The Express.
London, England, 1855-04-27 00:00:00

THE CONVICT BURANELLL

Tax general understanding is that BURANELLI,
notwithstanding the efforts that have been made to
obtain a reversal of his sentence, will be ordered for
execution. His case, we confess, is not free from
difficulty. The opinions of some of the medical
men consulted on the question of his sanity
are diametrically opposed to those of others ;
and there are on both sides names entitled
to deference. To establish a plea for exemp-
tion from punishment, on the ground of insanity,
it ought to be proved either that the culprit
was unconscious of what be was doing, or that he
was incapable of oomprrhending the responsibility
he incurred by his act. Now, it certainly has been
proved that at one time—and for a considerable
length of time—Bunsrau.es senses conveyed to him
false impressions of the external world. He believed
his bed to be saturated with moisture when it was
perfectly dry. Add to this that he appears to have
been habitually the victim of a fantastic dreamy mood
which makes men live in an unreal world—borderiog

On such a stale of mind LB CERVANTES has poartnyea
in his Dos Quixote. These I actsestablish a presumption
that he may have been, at the time he killed his vie-

tim, in a state of

of what

he was doing, and unaccountable for his actions.
But we have no satisfactory or conclusive evident* as
to the condition of his mind at the moment the deed
was perpetrated. The evidence of the medical goa-
-1 tiemen and attendants of the Middlesex Hospital
relates to an antecedent period; the evidence of the
medical gentlemen who saw BUILLNIILLI in Newgate
relates to a subsequent period. He appears to be sane
—in the legal acceptation of the word—at present,
and may have been when he shot LAJIBPAT.

But there is another consideration, to the full
weight of which the condemned man is entitled. ,The
prosecution was conducted in such a slovenly and im-
perfect manner, that all the facts of the case were
not elicited. Mr. thiew, the principal surgeon of the
Middlesex Hospital, was summoned as a witness for
the prosecution, but not examined. The pert**
charged with getting up the case had not
taken the trouble to learn the nature and
tendency of Mr. Slisw's evidence, until the
trial wee actually going on. They then dis-
covered that it would turn against the object of
the prosecution, and did not call him into Court.
This could not be known to the counsel for the pri-
soner, and Bußauxtxt was thus deprived of an im-
portant witness in his favour. The trial of MIRA-
Null has not been of a nature to satisfy the ends of
public justice. It does appear, therefore, that to
make him undergo the extreme penalty of the law
would be an act of questionable propriety. The doubt
that exists as to the state of his mind at the time he
shot LAMBERT is owing to the neglect of the MOM-
don ; to hang him might be to punish him for the
halt of others. It is to be hoped that Government
may give its due weight to this fact before it is too
late.—Daily News.

NSW AND OLD.—Whatever may be the character
of the new journals which the abolition of the stamp may
gall into existence, it is impossible they can panes a more
barefaced and naPriseipled system of pilfariag than the two
prieedpal seeable papers, though it may have been remarked
that since the nodea of a copyright has been raised cloy
have berm to show setae signs of oompancition, at Mast for
show, and they now quote the authorities from which they
steal their sews—often arguired at a vary heavy expense,
and by amass of careful and woll•eonsidered preliminary
arrangemests. The practice, however, of exhibiting spite
against the plundered journalist is exceedingly disgustiog,
and wins we use" Morning Paper" at the tad of an able
article, written expressly to meet the flying interest, of the
moment, it easy be set down that this mean trick to deprive
aaothsr of credit, ie dote to some pitiful spite, such as, it is
to be hoped, never rankles in the more magnanimous breasts
tai of the provincial josurnalists.—Mearseid Iris.— • /enemies '
spoil the " two principal evening papers " literally fun op the LIFIMit (yids Stamp Real .
rm . We are
sure, however, that this was not the moaning of oar 00S-
kaiporary.-20. of Zspretej