The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-08 00:00:00

but required two victims. The worst of all these
cases is, that though all those who have access to
the patient, or nearly all, entertain some suspicion
of the fearful fact, yet from one motive or another
no steps are taken until it is too late. Half the
information that is given at the trial, and half the
energy then exhibited put in practice at an earlier
period, might have done wonders. It is to be trusted
for the sake of humanity, and in aid of the preven-
tion of crime, that the sad details of the doings of
Dr. PRITCHARD will not be forgotten by those who
are in future mixed up with suspicious
cases. The knowledge that no notice is
taken of the most extraordinary incidents

must induce many unscrupulous persons to go on in
their frightful schemes, and pursue their plans, re-
gardless of difficulty and reckless of danger. The
fact of Dr. PRITCHARD'S being a medical man ought
to have increased suspicion, instead of lessening it,
when any awkward circumstances had occurred.
The evidence of all parties concurs in pointing to
Dr. PRITCHARD, and all the examinations that took
place afford unmistakeable information that both

the deceased ladies died of poison.
This sad event is one of those cases which show
that truth is stranger than fiction, for doubtless had
the drama discovered such a scene, or the sensa-
tional novelist introduced such a passage in
his
works, many critics would have declared that the
whole thing was overdrawn, but we now see that
amid the actual scenes of daily life the most start-
ling occurrences can take place, and yet those most
intimately concerned take little heed, and those
around remain in total ignorance until the discovery
is made too late to avert the calamity. Dr. PRIT-
CHARD'S assurance almost passes belief, for he ac-
tually called in other medical. men. It must be
remarked that it is an error to strain professional
etiquette too far, as is observable in the case of Dr.
JAMES PATERSON. When a medical man is of
opinion that a person is being " poisoned with anti-
mony," it is submitting too much to rule and pre-
cedent to let things alone and leave matters to take
their own course. The servants were strangely unob-
servant not to draw the natural conclusion from the
very suspicious circumstances that took place, the fact
of one of them being taken ill whenever she partook
of •what was left from the food provided for the
patient, was in itself most material. If more care
prevailed, there would be fewer of these sad cases
to record. It is a satisfaction, so far as the term
can be applied to such an affair, that justice has
been satisfied in the discovery of the offender and
his conviction. It may not be out of place to add
that there exists not the slightest reason why the
sentence passed upon the prisoner should be re-
mitted, and it is to be trusted that those well-mean-
ing, but mistaken individuals, who have before this
interested themselves in similar cases, will allow the
law to be carried out. Nothing can tend more to
militate against the cause of justice than the system
of pardoning offences of this kind, and when the
evidence has been so fully established, as was the
case recently, it is absurd to say that mistakes may
have been made. The Lord Justice-Clerk, in pro-
nouncing sentence of death, truly observed that
" the verdict of the jury proceeded upon evidence
which could leave no reasonable doubt on the mind
of those by whom it was considered." Such was
the able summing up of the case before the public,
and the wisest and kindest course, the conduct
most in conformity with the principles of justice
and mercy, will be to leave the condemned man to
prepare himself for his rightful doom, undisturbed
by the idea of a pardon or of his sentence being
commuted.

To-day will be a day of busy anticipation and
excitement throughout England ; and the close of a
somewhat eventful week leaves candidates and com-
mittees in busy cogitations, rushing hastily from
one place to another, addressing the electors,
answering the inconveniently pertinent queries that
are always put at such times, and, generally speak-
ing, going through an amount of exertion and
excitement which at any other time they would

stand aghast. But there is something wonderfully
fascinating about a Parliamentary election, and

though we have outlived the days when three noble
rivals kept open house for several days in London,
and spent sums to bereckoned by tens of thousands,
yet the amount of money that will change hands in
the next ten days will be very considerable. The
fever is already begun, by Monday and Tuesday it

will be at its height, and by Tuesday afternoon the
first batch of members—sixteen—will be duly elec-

ted to serve in Parliament.

The metropolitan

boroughs, which, of course, come in among the

very first, will be the scenes of the earliest struggle,
and already Marylebone and Finsbury, and West-
minster, are in a tumult of placards. The Liberals

are not to have all their own way this time.

Westminster, indeed, they have put forward a dis

tinguished candidate, but they have a formidable
and energetic opponent. The Conservative electors
of Westminster form no inconsiderable number,
and if they choose to rally round their candidate
the Liberals may very probably lose one of their
seats for the borough. In Marylebone the Liberals
have a division among themselves, so they will have
a contest of their own, and Mr. CHAMIIERS, pro-
fessing himself in favour of " free" everything,
proposes to displace Lord FERMOY. The City of
London, in which, of course, a good deal of inte-

rest centres, can boast this time of a good many
the honour of its representation. Four Libera,
Candidates are in the field, and two Opposition re-
presentatives have come boldly forward. One of
these, Mr. LYALL, is the son of a gentleman who for
many years sat for the City, and consequently he
has an hereditary claim on the respect and attention
of one portion of the electors. Mr. FOWLER, his
associate, aspires to divide with him the dignity of
representing the Conservative interest, and from
the smart and effective speech made by the former
gentleman, he would be no insignificant member.
It is to be hoped that the presence
.of these gentle-
men will stir up the Liberal party and their repre-
sentatives to achieve something a little more worthy
of the position which the members for the good old
city of London ought to occupy. In Lambeth,
again, there has been a wonderful metamorphosis.
Mr. HAIG has consented to come forward in
the Conservative interest, an event which has
not been witnessed for a good many years,
so many, indeed, that Lambeth has been
reckoned among the Liberal certainties. It will
do the genuine Liberals no harm to find a
few of these " certainties" melt away from them.
They have reckoned too much on the prestige of
their name and their principles. They have restricted
their Liberalism to the abuse of their oppo-
nents, and to high-flown declamation about the
rights of the people, but the people have long ago
discovered that they have been acting the part of
the dog in the manger, and that, while they are in-
creasing in watchfulness to keep others at bay they
turn their advantages to very little practical good
themselves. They are very likely at this election to
learn some wholesome truths, and we hope that
the constituencies throughout the country will profit
by the experience of the past, and will select men
not for the principles they profess alone, but for the
conduct which they have pursued. Let them seek
to be represented by honest independent men, not
nominees of either party, not rigi 1 partisans, or