The Express.
London, England, 1860-09-08 00:00:00

THE ROAD MURDER.

We announced a few days since that an inquiry
into the circumstances of this mysterious case, the interest
in which appe rs to increase rather than diminish, bad been
commenced fore Mr. Slack, of Bath, a solicitor, who
acting apparentlyou government authority, had commenced
a private examination of Mr. Kent's servants. as witnesses,
on Tuesday last. On Wednesday a second batch of wit-
nesses to the number of six were despatched to Bath, but
they consisted wholly of those who had been witnesses on
previous occasions before the magistrates. The authority on
which Mr. Slack was so vigorously acting has not been
allowed to transpire, and indefinite answers have been re-
turned to all inquiries on the point. Naturally anxious on
this subject, Mr. Kent has. through his solicitor, Mr.
Dunn, written to Mr. Slack, saying that if he were really
( for government every andstance should be rendered
to To this Mr. Slack replied that he was " regu-
larly instructed by authority to endeavour to de-
tect the murderer," and inquired if the evidence of
Mr. and Mn. Kent should be required, would they
attend at his offices on Monday or Tuesday next to be ex-
amined. Again, a letter was sent intimating that as Mr.
Dunn could not tell but that Mr. Slack was preparing
evi-
deuce for a local paper, he should be averse to proceed fur-
ther in the matter until he was satisfied on the point. Mr.
Slack replied that " those who had instructed him were
acting under the sanction of the government," and request-
ing agsiu that Mr. Kent should be forthcoming. The re-
joinder to this is published in the Somerset and Willa
Journal, published last evening (Friday). Mr. Dunn says
that no satisfactory reply has been afforded to hie inquiry
▪ tad the parties for whom and with what object Mr.
Slack is instructed. Mr. Kent, he says, has always been
most desirous to assist the authorities in discovering the
truth ; but Mr. Slack's communications had afforded him no
means of judging whether these measures were calculated
to promote justice. He adds, "s you speak of acting
under instructions which have the unction of the Home
Secretary, I may inform you that Mr. Kent received this
morning a communication from Mr. Waddington, rela-
tive to a proposed public inquiry, in which
no mention whatever is made of your being employed by
government, nor any request that Mr. Kent should put
himself in communication with you. • • • For aught
we know you may be acting under the instructions of the
detective officer, whose former proceedings in this case
have been condemned by the almost universal voice of the
country." Mr. Dunn goes on to say that Mr. Kent is still
most willing to submit himself, his wife, and every member
of his household to examination on oath or otherwise, by
any magistrate of the county, or other competent official
whom the government may appoint ; but that, acting on
the recommendation of counsel, Mr. Kent will not accede
to the request to attend at Mr. Slack's office, believing the
course now being adopted to be calculated to impede jus-
tice. We may add that the present step has by no means
satisfied those who were most desirous for a special com-
mission, and great dissatisfaction prevails at this singular
step.
The following letter has been received by the Mayor of
Bath in reply to the memorial from that city, which was
forwarded to the Home-office through Mr. Tits, M.P.:

" Whitehall, Sept. 3.
" Sir,—l have received and laid before Sir G. Lewis a
memorial signed by yourself and many other highly respec-
table gentlemen of Bath and its neighbourhood, calling the
attention of the Secretary of State to the murder lately
committed at Road. lou represent in thin statement
that the family iu whose house the murder took place
may be collectively responsible for it, but the individuals
of whom it is compueed have not, in the proceedings
which have taken place, been examined and cross-examined
as to their complicity in that frightful transaction. You
add that, in your opinion, such an inquiry is neces-
sary for the ends of justice, and you pray Sir George Lewis
to grant a special commission fur the investigation of the
crime, as the ordinary means have entirely failed. lam
directed by Sir George Lewis to inform you that he is satis-
fied, upon due consideration of this matter, that he would
not be justified in advising her Majesty to create an excep-
tional and extraordinary tribunal, for the purpose of inter
inviting persons suspected of this murder. To supersede,
in a case of this description, the established courts of
justice, which are governed by well-known and carefully
defined rules, and to estahlt4h by royal authority, is their
stead, a commission ex..rvising new and arbitrary power of
examination, unknown to the English law, would he, in his
opinion, highly unconstitutional, and a departure from the
principles upon which this country has long been governed.
The doctrine that, in cases of great obscurity and difficulty
like the present, on which the existing law appears at first
to be insufficient, that law is to be strained or altogether
superseded, appears to Sir G. Lewis to be of a most dan-
gerous description. The rules which govern our ordinary
court. are intended, not only for the detection of guilt, hut
also for the protection of innocence from unjust accusations,
and when the crime is of so grievous a nature as to excite •
strong feeling of horror and indignation in the public mind,
a strict adherence to those rules is absolutely necessary for
the fair and impartial administration of_justice.—l am. sir,
WILDDIV,,Pr•-
_ •

your obedient servant, " li. WADDLYGTON.
" The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Bath."
A correspondent adds :—" It is satisfactory to know,
however, that although a royal commission has been refused,
the government have intimated to the Wiltshire magistrates
a desire that the matter be further inquired into, and in
accordance with the hints given, the magistrates have re-
tained Mr. Slack, of Bath, a solicitor of great experience in
criminal proceedings, and in every way maculated to pursue
the investigation to go into the whole case, beginning
de nor°. The wholei of the depositions have been laid before
Mr. Sleek, who has had a conference with the magistrates
thereon, and has subsequently had several of the inmates of
the house under examination at his office in Bath. The in-
quiry is, of course, strictly private."