The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Committee has been appointed after Com-
mittee to take into consideration the present
state of the House of Commons,—its ina-
dequacy, inconvenience, unwholesomeness , to-
gether with the means of remedying those de-
fects or vices. We ourselves hope to see a
good house of Commons substituted for the
present, but still we do not see that the matter
is one of great urgency, for though the present
House is in many respects inconvenient, we do
not think the evil so pressing that we may not
wait till our finances are better. It would be
an ungracious act in the first newly-constructed
Parliament to tax the nation with a large sum
for a new building for its reception. Mr.
Hume, indeed, supersedes the dull necessity of
plan and estimate, and boldly declares that a
new House of Commons may be built for
25,0001. It is certain, that if we wish for a
new House, it is not such a House as this that
would satisfy us. The Hon. Member would do
well to inquire what some of the club-houses—
Crockford's, for example—have cost, and then
call to mind the prove b, which forbids the he-
ginning to build a house till it be well ascer-
tained that there are funds sufficient to finish
it.—Times.

We have more than once alluded to the in•
jury which the liberal cause throughout Europe
has received from the appointment or continu-
ance in office, by a Whig Ministry, of Tories
to represent the country at the various Courts of
the continent. We are willing to make every
allowance for the difficulties in which Ministers
are placed in many respects, but we are not
aware that there can be any difficulty in the way
of a selection of Ministers able and willing to
promote their own views, and to further the
policy to which they are themselves attached.
The people of the continent cannot believe that
the Whig Government has a secure tenure of
office, while they almost everywhere see that
Government represented abroad either by Tories
or the creatures of Tories. We are led to make
these remarks from a letter which we have just
received from Switzerland, written by a gentle-
man of that country well known to us, of whose
talents and honour we have the highest opinion :
" You know, perhaps (be says), that we still are, in
Switzerland, in a sort of unsettled state. The Constitu-
tions of the greater part of the Cantons have been reformed
on a democratical principle; but the Federal Constitution
is the strong hold from which it is difficult to drive out the
spirit of aristocracy. Austria and Prussia combine with
our old rotten aristocracy to prevent every reform 3f our
Federal Constitution, and the bigoted priests in the small
(Catholic) Cantons preach every day that the real object
of the Reformers is to destroy religion. You may say,
C'est partout comme cbez nous ;' and so it is. But it is
a matter of surprise that the English Minister cuts such a
pitiful figure among the Foreign Ambassadors. He is a
Methodist (his name is Morier), and the crest-fallen pa-
tricians of Berne have great hopes from him. He does
not give himself any great trouble to make himself ac-
quainted with our affairs, and a Methodist missionary
would be quite as efficient in his place. In many eases
he acts with such a complete neglect of diplomatic de-
cency, that a private individual would be blamed for it.
You have heard, I dare say, that the patricians of Berne
lately conspired to overturn the new government. The
conspiracy was detected, a criminal prosecution took place
against several of the conspirators; but judgment is not
yet pronounced. However, some of the more distinguished
patricians have been released from prison, with an iujunc-
tion not to absent themselves :from town. Now, Mr.
Morier had lately a grand party, to which he invited se-
veral Members of the new Government, but also at the
same time several conspirators, who had been liberated on
their parole dlOnneur. When the latter entered the
room, the former left it, quite, indignant at the insult
offered to them by the English Minister. All the Swiss
papers ery shame at this conduct of Mr, Morier, and
many insist that the Erigli.h 'Government ought to recall
him. It is certain that, by his misconduct on the above and
many other occasions, he has lost all influence with the
liberal party. We hive now about 500 Poles in our
country. Austria and Prussia are alarmed. France will
not receive them, and we cannot keeP them for any length
of time. -Several of our Governments pay a certain sum
for their maintenance, and some aid is given to them by
private subscriptions. What will become of them I
know not."

Would that we could say that Switzerland
formed an exception to the rule according to
which our diplomatic appointments are filled up.
We believe, however, that, with few exceptions,
all the appointments of Lord Palmerston are of
the same description. It is but charity to his
Lordship to suppose that he is himself a ge-
nuine convert to Whig principles; but, be this
as it may, it is certain that, were he determined
to select only such individuals to represent the
nation abroad, as, from their principles or their
imbecility,
.are calculated to injure the Govern-
ment, he could not improve upon his present
appointments. Our correspondent terms Mr.
Morier a Methodist. This is not strictly cor-
rect. He is, we believe one of those equivocal
personages termed saints—i. e. personages who
would support all abuses in church and state,
hut at the same time subject all their neigh-
bours to inquisitorial annoyances—who would
abet Sir A. Agnew and Mr. S. Perceval. How
this party should have influence enough to in-
duce a reforming Government to maintain a Mi-
nister at a station where a Charge d'Affaires
would suffice, and cost a third of the money,
is a mystery to us. It would seem, however,
that the Saints have had interest enough with
Lord Palmerston to prevail upon him to select
Mr. David Morier for the Swiss mission, al-
though his only claim (beyond his fanaticism)
to employment resulted from his having been
Private Secretary to the late Marquis of Lon-
donderry, and his having been by him placed
in the most agreeable and best paid sinecure
under the Crown—the Consul-Generalship in
France. When this delicate abstraction ceased,
poor Mr. D. Morier was reduced to a pitiful
pension of one thousand pounds a year ; but
as he had for eighteen years been in the habit
of expending his 1,6001. a year in creature
comforts, it was urged that he ought not to he
curtailed, and he was accordingly selected to re-
present the liberal Government in the reaene
-
rated Helvetic States. The only substantial
services ever rendered by the Moriers were
Hajji Baba and Zohrab the Hostage, and
these were amply repaid by Mr. John Murray
in money, and by the press in praise ; and yet
this family is in the enjoyment of a rent-charge
on the country of 4,8001. a-year. So much for
the Moriers. But the opportunity is fitting for
asking whether it is the purpose of Government
to continue Mr. Cartwright (son of the Tory
Member for Northampton) as British Minister
to the Diet at Frankfurt, and Sir George Sey-
mour, a man of the same principles, at the
Court of- Tuscany ?—Morning Chronicle.
The Recorder of London, by submitting to
the sentence of public opinion, and resigning
his judicial office, has made it unnecessary to
address the Throne on his conduct. The in-
dignant feelings of his fellow-citizens, in rela-
tion to the case of Job Cox, were so unequi-
vocally expressed in his own hearing at the
Common Hall, on Monday, that he could no
longer entertain any doubt that, in Sealing the
document which was to authorize the execution
of the pardoned convict, he had sealed the
death-warrant of his own official existence. His
unexplained conduct on a forther occasion, in

keeping back the report of the fate of the con-
victs a day longer than he ought, had ben
abundantly animadverted on in the public press ;
but, although a notice of motion on the subject
was given in the Common Council, it never came
under discussion ; the thing was, somehow or
other, hushed up, and never received that
formal censure of the Corporation, whose officer
the Recorder is, which might have had the
effect of making him more careful to avoid
mistakes in future—at least such mistakes as
inflict unnecessary pain even on criminals, and
render sanguinary law still more revolting than
it is, for we never heard of his having made a
mistake on the side of mercy. Although Mr.
Lamb, when the case of Cox was brought
under his notice in the House of Commons by
Sir S. Whalley, expressed himself as if he
thought the " awful mistake" must eventually
have been detected, yet we still continue to hold
the opinion, that if it had not been for the pub-
lication of the dreadful order in the press, and
the vigilant humanity of Chief Justice Denman,
the mistake might not have been discovered
until the execution of the Recorder's warrant
had made the error irreparable. It is quite clear
that neither Lord Melbourne nor Mr. George
Lamb were at all instrumental in detecting the
mistake. As far as the activity and vigilance
of the Home-office were concerned, the spurious
warrant for the sacrifice of human life might
have had all the fatal effects of a valid instru-
ment. The public in general are, perhaps, not
aware of the sort of formal procedure which
constitutes the legal authority for the taking of
human life at the Old Bailey. It is done in
this way :—The Recorder waits on the King in
Council with the report of the convicts under
sentence of death. It was the popular and er-
roneous notion that the King himself signed the
death warrants of those criminals to whom mercy
was refused. Not so. The Recorder takes, or
is supposed to take, the orders of the King in
Council with regard to the convicts whose sen-
tences of death, previously pronounced at the Old
Bailey, are commuted or confirmed. With re-
gard to the latter, he writes out his warrant in
his own hand (no printed formula being used
on this occasion), and seals it with his
own black seal. This instrument he does
not despatch to the Sheriffs, whose duty it is to
see it carried into effect. He merely deposits
it with the Governor of Newgate. The
latter, on receiving the instrument of death, writes
a note to each of the sheriffs, who thereupon
come to Newgate and satisfy themselves of the
authority on which they are to act by inspecting
the warrant lodged there. Now all this appears
to us a very circuitous and clumsy mode of car-
rying the law into effect, and ought to be re-
formed. The sheriffs, having inspected the war-
rant, and being satisfied that it is under the
hand and seal of the Recorder, attend on the
day specified in the document, and demand of
the keeper of Newgate the body of the offender.
In the case of Cox, the sheriffs, Messrs. Peat
and Humphery had received the notification
from the keeper of the prison of the warrant
having been lodged, had inspected that warrant
and been satisfied of its authenticity, although
they were exceedingly dissatisfied with the ap-
parent confirmation of the sanguinary sentence
for a case of mere theft, and that too of small
amount. But they never doubted the correct-
ness of the warrant until Chief Justice Denman
detected and exposed the " mistake." His
Lordship has, undoubtedly, the credit of saving
the life of the Prisoner ; but we doubt that the
public would ever have been made acquainted
with the exact circumstances of the case it
we had not published the fact of a death
warrant having been lodged in Newgate in
the usual way, although the Royal clemency had
been extended to the culprit. The disclaimer
of Government was so worded as to impute
indirectly to the newspapers which published the
Recorder's report the origin of the erroneous
statement. And as to the official report from
Newgate, which was sent to the newspapers on
Thursday night, it was expressed in the follow-
ing words :—" A respite during his Majesty's
pleasure for Job Cox, who was ordered for exe-
cution on Tuesday, arrived at Newgate, yester-
day evening." It is evident that this commu-
nication was intended to screen the Recorder,
while it announced to the public that Cox was
not to be executed. It did not let out the secret
that there had been an " awful mistake " in the
warrant—far from it. The document was
treated as a valid one, by saying that a respite,
during pleasure, had arrived to stay its execu-
tion. There could be no need of a respite to
stay the execution of a warrant which was in it-
self a nullity. But this supposed respite was
necessary to cover the sad work which the Re-
corder had made with the decision of the King
in Council. Are we not, therefore, justified in
saying that there is. a great probability the mat-
ter would have been hushed up,if we had not pub-
lished all we knew respecting the warrant and
its black seal ? The next thing to be consi-
dered is the choice of a successor to the late
Recorder. We presume the Hon. Mr. Law,
the present Common Sergeant, will be ap-
pointed to that office, more especially as the
election, we believe, is in the Court of Alder-
men. It has happened, unfortunately enough
for the judgment and discrimination of the
civic body, that several of the Recorders of
London have been among the most sanguinary
of the administrators of the criminal law that
this country ever produced. An Evening Con-
temporary connects the name of Mr. Newman
Knowlys, the late Recorder, with the melan-
choly fate of Eliza Fenning, whose case excited
so much public sympathy several years ago, and
who, upon strong grounds, is believed to have
perished innocently. It was, however, under
the jurisdiction of the former Recorder, Sylves-
ter, that she suffered, and a more merciless
Judge than Sylvester has not in modern times
gone before the tribunal of an Omniscient Judge.
His manners were as coarse as his heart was inexo-
rable. We have not heard of Mr. Law rendering
himself obnoxious to public opinion by any
harsh or oppressive, or partial exercise of his ju-
dicial authority since he became Common Ser-
geant. He had before him the admirable
example of the late Common Sergeant (now
Chief Justice) Denman, whose dignified con-
duct and courteous manners formed so exalted
a contrast to the judicial deportment of some late
Recorders of London. Mr. Law can make no
mistake if he carries into a higher office the
advantages of that example. Then comes the
question as to the choice of a Common Sergeant,
which is in the gift of the Common Council.
We observe that the Committee to manage the
election for Mr. M. D. Hill, the Member for
Hull, are already in the field. The professional
character, legal attainments, and liberal prin-
ciples of Mr. Hill well qualify him for the
satisfactory discharge of the honourable
and responsible office to which he aspires.
If we recollect right, he lost it by only
two votes when a competitor for the situa-

ion with Mr. Law. In addition to the othe r
qualities which recommend him to the choice
of the enlightened electors, Mr. Hill is a firm,
earnest, and uncompromising advocate of the
thorough reform of our sanguinary criminal law.
The Hull and Rockingham Gazette lately bore
the following testimony to his valuable services in
this field of beneficent improvement In the
previous part of the evening a debate ensued on
a Bill taking away the punishment of death
from the offence of breaking into a house in the
day-time (Mr. Leonard's Bill); among the
speakers on this humane• measure was our ex-
cellent representative, Mr. Hill, who most ably
advocated the cause of humanity—the due ap-
propriation of punishment to crime, and the in-
efficiency and multiplicity of capital punishments.
So powerful, and to the purpose was his speech,
that some of the friends in London of the re-
vision of the criminal code have felt it their duty
to congratulate their friends in Hull on possess-
ing such a Member." With such principles
and sentiments to recommend him to the suf-
frages of the Corporate Body of the first city in
the world, we cannot anticipate any other result
than that which will render justice to the merits
of Mr. Hill, and reflect honour on the electors.
—Morning Herald.

We have lately thought it our duty to notice
the growing dissatisfaction that has sprung up
throughout the country at the arbitrary and ob-
noxious conduct of the Post-office. Nearly all
the large commercial and manufacturing towns
have had meetings; and we understand that
prosecutions to a frightful extent are at this time
in progress. We have reason to believe that
solicitors' parcels have been opened with a view
to detect letters of instructions for the executing
of the deeds they contained, and in cases in which
such letters have been found that the parties have
been threatened ; that whilst invoices without
letters are charged as letters, letters with invoices
are charged double ; that whereas Bd. additional
is paid on letters brought to the post-offices at the
outports by foreign vessels, which was understood
to be in lieu of 6d. extra paid on their going
out, these letters are, now made liable also to sd.
additional charge on going out, and this although
they are transmitted by foreign vessels neither at
the expense nor under the power of the Post-
office. But what is worse than all the rest, the
secrecy - of private correspondence is said in
many instances to have been broken, in
order to find out the address of the writers.
In all this there is undoubtedly much
that requires investigation. Possibly the
petition to the London newsmen, to the House
of Commons may lead to some useful hints
upon the subject. We shall not go into the
grievances complained of in that petition, but
merely express our hope that all the income de-
rived from office fees and privileges in the Post-
office department may be brought into the na-
tional treasury.—Morning Post.
We alluded, yesterday, to an intended in-
termeddling on the part of the Post-office, with
a practice which has prevailed for many years
past, and has been found not only exceedingly
convenient, but exceedingly necessary, to the
mercantile world—we mean that of making up
mails at the North and South American Coffee-
house for the United States, and other parts of
America. This practice, like all other practices
of a similar kind, grew out of the necessities of
the public, and the inadequate arrangements of
the Post-office ; and why, after having been
found most convenient, and most useful, it should
be now done away with, it is not very easy to
understand. The Post-office has not as yet
signified that it will provide an equally efficient
substitute ; and we may venture to add, that it
neither will nor can, without entailing an expense
upon the country, which the making up of the
mails would not defray. The original design of
the establishment of a Post-office was to for-
ward communications between foreign countries,
and all parts of the empire, more certainly, more
regularly, and more expeditiously, than could
be done by private means ; but in so far as
respects either the northern or southern states of
America, it never has accomplished these ob-
jects ; and why then, we would ask, should it
intermeddle with those who accomplish all of
them, and that too without any expense to the
public ? The subject is one which deserves
even parliamentary investigation. In the mean-
time, however, we understand that Mr. Davies,
the landlord of the North and South American
Coffee-house, still continues to transmit letters
and parcels by the London line of packets.—
Morning Advertiser.