The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-12 00:00:00

M A G

TO THE EDITOR OF TIT& NOF

Sir,—Yesterday I ventured to

Drt note to

you on the sub]

investigation held by

magistrates at the Police-court, touching a public com-
plaint, and, by your paper of yesterday, I find you have
treated thesubject in a manner, for which the public
must feel indebted for the independent spirit you have
assumed—as you have always acted towards the public—
free and fearless. The point now at issue may _
little importance, but, with your permission, I shall prove
that it is one of great public import, and that whatever
the notion of ponce magistrates may be on the subject of
publication, they have no right to investigate any case
with closed doors—at least, that they have no right to
exclude the legitimate representatives of the great public
body—the reporters of the public press, from their court
—no matter what the case may be which comes under
magisterial notice. In the first place, there is a pre-
cedent why the doors of a police-court should not be
closed ; and, in illustration of this, I may point to the Lon-
don police-courts. The metropolitan magistrates would
as soon entertain an application for a private investigation
of any case brought before them as they would one to
prevent the proceedings of the House of Commons being
reported in the pages of the Times newspaper. In London
there is no secrecy, no mystery observed about any
police case, and are the magistrates of Liverpool more
omnipotent than the supreme courts of lords and com-
mons ? Are our justices greater than the judges of the
Queen's Bench, and other superior courts of law, who not
only sanction the presence of the reporters, but
who provide the next best place to the bench
for them, and instead of excluding them, give
them the utmost facilities for the discharge of their impor-
tant public duties ? I admit that the comparison of the
supreme courts of this realm, and that of the Liverpool
police courts is very odious; but I merely mention the
fact to shew the absurdity of the latter tribunal in exclud-
ing the reporters when a " gentleman " is in the case.
When, indeed, we come to the conclusion that there is one
law for the rich, and another for the poor, then, and then
only, is Liverpool magisterial law to be sanctioned.
Suppose Paddy Gaffney and Bill Casey to be the parties
engaged in the case on Thursd,.,

BOid:street, and Mr.
their worships have c

—, of 11

I the c

seem of

len," would
and requested the
is of Liverpool are
our able assistance,
atory. What, may
__:y say if the corres-
pondents of the newspaper press were prevented from
furnishing the details of the Crimean campaign ? What
would the, people of England say—nay, and do, if the
reporters were excluded from the gallery of the House
of Commons ? And yet the Liverpool bench of magis-
trates, or at least some of that body, take upon them-
selves the power of excluding the reporters, because
a gentleman is charged with an unnatural offence. In the
next place, I assert it is quite illegal to exclude the repre-
sentatives of the public, or any one member oi the public,
from a court, which, by legal authority, is open to all who
chose to enter its portal. I am quite aware that there
exists antiquated notions about publicity, but such
notions bear the same resemblance to an express train
that travels sixty miles an hour, as does the old jog trot
system of posting, that got along at the rate of ten:miles in
the same period. If such ancient notions are to be tolerated,
let electiic wires and magnetic telegraphs be at once closed
up. It is proved, beyond dispute, that speedy and
accurate publication arre.ts the progress of the murderer;
it is the dection of the fraudulent debtor, the seizure of
stolen property, and delinquents of every description,
sooner than all the activity of the most experienced de-
tective on earth. In fact, the detective system would
prove a dead letter but for publication. I appeal to your
own columns for the truth of this. The man who flies
from Australia, defrauding his creditors in that distant
colony, has the bankruptcy court messenger waiting
erpool. The assasin who thinks him-
ight, is met by the offiners of justice at
the seaport from which he hopes to escape. How comes
this ? Why, by the fact, that the circumstance is com-
municated by means of publication through the newspaper
press. Put an end to publication, and murderers will
escape—dishonest debtors will laugh at pursuers—the
gates of escape are open to thieves and criminals of all
description. Put an end to publication, and you foster
and protect crime, for it is the very fear of
publicity that stares men in the face, and present more
terrors before their eyes than the halter of the hangman.
The law fails when publicity succeeds. The fear of public
?.xposure is greater than death. It was this fear that
rushed Sadleir to his doom—he could bear death by his
own hand, but he feared to look on publicity. A man con.
templating a crime will ask himself—" What will the
public say when lam discovered ?" And this feeling
prevents many fearful crimes. How, then, can the Liver-
pool magistrates justify the act of attempting to screen a
gentleman from publicity, because he happened to come
under that denomination ? We all hold in horror the idea
of the Inquisition—what have we been doing here but re-
vising that ;dread system? Even in mercy to the cul-
prit, private investigations should not be tolerated, for
public opinion is sure to make a man even blacker than
he may really be when he is tried with closed doors. It
is repugnant to our notions of English liberty ; it is against
common sense, and, above all, it is unfair, both to the
accused and to the public, to hold a private investigation
in any case, particularly where the accused party happens
to be what the world ,:calls a " gentleman. On these
grounds—on the the terms of equal law and justice to all,
I protest against secret tribunals, and soliciting your
powerful aid in this respect, I call on you to denounce
them—Yours, &c., R. S.
P.S.—lt was the fact of publication that led to the con-
viction and execution of the murderer of Lord William
Russell—the murderer would have escaped otherwise.
[We publish the above, without at all adopting many of
the data on which the observations and animadversions of
our correspondent are founded —En. N.T.]
Liverpool, April 11, 1856.

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