The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-16 00:00:00

HINTS TO GRAND JURORS:'

The following, which we find in the Manchester Ad-
vertiser (whether original there we do not know), is of
infinite importance, and, if well considered, admirably
calculated to save time, trouble, and expense. All
young grand jurors, that is to say grand jurors so sum-
moned for the first time, or who attribute to themselves-
not only powers which do not legally or legitimately be-
long to their office, but a wonderful talent fur legisla-
tion, choose, much to the annoyance of their fellows
(whose knowledge and experience render their exhibi-
tions exceedingly tiresome and ridiculous), to endeavour
to try the prisoners who are brought before them, and
against whom they have to hear only ex parte evidence
to an extent sufficient to enable them to make up their
minds as to whether that ex parte evidence is sufficiently
strong- to let the accused but absent parties be put upon
their trial before a petit jury.
The suhjoined hints place the duties of the grand
juror in so plain and clear a light that we are quite sure,
if we obtain the thanks of no other persons, we doll
gain those of the chairmen of quarter sessions, who arc
often, with their brethren on the bench, kept without
their dinners, while the grand jury are puzzling them-
selves in discussing e‘idence which they have no busi-
ness to discuss, and cross-examining witnesses whose
plain testimony as to evident facts is all they have to do
with :

" HINTS.

" 1. The grand jury are not to try the prisoner, but
only to nscertain whether there is sufficient presumptive
evidence to put the prisoner upna his trial. However,.
in eases where the person charged has not been sent to,
trial by a magistrate (that is to say, where he is neither
in custody nor out upon bail), then the grand jury should
be most careful in their examination of all witnesses:

2. The grand jury on first entering on businTss
should proceed on some of the bills which have on them
the fewest number of names, and should send such bills'
to the Court as soon as found. When the Court arc in
the possession of three bills, the grand jury should not
send any more bills untid they are apprised by ape
officer attending the grand jury that the Court is tr3ing
the last indictment, and then the grand jury should send
to the Court all the bills found or thrown out. By
sending down single bills (after the first three) the Court
may be very inconveniently interrupted in the trial of
prisoners.
3. Each witness should first be examined by the
foreman, and no other juryman should put a question
until such examination by the foreman is ended ; and it
would tend to preserve regularity if such last mentioned
questions were put to the witnesses through the foreman.
;, 4.
he m
first witness
ayn
coatH
know a
called should
s
be
much (
the,fthe t
prosecutorriu
and, s_
action as the other witnesses, he can inform the jury
which of the witnesses knows most.

" 5. In cases of larceny, the person who possesses
the property, and who generally is the constable, should
be the second witness culled.

" 6. The person who took the prisoner into custody
should always be asked what the prisoner said, in an-
swer to tha charge when arrested, and also when he was
before the Justice. It frequently happens that the pri-
soner has confessed his guilt ; but if a question should
arise, whether such a confession was obtained by per-
suasion or threat, the grand jury should find the bill,
leaving that question for the decision of the Court
and jury.
7. If the grand jury are satisfied that the prisoner
should be tried, although they have examined only a
few of the witnesses, it will not be necessary that they
should examine all the witnesses ; but no bill should be
thrown out without having examined every witness.
" 8. Of whatever number the grand jury may con-
sist, no bill can be found but by 12 at the least.
" 9. The grand jury are not usually very strict as to
documentary evidence ; they often admit copies where
the originals alone are evidence, and sometimes even
evidence by parole of a matter which should be proved
by written evidence.
" 10. It is not essential that the goods stolen should
have been found.
" 11. if possession of goods charged to have b_etein
e
stolen is proved against a prisoner, the duration of the
possession is immaterial ; though it be only
I °Lit any
and be instantly relinquished, it is a sufficient
" 12 A carrying away of goods is esientts
rcnosion.
the least removal of a chattel from the
occupied is a sufficient carrying
"cay'
that the prisoner
13. Although it should be proved place which it
out the bill. to the law, the foreman
" 14. In cases of doubt as
is insane, the grand jury must not on that account throw
Id
iou go on the bench for
and it is desirable that lie
L vise stating the question publicly
that purpose, oteen.
of the foreman to report to the
of the grand jury should stat:3l such doubt to the Court
man absents or misconducts
e-dutrtiya
ncloihrltts,p.irfeljt.autildsyiciettihtrelyi

FATAL ACCIDENT.--On Thursday an inquest
in the board-room of
onmddy
on
nf
the
Wednesday,
evidenceldl inaemsdaKye:mthhia)et,
ta:‘;lCsiedsddhleeel deceasedlsedevMiddlesex
before 11r.
'Ast
a‘tn7saat'ke.pi Irpeee‘Yr.a"osr efNbditoi from
P.,boa
6th inst., being at work in Golden' Lion-yard, Oxford-
street, he was about going up a ladder to the top o f a scaf-
fold with a stone weighing about tWelve pounds, for the
workmen to sharpen their knives. When near the top,
having partly lodged the stone on the roof, he suddenly
lost his balance and fell to the ground. The stone slipped
and fell, striking deceased on the back part of the head.
Deceased on being taken up was immediately conveyed
to the above hospital, where it was found that his skull was
fractured, and that he had also sustained a severe contused
scalp wound, He lingered till Sunday morning last, at six
o'clock, when he expired. On a post mortern examination
of the body it was found that the immediate cause of
death was an extensive laceration of the dura mater, and
an effusion of blood on the brain. Verdict, " Accidental
death." In answer to a question from the Coroner, Mr.x
,frsoasidt
btandaticenelny
btlrierneegbetastensthoef
o accidentrd, theoccasioned house s thi
yr g etiolen
hospital, and none of them was of a serious nature'.
On Thursday, the 31st ult., as Mr. Hallett,
a farmer of Bigbury, was returninz on his way home from
Modbury market, he entered a public-house, where there
were several persons sitting, and apparently in perfect
harmony. By way of joke, he took from the table a pint
of ale belonging to another man with whom he (,11r.
Hallett) was not on the best of terms, and drank it up, in
eonsequence of which a fight took place, whereby he was
so severely bruised that we are sorry to relate he died a
low days after,..,Western Luminary; •
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LONDON:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, IE4I.

The conflict which The Sun had with Viscount
STRANGFORD some years ago makes us a little cau-
tious in now making any remarks on his Lordship,
or his Lordship's son, the hopeful candidate for
Canterbury. Fortunately for us we are spared the
trouble of reviving old quarrels, and at the same
time the public arc reminded of the merits of
SNIYTIIE, the father, and enabled thereby to form
an opinion of what must be SMYTHE, the son, by
the zeal of a Contemporary. Amongst our extracts
from the Evening Journals is one from the Globe,
describing, on the authority of the Times the con-
duct of SMYTHE, the father, in 18.)8, in dating a
deipatch which was written in Bruton-street, from
on hoard the Hibernia, off the Tagus. The latter
portion of the Globe article refers to the part which
The Sun bore in the subsequent transaction, and
as we could not conveniently place it with the other
portion we insert it here. If our readers first peruse
the extract which appears elsewhere they will be
better enabled to understand the following remarks :
" Bat though his Lordship did not land at Lisbon on
the 27ch, and had not the good fortune to meet with the
Rojal Family till the .2.Bth, when they were on board—
though the menaces of the Monileur, and the protecting
squadron of Sir Sidney Smith, did the whole work of
diplomacy—his Lordship was the chief gainer by the
transaction. His dispatch was believcd, and his zeal
was rewarded, while the lcss obtrusive merits of the Ad-
miral remained unblazoncd, and were left without re-
compense. The red riband which was due to Sir Sidney
Smith—or which, as Col. Napier suggests, ought to
have been cut into three parts, and shared between his
Lorcship, the Admiral, and the writer of the Moniteur,
was conferred upon the unsuccessful Envoy, and the
alter tulit lumores was verified in diplomacy as well as
in autharship,

" After :Omissions like those we have been recording,
and the more ri-eent display of duplicity or deceit at
Constantinople, what in the name of wonder can recom-
mend his Lordship to his present mission, but his con-
duct towards Mr. Canning : and is that a sufficient
stock of service for such an appointment ? An Ambas-
sador has been described, by one of the tiade, as a
person sent abroad to lie for the good of his country :'
has the time now arrived in which he may do the same
for a red riband and a peerage ?"
Such was the exhibition of Lord Strangford's eminent
" public services," and such is the record preserved in
the columns of the Times of his Lordship's moral ex.
cellencies. Are these the " public services" which
strengthen his son's claim to the honour he now solicits
at the hands of the Canterbury Tories ?
But it will, perhaps, be said that the Times is not an
authority on either side, whether as a detractor or an
eulogist, on whose testimony candour would rely for
its estimate of public or private character. It is, how.
ever, unfortunate for Lord Strangford that be was in
duced to make an experiment, the result of which, in-
stead of removing the imputations c,st upon his charac-
ter u a diplomatist and a public man, by the Times,
fastened them more indelibly. A Contemporary journal

(The Sun) copied the article we have quoted from the
1
Times, and appended to it some comments of its own ;
remarking that for such a character it would not accept
the embassy to the Brazils ; and adding, that "to the
friends of liberal principles, it must be consolatory that
the reviler of Mr. Canning's memory would hardly be
believed on his oath—certainly not on his honour—at
the Old Bailey."
This blow was felt ; and to avenge the injury inflicted
on his reputation, his Lordship, in an evil hour, was
prevailed on to apply to the Court of King's Bench for
a criminal information against the journal in which the
offensive comment on the Times' article appeared. Lord
Tenterden was then the Chief Justice of the Court—a
Judge at whose hands no favour for wilful and ground-
less libels was to be expected, but who strictly required
from those who sought protection of the extraordinary
powers of the Court, that they came to it with clean
hands. Mr. Brougham, as counsel
for the defendant,
boldly avowed that the publication intended to impute
falsehood to Lord Strang ford ; and contended that the
imputation was well founded. The affidavits in support
of the application did not satisfy the Court, and the
Noble Lord took nothing by his motion.
We well remember the sensation which the matter
caused at the time. Lord Strangford and his family
may thank the clumsy advocacy of the Times for an
untimely revival of the now almost forgotten affair.
In addition to the peerage and the red riband, which
the Times once thought in this instance conferred no
honour on the wearer, Lord Strangford receives sub-
stantial advantages in the shape of pensions ; one of
2,0561., another of M. ; his daughter a pension of
222/. ; while the Viscountess Dowager Strangford re-
ceived for many years two pensions of 333/. and 2661.,
one of which, reverting on her death to Lord Strang-
ford's son, the present candidate for Canterbury, he has
relinquished. To this the Hon. Gentleman alluded
when he said, " He was under no oi:ligation to the
Crown. What the Crown had conferred he had given
back to the Crown."

We have nothing to add, except to repeat that,
the Tory electors of Canterbury, who believed in
THOM, and the SMYTHES, father and son, are
worthy of each other.

There are certain actions, such as murder, theft,
&c., which nature forbids, and which are classed by
all moral writers as crimes per se. There are
others, such as bringing in brandy and tea without
payingduty, and such as attempts to change the
form of Government, which are not naturally
offences or crimes per se, but are made so by the
decrees of law makers. These are called political
offences.

The former are well known; briefly to ilinstrate
the latter, we may observe tha:, to bring brandy
from France, or tea from China, is of itself as
beneficial a portion of trade as any other, and
its nature is not at all altered by the law, except as
that is violated when it prohibits them from being
imported unless a high duty be paid. In fact so
useful and so virtuous, if we may be allowed the
expression, are some of the acts of the smuggler,
that they redress the injury which a very high duty,
or an absurd prohibition, produces, and compel the
law-maker to alter his decrees. In these cases it is
obvious that the conversion of the useful introduc-
tion of tea or brandy into an offence is entirely the
act of the Legislature, and but for its act the im-
portation would be for ever a useful part of trade.
There being no natural government of society,
every political arrangement being a matter of expe-
diency, no one government being abstractedly ex-
cellent, all government being intended for the good
of all, however much any existing government may
hedge round its power with punishment and terror,
every attempt to change, improve, or alter it can
only be considered as a political offence. It is pro-
hibited by law, not by nature. A monarchical go-
vernment or a republic is not, like life, the gift of na-
ture, and like property, the gift of industry—or of: a
faculty given by nature—and there is no universal
voice which prohibits men: from establishing or
subverting either, as there is a universal voice
which prohibits them from committing murder.
Otherwise the form of government must be every-
where alike. Both those who wield power and
those who wish to wield it, may perpetrate great
crimes, and for that ate much to be condemned ;
but of itself neither the possession of political
power, nor the attempt to seize it, however cha-
racterised by law, is other than a political offence.
How can it be when the whole stiucture of go-
vernment is altogether a human contrivance to
attain a political end ? It is like the tax on im-
porting brandy—the creature of law.

We make these observations to meet a little cen-
sure of the Scotsman, which stigmatizes some of
our late remarks on Mr. FROST as at once "bold,"
and an " abuse of words." Mr. FROST was tried
for treason, and treason is a political, not a moral,
offence. Far from being a moral offence, it is in
many cases a most virtuous action. The Emperor
of RUSSIA stigmatized, and this is the case with
all tyrants, the efforts of the Poles as treason ; but
no generous heart applies to them any other epithet
than one of virtue and honour. We do not say that
the millions now excluded from the pale of our
Constitution have the same cause of complaint
against the Government as the Poles have against
the Emperor of RUSSIA ; but our Contemporary
will not deny that the Government has long treated
them with a step-mother's kindness, and that they
have come to regard it as their enemy. It is a
fact that thousands, and perhaps millions, of them
sympathise with Mr. FROST, and many have
boldly expressed their sympathy.

Now, with all deference to the Scotsman, consi-
dering it of far more importance to convince the mil-
lions they are in error than to sabre or shoot them out
of their conviction, of far more practical utility to re-
concile them to the Government by kindness than to
vindicate the law by some cruelty which but contri-
butes the more to make men hate it—not making light
of the great offence committed by Mr. FROST, but
persisting in calling it a political offence, we should
have been more disposed, we repeat, to praise than to
blame the Ministers, had they so far pardoned Mr,
FrtosT as to remit all other punishment than merely
keeping him safe in the Colony. Some, and we
think great, respect is due to the feelings of the toil-
worn and ill-requited people ; and that public writer,
whether his lucubrations appear in the Standard or
the Scotsman, is no friend to the future peace of
the country who urges the Government to disre
bard their feelings, or wishes it to rely for security
on terror. His opinions may be clothed in sacred
and venerable names, but they will only be the
more mischievous.

making bread ; and, ultimately, the consumer must I
pay the profit on that excess of capital. Thus the
farmer, being obliged to give a higher price for his
seed-corn, and everything he purchases, is obliged
to ask a higher price from the miller, besides the
increase of price caused by the duty. The
miller and the baker are, respectively, also
obliged to give a higher price ; they must, con-
sequently have a larger capital to carry on
their business, and the profit on that larger
capital is levied on the consumer. Nor is this of
the least advantage to the capitalist, for the in-
creased capital he is obliged to employ in carrying on
the trade, would be employed, were the price lowered
by the reduction of duty, in some other way.
The same, or indeed a greater, amount of profit
would be obtained, because the capital would he
turned to a more productive occupation, and the
community would be benefited by the creation of
some additional wealth. We are ready, therefore,
to admit that our assumption does imply that the
'nice of wheat is enhanced by the full amount of
the duty (the average duty, as long as we have a
fluctuating scale) on feteign wheat, and we con-
tend that the reduction of price would be even
greater than the reduction of duty.

It is not our business to reconcile the conflicting
statements of the many advocates of the repeal
of the Corn-laws ; we, content ourselves with de-
fending our own ; and we have carefully steered
clear of any attempts to estimate the exact benefit
to a few shillings which the repeal would confer
on the country. We have never said that the fall
in the price would be little or nothing ; on the con-
trary, we have maintained that the greater the fall
in the price; the greater is the present mischief of
the law, and the greater would be. the national
benefit from its repeal. Despite the venerable
names and high authorities the Post quotes in favour
of high prices, but evidently quotes without under-
standing the bearings of their doctrines, we con-
tend that the real or natural price being solely acid
exclusively the. labour which nature demands of
man, cannot, if labour be an evil, be too low.
What happened to the great men mentioned by
the Post was this. lit their time Holland was the
richest country in Europe, and the most prosperous,
while its prices were highest. But the prosperity
was not caused by the high prices, they were its
sign ; and these philosophers made the mistake of
confounding the effect with the cause. ADAM
SMITH has a passage appropriate to the whole
subject, which, though not exactly directed to the
word price, yet, as prices are raised by taxes, is so
complete an answer to this part of the case that we
shall end by quoting it :

" Taxes upon the necessaries of life have nearly the
same effect, upon the circumstances of the people, as a
poor soil and a bad climate. Provisions are thereby
rendered dearer, in the same manner as if it required
extraordinary labour and expense to raise them. As
in the natural scarcity 'arising from roil and climate, it
would be absurd to direct the people in what manner
they ought to employ their capitals and industry, so it is
likewise in the artificial scarcity arising front such taxes.
To be left to accommodate as well as they could their
industry to their situation, and to find out employments
in which notwithstanding their unfavourable circum-
stances, they ought to have some advantage either in the
home or the foreign markets, is what in both cases
would evidently be most for their advantage. To lay
a new tax upon them because they are already over-
burdened with taxes, and because they already pay too
dear for the necessaries of life to make them likewise
pay too dear Jor the greater part of other commodities,
is certainly a most absurd way of making amends.
Such taxes, when they have grown up to a certain
height, are a curse equal to the barrenness of the earth
and the inclemency of the heavens; and yet it is in the
richest and most industrious countries that they have
been most generally imposed. No other countries could
support so great a disorder. As the strongest bodies
only can live and enjoy health under an unwholesome
regimen, so the nations isoly that in every sort of in-
dustry have the greatest natural and acquired advan
tages, can subsist and prosper under such taxes. Hol-
land is the country in Europe in which they abound
most, and which, from peculiar circumstances, continues
to prosper, not by means of them, as has been moat ab-
surdly supposed, but in spite of them.—Wealth of Na-
tions, book iv., chap. 2.

We lcarn ILULu the Hamburgl► papers, arrived last
night, that Count BULOW is not to leave London
for Frankfort till the Eastern Question is settled,
and that M. HASSENPFLUG is to go to Frankfort
as the representative of Prussia.
The King of PaussiA has offered to guarantee
the Archbishop of COLOGNE a Cardinal's hat, and
20,000 dollars a year for his life, if he would resign
his diocese and retire to Rome. The Archbishop
referred the KING to the POPE, and the KING hat
sent Count MUHL to Rome to negotiate a settle-
ment of the affair.

It is said Prince ERNEST is going to negotiate
a loan for a million of dollars, and he has exacted a
fine of 50 from Dr. STUvE for having published
his defence. The following are the prices of funds
at Hamburgh

HAMBURG BORSENHALLE, JAN. 9..

Bills. Moiler

Austrian 5 per Cents.

105 104%

Bank Share's 1670