The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-21 00:00:00

HAVING CONSIDERED,

That when crimes are to be examined of the nature stated
in the act of accusation brought forward by the Attorney-
General, it is necessary not to confine them to the direct
proofs, but a great consideration must be given to the circurn-
vtantial proofs ;
That where circumstantial proofs are concerned, the force
of proof arises from the whole of the proofs, and not from each
of them taken separately ;
That with reference to direct proofs, some slips of memory
or inconsiderable inexactitudes bearing on the accusers cannot
be regarded as diminishing the general credibility of their tes-
timony, but as, on the contrary, proving honesty and the want
of a premeditated falsity.
That no reproach made against any of the witnesses for the
prosecution has been legally proved ; and that the cx parte al-
legations against them cannot be regarded but as void of all
legal importance ;

PRONOUNCES,

1. Demetrius Plapouta and Theodore Colocotroni are con-
demned in the penalty of death, as culpable of high treason, or
of crimes provided against by the second article of para-
graphs A and C of the collection of criminal laws, and by
Article 2 of the Royal Ordin-ance of the 9th (21st) of
February, 1833.
According to the same Articles they are also condemned in
the expenses of the judges and witnesses, amounting to
1,047 93-100 drachms (about 4010
2. The present sentence shall be executed on the place of
the fortress of Nauplia.
3. The condemned are judged worthy of the Royal cle-
mency, which the tribunal reserves itself to implore frcm his
Majesty the King.
4. The execution of the present sentence is reprieved until
the result of the application for mercy is known.
5. The Attorney-General will take care to see this sentence
carried into effect.

6. A copy of this sentence is to be communicated to the At-
torney- General.
- - - -- - -

Made and published at Nauplia on the 26th of May (7th of
June), 1834.
THE PRESIDENT.
A. BULGARI.
D. K. SOUTZO.

F. FRANGOULI.
C. ZOTO, Registrar.

TRANSLATION OF A LETTER, WRITTEN IN FRENCH, TO COLOCO-
TRONI, BY THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE CZ/MOP RUSSIA.
(From the original.)

ST. PETERSISTALGII, JULY 11.
M. the General,—l have received with much pleasure the
letter which you addressed to me under the date of the 3d of
February, and hastened to lay its contents before the Emperor.
His Imperial Majesty has vouchsafed to view with satisfac-
tion the profound gratitude which you express to me, as well
in your own name as in that of your copatriots, for the pro-
tection and support continually afforded, in compliance with
his orders, by M. Ricord and M. Ruckmann, to all the peace-
able and good inhabitants of Greece, by opposing the pro-
gress of anarchy, of which your country has just escaped be-
coming the victim.
The Emperor was, during the time, painfully affected by
the disastrous events which he could not have expected, after
the constant and generous sacrifices which, in accordance with
his allies, he had lavished, in order to ensure the indepen-
dence of Greece. He loves to flatter himself that the future
will wholly efface the melancholy impressions of the past, and
that, instructed by the late calamities, the Greeks of all classes
and of all parties will hasten to rally with love and submission
around the throne of their young Sovereign.
Called by Divine Providence to repair their evils and to

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 21, 1834.

One of the greatest evils attendant on parties in
England, is, that all questions, of how great soever
importance, are examined through microscopes, sup-
plied by those in place and in opposition. The real
merits of any plan, or project, are never inquired into;
it is enough that it has the support of a Whig, a Tory,
or Radical party to make it the object of the vilest
vituperation of all who have enlisted themselves in the
ranks of an opposing faction. This has been car-
ried to such an extreme, that men are classed
with parties with whom they never acted, and
never intend acting, from the adoption of a course
to which slander has attached the idea of- a love for
certain principles and opinions. Thus, to resist all
change is declared characteristic of the Tories ; to
advocate any change, is descriptive of the Whigs ; and
to contend for a total change, is the surest way by
which the Radicals can be detected. The evil of
admitting such definitions as these is, that the Tories
are weak enough to contend for the upholding of
abuses rather than subject themselves to a charge of
deserting their faction ; the Whigs prune where they
ought to cut up by the roots, lest they might be sus-
pected guilty of Radicalism ; and the Radicals struggle
to pull down where they ought to build up and repair,
lest peradventure they should be branded as deserters
to the Tories.

In no one instance before the public, are these evils
more apparent than in the resistance which is being
offered by the Tories to the amendment of the crimi-
nal law of this country. It is hard to conceive just or
rational grounds for party differences on this most im-
portant question. The only thing in it which we can
perceive likely at all to afford room for difference of
opinion, is, that where the power of the Magistrate is
left undefined—where the law is oral, and the interpre-
tation of it drawn from precedents often conflict-

ing, absurd, and contradictory—judges may punish
more in accordance with the wishes of the Sovereign,
than where the law is manifestly public, and where the
penalty which attaches to crimes is known to the cri-
minal previous to the commission of an act of delin-
quency. But is it safe for a great and a free people
to continue thus to lie at the mercy of Judges ? Or
are the people free who may be murdered with im-
punity, if a King's Counsel mistake in drawing up
an indictment ?

The evils occasioned by the want of a proper digest
of the criminal code of this country are so various, and
so complicated, that there is not a single question that
can arise touching the life or property of any member
of the community, that is not effected by them in a
greater or less degree. Even the Legislature, not-
withstanding its possessing the power of cutting the
ordian knot, sufferg itself to be entangled by it ;
hence lawyers are called upon to explain to Parlia-
ment how far its own Acts are rendered inoperative,
by the existence of previous decisions on points of
common law ! Yea, the very statutes, which them-
selves have given life and locality to, by their support,
are beyond the corrirehension of both branches of. the
Legislature, the moment they have received the Royal
sanction. True, the new Act may have repealed a pre-
vious one, or fixed a certain point in common law, the
object of much reprobation out of doors, but a lawyer
discovers that the evils complained of were sanctioned
by several other Acts unnoticed in the preamble, or
that the common law, in its endless ramifications, has
provided that the statute, when brought into opera-
tion, shall offer impunity to a greater offence, while a
lesser one continues the object of the most severe pu-
nishment,—thus exciting in the public mind an utter
disgust, and a sovereign contempt for the legislative
capabilities of Parliament. As an instance of this,
we give the following extract from the report of the
Commissioners :
" The consequence of the want of a regular digest of the
law upon the subject of particular offences has been, that, in
making new statutes, the principles and language of the former
statutes, and the antecedent state of the common law is often
overlooked. Thus with regard to the same offence of forgery,
the 2 and 3 of King Will, IV. c. 123, abolished the punish-
ment of death in all the cases in which it was inflicted by the
11th of King George 4th, and the Ist of King Will. I V.. e.
66, except in cases of forgery of wills, or powers of attorney
to transfer stock or receive dividends. In the intermediate
time, however, betiVeen the 11th of King George 4th, and the
Ist of King Will. IV. c. 66, and the 2 and 3 King Will. IV.
c. 123, a statute was passed to enable the Commissioners for
the Reduction of the National Debt to grant life annuities, in
which is a clause making it a capital felony to forge the name
of any person to a transfer of an annuity, or to a power of at-
torney authorising the transfer. There does not, however, ap-
pear to be any sufficient reason for inflicting a higher punish-
ment upon forging a transfer of a life annuity than upon the
forging of the transfer of a perpetual annuity ; but it is pos-
sible that in framing the 2 and 3 King Will. IV. c. 123, the
isolated clause in the 2 and 3 King Will. IV. c. 59, was not
adverted to ; and it was not observed, that it would remain in
force though the capital punishments inflicted by the 11th
King George 4th and Ist King Will. IV. were abolished. It
may also be remarked, that it is not very easy to discover why
the forgery of the certificate of the Exchequer Bill Commis-
sioners, or the receipt of the cashier of the Bank should be
made capital felonies by the 2 and 3 King Will. IV. c. 125,
when the forgery of the Exchequer Bill itself is by the 2 and
3 King Will. IV. c. 123, only punishable with transportation
for life. By the second section of the 11th King George 4th
a -1- • cr Will. IV. c. 66, the forgery of the royal seals and
sign manua s c high treason, and punishable with death.
And, as before obserVed,-by the 2 and 3 King Will. IV. c.
123, the penalty of death is taken away in all the cases men-
tioned in the 11th King George 4th and 1 King Will. IV. c.
66, except in the two cases of wills and powers of attorney to
transfer stock. But the quality of the offences enumerated in
the 11th King George 4th and 1 King Will. IV. is left with-
out alteration. The forgery of the royal seals and sign manual
would therefore appear to be high treason without the penalty
of death. It is not unlikely that for want of a connected
system of law relating to offences and punishments, these in-
consistencies may have been overlooked."

This is legislation with a vengeance. And this
comes of not embodying in one Act all that ought to
be, or is intended to be, retained of all previous ones ;
throwing overboard at once and for ever, whatever is
not retained in the latest act of the Legislature on any
given question. The bugbear which frightens the
Tories from assisting in reforming our legal institutions
is the danger of innovations, as if innovations are
not every day being made with the greatest advantage
to society. Machinery in all cotton mills and manu-
factures was once innovation—steam was innovation
—riding in carriages, of which the Tories are very
fond, was in earlier times innovation also—as were
likewise all the arts of civilized life. PALEY says
that " no usage, law, or authority is so binding that it
need or ought to be continued, when it may be changed
with advantage to the country." BURKE, than whom
few ever gave more mature consideration to the dan-
ger of sanctioning innovations in Government; and who,
in his celebrated treatise on the French Revolution,
denounces all change, for change's sake, thus speaks of
the absurdity of the whole body of English law, com-
mon and statute :—" Judges were set up, at first with
discretionary powers, but it was soon found a misera-
ble slavery to haVe our lives and properties precarious,
and hanging upon the arbitrary determination of any
one man, or set of men. We flew to laws as a re-
medy for this evil. By these we persuaded ourselves
we might know upon what ground we stood. But lo
differences arose upon the sense and interpretation of
those laws. Thus we were brought back to our old
incertitude. New laws were made to expound the
old ; and new difficulties arose on the new laws ; .as
words multiplied, opportunities of cavilling upon them
multiplied also. Then recourse was had to notes,
comments, glosses, reports, responsa prudentum, learned
readings. Eagle stood against eagle ; authority was
set up against authority. Some were allured by the
new, others reverenced the ancient. The new were
more enlightened, the old more venerable. Some
adopted the comment, others stuck to the text. The
confusion increased, the mist thickened, until it could
be discovered no longer what was allowed or forbidden,
what things were in property and what common. In
this uncertainty to the professors, an Egyptian dark-
ness to the rest of mankind, the contending parties felt
themselves more effectually ruined by the delay than
they could have been by the injustice of any decision.
Our inheritances are become a prize for disputation ;
and disputes and litigation are become our inheritance."
Here we have the opinion of one of the ablest States-
men England ever produced on the state of the Cri-
minal Code, and one, too, who entertained the most pro-
found veneration for whatever came before him clothed
in the garb of antiquity. He was no stranger to the appa-
ritions of revolution which the Tories are in the habit of
conjuring up, with more than a Witch of Endor's
power, whenever the word REFORM is spoken in their
hearing. But he was a philosopher and a statesman,
and knew that nothing had, or could have, a greater
tendency to foster revolutionary ideas in the public
mind, than the absurd system of punishing crimes by
penalties created posterior to their commission, and
this is the very principle of the Common Law of
England.

The opinions entertained by PALEY and BURKE,
respecting the little veneration with which abuses,
however apparently hallowed by the rust of time, ought to
be treated, arc in unison -with those of the most learned
among the ancients. CICERO, who was himself an
Advocate, thus reasons on the same subject :—" Of

what avail is it that many things have by many na-
tions been decreed pregnant with calamity and evil ?
These are no more entitled to the name of laws than
the regulations upon which robbers should determine
their unhallowed consultations. In like manner—as
every thing is not entitled to the appellation of medi
tine that an unskilful and impudent quack may pre-
scribe, so neither is that a law to which a mistaken
people may annex their sanction. Law, therefore, is
that pure and original distinction just and unjust
which is drawn from the original and parent nature,
and which is the criterion according to which human
laws are to be modelled, if they really either punish
the bad, or protect the good."
Such were the opinions of the learned in every age
and country, who gave any part of their attention to
the study of the first principles of government. But
the question here is not innovation but creation.
England has no laws at present, and the question is,
whether she shall create a system to guide the conduct
of her people, or leave them to the unrestrained per-
formance of whatever acts they please, and then
punish them as accords with the wisdom and justice of
the judges. What share the juries have in deciding
upon the merits of criminal offences, we shall take
another opportunity of showing.

The observations,made by Lord DURHAM oa the
occasion of the public address which was presented on
Tuesday last to Earl GrtEy,,,,by the reformers of New-
castle, furnish us with additional reasons—were such
needed—for venerating the public character of our late
illustrious Premier. " My relation," said the Noble
Speaker, " has disclaimed, with his characteristic mo-
desty, the merit of passing the Reform Bill. I now
openly state, as I have formerly said it behind his back,
that that measure would never have been proposed, and
I am sure it never would have been carried, had it not
been for him. To him, and to him alone, properly
belongs the honour of this great measure." At
length, then, after the saddle has been shifted from one
back to another, we find it clapped on the right horse.
First we were told that Lord JOHN RUSSELL was
the father of that lusty bantling, the Reform
Bill. Next, an order of affiliation was made
on Lord DURHAM ; but now we learn that to
Lord GREY is exclusively due the honour of its pa-
rentage ; and that but for his personal exertions—high
character for integrity with the people—and just in-
fluence over the mind of his SOVEREIGN, it would
never have been carried. Of course, in common with
the majority of our readers, we knew that Lord GREY
was'one of the main agents in carrying Reform ; but
we knew not till now that he was the moving spirit of
the measure. That merit we always assigned to Lord
DURHAM, and, as we deemed, on competent autho-
rity, namely—his own. It would now appear, how-
ever, that he was only a subordinate in the affair, for
that it was Earl GREY who supplied the conception,
and, by his own personal influence with the KING and
the country, supplied also the means of carrying it into
execution.

The Paris papers are as destitute of intelligeice as an
Arabian desert of verdure. There is nothing in them
but re-echoes of the old story, now almost an old
song, about the " Accepted Addresses " from the
Chamber of Deputies, and repetitions . of as old a
prophecy, respecting the resignation of the Ministry.
Of the affairs of Spain, civil or military, these Jour-
nals give us no further intelligence, than that the
insurgents are endeavouring to obtain the coast in
the expectation of receiving succours by sea, or at
the worst of being enabled to quit the country in safety
should they be driven to that extremity, and that
RODIL and his troops were hotly in pursuit of them.
The Gazette de France states that Don CARLOS is
at present in Vittoria, and that his troops are posted
in the defiles of Pancorvo ; but no reliance is to be
placed on its statements. On the Bourse, the Board
announcing the redemption of the Guebhard portion of
the Spanish stock, was removed on Tuesday last, by
order of the French Minister of the Interior.

German Papers are barren of any important news.
They merely mention the general acquittal of all the
persons accused or concerned in the excesses at Brussels.