The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF SATURDAY.
STANDARD.--The more we reflect on the late
unconstitutional abandonment, by the House of Lords,
of its just and important functions as a final court of
appeal in criminal eases, the more extraordinary and
indefensible does it appear. It was a course neither
justified by precedent nor warranted by expe-
diency, and one, the adoption of which (the re-
sult being certain), has rendered the whole of the
late proceedings before the highest tribunal of the
country not merely nugatory, but absolutely pre-
posterous. Hitherto the restriction of the decision
of a case of appeal to the law Lords, has never
been suggested; and cases have not been of unfre-
quent occurrence in which there would have been
no law Lords present to decide them. Now as no
provision is made by law for their special attend-
ance on such occasions, it may fairly be presumed,
that however desirable their presence may have
been considered, it has not been regarded
as indispensable ; still less has it been deemed
necessary to confine the decision of such ap-
peals exclusively to them. Were it otherwise,
why invite for them the opinions of judges of in-
ferior rank, and then set those opinions entirely at
defiance ? The pretext alleged for the non -inter •
ference of the lay Lords in the late decision, that
they had not heard the whole of the evidence,
would apply with equal force to every iestance of
appeal that has ever come before their Lordships.
They were not called upon to try the case anew, but
merely to record their opinion' strengthened, or
rather founded upon that of the most eminent
judges of the land, who had been invited to assist
them. They had beard the arguments in support
of the writ of error, were well acquainted with the
nature of the appeal, and as competent, so instructed,
to decide upon it as upon any other appeal ever sub-
mitted to their judgment. Eleven judges out of
doors, and two of the most eminent law Members of
the House of Lords, were decidedly of opinion that
the judgment ought to be affirmed (a simple majority
in ordinary cases of appeal is usually considered deci-
sive, and has consigned many a less criminal and mis-
chievous offender than Mr. O'Connell to the gallows).
Two judges and three law Lords, however., were
in favour of the reversal of the
_jucjwr.iint ; and
whilst the lay members in the Ilouse of Peers
were virtually prohibited from giving force to the
opinions of this large majority, the small minority of
the law Lords were permitted to decide the question.
It has been suggested, and with good reason, that
many lay members of that Ilous© are as well ac-
quainted with the practice of criminal law as Lord
Cottenham, whose experience has never extended
beyond a court of equity ; and that even Lord
Campbell, whose failures in that line have been
so conspicuous, might have found his equals in
knowledge on such subjects among them. We say
nothing of Lord Denman's casting vote, because
although we entertain the highest respect for his
Lordship's motives and character, we cannot over-
look the fact, that his chief ground for the reversal
of the judgment was an opinion wholly at variance
with that of all the other judges! But supposing
these noble persons to have been in possession of all
the wisdom attributed to them by their party, what
possible right could. they have had to control the
deliberate opinions of eleven other judges, no one
of whom is inferior in legal knowledge or expe-
rience to the best informed of the triumvirate. A:
case has been suggested by the Morning Herald as
possible, even in these days; namely, that there may
be no law Lords in the Upper House, or that if
there are, they may (in the absence of any means
of compelling their attendance) happen to be away.
"The Crown," it is added, "is under no constitu-
tional necessity for creating law Lords, and law
Lords are under no official necessity of attending
Parliament." In what predicament, therefore,
in such an event, would the appellant be placed ?
Would the House declare its incompetency
to legislate in his case ? We know that
it would not, because we have several pre-
cedents in which lay Lords, unassisted by the
paramount power now sought to be erected, de-
cided, and decided wisely too, on such occasions.
If, however, the authority of the lay Lords is
to be wholly set aside for the future, the only
alternative would appear to be a competent legal
tribunal drafted into the Upper House, from
the most eminent lawyers of the age—a triburial
whose number should be sufficient to prevent
court of three from controlling the judgments, not
only of two members of their own House, but of
an overwhelming majority of the most eminent
and experienced lawyers of the country. As, how-
ever, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to
find a sufficient number of lawyers in the lower
courts qualified for the peerage, our only resource
is to fall back upon the practice which has now been
abandoned, of allowing to the lay Lords the jurisdic-
tion to which their rank, intelligence, and privileges
entitle them; especially when their opinions are in.
harmony with those of a majority of the most dis-
tinguished lawyers of the age.
GLOBE.--The Ministerial journals continue to
indicate the bitter disappointment which -the reversal
of the judgment of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench
against O'Connell, and the rest of the Repeal leaders,
has inflicted on the Government, and on the entire
Tory party. As when an army is defeated in the
field, amid the confusion which ensues, mutual recri-
mination adds bitterness to discomfiture ; so, from the
depths of humiliation and bewilderment into which
the failure of the prosecution against O'Connell has
plunged them, we hear not ing from the Tory jour-
nals but reproaches and denunciations. The means
which they affirm ought to have been taken to avert
the event they agree to deplore, are such as plainly
show that defeat has deprived them of reason.
To secure a party triumph, they would not
merely depart from the established principles
and invariable practice of the House of
Lords, When sitting as a court of appeal , they
would risk the consequences of a subversion of all
constituted rule for a temporary triumph. They
would reverse the maxim, Fiat justitia, mat corium.
Instead of exclaiming, " Though ruin ensue, jus-
tice must be done ;" their cry is, " fhe judg-
ment against O'Connell ought to have been sus-
tained, in opposition to law and justice, even
though ruin had ensued !" The reversal of the
judgment against O'Connell and his co-defend-
ants is impugned and denounced by the Post,
because the decision of the House of Lords on the
writ of error was limited to the votes of law
Lords, instead of being decided, as the Post con-
tends it ought to have been, by the votes of the Peers
who were present when the vote was taken. Lord
Wharneliffe, the President of the Council, is es-
pecially the object of our Contemporary's wrath, for
having suggested that—in this important case, which
had excited so much public interests and in deliver-
ing the final judgment upon which the proceedings of
the House would be viewed with jealousy and
scrutinized with severity—there should be no depar-
ture from their Lordships' practice in ordinary
appeals from the judgments of inferior Courts.
In such cases, the law Lords, who hare heard the
arguments in the cause, deliver judgment. The
questions raised are questions of law—the errors
assigned are upon the face of the record—laymen,
though Peers, are not presumed to have the re-
quired knowledge to render them competent to
decide amid the intricacies of litigation, even though
they had attended the sittings of the House, and
heard the arguments of counsel, pro. and con., in the
Cause. They, therefore, very properly leave the deci-
sion with those whose education and experience que-
rn/ them for the work. The Post complains, in most
bitter terms, that this practice, though consecrated by
time, was not departed from on 'Wednesday. When,
from the opinions delivered by the five law Lords
who were present, it became obvious than the judg-
ment of the Court below would be reversed tne
votes of three to two, a movement among the lay ,lords
whom curiosity had stimulated to be present on the
the
not,
occasion, showed that political feeling was about to
operate against established practice, to prevent a result
which,t.
They r t
iilsaades n ,
otthaetytetndhoeudghthte
Housevotestheir duringmight
a
arguments. Had they done so, they wouldpro-
bably, have understood them. Their object was,
avert.
simply, to secure the full infliction of the sentence up-
on O'Connell and his defendants ; and thus prevent
the political defeat which the threatened reversal of
the judgment would occasion. Lord Wharncliffe
saw this; and he saw also the calamitous conse-
quences to the administration of the justice of the
country which such a procedure would occae
sion. The moment was critical. Though the failure
of the prosecution was fraught with mortification and
embarrassment to the Government—and Lord Wham-
cliffe, as a member of the Government, participated
in that mortification and embarrassment—his Lord-
ship had discernment enough to see that these were
of comparatively trifling moment, and of merely
temporary inconvenience ; while the course which
men less cautious would plunge into would create
perils and involve results, the effects of which would
be calamitous and permanent.

DONCASTER.—TIIE flitavEsr.—There never ilia
been known a period of more splendid weather for reap-
ing harvest than that which has marked the present sea-
son. Bright sunny days with grateful breezes, and clear
and tranquil, and, in some instances, frosty nights, have
successively
.prevailed. Nor, at any former time, has
greater activity prevailed in the fields, than has been the
case this year. Early and late the sickle and the scythe
have been at work ; and the harvest waggons busily em-
ployed in securing the crops in barn or stack. Indeed,
many of the fields have been already ploughed up ig prs-
paration for the next crops. We hive before alluded tp
the thinness of the crop of wheat in sonic of the higher
localities, But, on the broad score, the crop is 11 Nll°
average—if not more. Besides, the grain is of superior
quality. Abundance and cheapness will diffuse arouniii
their manifold advantages, and contribute more in the
way of substantial good than anything else could possibly
do ; while the feeling of gratitude should be awakened,
for the blessings of an all-bountiful Providence.—Don-
caster Gazette.