The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRMAY EVENING,

I Jury, had to scrutinise, lynx-eyed, this protracted
and horrible dabbling in nastiness.

Everybody knows that homeliest of all the
many wise and witty sayings of the Great
NAPOLEON the one urgently recommending
people to wash their dirty linen at home !
Never had it a more filthily direct applica-
tion than in the instance of this foul and nauseating

inquiry. An inquiry, ')3, the way, in the course of
which the evidence of persons from all ranks and
classes of society had to be adduced. There were
tutors and railway giards, general officers and
clergymen, lawyers and timber merchants,
bailiffs and lodging-house keepers. There was,
among others, that keen-witted old parish clerk,
who, by the way, gate a quaint foreshadowing
of the verdict brought in but yesterday by the jury—
when,long ago,in the midst of this protracted inquiry,
the said shrewd old SOLOMON DAISY, village car-
penter and parish clerk, oddly turned the laugh
against the smart-spoken barrister just then sub-
jecting him to the presumed torture of a cross-
examination, by saying, with a twinkle of the eye,
that Mr. WINDHAM was as sane as his (the
witness's) interrogator, and would make just as
good a lawyer if he had but the wig on! There,
moreover, among the motley characters brought one
after another into that wondrous witness-box, men
about town and valets turned wine-merchants,
surgeons and physie:ans, learned scholars and
rather questionable personages being on the
loose, sawney bumpkins and fast London
betting men, publicins and sinners too, for
that matter—the latter, by the way, rather in
superfluity. And—before closing this hastily-
penned and wonderfully chequered catalogue,
which is far from complete, even now, as expressive
of the diversity of character and of professions em-
braced within the coripass of the 140 witnesses
subjected to examinaton and cross-examination—
it ought here to WI added as horridly remi-
niscent of the appicability of NAPOLEON'S
saying to the case in hand, that among
the rest of the evidence hunted up there was a
"distinguished" General's search after a fresh
witness of importance In the shape of a veritable
washerwoman ! Remembering in effect the class
of evidence that was adduced in such nauseating
abundance, it almost appears to us that in the
course of this revolting investigation there was
one American " institution" that it might almost
have been as well to have imported succes-
sively into the Court of 'Exchequer, and after-
wards into the Sessions House at Westminster,
while Master WARREN and his jury were
sitting there—meaning, if we may be per-
mitted to say so, an adequate supply of spit-
toons. Notwithstanding the length to which
the inquiry was protracted, it should in
justice not be overlooked that the learned
Master repeatedly endeavoured upon every possible
opportunity to preclude the counsel upon either
sidb from bringing forward evidence in any way
irrelevant to the proceedings. Occasionally it is
to be regretted that altercations sometimes of a very
comprehensible, often almost unavoidable, and upon
rare occasions, even be it said of a somewhat unseemly
character, impeded for a time the regular course
of these proceedings. Throughout the inquiry
the eminent counsel engaged upon either side dis-
played very remarkable ability, though frequently
but little command of temper—their mutual recri-
minations once or twice almost carrying to extra-
vagance the forensic license of speech assumed
with the horse-hair wig and the silk gown or the
bombazene.

As to the difference of opinion which
arose towards the close of this prolonged inves-
tigation between the learned Master who pre-
sided over it, and the brilliant Advocate who was
the chosen and foremost Champion of Mr. WIND-
HAM'S cause—as to the contention, that is, which
took place between Mr. WARREN and
Sir HUGH CAIRNS as to the examination
of Mr. WINDHAM himself publicly or pri-
vately, these are two considerations which
ought certainly not to be overlooked. It should be
remembered, in resolving, as Mr. WARREN did,
to have Mr. WINDHAM examined in private, con-
trary to the earnest wishes of Mr. WINDHAM him-
self, and contrary also to the emphatic and
reiterated entreaties of his gifted advocate, the
Master was assuming to himself (as he of course
had a perfect right to do if he so pleased) a very
grave responsibility. That is the first considera-
tion. The second being sufficiently obvious now
that the WINDHAM inquiry has been brought to
a close—namely, that the Verdict of the jury is
in itself a perfect and final vindication of the course
pursued by the Master, in resolving that Mr. WIND-
HAM should not be made a public exhibition of—even
in compliance with his own individual wishes, even
in concession to the earnest and, at last, almost
petulant demand made in his behalf by Sir HUGH
CAIRNS. That the Master in resolving that this
course, and this course only, should be pursued,
was acting conscientiously, and even from the
humanest considerations, every one, not excepting
Sir HUGH CAIRNS himself, must all along
have been perfectly well convinced. It ap-
peared to Sir HUGH CAIRNS, however, and
and to many others, and we will frankly admit
to ourselves also, while the result of the inquiry
was still pending, was still problematic, that Mr.
WARREN was acting rashly, almost with indis-
cretion, when persisting in his refusal to comply
with the often repeated and most urgent en-
treaties for a Public Examination. Yet even then
it was so far removed from hostile criticism this
unflinching determination on the part of Mr.
WARREN, inasmuch as he was thereby, as already
remarked, assuming to himself voluntarily a
grave and weighty responsibility. As the
event has proved, however, we repeat, the
verdict is the complete vindication of the
Master's resolve. And so this in many respects
lamentable case is brought to an end at last—
Mr. WINDHAM being pronounced sane, but at the
same time being left, at any rate for very many
years to come, a ruined man so far as his actual pro-
perty is concerned. Not, let us hope, morally. For
it is the one good to himself that is likely
to come out of this infamously trumped-up
charge, and out of these consequently fright-
ful exposures of his own early depravity.
Let him not, in heaven's name, misapprehend
the meaning of the ringing cheers that greeted
the Verdict in his favour, or of the BRIAREUS hand-
grasp of congratulations held out to him by the
General Public, or of the exulting shouts
that followed him on his quitting the
Court yesterday afternoon. Let him be quite
certain of this, they were simply and literally the
acclamations of warm-hearted Englishmen lovin g
Justice, but loathing mere gross vulgar Pro-
fligacy.

The proposed British North American Associa-
tion has made an effective start in regard to its
preliminary meeting yesterday ; and will, we trust,
organise itself numerously and successfully. Mem-
bers of the British Legislature, by their attendance
in such an unusual proportion, show at least the
attention such an Association would receive from
the House of Commons. Hitherto our North
American colonies have not had fair play. During
the days of their implicit dependence on the
Colonial-office, the English colonies were at a dis-
advantage. Emigrants to them did not enjoy the
political liberties Which they would gain by becom-