The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

We learn with great satisfaction, that the heads of
our .new Police are to be military men. The energy
and rapidity of operation to which military men are
accustomed, point them out as peculiarly fitted for
so laborious an office as that of waging war against
the most depraved, but also often the most dex-
terous, part of the community. In the great towns
of this country, which have the best Police, the
direction has usually been given to an active half-pay
officer, with the title of Superintendent. Among
our half-pay officers there must be many individuals
possessed of the requisite activity and talents. The
experiment of obtaining Police Magistrates from the
Bar has been a failure (with a few exceptions), and
the reason is obvious. An able Barrister will not
easily be induced to shelf himself, thereby renounc-
ing all hope of professional advancement, for 8001. a
year; and the candidates will generally be men,
either below par in point of talents or in point of
activity, to whom the salary will be convenient.
Besides, the sort of knowledge possessed by a law-
yer—namely, that of precedents, is not likely to be
of much service in dealing with men whose suc-
cess generally depends on departing from prece-
dents, and striking out new paths. We say of a
thief and a swindler that they live by their wits.
The two businesses of Police and Magistracy ought
never, in fact, to have been united. The Morning
Papers- of yesterday afford a strong proof of the
necessity there is for taking the appointment and
controul of watchmen from the Parish Authorities.
We allude to the case of Beazley, at Bow-street.
'This man had been already suspended for miscon-
duct ; but had good interest in, the parish. He
united the two trades of keeper of a house of ac-
commodation and watchman, and in the former
capacity might be in the possession of the secrets
of some of his parish patrons, who, for the sake of
family peace, might not choose to be on bad terms
with him.* The sooner the appointment and con-
troul of watchmen are in more respectable hands
the better.—Morning Chronicle.
If the inhabitants of this metropolis could have
continued to submit tamely to the Select Vestry
system, they would deserve all that such a system
has long inflicted. They cannot now be accused of
an apathy so weak. The elections of Church-
wardens for the ensuing year have served to call
forth in various parishes convincitil and practical
proof of the indignation which the inhabitants at
large entertain towards those despotic little Juntas
that levy taxes without responsibility, and practice
jobbing 'without shame. How such a system could
have established itself as a principle of parochial
government in a country where the Sovereign dare
not levy taxes without consent of Parliament, it is
not easily accounted for. Certain it is, that if
the money is to be taken out of the people's
pockets by an irresponsible authority, it matters
little by whom so dangerous a prerogative is ex-
ercised, for it is sure to be abused. The colonists
of North America would not acknowledge such a
power to be resident in the supreme Legislature of
the empire, as at present every Select Vestry in
London claims, which is simply, " taxation without
Representation"—the original cause of the Ameri-
can war. The people of this country have, how-
ever, redress in their own hands. It cannot be the
interest of Government that the public should be
over-rated to supply the profuse expenditure of the
parish exchequers; for it is clear that the more taxa-
tion the country pays to their parochial Cabinets,
the less will they be able to contribute to the neces-
sities of the State. The people have but to come
forward in their several parishes, and express, with
firmness and temperance, their determination to in-
sist upon their right of having a public controul
over the money which they contribute for pub-
lic purposes, and they must succeed. A principle
so unjust as that which the Select Vestries have
to defend cannot long resist the force of public
opinion. The system is already shaken;—in some
parishes it has been destroyed. It is impossible
that parochial affairs can be honestly managed until
it shall have been subverted. Even in parishes
where there are no Select Vestries, there are always
to be found some bustling officious knot of persons
who stick together, and try and get the of
the money matters, for their own purposes, and who
are sure to carry their point. if the parishioners at
large should be supine or complaisant enough not
to keep a strict watch over the accounts. If such
things can be done or attempted where Vestries are
open, what practices can create surprise, where the
very constitution of the Vestry excludes control and
prohibits all inquiry. Honest stewards of the public
money would never court that secrecy which the
Select Vestries are so tenacious of. So much con-
cealment argues a consious abuse of trust ; and we
believe it is not without reason the Select Vestries
require for their " doings" the convenient covering
of darkness.—Morning Herald.

SOUTHWARK SESSIONS, APRIL 23.