The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-13 00:00:00

THE MAYNOOTH BILL.

The Bill may now be regarded as part and parcel of the land.
True, it has two more stages to pass through ; but they
are mere forms, and the Bill will not be impeded by any
step which its opponents can take to arrest its progress.
And here we cannot refrain from the expression of our deep
regret at the conduct which a large body of Dissenters are yet
pursuing with respect to it. Instead of acknowledging the
grievous error which such of them as were opposed to all
State endowments committed when they formed an un-
holy and unprincipled alliance with the High Church
party against it, we find them still persisting in a course of
error which can have no other result than to destroy their
moral and political influence among the people of Ireland. Had
they stuck to their pure principles of religious Non-Endow-
ment, irrespective of creeds, they would have been univer-
saly respected. But instead of that, we find some of the
leaders of the Non-Endowment party assisting at an Anti-
Maynooth meeting at Exeter Hall on Wednesday evening, at
which the Earl of Winchilsea presided, and which listened
with applause to the following specimen of senile drivelling on
the part of that most orthodox nobleman :
" England should find in him the greatest agitator that
ever trod ; he would fight with them the battle of the
faith.—( Hear, and cheers. )—They should extend the bond
of union of that society to every country, to every borough-
town of England ; and he promised that he would do all
in his power to promote the establishment of a Protes-
tant club in support of the Protestant principles of the British
Constitution, and to elevate the social and moral elevation of
the people of this great country.—(Cheers.) He would not
allow this great religious feeling to subside till Protestant Eng-
land had asserted her character again."
It would be an odd thing to find Dissenters enrolled in a
society to re-enact the Test and Corporation Acts ! They had
therefore better retrace their steps, and stick to their old and
honest principles. —Hull Advertiser.

THE CONVICT ROCKER.
THE CONDEMNED SERMON.
The following is a copy of a report made by the Rev. W.
Russell, Inspector of Prisons, to her Majesty's Secretary of
State for the Home Department, respecting the circumstances
which occurred on the occasion of the condemned sermon in
the chapel of Newgate Gaol, in the case of the convict Hocker,
and also respecting the circumstances which took place on the
morning of the execution :
REPORT OF REV. W. RUSSELL, INSPECTOR OF PRISONS, TO
HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE.
" Cumberland-street, May 6,1845.
" Sir,—With reference to the circumstances that occurred
on the occasion of the condemned sermon in the chapel of New-
gate, in the case of the convict Hocker, on Sunday, the 27th
ultimo, the Sheriffs stated that they were not aware that any
official rules had ever been drawn up or were in existence
relative to the proceedings to be observed on the occasion of a
condemned sermon or of a capital execution at Newgate, that
if there were any such rules they had never been communi-
cated to them, and that they considered that by law they were
left to their own discretion and sense of propriety on such
occasions.
" On the occasion of the condemned sermon on Sunday, the
27th ultimo, either 49 or 50 visitors were present, of whom
six or seven were ladies. The visitors were admitted by
orders signed by one of the sheriffs, by one of the under-
sheriffs on behalf of the other sheriff, by the other under.
sheriff, by one of the visiting magistrates for the month, by
an alderman, and by the governor and ordinary, tinder the
sanction of one of the sheriffs. The governor, according to
the ordinary practice, admitted two reporters for the public
press ; and there were two other persons present who took notes
of the proceedings. Besides the visitors there were present
one of the sheriffs, one of the under-sheriffs, and two alder-
men, one of whom was a visiting magistrate for the month.
" With reference to the seats of the convict Hocker and the
prisoner Connor being apart from other prisoners, and with
an officer stationed close to each, the Governor states that
it has been his inviolable practice thus to place prisoners
under charge of wilful murder or under sentence of death, in
order to prevent either poison, a knife, or any instrument
with which suicide might be committed, from being conveyed
to them. The ordinary preached on the late occasion from a
written sermon, and he believes he adhered strictly to the dis-
course he had prepared; and he put in the sermon for my
perusal. He states most positively that he did not address the
prisoner Connor. He alluded to his case in the course of the
sermon, but not in the manner which had been stated in the
public papers.
" Very soon after the service, the sheriffs and the ordinary
went to the cell of Hocker, who was so deeply impressed by the
service from which he had just returned, that he requested that
the ordinary and sheriffs would then join in offering up a prayer
for him, a circumstance altogether unexpected from his pre-
vious conduct while in gaol.
" With reference to the circumstances that took place on
the morning of the execution, the Sheriffs state that numerous
applications were made to them for orders of admission to
the interior of the prison to witness the execution of Hocker,
but that, without exception, they refused them all ; that
the only persons admitted to the interior of the prison, in
addition to the regular prison officers, were the sheriff and
under-sheriffs, the late under-sheriff, Mr. Anderton, who was
admitted as a kind of demi-official, but not by the order of the
sheriffs, Mr. D. W. Harvey, the Commissioner of the City
Police, who was there on duty, and the reporters for the
public press.
" The Governor states most distinctly that, with the ex-
ception of the prison and police authorities already mentioned,
and their official attendants, and the reporters for the public
press, no visitor whatever was admitted into the interior of
the prison to witness the execution of Hocker.
" With reference to the reporters for the public press, the
sheriffs state that they were not admitted until the period
when the executioner commenced the operation of pinioning
and preparing the culprit for execution. This, as the sheriffs
state, they consider the commencement of the public exe-
cution, and they entertain a strong persuasion that the public
ought to be present, through the reporters, when the execu-
tion thus commences, and for these reasons:—when the
executioner enters the cell, and commences his operations, it
sometimes happens (as it did on this occasion) that the culprit
faints • if that fainting should end in death it would be a most
painful circumstance to the responsible authorities in attendance
that this should happen within the prison walls unwitnessed by
any one on behalf of the public, to ascertain and report what
really took place on the occasion.
" They also consider the presence of the public reporters as
a strong security against the infliction upon the culprit of any
unnecessary pain by the executioner during the ?inioning.
" They further state, that not unfrequently the prisoner re-
serves his confession to the last moment. That when the
pinioning actually commences, feeling there is no longer any
room for hope, he may make important statements, and that
it is most desirable for the interest of the public that those
should be fully and accurately recorded.
" For all these reasons the sheriffs consider the presence of
the reporters as absolutely necessary.
"In 1843 there was no execution. The sheriffs who were
in office at the time of the next execution, 27th May, 1844,
knowing nothing respecting the order to the contrary, strangers
were again admitted to the chapel to bear the condemned ser-
mon ; and the practice has been continued up to the present
occasion, which is now the subject of investigation.
" Having now reported the result of my inquiry into all the
circumstances of the case, I venture to submit, for the con-
sideration of Sir J. Graham, the conclusions which a careful
investigation of all the facts of this case has led me to form.
" With reference to the condemned sermon. The practice
which, with a single exception in the year 1842, has so long
obtained, of admitting visitors to the chapel of Newgate on
occasions of condemned sermons, appears to me to be highly
injurious, with respect to the visitors and the public at large, to
the prisoners generally, and to the culprit about to undergo the
extreme penalty of the law.
" To the visitors and to the public at large, by means of the
published reports cf the proceedings, it is injurious, inasmuch
as it ministers to the indulgence of a morbid taste for spectacles
and sensations which have a prejudicial tendency.
" To the prisoners generally, the practice in question is fur-
ther injurious. It not only distracts their attention from the
religious services of the day, and from the awful condition of
the culprit, now on the verge of that existence which he has
forfeited by his guilt, but they see him, as it were, dignified by
being made the centre of observation ; an object of sympathy,
and almost of admiration, even to the higher orders, on account
of the heroism or bravado with which he deports himself ; a
consideration which is well known to have great weight with
the criminal population looking on, or who will read of what
takes place.
" And to the convict himself the practice is more injurious
still, whether he be truly penetrated with a conviction of his
guilt, or hardened and unmoved. If, happily, brought to a
proper frame of mind, fi.led with anguish and remorse for
his crime, and impressed with a just dread of his approaching
end, it is scarcely less than cruel to hold him forth, while he
might be seriously impressed, to the gaze of idle curiosity, and
to disturb in almost his last moments the thoughts and
prayers of a guilty but dying fellow-creature. If, on the
other hand, the culprit remain unsubdued, and insensible to
the awful doom which he is about to undergo • if he be ac-
tuated by that vanity and love of display which has been
seen to cleave to criminals even to the very last, and which
almost converts the scaffold itself into a stage upon which to
exhibit the triumphs of bravado, then it is plain that this
practice offers a direct incentive to such a character to pre-
tend to despise the last terrors of the law, and, as it were, to
defy the uplifted sword of justice, so soon to fall upon him.
" I am indeed of opinion that under no circumstances is a
condemned sermon productive of good effects. I fear that its
tendency is ever injurious. But if it be thought proper to
continue it, it is most desirable, on every account, that it
should be as private as possible, and that none but the prisoners
and the proper authorities should be present at it.
" With reference to the morning of the recent execution,
every care was taken by the sheriffs to exclude from the in-
terior of the prison all visitors, with the exception of the
reporters of the public press ; they appear to have been
desirous to leave the culprit entirely to the care of the
ordinary, anti to conduct the last awful ceremony with due
order and decorum. But, with reference to the reporters, I
do not think that the grounds which the sheriffs assigned for
their admission are sufficient. The presence of the sheriffs,
the under-sheriffs, the governor, the ordinary, and the
subordinate officers of the prison, is an amply sufficient
guarantee to the public that the necessary proceeding of
pinioning and otherwise preparing the prisoner for the scaffold
will be conducted with all due consideration for the culprit,
and without the infliction of any unnecessary suffering or delay.
" If a culprit, under sentence of death and awaiting exe-
cution, makes a confession voluntarily, such a confession
may be so far regarded as satisfactory, inasmuch as it con-
firms, and thereby strengthens the public confidence in the
verdict of the jury, and as it exhibits the penitent state of
mind to which the convict has been brought; but if such a
confession is sought for—if its attainment is plainly made a
matter of importance—the very fact of its being so sought for
implies a doubt of the completeness of the case, and of the
justice of the verdict and of the sentence; and public confidence
in the verdict, which ought to be final and satisfactory, is
thereby shaken.
" 1 am further of opinion, that the act of seeking for a con-
fession of guilt from a culprit is calculated to defeat its very
object. It makes him feel that something is wanted to com-
plete the case against him ; and the more earnestly he is soli-
cited to make a confession the more he is led to discern in that
very earnestness a chance of escape ; it betrays the hesi-
tation of those who question him ; it shows that, notwithstand-
ing his condemnation and sentence, something like a doubt still
rests upon his case, which even at the last moment may delay
the execution, if not avert his doom.
" Nor is this all; a temptation may be held out to him to
make declarations that are untrue, not only with a view to
postpone his own execution, but also to screen an accomplice,
or to wreak his vengeance upon an enemy, or upon those
who have been the means of bringing him to justice; to
say nothing of the undeserved importance which may be
attached to statements made at the moment of death, and
which, however otherwise unworthy of notice, may thus be
made productive of the most serious consequences. lam
therefore of opinion that, on the occasion of an execution,
as well as that of a condemned sermon, all persons, except
the authorities of the prison and of the police, should be
strictly excluded.-1 am, &c.
" WHITWORTH RUSSELL,
" Home-Inspector of Prisons."

INCAUTIOUS USE or ARSENIC.—Yesterday after-
noon, two young children of Mr. Mills, of Harwodd.street,
Camden.town, cat some sugar mixed with arsenic for poisoning
rats, which had been incautiously ►eft within their reach. They
were taken seriously ill, but, by the speedy application of means
for removing the poison from their stomachs, their lives were saved.