The Sun.
London, England, 1824-01-22 00:00:00

of August." This is certainly a very material
consideration for those who are tempted to lend
money to Mexican Government ! And we fully
agree with our cotemporary, that these facts
" ought to be known to the British Public, be-
cause extensive plans are forming here to be,
carried into effect in the Mexican Provinces,
which may hereafter be materially affected by
the general law of the land, or the municipal re-
gulations of the states." So says The Chronicle:
and we fully accede to the justice of the obser-
vation.

[MORNING lIERALD.]
It is announced that Hunt's life has been spar-
ed in consideration of the confession which he
made to the Hertford Magistrates. His sentence
of death is commuted for transportation for life.
It was generally and reasonably expected that
such would be the determination in the proper
quarter, without any reference to his immediate
connection with, or behaviour in, the com-
mission of the crime. 'Whatever might have
been his criminality, it was from him that
the leading discovery was made—that of the body
of the decease, without which there could have
been no prosecution. It is probable, even from
the evidence, that without the confession of the
accomplice neither search nor accident would have
led to the discovery from the nature of the
place of concealment. He had therefore esta-
blished a claim, if not a right, to have his life
spared. With reference to the general preven-
tion and discovery of crime, the commutation of
his sentence was equally expedient. Had sen-
tence of death been executed upon him, accom-
plices would be deterred from making confession
upon an almost hopeless hazard. It is said that
further restiations have been made by Hunt
since his certrviction. We know not whether
they are of a nature to cause criminal proceed-
ings to be issued against any individuals. But if
it were not so, his communications may be made
conducive to the repression of crime. The prac-
tices which led to the murder have been brought
forward in too glaring a light to have escaped any
body's observation. The vice of gambling was the
source, and even the immediate incentive. Why is
it that in London, where there is certainly less
gambling than in other capitals of much smaller
population, this practice should give rise to so
much more of depraved and atrocious crime
The reason, as it strikes us, is, that from the
surreptitious mode, if it may be so termed, in
which gaming takes place in Londou, there is
much more of unfairness and secret deception.
The law of the land repudiates gaming, but, at
the same time, almost tolerates it. The adepts
are, in consequence, under no restraint in their
practice, and incur no greater penal responsibility
by cheating and plundering, instead of trusting
to the calculations of strict chance. It would
seem, therefore, that places of resort for gaining
should either be left open to ate eye of the
Public, and the vigilance of the police—or else
suppressed effectually and altogether. As it is,
they must be what in truth they are—dens of
fraud and spoliation, and nurseries of crime. An-
other topic not unworthy of attention among the
circumstances of the trial, was the admission of
necessaries to give evidence for the Crown.—
The law on the subject seems short and intel-
ligible, but at the same time by no means
satisfactory. It seems to be comprised in these
words of Blackwood : cc It bath been usual
for Justices of the Peace, by whom ens,
persons charged with felony are committed to
o gaol, to admit some one of their accomplices to
become a witness (or, as it is generally termed,
King's evidence) upon an implied confidence,
which the judges of gaol delivery have
usually countenanced and adopted—that if
such accomplice makes a full and complete
discovery of that and of all other felonies
to which he is examined by the Magistrate,
and afterwards gives his evidence without
h
prevarication or fraud,e shall not himself be
prosecuted." The best comment upon this is
the proceedings at Hertford. The accessary in
the first place appears to be placed under hard-
ship and uncertainty. The Justices are to de-
termine the value of his confession. Suppose
them to reject it—it is evident that the ac-
cessary is liable to go to trial prejudiced by the
confession which he had made. Against this he
has, it would appear, no protection. Such was
Hunt's situation. —ln the next place, the
Justices of Peace are placed under a delicate
and embarrassing responsibility : they receive
the confession of the accessary, and make use
of it, upon the ccimplied confidence" above
mentioned. But suppose the Judge of gaol
delivery not to cccountenance and adopt," but
discountenance and reject it, how grievous the
case of the accomplice put upon his trial, and
how embarrassing that of the Justices, who have
received and acted upon the communications
made by him. It would appear that some means
ought to be devised to protect the accomplice
from the effects of his rejected confession, and re-
lieve the Justices, by e eabling or obliging them to
hold communication with a Court above, before
they pledge expressly, or by implication, the
justice of the country. The last resort to the
Crown is too precarious and arbitrary to be so
far embodied in the criminal proceedings. It is
very well at its proper stage.

IRISH MUMMY.—As borne labourers were late-
ly sinking a pit. to procure gravel in a bog, in the
County Kildare, on the estate of Mr. William
Murphy of Dublin, they discovered at a consider-
able depth, the body of a man in a state of com-
plete preservation.—The earth which encom-
passed the body, was a dry turf mould. The
body itself of the consistence of tanned leather;
the members so flexible:and the features so perfect
as to induce common observers to suppose it had
been a recent sepulture ; but the state of the
ground in which it had been discovered, and the
depth at which it was found, joined to the confident
assertions of the oldest persons in the neighbour-
hood 4G that no person had ever been there in-
terred during their time" establishes beyond a
doubt the fact, that the body has lain in that
ground at least one century ! It has been in-
terred in an adjacent burying ground.—(Carlow
:Morning Post.)