The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-25 00:00:00

TO M. CHARLES HUGO.

" Sir—We think" it will be not deemed an ill-timed
interference, if, a. members ot the newspaper press of a
friendly country, we express our indignation at the
fligrant outrage, that in your cruel imprisonment has
hewn committed on the rights we, in c,mcnote posses..
The literati of Europe, and ot your sister Itepublv across
the Atlantic, have Ion; loekfd with astonishment at the
-hackled press of France; and your ease pretents
features which seem especially to justify a remsnstrance.
We feel, Sir, that the discussion upon gip-scions of such
vast import to humanity, as that of capital putnishment,
if it is to produce any valuable result, must be tree
and unaved; that the civil power steps out of its lawful
phere „hen it enters the studio ot the journalist and
gags the mouth a the writer, who endeavours, as he
thinks, to apply the laws ot Christianity and the deduc-
tions of reason t' practical life; and it b came lu ticrousl)
tyrannical when it declares such ins itutione" as the
guillotine, to be unapproachable ground. Such a power
would have made Portia pay the b and that Shylock held.
A ruthless and insane despotism is striving to subset- '
tote a reign of brute force f'r that of reason as ex-
pressed in the popular will; it creates sepulchres, end
declares the silence of death to be peace; it manicles the
limbs, and boasts that its sway is undisputed. You,
Sir, are one of its victims. England has reaped innu-
merable blessings from a free press; happily amongst us
the authorities ut the State, as well as the masses of the
people, recognise that freedom as the dearest safeguard
of our liberties, and as an educational agency of the
highest importance. May France—enlightened and ge-
nerous—soon see that, by the network iu which she en-
tangles her gifted writers, she is crippling her energies
and disarming herself in the presence of gigantic foes.
We trust that this spontaneous expression of our
sympathy will, in some degree, lessen the harshness of
your vexatious position, and•render less painful the sense
of injury which must accompany a breach of justice, and
a miserable, if not altogether wilful misunderstanding of
the purest motives. _ .

Signed—Douglas Jerrold, Mark Lemon, John A. He-
rend, Thornton Hunt, F. G. Tomlins.
And by the Editors of the following journals:—Daily
News, Morning Advertiser, Sun, Punch, Weekly
News and Chronicle, Atlas, L•ader, Nonconformist,
Patriot, Arbroath Guide, Bath Journal, Belfast
Mercury, Birmingham Mercury, Bradford Ob-
server, Bristol Examiner, Bucks Advertiser,
Cambridge Independent Press, Coleraine Chro-
nicle, Derby R-porter, Davonport Telegraph,
Dublin Comnp,rcial Journal, Hampshire In-
dependent, Dublin World, Galway Vindicator.
Gateshead Observer, Glasgow Sentinel, Leeds Mer-
cury, Leicester Mercury, Limerick and Clare Ex-
aminer, Limerick Reporter, Londonderry Standard,
Mona'i Herald, Newcastle Chronicle, Newcastle
Gu trdiau, Nottingham Review, Nor with Mercury,
Oxford Chronicle, Plymouth Journal, Preston
Chronicle, Scottish Pte (Edinburgh), Sneffield
Free Prrss, Stamford Mercury, Suffolk Chronicle,
Swansea and Glamorgan Herald, Waterford News,
Wiltshire Independent.

The following is a copy of the article which lectto
tiego's impri.onment:—

" TUE EXECUTION OF MONTCHARDIONT.

" Four day tig in au opeu -qa4re of a Freuch town,
and in the face of day and civilisadon, the law, that is to
say, the divine and sacred force t.f society, laid held of a
wretched man, who plunged and kicked, and having
bound him neck and heels, draggs-d him by the hair of
the head to the Ecaffold, bleeding from his lacerated
skin. Faur days age, before a populati..n in profound
coest, rn awn, the law, for an boor together, wrestled
with crime. What hod this man done against society ?
He bad kided. What was society d dug to thin man?
Why, making him a marfyr. Partizans of capital
punishment, what was your co jest in bringing this
wretched assassin to the guiltottue? To show appa-
renly to all, human jestic, in its force and power—to
raise in the minds of the ma,ses- the sentiment of right,
by calling on them to as,ist at the punishment of a
vile ere aurk—to accomplish, in tact, a solemn, iw
posing. end terrible act. What have you dons-? You
have committed a violent, horrible, and regre•able ac ;
instead of enli.,ifig the crowd to the aide o! the law, you
have slmost 'wide them, ranged them, on the side of the
sufferer! This man, who bad a little before been an object
of horror, you change into an object of pity. You employ
two, then tour, then I know not how Enemy, to kill this
man, who struggled against being put to death. The
first executioner failed, then You call a veond; at length,
atter half a day of toil and efforts, you succeed in pu Ling
an end to him, and you wipe off the blood from your
knife, and the sweat from your brow. No ! you have
not hien imposing—you have not been solemn—no, you
have not been terrible. Be it well done or ill done, an
execution is never a good sight for society to behold.
Whatever be the hand which commits it, a homicide is
never moral teaching. However honest and conscientious
may be your tribunals and your judges, it will never be
by killing that you will prove a thou must not
kill.' Modern society has condemned the law dit !alien
(of retaliation), to practise it is the reverse of progress;
it is to take from society, from justice, and from the
magistracy, a portion of their proper consideration,
Each time you effect a public execution you cause the
law to descend in national respect in an inverse ratio to
the height of your scaffold. If you will preserve your
barbarous penalty of death, do as they do in America—
do not show, but hide yourself ! Do not invite all
France, the whole press, all eyes to see you, and all
hearts to judge you, when you are executing, and par-
ticularly when your executioners do not know their
trade, and your guillotines are as badly made as your
laws. For our part we are profoundly afflicted, and
oven alarmed, for all those dear and sacred interests on
which public tranquility reposes. We protest, and will
ever protest, against those spectacles of another age,
when society, forgetting the Ciospel, drags a wretched
human being to a horrible death, holding up to bis eyes
an imago of Christ, which he does no
loono kt ae way
t.

Huoo."

HACKNEY CARRIAGES.

The Gazette contains the following alterations of
standings for hackney carriages within the metropo•
titan police district, and regulations to be observed :

INCREASED NUMBER OF CARRIAGES.
E, OR IioLOORN DlVlSlON.—Tottenham-court-
road—Fifteeeo carriages (instead of eight). To
commence opposite the north corner of P-rcy-street
to the lamp-Yost at Kirkman-Place, Tottenham -
court •road—T„nty carriages (instead of twelve).
To commence ten feet from tle cros-ing at Chapel-
street, in the centre of Tottenham-court-road, to
within ten feet of the crossing at Howland-street
(k„,ing• clear of the entrance !o New Inn-yard).
B, OR WESTMINSTER DlViSiON.—Sloarfr-square
Nine ciuriages (instead of five). Along the curb•
Stone by the iron railings on the south side of centre
road of square.
14, oft SOUTHWARK DIVISIONS.--Wellingtnn-street
—Sixteen carriages (instead of eleven). To com-
mence opposite No. 2, in the centre of the street, to
corner of Sr. Thomas street. Dover-road—Twen,y-
one carriages (instead of fourteen). To commence
opposite No. 1, Dover-road, in centre of the street, to
No. 11, Grab's-terrace.
R, OR GREENwica DtvisioN. Greenwich—
Twelve carriages (instea I of eight). To commence
at the angle at the junction of the Greenwich-road
and South-street, along the footway in a direct line
uP South•atreet. Greenwich—Five carriages (in-
stead oeyf two). Ti commence at the angle of the
a and king-street, along the footway ad-
joining the western wall of the
Greenwich Hospital
ground, in a direct line up King-street.
S. on litmesTEADD
;
20;0
4,4
o'iu •
00{74tki arnages (uistead of eight).
649 "P'l4o %Note the yre

Arms Tavern, in the centre of the road, to the end o.f
the wall of the said prpmisps.

APPOINTMENT OF STANDING4.-CANCELLED.

B, oa WEaTMINSTER DlVlsloN.—Fuiham• road—
Six carriages. To commence at the Pound, near the
Admiral K"ppel public• house, along the curbstone,
towards Fulham.

M, OR SOUTHWARK DEVISION.—High-street, South-
walk —Twelve carriages. To commence opposite
No. 111, in centre of street, to No. 127.
N, oft IsLitioToct DivtsioN.—City-roid—Pafteen
carriages. To commence oppo•ite No. 10, City•
terrace, along the curbstone towards the entrance of
bhopherdeis-walk.
S, oft HAMPSTEAD D street,C am-
den-town —F.mrteen carriages. To commence ten
feet from the Veterinary College, along the curbstone
to the end of the College wall.