The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS,
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF-YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—Amid the violence of party strife, it --
is gratifying to observe the unanimity which per-
vades the public-Press whenever an outrage has
been perpetrated against the rights of humanity,
whether by the hands of lawless wrong, pre-
suming upon impunity because of the possession
of rank or wealth ; or by the perversion or abuse
of the powers which the laws entrust to its offi-
cers for the benefit of the community. Such
an unanimity is manifest in the comments of
the public journals on the disclosures made
by the inquiries which have taken place by
Coroners' Inquests into the deaths of per-
sons recently prisoners in the House of
Correction at Northleach. The facts have
been furnished to the public in the reports of those
inqUiries.. The comments freely and fearlessly
made upon the fact by the local and metropolitan
Press have found a response in the public opi-
nion. It is impossible that the
.practices which
have been thus brought to light should be allowed
to pass unnotiiced in the Legislature. Parliament
—either at the instance of the Government or of
some independent e Mmber—must interfere, and
by a better system of prison discipline prevent a
recurrence of calamities which are no less fearful
to the sufferers than they are detrimental to the
character of the national institutions, which must
suffer in the estimation of the public, and in the
estimation of foreigners, if not at one placed on
a footinc, better adapted to answer the ends pro-
posed bye the punishment of offenders, and con-
sequently more in unison with the claims of jus-
tice administered in the spirit of humanity. The
system of discipline in the Northleach prison is
impugned on two grounds—the severity of the
labour, and the insufficiency of food. The for-
mer being apportioned to an extent:beyond the
physical powers of the most robust; while the
latter, reduced to the lowest minimum, is in-
adequate to sustain human strength. The con-
sequences of such a state of things, wherever
it is found, are obvious. If endured for any
length of time, the physical powers will gra-
dually fall under the unnatural exaction, until
the individual is prostrated by exhaustion;- and,
in many instances, by the slow process of disease,
rendered the victim of premature death. The
" hard labour " of the prisoners confined in the
Northleaeh House of Correction, as in most other
convict persons, is that of the treadwheel. We
are not about to indulge in the fine-drawn senti-
mentalities of some who have, in their theories
of prison discipline as the means of moral refor-
mation, contended that to connect " bard labour"
with imprisonment, as an instrument of punish-
meat, rendf.n.lAotirotliollsm Ow Es in-latiort of
the elas con_ipti3eti tip tuilforti,..ofeai, of tf.A;,t-
enee, " tr.-hose Jot is Iss i.d. hibour, ha,',7er
vvilieti it i- in ?Le pone: of ;11,-, }4-0-,s to impo,,L.-,
Reformation i 'Mt 3Seiu,ively the and of pu-
nishment. It must be painfill ac, well as Wu.
tart'; and is frequently salutary because it is
painful. With regard to the tread wheel, pro-
perly regulated, and the exertion it requires,
carefully apportioned to the relative strength of
the individuals placed upon it, as an impor-
tant instrument in prison discipline, our
opinion is decidedly favourable. But, if
left to the caprice of gaolers, and even of
visiting Magistrates, to direct, it may be convert-
ed into an engine of torture, and even of murder.
STAN DARD.---We published in Friday's
Standard a somewhat elaborate correspond-
ence between Miss Harriet Martineau and. her
Whig friends, relative to the pension which was
offered to her as a reward for past services ; and
although we may question the value at which
they appear to have been estimated, there can
be no doubt that she might fairly have accepted
what those who profited by them profess to have
considered their value. Her objection to the .
title of her would-be benefactors to make such a
donation is another matter, and one that
we must leave her to settle with her own
conscience. Had such motives been general
during the regime of her friends, they would
have effected a large saving for the country. Her
apprehension that her " influence over the
public mind," and " through the public press,"
would suffer, if she received a pension, was
equally misplaced. Her last reason is even more
absurd. She says she cannot reconcile herself to
living upon money (not salary), " levied afflic-
tively on those whom she has made 'it her busi-
ness to befriend, however humbly—the work-
ing classes." This is -- mere display.. She > -
would have done the poorer classes:- leis
injury by accepting-,
s -the--prolferet.--'pensinir-- ----
than , by. advocathig-.-:the:, 40: `,l'.oroitlass.
What she 'declinei a-Ocejibaftijot .
she has no objectiOklo*Eilte, a -*7l='
.7
thongh such a imode of pll; ►iris Ittitou 3
precisely that obligation of future service iiht4
she appears to deprecate ;,to say-uoihmg of the ~,
decline 00influenee:r which,Aotordinr.to hkr ""'L
'theory, a stipend-of-this.destri ptictt
tably entail. Beside which, irt..what branch of
the public service couldher employment warrant
any such salary ! .No fallacy can be greater, how-
ever, than Mies MartineatesnOtion.that a pension,
if earned by literary desertit'orife.ks any stigma on
the party accepting- An cases in which the
public voice responds to that of the Minister in
the bestowal of such rewardS, no testimony can
be more honourable. But we fear that the gene-
ral estimation of Miss Martineau's efforts would
hardly have invested the pension which was
offered to her with this extraneous value. Did any
stigma attach to the receipt of a pension fairly
earned, Wordsworth, Southey, Montgomery, and
Moore, would never have consented to accept
one. iVhatever be the grounds on which Miss
Martineau declined a pension, however, she has
given a proof of the sincerity of her opinions
which entitles her to respect for her motives.
For our own parts, we are sorry she was so fas-
tidious; as, although we have seen little to ad.
mire in her writings, she evidently possesses
qualities better calculated to win private esteem
than the greater part of Lord Melbourne's pro'
teges.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM TUE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TIMES.—As the subject of " repudiation " begins
to be discussed with fresh earnestness among the
13
.1,
caphol
sielsta
set
se
srbsefoermioi tenpiunGbteelnirseehsreta.dl
creditors of America, as well as among the citizens
rAo
ificra.tnhcapatal
hpcoeounsun,n,
ituNr,a
ill
-)
•Aat I ish theree ltAol
inl eti
to
much in this letter of which we entirely disapprove,
referring to the " United States' Bank," we confine
ourselves to a brief notice of General Hamilton's re-
marks on "repudiation." The present degraded situa-
tion of his country he seems to feel acutely, and while
he observes that with all the abundance of money
in
London, the Commissioners of the United States
could not get money at 10 per cent. in this country,
he is perfectly aware that the distrust is not in the
resources of the United States, but in the principles
of the people. The comparatively insignificant town
of Hamburgli has been able no negotiate a loan at 3k
per cent., while the vast country of the United States
would not be able to effect one at treble the interest.
Denmark, Belgium, Holland, without a prospect of
being able to pay off the principal of her debt, could
all come into the market as borrowers, anti yet that
market is completely turned against United, States'
securities. It is in vain, he says, for Ameriee to pro-
fess that she does not. want European capital, wpen_ao.
agent has been sent out for her daily:prpad.' TIl e
houn to do
object of the letter is to exhor44r,,-,,ca1..
credit of his country
something towards restoring the-
Thisof
by introducing a uniform currency. part.it
we decline noticing in detail, our only-object being to
against " repudiation" which is
show the feeling
springing up among
the honest men both of the in-
debted and the crediting couzitr.v .
POST.—The destruction of the caisson lately
formed on the Goodwin Sands by Mr. W. -1.)
&Juan, and
the loss of life which attended the event, are a subject
of much regret to the commercial body. Great be-
nefit to the public, especially the shippie—
and trading
interest, had been anticipated from Mr. Bush's inge-
nious contrivance ; and the circumstance that it should
have been run foul of and annihilat*d by that for the
protection of which it was invented, namely, a ship in
distress, is rather an aggravation
of the disappoint-
ment felt at the unfortunate issue of Mr. Bush's ac-
tive and persevering exertions in
ffibringing his under-
taking to the requisite point of
e ciency. The merits
of
the
work,
us a
practical instance of what may be
attained by the application of genius and science to
objects of this natm •e, are in no way touched by the
calamity just communicat ed from Deal regarding the
embryo " Light of All Nations." The caisson has, it
seems, totally disappeared.
It is stated on good commercial authority that tie
Marquis de Lavalette, the nobleman who recently
married Madame Welles, the widow of the opulent
American banker, and merchant at Paris, is corning
to England partly on an excursion of pleasure, but
more particularly on n mission of some kind from M.
Guizot, probably to conduct a negotiation on the
right of search question just now so much before the
public.
CHRONICLE.—We stated on Saturday that it
was by no mean' improbable the Chancellor of the
Exchequer may find himself in a situation to carry
out a conversion of the Reduced Three-and-a-Half
per Cent. Annuities and of the New Three-and-a-
Half per Cent. Annuities. amounting together
to e 12,503,002/. The special ground on which
we expressed that sentiment was the abundance
of money, worth only two per cent. on commercial
paper, and the absence of demand for commercial in-
vestment. This dulness of trade forces money into
the public funds, and the lowness of individual credit
creates a forced and .fictitious enhancement of public
ciedit. We mint remind the monied Wants, and