The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-11-15 00:00:00

MR. MATHEWS

Will deliver. THIS EVENI:74...I.F.tiFIVAIi,Iur poiltively the last time,

bla late
TRIP TO AMERICA!
AM is THURSDAY and SATURD%Y (by particular dears/ hit
..t bet eelebrated Eatertalatueut
THE VoUTHFUL ()Alai OF MR. MATHEWS.
U.lng pealtively hie hut appearance this year.

The BRITISH Pins oneanmeaeed Saturday morn
lag at live o'clock.

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVZLIEII 15. 18114.

The Recorder, we understand, will not be able to make
his report of the prisoners under sentence till towards the
close of this week. In the meantime an ititenv, feeling of
public interest hangs over the fate of Mr. FAUNTLEROY,
and the more fully the facts connected with his case arc
developed, the more general is the compassion excited in
his behalf. It may be useful, as will as importtuti, to
examine into the cause of this popular sympathy, and to
trace to its source the hope that prevail:—net that he may be
pardoned, for, as we before remarked, the feeling does not
go to that extent, but that he may nut saffa death. If this
anxiety tested on the ground of his condition in life, the
high respectability of his family, the reputable circle of
h;. ...e.etions, these circumstances, we should say,
ought not to weigh one jot. They owns not in aay case
to have the least influence, nor have they in his. The
English public, of every class, both high and loved at this
time of day, are too reflective, and have too much good
st:nse mixed with their humanity, to be moved by any con-
'Mentions of this sort. No: the feeling towards him
arises out of the peculiar circumstances of his case, and the
bare attempt, by CERTrIN PIiRSONII, made through the
medium of the 'ruses newspaper, to blest his private
character, and to hurry him on, loaded with aspersion and
contumely, to his grave. This it was that called forth the
animated sympathy of the public : the wicked attempt to
cut him off from all commiseration defeated itself, and
excited the very feeling it was intended to annihilate.
The very persons who—sad and criminal as his resources
were to uphold the stability of the house—profited e.reht-
! sier/y by them, were the very persons who strove to strike
him down! They who—guilty as belied been—ovied at least
a debt of gratitude to his crime, were the very individuals who
secretly sent into circulation against him a mass of calum-
ny, such as no public Journal ever before put forth against
an individual on the eve of being arraigned for his life.
While an Englishman—whatever might have been his
crime—stood thus aneigned, no newspaper but the Times
would have hired oat its columns to the publication of the
bitterest slander against hint—of slander which falsely ac-
cused him before Goo, that it might defame him to His
COUNTRY, by both (4'0,04 he was, in a few days, to hold
up his hand to be tried.

-Another circumstance operated to produce the sentiment
of pity which is so strongly testified towsrds Mr. FM:NT-
LEROY : he never applied a single shilling of lie money
received to his own private use, and the aim of the writer of
the article in the Times was, to exculpate the other part-
ners from all stutpicion of the
.firm having benefited by the
sums criminally obtained by Mr. Pm; xri.raov, by repre-
senting hint as i.avirg squandered them away at gaming
tables, and lavished them upon prostitutes. It was when
the perfidious purpose, for which the attempt had been '
made to bury hint under this load of obloquy, was seen
through, that the public, struck with a generous indig-
nation, manifested that-wish, which is daily rireitgroetiin:T
itself, that Itis life may be spared.

lire will next attend to the considerations which haw
induced the petitions, which are preparing, to his MAJ r.sri,
praying the commutation of the punishment of death to
such punishment :tort nr death, as, under as the circum-
stances of the case, the Crown, in its mercy, might adjudge
him to sutra.

It accords with the feelings of every man to uy, that an
offence differing in the criminality of, (se moires which led
to it, should differ in the deqree of severity with which it is
punished. The man who has committed theft to satisfy
the wants of nature, manifestly differs in guilt from the
man who steals that he may supply to himself th• means
of indulging in satravagant and vicious courses. The act
grilse)? is the same in both, lmt the moilrrs which led to it
(lifter, and should lead to the apport:ontnent, to each,
of a dill;-roil measure .lent. We put this case.
merely as illustrating the principle. sow, if the latter
offender were sentenced to fourte n years' transportation,
every man's sense of justice would approve that the for-
mer should be sentenced to a shorter period. We all read-
ily perceive the melon:110mm; discrimination,
atkl this prineiple is accoraingly adopted and acted upon in
all our Criminal Courts. This principle then it is that go-
verns the puldic feeling in the case of Mr. -2A TLE ROY;
the motive which led to Ow_ commission or the crime, and
the end to which the money was appropriated, not to any

purpose of his own, but to uphold the credit of the bank-
hie-house, in the delusive hope of being able to reinstate
the sums sold ott—at in some instances was done—make a 1
difference in the guilty intention, which constitutes the
essence of the crime. The criminality of the art itself is
admitted—no one can be Opposed to deny this, who is ea-
liable of distinguishing between right and wrong—but we
are speaking here of the degree (of guilt, as affected by the
motives and design with which an offence is committed,
and the weight which these ought to have in regulating
the dispensation of merry towards the criminal.
lied Mr. rAu :4: ft EROS' replaced the sums he sold out,
and had his offence never ken discovered, we arc still of
opinion that his offence, abstractedly considered, would not
have been the has; because the obligation which hinds a
man to be just in all his dealings, is not lessened—consi-
dered in itself—by any means which he may afterwards
have of repairing its violation; but so far as the moral
guilt cf an ofil:tider is concerned, there is no one but will
admit, that if, in the case of Mr. Fat STLEROY, the
whole of the money had been replaced in the names of the
respective parties, the result, to him, would have been very
different. Now, as to some parties this was done; and but
for the heavy loss occasioned by the unexpected failure of
BRICK WOOD'S 110 USC, and the awraeated embarrassments
occasioned by the abstraction of 73,000!. and upwards on
the part of the partner Mr. M a risu, and of 25,900/. on the
part of Mr. GuAii.sm, which have never been replaced,
the means of ultimately reinstating the sums, so culpably
obtain d by Mr. FA I:N 11.1: nor, might have been afforded,
and I.c might never have been exposed to the sentence
which he has so fatally incurred. This circumstance has
contributed, with others, to produce the humane impres-
sion which is so strongly felt in his behalf.
We hare already remarked, that the class of society to
which Mr. FA UNT LE ROY belonged, neither does nor ought
to influence the public judgment as to the sentiments ex-
pressed towards him. We advert again to this, lest it be
slid by any to whom the facts may not happen to be fully
known, if the mercy of the Crown should be extended to
him by the commutation of his punishment, that his
situation if life obtained for him, what a person in a lower
condition would have sought for in vain. The impar-
tial dispensation of criminal justice, we hold to be among
the leading features of a well-governed State. Rut there
is no k:ngdoin in Europe in which this impartiality is so
marked and conspicuous as in our own. And any one
who should say that a poor man has suffered, when an in-
dividual better horn would have escaped, must know
nothing of the calendar of offenders in this metropolis, or
of the tner:y which is extended to the lowest class of
criminals, in every shape in which it can he applied—in the
lenient summing up of the Je nos—in the humane finding
of the Jetty—in the rerommewbition to mercy of the
AEC ORDER—and in the par dens granted ty his Mares-Y.
No circumstances of ertcnuali•.n are overlooked—no claim
from previous good character is disregarded. We have
said thus much on this head, not merely in proof that
justice is administered without respect of persons, bet to
show with how little truth such an observation would apply,
either to the case of Mr. FAUNTLIXOY or to any other

We had written thus far, when we opened the letter
signed W., which hu just reach-Al us, and which will be
found in another part of our paper. It would be super-
fluous to call the attention of our readers to the important fact
which it unfolds. It kill be curious, as well as itstructive,
to read it in connection with the declaration of the TIISEP,
that

" It seem: the part ff the franc paths to implore the
rsarreas to be patient for a while, rather than to irritate
them into making statements or disclosures."
The contents of this Letter carry their own comment
along with them. it-cll may the TIMES retire in shame,
and take refuge in silence.

Responsunt

Tavel: et on pallor albus infrtit,
fifeatespir peresalit slurred.

We have, on several occasions, animadverted on the
scandalous negligence of the vater companies in respect
to the supply of water for the extinction of the destructive
conflagrations which sometimes occur in this vast metro-
polis. Yesterday morning, in Fleet-street, there was one
of the most extensive fires that have taken place for many
years. Five houses arc burned down, and several others
partially injured. The loss of property,—much of it we
regret to learn, uninsured,—has been immense. After the
discovery of the flames, it appears that more than twenty-
five minutes passed away in fruitless endeavours to obtain
water. The turncocka were not to be found, and the en-
gines that were in attendance were consequently witless,

and the labours of the brave, active, and zealous men, who
were pulling up the pavement, P.:a making every effort in
'search of the plugs, were rendered wholly abortive. The
supply of e-ater is of more importance during the first ten
minutes than at any time afterwards. It is while the
flames nay vet be subdued, as in most cases they might
with ease soon after tit, fire is discovered, that the opera-
' Lions of the engines can produce the greatest benefit. Many
of these dreadful calamities might be
.prevented, if water
in sufleiont abundance could be at once thrown upon the
smotherin_T tnasses, but if a delay of hal.' an hour be suf-
fered to intervene, the excellent arrangements of the
Insurance Offices, and the skill and ability of the firemen,
are of little avail. Instead of suppressing the mischief
in its origin, they arc reduced to be almost powerless spec-
tator: of i:s prog,ress, which rages on without impediment,

until, as in this instance, it is checked by some party-
wall, or other insurmountable obstrue:ion. 'onsid.ring
the just and severe reproofs which have Len gi.'en
from the Bench, and through the Press, to ti:e water
companies, fur their shameful indifference to the safety
of tl:c lives and property of those from whom they
derive their large gains, we had expected that they would
have adopted come means for facilitating an early and
effectual supply of water in these cases. It is now clear
that sonic legal remedy must be applied to the evil. The
water companies must be compelled by positive enactment
to do their duty towards she public. Il .. trust, however,
that the public will not confine time manifestction of their
sense of intliwaiion to the mere obta;nment of this security
for the future. There arc new companies solic

1.3-

and it will ho well for every aceuri:ing
o his couven'elle.., to favour :toil x:ipport tilt to. lwerest
ssity tail thili e.n0v..1 the pi' forman:e of those

()Nig:clods are now so wantonly neglected, to the
ittaLoent lia;:atil of ere! y persoo's life in every walk of the

community.

We unilerstand that his Majesty will come to town on
Friday next, to receive the Reetmler's report.
We :nide:Fowl t!iat thc Parliament, for tl.•c
deslis!eli of busiaess, will take plue:.! on Tueatlay, the
of Fohnutry.

Sir Ciinfes Smart
frau, l'aris.

is hourly expect:ll to arrive in town