The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-07 00:00:00

WRST PORT ktißDßit.

CONFESSIONS OP BURKE.
. (From the Calscioulas _Mercury of Mouday.)
The information from which the following article •
is drawu up we have received from a most respect-
able quarter, and its perfect correctness in all re- •
specti may be confidently relied on. In truth, it is:
as nearly as possible a strict report, rather than the •
• subataece, of what passed at an interview with
Burke; in the course of - which the unhappy man •
appears to have opened his mind without reserve,
and to have given a distinct and explicit answer to
every question which was put to him relative to Ks
connection with the late murders.
After some conversation of a religious nature, in
the course of which Burke stated that, while in Ire-
land, his mind was under the influence of religious
impressions, and that he was accustomed to read his
Catechism and his Prayer-book, and to attend to
his duties, he was asked, "How comes it, then, that
you who, by your own account, were once under
the influence of religious impaliksion.s, ever formed'
the idea of such dreadful atrocities, of such cold-
blooded, systematic murders, as you admit you have
been engaged in—how came such a conception to
enter your mind ?" To this Burke, replied, that he
did not exactly know; but that becoming addicted
to drink, living in open adultery, and associating
continually with the most abandoned characters, he
gradually became hardened and desperate,—.-gave up
attending chapel or any place of religious worship,
shunned the face of a priest, and being constantly
familiar with every species of wickedness, he at
length grew indifferent as to what he did, and was
ready to commit any crime.
He was then asked how long he had been en-
gaged in this murderous traffic? To which he an-
swered, " From Christmas, 1827, till the murder of
the woman Docherty, in October last." " How
many persons have you murdered, or been concerned
in murdering, during that time ? Were they thirty
in ail r " Not so many ; not so many, I assure
you." " How many ?" He answered the question,
but the answer was, for a reason perfectly satisfac-
tory, not communicated to us, and reserved for a
different quarter.
" Had you any accomplices,?" "None bat Hare.
We always took care, when we were going to cons-
wit a murder, that no one else should be present—
that no tele could swear be saw the deed done. The
Women might suspect what we were about ; but we
always put them out of the way when we were
going to do it. They never saw us commit any of
the murders. One of the murders was done is
Broggan's house, while he was out ; but before he
returned the thing was finished, anti the body put
into a box. Broggan evidently suspected something,
for he appeared much agitated, and entreated us to
take away that box,' which we accordingly did; but
be was not in any way concerned in it.",

" You have already told me that you were enga-
ged in these atrocities from Christmas, 1827, tilt
the end of October, 1828; were you associated with
Bare during all that. time ?" —" Yes; we began with
.selling to Dr. the body of a woman who had
died a natural death in Hare's house. We got 10?.
for it. After this we began the murders, and all
the rest of the bodies we sold to him were murdered.'
" In what place were these murders generally com-
mitted ?"--" They were mostly committed in tiara's
house, which was very convenient for the purpose,
as it consisted of a room and a kitchen. Daft Jamie
was murdered there.. The story told of this murder
is incorrect. flare began the struggle with him,
and they fell and rolled together on the door; then
I went to Hare's assistance, and we at length finished
him, though with much difficulty. I committed
one murder in the country by myself. It was in lase.
harvest. AD the rest were done in conjuttetion with.
Hare."

" By what means were these fearful atrocities
perpetrated ?"—" By suffocation. Ws made the
persons drunk, and then suffocated them by holding
the nostrils and mouth and getting on the body.
Sometimes I held the mouth and nose, while Hare
went upon the body ; and sometimes Hare held the
mouth and nose, while I placed myself on the body.
Hare has perjured himself by what be said at the,
trial about the murder of Doeherty. He did not sit
by while I did it, as he says. He was on the body
assisting me with all his might, while I held tho
nostrils and mouth with one hand, choked her under
the throat with the other. We sometimes used a
pillow, but did not in this ease."

" Now, Burke, answer me this question-Were
you tutored or instructed, or did you receive hints
from any one as to the mode of committing mur-
der ?"—" No, except from Hare. We often spoke
about it, and we agreed that suffocation was tho
best way. Hare said so, and I agreed with him.
We generally did it by suffocation."—[Our iu
ferment omitted to interrogate him about the surgi
cal instruments stated to bare been found in his
how!) but this omission will be supplied.]
" Did you receive any encouragement to commit
or persevere in committing these atrocities ?":-,-
" Yes; we were frequently told by Paterson that
he would take as many bodies as we Could get fer
him. When we got one, be always told us to get
more. There was commonly another person with
him of the name of Falconer. Ther generally
pressed us to get more bodies for them. 4
" To whom were the bodies so murdered sold r'
"To Dr. --. We took the bodies to his rooms
in and then went to his house to 'we've
the money for them. Sometimes he paid us him-
self; sometimes we were paid by his ass;stants.
No questions were ever asked as to the mode in
which we had come by the bodies. We had nothing
to do but to leave a body at the rooms, and go get
the money."

" Did you ever, upon any occasion, sell a body or
bodies to any other Lecturer in this place?" "Never.
We knew no other."

" You have been a resurrectionist (as it is called)
I understand P" " No. Neither Hare nor myself
ever got a body from a churchyard. All we sold
.were murdered save the first one, which was that of
the woman who died a natural death in Hare's
house. We began with that : our crimes then eom-
menced. The victims we selected were generally
elderly persons. They could be more easily disposed-
of than persons in the vigour of health."
Such are the disclosures which this wretched
man has made, under circumstances which can
scarcely fail to give them weight with* the public.
Before a question was put to him concernieg the
crimes he had been engaged in, he WAS solemnly
reminded of the duty incumbent upon him, situated
as ho is, to banish from his mind every feeling of
animosity towards Hare, on account of the eviaence,
which the latter gave at the trial; he was told,
as a dying man, covered with guilt, and without
hope, except in the infinite mercy of Almighty God,
through our blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he, who stood so much in need of forgive-
ness, must prepare himself to seek it by forgiving
from his heart all who had done him wrong;
and he was most emphatically adjured to speak
the truth, and nothing but the truth, without
any attempt either to palliate his own iniquities,
or to implicate Hare more deeply that the farts
warranted. Thus admonished, and thus warned,
he answered the several interrogatories in the terms
ahoy(' stated; declaring, et the same time, upon the
word of a dying man, that every thing he had said
was true, and that be had in no respect exaggereted
or extenuated any thing, either from a desire to in-
culpate Hare, or to spare ally one else. The uu-
happy man is, moreover, perfectly penitent, and re-
signed to his fate. He never deluded himself with
any hopes of escape or of mercy; and he is now ac-
cordingly preparing himself for cOnfession and for
rceeiving absolution, by a perusal of such books na
his spiritual guides have put into his hands, and by
listening with the most devout attention to:their re-
ligious instructions. He fully acknowledges the.
justice of his sentence; nay, he considers it in
some measure as a blessing, the certainty of
his approaching fate having brought hack his mind
to a sense of religion, from which it had been
long estranged. At first be expressed deep re-

• .., • • •.
fzetthat'llere, it-Awe guilt he toncoiveS as c.fa, a
till duper d.)4 than Lis own, should have escaped
the vengetinCe of the law; but by the exertions of
13 spiritual monitors, who have been indefatigable
in their efforts to impress him with a strong sense
of the dreadful enormity of his own guilt, as well as
to bring him to a right frame and temper of mind, he
no longer gives expression to such feelings, and tiOw
only breathes a wish to die at peace with all man-
kind. As often as the subject of the late trial is
mentioned, however, he never fails to assert that
Hare perjured himself in the account he gave of the
murder of the woman; repeating the statement we
have already given, that, so far from setting by, a
cool and unconcerned spectator of the crime, Hare
actively assisted in the commission of it, and was
upon the body of the woman co-operating with him
self in his efforts to strangle her.

We may mention as a singular instance of the ob-
liquity of the human understanding, or at least of
the effect produced upon some by the Dean of Fa-
ettlty's powerful speech for Burke, that two of the
Jury by whom he was tried were of opinion that the
prosecutor had not made out his case against that un-
happy man, and consequently were for returning a
verdict of Not Proven in his case as well as that of
M'Dougal. No one who attended to the evidence,
as it %yes led, or who has examined it since, has been
able to discover upon what grounds ouch a verdict
was returned even in the case of the female pannel ;
but, had the opinion of these two gentlemen pre-
vailed, aid the eharges against Burke been found not
proven, Justice might have thrown away her ba-
lance, and broken her sword, and the prosecutor
might well have despaired of ever again obtaining a
verdict upon a charge of murder. Happily nothing
so utterly monstrous as this occurred. Justice has
received one victim, but she will not be satisfied
with this solitary sacrifice. Others yet remain to be
claimed, whose hands are dyed in blood, and whose
criminality is not either in law or in morality, inferior
to that of the unhappy man whose days are num-
bered, and who is doomed to expiate his manifold
crimes on the scaffold.
Hare was engaged in this horrid traffic before he
formed an alliance with Burke; and although the
tsnperior appearance, address, and physical strength
of the latter led him to act as the decoy, and to take
a conspicuous share in the perpetration of the rour•
data, Hare we are satisfied was his master and
his tempter, ns he is known to have been his con-
stant associate in all the teurders he committed, ex-
cept, perhaps, one, which Burke admits having done
by himself in the country. It is really melancholy
tike hear," therefore " that no farther trials will
place," and that, as far as the Prosecutor is
concerned, Hare and his wife are now free from all
challenge.
Happily, however, there is one n:ethod by which
they may still be brought to justice. The mother of
Daft Jamie is alive; and it is competent for her to
prosecute for the murder of her son, upon obtaining
the concourse of the Public Prosecutor, which his
Lordship cannot withhold. This, we understand,
is a settled point, and we know f a case in which
a private party similarly circumstanced came for-
ward. It was in consequence of several per-
sons being shot, in Aberdeen, on the late
ring's birthday, Captain M'Donach was that
day the officer on duty, and gave the orders to
the military to fire upon the mob, in consequence of
which several persons were killed. Politics then ran
high, and his Majesty's Advocate refused to bring
the Captain to trial. But a private party came for-
Ward; his Lordship was obliged to grant his con-
course; and Captain M‘Donach was put upon his
trial. The Hon. Henry Erskine conducted the case
for the prosecution, but in spite of all his efforts the
Jury acquitted the prisoner. We de not remember
how the instance was laid, and we have not time at
present to consult the authorities. We are quite
certain, however, as to the main fact, that the prose-
csition was brought by a private party, with the
concourse of his Majesty's Advocate, after that
rtmetionary had refused to prosecute in his own
mama. Now the inference to be drawn from this is,
that the mother of Daft Jamie ought to have come
forward upon this occasion; and in order to enable
her to do so, a subscription should be immediately
opened for raising the necessary funds to defray the
expense of the trial. Were this done, hundreds,
nay thou dada would subscribe to enable her to pro-
secute; and we are satisfied that the Lord Advo-
cate would not only not refuse his concourse, but
would be pleased and gratified with a proceeding
calculated to relieve him from the embarrassments
With which he is at present surreunded.

lknitTlNG (Atha AN SCHOOLS,

Matters are now coming to the bearing for which
Which we have so anxiously, and, we may add, ar-
dently contended. The teachers of anatomy in this
are to meet the Lord Advocate to-day, at three
o'clock, at hie chambers, with a view to an investi-
lotion being set on foot respecting the sources
whence and the mode in which subjects have been
recently supplied to our different anatomical schools,
and the Royal College of Physicians, to their im-
mortal honour, have called an extraordinary meeting
for to-morrow, "for the purpose of taking into Con-
sideration any measures which ;t may be expedient
for the College to adopt, with a view to tranquillize
the public mind on the subject of the late atrocities
c,onunitted by Burke and his associates, to prevent
their repetition, and to relieve the medical profes-
-0/2 generally from the odium justly excited by
them," This is really gratifying. It verifies all
we bare tto earnestly stated of ibis honourable pro-
fession, anti it sets an example which must be fol-
lowed. The College of Surgeons will come next;
and what with the inquiries instituted by these
6°llies, and the light which the lecturers of anatomy
eao throw upon the many points in regard to which
Ilia Lord Advocate must previously have been but
imperfettly informed, we are confident that the
whole truth will come out, and that the profession,
u's a body, will be most completely and trium-
libantly vindicated.—Caledonian Mercury.

------- -- -
At the dinner given by the Dissenters to Mr.
,1161"Pinetys Mr. Charles Butler, on his health being
Qrtush, rose to return thanks. He felt that the whole body
‘l. Catholic" to which be belonged, and that he himself,
were highly honoured and obliged by the manner in which
they kid been mentioned, and the expressions in favour of
Catholic Emancipation which had been used by several of
the gentlemen Present, and by the manner in which these
had been received. He mentioned that he was in his 79th
year ; that in his 20th year he had attended the trial of a
err* inah°nYs a Roman Catholic clergyman, who was eon-
mned t° PerPetnal imprisonment for baptizing a child
der the Catholic rite ; and that, about the same time, he
11d attended the trial at the Old Bailey of the Hon. James
alSot. a brother of the then Earl of Shrewsbury, for say-
-1"F mass; and who, it the case had not failed for want of
"'deneas would have been sentenced to the same punish-
lileut. He had advocated the cause of Catholic Emend-
ifation during half a century, and had always advocated it
on the brcad4t prineiplea of civil and religious liberty, on
Principles equally applicable to every denomination of
Chriatians-:-to Lutherans, Calvinists, Armenians, Preisby-
terians, and last, but not least in love, Unitarians. Mr.
Charles Fox had once Rent to him, and asked him what
was the best ground upon which he could place the cause
of Catholic Emancipation : he told Mr. Fox that it was
that the state had no right to deprive any persons of any of
their civil rights on account of their religions principles, if
these were not contrary to allegiance, gond order, or mo-
rality. (i No, 14.ir,? Mr. Fax replied, -" this is not the
hest ground : the only true and real ground, and such as is
iv‘pregnable in every part, is, that action, not principle, is
the object of penal infliction ;" that principle, till it ie
t•arried into action, is no more than thought ;" that" Goil
',ward, good thouOits, and the devil punishes bad ones,
4nd thesis should be left to him." He had mentioned the
trials which be had witnessed in the 20th year of his age.
hie 78th year, he had witnessed the noble legislative
ettaetruent for the repeal of the Test and Corporation
'jet--^.n event at which none of Ids Majesty's subjects,
eat even the persons beneutted by it, mere sincerely re-
j", iced than the Roman Catholics. He declared that what
'ad Passed at that meeting would never escape his er their
Dory or gratitude.

FASHIONABLE INTBLLICIBNCE.

.A.lll-i.l .k 1 ..•;:•.

Counteea Mingden, at V* , Ran Et. Herta, Ile.na
her residen VuKr-q,/lt fiZa ti r 1100-
Miss Upton, at their boo i-e la Hill-street, •. Kr
Thomas and Lady I.,,tniard and ktran.-tar-p.:....tre,
from their seat, Bell Hou,e, Ewex; Ji FrJaaw S:ewart,
Bart. M.P. Lady Stewart, and far.iilv, at Niarst.al 71,0an,cri's
Hotel, Cavendish.square, from Scotland ; fir Rrly.qt
Bart. at ditto ; Viscount and Vi.icounteas Tarstwortb, at Jitto ;
J. Hill, Ec,a. and Mrs. Hill, at ditto; John Norris, Bag. and
Mra. Norris at ditto; Captain Harcourt, at Crawley's Hotel
late Cook's), Albemarle-street, from a tour ; J. W. Carleton,
Esq. at Symmones Hotel (late Jordan's;, Irmo his seat in
Cheshire ; Mrs. Knight, at the London Hotel, Albemarle.
street, from Canterbury ; the Reverend Atkins Hanby, at the
British Hotel, Jermyn-atreet, from Oxford; T. Delves Brnugh.
ton, Esq. and Miss Broughton, at the Blenheim Hotel, Bond.
street, from Hampton ; William Wells, Esq. .et ditto, from
Kent ; Richard Itaramersley and William Hammersley, Esqni.
at ditto, from Dublin ; Captain and Mrs. Leeke, at ditto, from
Hants; Captain Milman, rn Regent-street, from Brighton.

DEPARTURES.
Lord Melbourne, for Earl Cowper's seat, Psusenger, Herta ;
the Marquis and Marchioness of Bristol, and the Ladies HArvey.
from St. Jarnet's.aquare, for Brighton • Sir Thomas FranKland.
Bart. from Marshal Thompson's Hotel ; Colonel M.Murdo
J. AP7durdo, Esq. rival ditto; Charles R. Cotton, Her. and R.
H. Clive, Esq from ditto, for Combermere Abbey, Cheshire;
the Rev. Lord John Thynne, from George Byng, Esq.'s sent,
Wrotham Park, for Lincolnshire; Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, from
Fenton's Hotel, St. James's-street, on a tour ; J. Ripley, Fl,l.
from the British Hotel, for Oxford; William Steins, Esq. from
ditto, for liorfolk; Captain Smith, from St. Jsznees-street, for
Brighton.

Yesterday being the anniversary of the Epi-
phany, the same was observed at the Chapel Royal. The
offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, was made at the
altar, in imitation of the wise men of the east, on their
toeing led to the birth-place of our Saviour. The anthem
appropriate for the day was " 0 God, who by the leading,
of a star," Attwood, which was sung by the gentlemen
choristers, and the young gentlemen of his Majesty's
Chapel Royal.
The Prussian Minister transacted, business
yesterday at the Office of the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs.

'The Chief Magistrate of Police, and the
principal ISlscrbistrates of the different Polirtroffices, made a
report yeeterday at the Horne-0150,, of the btate of the
police in the metropolis.

Mr. Secretary Peel arrived in town yesterday
morning from Brighton. The Right Hon. Gentleman
left town in the afternoon, on a visit to the Earl of Vernlntm,
at his seat at Gorhambnry, for a few day%

On New Year's Evo a journeyman baker, of
Abingdon, of the name of Gibbins, laid a wager that he
would drink two quarts of beer in five inintites. He drank
the beer, and immediately laid his head on the table and
expired. He had been drinking previously.

The King of the Netherlands is said to be the
wealthiest Sovereign in Europe.

The 'Viscount d'Asaeca, the accredited Am-
bassador from Don Miguel to the British Court, had a
long conference with the Earl of Aberdeen, yesterday
morning, at the private reeideuze of the Noble Earl, Argyll
House.

Monday the proclamation for the meeting of
Parliament, for the dispatch of !twine's, on the Bth Feb-
tuary, was read at the Cross with the usnal formalitieF.—
Ed;nburgh Is'reniu.9 Courant.

Upwards of 200 members of the first families
iu the neighbourhood attended the annual Surrey ball at
Guildhall ou Tuesday last.

The delegatesirorn the different townships in
the parish of Halifax for negoeiating the business of the
Vicarial Tithes, have arrived at the termination of their
labours, the result of which is trite satisfactory to the
parish. A bill will in, consequence be introduced to Par-
liameut early in the next session, which, when passed into
a law, will secure to the present, and atl succeeding Vicars
of Halifax, an ',imam of about 2,0001. per 111111:111M.-Leed4
21ferclay.

The Society-for the Encouragement of the
Arti have awarded a great gold medal and 2,000 francs to
M. Savaresse Sarra, for hi+ invention of strings for ransical
instruments, which are proved to be superior to the very
beet Italian strings. They are of peculiar tenacity, many
of them sustained weights equal to 57 and 40 pounds,
without breaking.

The Monthly Meeting of the Friends of
Civil and Religious Liberty took place on Monday night,
at the Theatre of the Mechanics' Institution, Southampton-
buildings, Holborn. The Rev. Mr. Spooner was in the
Chair. In the cruise of the evening a Petition, drawn
np by Mr. Grady, the Secretary, in favour of Civil and
Religious Liberty, was read to the Meeting, and ordered to
be reported on at the next Monthly Meeting.
Such- was the attachment of the celebrated
Madame Grasaini to the Emperor Napoleon, that, oa one
oceasion, when travelling to Naples, and being stopped ley
brigands, who, among ether things, took from her a me-
dallion of the Emperor, lurrounded with brilliants, she
begged, as a particular favour, that they would remove the
brilliants, as she would willingly part with them ; hat en.
treated that they would return her the portrait of her
" Dear Emperor "—with which request the robbers gal-
lantly complied.— Tipperary Free Press.

Sir Joseph Banks used to tell a story of, his
being at Otaheite with Captain Cook when it was acciden-
tally discovered to be the King's birth-day, on which it
was suddenly agreed to have a jollification ; every sou! on
board got fuddled, except three men, who were on duty.—
The next day they came on deck, and begged to speak to
the Captain. " Well," said the Captain, " what have
you got to say ?" " Please your honour, ycu were all
drunk yesterday, all except we three ; will your honour
be pleased to allow us to get drunk to-day?" Sir Joseph,
who was standing by, was so tickled with the oddity of the
request, that he begged they might be indulged, and that
he would subscribe two bottles of rum and two bottles of
brandy. The boon was granted, and in less than three
,hours these inessmates balanced accounts, being as drank as
their hearts could wish.

DOMESTIC ECONONIY.—Amongst the most
useful and nutritious substitutes for wheat, and which ham
the advantage of correcting the unwholesome properties of
bad flour, is rice. During the scarcity of wheat in July,
1795, one of the measures adopted at the Foundling Hos-
pital, with a view of lessening the consumption of flour,
was the substitution of rice puddings for that of flour;
which tiy the table of diet, vrere used for the children's
dinner twice a week. The flour puddings, far each day,
have taken about 1681 b. weight of flour ; the ries puddings,
substituted in their place, required only 211 b. of rice to
make the same quantity of pudding ; the result of the ex-
periment being that, in a baked pudding made with milk,
one pound of rice would go very nearly as far se eight
pounds of flour. Rice contains a great deal of nutriment
its a small compass, and does not pass so quickly off the
stomach, as some other substitutes for wheat flour do. It
is a good ingredient in bread. Boil a quarter of a pound
of rice till it is quite soft ; then put it on the back part of
a sieve to drain it; and when it is cold mix it with three-
quarters of a pound of flour, a tea-cupful of yeast, a tea-
cupful of milk, and a small table-spoonful of salt. Let it
stand for three hours; then knead it up, and roll it in
about a handful of flour, so as to make the outside dry
enough to put into the oven. About an hour and a quarter
will bake it ; and it will produce one pound fourteen.ounces
of very good white bread. It shuul not be eaten till it is
two days old.— Companion to the British Almanach.

On the 11th ult., at ten o'clock at night, a
female enthusiast at Herisan, in Switzerland, set tire to
her house, tinder the idea of driving out from it evil spi-
rits. She then awoke her husband and warned him of
his danger ; she next took a Bible and Prayer-book, and
after throwing into a rivulet a bag containing a gold
chain and ring, traversed the village awl went to St. Gall,
where she was apprehended and taken back to Herisan.
The house was entirely consumed, and it was not without
difficulty that the contiguous buildings were saved. Some
years age, this woman was eoinpelled to quit the village of
Sonderegg, which she threatened to set ou Are. So far
from repenting of her crime, she regards it as a meritori-
ous act, well pleasing to
.God. In her Bible there are a
great .number of erasures.—French Paper.

A SWEET TooTn.—Some time since a gen-
tleman who resides in an opulent town on the confines of
Gloucestershire, platted a humane man-trap in his garden,
for the purpose of preserving the crop of a finepeach-
tree, waich he had every mama to suspect had excited the
cupidity of a neighbour, who, although in respectable
circumstances, was distinguished by an unfortunate pro-
pensity for thieving. About five o'clock one morning he
heard signals of distress from the garden, and on looking
out of the window, he discovered his neighbour Lit the
trap near the forbidden fruit, where he resolved the in-
truder should remain. As soon as the inhabitants of the
town were stirring, he sent the crier through the street.,
inviting them to repair to his garden, if they wished to M.
a thief in a trap. As it will be supposed, hundreds flocked
to. view the novel and interesting spectacle, which, while
it cured the party principally interested of his unfortunate
propensity, will remain as a standing jest for ever. —De-
comport Telegraph.