The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-15 00:00:00

MOUT 0? THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

In another part of the Paper we have inserted
from an evening journal, the Globe, of yesterday,l
a compendious and well-executed narrative of
certain transactions which took place at the last
election for Leicester, and which were the means
of sending into Parliament the present repres
sentatives of that borough. It would appear,
from letters and other documents thus brought
to light, that the Corporation of Leicester, hav-
ing at their disposal the chartered revenues of
the borough, granted for purposes among which
the payment of fees for honorary freemen, and
the general expences of election contests, un-
doubtedly were not enumerated—first, beat up
for anti-Catholic candidates, and next made a
bargain by which they bound themselves to pay,
for one of these candidates, whatever might be
the surplus' expences of the contest above a par-
ticular sum. In the end it seems that this vir-
tuous and truly Orange Corporation, remember-
ing their political character of anti-Catholics, but
omitting to remember their legal, municipal, and
moral character of trustees—that is to say, hav-
ing before their eyes a loyal fear of the Pope, but
not the more homely fear of the Devil—did ex-
pend very large sums of money, not less, as is re-
presented, than 24,0001., in prosecution of the
contest for Sir Charles Hastings, whom they
had invited to stand, in the name and on behalf
of the " glorious memory, &c." In spring last,
3/1-r, Burbidge, Town Clerk of the Corporation,
whose fonds are said to have been severely
dipped by this enterprise, made a demand upon
Mr. Otway Cave, the colleague of Sir Charles
Hastings, for part payment of the Cerporation
expences. The Hon. Gentleman replies, through
his agents, that he had already paid rather more than
enough-16,0001. is his alleged contribu-
tion to the Orange pic-nic),—and his
friend.. especially object to a charge of one
thousand pounds for " secret service money !"
which Mr. Burbidge has had the naive coolness
to admit was disbursed in payment of the admis-
sion fees of a number of honorary, non-resident,
occasional, " tree-blue," otherwise anti-Catholic
voters. There, except that the worshipful Corpora-
tors, we read, are to he brought to a reckoning for
their " loyal and constitutional" administration
of the trust funds confided to them,—the matter
at present rests. Between Mr. Otway Cave and
the Corporation there is no moral difference but
this—that one party has committed what we arc
oil-fashioned enough to look upon as a heinous
crime, and the other has been a particeps cri-
minis. It is otherwise, however, between the Cor-
poration and the inhabitants of Leicestenotherwise
between the Corporation and the Constitution of
England. It is true that language has been held in
a grave assembly, and by an individual who
ought to be ex officio the gravest authority in
the kingdom, calculated, if not intended, to en-
courage the doctrine, that a corporation reventie
is the private property of the Corporation—that
is, of the members of the Corporation pro tem-
ple, not for definite and wholesome purposes
of a beneficial nature to the inhabitants or neigh-
bourhood at large, but for any end which may
suit the caprice, the improvidence, or selfishness
of the managers claiming under the charter : nay,
that the property may be converted, as in. this
case, to ends altogether destructive of the rights
and privileges which the charter contemplated,
and for the sacred maintenance of which the
corporate body was instituted, viz.—to the crea-
tion of stranger votes, composed of non-resi—
dents who know nothing about the place or itslocal
intereste—of certain classes or orders of non-resi-
dents, as, for instance, 104 clergymen, Rho seal(
to force, and succeed in forcing, a representative
of their own party spirit, instead of a representa-
tive of the spirit predominating in the borough
for which they vote ; and thus transfer to them-
selves the charter origina,Ny bestowed upon the
resident or native freemen, who are virtually
disfranchised, by this corrupt perversion of trust,
professedly established as their security. If the
doctrine which prevailed in the House of Lords
het Session should be once recognized for con-
stitutional and valid, we do not see what is to
prevent a corporation from making, bye-laws—
which, indeed, many of them have done—for
vesting in themselves and their personal repre-
sentatives, the whole profitable interest in the
estates of their respective trusts. 'What should
binder the chief of any strong interest in a given
corporation from spending, on his own return to
Parliament—as well as on that of a Sir Charles
Hastings—the 20,0001. or 30,0001. above re-
ferred to ? 1 hat such things are done both
here and in Ireland, is notorious : it wanted but
a hint from a Lord Chancellor or so, to make
the practice perpetual ; unless, indeed, a remedy
be found, which is already, we believe, in exten-
sive action, and which, by reducing the greater
part of the corporaiions throughout the kingdom
to beggary, will leave them no materials for pre-
datory or fraudulent enterprises. This cure,
however effectual to one object, would, no doubt,
be fatal to another, the public benefits designed
by the several charters, as local improvemeßts,
charities, &c., perishing with the power which
despoiled them.—Times.
We are glad to see that the subject of Bail
begins to occupy the attention of the public.
We long ago pointed out the practice of exact-
ing it in trumpery cases of assault, &c., as th©
cause of unspeakable suffering to the lower or-
ders. The Commlilee for the Improvement of
Prison Discipline have, in their last valuable
Rei)ort, taken up the questio, in a manner which
must be of great service, in awak:ning the pub-
lic to a due sense of the magnitude of the evil.
There are many philanthropical individuals in
F,ngland, who would 'willingly benefit their fel-
kow.creatures if they knew how. For want of
the requisite k nowledge, it too often happens
that their benevolent efforts lead to little practi-
cal good. Hence the slow progress made in
the remedying the most obvious evils. They
wonder that the " Classical Land of Liberty"
should be the Land of Prisons, and never suspect
that these prisons are wantonly and unnecessarily
crowded with persons who, were it not for the
most lamentable defects of our laws, would never
have been deprived of their liberty. They !:Par
pith astonishment of millions being now de-
mended for county rates, but never think of ana
lysing the lists of commitments with a view of
ascertaining how far they are called for, and how
far they 'grow out of abuse. A very clever fo-
reigner, who resided long in England, and paid'
particular attention to the working of our legal
seetem, observed, slimy years ago, ss There
never was a country in ;Which personal liberty
'is so much sported with , is in England
the number of imprisonments amounts annually
above.a hundred thousand, not in execution,
but on .reere presumption of debt or crime.
• • - .• • If an offence is not very grave,
the Magistrate only sets the accused at liberty
when two suretlea have been offered. The rich
easily find surety, and the.poor await their sen-
tence in prison. Such itCtlie -celebrated equality
of English justice.,. . e . It has been

_

calculated that men arrived at the age of twenty-
one have nearly thirty-fivie years to live. Eng-
land, with a population of twelve millions, has
two millions and a half above twenty-one, and,
consequently, subject to imprisonment. The
number of imprisonments in thirty-five years
being above the number of majors, all the males
born in this country of freedom ought to be in
prison once in their lives, if the females had not
the charity to share the burden with them.
Thus the English seem all doomed to expiate
the original sin of being prisoners born. '— •
The statement we gave the other day of the pri-
soners in Clerkenwell proves that the greater I,
number of the prisoners are in gaol for want
of bail. A poor man finds the greatest diffi-
culty in persuading men to come forward to bail
him, not merely on account of the loss of time,
but the dread of the trouble frequently entailed
on sureties, in consequence of neglects of for-
malities of one kind or another. The obvious
and only remedy is the constitution of Courts,
in sufficient number, for the cognizance of such
causes as come before the Tribunals of Correc-
tional Police in France. Summary justice in
those cases is the only justice. A Contempo-
rary
( The Globe) observed, with respect to
the analysis of the prisoners in Clerkenwell—
" 'We allow it is probable, that the great majo-
rity
of these prisoners are guilty—that is, of
some offence, for which, if tried at the instant,
they
,would deserve to be fined half-a-crown ; but
surely, it is a practice, to the absurdity of which
nothing but habit could blind us, to imprison
before trial on such charges, because they do not
give such security for their appearance, as from 1
their station in life it is impossible they should
obtain. The reasonable way of proceeding would
be, to give them notice of the time when their trial
would take place ; then, if they did not attend,
it would be at their own peril, for sentence should
be passed in their absence, and they should be
subjected to such punishment as their cases de-
served." But in the present state of our popu-
lation, it might be dangerous to benefit the lower
orders, reckless as they have become, with this
liberty. The 'great point both for plaintiff and
defendant is, to have the case decided at once.
In this busy commercial country, there are in
every great town numbers who wish to leave it
in a day or two on business. As things go now
a defendant is held to bail to appear at the Ses-
sions, when, after a considerable interval, the
parties and their witnesses must attend the trial.
What a direful hardship is thus imposed on
numbers ! Many men are thus forced to put
up with injuries rather than subject themselves
to such an inconvenience. The defendant, in
like manner, may often, for a case involving a
half-a-crown punishment, lose opportunities
worth every tlung to him. The whole system
ought to be changed; and if men of any influence
in the country would but think of the sufferings
of the lower orders, the evil might be remedied.
The subject ought to be forced on the attention
of Ministers. It is a great mistake to suppose
it is affronting a Minister to importune Inns on
matters of this kind. It, on the contrary, forms
a justification for his activity, and frees him from
the odium often attached to originating reforms,
which shock the stupid prejudices of the rich.—
Morning chronicle.
• The nomination of Mr. Stanley, the Member
for Preston, to succeed Mr. Wilmot Horton as
Under Secretary of State in the Colonial De-
partment, reflects much credit upon Mr. Hus-
kisson and whoever else may have been instru-
mental in the appointment. Without reference
to what particular. party_iu.politica Mr. Stanley
may .beloug, it. will be a sufficient reconunenda-
tiou of him in the eyes of the country, that he
is one of the few young men of the present age,
who, besides possessing distinguished talents,
has shown a disposition to apply them usefully to
the public service. Instead of wasting his early
years in the hells of Newmarket or St. James's-
street, Mr. Stanley has shown a strong disposi-
tion to acquire knowledge of all kinds at the
fountain-head, and especially in reference to that
department to which he is now attached. It is
no small recommendation with us, too, that. Mr.
Stanley is a member of an ancient family ; for
though it is a great advantage that men may in
this country rise from the very lowest grades of
society to the highest, yet, from the mixed nature
of the Government, it is extremely desirable that
those of the second rank in the state should fur-
nish a succession of talent sufficient to maintain
for their order its due share of weight and
influence in it. Of this we have of late years
witnessed but too little ; nor is the present
prospect, generally speaking, much more inviting.
While knowledge is spreading so generally among
their inferiors, it would be well if the sons of the
Aristocracy were taught that " knowledge is
power;' and that if they wish to maintain their
• due station in soeiety, they should be anxious to
excel in those qualities which are, after all, of
more lasting and important distinction than any
which mere rank or statioo can bestow.—
Morning Herald.
That vaccination is one of the greatest and
most useful discoveries of the present age cannot
be denied. After undergoing a long and severe
test, the proofs of its efficacy if not in destroying,
at least in greatly mitigating the ravages of that
cruel and desolating distemper the small-pox
have been placed beyond all question ; yet a
practice still prevails to a great extent in
,this
country, by which the latter disease is wilfully
perpetuated. A great number ' of persons,
actuated by a most extraordinary and obstinate
prejudice, have their children inoculated with the
variolus natter in preference to the vaccine.
The consequence is, that they not only, in a
their own%yv
ec(likl,tdor children
nripeetilio._,
great many instances, cause
fall sacrifices to their folly, but spread death a;lil
deformity by means of this minor pestilence
throughout large and populons neighbourhoods.'
To the " philosophers" of the " Malthus
school," this must be the most pleasing intelli-
gence; but as we have not suflici,ent sagacity to
comprehend how the diminution of I:taman
btp prac-
tice.oue.
:l:
elt NeeNin.trfileii yerpeesosl
small-pox,
ieautlilllstitiai
si.eiPring can operate to the disadvantage qf
t'ini fez 11
plague'
mankind,
ew: would d
wish as
aas stoplitle put
at to the
possible
ncyapinnocree
otrhaignnoimrailiiocert,
ptleieoplfereeb-eagaelilioe
act ao as to endanger the lives of their
neighbours,
or to impair their health, the
law properly calls such conduct a nuisance, and
punishes it accozllringly. It was always an in-
dictable offence at Common Law, for a person
to expose a child sick of the aniall-pox so as to
infect others ; but as tnortila,tion with the Qirus
of that distemper was ,sPsideretl rather salutary
than Othi;;TiSe before time discovery ofvaccina-
tion, the practice, 1:1c other surgical operations,
was held to be legal. Now, however, instead of
answering any good purpose, it serves to prevent
the extirpation of one of the greatest physical
evils that ever afflicted humanity. But besides
ignorant prejudices; there is a sordid self-interest

arrayed against vaccination. The inferior sort
of surgeons and apothecaries have what they, no
doubt, consider a " vested interest" in the pro-
fitable devastations of the small-pox. They wish
to keep in active operation as long as they can
this source of domestic affliction and professional
gain. They keep up, therefore, the prejudice
among ignorant people against vaccination.—
Some of them have even been detected in using
21.: improper virus instead of the genuine vaccine,
in order to bring the latter into disrepute. Under
these circumstances the inoculation with the
small-pox will go on until, like the exposure of
a plague-sore, it is made an in#table offence.
—lbid. .El.l
The following have been the Alftng prices of
Mexican Bonds for the last three days :—Wed-
nesday, 66 ; Thursday, 61i ; Friday, 55. Mere
we have a fall of no less than 11k on 66k, or
18-i per cent. in the brief space of seventy-two
hours ! The quantity of money lost, and the
quantity of misery inflicted, by such a fluctua-
tion, we have no means of guessing ; but as-
suredly neither has been small. To-day it is
probable that a still farther depression will take
place. In another column will be found a no-
tice signed Viscount Rocafuerte, which states,
that no funds have been received for the pay-
ment of the dividends due on the Ist October.
The Viscount expresses at the same time an
opinion, in which we concur, that there
is no
reason for doubting that the State of Mexico,
whose researches are boundless in extent, and
who asks only time to render them available,
will pay all the demands upon it with usury.
But, in the mean time, the deferred hopes of
the holders of the securities are exposed to a
severe trial, and many, whose circumstances ren-
der it impossible to hold them, are ruined. The
question that suggests itself to our minds at the
present moment with irresistible force, is—
" Has any means been used to soften the
calamity produced by the present fluctuation ?"
When, we should like to learn, did the in-
formation communicated in M. Rocafuerte's
advertisement arrive ? Such a piece of intelli-
gence, if kept from the Bondholders one minute
later than the forms necessary for its publication
required, was kept a minute too long. Had
Messrs. Baring, who are so deeply interested in
the dividends of the Mexican Loan, no intima-
tion of the insolvency of the Government before
yesterday evening ? If they had, how came it
that they did not impart their knowledge ? The
announcement of the payment of the dividends,
pursuant to the usual practice, was to have been
made this day. This day, for the first time, it
is stated that no dividends are forthcoming. The
suddenness of a blow is a great addition to its
weight. If ten days ago an intimation, similar
to that of this day, had been made, we cannot
suppose that so great a depression in these Stocks
would have took place. We accuse neither M.
Rocafuerte, nor Messrs. Baring, but we cannot
help, notwithstanding, deeply lamenting the
consequences of the tardy publication of the fact
whether that tardiness arose from ignorance, or
any other cause. While we thus express our-
selves, we cannot, for a moment, allow that the
panic in relation to these securities, though
not ungrounded, is not exaggerated beyond
what the case merits. It would be ab-
surd to place the debts of a state like Mexico
on a par with the debts of such a king-
dom as Spain, with which some, in their
despondence, have already begun to compare
them. The circumstances of the two States are
RS different ~ike their_ anvernm....A.--
case of Mexico, there is no shadow of room for
the paltry quibble behind which Spain hitherto
attempted to shelter her dishonour. Even in
respect of Spain, we feel assured, that for those
who faint notAhere is yet a harvest in store.
That country can never lift her head among the
nations until she acquit herself of obligations le-
gaily
entered into, and of which she has reaped
the full benefit. But whatever be done by
Spain, it would be most irrational that conclu-
sions drawn from her misconduct, should be for
a moment applied to her emancipated provinces.
Their apparent lack of faith has been forced
upon them by circumstances which they had no
means of controuling. They are honest debtors
who delay payment, not from unwillingness to
pay, nor from want of assets, but because, from
the posture of their affairs, they find it impos-
sible to render their assets at the moment avail-
able.—New Times.