The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The fate of the wretched culprits who were.sen-
tenced to suffer for their atrocious and truly diabo-
lical crimes on the scaffold this morning suggests
ome subjects of reflection to which it may not be
useless at the present moment thus publicly to ad-
vert. The more immediate consideration arising
professional butchers
surgical shambles is the
onfithuofmtahne abpepinagllsingfocrastehoef the
extensive nature of their traffic with the schools of
anatomy, and the perfect security in which it had
been heretofore conducted. When we hear of a
system of murder which had long been carried on
for the supply of subjects to the dissecting-rooms,
we naturally ask how it was that the keen and in-
telligent eye of science was so dull and dark as not
to penetrate into the practices of the ignorant and
brutal purveyors of slaughtered bodies fur the pur-
poses of the dissecting-room ?We naturally ask
how those clumsy drunken murderers imposed the
fresh bodies of their victims not merely upon ana-
tomical porters or surgical students, but upon ex-
perienced surgeons and anatomists—themselves
I teacher of the science which professes, in Courts of
Justice, to be able to discover, in cases of homicide,
the causes of death ? When we find, however, that
those who devote themselves, as they say, to the
interests of science, plead in their own exculpation
a most unscientific ignorance of the causes of death,
when that death has been inflicted Ibv the hands of
the ruffians who are vulgarly called " resurrec-
tion-men," and that this ignorance makes them
unsuspecting even in the midst of the most sw..-
picious circumstances, we then wonder, not why
the dreadful traffic was so long carried on in
concealment, but why it was ever brought to
a light.nato m
s\ti,s7 ew:vroend
m eardne ot how so
the
dupes manyof u
the sinrge
feriol
inasa
tarnd
e-
cities, but how it happened that there was one of
the profession whom their villainy failed to deceive.
There is, indeed, one anatomist who, fortunately for

the public, was not to be imposed upon by the mur-
derous handy-work of the Burkites ;—one who has
nobly and honourably done his duty to the public—
to the real interests of science—to the cause of jus-
tice and morality—and to human nature itself. As
long as the recollection of a crime which, until the
recent discoveries at Edinburgh, was, like the crime
of the " foul and midnight hags" in _Macbeth, " a
deed without a name," survives even in the records

of human depravity to make humanity shudder, so
long will the name of Mr. Partridge be held in de-
served estimation for drawing the veil of the horrid
mysteries practised in the temple of science, where
the presiding genius that men regarded as a saving
and beneficent spirit has been feasted with sacrifices
only lit for a destroying Moloch. If, in ancient
Ronne, that man was rightly rewarded with the
" civic crown" who saved the life of a Roman citi-
zen, how deserving of a public testimony of respect
and honour from his fellow-citizens is the man
who, by vindicating the intelligence of science on
behalf of the interests of humanity and justice, has
prevented the destruction of the lives of an incal-
culable number of British subjects, by modes t f
death the most revolting and barbarous? There ate
writers who exhaust all their sympathies on what
are called by pseudo philosophers—and, in our opi-
nion, ignorantly called—" the interests of science,"
and have, consequently, little commiseration to
bestow on the victims of the system. They seem
to look at Burking as useful in demonstrating the
n. cessity of a change in the law, so as to remove
the restrictions which are opposed to the disgusting
traffic in dead bodies—and even to go the length of
providing a compulsory supply of the bodies of the
poor for the dissection table. As to legalising the
traffic in dead bodies, it is a nice and difficult ques-
tion, though it certainly could be done at once by
abolishing the law which makes it penal to have a
dead body in possession for the purpose of dissec-
tion ;—but then the question arises, is it not better
that anatomical science should remain imperfect than
that any step should be taken to improve it which
would have the effect of brutalizing the feelings of
the people ? There can be no doubt that too much
stress is laid by the anatomists of the present day
upon dissection, and too little upon the advantages
of other modes of study. The mechanical practice
of mangling the human body gratifies the indolence
of men who abhor the mental application which the
elaborate works of the greatest anatomists require.
I! is easy to cut up, but it is difficult to learn. We
believe it will be found that exclusive or excessive
attachment to the dissecting-room is not often pro-
ductive of the highest attainments in science. But
it is said "Bunking must be prevented, and we must
submit to any alteration of the law which will
have the effect of putting an end to that horrid
crime." We admit at once that legislative
s'eps must be taken to prevent Burking, and
we would begin by making it a severely penal
offence for a surgeon or anatomist to pur-
chase, or have in his possession, a dead body that can
be proved to have been Barked. We have said be-
fore that while there is any price for a subject,
however small it may be, persons will be found ca-
pable of committing murder for that price, as we sec
t hat some murders are committed even for the amount
of a few shillings. If then the law were so altered
to-morrow as to legalise the sale of dead bodies, yet
the penal enactment which we have stated would be
necessary still to secure the public against the crime
of Burking. Nothing short of this, and the subjec-
tion of schools of anatomy to strict police regulations,
can prevent the progress of the crime. It is in vain
to say " Lower the price." This monstrous crime
has taken root in our soil, and it cannot be eradicated
as long as there is any temptation to wicked men, un-
less that temptation be counteracted by establishing
a severe system of police surveillance over anato-
s•shnols. and by enacting such a penal law as
shall allow the culpauie erPrice of surgeons no
longer to be excused on the ground of
the original crime, to which they must make them-
selves accessories after the fact. No greater hard-
ship would be done to surgeons and anatomists by
such a law than has been already recognised as rea•
sonable in other cases. It is seldom that there is any
thing like positive and direct evidence of guilty
knowledge against a receiver of stolen goods. His
guilt is generally presumed from the accompanying
circumstances. Anatomists are men of science—they
profess to be men of intelligence in their profession.
They undertake, on criminal trials, to pronounce,
where human life is at stake, with sufficient
confidence, on the causes of death. This know-
ledge, and the discrimination which a scientific edu-
cation teaches, ought, under the suspicious cir-
cumstances in which Bunkers bring to the sham-
bles fresh and almost warm bodies, to afford ground
for the legal presumption which convicts other guilty
receivers. We believe that there are many sur-
geons who, tinder similar circumstances, would have
acted like Mr. Partridge. As to such persons, a
penal law would be superfluous ; not so as to
others, whom no suspicious circumstances can in-
duce to aid the course of justice, as the history of
Bunking, though yet imperfectly made known, abun-
dantly testifies. Another consideration arising out
of the crime of the Bunkers is the fact that they
made use of the vice of drunkenness as the prepara-
tory process to the extermination of their victims.
Men, women, or children, that fell into the hands
oo ft theseother
intoxicating
m riste
spirit, until their senses werers, they plied with gin, or some
gone and their strength incapable of resistance—
arid no sooner was the work of murder accomplished,
and the price of blood obtained, than the successful
villains converted their ill-gotten gold into ardent
spirits, and drenched the stings of conscience in
profuse and beastly intoxication. If the dread of
pestilence will not open the eyes of the lower classes
of this country to the dangers attendant upon the
infatuated love of intoxicating liquors, will they not
turn from their fatal charm when they find that it
leads them as helpless victims into the path of the
vampires, who crawl forth from the churchyards,
where they prey upon the dead, to prowl for the
blood of the living 1 It is also a subject of serious
consideration, and one which reflects deep disgrace
upon the laws of England, that the punishment

which Barkers suffer is no more than our law in-
flicts upon the forger of a banknote—the stealer of
st horse or a sheep—the criminal who steals five
pounds in a dwelling-house, and other violators of
the mere rights of property. Can there be any
-proportion bet wren the crimes ? And yet the
p mishment is the same! 'What is the consequence ?,
The people exult at the conviction of the Beakers;
but in other cases, murder alone excepted, they
sympathize with the criminals, and :condemn the
laws. Can laws which provoke the indignation of
public opinion be respected? Can laws which con-'
found the gradations of guilt, and the eternal prin-
ciples of justice, deserve icspect?—Aforn. Herald.
A very false and a very at';Ard alarm is still at
this eleventh hour, attempted to be propagated by the
horoughmongers, that the Reform is calculated
to alter the political relations of society, and to be-,
refit the trading part of, the community at the ex-
pence, or by the plunder, of the owners end culti-
vators of the soil. The smallest grain of reflection,
or the slightest knowledge of ,acts, is sufficient to
destroy this delusion in the minds of all persons
with whom a conviction or an opinion is not the
mere result of accident, or capeireeseef s-Ashness,
or inattention. But in attempting In demonstrate
the fact that the landed interest has been consulted
as much as it ought, we 'Waist not be supposed to
allow the utility or wisdom of the system on which
such partial distinctions are founded. We have •
long been of opinion that the separation, so broadly
drawn in the House of Commons, between Members,
for the counties and Members for the towns,—be-
tween the representatives of the landed, and trading
or manufacturing population,—between the Sir Re.
,g Cr de Coverleys and the Sir &drew Freeport: of
the day,—is injurious and impolitic,—that eenator,
should not consider themselves as the hired ad-
vocates of any particular class of the comma-
nity„—and that tile floor of Parliament should
not be converted into an arena of contest be-
tween conflicting selfishness or hostile monopo-
lies. It may be necessary to have in the House
men acquainted with the local interests and
particular enterprises or a diversified commu-
nity, to give information to the whole nasembly
where it would otherwise be in danger of framing
laws in the dark or with imperfect knowledge, but
there should be no attempt made to establish among
the representatives of the same people a " balance
of power," which, whatever may be its advantages
among States, and however necessary to the ex-
istence of diplomacy, can only be dangerous or per-
nicious in legislation. We know nothing on which
a country gentleman, in his mere capacity of county
Member, is capable of enlightening his fellow-sena-
tors in the House. 'We are acquainted with no in-
terests which they are exclusively called upon to
sustain, or which the rest of the community are
likely to question, but the laws which they have en-
acted for the monopoly of grain, and for the prole c-
tion of game. The former must soon be libeled,
whether we obtain Reform or not ; and the latter
has iately been brought more within the range of
common sense, without any change in the relative
position of the. different interests in the State.
With these ideas, however, of the impacy of
maintaining the broad and hurtful distinctioti
which now exists between the representatives
of different interests, we are prepared to contend
that the Reform Bill is not liable to the charge
made by some, and has not the merit in the
eyes of others, of reducing the relative influence
of the landed Aristocracy. We are even per-
suaded that if it were to suffer no modification front
future deliberation and discussion, it roust confer
upon the proprietors of laud, or the county repre-
sentation,
more direct power than they have hitherto'
possessed. In the first place, it gives to some
counties one additional Member, and to the great
majority of counties two additional Members, making
in all sixty new representatives of the landed aristo-
cracy in the House. This in itself is a considerable
portion of the whole disposable representation, res-
cued from corruption by the total or partial dis-
franchisement of the rotten boroughs. What is the
ether portion of the surplus conferred en the great
towns not liable to a similar influence ? Why, with
the exclusion of the small drain made by Scotland
aid Ireland, not so many. The eight Members for
the metropolitan districts, the Members given to
Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, and the other con-
siderable places which are to receive one or two
Members, will not be sufficient to balance in num-
bers the sixty additional representatives conferred
upon the counties. But it is areued, that though
the landed aristocracy had less direct power formerly
Shan it is proposed to give it now, yet, as the nomie
eation and close boroughs which are disfratiehised
belonged chiefly to them, their indirect power and
unavowed influence is upon the whole diminished. Ii
such had not been expected to be the case, who would
have cared one straw about the Reform Bill ?—for
without its disfranchising schedules it would have
been a mockery ; but it must be (Admitted that the
influence of the aristocracy, in these boroughs was not
essentially inherent in their capacity as landed pro-
prietors. These nests of corrupt voters, or piles
lucrative ruins, to which the faculty of making le-
gislators was attached, might be purchased by Jews
or Gentiles,—by Nabobs or shopkeepers,—by saints
or West India planters. Thus Cornwall,—the large
manufactory of Members of Parliament,—which ha
been reduced by the Bill from 42 to 14, had pro-
bably 20 or 30 seats which might have been bought
by a purse of pagodas, as well as by the sovereigns
of a Cornish autocrat. But the 60 additional Mem-
bers given to the counties by the Bill, nee not the
only increased power which the landed interest will
derive from it. We formerly showed that the county
constituency will become more rueene agricultural,
and consequently be placed more directly under the
great landed proprietors, by the abolition of the
votes for the county on town freeholds, which will
now be absorbed in the town constituency. This
effect of the Bill will relieve Yorkshire, Lancashire,
Middlesex, Staffordshire, Kent, Surrey, and nearly
every county in England, of a large body of county
electors, who, coming front towns, cities, or bo-
roughs, with the feelings and the partialities of their
places of residence, might have turned the scale
against_ the representative of the landed intei:est.
But undoubtedly one of the greatest sources of
additional influence which will be opened to the
landed interest by the Bill—if it is passed in
its present shape—is that reduction of the
number of electors in the smaller boroughs by
the 10!. house-qualification, which will compel
a considerable portion of the constituency of
these boroughs to be taken from the country dis-
tricts which surround them, and over which the landed
proprietors can in various ways exercise authority.
The extent of the new supply of electors necessary
to make up the snug and manageable crops of 300
required to manufacture one or two Members of
Parliament, may easily be inferred from the circum-
stance, that not one of the 47 boroughs originally
in schedule B had above 250 rated 10/. householders
within its limits, and many of them not 50 or 100;
yet, as these boroughs will continue to send one
Member to the House of Commons, they must
take the greatest part, or nearly two-thirds, of their
constituency from villages, market-towns, or the
estates of the neighbouring gentry, over all of which
the power of the landed aristocrat will be felt. In
addition to this number of mutilated boroughs in
schedule B, we have 16 which range in their popu-
lation from 4,000 to 5,000, in none of which will be
found a sufficient constituency to return their two
Members without a country reinforcement. These
are Mahon, Harwich, Newport in the Isle of Wight,
Grantham, De viees,Andover, Hertford, Bridgenorth,
Aylesbury, Pontefract, St. Albans, Dartmouth,
Ripon, Horsham, Peterborough, and Caine. Be-
sides these many considerable boroughs whose pope_
laden exceeds 5,000, have not at present 300 house-
holders rated at 101. rent, and therefore will be
obliged to place themselves for a portion of their
electors under the influence of the landed proprietors
in the neighbourhood. Thus Bedford, with a po-
pulation of .5,466, has only 209 rated 101. house-
holders; Abingdon, with a population of 5,137,
only 148; and so on with other cases, which need