The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-11 00:00:00

THE SENTENCE.

The Court having duly considered the evidence
given in support of the charges against the prisoner,
Paymaster John Sherlock, of his Majesty's 87th
(Royal Irish Fusileer) regiment of foot; as well as
whit he has offered in his defence, is of opinion that
he is guilty of the first charge.
In regard to the second charge, that he is guilty
to the extent of having embezzled or fraudulently
misapplied the sum of 7081. Bs. lid., or there-
abouts, due to the public; and that the remaining
sum of 116/. 15s. Id., comprised in the sum alleged
in the said charge, was obtained by him in his capa-
city as paymayster of the 87th (Royal Irish Fusi-
leer) regiment of foot, through the means of a bill
founded on his estimates, which bill has not been
paid by the agents of the regiments, and they find
it to be a private transaction, and not due to the
public.
With regard to the third charge, that he is guilty
to the extent of having neglected to remit to_ the
agents the sum of 25/.55. 104(L orthereabouts, due
to the estates of deceased men of the 87th(Royal
Irish Fusileer) Regiment- of Foot, on account of
gratuity for the Burmese war, and having embez-
zled or fraudulently misapplied the same.
In regard to the fourth charge, that he is guilty.
In regard to the fifth charge, that he is guilty.
In regard to the sixth eharge,"that he is guilty.
In regard to the seventh charge, that he is guilty.
In regard to the eighth charge, that he is guilty.
In regard, to the ninth charge, that he is guilty.
And that he is guilty of scandalous and infamous
conduct, unbecoming his situation as Paymaster in
the 87th (Irish Fusileer) Regiment of Foot, in the
Wlole of the charges. •
The Court does therefore.adjudge, that the said
Riymaster, John. Sherlock, of his Majesty's 87th
(Royal Irish Fusileer) Regiment of Foot, be dis--
missed from his Majesty's service, with incapacity
to serve his Majesty in any office, civil or military ;
and that he do make good theamount of the sums
so proved against him in the several charges.
His Majesty was pleased to approve and confirm
the finding and sentence of the Court.
'An Exchequer process accompanied the trans-
mission of this document from London, by virtue of
which the prisoner (who had remained under close
arrest) was immediately seized and lodged in the
Castle. We understand that the prisoner's legal
advisers intend adopting the novel course of making
an attempt to bring the case before the Court of
King's Bench, by a writ of error, on the ground,
as relates to the first and principal charge (the at-
tempt to abscond), that Hall, the Paymaster's clerk,
upon whose inse dixit alone it rested, was not ealled
to give evidence of the rounds of his suspicions,
although he was then in Chester with the regi-
ment, and the Court, in its mixed character of a
court of equity as well as a court of law, might have
s
required such evidence at any stage of the proceed-
ings, and consequently after this point was insisted
udetfhe findingence. Tlteorne
the
t
other charges, the principal of which is, tout there
was no evidence of the several amounts alleged to
upon
grounds the pr i
ofo n
objectioner
in
to
be due having been ever demanded. The case is,
in every view of it, a novel and interesting one;-
and the result of this application will be anxiously
looked for.

THE MAR OF HERTFORD
NT RY M A N.—Oue day
OULS THE
AND T
was going alone from Aldboroyu h Su4burne ;on the
g to
I
was in great danger road he met a cart with one horse, deeply laden with coals,
which from
the badness of the road, .and the deepness of
' the ruts,erturned, The
~ como ya' a might tie your horse
Marquis encleavomed to p w it just at that mornent of
time. The carter, not knowing who the stranger was,
said to the Marquis,
to a tree and come and help me." At this request the 1
Marquis instantly stopped and dismounted, asking the gat.
ter what he should do to help bim ? The rustic replied,
" why lay hold here and shove hard," which being coin-
ow with, they together soon got the cart ottt w' the dif,
neulty. The Marquis then :Aid if there 100:any thing
more to do for him. 5' Why, no, said the her,iii -
feeling
his peke, " if I liatl sixpence I would giye it thee; but
if you wooigo down to the Clown with me, you all
take part of a pot of beer." The Noble Mar • 413-- -
the offer and mounted. The countryman, Mare, declined
iwrved, "why you ride a —.good horse, perhaps, t)wever, ob-
oe. one another again." " That may 1 we shalt
Marquis, " but it is not very likely,: >f," replied the
and
.here is a hall-
crown for you to drink the Marquis
of Hertford's health,"
and then rode 0n..-13ury Herald,
geleroflabetelygthe Noble
MailuiB

SPIRIT OP Tlfg LONDON ./OLIII/414Ls.

We yesterday published General Stubbs's call
upon the Portuguese at Plymouth to prepare to
sail for the Brazils., The determination of the
British Ministers, whether properly or improperly
formed, will give us a right to call peremptorily
upon the Government of Miguel for such con-
sideration as belongs to a state in the discharge
of the most amicable relations to that of which
he is, though a usurper, the Saud heed; . Dis-
,pproving, as we have done, the order of our
Government to the Portuguese now in depot at
Plymouth to disperse, we still readily allow" that
that order does not force them to undertuke the

voyage to Brazil. They adopt the voyage on
the spirited recommendation of their own Gene,.
ral, and probably they do rightly. But the mea-
sure has sprung out of events over which they
have had no controul. The existing Portuguese
Government (and what a Government !) com-
plains that they arc suffered to congregate, and
more especially in a part of England which is
nearest to Portugal ; our Ministers civilly listen
to their complaint, and order their dispersion in
such a manner that they cannot form military
array,
m ry
array, or practise military movements. They
receive the order with indignation,: anti, to sub-
mission prefer even a retreat to Brazil. Our
accommodation to the wishes.ofNlignejiiwilonbx
less according to the strict rulk of national pro_
priety, and has produced at all events a very be-
neficial result to him : we hope he will respect
his benefactors, and " give them a good turn
when he has the means." We hope the British
subjects in Portugal will reap the advantage.--
The very last news from Brazil implies the satis-
faction of. Don Pedro with his diplomatic agents
in this country, by the decorations and honours
which he has conferred upon them. The Em-
peror, upon his birth-day, the
.12th of October,
conferred the following honours upon his Pleni-
potentiaries in Europe :—Marquis de Barbacena,
Grand Cross of the Order of the Cruzeiro.—
Marquis de Rezende, Grand Cross of the Order
of Christ.. Viscount de Itabayana, a Grandee
of the Empire. M. Calmon had been re-instated
Minister of Finance.—Times.

The extraordinary efforts which were made to
save the life of the individual executed for for-
gery on Monday last, and the interest taken by
the community in his fate, sufficiently prove that
the punishment of death is viewed with abhor-
mice by the present race of Englishmen. Of
the sentences of death, comparatively few are
carried into execution, and these few are gene-
rally for crimes of a revolting nature. And vet
what a contradiction is man ! A comnon ar-
gument in the case of Hunton was—how mon.
strous to take the blood of a fellow-creature for
a mere attempt to obtain possession of property-
without a legal title ! Property would seem to
be as dust in the balance, and _life every thing.
But let there be a. question as to the ownership
of an ass, and the defendant can summon to
his aid the first abilities in the country, while he
must rely on his own exertions when his own
life is at stake. If the trial has been condUcted
in a fhulty manner—if the Jury have decided
contrary to evidence—if the Judges have im-
properly charged the Jury, applications for a new
trial may be made over and over again, and new
trials have been again and again ordered. Great
as is the evil of protracted litigation, and-Objec-
jectionable in many respects is the con=
sidering issues before a Jury as so many
throwings of dice, which the Judges allow
to proceed till the numbers turn up which
they wish for, still this evil is submitted to,
in order to prevent a still greater evil. But if
it is deemed of so much consequence in a paltry
matter of a few pounds that the most impartial
justice should be done, and that the failings of
Juries and the partialities or errors of Judges
should be corrected, is it not singular, in these
times of so much real or affected regard for hu-
man life, that there should be no appeal from
Jury and Judge ? Nothing shocks foreigners so
much in English justice as the difference made
between a question of a few pounds, and the
great question of the life or death of a human
being. In France, the utmost horror would be
excited by the bare proposition to deprive life of
the protection against error and iniquity which
an appeal to another tribunal affords. We shall
be told that the Royal mercy supplies the des
fects of the law—that the prerogative of pardon.
hag is not now, as formerly, exercised caprici-
ously—and that, in effect, the examination be-
fore the King in Council amounts to a trial be-
fore a Court of Revision. This is partly true.
But what-becomes of the importance attached to
publicity ? The ..inquiriee of the. Home Secre-
tary, and the consultations, in the Council, may
or may net be all that they.ought to be. The
b
trial is, however,. secret. There is no check On,
the Judges. The. unhappy Subject of their de..
liherations has no means of ,corstrovetlino the
evidenceeboereinner w
nwli
is
dhi
primed
misdeeds.
m. eadyWhoil determinekthtoi
elsd fate, We sees
of his
f
that in the case of Hunton; Mr. Peel had
an-
swers could have been but that
given to some of the
y\ re representationsareuwith
no vreihed
thecase,
Mr.
our
inclination
Pe
.
-o opinion'
tobelieve that the sentence- in
the case in question was just. But the sen-
tences in the Inquisition. are, no doubt, often
el
inclination being ?
just. The sentences in the Star Chamber were
for the most part just. It is the principle of
receiving secret evidence, and deliberating IR se-
cret' that we object to. If the proceedings in
those petty cases of felony which lead to impri-
sonment or a short transportation are public,
surely there is more reason for the publicity of
the proceedings which terminate in the pardon,
the commutation of punishment, or the execu-
tion of a man under sentence of death. Where
the law and the feeling of the nation are at va-
riance, the law should be amended ; because
the people being in this country summoned to
participate in the administration of justice, they
will often ref'use to give effect to a law which is
abhorrent to their feelings. How often have the
sanguinary laws of this country reduced Jury-
men to the alternative of
perjuring themselves to
avoid loading their consciences with what they
deemed blood not strictly due to offended jus-
tice !In this state of things • justice becomes a
lottery, one jury refusing to convict on good
evidence, while
another jury has not the same
scruples. The public in this case look upon the
convictions as unjust, and the pardons as-not fa-
vour, but the right of the condemned. And
where, from peculiar circumstances, the Royal
mercy is refused, great dissatisfaction is generally
felt, and all example is lost in the sympathy
with the sufferer. There ought not, therefore,
to be any
law which is at variance with the feel -
ings of society.,. But then there ought to be no
private interfetWice, no canvassing of influential
persons, no
appeal to public feeling with a view
to its reaction, on those who have .the dispensa-
tion of pardon. This would be grossly inde-
corous, were it not absolutely necessary in the
present state of things in this country, We

k

,1,7-j•,7-444'
protest against the odious notion, that the Royal
Mercy ought to be considered as a favour. The
punishment of death is either justly awarded, or
it is not. If it .be justl)s awarded, then the
setting aside the sentence is injustice to the
country. The King has no prerogative which is
not to be exercised for the benefit of the people,
and the Minister who advises an, exercise of it
which cannot he reconciled with the public.
good is guilty of a crime towards the nation.
The King can, or ought to have, no personal
feelings in matters of justice, for the King is the.
Representative of the nation, and he ought no
more to set aside the law in matters of life and
death, than in matters of property. To set
aside a sentence justly pronounced under a law
not abhorrent to general feeling, is to commit an
injustice against society ; for whatever tends to
shake the opinion of men in the certainty of
punishment for crime, encourages crime, and the
Sovereign cannot be supposed to have any pre-
rogative to do what is injurious to his people. If
on the other hand, the punishment is unjustly
awarded, to reverse the sentence is not a favour.
It is due to the convict. To execute the
innocent is to array the people against the
'-•v__,erdsto_hold up the Sovereign as conniving
at the 'perpetratiMi of injustice. There ought
to be no favour, for favour is injustice to the
public ; but the careful consiueration of the case
of the convict is no favour, but a duty to him
and to society. There is, however, no question
as to the principle, for a revision does sc-
tuallv take place. The question is as to the
mode of revi-ion. We contend that at present
the public have no security for the duty being
performed in a proper and efficient manner. We
contend that no men are entitled in this country
to cl.tim the privilege of acting as Judges in cases
of life and death in private ; that there can be
no security for impartial justice where there is
no publicity. We contend that all inquisitorial
inquiries into a man's life, all reception of gos-
siping stories, all interest and favour, . all garbled
evidence—are an abomination which ought not
to be tolerated in a country calling itself free.—
Let there be a. Tribunal of Revision acting in
the face of the public, • and possessed of the con-
fidence of the nation ; and lets not the defective
-rstate of the law be made a pretext for sporting
with its sentences; and let the nation be spared
from the exhibitions which we have witnessed
during the last two or three weeks.—Morning.
Chronicle.

The Colony of Sierra Leone has been proved,
by mournful experience, to be the grave of Eu-
ropeans—the very ebarnel-house of our foreign
service. It was expected that long before this
it would have been abandoned. The experi-
ment of fixing a
„military station on this pesti-
lential coast has been.a.costly one to this coun-
try both in money and • lives. The interests of
economy, as well as of humanity, call for its ,
abolition ; but still, though every wind that
blows from that inhospitable region wafts to us
the news of some fresh fatality, our Govern-
ment as tenaciously clings to the desperate pro-
ject of turning this settlement to some good
count,, as if the picture of desolation and misery
which it j.ii\iseStrs were relieved by a single ray of
hope ? Is this infatuation, or is there some in-
fluence stronger than the consideration of saving
both money and life, from being uselessly
squandered on this horrible place, that causes
it still to be retained. by renewed sacrifices
of both ? A Correspondent wishes to know
who the Secretary or Agent for this Colony
is—what is the amount of his salary for the
same, and what other situation he holds ? Also,
who the Agent for the Royal African Corps is;
and who actually, pockets the emoluments there-
of? We would reccommend this subject as
one which the Finance Committee should give
their serious attention to, if they really intend
to make use of the powers vested in them, to
enable the Duke of Wellington to carry his pro-
mises of retrenchment into effect. We under-
stand that, however profitless the Government
finds the Colony of Sierra Leone to be, Mr.
Macauley of anti-slavery notoriety, does not find
it quite so barren a speculation. He has an
establishment there, and a commission of 21 per
per cent. on every slave captured and released.
That is, the Captains have so much per slave
from Government, for the re-capture—the re-
mittance is made through Mr. Macauley, who
charges a commission of 2 per cent. This
pretty little bonus upon his exertions in the
cause of the Negro is. very well calculated to
keep his sensibilities upon that subject alive.—
Morning Herald.

The determination of Government not to per-
mit the Portuguese Refugees to remain longer
assembled together at Plymouth, is one which,
however it may excite the displeasure of those
who view them as objects of sympathy and in-
terest, merely because they are part of a refrac-
tory minority, of. Portuguese opposed to the
established and ancient institutions of their
country, will not fail to receive the approbation
of all candid and honourable minds. The single
question for the British Government was, whether
these foreigners could be allowed to remain in
England in a state of open and undisguised or-
ganization, and for the purposes of declared and
irreconcileable hostility to the supreme autho-
rity actually existing in Portugal, w thous a viola-
tion of that titutiality which Great Britain piofes„„
toward- the two political parties who have been
sarnegling for dominion n, that country ? If there
et•ei- ba,c been difficulty in the soltoio'
hi, que..tion, it was removed when the depot. Ur
P1)111011:11 44. :indlid to tipeiate as an encouci:g:.--
to such of the Br;izilian party as yet remained
in Portogii, prong the agitation of that coun-
xty and to In viewed by then, as a convenient and
flottpilaide refttg,, to o h:ch they night at any time
beta!(e thei»selve,,, in the event of their machina-
tions at home exciting any livrly attention, or any
warm rev-mment on the part of the existing
Government. if in these circumstances the British
Government had not determined to disperse this
army of determined foes to the authority of Don
Aliguel, and to abolish this rendezvous, which
offered and afforded'a welcome, the most gratifying
and seductive, to all Portuguese whom political dis-
content, or military insubordination, or civil crime,
might impel to abandon their country, it would
have proved its profession of neutrality to be a
mockery, and have exposed itself to the charge
of maintaining and upholding upon the shores
of Britain an establishment ,hostile alike to the!
welfare and the peace and the morals of ano-
ther European nation, , The duty pf Great
Britain to act as she has done was equally
imperative, whether we *topsider her as pledged to
neutrality towards the several parties in Portugal, or
merely as a member of the great European commu-
nity of civilized nations. To foment disorder anij
to encourage crime among the subjects, even of a
hostile State, in one of the most equivocal, as it is
one of the most odious rights of war. But inde-
pendently of these considerations of morality and
good faith—the highest arid moat important of
all-national interests—Great Britain has ,other in-
terest, which, although subordinate to these, is
equally distinct, in the removal of the Plymouth
depot. It is quite certain that this rendezvous of
rortuguese discontent and
,criminality .could not

have existed without attracting to this country a
continually increased number of Portuguese, expa-
triated, some on account of political feelings, and
some, who probably ere long would have been the
majority, for moral as well as legal crime. It was
at least probable that the whole of these would in
the end be left dependent, as the Spanish refugees
new are, upon the charitable bounty of this coun-
try. This .was a termination of the affair to which
the British Government, with the experience it,
has already had, was bound to look. We under-
stand, however, that the agents of Don Pedro
have determined to remove the whole body of Por-
tuguese refugees to the Brazils. If they do so,
it is well. In this case the very wise and pro-
per resolution of the British Government will have
been more successful than we• could have anticipa-
ted. We shall, however, be inclined to withhold
our belief that they are going, until we know that
they are actually gone. We anticipated that ere
long it would have become our duty (and this anti-
cipation is not yet at an end) to plead in their be-
half to the British people, the necessity of preser-
ving them from starvation, for the honour of Eng-
land and from feelings of humanity; and this duty,
whenever called upon, we shall even now not hesi-
tate fo discharge. Although we despise the Portu-
guese enemies of Don Miguel. for the cowardice
they have repeatedly displayed, and particularly at
Oporto—although we despise them still more, and
loathing be added to our contempt, for the kissings,
and huggings, and triumphant yells, in which, like
assassins as well as cowards, they indulged before
the eyes of Britons at the Plymouth Theatre, when
General Stubbs announced the death of Don
Miguel—notwithstanding all this, having once been
received in England, in England they must Pot be
permitted to starve. We shall therefore sin-
. cerely rejoice if they are conveyed to the Brazils,
or any where else, so that we may be relieved
from the painful task of appealing to the charity
of our countrymen on behalf of men in whose
favour we could certainly never plead any thing
hut their circumstances of hopeless destitution.—
The honourable neutrality of England demands,
however, that these enemies of the established Go-
vernment of Portugal should not be permitted to
leave her shores, equipped as an expedition against
any part of the Portuguese territories; while on the
other hand the humanity of the English Govern-
ment must forbid it to set them afloat upon the high
seas unarmed, to fall without resistance into the
hands 8f the Power they have justly offended. The
only course which reconciles these opposing difficul-
ties seems to be that of giving them an English con-
voy to the place of their avowed destination.—
Morning Post.
To those who regretted the secession of Mr. Hus-
kisson and his colkague, Mr. Grant, from office, it
must be gratifying to learn that the accounts from.
every quarter of the kingdom attest the wisdom of
the measures which were introduced under their
sanction, and in support of which, when in office,
they had to wage a sort of perpetual . war with the
abettors of monopoly, and the enemies of improve-
ment. Both the
,silk and the glove trade are reviv-
ing, under the influence of their measures, from the
shock which British industry sustained in 1825, and
instead of reiterated accounts of want of employment
and starving workmen, we hear from all quarters that
there is a lack of men, but none whatsoever of employ-
ment. Th^ truth is that those who calculated upon
the system of reciprocity being followed by an inunda-
tion of foreign manufeettneed articles, made their cal-
eulerons on grounds which experience has chewn to
he wholiy untenable. They directed their attention
to the simple ingredient labour, and finding that
it was unquestionably cheaper on the Continent
than in this country, they came immediately to the
conclusion that the manufacture of the Continent
must also be cieeeper than that of England, and
being so, would inevingy supplant the latter in the
home as well as in the foreign market. Labour,
however, is hot one ingredient of manufeetures, and
the cheapness of which in one country as compared
with another, it is, perhaps, the easiest of all to
overcome. in calculating dee chances of rivalship,
every thisg must be calculated—the labour ex-
pended--the difficulty or facility of commookation—
the expense of catriage—the rate of profit—and
many others which it would be easy to enumerate,
not =tong the invelaive and improving capacities
Of the people between whom the rivalry is to take
place. Now the opponents of Messo. Huskisson
and Grant took none of these things into eoneidera-
tion, and experience has shown that. they erred in
not noticing them ; for not ooly has the silk manu-
facture greatly improved since the permission to im-
port French silks at a duty, but we find that even
in the article of gloves, where it was confidently
averred that we could not hazard an encounter with
our Gallic neighbours, the superiority of the latter
is rapidly giving way. In November, 1827, 5,714
dozens were imported ; and during the last month
only 2,720; being a falling off of more than one
half the amount of last year, and a growing superio-
rity on the part of the English manufacturer in the
same proportion during the present. Of the silk
manufacture we have no official testimony to such a
late date; but we have good reason to believe that
when it comes to be produced, it will be even more
satisfactory. An•equally undoubted evidence, how-
ever, of the truth of the principles on which Messrs.
Huskisson and Grant legislated, is to be found in
the conduct of foreigners. The former gentleman de-
clared that, however they might object, in the first in-
stance, to the western of reciprocity, they would
ultimately find their interest in embracing it;
andtin proof of his prediction, the Government of
the United States, which first objected to it, would
now gladly avail itself of its benefits; while a Com-
mercial Committee of inquiry has been appointed in
France, and, as we have the best authority for stat-
ing, for the express purpose of establishing the- com-
merce of France on the same basis as that of this
country! A nobler testimony could. not well be af-
forded to the valuable services which Mr. Huskis-
son has rendered to his country, nor a prouder conso-
lation, were he in want of any, under his banishment
from °dice.--Ll7orntng Adwrtiser.