The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

If it ire the system of the Administration
vhich is just formed to .admit men of every
shade of political opinion, provided they possess
talent and reputation generally and in the
abstract, but more especially provided their
talents be appropriate to the situations which
they are called upon to fill, we should etquiesce
in such a principle with pleasure t and we do not
see that any man of judgment can be opposed to
it, except it be a proof of judgment to recom-
mend to place and preferment the blind fialittt nts
of party, even to its lowest dregs, however dull
and unfit for office, or however unknown and
obscure in reputation. We beseech, indeed, the
public, the Ministers, and even his Majesty, to
consider what the effect of this latter proceeding
would be. It would hurl upon a Sovereign
who, more than any of his predecessors of the
same dynasty, has been justly famed for fostering]
talents and patronizing genius, the sinister repu-
tation of promoting dulness in his 'service, and
that of the state he governs. 'lt has been said,
that where there are patrons there will be poets,
—where there are. Mcecenases, there will be I
Virgils. The apophthegm, however, is not
universally true : for though talent vtould be sure
to meet with its reward, it is certainly not in the.
power of the present time to show forth many
eminent statesmen, since the fall of the Pitts and
Foxes, and some of their contemporaries. His,
Majesty cannot, if he would, employ a host of
great men : but it mightily imports to the cha-
racter of his reign, that posterity should find
whatever there is of talent and reputation among.
us selected for, and engaged in, the public ser-
vice. These remarks are drawn from us by the
various rumours afloat, respecting the future
Solicitor-General. We have heard of aspirants
to that office whom a parish vestry would hardly
select as its agent. The dignities of the state
will not, we trust, be thus tarnished.—Tinies.

- An amusing controversy has commenced be-
tween the thief weekly and the ablest daily or-
.gan of the disgraced faction which lately did
justice to the country, by conspiring to retire
from the administration of its affairs. These
worthies have hitherto by a concerted movement
direeted their impotent rage against the existing
Administration, as composed of Whigs or of
Tories converted to WM& principles. But lo !
the weekly oracle all at once changes its tone,
pronouncing the Adminiistration to be Tory, and
therefore entitled to Tory support. "If Lord
Cleveland," says de, " supports the present Mi-
nistry, he rests---for the present Administration,
is, to all itatents and purposes, a Tory Administra-
tion, Into which two Whigs have made their way.
A Tory Administration has been formed, and
actually exists. The intrusion of the Whigs no
more makes the present Administration a Whig
Administration, than the circumstance of two
vipers wriggling themselves into a cistern would
.make all the eels in the preserve, snakes." Hold
cries the other oracle—you know not the drift of
your lying responses. You are surrendering
your principles,—you are deserting your ousted
friends—you are supporting your triumphant ad-
versaries, and all for the plea.s...ire, at this sporting
season, of having a shot at the Marquis of Cleve-
land. " The AdmiP.;stration" (crieslhe, with em-
phasis)" the Afilministration isnot a Tory Admi-
nistration, c is, on the contrary, Whig,—more ab-
solutel-i Whig than the Administration of 1806."
These contradictory assertions, though both may-
loe false, cannot be both true. Such champions,
though intent on mischief can do little hat-fn.--
Leaving them to direct their fire against each
other at pleasure, or to settle on some future oc-
casion a common point of attack, we accept of
the admission by one of them, that the Admi-
nistration is Whig.—lbid.

If the Marquis of Lansdowne is seriously bent
upon reforming the Police of the metropolis, and
an object more laudable or more loudly called
for cannot obtain the attention of a statesman,
the sooner he sets about it the better; and if
those to whose hands the working of the present
ricketty and defective machine is confided do
not wish the world to think it worse than it
really is, they wcold do well to show us, by a
little timely energy and vigour, that the system,
bad as it is, is not quite so bad as their supine-
ness leads the world to imagine. We are aware
that no thorough and effectual reform can take
place on the moment, but necessarily be preceded
by a Parliamentary inquiry, ending in new powers
and arrangements. But though a man may
some day or ano..her be intending to set up a
new carriage, it does not follow that he should
therefore neglect to repair the wheels and springs
of his olrijone ; or that he should suffer himself
to be ri ut out from ever enjoying the one, by
sufering the other to break his neck. Most of
the present defects in the Police arise from the
mere sleepy routineism of those who have the
charge of it. If Police Magistrates imagine, as
we fear they do, that they have nothing to do
but to sit a stated number of hours at their re-
spective offices and dispose of what may be
brought before them, they widely mistake the
nature of the claims which the country has upon
their time and services. But this we fear will
always be the case till a greater activity is in-
fused into them, and some common point of ,
union and of action be established which
shall keep their attention constantly on the
qui vine. But though this must be the
work of a new:arratigement, it does not follow
that they should be allowed to sit with their arms
folded while nurseries of thieves exist, thrive, and
are nurtured under their very noses, which they
take no steps to put down—as if, forsooth, thief-
takers like rat-catchers, found it necessary to
spread the evil they are employed to defeat. The
theatres have doubtless something to do with
the matter, but it cannot be wholly owing to them
that the neighbourhood of the Chief Police Of-
fice is, and always has been, the resort of a more
than ordinary share of those very flash houses,,
and receptacles of all kinds of villainy and infamy,
which the police is appointed to put down. The
other Police Offices are, we believe, more or lessi
similarly situated—for which we know • of no
reason nor apology but that it has always been
so. Now, were we at the Marquis of Lans-
downe's elbow, we would say, " put an end at
once to this part of the abuse—awake these
~vrorthy, gentlemen and their myrmidons from their:
stbargy, by telling them, that they must either
be altered by them, or you will find those whc
will do it." The very words " turn out" would
act as an immediate charm, and would run likel
wildfire through the ranks. A little energy and
earnestness on the part of the Home Secretary;
would work wonders, we have no doubt. At
any rate, there couldbe no great harm in trying th 4
expenment. As the winter approaches, the ne.
cessity for some such exertion becomes more im-
minent ; fur if, during the summer imolai., pet),

pie cannot walk the streets, or sleep in their
houses in safety, what Intist be the prospect when
darkness adds its attractions to the impunity with
which the career of plunder is now carried
Morning Herald.

We seldom receive :in Irish. Paper which
does not 101.11,ain accounts of the most glaring
misconduct on the part of the Magistracy of
•
Ireland. We extract from the Dhlilhi
an account of a
the
teandalous endeavour to
defeat justice;tin the county of Fermanagh. At
the Dnblin Commission, on Tuesday last, Lord
Plunkett stated,, that justice had bet &feated
by three County Magystrk,s taking bail for
felony, the titt's'OU hailed not appearing to take
his frig; .and to mend the matter, it was stated
on the following day, that the recommendation
to take bail, on which these MagistrattS !feted,
~ante from the Head Magisliate of the Dublin
Police. Thn lifdges of the Superior -Courts
are generally spoken of in the most respectful
terms ; but Magistrates, Grand and Petty Juries,
Sheriffs and Sub-Sheriffs, seem to lie MI As bdii
as it is well possible to be; Whbn England was
in a state of batharisin a-kin to that of Ireland,
the JUstices of Peace were not taken indiscrimi-
nately from the Squirearchy as at present, and
the Justices of the Quorum were always hien
. versed in the Law and of the Very best repute.
This state of thin has long ceased to exist, a
nomination to the Magistracy having been for
many years a matter of course. The evil, how-
ever, is, in some manner, corrected in England,
by the opinion of an enlightened middle class,
which serves to ketpMagistrates in check. But,
in Ireland, the composition of the Magistracy is '
still worse than in England, without having any,
thing like the public opinion of England;
to keep them in check. Nothing could make -
a Justice of Peace Magistracy at all sup-
portable, but the multi-mil of an enlightened
public. ' But in Ireland they have the evil in its
worst form, without any corrective, The very
men who require most to be kept in cheek, are
the men to whom power is confided. The fol-
lowing extract from the Dublin Evening Post
of Thursday last gives a forcible, but, we believe,-
by no means an exaggerated description of the
agency of the Irish Squirearchy, in their charac-
ter of Justices and Grand Jurors:—
" Vie may add here, however, as a general axiom, that
people will not continue to do public business without some
remuneration expressed or implied.. Even -the unpaid
Magistrates do not work for nothing. Independently of
the little fees to clerks and retainers, it is a matter of no
small importance to a Country Gentleman to have the
power of summoning his serfs about him, and sending a
poor devil to gaol. In the county of Louth, as we had al-
ready occasion to state to your Lordship, one-half of the
unfortunate creature; who crowded the prison of Dundalk,
were crammed in without sufficient cause, and after being
detained from one month to six, as the case might he, were
dismissed for want of prosecution. It is an odious attri-
bute of our nature, but it is one, this love of power for its
own sake, this proud consciousness of being not only able
to inflict an injury, but of unjustly inflicting it. We are
satisfied that the pleasure of exercising power, and of show-
ing authority, is at the bottom of the motives of nine-
tenths of your very active Magistrates..
" It may be said that the taxing power with which Mr.
Daivson and our author would invest this Grand Jury
Committee—this Baronial Representation—this County
Parliament—may be equally potent in the bosoms of the
Squirearchy as the abstract love of authority in matters
criminal, and only applicable to the thieves and rioters of
the country. We admit that there is some force in this
observation. But your Lordship will be pleased to recol-
lect, that there is no difficulty in sending a man to gaol—
that the mittimus is quickly made out and signed, and the
bailiff in attendance to carry the high behest of his Worship
into effect. It is done, and there is an end on't. The
Squire returns to his parlour, to port or punch, as the case
may be, and the poor peasant is trotted off to the County
GaoL inibp tae of levying Ja...."-..-
tention is more on the stretch—the work is more operoso,
and attended with a greater variety of difficulties. He has
to investigate and inquire, to hear and to meet objections
has to struggle with contrary interests, and—giving
him credit for good intentions, a very liberal credit, on our
parts, your Lordship will allow—he has to decide among
conflicting opinions, and contrary, perhaps, to a large mi-
nority of his Parliament. No man, certainly not an
Irish 'Squire, such as they are left by the Union, will un-
dertake all this trouble for nothing, or for the love he bears
the public weal. He must have some interest, independent
of mere patriotism, for absenting himself, day after day,
from his ordinary occupations, and attending the public
business. In short, he must have some little job to carry
on, some nice little road to be made up to his domicile, or
maws his turbary—some little cutting and carving of the
money of the County, which he vows goes into the hands
of his labouring tenant, but which he keeps in his pocket,
giving such credit as he pleases, in the mean time, to the
aforesaid tenant, at the foot of his account current for rent."

The voluminous Report on the mode in which
the duty of Sheriffs is executed in Ireland exhi-
bits abuses still more odious. Justice, in fact,
is poisoned at its source. It is much easier,
however, to describe the evil than to point to a
remedy. The truth is, the offenders in Ireland
form part of the Government of this country,
which is merely a Committee of the Aristocracy.
A Government of this description cannot be 'ex-
pected to act in contradiction with itself; and
however much an English Nobleman or Gentle-
man may blush for the disgrace entailed on his
order in Ireland, he will, notwithstanding, make
common cause with the evil doers. Time often
brings about what human foresight cannot dis-
cover. As there is a strong tendency in roan-
kind to improve under even the worst descrip-
tion of government, it is possible, that, torn and
divided and oppressed as Ireland is, industry and
its consequence, an intelligent middle class, may
in time spring up, when the Aristocracy may be
kept in some check as in England. A .Jury
trial is at present, and always has been, a farce
in Ireland. With a poyulation of serfs, trem-
bling at every mod of their superiors, Jurors and
County Elections, can have no independence.
The jurymen of Monaghan, according to Sir
John Davis, resisted all attempts to make them,
return verdicts of guilty where there was no
doubt of the guilt ; for, as they feelingly ob-
served, who shall protect us from those we have
offended when you are gone ? What Jury at
this day would dare to convict an Orange Magi-
strate, or Orangeman of any description, in any
county of the North of Ireland ?—Morning
Chronicle.

AN AMERICAN DELICACY.—TERRAPIN.
—There is now in the possession of Mr. S.
Swift, a large Terrapin, taken from an island in the
Pacific Ocean, anti brought to Nantucket by the
Alexander.
ship It is so powerful, that, bear-
ing a man weighing 2501b5. it moves without the
least apparent difficulty. The terrapin is a curi-
ous animal. None are more familiar with its
habits and history, or have derived greater ad-
vantages from it as food, than the whalemen. It
has often been known to live a year without ali-
ment, and even then to be luxurious food. Se-
veral islands of the Pacific abound with.it ; and
the fishermen, after having been confined to their
homely and monotonous food, have enjoyed, in
a high degree, the meat of the terrapin. Hun-
dreds have often been taken on board a single
ship (in some instances weighing a ton each),
and daily been served up to the crew—.a luxury
which epicures would « delight to honour."
Luxuries pall upon the taste—but the terra-
pin is an exception. Never has the terrapin,
although served up day after day for months,
been rejected.