The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-23 00:00:00

-Tht enacre, together with the terrible crime of Courvoi-
',' tier, and the murders we almost daily read of in various
Arts of England and Ireland, are calculated to strike us
41'1th awe and terror, and awaken a doubt whether
, criminal legislation be constructed on a proper basis.
the crime of murder is yet punishable with death,
vertheless that is the crime which appears to be most
iZblere rasing, and to become in its form more teriffie.
There is something redeeming in a revengeful man who
lFas
.been, or fancies he has beer., injured by another,
I, elating off his enemy under the influence of his mad-
leeing passion, but cold, calculating murder conjoined
04 treachery, perpetrated from some sordid motive, by
those on whom women lavish their affections, or in
1.,411`110rn men place their confidence, seems truly appalling.
No man can guard against it, and no man who learns of
the one murder but must suppose that others are corn-
7atted which are not discovered. Hare, Burke, Bishop,
' Greenacre, Cour, voisier, and now Good,
0 at once occur to us as having stained the modern
"'annals of England with some of the most revolting crimes
et record.
Yet no man can walk about without being warned
bi gaols, prison-vans, and military policemen, or take up
newspaper and read " Police-office," at the head of
half-a-dozen columns, without being made sensible of
the existence of a great machinery for the repression of
the crime, and without being warned emphatically of
111 c serious penal consequences of transgression. In
spite of all these admonitions—in spite of the terrors of
death—crime, we are afraid, is increasing, and as-
. ktaing a more revolting character.
'l‘. It is clear that the legislative penalty does not much
,!!ePress it. We doubt whether the legislative example
Itk not promote it. The Legislature sports with the
"es of the people as it sports with their property ;
and
has no more repugnance to starving men, women,
.oeld children to death, by a Corn- law, than it has
,t° appropriating our property according to its own
!levices. Without being able to trace exactly the influence
• its example in promoting crime by the enactment of
starvation law, it is clear that such a law dooms the
,':kultittide to poverty and want, and nourishes in them
the hateful passions. Of the general vicious frame
`4l mind thus engendered, the crimes of Greenacre
111Zd of Good are some of the rankest offshoots. The
c:l,llotive for starving the people by a corn-keeping-out
•,•mv, is sordid, like the motives of these murderers ; and
AC effect of the law only seems to us less horrid, be-
' eause we cannot have distinctly brought before us the
.eases of individuals cruelly put to a painful death by the
141 w- 'The crimes which we have referred to the
ncy of the law,.and the encouragement given to crime
:01the lawmaker, who, not thinking of the effects of their
kirtiid conduct, are enough to make the public pause and
y' quire--Are we proceeding, so far as law-making is con-
'7.terled, in the right path ?

his, perhaps, known to our readers that, of late, con-
4derable attention has been paid to improving the
111ethod of drawing up Acts of Paaliament, and most of
4,
'le great Bills which the Whigs brought in, such as the
14(1v Poor-law Bill, and the Commutation of Tithes' Bill,
I &C., were accompanied by a synopsis. which enabled
Itt,L4e reader to understand the Bill. But the Income-tax
411) appears to be drawn up in a confused and perplexed
fanner ; it has neither index nor synopsis, and must be
''kuintelligible to the public. We should imagine that
lir R. PEEL has taken up the old Act of 1806, and merely
troducing into it such alterations as were necessary to
,tarry his peculiar objects into effect, has adopted it
%clay. Certain it is that his Income- tax Bill contains
Niue.of the modern improvements in drawing Bills, and
4)e't no credit to him as a man of business.

We noticed something similar as to the Tariff.
sooner was that made public, than he was
'74de ashamed of the work he had brought for-
Zahl •as his own. He gave up the whole series
'lsm discriminating • duties which he had intro-
in favour of the colonies. He was obliged to
,that his legislation about asses was contemptible,
,T,l he has since been compelled to introduce even

Crs any discussion has taken place in the House of
~L7tnons on the subject, several alterations into his

hies
and perfect tariff. He can neither do all the
lities of his office correctly nor has he the capacity—.
%It
• of the marks of great genius—to ensure excellent
iLtlice in his subordinates. The Bill which they have
*for him—like the tariff, to which he lent his name
yin in.?.omprehensible jumble which the House of
Cnzttnons cannot pass, nor the people submit
b._ Without .iisg,race. Even the Tory Journals
at'lißized of it, and obliged to admit that it is corn-
icflitt ?d, perplexi,d, and confused. Independently of the
re of the enacting clauses, they are put together in

arr, unthiakiug, slovenly manner, and each clause is
uncouthly worded, that the Bill ought to be rejected
414‘voilhy to be subm)tted to any Legislature.

rt a Rouse of aommo us returned under the Reform
only sixty Members are found to vote for an in-
ry into the state of the elective franchise. This fact
ieiently demonstrates the inefficiency of that Bill as a

• for securing the people, a full and fair represen-
Lkijon in Parliament. Millions of our fellow-countrymen
Irt. night approached the so-called People's House—
Rouse of Commons, in which the most uncommon
tlillgs are nightly said and done, and where common
• plc are sure to meet with very scurvy treatment-
4Ying that certain propositions which they luivanced,
,41-4'l Which they believed to be:essential to their welfare,
wit reason jce, poclieey,
kith
1,11 t beconsistent made the h subjects , ofus intiquiryand byex the Hounse.
Nu prayer was ably supported by Mr. Sua.asiesi
4 410re•onn, Mr. O'CONNELL, Mr. WARD, Mr. WAX LEY
VIV.LIERS, Mr. COBDEN, Dr. BOWRING, and Mr.
4„,4tivcst, but on a division it was contemptuously
offenuively rejected by a majority of 159—there
lor 226 votes given against it. Not only, therefore,
Ott Extension of the Suffrage, Annual Parliaments,
Vote by. Ballot refused, but the House will not in-.
V* whether one or other of them ought to be con-
tildNlr• The people approach the House of Commons on
knees as petitioners, suppliants, and they are
• vett away with marks of contumely and contempt.
kit while we contend that inquiry should be allowed,
ir4ti are not prepared to adopt for ourselves all the pro-
Iltiuns advanced by the Hon. Member for Rochdale.
is the old Radical creed—Annual Parliaments, a
alb Suffrage all but Universit, and Vote by Ballot.
voting for the security of the elector; and,
,It
the same reason, open voting on the part
v,,the elected.. We dislike the proposal to pay Members
pascit.aliament for their services. Extend the suffrage
vti.eintly, and do away with a property qualification,
14 10t has no other effect than to increase perjury in the
of Commons, and there will be plenty of compe-
IC honest men to discharge the functions of legislators
4 Mouse of Commons without taxing the nation for
lqillititaintenance. Besides the payment of 'Members
Mil 14 fill the House of Commons with a class of persons
fyc)111 we have no wish to see there—noisy, popular de-
itiers, who, to make a show of earning their wages,
1/4-41d make long speeches instead of attending to the
!i`er business of the country. Were no pay-
,ll,tss made to the Members of Congress,
11, should hear of none of those long-
orations which sometimes occupy three days in
lf,'l4elivery, and which, after all, are such mere matters
‘'•o,l4rse, that one in twenty of them are never reported
11'.(, length of more than ten lines in the American
doers. Legislation is too much of a trade already,
tit. tell to it the provocative of certain profits.
for all Sir ROBERT PEEL'S flippancy, and Sir
v "tot GRAHAM'S pomposity, and Lord STANLEY'S vin-
Ott~e,spleen, the suffrage must be extended. The
le will not submit to the longer withholding from
It just constitutional right. The time is past for
tte'
i,
• 4g this question by the Press. The people last night
ski
to argue it with the Ministry, and they are to do
k, tilt on the 2d of May, when Mr. THOMAS
-oltErE will present the National Petition ; but
114 part of the Press, this is altogether
tlc of supererogation. All that is now left
‘tiiN'& Press is to warn the aristocracy of the
.et' they must incur by longer withholding from the
Ss' their just rights. By refusing moderate Parlia-
Nkt7.l" Reform half a century ago, they raised up a ge-
-I,IIV tof Radicals who carried the Reform Bill ; by de-
.that Bill a final measure, they sowed the dragon's
/k4ence sprung three millions of Chartists; and now
1;(110• `the people despair of an extension of the suffrage,
,e to call into existence a legion of revolutionists.
to
themselves.
is serious. Let the aristocracy look to it,
themselves.
k is no political news of interest in the French
Mils,to Most of them notice, as will be seen in our
iorSummary, the alleged communication of the
, 411 of St. Petersburgh to that of Washington. We
li,q4 are something to say to-day on this subject.
Aitu4loniteur Parisien of last night announces the death of
N (Irk Wo. ftw instants after his arrival at Gijon.. No such
h, rice
e4(nt' cl%vilealebre%nre elreceivedoubtth eyce•os trerredcay t
evening
then asttah .te"mreer! statement.
'4411,,,--'oUnt de Alesnard, formerly principal Equerry to the
01,4(1, berry, has just died at the age cf seventy-five.-
1:;" a Messea,7er.
Qtriote of Madrid, of the 13th instant, has tl.e follow-
;light 14 individuals were arrested, who formed part
fhZetublages of the workmen yesterday and the day before.
Voith Judges of the Tribunal of the lit instant, who, toge-
pl,t the Alcaldes, remained together at the residence of
chief till one o'clock in the morning, are eiligently
the roceettings against the authors and instigators
4;k4istik
4)0 to the, measures taken by the authorities, tran-
Oed perfectly restored.. This morning horse patrols
It.Pe streets, and der schments of the national militia
4,e several works of the capital.
„
'4lopoial to take twer, ty-four millions of real' of the