which the interested and injudicious advocates
and opponents .of this question give to it, and
'which, if strippM of these extraneous delusions,
would cease to be, an object worthy of the sacri-
fices ev hich such men 'as Mr. Peel are thus in-
duced to make to it.—lbid.
The Committee of the Society for the Im-
provement of Prison Discipline, and for the Re-
formation of Juvenile Offenders, have just pub,
lished their Seventh Report, with an Appendix.
The Report extends to 1440 pages, and the Ap-
pendix and Supplement to 411. The former is
a very able and valuable discourse, to which we
refer with great satisfaction, as containing among
other things, some excellent observations on the
present state of the Criminal Law and Prison
Discipline in,England. It is observed, towards
the conclusion of the Report, that $‘ it is the
pride of England that she can refer to a long line
of Jurists and Philosophers--from the illustrious
Sir Thomas More, the first advocate for mercy
in a cruel age, to the lamented. Romilly, the
greatest legal ornament of our own—who have
thus instructed and adorned mankind—enlight-
ened the darkness of the past, and dispelled the
prejudices of modern times." We should rather
be disposed to, *ay that it is to the.disgrace of
England, that the apathy and'opaque prejudices
of her sons should have yielded so little to the
appeals of her long line of enlightened Jurists,
that her Criminal Law is yet among the most
barbarous in Europe,' and her system of cri-
nainal procedure so absurd as to be the
jest of Europe. 4, If to no object (as the
Committee express themselves), can the wis-
dom 'of the Legislature and the power of
public opinion he more beneficially direct/44 than
to the reform of the Criminal Laws and Insti-
tutionso of the Country ;" and if " Of law it may
indeed with truth be said,. that her voice is the
harmony of the world—all things in heaven and
on earth do her homage ; the very least as feel-
ing her care, and the greatest as not exempt from
her power ;" is it not singular that this Para-
mount object should be still in such a backward
State in this country? The Committee observe,
explanation, that " vast and immeasurable as
is its importance, the amelioration of jurispru-
dence has been hitherto but very little indebted
to the arm of power. Unhappily for the interests
of mankind, nations -have been absorbed in ex-
tending the boundaries of dominion, and in the
questionable objects of political ambition and
to these notions of false glory have been too of-i
ten sacrificed the arts of government, and the
Welfare and happineas of social life." But how
does it happen that the arnt of power has really
been directed anxiously in many countries of.
Europe, even since the middle of the last century,
to the amelioration of jurisprudence, while no
corresponding efforts were made in England ?
In the arts of production, in ingenious eon-
trivaness of all sorts for the . abridgment of
labour, and the multiplication of the means of
physical enjoyment, the body of the people at
-England have, by universal consent, distinguished
themselves beyond the people of every other
country. Frorn the amazing industry of the na-
tion, enabling, as it does, so many individuals to
without toil, and to procure the means of
improving their minds, it might be expected that
this country would outstrip all others in the ame-
lioration of jurisprudence ; and it is-only possible
to account for the rude state of the law, and the
still ruder notions which yet prevail among those
to whom the task of improving it belsogs, by
the defective state of education among the higher
ranks in England, who really enter the world ig-
* nu rant of all that a gentleman ought to know,
and possessed at most of an appetite for study,
derived from the course of discipline to which
they have been subjected. On this benighted
class the lower ranks are POW closely pressing,
from the pains which have been taken by philan-
thropic individuals to inspire them with ti thirst
for knowledge ; and to place within their res.:.'h
the means of acquiring it ; and it will no longer
be in the 'power of the higher orders to corn-
Knand the respect of the rest of their fellow-
citizens, if they. do not prove themselves
Rntitled to it, by
.dedicating their leisure
to those pursuits which will enable them
to improve our domestic institutions:—
What a dice to English gentlemen, to
heat them, in the present day, talking, like so
many groWn babies, of the wonderful wisdoth of
Magna Chaste, of which one clause is equal to
all the pretended discoveries of modern philoso-
phers, while, at every Assize, criminals of every
description are turned loose on the country, from
the inaptitude of the judicial system of the coup-,
try to effect the object which it ought to accom-
plish. The conviction or acquittal of a prisoner
might as 'well be made 'to depend on the number
of words he Can Utter in a minute, the number
of feet he can leap,,' or the number of glasses of
• gin he can drink without being intoxicated, as
on the circumstances which procured theacquittal
of the rioters at Norwich, or the escape of the
driver' of the Exeter coach. We congratulate
the Country on the advance which has been made
in a few-years in the mode of approaching such,
subjects afee reform
of our domestic institu-
tions. Any titan who only hinted a few years
ago that the' gratuitous administration of justice
in England was not; the happiest of all human
contrivance% or,. 'who:- 'refused to allow 'that
the advantages of .4c an 'Unpaid Magistracy,''
she glory 'of England, • were not. cheaply pur•