The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-15 00:00:00

Ztt,

1,111/4

• LONDON
sATuRDIY.IIIORNING-. Gri OBER 15, 1842.

One of cur Contemporaries, yesterday, stated
that England, including Wales, has a criminal
population of 80,000 persons, who live as it
were out or the pale of the law, and are Conti.,
nually'expose.d to'itS penalties. Another, with
gre•at, feelincr, adverted to the vast number of
persons, the connexions of those who are im-
plicated in the late riots, who will be involved
in the consequences of their acts. If we sup-
pose that-the friends azid relatives of those ac-.
tunny exposed to the Uperations of the law are
four;i4l.l as many, we shall have a floating and
fluctuating population of 300;000, who, are, as
it were, degfeed and outcast. Such a mass of
peisons rendered familiar with all the terrors Of
the law, •whiell fur them loses all its power to
deter from evil; can bode society no good.
In truth, tile general familiarity with punish-
ment isoneof the least pleasant circumstances
of the times. As we pass our prisons, situated in
the heart of the metropolis, and see persons
coming.out or going in, and affording amuse-
ment to idle gazers; or as we see the heavy, but
handsome vans, drawn up at the Police-offices,
and crowds of persons looking at those who are
brought forth and seated within them, and see
them afterwards traversing the streets, affordinr
amusement to idle wanderers, we cannot help
thiuking that it is very foolish of men in autho-
rity to carry these terrors home to every man's
door, and make them ' fitmilior to all the chil-
dreu of 'the town. Such a general familiarity
with what ought to be the terrible appa-
ratus of the law, seems like initiating the whole
population in the first step to crime. It utterly-
destroys that salutary dread of some unknown
evil to follow on wrong doing, which, while it
is or CatiliOnaintained, is the surest guide to rec-
titude and virtue. Crime is increasing, and as it
increases ,t is f miliarity increases and spreads
through the whole community, throwing down
li,,rriers, particularly in the minds of the
young, will& keep men from evil. That this is
a ,Teat ni-,sibrtuneis certain ; whether it can be
corrected or "nut 'we must leave to the delibera-
tion of-tho,-;e,by- whose enactments and orders the

evTilzelpes'7rs.ansimplicated in the late riots, amount-
ing to •several'hundreds, many of whom were
not bc.-Yore classed With the. criminal population,
are so mac.:'y added to that population in the pre-
sent Year,: All their co -
nnexions and
friends will
share the.l.•, lot, participate in theii degradat.i_o.n,
.
and becotne-like. them, for the first time, familial
vviC► the terrors of law. They will in the end, we
are airaid; fear:ally swell the great mass
of the
populatioh which live in defiance of the law and
in v;olatidn of the rights of others. We infer
from the daily records of crime that it is rapidly
growing, . and s•(, fear that the criminal popula-
tion will-am :silent quite as faSt as it is possible to ,
augment the means of repressing crime.
With the great number or outlaws we are
forced to `connect the great -mass of pauper(.
Before winter conies to an end there will pro-
bably be an eighth or a telth of Our population
reduced. to extreine and dependent poverty,
which levels the guards of virtue even more
surely than the familiarity with the criminal ap-
paratus of 'tare''tare'law. Poverty 110 W, whatever
haverlietti Its characteristics in early times,
is a and 'insatiable deity, on whose altars,
from f;:ar,'honesty and chastity, and with them
every other virtue, are continually saerificed.
The moral , and
.physical condition of our popu-
lation is bad at present, but if we do pot mistake
nor overstate the effects of poverty and familiar-
ising the i•oram unity wit!; crime, its future con-
dithin, unless a timely remedy be applied, will
worse. The most alarming eiretnn-
stance t F the 'whole is, 1 hat penal I Lws, cin w?:ich
society rests fi3 • protiiction, pc.rhaOs for cure,
are ohvionsly, as: now adminis'tered,,inflaming
the mischief. The mo,e extended is their opera-
tion the 4:realer ig. trio familiarity of all with,
operate• as it ineaus.of
crime, and the
,less t!)ey
prevention. Circuthitance3 such 'l4 th•- • I
general ub
cseov
can FoareclY to t)o conarmed by
servation, are 4ufliCient to make those %Nilo ai.e
future fate of jhe
responsible for the t
take great heed to the paths of their .feil•t.

they quite sure tlit our penal code is founded
on just principles, and that to it the safety of
society may unhesitatingly be committed?

"We are likely, we are afraid, to part company
from the Whigs on the question of the internal
government of Canada, as we parted company oil
the Asaintarrox Treaty. They seem inclined,
but we hope are not, to censure Sir C. BAGOT for
to. -his councils_ the. leaders of the French
and of the democratic partyza,With a view to
consolidate the two provinak and secure an
ascendancy to a particular interest, a new Consti-
tution was given to the colonies, and .. the two
provinces were united in one legislature. Every-
thing which was thought conducive to the good
government of the provinces was adoptedin that
Constitution, and Lord SYDENHAM, who had first
to carry it into effect, was successful, though with
difficulty, in obtaining a Parliamentary majority
for the party out of which he had formed his Cr.-
binet. Parties have now assumed a new cast in
Canada. The French Canadians and the Radi-
cals of Upper Canada, heretofore opposed to the
Government, but acting against it each after its
own fashion, and for different objects, have found
out, apparently, that they are more likely to ob-
tain their ends by operating in union. They
have accordingly coalesced, and together con-
stitute a great majority of the House of
Assembly.. To this majority, which must be re-
garded as expressing the will of the majority of
the constituents, Sir C. BAGOT has yielded, and
has taken their leaders into his councils. The
House of 'Assembly has thanked him for, having
done so. His conduct, according to the . Custom
of till's country, is strictly constitutional, and he
will no doubt change hiS; Ministry;
.as Ministers
are changed at home, when another party ob-
tains a large ParliiinentarY majority. Canada
can only-he governed in peace, probably, by the
Government 'taking' its Ministers from the ma-
jority;; though, peopled,as it is by men of various
lineage, adverse religions, and very strong, con-
flicting political opinions, •we are not over san-
guine that even this method will be successful
in preserving Canada in peace, or maintaining
the connetion. between the two countfies. If it
be not sucdessful; the Government will hive the
satis`..action of knowing that it has done what
.
reason and experience recommend. .The course
taken by-Sir C. 13AooT, however, is not exactly
the course that was taken by time Whigs, or
would be taken by them, we ire atraid, were
they again in office. As we approve of his form-
ing his Government on the principle of consult-
ing the majority, as their wishes are made known
by the 4. representatives, we anticipate that on
this pointo.as.on some others, we shall not agree.
in opinion with the Whigs.

* We .are happy to see, by the Morning Chronicle
of this morning, 'that the inference we drew above
'from dui conduct of Lord SYDENHAM, and the
language of the Grobe•Ls:t evening, is incorrect.
The tiV,hias, by the Chronicle, praise the conduct
of Sir.C. BA-ooT,' but thy lament,: as well they
May, thutit did not thll:to the lot *of 6:IV hig
consummate. Lord PtallA-:•., did
nOt Lord Svia'nNtlAm attempt it,:itistead of using
aali the influence of the Government to ensure
tin cathitfed!t:uperiority of a -few?' Wo,regret,
.that we have given the party lesS credit than it
des,ffves oceasioni biit. baying, made
'itself the advocate. pc, war, 'aud- Navinscodtect,
,y its demands to restrain the. navigation of 'the
Maine, the doctrines o; free- trade, wtj were. aikajd
1 hat it meant also to desert.its principle -ou'the
important qutstion of deferring, in, the Govern-'
anent of Canada, to the opinion,of the majority.

eo-uR "0. Ittut, ;vit. -

son, n and Prince :11-
bert took au iiitirtg"this luornink.iu the..llome park,
in the. small pony ph.aeton,,hdr•_A,-ajesty.driving.
Their Royal liigluicssses the -P,rippe ,of Wales and
the Printess •Rcynt ; were 7,
_taken, out In !the forenoon
accompanied by • the.;llOwoger.Lady. Lyttelton. 'The
Prince- and, Princess .were taken an airing in the, Park
in.the'afternaon attended: by her Ladyship. - .
IIis• Royal Iligimess Prince • Albert rode out on
horseback in• the ,afternoon; attended by - Colonel
Arbuthnot.- • • . •

Their Royal 'Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
CAmbridge, and the Princess AuguStaof Cambridge,
attended by llayoness Ablefeldt, honoured .Covent-
ga,rden Theatre. -with their presence' on Thursday
evening

His,-Excellency. Edward. Everett, . the
,American
Minister, has returned to town, and transacted busi-
nes4 at the Foreign-office on Thursday.
Lord Cowley; her Majesty's Ambassador to the
King of the. French, left the Clarendon Hotel yester-
day 4 on hisoreturn to h',..Embssy at Paris.
The:Chevalier Ellpseli, Prussian_ Minister' and Ge-
neral. Synch°, Spanish Minister, transacted business
'yesterday at.the Foreign-office.
Dispatches from the.Earlof Elgin, Governor of Ja-
maica, and the Geverncm V the. other Nest India
Colonies, were received yesterday at the Colonial-office.

FASHIONABLE- INTELLIGENCE.
- ). AMIIVAUS..`

The Hon. W. Henniker and the Hon., Mrs. Hen-
niker,. at the Brunswick Hotel, Jermyn-street, St.
James's, from St. Leonard's-on-Sea; Edwtird James,
Esq., at Long's Hotel; from Newcastle ; Capt. Levett,
at ditto, from Devonshire ; Mr. Taylor, at Hawkin's
Motel, Albemarle-street. •