The Sun.
London, England, 1819-03-15 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

MR. EDITOR,—AS the Letter of " JUSTUS," in
your Paper of the 16th inst. is still (I believe)
unanswerec, though very far from being unan-
swerable, I beg leave to trouble you with the fol-
lowing remarks upon it :—The writer seems to
be a very intemperate and angt y disputant. He
is angry in the present case because he has got
the untenable side of the question, and has ven-
tured to make assertions which have been refuted.
When spleen, however, prevails so abundantly in
the moral constitution, it ought to have a capa-
cious •ent; Let it 'then be'diffured in wider cban•
nels, and, flow. in more copious streams ; that
being mi”d up in its progress with less bitter
and stimulating ingredients, it may be got rid of
without ,fOrther danger to the patient, 'or any
very serious consequences to the public. Sioce
I hit addrtssed you, the ca'e I am considering
has' been in ttetially altered. It is no 'longer
44 .1 suns v. the Peterborough Sessions but
" Justus ,v. the Criminal Jurisprudence of this
cotin'try." In his' first Letter, 1 think;

" JUSTUS"

Allergic!" his own attachment
,to the cause of
socidl order ;" but he has never expressed a word
'of regard. for the BRITISH CONSTrTUTION, and his
ideas of " Socll•Order" may be at as complete
vatiance.as ,those of the French Revoluiionists

were with the' first principles upon whiali our
venerable and invaluable Constitution was-erected,
and is now maintained. But let us meet him
fairly on his own ground. He would have the
Case of every capital convict in the kingdom re-
ported to the Sovereign. Very few persons in
that unhappy predicament would 'thank Jus-
TUB" fur effecting such a change. 'They would tell
him, those especially at a distance front the Me-
tropolis, that 'they had a much better chance' of
"Obtoiing merC'y 'on the spot, by the intervention
of local friends, and the aid of local cireum-
atances, than if their cases were transferred to the
Privy Council table, whither those friends could
not follow them, and where those circumstance's
could be little known. The Judge who tries the
prisoner, and takes with the utmost attention and
patience notes of the whole 'evidence (uncouth
and obscure as it often is); must be tar better qua-
lified to decide upon the final event at the time,
than any other person, however wise and learned,
however • just and merciful, can he at an interval
of several weeks or months, and who can only
grOund his opinion upon reading :Over a general
(iodine of the proceedings. "There is another in-
ference updin which " JusTus" has bestoWed no
attention If the twelve judges (to.say nothing'
Of other legal personages) are dot worthy to be
trusted wi,h exercising the prerogative of mercy,
they must he itscompetent,• by rite same rule, to
the, distribution of jostice. A fitness in both these
respects mutt concur in the same person, or it
Can. have place in neither. I might, however,
have saved you the trouble of. this last remark,
as this extraordinary writer confesses, that " he.
is speaking of mercy, and not of justice."
should have concluded the contrary from the
title he has assumed. M'ay I ask then (if it is
not impertinent), why he chose an appellation
at complete variauce, by his own admission, with
the subject he has attempted to discuss )-11 would
now proceed to I " State Trials, Bishops, and
cases Of Blood !" He accuses me with speaking
too freely of their Lordships ! It was much
more irreverend in himself to neglect to style them
Right Reverend ! But here we get into a sad
puzzle indeed ! " Bishops are Barons, but not
Peers—and are Lends of Parliament, but have no
Peerage!" Again, what Court could be meant
but that solemn one in which the Peers, Spiritual
and Temporal, sit as a Court of Justice, with
a Lord High Steward," for the trial of some of-
fender of their own body, charged with any of-
fence, or Some person of less exalted rank charged
with high crimes and " misdemeanours !"
simply said, what " JusTus" has*said more billy
and learnedly, that from this Court'" *hen a ca'e
blOod comes before it," that is, whets a Peer
is arraigned for murder, •or Atiy other crime, in-
clining a forfeiture of life (the last case of this
nature occurred in 1760), "Bishops would retire,"
butt " with dpri)test of their right to stay." What
then, do we learn from the profound remarks of
" JuiTus".on this heat!? A Bishop has a Barony
indeed, and in .coneepterree a seat in Parliament ;
hilt that Barony is conferred upon him on account
of Iris Bishopric. I therefore still contend, that
there is no analogy in the cases. The Chairman
at Peterborough was not advanced to the Bench
at the Sessions because be was a Clergyman ! A
Bishop sits in the House of Peers in a spiritual
diameter, for he would not sit there if divested
or it. A Clergyman acts in the Magistracy in a
legal or civil capacity. A Bishop wears in Parlia-
ment the robes of Isis high order; hut I never
saw a clerical Magistrate. at the Sessions in a gown
and cassock, or surplice Ti.
And now, Mr. Editor, we disco.yer the real
grievance ! We can now see (to use the sapient
remark of Don Qoixotte's housekeeper), " upon
which leg JusTuw.hoits," or 'rather I rn.y say,
lithirs. He dislikes the Constitution in general,
and the Clergy of the Establishment in particular.
The hare contemplation of one of then! in a post
of judicial tittthorty, is therefore a most profane
circumstance, which strikes hiM with grief and
itiimay. The curious assertion that " the .lits-
tices," are " the, only speaking' trumpet of the
Criminariehen soliciting for mercy," will meet

with a re!'titatioji in the first office of any profes-
sional Gt,rtlentan into which the author of it
may enter. - It is indeed " worse than verbiage"
(though w,e
.are not told hoW'bad verbiag,e may
be), for it is absolute calumny. I would now
reenore to vire a hint of a very friendly, and,
hoPe, useful na-ore, that before " Jus'ros" writes
again, " he would dip somewhat mure deeply"
int, Doctoi.JultiisOn;s Dictionary. He Will then
be less likely to give us, such a word as "

STIATICAL." The adverb ntligi6tiall, is derived
from " low Latin," and, I believe, is never used ;
but " magistratical" is the spurious oftspring of a
most nnelassical-brain. The Doctor, 'with' stern
critical authority, would have pronounced it to
be neither -Latin nor English
But I. hasten- to atone for the freedom of this
remark, by offering- my high -approbation of a
part of the concluding paragraph of " JuSTosts"
Letter. " 'Will•Ammus-tell me," says he, " that
the Peterborough Mkigistrates have never hanged
a horse or a sheep-stealer without laying the case
before the Sovereign ? That they have always
given the opportnnity of this discretion fur the
exercise of mercy
.That they"--'' but," Btc
Now, Mr. Elitor„ you will allow, with, your usual
taste, that. this passage, if not very sublime, is suf-
ficiently pathetic ! one only regrets the brevity of
it. There is a happy *abruptness in it, which we
do not often meet with. It is a laudable attempt
at stage effect, which, I am sure, you will encou-
rage ; suit under your auspices, with a little more
practice, "JusTus" will certainly become a. very
pretty dramatic -writer.; and may soon produce a
much mote considerable 'Farce than that he has
•favonred with already.
Feb.. 23, 1819. .• ANIICUS.