The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-27 00:00:00

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141 164‘,V kX4144

LONDON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1847,

Thirty-three years ago the event which occurred
on the 17th instant, at Farina, would have elicited
signs of lamentation and woe from all the Courts of
the European continent. Then the intelligence of
the demise of the Empress MARIA LOUISA, the con-
sort of the most puissant monarch, the most daring
soldier, and the most extraordinary conqueror on the
globe, would have been received in the different
sovereignties of the eastern hemisphere (with the
exception of England) wit. every token of sorrow
and every expression of sympathy. The world
would have seen in the event the death of a
young princess, in the bloom of womanhood,
whose brow had but recently been girt with
the diadem of the wife of a greater than
CIIARLBMAGNE, whose throne was guarded by war-
riors as memorable as the fabled palladins of
ARTHUR, whose sceptre was a sword more terrible
than Joyeuse, and whose vast and almost miraculous
empire extended among the shepherds on the Julian
Alps and the fishermen on the Baltic. Now, however,
the daughter of Fa users disappears without arous-
ing any sentiment more worthy than one of the most
supreme indifference. The glory which surrounded
her for a fitful interval at the commencement of this
century has long since vanished ; she has successively
dwindled from an Empress into an Archduchess,
from the spouse of the Emperor NAPOLEON into the
partner of a one-eyed Chamberlain, from the gran-
deur of an unparalleled pomp to the obscure gratifica-
tion of an ignoble passion ami ist the provincialisms
of a petty principality. With an opportunity—than
which woman never had a more golden one—of
rendering herself illustrious to all time and in all
history, by sharing the misfortunes of the wonderful
man to whose destinies she had been bound by the
consecrating hand of religion, MARIA Louisa so acted
as to render herself the most contemptible actor in
that drama of perfidy, meanness, and ingratitude.
If any emotion could by possibility be excited
by the information just received from northern Italy
respecting the departure of the Archduchess or ex-
Empress MARIA Louisa, the emotion would be rather
pleasurable than otherwise ; for by her removal one
of the greatest obstacles to the adjustment of the
Italian Customs' League is removed in like manner.
According to the stipulations contained in the Treaty
of Vienna, the triple principalities of Parma, Piacenza,
and Guastalla, devolve upon the representative of the
Spanish Bourbons, the Ex-Duke of Lucca, a Prince
whose constitutional weakness may conduce to the
political liberation of his people if his patriotism be
not sufficient to produce that guarantee of their
happiness. Brief as is the period which has elapsed
since this ruler abdicated from the sovereignty of the
Lucchese, it may have been enough to convince him
of the value of that authority which his previous
policy rendered him incapable of rtainig, and to
satisfy him that a servile compliance with the wishes
of Prince METTERNICII can only result in his own
degradation, or in the tumultuous
assemblies and
open rebellion of the Italians.
vhtthiser
l trans may-
be his decision, the consequence of
ference of the sway of Parma, Piacenza, and er
talla, cannot prove otherwise than beneficialnitnosultialha-e.
cause of the nationality of the Roman peninsula.
Another of the old impediments has disappeared, the
fate of those territories which are immediately con-
tiguous to Venetian Lombardy is narrowed, the
aspirations of Pius and the dreams of GIOBERTI are
approaching nearer and nearer to their realisation.
Even supposing that the successor of MARIA
Louise. should still continue to evince his
subservieney to the dictation of Austria, and
that Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla should, like
Modena, be dedicated in a more especial
manner than heretofore to the interests of the Vien-
nese Cabinet, it were frivolous to anticipate any
other consequence to such an irrational proceeding than
such as are calculated to benefit the promoters of the
popular movement. With Tuscany in one direction,
and Piedmont in the other, and Sardinia in the

direction of the Mediterranean, and the Papal
States skirting the shores of the Adriatic—with
thousands prepared at the first signal to draw
the brand of freedom southwards in the
dominion of the Two Sicilies, and north-
wards in those of Venetian Lombardy—!it
were insane to look forward to any success atten-
dant upon the petty obstructions raised by the late
Duke of Luccs. and now the Grand Duke of PARMA/
PIACENZA, and GUASTALLA. Against the Italian
Customs' League he would prove impotent ; with it,
he might be of material assistance to the people.
Events must bpeedily divulge his intentions, and
under all circumstances render the cause of the mul-
titude triumphant.

The many extraordinary circumstances con-
nected with the frightful homicide which has been
known as the " Mirfield Murder," and for which two
men are at this moment lying under sentence of
death at York Castle, render it worthy of the
most serious corkideration. We have, first, the
almost unparalleled atrocity of the crime; secondly,
that PATRICK REID, the principal delinquent, had
already been tried and acquitted of the murder of
one of the three parties, who were butchered almost
at the same moment, and that the evidence applicable
to the second case was exactly that which should
have been produced on the former trial; thirdly,
that M'CAna (one of the convicted parties) had
been admitted as evidence on behalf of the Crown
against REID, the other prisoner on the former
occasion, when the acquittal took place, and
that such a proceeding is generally supposed
to act as a bar to any subsequent prosecution for the
offence, and to protect the party who had given his
testimony from the penal consequences of his guilt;
and, fourthly, the confession of REID, who, previously
to his conviction, confessed privately to his attorney,
which he confirmed subsequently, when every hope
of his life being spared had departed, that he was
the only guilty party, and that M'CABE had not in
1-avee participated in the offence, and that in
fact, at this moment, an innocent iiiaii Ito, logion.
justly convicted, and that he is now subject to the in-
fliction of the extreme penalty of the law for a crime
of which he is guiltless.

On the first point, a more harrowing and frightful
affair can scarcely be found in our criminal records.
In the middle of the day, almost at high noon, an
aged couple, and their servant, were murdered under
circumstances of the greatest brutality. The murderer
having fractured their skulls with the deadly weapon
(the soldering iron) with which he had armed him-
self, and with the kitchen poker, which he had seized
when the first instrument was broken from the
violence of his blows ; then rifling the pockets of his
victims, and, to make assurance doubly sure, cutting
the throats of the several parties with a razor which
he had for that purpose removed from its case. What
renders the entire case (if possible) more horrible
was, that there was an entire absence of any motives
that could have induced a feeling of revenge. There
had been no dispute or quarrel ; there had been no
ejectments or altar denunciations ; it was simply the
desire of gain, the intention to plunder a trifling
sum, that induced the wretched man to deprive
three human beings of their lives—coolly and deli-
berately to shed the blood of his fellow-creatures in
order that he might more easily carry his intended
robbery into effect. The desperate determination
with which the fearful act was perpetrated may be
judged from the fact, that while the murderer was in
the house, with his bleeding victims stretched at his
feet, a knock came to the door, which, after two or
three repetitions, he answered, and after opening the
door and sending away the person who had knocked,
he returned into the house, completed the robbery
which he had commenced, found the razor, and with
it cut the throats of the unfortunate couple and their
servant, and then coolly washed and wiped his hands,
divested himself of the marks of his offence,
and on leaving the scene of his guilt locked
the door, and threw the key and the instrument of
murder into the well, and returned to his own house.
It would, we believe, be impossible to find in the
annals of crime a more atrocious or horrifying trans-
action.

Ye shall now turn to the confession of the mur-
derer and the exoneration thereby of his fellow-con-
vict, because, although we placed it fourth, it is more
immediately connected with the facts of the case to
which we have already adverted. The great point
to be considered is, what faith can he placed in the
statement that has been made—how far can its accu-
racy be relied on, and is AI`CAnE actually either
entirely innocent, or at most only guilty of having
suppressed the truth and concealed his knowledge
of the offence, which he accidentally attained,
in order to shield the murderer from his guilt ?
It is possible that a murderer might tell a falsehood
and go out of the world with a lie in his mouth in
order to save an accomplice—that being well aware
that a full confession or a sturdy denial cannot have
the slightest effect on his own fate—that for him all
worldly prospects have closed for ever, and that he
must shortly render up his forfeit life on the scaf-
fold, he may think he was committing but a venial
sin in endeavouring to preserve his comrade from an
ignominious death. Implicit credence cannot there-
fore be accorded to such a story, but it must be
closely scrutinised in every particular. It must be
ascertained how farit is corroborated by, or at variance
with, the facts that have been deposed to by witnesses
whose testimony is unimpeached—what intrinsic
evidence of truth it possesses—how far it is probable
or even possible; and if after the strictest investia-
tion into every circumstance of the case, and the most
attentive consideration of the facts, the recent state-
ment is such as to awaken any reasonable doubt as
to the actual guilt of the party declared to be inno-
cent in the disclosures of the acknowledged murderer,
he should receive the benefit of that doubt ; and the
benign principle of the British law being kept in re-
collection, " that it is better that ninety-nine guilty
persons should escape than that one innocent man
should be unjustly punished," the Home Secretary,
on whom, in the absence of any tribunal of appeal,
the question of APCABE'S life or death now entirely
depends, should either accord a free pardon, or at
least commute the sentence to a punishment suited to
any offence of which he may undoubtedly be guilty.
We shall on a future occasion resume the conside-
ration of this subject, and we think that we shall be
enabled to show that there is at least such a reason-
able doubt, and that in M'Cang's case the capital
sentence should not be carried into execution.

The Austrian Observer of the 17th contains a long
article on the reply made by the Swiss Diet to the
notes of the Cabinets of Vienna, Berlin, and Paris.
This article is remarkable for the One of bitterness
which pervades it throughout, and for the decided
hostility which it manifests for the principles on
which the reply of the Diet was founded. The per-
sonal allusions in it, when referring to the chiefs of
the Federal party, are also of a much stronger cha-
racter than any hitherto made in this semi-official
journal. The writer denies the right of the Diet to
dictate to the cantons, which he declares are all sepa-
rate and independent sovereigns, and characterizes the
war, on the part of the majority, as a display of force
without any of the rights which would render it legi-
timate. The Swiss Confederation, says the Austrian
Observer, is not, as the Diet pretends, an indivisible
republic, and the Diet is not a central government.
On the question of the Jesuits, the Austrian Observer
says

"The Jesuits were only made a means of dividing
those who resisted, and to make an ally of the opi-
nion of the day, which was opposed to that order.
The Diet was but too successful on this point with
the mass, who do not reflect, and easily receive im-
pressions. But as regards public right, was the
war, undertaken on such a pretext, and which has
ended in the preponderance of the radical aggressors,
justifiable ?"
In another part the writer, after observing that the
intrigues of the Radical party in Switzerland can
only be continued so long as Austria, Prussia, and
France may be pleased to tolerate them, says—
" The Radical note (the reply of the Diet) boasts
of the friendly reception which the Diet has met
with from its friends in the conquered cantons ; but
when these cantons shall have been evacuated by the
troops of the Diet, and when guarantees shall have
been
given by the majority against a similar attack upon
the public peace, we shall see whether the people of
primitive S witzerland have received this kind of li-
berator with the general joy stated in the Radical
note.'

The artiele concludes 1,4 alluding to that part of