The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-10 00:00:00

UN, LONDON, THURSDAY

THE FRIMLEY MURDER.
(From the Times.)
The decision of the Government with reference to the
fate of three of the principal actors in the Frimley tra-
gedy has relieved us from the necessity of any longer
keeping silence on a subject which seems to call loudly
for the animadversion of those whose duty it is to
watch the administration of criminal justice.
The Learned Judge who sentenced Levi Harwood
and James Jones to death did not accompany
his judgment with the usual announcement that the pri-
soners had no mercy to look for in this world. The
matter, therefore, seemed to be left completely open to
the discretion of the Secretary of State of the Home De-
partment; end we were unwilling, wbilesuch was the case,
to invade, by any premature observations of our own,
the awful prerogative of mercy which the constitution
reposes in his hands. But now that the fate of these
men has been decided, and the Secretary of State has
come to what appears to us the just and reasonable con-
clusion, that the lives of the two criminals are justly
forfeited to the law we feel it our duty to pre-
sent our view of the remarkable proceedings which
have terminated in this result. After the mur-
der of the Rev. Mr. Holiest last autumn,
our readers are aware that a prciclamation was
issued, offering pardon and reward to any person who
should make known the perpetrators of the crime;
and to this general offer there was but a
single exception—the person, namely, by whose
hand Mr. Holiest met his death. Four persons
were taken into custody on suspicion of having
been engaged in the robbery and murder, property
belonging to the deceased gentleman was found upon
one of them, and a chain of circumstantial evidence con-
Lectcd each of them with the other, and all of them with
the crime. But the matter was not left to circumstantial
evidence; a witness of the murder survived in the
person of Mrs. Holiest—a lady whose testimony
is entitled to the greatest weight from the extra-
ordinary courage and self-posses ion which she dis-
played throughout. She identified three of the men
as concerned in the robbery—one, Levi Harwood,
as having personally attacked her; another, Jones, as
having been engaged in the scuffle with Mr. Holiest; and
the third, Hiram Smith, as having fired the fatal shot.
Under these circumstances an offer is made to confess, and
made by the very person to whom the only evidence which
was attainable pointed as being the one person exempted
from the proclamation—the man who fired the fatal
shot. Strange to say, this person was admitted as ap-
prover—that is as an accomplice who is to receive a
pardon if he speak the truth, and whose evidence is
only to be believed if corroborated in material points by
the testimony of unexceptionable witnesses. What could
induce the authorities to consider that Hiram Smith was
a witness of truth we cannot imagine, nor from what
quarter he was to receive the necessary corroboration,
when as to the very matter on which his evidence was
required he was contradicted by the only untainted wit-
ness who could be called. Hiram Smith had of course
the strongest interest that man could have to shift the
guilt of having fired the fatal shot from himself to Levi
Harwood. Life, imptinity, and reward, would be the
results of success, and death the punishment of failure.
He did not come forward like an ordinary approver to
detail a crime of which he had been a participator, but
rather to exonerate himself and cast upon his accom-
plices the principal and prominent guilt in the transac-
tion. He was therefore triply discredited—first, as
being a person, by his own confession, of infamous cha-
racter; secondly, as having, from the peculiar circum-
stances of the case, a strong interest to misrepresent the
facts; and thirdly, as being contradicted by the only
person, other than the criminals and their victim, who
was present on the occasion. Under these circumstances
he was admitted an approver, and the authorities thought
fit to put forward his testimony as fitting ground for the
jury to act upon in a question of life and death.
We cannot imagine a more injudicious use of the
power of admitting accomplicies to betray the secrets
of their companions in crime. Perhaps it may be urged
that the admitting an accomplice to give evidence is at
all times a most unwelcome and distasteful expedient,
only to be resorted to or justified by necessity, and that
where that necessity exists such a practice tends to pre-
vent the perpetration of crime by sowing mutual dis-
trust among its perpetrators and by preventing their ulti-
mate impunity. We may grant this—but whore was the
necessity here? In the first place the approver was, as
we have shown, not likely to be believed, nor, indeed,
deserving belief from a jury; and, in the next place,
except as to the matter of the fatal shot and the incri-
mination of Samuel Harwood, he did not carry the case
any further than the circumstantial evidence and the
direct testimony of Mrs. Holiest. The result has
proved that the admitting Hiram Smith as an approver
was unnecessary, for the jury, totally disbelieving him
and putting his evidence aside as of no value whatever,
has yet found sufficient evidence to convict Harwood and
Jones. The judge has not hesitated to sentence them
on that evidence, and the Secretary of State is most
properly about to suffer the law to take its course. The
admission, therefore, of such a person as Hiram Smith
as an approver, the placing him before a jury as a per-
son on whose evidence any one in any matter would be
justified in reposing the slightest reliance, is a most de-
plorable error in itself, and one which in its consequences
tends to bring contempt on the administration of justice,
and has caused no little risk of defeating its ends alto-
gether.
The jury having convicted Levi Harwood and James
Jones, against whom there was other evidence than that
of tha approver—having acquitted Samuel Harwood,
against whom there was no sufficient evidence without
that of the approver—and having distinctly recorded
their conviction of the falsehood of the statement which
transferred the guilt ef firing the shot from himself to
Levi Harwood—the embarrassing question naturally
arises, what is to be done with the approver? He has
given at the trial substantially the same statement as that
on the strength of which he was admitted as a witness
for the Crown; and on the strength of his evidence he
claims impunity and reward. He has done all that was
expected from him, and if the judge and jury have been
less credulous than the authorities who admitted him as
a witness, that, he would doubtless urge, is their fault
and not his. On the other hand, is it to be tolerated
that because a man, in addition to the guilt of robbery
and murder—a murder not consisting in construction of
law, but as there is too much reason to believe, perpe-
trated by his own hand—lays upon his soul the addi-
tional guilt of perjury, he is therefore to escape the
punishment which will overtake his guilty but less
criminal accomplices? Surely not. Hiram Smith was
admitted as an approver on the condition that he should
give true evidence. The falsehood of his statement
should have been seen through in the first instance; but
because its manifest infirmities were overlooked it is not
the less false. He claims the performance of the con-
tract, his own part of which he has signally failed to
perform, and after the addition of perjury to his other
crimes he has no right to complain if he were placed in
a situation no worse than that which he would have oc-
cupied bad such perjury never been committed. It ap-
pears to us, therefore, quite fair that ho should be left
to take his trial upon the same evidence as that which
has convicted his accomplices, and we regard this
course as the more necessary since, unless it be adopted,
' it will hardly be possible, without an apparent violation
' of distributive justice, to inflict upon those accomplices
1 that punishment which the law and the interest of
2 society alike require that they should undergo. It could
never be tolerated that persons convicted only as princi-
pals in the second degree should suffer capital punish-
,r went, while the person whom the same jury undoubtedly
i would, had they had the opportunity, have convicted of
being the actual perpetrator of the crime, should escape
unscathed. It is a stern necessity which requires society
- thus to vindicate its outraged rights, but it is a necessity,
2 and the rule which that necessity prescribes must be ad-
ministered with no faltering hand.

0 -
4 PREPARATION AND BLEACHING
;0 OF FLAX.
3. We have had occasion so often to notice the useful
1 tendency of the scientific discourses at the Royal Poly-
-2 technic Institution that further comment would be un-
-3 necessary, but our attention has been specially directed
V. to Mr. John H. Pepper's lecture on " the Preparation
'• and Bleaching of Flax," which afforded much satisfac-
tion. The lecturer commenced his observations by
speaking in the highest terms of the kind philanthropy
of Mr. Beale Brown, who had at his own charge lectured
at the Polytechnic, for the sole purpose of awakening in
the minds of agriculturists a sense of the great value of
the culture and growth of flax; that, about nine mil-
lions were paid annually to foreign countries for this
article which we might very well raise ourselves. After
a brief description of the preparation of the plant, a
section of which might be described by three concentric
circles, viz., the epidermis or outer bark, the liber or
inner bark (wherein the fibre resides) called the heart, and
centre circle, composed of woody matter, termed the
boon; after explaining the:retting, rotting, or rusting:Abe
breaking and scutching, and the heckling, the lecturer
alluded to the various new chemical processes which had
been devised to get rid of the troublesome operation of
retting, and stated that a handsome fortune would re-
ward the discoverer of a new, complete, and expeditious
plan of preparing the flax yarn; but care was required
in all chemical processes to prevent the weakening or
partial destruction of the fibre. All flax contained, how-
ever, colouring matter, which it was necessary,to:get rid
of in the best kind of goods, white and fair linen of
course being an absolute requisite of civilised life. Bleach-
ing agents might be considered under three heads-Ist,
Absorptive agents, such as charcoal; 2d, Deoxydising
or hydrogen giving agents, as in the preparation of white
indigo by protoxide of iron; 3d, Oxydising agents, which
were very numerous, and of these chlorine was the most
valuable. After alluding to the first and second, which
were not used for bleaching fabrics, the lecturer pro-
ceeded, by a number of experiments, to show the
agency of chlorine. This important element was
discovered by Scheele in 1774; but it was
the celebrated French chemist Berthollet who
who first thought of applying it to bleach cloth, and in
1787 Mr. Milne, of Aberdeen, and the celebrated Watt
introduced it into the bleach fields of England. In 1798
Mr. Tennant discovered that the alkaline earths, such
as lime or barytes, might be united with chlorine, and
serve the same purpose. From that period chloride of
lime has been manufactured on an enormous scale, and
is used for bleaching in large quantities. Some flax
was now rapidly deprived of colours by chloride of
lime, the lecturer explaining that the lecture-table
process would be too quick for useful purposes, and
rotted or destroyed the ilex. Six weeks were usually
required, and some idea could be formed of the value of
chlorine when it hod been stated that as much cloth
could be bleached in six weeks on a 100 square yards as
was formerly conducted on 100 acres in six months.
22 distinct operations were counted by the lecturer as
required for bleaching cotton, which only lost one-
twentieth of its weightEwhilst from thirty to forty were
necessary for linen goods, and they lost one-third during
the processes. Mr. Pepper observed, that the philo-
sophy of bleaching depended on the evolution of oxygen,
and a conclusive experiment was finally shown, in which

dry chlorine did not bleach, whilst the damp gas in•
stantly removed the colour, the decomposition of water
supplying the oxygen gas.

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS.

From the tes and,Proceedings of the Howe of Commons )

•--
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9.
SMITHFIELD ENLARGEMENT BILL.
Order for Second Reading read; Motion made, and Ques-
tion proposed, " That the Bill be now read a second time :"
Amendment proposed, to leave out the word " now," and
at the end of the Question to add the words " upon this day
six months." Question put, "That the word' now' stand
part of the question.,, The House divided :
MINORITY—AYES. 121.
Arkvrright, George Forester, G. C. Morris, David
Baird, James Fox, R. M. Mullings, J. li.
Bankes, George Proven, C. IS. Newport, Viscount
Barnard, E. G. Galiwey, Sir W. P. Noel, Gerald J.
Barron, W. H. Gibson, T. M. O'Brien, Sir Lucius
Beresford, William Gilpin, it. T. O'Flaherty, Anthony
Blackstone, W. Gooch, E. S. Osborne, Ralph
Blair, Stephen Gould, Wyndham Parke, C. W.
Blake, M. J. Milford, Sir,lienry Palmer, Robert
Blimdford, Marquis Halsey, T. P. Fechell, Sir G.
Boldtso, George 11. Hamilton, G. A, Reid, Colonel
Brooke, Sir A. B. Ilastie, Alexander Renton, John C.
Bramston, T. W. Henley, J. W. Reynolds, John
Brocklehurst, John Hervey, Lord A. Rice, E. It.
Buller, Sir Y. Hildyard, T. B. T. Richards, Richard
Bunbury, W. Ilindley_Charles Rushout, Captain
Burghley, Lord Hornby, John Scott, Francis
Barroughes, 11. N. Hudson, George Seymer, H. K.
Chaplin, W. J. Hume, J. Sidney, Alderman
Chatterton, Colonel Ilumphery, Ald. ' Smollett, A.
Cobboid, J. C. Inglis, Si R. Stafford, Augustus
Cocks, T. i. Jerilyn, Earl Stanley, Edward
Coles, 11. B. Johnstone, Sir J. Stanley, E. 11.
Copeland, Ald. Jollitle, Sir W. H. Siephenson, Reinert
Cubitt, William Jones, Captain Thornhill, George
Currie, 11. King, P. J. Tyler, Sir G.
Davies, D. A. Knightley, Sir C. Vesey, Thomas
' Deedes, W. Knox, Colonel Wyse, R. 11.
D'Eyncourt, C. T. Lacy, 'H. C. Waddington; David
Duncan, Lord Lennoi, Lord A. Waddington, H. S.
Duncombe, T. Lennox, ,Lord G. IL Wakley, Thomas
Duncombe, A. Locke, Joseith Wall, C. B.
Duncombe, 0. Lockhart, A. E. Walmsley, Sir Y.
Dundas, George Lockhart, W. Williams, John
Dunne, Colonel Lygon, General Williams, W.
Du Pre, C. George , Mackenzie, W. F. Willoughby, Sir IL
Edwards, Henry Mackie, John Wortley, J. S.
Evans, Sir De Lacy Macaghten, Sir E. Wynn, H. W.
Evans, John • : M`Gregor, John
Evelyn, William J. Hagan, W. H.
Farnham, E. B. ' Maher, N.
Filiner, Sir E. Maunsell, T. P.
Forbes, William Meux, Sir Henry

TTLLSIta.
Duke, ar James
biasterman, J.

MAJORITY-NOES, 246.

--- -
Adana, Sir T. D. Floyer, John .Norreys, Lord
Adair, Hugh E. Foley, J. H. Norreys, Sir D.
Adair, R. Shafto Fordyce, A. D. O'Brien, J.
Aglionby, 11. Forster, Matthew O'Connell, John.
A.nstey, T C. Fortescue, Chichester O'Connell, M. O.
Armstrong, Sir A. Fortescue, J. W. Ogle, S. C.
Arundel, Earl of Fox, W. J. Ord, W.
Ashley, Lord Freestun, Colonel Ossulston, Lord
Bagge, W. Fuller, A. E. Oswald, Alexander
Bagshaw, John Glyn, G. C. Owen, Sir John
Baillie, 11. J. Goddard, A. L. Paget, Lord A.
Baines, M. T. Grattan, Henry Paget, Lord Clarence
Baldock, E. H. Greene, John Pakington, Sir John
Baring, Sir F. Greene, Thomas Parker, John
Barrington, 'Viscount Grenfell, C. Pascoe Perfect, R.
Bass, M. T. Grenfell, Charles W. Peto, Samuel
Bell, Jacob Grey, Sir G. Pilkington, James
Bellew, R. M. Grey, Ralph W. Plumptre, J. P.
Benbow., John Grosvenor, Lord R. Fonsouby, C. F.
Berkeley, Admiral Guest, Sir John Portal, Melville
Berkeley, Henry F. Gwyn, Howel Power, Dr.
Berkeley, C. L. Hall, Sir B. Price, Sir Robert
Bernal, Ralph Hallyburton, Lord Pugh, David
Birch, Sir T. Hanmer, Sir J. Itawdon, Colonel
Bowles, Admiral Harcourt, G.
G. Ricardo, Osman
Boyle, Colon& Hardcastl
J. A. Rich, Henry
Brine, M. Harris, Captain Hominy, Colonel
Brockman, E. D. Harris, Richard Hominy, Sir John
Brotherton, Joseph Hatchell, John Russell, Lord J.
Brown, W. Hawes, Benj. Russell, E.'
Bruce, C. L. C. Hayter, W. G. SalweY,,Colonel
Buck, L.tW, Heald, James Sandars, George •
Bunbury, E. H. Heathcoat, John Sanders, Joseph
Burrell, Sir C. Henry, Alexander Seymour, H. D.
Cabbell, B. B. Herbert, Sidney Seymour, Lord
Campbell, W. F. Harwood, James Shafto, R. D.
Cardwell, Edward Heyworth, Lawrence Sibthorp, Colonel
Carew, W. I'. Higgins, G. G. Simeon, John
Carter, J. B. llildyard, R. C. Smith, J. A.
Caulfeild, J. M. Hill, Lord E. Smith, John B.
Cavendish, C. C. Hill, Lord M. Smyth, John George
Cavendish, GAL Hobhouse, T. B. Somerset, Captain
Charter.s, Francis Hodgson, W. N. Somerville, Sir W.
Childers, J. W. Hollond, Robert Spearman, U. J.
Clay, James Hope, Henry T. Stanford, J. F.
Clay, Sir W. • Hope, Alexander Stanley, W.O.
Clerk, Sir 0. Horsmo.n, Edward Stanton, W. S.
Clifford, H. M. Howard, E. G. Strickland, Sir G.
Clive, 11. B. Howard, P. H. Stuart, Lord J.
Cochrane, A. D. Hutchins, E. J. Stuart, H.
Cockburu, Sir A. Hutt, William Stuart, John
Coke, Edward K. Jocelyn, Viscount Sutton, J. H.
Colebrooke, Sir T. Kershaw, James Tancred, H. W.
Colvile, C. R. Knox, W. S. Tenison, E. K.
Compton, 11. C. Labouchere, Henry Thicknesse, R. A.
Corbally, M. E. Langston, J. H. Thompson, Colonel
Cowan, Charles Lascelles, W. S. Thornely, Thomas
Cowper, W. F. Lawless, Cecil Tollemache, John
Craig, Sir W. G. Legh, G. C. Towneley, John
Dalrymple, Captain Lennard, T. B. Townshend, Captain
Darner, Colonel Lewis, 0. C. Traill, George
Dawson, T. V. Long, W. Trevor, G. R.
Denison, J. E. Lopes, Sir Ralph Tafnell, H.
Dick, Quintin Mackinnon, W. A. Verner, Sir W.
Divett, E. M'Neill, Duncan Verney, Sir H.
Douglas, Sir C. 111`Taggart, Sir J. Vivian, J. H.
Drummond, Home Mahon, Viscount Walpole, Spencer
Drummond, Henry Mandeville, Viscount Walleye, J.
Duckworth, Sir J. Marsh-11, J. G. Wawn, J. T.
Duncan, George Matheson, air J. Wegg-Prosser, F.
Duncurt, John Matheson, Colonel Welby, 0. E.
Dundas, Sir D. Mollie, Fox Wigram, L. T.
Ellice, Edward Melgund, Viscount Willcox, Brodie
Ellice, E., jun. Miles, William Wilson, James
Ellis, John Monsell, William Wilson, Matthew
Elliot, John E. Moody, C. A. Wodehouse, E.
Emlyn, Viscount Morison, Sir W. Wood, Sir Charles
Evans, William Mostyn, E. Wood. W. F.
Ewart, William Mowatt, Francis Wyvill, M.
Fellowes, E. Mulgrave, Earl Yorke, E. T.
Ferguson, Colonel Mundy, William TELLERS.
Fitzpatrick, J. W. Naas, Lord Christopher, It. A.
Fitzwilliarn, G. W. Napier, Joseph Fitzroy, Henry

SMITHFIELD MARKET REMOVAL BILL;
Order for Second Reading read ; Motion made and Ques,
tion put, "That the Bill be now read a second time." Th!
House divided :

MAJORITY—AYES, 230.
Acland, Sir T. Evans, William Morison, Sir W.
Adair, Hugh E. Evart, William Mostyn, E. M. L.
Adair, It. A. Fello w es, Edward Mowatt, Francis
Aglionby, 11. A. Fitzroy, lion. 11. Mulgrave, Earl
Ansley, Thomas Fitzwilliam, G. W. Mundy, William
Arbialmott, lion. H. Floyer, John Mure, Colonel
Armstrong, Sir A. Foley, J. H. Napier Joseph
Arundel, Earl of \ Fordyce, A. D. Norreys, Lord
Ashley, Lord Forster, M. O'Connell, M. J.
Bagge, William Fox, W. J. Ossulton, Lord
Baines, M. T. Frecstun, Colonel Oswald, A.
Baillie, li. J. Fuller, A. E. Packe, C. W.
Baldoek, E. 11. Gilpin, Colonel Pakington, Sir J.
Baring, Sir F. T. Glyn, G. C. Parker, John
Barnard, E. G. Goddard, A. L. Perfect, Robert
Barrington, Viscount Gordon, Admiral Peto, Samuel
Bass, M. T. Greenall, G. Pilkington, James
Bell, Jacob Greene, John Plumptre, J. P.
Bellew, B. M. Greene, Thomas Portal, Melville
Berkeley, 11. F. Grenfell, C. Pascoe Power, Dr.
Berkeley, C. L. G. Grey, Sir George Price, Sir R.
Bernal, Ralph Guest, Sir John Pugh, David
Birch, Sir T. Hall, Sir B. Rawdon, Colonel
Blair, Stephen Hall, Colonel Ricardo, Osman
Blandford, Marquis Hallyburton, Lord Rich, Henry
Booker, T. W. Hanmer, Sir John Robartes, T. J. A.
Bowles, Admiral Hardcastle, J.:A. Romilly, Colonel
Boyle, Colonel Harris, Captain Romilly, Sir J.
Braniston, T. W. Harris, Richard Rushout, Captain
Brisco, M. Hawes, B. Russell, Lord John
Brockman, E. D. Heald, James Russell, Edward S.
Brotherton, J. Ileatlicoat, John Russell, F. C.
Bruce, C. L. C. Henry, Alexander Salwey, Colonel
Bunbury, E. H. Herbert, Sidney Sanders, G. ,
Burrell, Sir C. Heywood, James Seyikter, 11. K.
Burroughes, H. N. Heyworth, L. Seymour, H. D.
Cabbell, B. B. Biggins, George Seymour. Lord
Campbell, W. F. Hildyard, B. C. Slaney, It."A.
Cardwell, Edward Hill, Lord E. Smith, John Abel
Carew, W. H. I'. Hill, Lord Marcus Smith, J. B.
Carter, J. B. Hindley, Charles brnyth, J. G.
Cavendish, C. C. Hobhouse, T. B. Somerset, Captain
Cavendish, G. 11. Hodgson, W. R. Somerville, Sir W.
Charteris. Francis Holland, Robert Sotheron, T. H. S.
Christopher, R. Hope, A. Spearman, H. J.
Clay, James , Howard,,,E. G. Stanford, J. F.
Clay, Sir W. Howard, I'. 11. Stanley, E. 11.
Clerk Sir G. Hate'nell, John Stanley, W. 0.
Clive, It. B. Hutt, William Stanton, W. H.
Cockburn, Sir A. Jermyn, Earl Strickland, Sir G.
Cocks, T. S. Labouchere, Henry Stuart, Lord J.
Coke, Hon. E. K. Lacy, 11. C. Stuart, H.
Colebrooke, Sir T. Langston, J. IL Tancred, 11. W.
Colvile, C. R. Lascelles, W. S. Tenison, Edward K.
Corbally, M. E. Lawless, Cecil 7 hickneme, R. A.
Cowan, Charles Legh, G. C. Thompson, Colonol
Cowper, W. F. Leonard. T. B. Thornely, T.
Craig, Sir W. G. Lennox, Lord A. Tollemache, John
Dalrymple, Captain Lewis, G. C. Talhell, Henry
Darner, Colonel Lindsay, Colonel Tyler, Sir G.
Davies, D. A. S. Lockhart, A. E. Vane, Lord 11.
Dawson, T. V. g, W. Verner, Sir, W. .
Denison,"J. E. Lopes, Sir Ralph Verney Sir H.
Divett, Edward Mackie, John Vivian, J. 11.
Douglas, Sir C. Mackinnon, W. Walpole, S. II
Drummond, Henry M`Neill, Duncan Wawn, J. T.
Drummond, Home Mahon, Viscount Welby, G. E.
Duckworth, Sir J. Mandeville, Viscount Willcox Brodie
Duncan, George Marshall '
,J. oti. Wilson, Matthew
Duncuft, John Marshall, W. Wodehouse,Echnund
Dundas, Sir David Matheson, Sir J. Wood, Sir Charles
Edwards, henry Matheson, Colonel Wood, W. P.
Egerton, 51r I'. Maule, Fox Wyvill, Marmadake
Egerton, W. T. Melgund, Viscount Young, Sir John
Ellice, Edward Miles, William TELLE3II.
Ellice, E., jun. Moffatt, George
Ellis, John Monsell, William Grey, R. W.
I Elliot, John Moody, C. A. . Haytcr, W. G.
40 --------.
_ _