The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-29 00:00:00

and to insinuate themselves into their confidence.
The persons so employed are called spies, and
our contemporary is too well aware of the im-
portance of names, not to know that. to call the
New Police by this odious name is not calcu-
lated to add to their popularity. But in order
not to be carried away by words, let us inquire
what there is in the New Police which is ana-
logous to that of spies. They are not acting
against the people, but for them, endeavouring
to defeat the machinations of the evil-disposed
against the well-disposed. They are instructed
to make themselves acquainted with their respec-
tive neighbourhoods ; but they appear under no
disguise, and the law gives them no power to dis-
turb the privacy of peaceable citizens. There
is no part of the task assigned to them which
may not be defended by the most scrupulous
moralist. Persons who live by plunder may dis-
like being known to the Police, and may have
objections to being watched, and their hostility
to a preventive policy is quite intelligible ; but
we really cannot see how the well-disposed should
have any objection to the employment of the
only means by which they can live in peace and
security. For it has come to this, we believe,
that the old system afforded so little security to
the inhabitants, that for many years there has
been a constant outcry in all quarters against it.
The thieves have literally had it all their own
way ; and if it be objected that the depredations
have not materially affected the prosperity of the
metropolis and its neighbourhood,' we may an-
swer that thieving, like every thing else, seems
to have its limits ; and that when the trade is
overstocked the thieves must counteract each
other. Certain it is, that if the maximum
•of depredation, has not been reached here,
we are not indebted fur the result to either
Law or Police. In several parishes the inha-
bitants were told to protect themselves, and the in-
habitants were found to mount guard, as it were,
by turns. This is certainly a state of things by
no means to be envied. It became, therefore, a
question whether society could not have some-
thing better to rely on than the moderation of
thieves, or the impossibility of their ever existing
in numbers bearing more than a certain propor.
tion to the numbers of tile people. We are
aware of no other means than those pointed oat
in the Instructions to the new Police, namely,
throwing difficulties in the way of the exercise of
thieving. Punishment, by way of example, we
know, goes a very short way with men who are
disposed to prey on society. They consider an
occasional execution in the light in which soldiers
look on a casualty in the field of battle. Allow
them to plunder with facility, and they will have
no objection to a liability to the chances of jus-
tice. But Police is another affair. The diffi-
culties may be so increased as to render the trade
of thieving more laborious than that of regular
industry. Adieu, then, all the allurements!
The poacher only considers his life a pleasant
one when he can easily find game. The most
inveterate fisher may be at length disheartened
by the scantiness of the finny population. We do
not mean to say that in a metropolis like this,
where there are so many means of conceal-
ment and escape, and were property is so much
exposed to attack, the Police can ever be so per-
fect as to prevent a great deal of thieving ; but if
much of what now takes place with impunity
can be prevented, surely that is a great good. If
we recollect right, our Contemporary, some days
ago, recommended as a specific the moral im-
provement of the people. If we could make the
people moral, of course they would not steal.
But we fear the improvement of the,people never
will be such, even under the most favourable cir-
cumstances, as to make it prudent to leave pro-
perty to the mercy of those who tnay be disposed
to obtain it without a legal title. The Clergy of
the Establishment and of five hundred sects are
constantly labouring in their vocation to make
men righteous ; but their exertions will never,
we fear, supersede the necessity of Law and Po-
lice. The other objection is more easily ob-
viated. The pay (says our Contemporary) is so
low that Englishmen will not take it, and there-
fore the ranks must be filled by Irishmen. The
pay is certainly low, but then extraordinary re-
wards are held out for diligence, as evinced by the
state of the division or sub-division assigned to
different individuals. Besides, there is the pros-
pect of rising by merit to the highest situations,
all of which are open. We know little of the
character of our countrymen if such a system
would not be more successful in procuring able
and ambitious young men in the rank of life
from which the Police will be taken, than much
higher wages without any prospect of advance-
ment. To take as an instance what is observed
with respect to gardeners. The wages at Kew,
if we are correctly informed, were always con-
siderably lower than elsewhere ; but it was usual
for gentlemen in want of gardeners to make ap-
plication to Kew, and young men aware of this
were content to take lower wages, in the hope of
future compensation in a profitable situation. A
young fellow contented to take for life twice the
sum to be paid to the Police Constables, would
probably be a very unfit person for the situation.
But whether the men be English or Irish is a
secondary matter : the great object is to have
them efficient. The Blockade duty is, we be-
lieve, principally discharged by Irishmen ; and
we have always understood that that duty was
admirably executed, If these are the only ob-
jectiona against a new Police, Mr. Peel has little
to fear. The hardest trial, however, yet remains
—the trial of efficiency.--Morning Chronicle-.
We never could comprehend what, beyond the
payment of a paltry fee, the Established Church
would lose by the legalizing the marriages of
Catholic and other Dissenters ; on the contrary,
we should look upon it as a boon which would
do credit to the liberality and tolerant spirit o
the church ; while, as an act of justice, policy,
and humanity, its benefits would spread them-
selves over a wide surface. To the wealthier
classes of Dissenters, of all denominations, the
rule in this respect acts as little more than a con-
straint upon conscience, which, in any matter,
but more especially on the subject of religion, it
must 1)(2 admitted, is evil enough : but on the
poorer classes it bag the most revolting effect, by
rendering that, which is inter-Wed to be an indis-
soluble and solemn tie, in reality no tic, or pn,9
dissoluble by either party ; while on the inno-
cent offspring it affixes the brand of illegitimacy,
robbing both the mother and children of all their
civil rights. The liardshjp of this state of the
law devolves principally upon th numerous
lower Irish who resort to this country, either for
temporary employment cr permanent residence,
and wbp are placed, often unconsciously, in this
singular situatipn, that, though subjects of the
,Thred Kingdom, their marriages, which are
.
► .are held invalid' here? or ti • .
valid in Ire:.7"d)
cruel advantage is con,-
necimen of which
stitia,tuealolyi
as
taken ; striking
we need only inaau(P a case which oc-
curred at the Alansion-tioose, A few da)? since,
in which the stewards of a bene6
oety re-