The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

During the progress of the inquest we shall
not discuss the matter before the jury with any
view of influencing their verdict, but in that
spirit of justice which we hope and trust must
actuate witnesses and jurymen, as well as our-
selves, we shall shortly state a point or two not
altogether, as it seems to us, unworthy of notice
In the' first place, it is evident that a mistake
exists as to the object of the Riot Act. Every
unlawful or turbulent assembly may be dispersed,
and the parties arrested, as :disturbers of the
peace, being guilty of a misdemeanor at
common law. The Riot Act converts what is
by common law a misdemeanor into a felony,
but only iii the case of the assembly not diss
persing within an hour after proclamation to
disperse. In the present case no man who at-
tended the meeting is chargeable with a felony
for the mere fact of attending the meeting. His
offence, independent of other acts, is merely a
misdemeanor ; but if the Riot Act had been
read, every person on the ground an hour after
such reading would have subjected himself to
the penalties of a capital felony. The other
point to which we would advert is the some-
what irregular manner in which the inquiry
is conducted. It appears to us that sufficient
care is not taken to exhibit the conduct
of the police before rather than after the
murder. That they should, after the
slaughter of one of their colleagues, conduct
themselves with indiscriminate fury is matter of
deep regret, but just and honest men will appre-
ciate the cause. But the main point is, did they
before that melancholy event—i. e. before they
saw that there were persons present armed with
deadly weapons—display unnecessary and out-
rageous violence ?—did they assault an unresist-
ing crowd of persons, for the most part acci-
dentally thrown together ?—did they act with
the fury of men themselves terrified by some
imaginary danger, or with the calm fortitude of
men proportioning their force to the occasion ?
Let this last point be fairly investigated : was
the force used before the murder a necessary and
reasonable exercise of power for the lawful object
of dispersing an unlawful meeting ? If not, lan-
guage is too weak to express at once our abhor-
rence of their violence, and our contempt for
their cowardice. But let us wait calmly for the
evidence on the other aide. One thing is, how-
ever, certain. The affair was badly managed.
A handful of police on the ground before the
meeting might have quietly seized the flees and
Lees, who were frightened out oftheir wits ; and the
small force used in the caption would have impress-
ed the whole world with the truth, which is, that the
meeting, as regarded its real authors and abet-
tors, was utterly insignificant and contemptible.
Instead of this, an immense police force, almost
sufficient to storm a citadel, is employed, and
military men are on the alert with all the para-
phernalia of rapid communication, as if to be
ready to oppose some army advancing to raise
she siege. What must be the result of this
enormous display ? Why, Mee and Lee, and
their followers, who would, in the first case, have
slunk into their cellars amidst the scorn of their
companions, are now erected into formidable
persons, who require the whole power of the
state to put them down. This was a sad blun-
der. A mob should never be made to feel that
it is thought formidable ; however insignificant
before, from that moment it becomes formidable.
We observe that Mr. Stallwood is very indignant
at the Times : we think him very ungrateful.
We stated what he allows to be a fact, that he
was suddenly dismissed from the magistracy.
He has had an opportunity of stating that he
was unjustly removed, and we agree with him
that the vestry of St. Pancras are bound to
show on what grounds they recommended his
dismissal.— Times.

Mr. Thomas Attwood, or, to give him that
rare of which he is so proud, "the Brummagem
(Hampden," is buckling on the whole armour of
oily, and has summoned a meeting of his
" friends," to see him exhibit on Newhall-hill,
on Monday next. Mr. Attwood has a most
immoderate love of fame : the glory of his mi-
nority on the currency question—the still greater
glory of his position on Cobbett's motion—can-
not satisfy his ambitious mind ; he must put
himself on a hill-top, to show the still greater
height which nonsense inflated by vanity can
reach. Unless we are much mistaken, his re-
ception will hardly be suitable to his aspiring
hopes. Did he ever read of the reception given
to a certain eminent person, who, like himself,
on returning from a mission, explained his
*success to his audience ? We will refresh his
memory, which, w.e suppose, is too full of his
own exploits to remember other matter :

So having said, awhile he stood expecting
Their universal shout and high applause
To fill his ear:"
but what was the result
"Lo ! contrary he hears
On all sides, from innumerable tongues,
A dismal universal hiss,—the sound
Of putalic scorn."
We do not say that the other result will fol-
low, and that Hampden of Brummagem will be
changed into a serpent, for a serpent is said to
be wise ; but he may be invested with the dig-
nity of " a scorpion or an asp," or of that other
animal, " the amphisbxna dire," which has long
puzzled naturalists to discover which is its head
and which its tail.— Times.

We agree with the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer that, considering the number of im-
portant subjects before the House, it is impos-
sible to enter on the corn laws this session,
with any hope of a practical result. We have
this session on our hands the West India ques-
tion, the Bank and the East India questions, not
to mention a multitude of others, and these are
more than sufficient to occupy the House to the
end of the session. Lord Althorp observed
that he did not stand there as the advocate for
the present system, of corn laws, which, even
with reference to the landed interest, he did not
consider so advantageous as some persons sup-
posed. The landlords think only of a free trade
in corn as the cause of low prices. But, as
was observed by Lord Althorp, it does not
follow that when our ports are open for the
corn of other countries, our corn must necessa-
rily fall. A free trade will bring more corn into
the country than now enters it, but it will, at
the same time, give employment to additional
hands, to produce the manufactures exported to
pay for the corn. A free trade, by adding to
the demand for foreign corn, would raise its
price. We are an importing country with re-
gard to food, and an exporting country with
regard to manufactures. ;Mr. Hume was at
some pains to prove that a free trade in food
would not injure the agriculture of this country.
" The consequence (he said) would be an in-
crease in our manufactures and in our com-
merce, and additional employment for our la-
bourers in proportion. He denied that the ad-
ditional importation would hurt the agricultu-
rists. The quantity at present imported was not
uUlcient for the wants of the country. The

people were not • three-fourths. fed, a proof of
which was to be seen in the manufacturing dis-
tricts, where it was evident, from the appearance
of the people, that they were not properly fed.
The result of free trade would, therefore, be,
that no corn of this country would remain un-.
consumed, hut that a larger quantity would be.
consumed. He denied that the effect of free
trade in corn would be to bring down the price.
of corn in England to the level of the present
price on the Continent. On the contrary, they
had various proofs which showed that the price
on the Continent would be raised to the level
of the prices of corn in England, and that, in
fact, England would regulate the price of corn
over the whole world." As long as we are an
exporting country of manufactures, our land-
holders have no reason to fear importations of
food. But the question cannot be entered on
with advantage this session. Next session it
will be the question. The corn laws cannot
he considered as uniting the suffrages of the
people in their favour. Mr. Baring observed,
that there were at least 300 persons in the
House anxious for an alteration.— Morning
Chronicle.

There has hitherto always been, what may be
termed a neutral party in this country, ready to
step forward and rescue it from any unlooked-for
difficulties or dangers tc which it might be exposed.
This party (if persons coming together on the spur
of the moment can be so denominated) has gene-
rally consisted of noblemen and gentlemen of rank
and influence in their several stations, unconnected
with what is known as party in Parliament, and
therefore the better entitled, in the absence of all
personal objects, to be heard and attended to on
the subject of the crisis which may have called for
their interference. Such a crisis, we apprehend,
has now arrived. Without stopping to ask where
the fault lies, we fear it cannot be doubted but
that a period of difficulty and distress has arisen,
and is hourly increasing, in the country, which,
if not speedily arrested, threatens to be followed
by consequences which no mind embued with
patriotism or right feeling of any kind, can con-
template without the most serious alarm. Unhap-
pily the state of things to which we are alluding is
not confined to any one interest or department in the
state. To use a common, but very intelligible ex-
pression, not only is there one " screw loose," but
throughout the whole machine of Government some
pervading defect or fault appears to prevail, threat-
ening, should it not be corrected, to become every
day more embarrassing, and, in the end, most cala-
mitous in its censequences. There are persons
ready enough to attribute this unenviable state of
things to the change which has been brought about
in the representation. This, however, is a weak
invention of the enemy—the last, we trust, among
the expiring groans of those whose hopes of power,
and whose dreams of self-interest, lie buried in
schedule A. It is not to reform in Parliament that
the present state of things can be justly imputed. A
bad farmer may as well impute the failure of his
crops to a brilliant sun, and to refreshing rain. The
fault, we apprehend, is imputable to those who,
having, so much to their honour, brought that re-
form about, appear unconscious of the other reforms
which it, of necessity, implied, and unprepared to
administer the Government in the altered state of
things which they themselves have produced. The
man who exchanges the two dull dobbins which
have hitherto drawn the family chariot for a pair of
blood horses, ought to be aware that the reins
must be managed by hands equal to their al-
tered courage and speed ; bearing in mind,
too, that by a coachman of competent skill,
the one are as easily, if not more easily,
driven than the other, especially without that
whipping and labour which belonged to the cart-
horse or rotten-borough breed. But wherever the
fault may lie, there is a grievous error somewhere,
which calls for prompt examination and speedy cor-
rection ; nor can we point to any method more
likely to bring this about than that to which we
have alluded in the outset of these remarks. Let
the noblemen and gentlemen, the leading merchants
and manufacturers of the United Kingdom, in short,
the elite of all classes consider and act up to the
ditties which the present state of things require
from them. It may be said that they are met to-
gether at this moment in Parliament for that pur-
pose, and that a motion in either House on the
state of the nation might embrace all the objects
which an interference such as we allude to could have
in view. The very forms of Parliament, and its
connection with the evil, point out its incompati-
bility to the task, to say nothing of the weight
which so justly attaches to the opinion of many of
those who have no seats in Parliament, or who,
having them, find no opportunity of breaking through
the impatience which too often characterises large
assemblies. In a few words, what we wish to see
is, at such a crises as this, the influence and intelli-
gence of the country speaking to Ministers and to
Parliament in a firm but constitutional tone which
cannot be misunderstood, suggesting to the one and
the other, arid, if necessary, to the Crown, the
change of system which the real wants and situation
of the country require.--ilforning Herald.
In renewing his notice for the repeal of the house
and window taxes, Sir Samuel Whalley has taken
the very proper and necessary precaution of moving
a " call of the House on the day fixed for his mo-
tion, which is understood to be the 21st inst. He
has learned by experience, from the fate of his
former notice, that neither the patriotic zeal or dili-
o•ence of the Members of the reformed House of
'Commons is so great as to insure their voluntary
attendance in sufficient number to constitute a
House upon a question of the first national import-
ance, if, in relation to that question, the policy of
the Ministers should be known to be oppased to the
interests of the people. We hope the Honourable
Member will persevere in his motion for a call of
the House, to prevent the possibility of the propo-
sition for a repeal of the most oppressive, unequal,
and iniquitous of the assessed taxes being got rid
of, either by a premeditated failure to form a House
in the first instance, or by the " whipper-in"
of the Treasury constituting himself pro tent-
pore, a " whipper-out," and, by successful efforts
in that capacity, so reducing the Members as
to make it safe for some Ministerial hack to
apply the " counting-out process " as an 'ex-
pedient for stifling the demands of the country.
Whether it was intended to get rid of the
motion by such means or not, it is right to guard
against the possibility of it. After what happened
in reference to the malt tax arid Sir John's Key's
motion, we would not trust even the candour of
Lord Althorp for more than it is worth. It is in
the recollection of the public that Sir John Key
gave notice of his motion for the repeal of the
house and window taxes for a comparatively early
day in the session. He afterwards postponed it,
out of complaisance to Lord Althorp, and in conse-
quence of the importunities of certain servile sup-
porters of M sisters, who urged the propriety of
his waiting until the wondrous contents of the forth-
coming Budget should be laid before the public,
when he would probably find that his motion would
be superfluous. Ile certainly acted with weakness
in postponing the motion, without having obtained
a distinct assurance that the repeal of those taxes
would form a part of the financial plan of Govern-
ment. If the motion had come on before the Budget,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer would not have had
the opportunity of resorting to the sinister strata-
gem regarding the malt duty and a property-tax,
which he afterwards played off. Let Sir Samuel
Whalley, therefere, derive instruction from the
error of Sir John Key, and not allow himself to be
wheedled out of his motion, if the attempt should
be made. Let him listen only to the voice of his
suffering. clepo
otnstitrutes fie,gieiv y
titsatildithe just demands of the
appear in our columns
of interviews had between the Chancellor of the
Exchequer and deputations from various parishes of
the metropolis, relative to the assessed taxes.

Though we give admission to as many of those re-
ported interviews as we can afford space for, yet we
confess that our own opinion is nor in favour of
supplicatory deputations, touching public grievances,
to a Minister of the Crown. If the people have real
representatives in Parliament, their voice should be
heard through them. If they have not real repre-
sentatives, what then, we ask, has the Reform Bill
done for the country ? That Bill was described
by its authors as a measure that would, by
making representation a reality, give the will
of the nation an effective control over the
proceedings of Parliament, and, consequently, over
the policy of the Ministers of the Crown, whoever
they might be, or to whatever party they might be-
long. If this he not a fiction, why should we con-
tinually hear of those processions of the suffering and
sorrowing " lieges" respecting the assessed taxes to
the servants of the Crown, when they should take
the matirly and constitutional course of instructing
their representatives to tell the Ministers their
mind. Why besiege the Treasury with their com-
plaints, why degrade themselves into suppliants, if
Parliament be the express im:)ge of the constitution,
and the" people's House" be indeed the protector
of the people's interests? if there
,are numerous
bodies of electors who have made a mistake with
regard to the principles of the persons whom
hey have sent into Parliament, the fault is
their own in not exercising more judgment and
penetration in the choice of their representatives.
They are, however, not without hope, as they will
have it in their power to rectify their mistake
at another election. It is, we admit, long to
wait, if Parliament should run out its seven years.
We have seen enough of the reformed Parliament
to be convinced that the will of the Minister who
has gifts and patronage to bestow will be a stronger
motive of action, with a large proportion of the
Members of the House of Commons, than the
public good, until the Septennial Act, which con-
stituted the disgraceful triumph of a former Whig
Ministry over constitutional principles, be abolished,
and the Triennial Parliaments of the Bill of Rights
be restored. The conduct of the present House of
Commons with regard to sinecures—to martial law
—to military flogging—the factory system, &c.,
was bad enough; but, in reference to the malt and
assessed taxes, it has left an impression which we
shall nut attempt to describe.—Morning Herald.
The inquest on the Indy of the policeman who
was stabbed on Monday last in Coldbath-fields, was
resumed yesterday afternoon; and in again pointing
the attention of our readers to the evidence adduced
before the Jury, we cannot help paying a just tri-
bute of respect and admiration to the firmness and
determined spirit of inquiry evinced by the Jury and
their most intelligent foreman. The outrage could
not have fallen into hands more anxious, or more
capable, of doing it justice. The Ministerial jour-
nals may attempt to hush up the matter, and com-
plain of " a captiousness of examination which they
had never known on any preceding occasion;" but
there may be persons who consider what is called
"captiousness" by some to be a pure investigation
of the truth, as well as the " ardour " manifested by
the police, to be neither more or less than a reck-
less, and brutal, and unnecessary assault upon the
people. However, it is useless to argue with those
who either are determined not to see the light, or
are well feed not to say that they have seen it. We
can appreciate their motives as well as the vil-
lainy of their proceedings; but beyond a mere ex-
pression of indignant contempt, they deserve no
notice at the hands of those who have the promo-
tion of truth and justice only in view. Previously
to the commencement of the examination of the
witnesses last night, there was a sort of spar de
dear between the coroner and the foreman of the
jury, in which the former did net cut the most re-
spectable figure. The foreman, in a spirit of ju.t
anxiety to have the whole truth of the case laid
before his fellow-jurymen, put it to the Coroner
whether parties present at the meeting on Monday
last, and who had received injuries from the police,
would be safe in tendering their evidence; and in
no Court that we are aware of would not the Judge
have immediately answered that the evidence which
might be given by such persons, would not com-
promise themselves; but not so Mr. Stirling—he
would give no pledge or warrantry upon the
subject—he would only guarantee their safe con-
duct to and from his Court. How far this reser-
vation may act upon the prohibition of evi-
dence, we will not undertake to observe; but
we beg all those who were present upon the
occasion, and who were injured, and who have im-
portant evidence to give, not to keep back through
fear of the consequences. Let them come forward
and speak the truth. There are AO consequeeces to
be feared—no advantage can be taken of their evi-
dence—and if they want a shield of protection, is
not the now well-established brutality of the police,
and the equally well-expressed opinion of the public,
sufficient for them We should like to see who
would attempt to take advantage of them. Upon
another point, we have a remark to make, but it
shall be a brief one, and it is this—that the objection
of the Coroner to hear evidence upon the manner in
which the police conducted themselves is as contrary
to law as it is to justice. The jury, which is empan-
nelled under him, is bound by oath to return a true
verdict ; and in the present instance to give a verdict
of murder, of manslaughter, or of justifiable homi-
cide, as the evidence may seem to them to justify.
But how, Mr. Stirling, are they to find the means
of giving this verdict, as they ought to give it, un-
less they are permitted to make themselves ac-
quainted—first, with the legality of the procla-
mation condemning the intended meeting in Cold-
bath-fields—secondly, with the conduct and objects
of those who were there assembled—thirdly, with
the fact of who was the first assailant, the people or
the police—and lastly, with the animus of the per-
antis with whom the deceased policeman acted ? If
the meeting was illegal, and resistance was made by
persons having illegal objects in view, the verdict
would not require a moment's consideration—if it
was legal, and the death of the policeman arose out
of a dispute, personal or verbal, the verdict would
necessarily be manslaughter ; but if, on the other
hand, it be proved that the people were peaceable—
that there was no intention to break the public
peace—and that the police force attacked the
people without just cause or necessity, and with
the greatest N iolence and brutality, what other ver-
dict can be given than that of justifiable homicide ?
We state these matters not for the purpose of in-
fluencing the jury, which would be most unjust and
improper on our part, but for that of showing that
the Coronet's lecture to the Jury has no foundation
in law or justice. We might have spared ourselves
the trouble, however—the Jury will take good care
(if all these points. In conclusion, let us congratu-
late our cotemporaries of the Globe and Times, upon
the success of their challenge. They called for
ocular demonstration; and it has come forth—let
them call for any other, and it shall likewise appear.
We have not written in vain, nor have we written
without evidence. The examination of last night
will bear us out in the former assertion; and as to
the evidence to be given on Monday—it will speak
for itself. One question we have to ask, and we
trust it will be answered—were the policemen
drunk or not ? were they or were they not supplied
with beer ad libitum previously to their atrocious
attack upon the people ?-11foritirig Advertiser.
We this day lay before our readers authentic co-
pies of the " proceedings and resolutions of the
West India body consequent on Mr. Secretary
Stanley's communication of the outline of the in-
tended measure respecting slavery." Among these
documents will be found an able and detailed exa-
mination of the plan of his Majesty's Government
for the in the West Indies, in
which of the scheme in its ne-
cessary operation upon the property and rights of
the numerous important classes of the King's
the gross
extinction
it
sub-
jects who are interested, directly or indirectly, in
the trade and cultivation of the West India colo-
nies is clearly and forcibly exposed. We have no:
space for any lengthened comment on this produc-
tion, but we earnestly recommend it to the attention
of the British public, which, however anxious to ac-

celerate the moment when slavery shall Cease to
exist in any part of the dominions of Great Britain,
will, nevertheless, we are persuaded, shrink
from all participation or encouragement of an
act which bears the character of undisguised robbery,
and the practical effect of which must be either to
render the cultivation of the West Indies impossible,
and thus to annihilate the value of every estate in
those important possessions, or to transfer the slaves
to the harsher and more rigorous bondage of a mer-
cenary police, under the pretence of emancipating
them from the power of their present owners. We
cannot conclude this brief notice of a document
which has so many and such powerful claims to at-
tention without congratulating its authors on the
calm and dispassionate tone which they have been
enabled to maintain in circumstances that would
have supplied an apology for warm or even angry
remonstrance. The West India body can be calm
and dignified in the con,ciousness of right. In no-
thing will they imitate their oppressors. They can
afford to resign the privileges of petulance and ca-
lumny to the Secretary for the Colonies.--2llorning
Post.