The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-05 00:00:00

plate. The human mind, while enjoying political flee-
done, feels an incentive to the vigorous occupation of its
;powers, which had been unknown before ; and, from the
free and untrammelled expression of men's thoughts, un..
der a liberal Government, we may hope to behold thou.
sands of talented minds—now in a state of comparative
dormancy—called into operation, and by their application
to the various subjects which now demand consideration
'—(Loud cheers)—be instrumental in diffusing that light
which shall increasingly conform the institutions of tli
country to the growing character and improvements of the
age in which we live. Sir, I believe that there is a su-
preme and overruling Power presiding over, and directing
all the events which are now passing. before us.—(Ap.
plause.) Every man who desires the welfare of his
country is called, at the present momentous crisis, to step
forward and lend his aid to the cause, and to enrol him-
self among the instruments by which Divine Providence
intends to accomplish wise and beneficent; purposes for
Great Britain and Europe."
Mr. Robert Fraser, ironmonger, in answer to
the objection, that if the Lords were not already
convinced of the determination of the people,
nothing would convince them, observed :
" Who knows, gentlemen, but by this last effort we
may silence the outrageous falsehood, that we are indif-
ferent about the Bill, and that our importunity may avail
in extorting what the justice of our claim suffices not to
obtain for us?--(Cheers.) But whether this happy effect
shall follow our petitioning or no, we shall at least have
the conscious satisfaction of knowing, come what may
come, that we have done our utmost to prevent revolution
and anarchy, and may call Heaven and earth to witness,
If Britain fall, that we are innocent.' "--(Cheering.)
What Mr. Fraser observed with respect to
the 10/. qualification was excellent—
" As to the 101. qualification, more particularly, if
there be any Tory, or milk. and-water Reformer now pre-
sent, who asks me why I cling to that specific clause, and
insist on his Majesty's Ministers and the House to preserve
it intact, I answer him, it is not because I think there is
any particular charm in that number. It is not because I
think it will confer the franchise on all who deserve to
possess it. It is not because I conceive it a full measure
of justice.—(Cheers:) Far otherwise. How could Ibe
so blind or so base as to entertain that notion, when I
know that there are hundreds around me whose talents,
industry, intelligence, and high moral principle, are not
always matched in baronial castles and magnificent villas,
whom the 101. franchise will exclude.—(Loud cheers.)
And it is because these individuals have magnanimously
foregone their just rights for the general good, and the
easier adjustment of this question, that we are entitled
to repudiate any alterrion. The sacrifice these persons
have made ought to be appreciated no less than ought the
liberality of those better nobility who have surrendered
their borough interests on the altar of their country, and
after they have met our worthy, patriotic, and enlightened
Premier half-way, and consented to accept of the 101.
qualification as a pledge of his good intentions, it were a
gross breach of faith to alter it, unless, indeed, something
better should be given in its stead."—(Cheers. )
We cannot dismiss the subject without re-
marking how ill it becomes a body like the
House of Peers, which, by their own confes-
sion, owe whatever fitness for business is pos-
sessed by any of the Members to a training in
the House of Commons, to speak lightly of the
body of the people of this country. At this
meeting of Kirkaldy nine or ten individuals of
the middle classes delivered speeches, beside
which the disjointed harangues of not a few
Noble Peers would not appear to much ad-
vantage. And it is thus throughout the coun-
try. Without giving the Peers credit for ex-
traordinary penetration, we are persuaded that
they cannot look on these manifestations of
ability and knowledge diffused throughout the
country, without becoming convinced that the
reign of corruption cannot endure much longer.
We have more than once observed, that the
only safety for the people is to act with such
vigour and determination as to extinguish in
the Anti-Reforming Peers the slightest hope
they can succeed. A prudent man may hesitate
before he commits him to a struggle, but once
committed, it is prudence to act with decision.
Union and determination must succeed. In
the speech of Mr. Hume, at the Political Union,
on Thursday night, there were some excellent
observations on the necessity for vigorous de,
monstrations on the part of the Reformers.—
Morning Chronicle.
The Judges having decided, after solemn ar-
gument, that the indictment on which Henry
Russell, the Huntingdon gaoler, was tried, and
found guilty of a capital offence, is bad, we
think it right to make a few observations on the
case, especially as it is one which we originally
contended ought to be reserved for the collective
opinion of the Judges, upon the firm persuasion
for which we then gave our reasons, that the
conviction was against law. It will be recol-
lected that we published our argument on this
case a few days after the trial, while the con-
demned man awaited his dreadful doom, on
which there did not appear to be then a single
ray of hope. At the trial Mr. Baron Vaughan
had peremptorily overruled such points of law as
were pressed upon his attention by the prisoner's
Counsel, and left the prisoner for execution,
under circumstances which seemed to preclude
the chance of his listening to any reasons that
could induce him to alter his then fixed deter-
mination to allow the sentence of death to be
carried into effect. Not having been present at
the trial, we took such a view of the case as the
reported fact seemed to warrant. We stated
that «it was peculiar, and involved a great
and novel question, as to legal principles. '
We did not attempt to mitigate the crimi-
nality of the cold-blooded and malignant
offence, of administering poison to a hu-
man being. Our objection was to the illegality
of the conviction, when there was another ob-
vious, regular, and unobjectionable mode of pro-
ceeding, in which guilt could be punished with-
out establishing a dangerous precedent by carry-
ing into effect an indictment, framed neither upon
any known principle of the common law, nor
in conformity with any statute of Parliament.
Subsequently, Baron Vaughan thought, as we
did, that this was a case too novel in itself, and
too important as a precedent, to be irrevocably
fur determinedwheredoenct
death
ise the authorityposwfeudinttihsinint of a single Judge ;
rtnart t revision
C ri-
of the sentence, when once executed, can there
d?senosfeNthooef
besiLdo Learned
eVVtih
wasajt
uardegdpeao,ruabtt
than,
reparation
dthuetyextoeeutthieen,pwubitlhic
tainted
vthieewproisfosnuehr,mhiettriehsg_pitthetel
thecase
objections
et
tei opinionoris e f o
thef alt
prisoner'stlie Judges,
Counselby whomlv
ewere
heldto be valid. If the Judge in this instance had
been a heartless obdurate man, who acted upon
that false pride which considers it more dignified
to persist obstinately in error than surrender a first
impression or retract a mistake, the man must
have perished against lau, it is now beyond
dispute, and aprznciple of law would have been
violated by his death.sv
h oAlesof
btaomolf adatetyt
vaphanrle,tCo'leintosi nryrumphoi
(r);
thaey
Judges
constitute there
el
isR oevniesi;o
fno nt
matterse
constitute such a Court when a legal point° is
reserved for their consideration. We admit
that, so far, there is a Court of this nature, and
the most competent Court that can be consti-
tuted ; but, unfortunately, neither the prisoner
nor his Counsel have any right to appeal to it.
Legal points may be urged at the trial on behalf
of the prisoner, and it is solely in the breast of
the Judge to reserve them or not. They may
be frivolous, or they may be unanswerable ; in
either case he can dispose of them at the mo-
ment. If a doubt be not raised in his own