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

our beloved SOVEREIGN ; they must have con-
veyed to her an unspeakable solace in the mo-
ments of tribulation ; they must have imparted an
additional zest to her domestic happiness.
The substance of the Royal Speech is scarcely
more than a retrospect of the position of the na-
tional authority, the proceedings of the Imperial Par-
liament, and especially of the gigantic social
and commercial reformations which have rendered
the half-year last past so wholly unprecedented. Un-
doubtedly the events which have transpired during
that interval within the walls of St. Stephen's, pre-
sented to her MAJESTY a noble opportunity for en-
larging upon the blessings which must accrue
from their occurrence. Regal eloquence, upon
such a theme, might readily have been tolerated.
Nevertheless, the simple narration of the facts
will possibly convey more to her faithful lieges than
all the blandishments of rhetoric, or all the anima-
tion of oratory.
The gist of the Royal Speech may be briefly ca-
talogued. References to the extraordinary labours
of our Legislators, whether representative or here-
ditary, during this protracted session ; allu-
sions to the successful issue of our negotiations
with the United States, and to the triumph of our
soldiers on the banks of the Sutlej ; after this a
cursory reference to the increase in the naval and
military supplies, with which increase the Parliament
has so cordially endeavoured to compete with the
exigencies of both services ; an expression of sorrow
at the re-appearance of the potato murrain, coupled
with an aspiration that the measures taken by the
Government may tend to diminish the miseries which
would otherwise follow from the deficiency in Ireland;
—these, together with the customary congratulations
and recommendations of a Speech from the Throne,
I impart to the present a peculiar and unequalled im-
portance.

escape than that one innocent person should be con-
victed, and juries are almost invariably told that, if
they entertain any reasonable doubt, they are to give
the benefit of that doubt to the prisoner. Now, it
appears to us that the jury, by their statement that
there was a possibility that provocation had been given,
gave expression to such a doubt ; and most assuredly
it was a reasonable one, and such as fairly might be
entertained by rational men. Both parties were sitting
at the same table ; each had, unhappily, a deadly
weapon, a knife, in hand ; the woman was manifestly
a person of violent passions ; she had been in the habit
of using the most opprobrious language ; she had pre-
viously assaulted the prisoner, having bit his arm on
one occasion and slapped his face on another; the
wretched prisoner had ever behaved towards her in
the most temperate manner, having only held her
hands when she so bit him. Other evidence might have
been afforded as to similar acts of grievous provoca-
tion, but, by the strict rules of law which the presid-
ing judge was bound to enforce, it was necessarily
excluded. Is it not then, to say the least of it, pos-
sible, if not probable, that the poor girl might not
have acted on that as on former occasions, and again
assaulted the prisoner, and with a knife in her hand,
which she still retained when running up wounded
into the hall, and which remained clasped in her right
hand after death. The prisoner said that she had
goaded him to it ; there is no living witness as
to what was the extent or nature of that pro-
vocation, but taking the previous occurrences into
consideration it could not be of a light or trivial
character. The former excellent conduct of the pri-
soner, his unimpeached character, strengthens the
supposition, and his subsequent conduct corresponds
with a total absence of design—it repudiates all idea
of premeditation. He was transfixed with horror
and stupefied at seeing what he had done. He made
no attempt at escape, but at once submitted himself
to the officer, and acknowledged that his was the
hand that committed the fatal deed. He was over-
whelmed with despair, and sought not to defend
himself. In fact, as we have already stated, it was
to the humanity of others that he owed the defence
put forward at the trial. All this appears to us to
afford the strongest evidence of the magnitude of the
provocation. IVe trust that the case may
meet with a favourable consideration from
the responsible advisers of the Crown. One
of their proudest boasts may well be of the
reformation they have effected in the criminal code of
the country—the mitigation in its severity. Already
since their recent accession to power they have ex-
tended mercy to many criminals under sentence of
death for murder. It was our pleasing duty yester.
day to record another instance of that mercy, in the
commutation of the sentence on ROBERT WILLIAMS,
convicted of the murder of THOMAS WIGGINS, at the
late Wells Assizes. The case of SMITH may chal-
lenge a favourable comparison with that of any
of the recently reprieved convicts, and most
sincerely do we hope that the recommendation of the
jury, and the appeal about to be brought forward on
his behalf by his fellow-citizens, may not be made in
vain.

duce from those, whose duty it is to furnish it, every
possible alleviation of the raging calamity.

The College of Cardinals, composed as it is almost
exclusively of the most bigotted members of the old
worn-out, servile faction, continues to throw every
obstacle in the way of the POPE and of his Minister,
Cardinal Gun. Not a measure of amelioration or
reform is proposed which is not immediately de-
nounced by the College. The POPE and his Mi-
nister, however, are not daunted by the faction, and
reforms in the civil administration and in the muni-
cipal institutions, which have been long demanded by
the people, are in progress of preparation. A letter
from Rome, dated the 18th, says that one of the
Cardinals having observed to the POPE that if he did
not•alter his system, the people would demand a con-
stitution ; " and why should I not accede to their
desire," replied his IlouNEss, " if a constitution was
necessary to the welfare of my subjects ?"

The Frankfurt Journal publishes a letter from
Lemberg, the capital of Austrian Galicia, dated
August 15, which says :—" A new conspiracy bas
been discovered. The plan has been formed by the
malcontents of Galicia and the Polish emigrants in
France. Three French emissaries have been arrested,
and brought to this place. Many important papers
were found on them, and, among the rest, a proclama-
tion in the Polish language exciting the peasants to
revolt against the Government for refusing them the
rewards which they merited for their late conduct."
The same journal states that the Austrian Govern-
ment disapproves highly of the intention expressed by
the POPE of dismissing his regiments of Swiss guards,
and it adds that Prince METTERNICH has made strong
representations to the Court of Rome on the subject.
The Congress of the Zollverein held its closing
sitting on the 19th, at Berlin. The advocates of an
increase in the Zollverein tariff have been defeated,
so that, not withstanding the demands of the German
spinners, there will be no increase in the duties on
English thread. The British Consul-General at Leip-
sic, Mr. WARD, was present during the whole of the
sitting of the Congress.

The proceedings of the past session are more in
accordance with the principles of our free Constitu-
tion than any that have hitherto taken place within
the precincts of 'Westminster. Those proceedings
have confirmed and mellowed the boons accorded to
us by the glorious Reform Bill ; they have rendered
our House of Commons more truly the house
of the representatives of the people than the
extinction of rotten boroughs, or the limited
extension of the franchise. From the occur-
rences of this illustrious session the representatives
of monopoly have been metamorphosed into the re-
presentatives of the truest and noblest patriotism.
Those proceedings and the principles involved in
them have rendered place-hunting no longer the vice
of statesmen, they have abolished party, they have
purged all tendencies to peculation and selfishness
from the Legislature, they have kindled a reverence
for the rights of the contemned in the bosoms of
our most eminent countrymen. The history of this
session is the history of the elevation of the
multitude : it is the true inauguration of the more
generous of the principles upon which our Constitu-
tion is based—the first equable adjustment of the
three primary powers,

On the 21st, the second Chamber of the Grand
Duchy of Baden decided in favour of a measure for
emancipating the Jews by a majority of 36 to 18.
The Emperor of RUSSIA has dispatched M.
BLOUDOLF, his late Minister of Public Instruction,
on a mission to Rome. The Juris-consult
who is devoted to the Roman Catholic interest in
Russia, accompanies M. BLOUDOLF.
Madrid papers of the 21st have arrived.

Don FRANCISCO D'AsslS is the object of attention
from all parties. M. SARTORIUS waited on him to
present to him the compliments of General NARVAEZ.
The Prince received him affably, and assured him
that he harboured no political resentments. The
Prince seems to be acting with great prudence, and
with the exception of the Tiempo, which
asserts that unexpected difficulties have sprung
up which are likely to put an end to the ne-
gotiations on the subject, all the papers seem
to consider that Don FRANCISCO stands an excellent
chance of being the husband of Queen ISABELLA.
On the 17th several persons were arrested at Bar-
celona, and placed at the disposal of the Council of
War. On the same day several domiciliary visits
were made in the city, and seizures were made of
arms and ammunition. On the same day a riot
occurred at Santander, in consequence of the
arrest of the torreo CIIICLANERO, who refused
to appear at a bull fight. The people attempted to
rescue him from the guards, who charged them with
their bayonets, and two persons were wounded. The
Political Chief afterwards published a proclamation,
explaining the facts of the case.
MADRID BOLSA, AUG. 21.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 34 for cash ; the Four per Cents., at
21;" ; the Five per Cents., at 2i ; the Debt without
Interest, at ; and the Coupons, at 201.

KING-LORDS-COMMONS.

Much public interest has been excited on behalf of
the unfortunate man, JOHN VINCENT Smyru, 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 I
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
privilege of recommending 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 i❑
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

It has been our painful duty of late almost daily to
furnish the melancholy details and to observe upon
the disastrous consequences which, by a marked and
generally spread visitation of PROVIDENCE, must
fall upon millions of our fellow-countrymen
across St. George's Channel. Merely to have furnished
the fearful statistics of the failure in the pOtato crop,
whilst it would have corresponded with the rigid
duty of the journalist, would at the same time have
been but an ignoble method of discharging it.
We have, therefore, never refrained from clothing
the details with such observations as seemed
to us justly to emanate from a spirit of phi-
lanthrophy and the purest dictates of enlarged and
national benevolence. We have been actuated to
this course, first, because the misery and destitution
of the Irish have for years past become
terms so proverbial, that the better feelings
of the inhabitants of Great Britain are
apt, from the frequent repetition of the pauperism of
Ireland, to relapse almost into indifference, even when
appearances of a novel and awful devastation should
startle our very senses ; and, s2condly, because we
wished, with others, to be forward in assuring the
heart-stricken population of the Sister Isle that
our most extended sympathies, with their legitimate
fruits, should not be wanting dtiring the terrible or-
deal of privation and suffering which it will be their
destiny to pass through. And righteously
enough has Ireland entitled herself to our
most considerate benevolence. The peaceful
attitude she assumed during the past year, the calm
resignation and well-sustained fortitude which she
now exhibits under the auspices of her self-chosen
popular leaders, in this the second year of an unpre-
cedented calamity, and the laudable manner in
which, under such trying circumstances, she has
repudiated, aye, spurned the traitorous advocates of
physical force, must claim our admiration, and secure
our incessant efforts to rescue her, to the utmost,
from the deplorable evils of threatened famine. In-
deed, the recent decrease in crime gives them an
additional claim upon our benevolent energies. Che-
quered, indeed, as the public peace has been at times
in Ireland, yet we conscientiously believe that no
people on the face of the earth, constituting as
most the Irish do an integral portion of the
civilised empire in the world, would, in a similar posi-
tion, have comported itself with so much of per-
severing and patient endurance, as the Irish
have for a very lengthened period. We ad-
mire them, too, all the more, from their hav-
ing declared in the British Parliament, through
their confidential organs, that any eleemosynary
relief which they have required, and may yet re-
quire, they regard not so much as a boon, as a posi-
tive right. They represent, and with too much
truth, that as we have for years under-
taken to legislate for them, their present
condition is no political fault of their own,
but that the shame of it must rest with
ourselves ; and it is not to be denied that this repre-
sentation draws conviction after it from the tardy,
but improved manner in which we are now legis-
lating for their several national wants and desires.
It is deeply to be lamented that at the close of a
session, so fruitful in good works, on which we have
elsewhere enlarged, our joy should be so seriously
detracted from by the state of Ireland. Every
day we have hoped for some redeeming intel-
ligence, but each hour has only served to confirm
our worst apprehensions. Last night the Earl of
RoDEN, from whom however much we have differed
in politics, still, as a resident, painstaking, and consi-
derate landlord in Ireland, he has acquired an
honourable fame, addressed the House of
Lords upon the approaching distress in that
country. His Lordship described the province
of Ulster, a great portion of which he had recently
travelled through, to be without a field free from the
potato disease, and stated that he had received ac-
counts from the north, confirming all that Lord
MONTEAGLE had represented of the south of
Ireland. An appeal was made by this noble-
man to the sympathies of those who might
be able to assist his afflicted country. "At the same
time," continued his Lordship, "if his voice could
reach the ears of those individuals who possessed any
property in Ireland, and it could have any effect to

We have received the Paris papers of Wednesday.
They are almost wholly taken up with the report
of the first day's trial of HENRY". During the pro-
ceedings, Mr. COBDEN was present, and according to
the France, made this remark to those who accompanied
him—" This is a madman, who is but too happy to
have found pedestal for his folly, and persons in
their reason to listen to him." And Mr. COBDEN is
right. A lunatic asylum is the proper place for
lIENRY. The trial which excited but little interest
was expected to be brought to a conclusion on Wed•

nesday.
The Chamber of Deputies was still occupied in
deciding disputed election returns. M. MATER, who
had promised to resign in a year in favour of a Legi-
timatist candidate, has been declared duly elected.
All the Opp( nition Members in the bureau voted in
his favour.

The ConWhitionnel says, that after receiving the
address of tho Chamber of Deputies, the KING will
return to thf, Chateau d'Eu, where he will be visited
by the Queen Of ENGLAND.
PARIS, AUG. 26.—Five per Cents., 21f. 65c. ; Three per
Cents., 83f. 7 Oc. ; Four per Cents., 108 f. ; Bank Actions,
3,470 f.; Ror. vans, 102. ; Belgian Five per Cents.,lBlo, 1023/4 ;
Spanish Thr( !e per Cents., 36 ; Belgian Four-and-a-Half
per Cents., 1, 30%. Exchange on London, one month, money,
25f. 70c. ; tl iree months, money, 25f. 521 c.
LATEST P RICES.—Five per Cents., 121 f. 65c. ; Three per
Cents., 83f. 65c.
BUSINESS DOSE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

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

speak to them from that place upon so solemn a sub
ject, he would implore them, under every circum.

stance, to go home to their country and people—
(Hear, hear)—to live amongst them, and encourage
them in their present difficulties—(Hear, hear)—and
to show them that they themselves were willing,

under these great trials, to share with them the
evils they were forced to bear.—(Hear, hear.)"
More appropriate and feeling advice could not

be tendered, and his Lordship's own example en-
forces the precept with a peculiar grace. The evils

of absenteeism has been a Parliamentary theme
for the last three quarters of a century, but, un-
fortunately, has been hitherto dilated upon in vain.
It would seem as if PROVIDENCE, by the present visi-
tation, would compel the proprietors of the
soil effectually to discharge the social duties which

they have so long and culpably neglected. Parliament
itself has already been quickened into a sense of what
is intrinsically required, and has passed a law by
which the rich owners of the land shall, if necessary,
be compelled to support the famishing poor. Lord
CLARENDON warmly seconded Lord RODEN'S appeal,
and in a way which, we trust, will spontaneously pro-

by the jury.
One of the benign principles of the English law is,
that it is better that ninety-nine guilty men should

THE SUN, LONDON,' FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 28, 1846.

PROROGATION

PARLIAMENT.

HER MAJESTY'S
SPEECH.

Parliament was prorogued this day (by Commis-
sion), when the following Speech was read, by com-
mand of her Majesty, by the Lord Chancellor, sitting
on the Woolsack, in front of the throne, in the
House of Lords :
" MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

" We are commanded by her Majesty to express to
you the warm acknowledgments of her Majesty for
the public spirit you have evinced in the discharge of
your laborious duties during an anxious and pro-
tracted session.

" Her Majesty trusts that you will be rewarded by
witnessing the beneficial results of the measures which
have been sanctioned by her Majesty for the present
relaxation and ultimate repeal of protective duties on
corn and sugar.

Her Majesty entertains a confident hope that the
more free admission of the produce of foreign coun-
tries into the home market will increaselthe comforts
and better the condition of the great body of the
people.

" Her Majesty feels the greatest satisfaction in re-
flecting that her Majesty's efforts to settle, in a manner
consistent with national honour, the conflicting
claims of Great Britain and the United States, with
respect to the territory on the North West Coast of
America, have been completely successful.
" Her Majesty continues to receive from all
Foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their
desire to cultivate friendly relations with this country.
" Her Majesty commands us to congratulate you
on the victorious course and happy conclusion of the
war in India, and her Majesty has much gratification
in announcing to you that perfect tranquillity pre-
vails throughout the whole of the British possessions
in that quarter of the world.