The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-31 00:00:00

has had recourse to provide for the public wants,
the explanation given in his name with so much
readiness and confidence, have strengthened the sen-
timents of gratitude and attachment to the excellent
Prince who watches over the destinies of our country.
FRONTIERS OF RUSSIA, DEC. 10.—The Turkish
Ambassador is shortly expected, but it is believed
that his mission will be unsuccessful, and that the
Emperor will not make any concession, besides those
which he has made already. Several members of
the Royal Family of Prussia are expected in January
at St. Petersburgh, and in spring they will go with
the Emperor to Moscow.

The Brighton Gazette of this morning has
the following :

" In pursuance of the economical system now acted
upon by his Majesty's Government, a reduction of 200
men has been ordered in the Sussex Coast Blockade, and
of 350 in that of Kent. A similar reduction will, we
understand, take place throughout the Navy, not however
diminishing the total amount of sailors employed, but
lessening the number in each ship, and consequently
enabling a greater number of vessels to continue afloat.—
This will of course apply only to ships on home service.
The reduction will take place on the let of January ;
and the force then under command of Capt. Mingaye, in
this district, will consist of 1,200 men."

We can clearly understand the reduction in
the Coast Blockade, but the " similar reduction
in the Navy" surpasses our comprehension. The
total amount of sailors is not to be diminished,
but the number in each ship is to be lessened,
in order to enable a greater number of vessels
to continue afloat ! This is reduction with a
vengeance, and strongly reminds us of the Irish
drummer, who, in a similar fit of economy on a
cold night, cut off a piece from the foot of his
blanket to add to the top, in order to keep his
head warm !

It is said that Mr. DA-v-lEs is about to insti-
tute legal proceedings against the parties impli-
cated in the late attack against himself. Mr,
DAVIES, who is delicately circumstanced, has
an important duty to discharge both to himself
and the public, and we have no doubt will pro-
ceed with circumspection and firmness in the
discharge of that duty. The public are with
him,—his cause is theirs,—and if there be any
truth in the maxim, that in England " there is
no wrong without a remedy," the law must be
with him also.

The Jury under the late Commission have I,
ably and honestly discharged their duty, and
have shown a proper deference to the Mad
Doctors, by pronouncing an unanimous verdict
on their evidence only,—the case wanting no
other. The public, however, must alwayS
remember it is only where the property of an
individual is particularly circumstanced that
a Commission issues, and a Jury is im-
pannelled, (we shall not at present stop to
show how the evidence, &c. under these Corn-
missions is generally got up), but that in all
other cases where the property is merely personal,
(Exchequer-bills, bills of exchange, stock in
trade, &c.), of which other persons may possess
themselves without any transfer, conveyance, or
act of law, the certificate of two doctors, with-
out the previous intervention of Judge, Jury,
or other authority,—feed in most cases with the
money of the victim by the friend who applies
for the certificate,—is sufficient to deprive him
of his all, and incarcerate him within one of
those abodes of wretchedness and misery—a
mad-house. In France, we believe, that no
man can be incarcerated as a lunatic, unless by
the previous verdict of a Jury of his country-
men ; yet in England, the boasted land of law
and liberty, the fiat of two Mad Doctors (assum-
ing, to adopt the language of our contemporary the
Morning Herald, " the double office of magi-
strate and gaoler, and both for their own profit")
is all that is required to incarcerate him, per-
haps fbr ever—a power which no man ought
to possess, and with which no honest man
would desire to be entrusted. And who,
and what, are Mad Doctors ? Let their own
evidence before the late Commissioners—answer
that inquiry. We may be thought severe
in our strictures; but let any man, possessed Of
the feeling that becomes a man, read the evi-
dence given before the Parliamentary Commit-
tees, and then say whether we do the Mad
Doctors injustice, or whether there are any terms
in the English language that can do them justice !

The law in these matters must be altered,—
to amend in the customary sense will not be suf-
ficient,—the persons and property of individuals
must be protected from the gross tyranny, in-
justice, and oppression, to which, under the pre-
sent system, they are subject. Mr. BROUGHAM,
in his late address to the Jury (speaking of the
present state of the law) said, " That the law
" should long continue so, after the disclosures
" this case has made, I hold to be wholly ha-
" probable :"
We go further than the Learned Gentleman—
we fervently hope, and as confidently believe,
it is wholly impossible.

In taking leave of the year 1829, which, in
the course of a few hours, will have passed from'
us, " to be seen again no more for ever," a
question seems naturally to occur, which cannot
be considered too much, or too anxiously—
whether the condition of the people of this coun-
try has been improved or deteriorated during its
revolution ? or, in other words, whether the year
that has passed has added to, or taken from, the
amount of the general happiness ? The effect
of so few measures can be felt within a few
months, that it is, to the future rather than the
present that we must look, in appreciating the
benefits arising from signal acts.-of justice on the
part of the Legislature, such as the restoration of