The Sun.
London, England, 1824-12-09 00:00:00

[MORNING 'JERALD.]

From the evidence'adduced
,upon the trial of
•
the two men last week, at' lertford Assizes, for
the robbery in .the house. of Lord Cowper's
steward, it Wills to.follOw*alinett as certainty,
that' two out of the three men who had been be-
, fore convicted of the same offence, and • left for
execution, [mist have,been innocent. We know
of nothing more frightfully appalling that such a
circumstance as, this" which, were it .ti solitary
'one, would call .for observation ; but 'recollecting
as we 'do„that.,More.tlitin one instance of a similar
nature'haS *tared within a short time, it be-
comes extremely irriPortant, both to the character
.of our Courts, to the purity of publk justice,
and. to the lives and safety of us all, that the
matter should be fully investigated, and a remedy,
if possible, provided- against its recurrence. From
the various processes'. through which a criminal
charge must pass before a final conviction and
sentence against any man can be pronounced, one
would be led to suppose,' that though it affords
many means of escape to the guilty, it was, at
least, a sure protection for the innocent. First,
there is the apprehension, and the. grounds . of it
.the examination and re-examination by
the Magistrate—then the hearing before the
Grand .-Jury---next the trial—and after that,
very. often, a re-considering, if not a re-hearing.
of the whole by the Judge,---and often by the
Secretary of State .and the LW Officers of the
Crown before execution. •Yet, notwithstanding
all this, many innocent persons have been con-
demned, and some, we fear, have even been
executed. if,we were asked to what causes we
should principally impute such circumstances,
-we should say .that it was in a great measure
owing to too great a reliance, in the first instance,
on the zeal and first impressions of pro-.
tie cut() r s and police officers ; and next to the
very little part which Juries appear to
take upon trials, and the rigid adherence
to technical rules of evidence. The great ob-
ject. of evidence'shouldbe to elicit truth ; but
witnesses' are sometimes treated by learned
persons who have, made it' a 'science, one would
often suppose. that the
main object, on the con
trail,- was to suppress and, keep it back The
obviousqueStro' n' to ask a Witness, especially in
a criminal case,' is, what do you know of this
-
matter?—that he should then,tell his own story,
if poSsible, without
.interruption ; and that no
other' questions should be put to him but such
as arise. out of his own narrativ6 or of cir-
cumstances whkh there may be reason to think
he has omitted.. Instead_ of this, persons though
sworn to , are
told that
the per.
onsiPlyeaalkustwheerwqtuloesletiotrnusT,:i
speaking of
stohre::l7S'uksi g the questions (We are
leases in which-Contisel are employed) can'at best.
be but imperfectly informed upon'the subject; and
are under no obligation
to ask More than will suit
their purpose, it follows of course theta great deal
will, of necessity, be- •kept hack; which would
throw light upon the subject. The prejudicei
which are excited against prisoner's (SoMetimes

perhaps unavoidably) are, often a material ob-
stacle to any thing like a fair trial. It is no
uncommon thing to hear a Learned Counsel, after
having-detailed, the facts of the case, continue
his address to the Jury in something like this
strain : " and the prisoners at the bar, gentle-
men, being: persons of notoriously bad charac-
ter, and known to the officers as having been
concerned in many other robberies, they thought
it their duty to apprehend them for this." It
is not, indeed, many days since, that a gentle-
man of rank and education, in giving evidence
against a pickpocket, told the Jury that he should
not have prosecuted him, had he not found him,
upon inquiry, to be an old offender! Another
obstacle attending the administration of public
justice as affects the accused, in the difficulty and
expence of brinaaing up witnesses on their behalf.
In the case we have alluded to at Hertford, one
of the persons was respited upon the ground
of an alibi, which was set up, we believe, after
his condemnation, and. which probably would
have been proved before the Jury, could
the parties have been taken down- from Lon-
don to Hertford for the purpose. There are va-
rious other causes connected with the subject,
which must occur to persons accustomed to our
Courts of Justice, some
.of them propably of
more weight than those which we have suggested.
It is a subject of infinite importance, and deServes
the grave consideration of those who from know—
ledge, habit, and inclination, are best qualified
to suggest and carry into effect an efficient remedy.