The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-20 00:00:00

REPRETS.

The ground on which relieves are asked for now-
a-days for murders, ho=ver foul, suggests the
question whether petitiond understand the nature
of, and the reason for, capl punishment. So many
murderers are reprieved tat it seems to be generally
understood that petitionffthall be drawn up and
signed, as a matter f course ; and that
the Home Secretary is bond—unless there was no
excuse for the crime, andhe deed was particularly
barbarous—to send his wit preventing the execu-
tion. Three men, Wiltsire, Jenkins, and Mac-
donald, have been reprt•ed within the last few
days. Wiltshire's crime vas most atrocious. He
murdered a woman, INtoln he had previously
violated, and when in rison, after his conviction,
he attempted to tak away the life of his
warder. Now the Time Secretary, for suffi-
cient reasons doubtlesshas ordered his life to be
sparect. Tins, taken n connection with the other
two cases, has made the riends of Sheward hope for
his life. The reason tey urge for his reprieve is
that his health is failin. Could anything be more
absurd ? The concepton of the law on capital
punisllmeat since the lommission on the subject—
on which no legislatiei has been taken—seems to
have fallen into inextriablo confusion.
THE ROYAL PRZOGATIVE OF MERCY.

Mr. Wilkinson, of jincoln's-inn-fields, writes to
confirm the statemew made in our last impression
that the personal relatmship between the bigamist
baronet and the First Lord of the Admiralty had
nothing to do witl the liberation of the
baronet, since it was Mr. Hardy who
ordered his liberation As a matter of fact, the
eccentric baronet is stll abroad, in accordance with
the terms of his parton, and he is in very bad
health.

The statement that Sr E. Eardley owes his libera-
tion to an unworthy ]iotive having been disposed
of, there is another simlar charge concerning which,
no doubt, an explanation will be forthcoming.
Sometime ago a :,ondon solicitor, named
Farrar, convicted of fogery at the Central Criminal
Court, was, together with one John Hullett,
sentenced to two years' penal servitude. The
sentence createa nu surpil3t L. +.1.. mirici. tf +hose
who read the evidence. What has created surprise
has been the announcement that her Majesty, at the
instance of the present Home Secretary, has granted
a free pardon to Farrar, whilst Hullett, who seems to
have been his dupe, remains in prison. Hullett, we
are informed, was an eccentric man, who was the
victim rather than the accomplice of Farrar, and if
this be true, it is hard that the lesser offender should
still be in prison while the greater is set at liberty.

TRADE IN SOUTII STAFFORDSHIRE.

The iron trade of South Staffordshire, though stra
depressed, exhibits a slight improvement. At the
last market held at Birmingham a more hopeful
feeling prevailed among manufacturers. The iron-
masters are anticipating large orders from the north
of Europe. General trade is dull, and numbers are
out of employment, but the operatives on short time
seem willing to meet the views of the masters.
Among the hardware trade of Birmingham there is
little activity, and trade is dull in every department.
The foreign export trade is somewhat more
buoyant.