The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-20 00:00:00

CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS.

Mr. BRIGHT presented a petition from the Liverpool
Peace Society, praying for the abolition of the punish.
ment of death in all cases.
COURTS OF COMMON LAW.

On the motion of Mr. CRIPPS, the Courts of Com.
mon Law Process Bill, and the Courts of Common Law
(Ireland) Bill, went through Committee.
The Parish Constables Bill was read a third time.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE (IRELAND).

Mr. BRIGHT, seeing the Noble Lord the Secretary
for Ireland in his place, wished to direct his attention to
a case which had occurred at the recent assizes in Ire-
land. Two women had been lately found guilty of mur-
der in the county of Roscommon, and were now left for
execution on the 31st of this month. The crime was
committed in the month of June, 1843, when, on the Co-
roner's inquest on the body, a verdict of suicide was
returned. Since that time, a woman who slept, or
said she slept in the same room where the murder
had been committed, had given evidence which
proved that the man was murdered and then carried out
of the room, when his throat was cut, with the intention
of making it appear that he had committed suicide. On
the trial the jury deliberated twenty-two hours, and
then found the two women guilty of wilful murder; one
of them being the wife of the murdered man,
and the other her sister. The jury recommended
them to mercy; but he was informed that the
judge refused to transmit that recommendation to Dub-
lin. There was reason to believe that the chief witness
in the case, was a woman of extremely bad character,
and that her evidence was doubtful. Altogether it ap-
peared that the whol4arty were in a very low state of
civilization, for when the occurrence took place
the murdered man and his wife slept in one
bed, and the woman who gave the evidence was
sleeping with her own father in another bed. The third
woman, who was a servant, sleeping in an adjoining
room to which there was no door. It appeared that all
of them were of a class that rendered it necessary to
receive their evidence with great caution. Under all
circumstances, it seemed one of those cases worthy the
attention of Government. If the man was murdered an
inquiry ought to be made into the conduct of the
coroner, as it was stated that he examined but one wit-
ness, and called no surgeon—the inquest being thus of a
most unsatisfactory character.
Lord ELIOT thought the object of the Hon. Gentle-
man would have been equally well attained, had he
merely called his attention to the matter. He could not
help thinking he had rather exceeded the limits allowed
in asking questions. He must also observe that the
coroner was not accountable to the Government ; at the
same time, he could assure the Hon. Gentleman that the
circumstances of the trial should have his best attention.
PRIVY COUNCIL BILL.

Lord HOWICK said, he observed that the Privy
Council Bill stood on the orders of the day for the
third reading that evening. He understood that this
Bill almost re-modelled the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council, and provided a considerable salary for a
chief judge. He wished to ask whether the third
reading would be moved that night, and whether the Bill
was supported by her Majesty's Government.
Sir J. GRAHAM said he had read the Bill, which he
did not think the Noble Lord could have done, and he
could state that there was no clause in it fixing such a
salary. Nor should he (Sir J. Graham) be prepared to
support a Bill that would do so. The other arrange-
ments of the Bill were entirely of a technical nature, and
to these the Government was prepared to give its assent.
He was therefore disposed to move the third reading ;
but if the Noble Lord objected to it, he should not move
it at any hour at which the Noble Lord might be unable
to attend.

Lord HOWICK was aware that the clauses fixing the
salary were not printed in this Bill, but they were
printed in the Bill as it stood in another place.
Sir J. GRAHAM said it was not intended to move
any clause in that House that was not in the Bill.
Lord HOWICK said it was extremely objectionable,
that at so late a period of the session, when all the prin-
cipal gentlemen of the House connected with the legal
profession were necessarily absent en circuit, that such a
Bill as this should be moved and carried:; they had be-
fore had experience of the great impropriety of legal bills
been brought in and carried through at this late period
of the session.

Sir J. GRAHAM understood that the Bill had been
proposed with the unanimous consent of the Judges of
the Privy Council ; and under these circumstances, he
hoped it would not be opposed.
MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Mr. PHILIP HOWARD asked the Right Hon.
Gentleman, the Home Secretary, if he intended to
bring in any Bill for the regulation of the medical pro-
fession?
Sir J. GRAHAM said he still intended to introduce
a Bill on this subject, but he would not press it this
session.
Sir R. PEEL moved that the House at its rising do
adjourn till Monday.—Agreed to.
SINKING FUND.

On the motion of Mr. WODEHOUSE, certain returns
relating to the sinking fund were ordered to be made.
BRA SSINGTON INCORPORATION.

Mr. COLVILE gave notice that he should, on Mon-
day next, move that it be an instruction to the, Committee
on the Gilbert Unions that they should ekamine wit-
nesses from the Brassineton Incorporations.
EDUCATION.

On the motion that the order of the day'be read for
the House resolving itself into a Committee of Supply,
Mr. EWART rose for the purpose of calling the at-
tention of the House to the expediency of a statement
being made by the Government respecting the disposal
and the results of the outlay of public money voted
for the purposes of education ; arid also to the expe-
diency of promoting the formation ,of public
libraries in the metropolis and provincial towns.
He was anxious to offer a few observations to the House
on this subject. In voting the army estimates, the
navy estimates, and the Ordinance estimates, it was
always customary for those who brought forward those
estimates to make a statement as to the condition of their
several departments. He thought that was a precedent
which ought to be followed in bringing forward the esti-
mates on the subject of education. He thought they
ought not only to have a statement as to the general
application of the funds, but a statement of, the
prospects of each particular department. They
should have before them a statement of what had

been done in each particular department of education.
They had estimates proposed for various establishmeuts;,
they had estimates for the Schools of Design, for the

Universities, for the National Gallery, and tOr-other inL
stitutions of a similar nature. That was an additional

reason why they should have a statement on the subject
on the part of the Crown. Education had, of late years,'
been extended into the factory system, to the system of
prison discipline, and it had formed portions, more or less,
of Bills for the amendment of the poor-law. Now, the Go-
vernment ought to give them an insight into the alterations
which had taken place in the educational establishments

during the past year, and into the prospect of probable
improvement. Among the sites for education there was

on; for the School of Design, an institution of the greatest
importance to the arts and manufactures of this
country. He rejoiced to observe that these Schools of
Design were spreading through the manufacturing dis-
tricts, and he hoped the time was not far distant when
the school in London would be a focus from which the
other schools might radiate so as to spread information
through the country. The School of Design in London was
gradually assuming a more central and normal character,
and he trusted that all the schools in the manufactur-
ing districts would become subordinate to the School of
Design in London. These schools were of the

utmost importance, not only to the arts, but to
the commerce and manufactures of the country. There
was also the general vote for education. It was an op-
probrium to the country in general that a ♦ote of
30,000/. only had been devoted to that purpose,
and he understood that this year there would be a
reduction on preceding years. IsTow, it was important
that they should have an explanation from the Govern-
ment as to how that sum had been divided—whether it

had been equally divided among all religious denomina-
tions, or had been confined to the British and Foreign
and National School Societies. Before they had left
office they had determined to give portions of the grant
to certain schools, without reference to those two
societies. They ought to have some explanation on
this subject from some member of the Government.
There was another most important subject on which
they ought to have some explanation. There had been
vast sums left by the pious bequests of our ancestors,
which had been at first appropriated and afterwards
misappropriated, in the grammar schools of the country.
That was a question which must eventually
come under the consideration of the Govermennt.

They ought to state annually what steps bad been
taken to place those schools on a proper foundation.
He knew not why education, the most important of all
things, the preventative of crime, that which ought to be
antecedent to all other improvements, should not receive
the first consideration of any Government in this country,
yet that had hitherto been the last. They had had no
statement made by a Minister of the Crown on the sub-
ject of education ; yet, in despotic Governments, an an-
nual report was always laid before the Minister of the
Crown he serves. He maintained that it would be better
for the public and more constitutional, if her Majesty's
Government adopted the plain English mode of giving
full explanation on tiat subject. He was aware that this
was a subject to begapproached with delicacy in a free
country like England. He believed it would be strictly
impossible to make education in this country a strictly
Govermental measure, but though they could not con-
trol the education of the people of this country theymight
do much to assist it. He was always of opinion
that though the people of this- country in educatio,n
would not submit to control, yet that much might be'
done to forward it. He thought it a disgraceful thing
that there was no public library in this country L there
was no other nation in which such institutions did not

exist. In this country, with the exoepliou of the British