The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-28 00:00:00

KING-LORDS-COMMONS.

Much public interest has been excited on behalf of
the unfortunate man, JOHN VINCENT SMITH, now
lying under sentence of death, for the murder of his
fellow-servant, SUSAN TOLLEDAY, on the 15th inst.
This very day a meeting took place at the Guildhall
Coffee-house, the scene of the homicide, for the pur-
pose of considering the propriety of abolishing the
punishment of death generally. The case of SMITH
was taken into consideration, and efforts will be
made to obtain a commutation of his sentence to
transportation for life. The meeting was pre-
sided over by Alderman SIDNEY, to whose benevo-
lence and humanity it is said the unfortunate young
man was indebted for the appearance of counsel on
his behalf at the trial, the prisoner himself having
been so utterly prostrated, so totally bereft of hope, that
he had intended pleading guilty, and making no
effort to escape punishment. Although we cannot
join to the full extent in the object of the meeting, as
we think that there are cases in which capital punish-
ment is absolutely necessary, we are truly rejoiced
at the exertions about to be made for SMITH. We
conceive that a very great distinction exists between
his case and those in which the extreme penalty of
the law should be enforced. Wherever it is clearly
and distinctly proved that the murderer perpetrated
his offence in cold blood, that the crime was the re-
sult of premeditation, and that he had coolly and
deliberately made up his mind to take away the life
of a fellow-creature, and had carried into execution
a previously planned intention, we should not
come forward as the advocates for the extension of
mercy, or interpose ourselves between the criminal and
the punishment demanded for the blood of his mur-
dered victim ; but in the present instance we think that
every circumstance indicates in the clearest manner
that the act was not one of premeditation, but the
impulse of the moment ; that the unfortunate man,
goaded to the utmost extent of passion, and excited to
madness by the reproaches of the girl, the provoca-
tion offered, the abuse so freely poured forth against
him by one who was indebted to his recommendation
for her employment, committed the rash act that may
lead to his ignominious and untimely end ; that
under the most favourable circumstances must change
the character of his future life, and make him a
wretched exile from his native country, his family,
and friends, expiating his offence by the heaviest
secondary punishment known to or sanctioned
by our law. One of the points that must be alleged
in an indictment for murder, the gist of the offence,
without which a conviction cannot take place, is
" that it was of the malice aforethought of the pri-
soner." The law has humanely made allowance for
acts committed in the heat of passion, and without
premeditation, and provided that when upon a sudden
quarrel two persons fight and one of them kills the
other, the offence shall be
.considered manslaughter
only. In like manner, if one greatly provokes another,
and that other thereupon instantly kills him, it will
also only be manslaughter. Many subtle refinements
and nice distinctions have, however, from time to
time been introduced, and malice will frequently be
implied, and the offender found guilty of murder,
although no malice may have been expressed or openly
indicated. In such cases the French law permits the
addition of guilty with extenuating circumstances, and
in such cases the extreme penalty of death is never
inflicted. The English law, however, does not
sanction such finding ; in such cases, the only pros-
pect of mitigation of punishment consists in the ex-
tension to the prisoner of the prerogative of mercy by
the Crown. But the jury have the constitutional
privi:ege of ncominending him to that mercy—a re-
commendation to which much weight is invariably
attached, and which is most frequently attended
to. In the present case the jury exercised that
privilege in the strongest manner; they did so in
consideration of his previous good character main-
tained during a service of no less than seventeen
years in the same situation, where he had continued
respected and esteemed by his master and associates,
from the time he was fifteen years of age; and,
secondly, on the possibility there was of provocation
having been given, when none but the deceased
and the prisoner were there. The Learned
Judge who tried the case did not, however, hold out
the slighest hope of that mercy being extended. This,
perhaps, may not be his feeling to the fullest extent.
He might have thought it an act of humanity not to
permit the unhappy man to indulge in a feeling of
hope, which possibly might not be realised, to induce
him to devote that which might be the short re-
mainder of his existence to an earnest repentance, a
zealous preparation for the awful change that awaited
him, and to awaken his mind to a deep sense of the
magnitude of the crime he had committed. That
Learned Judge could not speak with certainty as to
the course that would be adopted by the Executive on
a full and attentive consideration of the case ; and
it therefore became his duty to address the prisoner
in the disheartening and hope-effacing language
used by him on the occasion of passing sen-
tence. A similar course is invariably pursued
by his judicial brethren when pronouncing a doom
that may possibly be carried into execution. 'We
cannot, therefore, consider the address of Baron
PLATT as conclusive : he only discharged the painful
duty imposed upon him by his high and important
office, and we hope that he may be found aiding by
his influence the recommendation so earnestly offered
by the jury.

One of the benign principles of the English law is,
that it is better that ninety-nine guilty men 51490