The Sun.
London, England, 1831-07-18 00:00:00

the last half century—there is no man, woman, or
child, above the age of ten years, who, if asked,
whether Manchester, Birmingham, and other
large manufacturing towns should be represented in
preference to boroughs of not one-twentieth part of
their population, would not answer that they ought
—nor in any impartial, unprejudiced, and equitable
mind could there exist the slightest doubt that it is
much better to give votes to that numerous class of
the population renting houses of 101. a year and up-
wards, and thus secure their support of the institu-
tions of the country, and the preservation of its pro-
perty, than to throw them out of the pale of the
elective franchise, and array them, at some future
period, either on the revolutionary side, or that of
an indifference equally fatal to both. Nay, more,
the country has declared loudly by its voice, not
once, but often, that it will have a Reform in its re-
presentation—that it will have the Bill, the whole
I Bill, and nothing but the Bill—it has also returned
• a majority to the House of Commons, before whom
I the Members with no constituents, and the borough-

mongering faction generally, must give way, sooner
or later; and how impudent is it then—nay, how
mischievous to the trade and the tranquillity of the
country—on the part of these rotten Members, who
represent no part of the people or the country, and
only hold their seats by the sufferance of some Peer
of the realm, whose orders they are bound slavishly
to obey, as the West Indian slave his master, to get
up sight after night in their places, and by a repe-
tition of the same clamour, and of the same foolish

arguments, to delay the completion of a measure
which they know must, and will, be carried, and to
which, in their hearts, leaving private, and selfish,
and slavish interests out of consideration, the purest
character of justice belongs ? But this is not the
only accusation which we have to prefer against
these worthies : we accuse them, also, of a breach
of faith. They form a party, and they have no-
minated a leader, and they pretend to abide by
his decision; but, notwithstanding all this ap-
pearance of a regularly organized army of opposi-
tion, not only have the troops fought without orders
from their commander-in-chief, but the gallant and
great captain himself has broken the stipulations of
a regular treaty; and after abjuring all factious op-
position, has proved himself the most factious of
the factious ! In proof of these observations it is
only necessary to refer to the fact that Sir R. Peel,
on the introduction of the Bill, stated his determi-
nation to make his stand against it on the second
reading, and if foiled by a decided majority, to con-
fine his endeavours to that of effecting such amend-
ments in the Committee as the Bill might be sus-
ceptible of; and how have he and his party ad-
hered to this understanding ? Was not the Bill read
a second time by an overwhelming majority, and the
principle of it thus carried ? Was not the prin-
ciple of it again contested in a debate of four-
teen hours, on the motion for the House re-
solving itself into a Committee on the Bill ?
And has not Sir Robert Peel, independent of
numerous amendments, of which notice has been
given by different Members of his party, given a
notice of his determination to retry the principle
anew ? These proceedings, we allow, are fairly in
unison with the character of the party from which
they emanate ; and it is because they are so—be-
' cause no justice or fair dealing can be expected from
them—because the trade and commerce of the
country are injured by their proceedings, and its
tranquillity exposed to jeopardy that we now call
upon the Government and the representatives of
the people to do their duty with greater energy and
vigour, than characterized their proceedings during
the last week. With those who keep no faith with
others, no faith ought to be kept—with those who
only oppose measures for the mere sake of oppo-
sition, annoyance, and mischievous delay, some
shorter method of dealing must be adopted.
Is it to be tolerated for a moment that a
petty boroughmongering faction should be allowed
to shield its unmanly and useless opposition under
those forms which were imagined and framed for the
preservation of the public liberties, but which they
employ for their destruction ? Is a measure, in fact,
which the country has already adopted as its own,
to be frustrated, or unnecessarily and mischievously
delayed, because it is unpalatable to those who have
long preyed on the vitals of the country, and who
are in opposition simply because the carrying of it
puts an end at once to their return to power ? We
address these observations to Lord Althorp and his
friends :—to the Reform Members in the House,
we say, " be instant in season and out of season"—
lend your aid in every debate—be present at every
division, and do not let it be imagined for a mo-
ment that you are not worthy of the high trust re-
posed in you—that you are not in earnest in the
people's cause! There has been one reckoning
with you, and whether the Bill be carried or not,
there will soon be another.—Morning Advertiser.
Both the principles and practice of the existing
Administration recall very forcibly to our minds the
ambitious faction of the " Girondists." The French
historian Mignet, in delineating that party, seems
inspired with a knowledge of till revolutionary
causes ; and his description is singularly applicable
to our actual Government. " They formed," says
he, " the party which was called the Girondist, and
which, in the Revolution, was but a party through
which things passed (park de passage) from the
middling class to the rule of the multitude. They
had not, at that time, any projects of overthrow ;
but they were disposed to maintain the Revolution
(Reform) by every practice whatsoever." His
Majesty's Ministers are confessedly in this posi-
tion—confessedly, we say, because they are perpe-
tually endeavouring to urge upon their friends and
aristocratical opponents that nothing can, after their
expulsion, be formed into a Government but the
pickings of the Hume and Warburton party, the
Moritagnards of the Commons. The similarity of
condition is therefore perfect, but the similarity of
policy is equally so ; not that we admit the State to
be so desperately circumstanced, though we could
easily shew that it is as desperately conducted. he
Girondists, by wielding recklessly popular rights
and popular violence, exalted into power a third
party in the State, which for a while only permitted
their Republican existence. Our Ministers, ad-
vancing by similar gradations, and retaining office
under the tutelage of the mob, their acknowledged
successors, offend all the precepts both of wisdom
and of law. Both parties, unable to carry matters
at their pleasure, had recourse to intimidation ; " the
Chiefs of that party," says Mignet, " their excited
the multitude ;" the violent meetings of the 17th
July, and the petition signed in the Champ-de-Mars
on the altar of France, find their parallel in the mobs
and incendiary petitions of November last. Both
parties by this means got into power. " The King,"
Mignet writes, " alarmed by the unrestrained vio-
lence of the Assembly against the Members of his
Council, had no resource left but to choose his new
Ministers from the victorious party. An alliance
with the actual Afaslers of the Revolution was
all that remained to save liberty and the Throne."
They proved thorough Whigs towards their
Sovereign), being, in the language of the his-
torian, " exigeants a son egard;" and the Foreign
Secretary, M. Roland, was lavish of the cant so
prevalent at the present day, urging the ;Monarch
" to calm men's minds, to strengthen his authority,
and make himself boldly the King of the Revolution
(Reform)." Louis XVI. broke with the Gironde,
and they quitted office. So the House of Commons
defeated the present Administration, which was in
danger of the same fate. What was the policy of
both ? An appeal to the madness ant the violence
of tile people. It is curious to observe :he methods
by which the one attempted to recover and the
other to retain what they valued so dearly. Our Mi-
nisters, ocfsottnli iirsertei rtidua tt
uii nation, ,a
the
dissolvedmree tfuo
xdts.
ng
s to
Tthheeirhois,t,onriasneeru•ermitayrkans,d"thTaltieofGtilri:rßidee.,
consideringl'eutedrPg: iny)
petition
;oo
nnt
I;tehbeGo
both
hiCeo:nl
eztryi
volution (Reform), looked to.the recovery of their
departurellni.plyThefirromobitelie
King,C o Constitution. tuut tsioi
power,r% nvnesa
was, not
:vtiot prescribedidloe utdethrone
bn ye however,tt
hhee
to bring hiret

back among them. With that view they had re-1
course to the imperious petitioning of the multi-1
tude." The efforts of the French Gironde produced
the well-known 20th of June, the forerunner of the
horrors of the 10th of August; the efforts of the
English Gironde produced the delegate Parliament,
bornanandrisntuocrtruarcy andedi the
in violence, for
o
orrthef a
degkriandgadtoiomn.
The history of the French period is closed, that of
the English career is just began ; but if there be
truth in experience, the event, though incomplete,
is not undiscernible. His Majesty's Ministers, how-
ever little alarmed by the prospect of a revolution,
may be touched by a remembrance of the fate of
their prototypes ; the Girondists, endeavouring to
repel the encroachments of the people they had ex-
cited and used, became at last the prey of the mon-
ster they had created. 'We foretell the same for the
Cabinet of Lord Grey should this Bill be carried ;
and when smarting under loss of station and of pro-
perty, they may re-peruse for their comfort the eulo-
gies of the Radicals and the Lord Alayor's speeches.
—II4O ening Post.
About two years ago, we adverted at some length,
to the wretched mode by which, in this metropolis,
the place of a Court of Appeal, in cases of capital
conviction, was supplied. The reliance on the sub-
sequent trial by the King in Council, and the Home
Secretary, had a tendency to render Judges and
Juries less vigilant in the discharge of their duty ;
while, from the private nature of the trial, or rather
inquiry, instituted by the Council and Home Secre-
tary, the evidence must necessarily be partial and
irrelevant. In a Morning Ccnternporary of Friday,
it is observed :
" The Old Bailey Sessions, which terminated on Fri-
day last, exhibited the appalling spectacle of no less than
seventy-seven persons receiving the awful sentence ' to die
acording to law,'—by far the greater part of them for
offences which, in the eye neither of reason and huma-
nity, nor of justice and public policy, call for any such
punishment, and on whom, it is well known by the Judge
who passes the sentence, there is not the most remote in-
tention of carrying it into effect. Some years ago an Act
of Parliament was passed, authorizing the Judges on the
circuits simply to record the judgment of death, instead
of passing the sentence, where there was no necessity or
intention of carrying it into effect. This law, however,
which went to strip our criminal code of some of that
severity which it had retained in word and not in deed,
it was found, by some happy quibble, or nice distinction
between sense and meaning, did not extend to the greatest
criminal Court in the kingdom—the Sessions-house in the
Old Bailey—arai therefore the metropolis of the kingdom,
from whence improvements generally emanate, has the
solitary distinction of still witnessing the degrading and
mischievous spectacle of the law pronouncing through its
organ sentences of death upon persons, not one-fourth of
whom upon the average ever ought to receive such sen-
tence at all—or would receive it in any other part of the
kingdom—and not on one-fourth of which fourth it is
ever intended that this sentence shall take effect."
On this subject, a very valuable light has been
thrown, in a small volume, just published by one
who has, unfortunately for himself, had but too good
an opportunity for studying the working of the sys-
tem, in a three years' imprisonment in Newgate.
We allude to a volume " On the Punishment of
Death in the Metropolis," by Mr. Edward Gibbon
Wakefield, characterised by an uncommon talent for
observation, and shrewdness of remark. The vo-
lume contains many valuable hints, on several sub-
jects connected with criminal law—as, for instance.
the New Police, and the means for improving it;
but, at present, we shall notice what he says respect-
ing the fourth and fifth trial of criminals :
" That it is right (says the author) to speak of the pro-
ceedings before the Council as a trial, seems to be proved
by the two following circumstances, not to mention others :
—First, The Old Bailey Judge passes sentence of death
on almost every capital convict indiscriminately, quite re-
gardless of facts in the case, which, if there were no fourth
trial, would surely induce him to pass a milder sentence.
Secondly, It will be seen by Table No. 1., that of 451 sen-
tences of death passed by the Old Bailey Judge, 396 were
reversed by the Council. The fiction, or rather pretence,
of this law or custom is, that the only duty of the Council
is to exercise the King's prerogative of mercy to certain
persons who have incurred the penalty of death ; but the
fact is, that every member of the Council knows that in a
great majority of the cases which come before him, the
penalty of death has not been really, though it have been
legally incurred ; and that in such majority of cases sen-
tence of death was passed merely in order to take the case
before the Council for an alteration of the sentence.
" The circumstances attending this fourth trial will be
incredible to those whose attention has not been in any
measure directed to the subject.
" First, The question to be determined by the Court of
Appeal is of the deepest importance to the accused : it is
the question of life or death.
" Secondly, The Court which decides this important
question is a secret Court, the Members of which, I be..
lieve, take an oath of secrecy.
" Thirdly, The sittings of the Court are held at the
residence of the King, at Brighton, Windsor, or in
London, indifferently, without notice to the accuses!.
" Fourthly, The prisoner does not appear before the
Court, either personally or by Counsel, his only means of
communication with it being by written petition to the
King, which must be entrusted to the Secretary of State
tor the Home Department.
" Fifthly, The Court is composed, for the most part,
of Cabinet Ministers, whose time is fully occupied with
the duties of their respective offices, Parliamentary busi-
ness, and party politics.
" Sixthly, The Court hears no evidence, and is bound
by no known rules. The Recorder of London, indeed,
who has presided at some of the previous trials, is present
in the Council, and, I beleve, makes a statement con-
cerning each case ; but that he does not make a full re-
port of the evidence in each case may be inferred with
certainty, since the average number of cases decided on
at each sitting of the Council, is about twenty, whilst
the time occupied in each sitting hardly ever exceeds a
few hours, and occasionally is less than an hour.
By way of illustrating the mode of proceeding
before this singular Court, Mr. Wakefield takes the
case of John 'Montgomery, in Returns to the
House of Commons, from May, 1827, to May, 1830,
p. 12. The difficulties which those who interested
themselves in behalf of this man experienced in ob-
tainieg access to Mr. Peel, who afford no explana-
tion of the grounds on which the Council had de-
cided, would hardly be believed. From the circum-
stances stated, there seems reason for believing that
Mr. Peel proceeded on data which could easily have
been shown to be false ; but lie shrouded himself
up in mystery; and the man, in despair, took poison
and died.
" Let not the reader (says Mr. Wakefield) suppose that
this case has been picked out as especially illustrative of
the bad character of the Court of Appeal. It has been
eel( eted, because in this case something (though not much)
is known of the proceedings of the fourth and fifth trials.
In most cases absolutely nothing is known. In most
eases, as in this, the question of life or death depends on
facts, or at least statements quite foreign to the con-
viction ; which conviction is, in most capital cases, a mere
form, and to the decree of the presiding Judge, which de-
cree generally amounts only to a sentence of agonizing
suspense. In this case there was no lack of money, in-
telligence, zeal, or the necessary spirit at one time, or in-
fluence at another, for obtaining communication with the
Judge. In most cases, the fourth trial becomes, as I have
said before, the merest lottery; since the prisoner, shut
up in the cells of Newgate, generally without money, often
veryignorant, and nearly always without the least influ-
ence, must content himself with writing a petition, and
leaving the rest to chance That the
final decision of the Council is influenced by rumours it
is not difficult to prove. To any one who shall deny this,
being entitled to contradict me, I would ask whether,when
urgent application was made to save the life of Joseph
!Junto!), who was executed for forgery in 1828, the first
Secretary did not state as one ground for refusing the
application, that the prisoner had committed other for-
series for which he had net even been taken before a Ma-
gistrate? Did he, or did he not, commit such other for-
geries? Perhaps he did ; but where is the proof? Ile
was not even charged with them by the persons whom
it is said he defrauded. Should the least weight be at-
tached to mere rumours of this kind ? But this is not the
question ; there can he no doubt that the decision of the
Council is constantly influenced by rumours to the preju-
dice of prisoners. It would have been ao, probably, in
the case of Montgomery, as to the rumour of his having
passed a forged cheque, if great pains Lad not been taken to
prove the rumour false; and very possibly it was so as
to other rumours equally false, with which the newspapers
teemed at the time of his apprehension. The question Is
allowing the fact to be that the Council is influenced by
rumours foreign to the conviction, whether the prisoner

ought not t be inrormed of every thing to his prejudice ?
As a strong proff of the inefficiency of
the tribunal for arriving at a just decision, it will be seen
by the Table No. 1., that of sixty-two persons ordered for
execution by the Council, only fifty-five were executed ;
the others having been spared in consequence of subse-
quent interference with the Secretary of State. This
may be called the fifth trial."
We fear there is but too much reason for arriving
at the conclusion that, in the Lottery of Death in
London, the prizes are drawn by the greatest criminals.
" During the early part of my confinement in Newgate
(says the writer), I used frequently to ask questions of the
Keeper and Chaplain, as to the probable fate of certain
convicts, whose appearance in chapel had attracted my no-
tice ; and for some time I was astonished by always re-
ceiving for answer in words to this effect-4 it is impos-
sible to say—the Council decides—we know some to be
more guilty than others, and more deserving of the se-
verest punishment ; but it so often happens, that those
escape whom we think most guilty, and those suffer whom
we believe to be least guilty, that we can never give an
opinion on the subject.' I afterwards discovered that per-
sons under sentence of death in Newgate are engaged in a
lottery, of which the blanks are death, and that au attempt
to foretell the result in any case would be mere guess-work."
" Sure, then, everything (lie afterwards observes) conspires
for a right decision in the country, and fur a wrong one in
the Metropolis. In the country it is probable that a man
who does not deserve to be hanged will not be hanged, and
that one who merits death will be killed. In London, on
the contrary, the most experienced and artful offender has
the best chance of escape, whilst the most ignorant, and
perhaps innocent of convicts, is the most likely to be killed.
It is, indeed, all a lottery, but with the chances conside-
rably in favour of a wrong decision."
Out of evil often comes good. Mr. Wakefield
deserves great credit for the unshrinking fortitude
with which he has endeavoured to benefit the society
against which he offended, by a communication of
the results of his experience, under opportunities
singularly favourable for the study of crime. His
book is one of the most valuable accessions to cri-
minal jurisprudence which has been made for many
years.—Morning Chronicle.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

On Friday Edward Birkett was brought up,
charged with having disturbed the peace by fighting
with John Flaherty.
The quarrel between the parties arose in conse-
quence of a dispute about a wager on the late battle
between Ward and Byrne. Flaherty had wagered
upon Byrne, his countryman, to the extent of a bowl
of punch, and the beverage was to come in on Wed-
nesday night. The parties met at a public-house at
the hour appointed, and drank the punch, but Fla-
herty refused to pay a farthing upon the ground that
the fight was a cross. The landlord tilt!' applied
to Birkett for the amount, but Birkett said, that as
he was the winner, he had locked up his money;
but although he was not chargeable with the amount
of the bill, he would draw double the sum in claret,
whereupon he let his fist fly into Flaherty's coun-
tenance, and caused a most alarming change in the
articulation of the Irishman, by the sudden removal
of three of his teeth. The claret, as the fancy call
what followed the blow, carne copiously from the
mouth of Flaherty, who, after blowing his Dose, spit
his teeth into Birkett's eyes, and then belaboured
him in such a manner as convinced him that no cross
was intended at that moment, whatever might have
happened between the pugilists in the field. The
fight ended, in the present instance, in favour of the
Irishman, but Birkett was the only person charged.
The LORD MAYOR asked how it happened that
the victor was not brought up as well as the van-
quished ?—The landlord said that Flaherty was so
good tempered all the time he was fighting, he did
not deserve to be made answerable for any thing that
might happen, but the other was as sulky as could
be, and didn't at all like what he got.—(A laugh.)
Birkett said that Flaherty would not say a word
against him if they bad both killed each other.—
(Laughter.) He (Birkett) did not care about the
punch, but it was the laughing of his opponent that
he did not like, and Flaherty was so provoking, that
the harder he was hit the louder he laughed.
The LORD MAYOR—And did he laugh when he
broke his teeth ? Birkett—Aye, louder than ever;
whether he'd give or take it was all the same to
him, and I'm sure if either of us had our life knocked
out nothing could atop him.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, I shall discharge Bir-
kett, but if the other had appeared the probability
s that I should act differently.
B 0 TV-STREET.

Smart, the proprietor of Mother H.'s, appeared
before Mr. HALLS, on Saturday evening, to show
cause why he had refused to receive a soldier who
had been billetted upon him.
The defendant was merely the proprietor of
Mother H.'s rooms; and although he supplied
eatables for the establishment, he was not the per-
son in whose name the winelicense was granted, and
therefore the billet could not apply to him. In
answer to questions put to him, Smart replied that
the wine license was in the name of a person named
Muskett, who was a wholesale wine-merchant in

the city.
The billet-clerk said that the plea set up by the
defendant was a mere ruse to escape the liability of
the billet, and he hoped that the Magistrate would
see the trick in its proper light. It was high time
that houses of the description kept by the defendant
should be made to share in the burden which all
licensed victuallers were obliged to bear.
Mr. HALLS should order the soldier to be received
into the house forthwith, and the defendant would
disobey the order at his peril.
The defendant, who appeared by no means to
relish the introduction of such a guest, reluctantly
left the dice, followed by the soldier and his cor-
poral.

MARY LEB ONE.
A shoemaker, about four feet four inches
.in
heighth, who gave his name James Richards, resid-
ing at No. 10, Gray's-buildings, Manchester-square,
was placed at the bar, before W. flosKiNs, Esq.,
under the following charge :
lle appearance the
merriment(Nh iel
was
as
ludicrous of
the Magistrate, as well as all who were in the office.
inhe extreme) xtr oe
The defendant, whose stature is above described,
was dressed in the new full-dress jacket of one of
the first Regiment of Grenadier Guards, the waist-
buttons came below the bend of his knees, and the
front of the jacket came half-way down his legs, and
under it he had a ragged black apron which gave it
the appearance of a petticoat ; indeed, he was well
" dressed for the part" of Moll-Flaggon, and looked
Liston in miniature.
A Police constable, of the D division, stated that
early on Friday morning he was on duty in Oxford-
street, where he met the defendant, who had a
doode" in his mouth, and apparently plenty of
liquor in his head; he was also very noisy. From
his most singular appearance he questioned him as
to his possession of the coat, to which he replied, in
very abusive terms, saying that the coat was his
own. Witness told him to get home, and keep out
of the way of the military picquet, which would
shortly be going their rounds, and for the good
advice he the picquet, and said he was as brave
and as great a soldier—(Laughter)—as any in the
King's service. A great mob had collected round in
consequence of his curious appearance, the tail of the
jacket trailing on the ground. Witness was obliged,
for the purpose of dispersing the mob, to take the
defendant to the station, where he endeavoured to
make his escape.
Magistrate—Well, Mr. Richards, what have you
to say to the charge, and how do you account for
having on that military garment, which would en-
velope half a dozen others of your size
Mister Richards looked very sheepish, and said
he had met with an old friend of his who had that
day been discharged after a service of twenty-five
years, and they went to a public-house and had some-
thing to drink. As to the coat, he supposed he and
the grenadier had made an exchange.—(Laughter)
The Magistrate said that was unlikely, as his
(defendant's) coat would only fit a lad of ten years
of age. He should fine him ss. for being. drunk,