The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-27 00:00:00

VA

LONDON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1852

For administrative ability perhaps, the new
cabinet, presided over by the Karl of ABERDEEN,
is more remarkable, all things considered, than
any ever before constructed to direct the destinies
r•f the British Government. That is a merit
,ellich must be admitted at once upon all hands,
said by none, we conceive, more willingly than by
he Leader of the late Administration. Scarcely a
'ingle name appears upon the programme of this
(-Itraordinary Ministry which is not distinguished
'oy a most eminent union of talent and experi-
ice. Several of the- personages who have con-
_•uted to take office under the existing emergency
are not alone qualified to conduct the affairs of
the empire in one or other of the more important
official departments—they are men whose genius
'ight reasonably justify them in aspiring to the
responsible post of Ministerial chieftainship.
Scarcely any one will deny their capacity in this
respect—scarcely any one will deny that the
country might have looked forward, without any
great extravagance of anticipation, to the possi-
hility, under certain contingencies, of the supreme
nutherity in the English Cabinet being entrusted
ace more to the noble ex-Premier, Lord JOHN
R.USSELL. We ourselves have before now debated
the probabilities of a Ministry conducted by Sir
tirAMRS GRAHAM. There have not been wanting
Those, upon several occasions, who have dreamt of
witnessing the construction of a Government pre-
sided over by the Earl of CLARENDON. Again, it
is even now conceded by the bitterest of his
Opponents that Viscount PALMERSTON possesses a
scope and grasp of intellect such as are the most
eagerly desiderated in the Master of an Adminis-
tration. Mr. GLADSTONE, moreover, surpasses in
many particulars not a few of those able rulers
who have stood bravely at the helm of the State
vessel before now under much more disadvan-
tageous circumstances. Besides these, there is
the Premier himself, the Earl of ABERDEEN ; and,
besides the Premier, there are Lord CANNING,
and the Right Honourable SIDNEY HERBERT,
and the Duke of NEWCASTLE—(iO say nothing
just now of Lord GRANVILLE, Or of Mr. CARDWELL,
t or of Sir CHARLES WOOD, OT of Sir WILLIAM
ATOLESWORTH)--liteD not undeservedly celebrated
,)y their skill as diplomatists, or by their tact as
administrators. It is undeniable. The combi-
' nation of ability in the new Cabinet is something
t •
extraordinary. But, then, the list displays such
castonishing incongruities ! The very combination
rhas- about it an aspect so anomalous ! It appears,
k.iOA the face of it, to be nothing less than an
prganised impracticability. What ! Lord PAL-
ktRSTON under Lord ABERDEEN—the " dear
--IABERDEEN" of Louis PHILIPPE, the Marplot of
Spanish Marriages, the Under-Secretary of
bAt. Qt..
,ZOT to be the leader of the most patriotic,
iytt, chivalric, and
.uncompromising of our
oreign ! What !
who Lord PALRERsToN,
cerLioer Of
•
Ras bowed out of the Ministry in the De-
la
51 so unceremoniously; not to say
the City 0g1.5-, by the Noble Lord the Member for
don now in the December of
Cabinet table
1852 consenting t: .
sit down meekly at the same
Bade by side with Lord JOHN
_RUSSELL ! RelDebaber,
too, the Noble Viscount,
the Representative of Tiverton .
, will have to rub
elbows with Lord GRANN,
L, the Minister chosen
his successor in the
cant Secretaryship !
Remember, that Mr. GLADFrrowz
will have to
with Sir CHARLR% WOOD, the most
diaw amicably
CrO tchetty and incompetent of chanceuov of
the Exchequer ! Remember, that Sir JA Ms S
E
GRAHAM Will have to be officially I, -and-ancl-olov
with Lord JOHN RT.T,SELL in all the most • e
refit qUestions of the age, including those affe,ting
the condition of Ireland and the British Colonies
--the- originator of the Ecclesiastical Titles
and the most determined of its antagonists 1
IPaxt from all these very obvious, but at the same
time very startling, considerations, several of the
appointments appear to us to be radically wrong
in themselves. Radicall—
y wrong, we take it, radi-
cally wrong in principle, as well as in fact, is the
nomination of another civilian as First Lord of
the. Admiralty, even though that civi • •
lian be an
administrator as gifted as Sir AXESGRAHAM.,

Radically wrong, we are satisfied, and we proclaim
it, is the instalment of Sir CHART.rs WOOD at the
Head of the Board of Control, at a crisis when
the so-ealled renewal of the East India Charter
must necessitate the total revision of the system•
of our Oriental Government. There are deplora-
ble difficulties threatened likewise through the
selection—the wrong-headed and incomprehensi-
ble selection—of Lord JOHN RUSSELL to act as
Foreign, and of Lord PALMERSTON to act as Home,
Secretary. These are some of the more bungling
arrangements in the choice of the men and the
distribution of the posts of the New Administra-
tion. They are errors so notorious, that we need
scarcely predict from them a very speedy disor-
ganisation of the ABERDEEN Government—won-
derfully and even unprecedentedly powerful though
that Government is in the ability of its principal
members, in their genius as statesmen, and their
capacity as administrators.
Recollections of the Ministry known as the
" Cabinet of all the Talents," have, naturally
enough, been revived by the chief peculiarity of
the Earl of ABERDEEN'S Government. It may not
be uninteresting, therefore, to contrast the Go-
vernment of 1807 and the Government of 1852.

THE PORTLAND CABINET.
President of the Council Earl CAMDEN.

Lord Privy Seal,

Earl WESTMORELAND.

Lord Chancellor.

Lord ELDON.

First Lord of the Treasury Duke of PORTLAND.
Home Secretary..

..,.... Lord HAwKESBURY.

Foreign Secretary

. Mr. CANNING.

Colonial Secretary

Lord CASTLEREAGH.

Chancellor of the Exchequer.

... Mr. PERCIVAL.

President of the Board of Trade Earl BATHURST.
Master-General of the Ordnance... Earl of CHATHAM.

First Lord of the Admiralty Lord MULGRAVE.

Noblemen in those days almost monopolised the
offices of the Government. It will be seen that in
the foregoing catalogue only two Commoners are
mentioned—but what Commoners they were—
Prime Ministers in perspective—CANNlNG and
PERCIVAL. It must be remarked, moreover, that
in this olla podrida Ministry, Lord CASTLEREAGH
was War Secretary as well as Colonial Secretary,
and that Mr. PERCIVAL was Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster, as well as Chancellor of the
Exchequer. The Attorney-General was Sir
VICARY GIBBS, the Solicitor-General was Sir
THOMAS PLUMMER, the President of the Board of
Control (without a seat in the Cabinet) was Mr.
DUNDAS, and the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland was
the Duke of RICHMOND. Now, compare these
statesmen with " all the talents" combined in
the forthcoming Government.

THE ABERDEEN CABINET.

President of Council
Lord Privy Seal

Earl of CLARENDON.
Duke of ARGYLE.

Lord Chancellor
First Lord of the Treasury

Lord CRANWORTH.
Earl of ABERDEEN.

Home Secretary Lord PAL3fERS TON.
Foreign Secretary Lord J. RUSSELL.
Colonial Secretary
Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. GLADSTONE.
President of the Board of Trade Mr. CARDWELL.
President of the Board of Control Sir CHAS. WOOD.
First Lord of the Admiralty Sir J. GRAHAM.
Duchy of Lancaster Lord GRANVILLE.
Postmaster-General Lord CANNING.
Secretary-at-War Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT.
Board of Works Sir W. MOLESWORTH.
Contrasting the two Governments, we should give
thepreference in regard to aggregate ability unques-

tionably to the ABERDEEN Cabinet. For while(with
an respect be it said) we would not for a moment
compare Lord CRANWORTH with Lord ELDON, and
while we allow, of course, the eminent capacity of
Mr. CANNING, of Mr. PERCIVAL, and of Lord
CASTLEREAGH—We cannot but think that the pre-
dominance of intellect must be conceded at once

to a Ministry combining the great powers of a
PALMERSTON, a GRAHAM, a RUSSELL, and a GLAD-
STONE, together with the admitted talents of Lord
CLARENDON, Lord CANNING, Mr. SIDNEY HER-
BERT, Mr. CARDWELL, the Duke Of NEWCASTLE,
and Sir WILLIAM Momswonnt—putting on one
tide names such as those of the PRIME MINISTER,
of the LORD PRIVY SEAL, of the PRESIDENT Of the
BOARD of CONTROL, and of the PRESIDENT of the
DUCHY of LANCASTER. Yet, with all these un-
doubted abilities, can the country imagine for one
instant that it is at length endowed with a stable
Government ? There are too many leaders in the
Cabinet. There is not a sufficient bond of union
amongst them—in principle. They combine—
everybody must admit that—they combine great
reputations. But then they bring together (com-
paratively speaking) only small and broken par-
ties. They bring together the Whigs and the
Peelites. Against those blended Whigs and Peelites
will be arrayed the compact and powerful party, the

largest party in the House of Commons—owning
Lord DERBY and Mr. DISRAELI as their chieftains.
This latter party, recollect, numbering upwards
of 300 Representatives, may be swelled into an
overwhelming majority, upon any question, at
any juncture, by the aid of more than half a hun-
dred of Irish members, and of about a hundred
Liberals of principles thoroughly independent.
It is hoped, no doubt, by the Leaders of the
new Cabinet that the Brigade will be conciliated
by the appointment of Mr. KEOGH as Solicitor-
General for. Ireland, and that the independent
Liberals may be gained over, upon critical divi-
sions, by the circumstance of the Board of Works
having been entrusted to Sir WILLIAM MOLES-
WORTH. But are not these, we may ask, rather
dim conjecturesvague possibilities—almost in-
tangible anticipations ? We shall see. The prize
to be secured is magnificent ; but the stakes ap-
pear to us ridiculous, and even contemptible. A
little while longer, and the result must be ap-
parent. It will then be seen whether the ano-
malies of the ABERDEEN Cabinet can be smoothed
away—whether materials so glaringly incongruous
can be properly amalgamated whether this
blending of important reputations can bestow on
England the long-sought blessing of a strong as
well as of a liberal Government.

No criminal trial for many years has created
deeper interest, we may even say more intense ex-
citement, in the public mind, than that of WILLIAM
BURKE KIRWAN, who now remains under sentence
of death at Kilmainham, for the alleged murder
of his wife, and who, unless the Royal prerogative
be exercised in his favour, must suffer a painful
and ignominious death on the scaffold, on the 18th
of January next. That excitement is not limited
to the district in which the mysterious transaction
occurred, nor to the parties to whom the unfortunate
prisoner was known as an eminent artist occupy-
ing a respectable position in society. It is not in
Ireland alone that it is entertained. It has
spread throughout the entire length and breadth
of the United Kingdom, and is felt by thousands
and tens of thbusands, not only from Cape Clear
to Donaghadee, but from the Lands End to. John
o' Groats.

It is not merely the extraordinary and romantic
circumstances of the case circumstances un-
paralleled since the memorable trial of JOHN
SCANLAN, on which poor GERALD GRIFFIN founded
his most striking and brilliant tale "The Collegians"
that has caused this powerful sensation. Nor
can we fairly compare it with that case; or even
the comparatively modern one of the Duke de
CHOISEUL PRASLDT, for in both instances the atro-
cious crimes were unequivocally and unanswer-
ably brought home to the accused : and there is,
to say the least of it, considerable doubt and mys-
tery connected with that now under notice. If
the guilt of Mr. KIRWAN were fully brought to
light, and rendered clear as noon-day, his cowardly
assassination of an innocent and confiding woman,
who looked up to him for security and protection,
would properly place his name in juxtaposition
with the miscreants above referred to. But while
there is even a remote probability, to say nothing
of a reasonable possibility, of his innocence, we
cannot draw a parallel between the cases, which
might create an undue prejudice against one who
has already, we fear, suffered too severely from
prejudices, not unnaturally excited against him,
minds from which any bias should have
been, carefully excluded at the time when
nis future fate __his life or death depended on the
verdict that should be pronounced.
No ; it is a
higher motive, a
more honourable and ennobling
influence, that has created this thrilling sensation
—it is the dread of the grievous injury to Society —occasioned by the
conviction and possible exe-
cution of an ilatocent man —4.44—.. an injury that must

be regarded by- every right-minded person as a
national calamity—calculated to shake our confi-
dence in that which has long been regarded as the
Palladium of our liberties, the " trial by jury."
The humane maxim of the British law declares

that "it is better that one hundred guilty per-
sons should escape, than that one innocent per-
son should be unjustly convicted." A maxim
never controverted in our British Courts of Jus-
tice, and which, indeed, constitutes the glorious
distinction between the administration of the
criminal law in free and in enslaved nations—be-
tween a mild and humane form of government and
a practical despotism. The reasons for the adop-
tion of this maxim have been so clearly and beau-
tifully expressed, by Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY in his
observations on the Criminal Law of England, that
we maybe excused for quoting the very words of
that distinguished jurist. "It should be
recollected, too," said the great law reformer,
" that the object of penal laws is the protection
and security of the innocent ; that the punish-
ment of the guilty is resorted to only as the means
of attaining that object. When, therefore, the
guilty, escape, the law has merely failed of its in-
tended effect ; it has done no good indeed, but it
has done no harm. But when the innocent be-
come the victims of the law, the law is not merely
inefficient—it does not merely fail of accomplish-
ing its intended object—it injures the persons it
was meant to protect ; it creates the very evil it was
to cure, and destroys the security it was made to
preserve." We feel, then, that there is something
even more important than the life or death of this
unfortunate gentleman—for greatly unfortunate
he is if guilty, and doubly so if innocent—in-
volved in the result ; and it is in this spirit that
we approach the consideration of the interesting
inquiry, Is Wm/Lot BURKE KIRWAN indeed a
murderer ?—the wilful and cold-blooded assassin
of the woman whom before the altar of his GOD
he had vowed "to love and cherish ?"
Before we attempt to enter on this wide field of
investigation, we must be permitted to disclaim any
morbid feeling of sympathy for the so-called
criminal. If he be indeed guilty—if no reason-
able doubt existed in the case—we should say
that he had richly merited the most exemplary
punishment—that hanging was " too good" for so
vile a wretch—that no greater sympathy could be
felt for his sufferings than for the destruction of a
wild beast or rabid animal. His antecedents
were by no means favourable, or calculated to
predispose the community to regard with any
degree of leniency the 'harrowing accusation pre-
ferred against him. He had undoubtedly violated
one of the obligations imposed by his nuptial vow
—he had lived in a long-continued course of
licentiousness, the discovery of which naturally
led to serious quarrels with his ill-fated wife, and
the public discovery whereof, the disgust excited
by bringing home the partner of his guilt to the
place previously occupied by his deceased wife,
led to the subsequent investigation, and thereby
to his conviction and condemnation. But how-
ever gravely we may censure such conduct, there
is no law—human or divine—which authorised or
authorises the capital punishment of such
a person. The provision in the Jewish code
was only against the man who committed adultery
with another man's wife (Leviticus xx., 10), and
that very code recognised and even justified poly-
gamy. By the British law a civil remedy is only
given, and if every unfaithful husband were to
be consigned to the hands of the hangman, too
many would, we fear, come within the scope of
such a Draconic enactment.
It is, however, practically, because he had
thus sinned, that KIRWAN is left for execution in
the prime of life, and his very name consigned to
an infamous notoriety among future generations.
It is impossible to doubt this fact, if we consider
the stress laid on the circumstances by the Learned
Judge (CRAMPTON) in his charge, as affording an
an adequate motive for the crime ; and although
he at the same time declared that there was "no
necessary connexion between the character and
moral habits of living of the prisoner, previous to
the 6th of September, and his responsibility and
liability to the charge which was the subject of
the indictment"—although he explained how dif-
ficult it was "to connect that single motive with
the subsequent act"—he yet laid so much weight
thereon, and on the unkind, if not threat-
ening, language made use of on their first
arrival at Howth, in June, but which was not
repeated during July, August, or September, that
it must have materially influenced the verdict.
It is certain that had KIRWAN been a devoted
and faithful husband, he would never have been
convicted, perhaps never even accused. Now, al-
though we do not attempt to vindicate, or even
excuse these marital backslidings, we must be per-
mitted to say that we do not consider them suffi-
cient to convert doubt into certainty, or to render
that which is at best, or rather at worst, a case of
grave suspicion one of complete and satisfactory
proof.

One wcrd more as to the supposed motive. It
must be borne in mind that it was not the com-
mencement of KIRWAN'S illicit connexion when in
the hey-day of youth, and uncontrolled violence
of passion, he might feel disposed to sacrifice every
tie—to relinquish every hope, human and divine,
for the possession of the loved object. No, the
liaison was of considerable standing—nearly, if
not altogether, dating from the time of his mar-
riage. Several, we believe, as many as eight chil-
dren, had been born. There could not,
therefore, have been that maddening and
overwhelming passion, that would render a
man reckless of consequences. It should also be
considered that it had been continued after the
alleged discovery--that the offence had been con-
doned—and that the death of MARIA KIRWAN
was not indispensable to the continuation of his
visits to THERESA KENNY. The quarrelling had
long ceased ; MARGARET CAMPBELL, the only wit-
ness by whom it was established, in her deposi-
tion, stated that " she had never known them to
disagree except on one occasion"—that " she did
not know the cause of that disagreement"—and
that, " except in that instance, she knew them to
live together as happily as could be." The alleged
motive, so far, then, as the desire to possess
THERESA KENNY without interruption, is thus set
aside ; and it could scarcely be asserted, with any
appearance of plausibility, that the dread of expo-
sure, or of the injury to his reputation, from the
public discovery of his immorality, could act so
powerfully on a man in his position as it did 011
TAWELL the Quaker, when he dispatched his victim
at Slough from the anxiety to keep up appearances.
The length to which the preceding observations
have run, permit neither time nor space to ana-
lyse the evidence with the minuteness and accu-
racy which its complicated character as well as the
vital importance of the result, not only to the
prisoner, but to the community in general, im-
peratively demands. We shall, therefore, reserve
further comment for a future number—merely
stating, that in
,our opinion that evidence Was by
no means conclusive or sufficient to warrant the
finding of the jury, and the consequent execution
the consequent execution,
of the prisoner—we say
for it is no case for compromise. If he be indeed
guilty, let him be cut off from the face of the
earth ; but if that guilt be not satisfactorily and
indisputably established, he should not suffer
even a single month's imprisonment on the charge,

If Lord ABERDEEN has been somewhat delibe-
rate in constructing a Ministry, Lord DERBY has
been prompt enough in rallying and equipping an
opposition. He has more than rivalled the noble
inhabitant of 32, Chesham-place. Lord JOHN
RUSSELL had quitted his official quarters, had
allowed three weeks to elapse, before he sum-
moned his former comrades to meet him : Lord
DERBY, while the abode of office is yet warm,
and before " three times the space that measures
day and night to mortal men" have well elapsed,
awakes himself from the stupor of his fall from
office, and calls on his legions to " awake, arise,
or be for ever fallen." Lord JoHN himself at
least cannot complain. He set the example ; and
it is followed readily, with the characteristic dif-
ferences between the aristocratic heat and haste
of a STANLEY, and the aristocratic coolness and
nonchalance of Lord JOHN RUSSELL. Lord JOHN
had recommended a successor to office, and in
three weeks was scheming to upset him. Lord