The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-11 00:00:00

Enough, however, in illustration of an esprit de corps
in every way honorable to journalism, if, while asso-
ciating ourselves with these unanimous and unaffected
expressions of approval, we end where we commenced,
namely, with a recognition of this signal instance of
the Prime Minister's political disinterestedness.

THERE is very little in the Wood-green murder to
induce contemplation or comment. A. crime the gist
of which is that a man living with a woman who
was not his wife, murdered that woman and another
man through suspicion of " infidelity," presents no
element of instruction to recompense the painful
labour of dwelling upon it. But one or two
questions of fact which conflicting evidence had
rendered doubtful, and one serious question of public
policy, deserve notice. The early evidence scorned
to establish a grave charge of apathy and cowardice
against the officials and passengers at the railway
station where HENSON first assailed the woman
DEATH and her companion BOYD. It now
transpires that his first attack upon the latter was not
made until the party were several yards from the
station, most of the passengers having departed.
After knocking BOYD down the murderer directed
his rage towards the woman. It does not appear that
he used any violence, but his words and gestures
were so alarming that a Mr. SAWYER was induced to
follow the pair to their residence. This gentleman
was accompanied by two others whom he met on the
way ; but though the three might have been
able to restrain HENSON from any open vio-
lence, they had no reason to anticipate the
bloody deed which occurred, they could not
claim to follow the man into his house, and, moveover,
the weapon was fired and the woman killed before
they could arrive on the spot. Mr. SAWYER then,
single-handed, followed HENSON to BOYD'S house,
and appealed to some navvies for aid. These, either
indifferent or not fully recognising the gravity of the
case, refused to interfere. Unwilling to assail the mur-
derer alone, Mr. SAWYER sought the aid of the police ;
but whilst on this errand, lIENsox broke open BOYD'S
door, and found him with two musicians. These
" jumped over the fence," leaving the criminal alone
with his second victim. Mr. SAWYER, with the
police, arrived in time to secure the nmrderer, but too
late to prevent either of the crimes. It appears, then,
that there was no "numerous body of passengers" at the
Station, to whom -IAnIA. DEATH. vainly appealed for
protection. The conduct of the two musicians in
running away was pusillanimous, the refusal of
the navvies to aid Mr. SAWYER partook of brutal
indifference ; but none of those persons were able to
guess at lIENsoN's real intentions. At all events,
it is incorrect to state, as a contemporary does, that
the crimes were committed " within eyesight and
ear-reach of a crowd of terrified bystanders."
The magisterial inquiry, too, has shewn the
character of the murdered woman to be of a much
lower order than was at first represented. The
ways of some women are inexplicable ; and it is
therefore idle attempting to divine the motive which
induced a respectable governess to cast in her lot
with an ignorant married artisan. But it seems
that there was a lower depth which she had
yet to reach. It is certain, despite the testimony to
her good behaviour, that she was carrying on an
intrigue with the man BOYD. They had been to
London together on the day of the murder, and there
spent the day at divers public-houses. When they
returned an invitation was given to the two musicians
who so gallantly jumped over the fence, to pay a visit
to BOYD'S house, and there, it is to be presumed, the
four intended to spend an agreeable evening. The
suspicions which BENSON entertained, and which in-
duced him to lay the trap for the lawless pair, were
amply justified. And undoubtedly it must be ad-
mitted that he committed his double crime under the
influence of much provocation. But it is impos-
sible to allow that this provocation amounts to an
excuse. The Times has suggested a doubt whether
" the full sentence of the law can be carried out
against the prisoner, considering the very aggravated
nature of the provocation he received." On both
legal and moral grounds such a doctrine is wholly
unsound and dangerous. The law as applied to these
cases is simple enough. Should a husband kill
the man who has injured him, the crime
amounts to no more than manslaughter,
provided the adulterer be surprised in fa-
grante delieto ; in any other case it is murder.
lIENsoN was not,
however, the husband of the
woman DEATH, and the condition which in the case
of a husband reduces murder to manslaughter was
wanting in the Wood-green tragedy. To admit the
provocation in mitigation of sentence would not only
be a legal error; but it would—in treating HENSON with
the consideration due to a husband—involve a serious
moral blunder. The law which regulates marriage
cannot be made to apply to such domestic arrange-
ments as those at Wood-green. Never was a crime
more deliberately planned and cruelly executed. If
such an offence be punished with a mitigated sentence,
the plea of " extenuating circumstances " will be
taking the same position here which it holds in
France—that of a regular legal fiction for setting
aside capital punishment.

NEW VOLUME OF FUN._The ninth volume of
the New, the sixteenth of the old Series of Fun has just
made its appearance. Blooming in magenta outside, and
inside as merry as a grig (whatever a grig may be
though we can't in the least conjecture), Tom Hood's
penny comic always reminds us in a Byronic sense of a
mourning coach—on its way back from the cemetery—
according to the nobl3 poet's dictum

... full of fun
Like mourning coaches when the funeral's done.
Whenever the new half-yearly volume of the penny comic
comes in, tha cuts and the letter-press, although already
familar t, us, are moldy worth glancing throu.4lt again,
and are often provocative of more than merely the echo of
some well-remembered but st of laughter.