The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-30 00:00:00

THE SUN,

of the German Fiend HATNAU had carried dismay
and horror even into the Camarilla at Schoenbrunn.
So far is the rumour from proving correct that we
immediately afterwards receive intelligence that the
previous atrocities of that inhuman monster are being
emulated in depth and ruthlessness by others more
recent and diabolical. Instead of having retired
before the indignation of Europe and the alarm of
Austria—HAT-Nan has been formally appointed
Governor over Hungary. As if to be agreeably
inaugUrative of his Viceregal Government, the mur-
derer of Kiss, of Anucn, and of Count BATTHYINT,
on the 20th instant caused three more assassin-like
executions to take place in Pesth, the execution of
GutoN, of ABANCOURT, and of Prince WORONIECK.I.
Again the rope of the felon was fastened round the
necks of the noble, the brave, and the patriotic
again the bloodhound of Austria had his thirst for
murder partially slaked on the Tyburn or the Place
de Greve of the Hungarian metropolis, the ever
horrible scene of these catastrophes, the liolzplatz.
When the heroic commander of the Germanic legion,
that noble band which assisted in the storming of
Buda, was brought to the spot on which he was to
suffer an ignominious death, when the generous and
dauntless adjutant of DE➢LBINSKI had ascended the
scaffold, when the young, the valiant, the
handsome, and magnanimous Prince Wouo-
NIECKI was placed under the accursed gibbet—
it is said that even the troop of cavalry
surrounding the gallows, and guarding it with bared
swords, seemed to share with the horror-stricken
spectators their feelings of profound and visible com-
miseration. Age and youth, virtue and genius, are
alike sacrificed to the lust of slaughter, which now
appears to be uppermost in the nature -of Hayslau
and his imperial accomplices. Poor GIRON was
compelled to " die the death," although his heart
strings must have burst, almost before he was
strangled by the hangman, at the thought of his
little orphan children. ABANCOURT seems to have
met his doom with the unblenching valour befitting a
Polish warrior. But it is said that the Prince
WORONIECKI (who was both youthful and handsome),
although he bore himself throughout with distin-
guished fortitude, looked nevertheless pale and
downcast as he stood under the noose on
the scaffold. GOD knows his proud but gentle
heart had cause enough for sadness ! No
marvel that the beauty of his features was overcast
with pallor and dejection ! With his life closed at its
early morning, with his companions by his side about
to suffer with him an ignominious execution, with
his country in the grasp of a band of demons, no
wonder the countenance of the unfortunate was pale
and downcast The horrible scene closed with a
prayer uttered simultaneously by the people and the
soldiery. May that prayer be heard by the Great
GOD, who is not only the GOD of Mercy but of
Justice ! HE who will not permit any intrusion upon
his awful and infinite prerogatives, and whose voice
has proclaimed, not•in thunder and lightning, but in
;ones which are still audible, that tremendous truth—
' VENGEANCE IS MINE SAITH THE LORD !"

Although leave has been reserved to the Learned
Counsel for MARIA MANNING to place the prelimi-

nary objection to the censtitution of the jury, by
whom the wretched criminal was most righteously
convicted, either upon the record, or to bring it
under the consideration of the Court of Criminal Ap-

peal, the ultimate result cannot, in any degree, be
affected thereby. The case was to all intents and
purposes finally and irrevocably decided when the
jury returned the conscientious verdict which con-
signed the wilful and deliberate murderess to an igno•
minions death upon the scaffold, as the only adequate
expiation of her enormous guilt. The arguments of
the Attorney-General and the judgment of the pre-
siding Judges were placed upon too clear and solid
foundations to permit the slightest doubt to remain
upon the question. The demand of Mr. BALLANTINE
for a jury de medietate lingua was entirely based
upon the assumption that his client was technically
and legally an alien—that she was not entitled to the
full and unconditional rights of a British subject, and
that consequently she could claim the privilege with
which the humanity of the British law had invested
a stranger. The Act 7 and 8 Victoria, chapter 66,
sec. 16, was, however, conclusive on the point. By
that statute it was enacted, " that any woman mar-
ried, or who shall be ,married, to a natural born
subject, or person naturalized, shall be deemed and
taken to be herself naturalized, and have all the
rights and privileges of a natural born subject."
The marriage was not denied, and on its celebration
MARIA MANNING became a British subject, owing
allegiance to the British SOVEREIGN and liable to be
tried by a British jury in the event of any
infraction of the laws of her adopted country.
Her entire status or condition was altered ;
she was no longer regarded as an alien, that
could be ordered out of the country at a
moment's notice. It was with her own free will and
consent, by her own deliberate act, that the change
ems effected, and she cannot now complain of its
necessary consequence. When she became entitled
to all the rights and privileges of a British born
subject, she assumed at the same moment its respon-
sibilities. One of these very privileges was, that she
could not be subjected to punishment until she bad
been convicted of an offence by the unanimous judg-
ment of twelve of her peers, who must be " of the
king's liege people, returned by sheriffs jor bailiffs of
franchises, and of whom none shall be outlawed or
fled to sanctuary for treason or felony." No only,
therefore, had she no possible right to demand a trial
de medietate lingua, but if that demand had been
conceded the proceedings would have been absolutely
null and void, and she could not receive the extreme
punishment she had so justly merited. The Lord Chief
Baron, in delivering the judgment of the Court,
relied solely on the change of condition effected by
the marriage, and the 7 and 8 Vict., c. 66. He did
not in any degree rest his decision on the point in
BAURE'S case, a precedent, to say the least of it, of a
very doubtful character, and which, if solemnly im-
peached, would scarcely be affirmed by the Judges of
England in the 19th century.
Even should the point be carried further it could
not lead to any very great delay in the execution of
the sentence. If referred to the Court of Appeal in
criminal cases, it will be adjudicated on early in the
term, which commences on Friday next. If, on the
other hand, the objection should be placed on the
record, it would be set down for argument on the
very earliest day, and we can scarcely suppose that
wo barristers of respectable standing and acquire-

ments would pledge their professional reputations to
the validity of the point by giving the necessary certi-
ficates to carry the case before the House of Lords,
the ultimate tribunal, or even that the Attorney-
General would grant his sanction to any further
appeal on a question so utterly untenable.
We cannot conclude our observations on this ex-
traordinary and atrocious case without alluding to
the severe and most unwarranted censures

attempted to be cast by a morning contemporary
upon Mr. Sergeant WreKim for the manner in
which he conducted the case for the male prisoner. It
may appear an act of supererogation to enter upon
any justification of that accomplished and eminent
lawyer for adopting the only line of defence that af-
forded the slightest chance of escape to his unfortunate
and guilty client. An exceedingly disagreeable and
painful duty was cast upon the learned gentleman ;
he discharged it boldly and manfully. He did
not shrink from the arduous and unpleasing task.
Every unprejudiced person who listened to his bril-
liant and impressive address—an address that more
than sustained the distinguished reputation he had pre-
viously so fully established—must have felt that
no alternative remained unless he was prepared to
sacrifice the wretched criminal, whose ultimate fate
for life or death depended upon the effect of his ap-
peal. It had been clearly and distinctly proved,
beyond the possibility of doubt, that the fearful act
had been committed by one or both of the parties
then on trial ; that the murder had either been
perpetrated by the prisoners jointly, or by one of
them without the assistance and co-operation of the
other. The latter assumption was the only one that
could be advanced by either of the advocates for the
defence, and each should necessarily endeavour to
shield his own client by casting the guilt upon the
other. It was the defence set up by MANNING him-
self at the moment of his capture, and in which he
had steadily persevered until the very last moment.
It was his statement to the police-officer by whom he
was arrested. His first questions were with respect
to " the wretch," whether she had ,been apprehended)