The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-30 00:00:00

PIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
(FROM THE EVDNING PAPERS-OF YESTERDAY.)
GLOBE.—Two cases have recently occurred in
Ireland, which appear to illustrate in a very remark-.
able degree the spirit in which the Government of that
country is at present carried on ; and it may easily
be seen how far the Irish administration is entitled to
the praises which the Conservative press occasionally
ventures to bestow on it. In the first case to which
we allude, a man named Hughes, whom two Juries
had refused to condemn, was arraigned for a third
time on a charge of murder; when, in order to
ensure conviction, care -Was taken to procure a
Jury consisting exclusively of Protestants. The
man was found guilty and hanged, having
teen tried, as Lord Lyndhurst must admit, by a
dozen "aliens" in religion; though twice, when his
judges did not consist wholly of men belonging to
a creed different from his own, his prosecutors failed
in convicting him. But this zeal to obtain a condem-
natory verdict arose, of course, from a desire on the
part of the Government to bring to justice one whom
they knew to be a murderer, though two juries had
refused to pronounce him one. To condemn an in-
dividual in one's own mind on the appearances against
him, before he is brought to trial, is a common error
among the mass of the public ; but such pre judgment
is dangerous indeed when people in authority not
only form it, but use every means in their power
to act on it. The Irish Government is assumed by its
friends to have had a moral conviction of the guilt of
Hughes—but no conclusion on the subject could or
ought to have been founded on anything but the evi-
dence adduced at the trial, and of this the Jurymen
who heard it were the best, and assuredly the only
lawful, judges. Two Juries failed to see in this evis
dence sufficient to c•nvict the accused; but the Go-
vernment, having made up its own mind of his guilt,
determined to refer the matter to a third tribunal,
consisting exclusively of " aliens" in creed to the un-
fortunate prisoner. If a difference in religious opinions
was believed to be the reason for a verdict not having
been come to, why should it have been presumed
that the Catholics, rather than the Protestants, were the
men who put a wrong interpretation on the evidence ?
It may be replied, that the majority were for finding
him guilty : and as the majority consisted of Protest-
ants, it was thought unanimity would be obtained by
making the jury entirely Protestant. But was unan-
imity to be purchased at the price of justice ? and
what right has any Government to impute murder to
a human being upon grounds which the law and con-
stitution do not recognise as sufficient for doing so ?
A verdict of guilty must be unanimous in order to be
effective ; and life and death are not to be disposed of
by mere majorities, though our Contemporary, the
F&t, seems disposed to think it ought to be otherwise.
So much for the first case to which we have to
allude, and which may be regarded as an example
of the stern and uncompromising principle which
actuates the present Irish Government in criminal
affairs ; but the second instance is a specimen of its
milder qualities. A Mr. Bidelulph, a magistrate,
advises certain prisoners to run away ; and after
having done his best to defeat the ends of justice, and
thus encourage parties to violate the law, he is re-
tained among the list of those who are employed in
enforcing it. As the Marquis of Normanby is
to call attention to this subject in his place in
Parliament, it may be as well to say no more
on this subject, until some explanation of the cir-
cumstances mending it has been given ; but the
looseness exhibited in one case seems to contrast
strongly and strangely with the eagerness shown in
the other instance to subject a suspected person to
capital punishment. The scale of justice cannot be
kept even by violently jerking it from side to side,
now throwing in a degree of rigour that looks like
vindictiveness, and then casting on the balance an
amount of forbearance that has all the appearance of
weakness. It is not thus that the scale can be duly
ps;sed, but by the even and uniform employment of
Justice and of mercy, neither of which should ever
be used in their extremes of ill-judged lenity on the
one hand, or harshness on the other.
STANDARD. The zeal of the Southamp-
ton Committee gave occasion for a debate which occu-
pied tine House of Commons last night during much
the greater part of its sitting. Zeal is a good thing,
but when zeal carries men beyond the limits of law
and moderation, it becomes an evil; and we fear that
the zeal of the Southampton Committee is carrying
its members beyond these limits. The documents
required from Mr. Mabson last night were remains
of a cheque-book, possessing the counterfoils, and
two or three trifling accounts admitted to
be of no importance ; and Mr. Mabson's account of
his conduct :vas as follows:—He had, on the 13th of
September receiver the Speaker's warrant, requiring
him to attend the House, with all the papers connected
with the late Southampton election. These papers
he retained in his possession until about three months
ago, when he sent them to Kr. Ward, Chairman of
the Conservative Committee in Southampton. The
only paper that could be of any importance was
The ,remnant of the cheque-book, containing the
.ante-tells, and it was understood that the
cheques thennselves were in the hands of the Com-
mittee. This Jelivering of the papers to Capt. Ward
is the act of disobedience to the Speaker's warrant—
is the offence complained of—and for this the,Corn-
saittee reported Mr. Mabson to the House, without
itvaiting to inquire whether the papers may not be
tOrtheorning in Captain Ward's hands. Surely this
was premature. Jlr. Mebson, it appeared, had re-
tained the papers in his hands for several months
after the so-vice of the Speaker's warrant, including
the whole of the last session of Parliament ; and
one can easily suprse many innocent reasons for
his sending them to the gentleman who had the
principal share in managing- • the election (say
the settlement of accounts, among others, at
the and of six months from the election)—all
of which might be explained satisfactorily by that
gentleman's evidence, had the Committee wanted to
oesainine him. 'What • evil could have followed an ex-
ereise of patience, which might have even placed the
desired documents in the hands of the Committee ?
however, is not all. The Solicitor-General (and
sello will question either the legal learning, or the
honourable • candour and impartiality of Sir William
Follett ?) avoYed that he had grave doubts of the
ve/idity of the Speaker's warrant after the termination
sf the session for which it was issued. Nay, the
Speaker" confessed that he had himself enter-
tained susl'i doiibts until they L.O. been removed
by the opinion sbf his legal adviser. Now', where the
Jm* princeps of lii,:;ngEnglish common law.):
s?rs has
doubts —where the appoited oracle of Parliamentary
law has doubted—it surely is'ecusable in gentlemen
engaged in trade, as Mr. Mabson is, to have come to
an erroneous conclusion. Nothing couo •he more
natural than for a gentleman so circumstanc.:4l to
reason in this way: 1 have been summoned for the
Session of 1811—the Session of 1841 is at an end ;
I will,, therefore, rid myself of the trouble and
resiwnsibility of this affaii: by sending all the election
rapers to the Chairman of the Committee, who is the
proper party to give an account to Parliament if one
shall be required. This is the way in which most
3nialould reason in such a case; few of us are so in-
genious as to assume, that a summons for one session
satians a summons fbr an indefinite number of
successive sessions and, as the Speaker acknow-
ledged, this extraordinary fiction had not, in Sep-
tember, nor has it yet, received the sanction of
legal authority. Let men surmise as they may
esf 'Mr. Mabson's motives, every one is entitled to
hive his motives construed favourably if they will
admit of a fitvotniable construction ; and in this case
an innocent motive for getting rid of thepapers is
quite obvious in the wish which a man, extensively
.engaged in' business, must have to relieve himself
from the trouble and the loss incidental to a pro-
tracted attendance before an Election Committee—a
prospect uninviting enough without a bullying law-
yer, or excessively zealous Committee, with the Ser-
geant-at-Arms and Newgate in the background.
COULTER.—There is a Society, called the Colo-
SoCiety, whose locale may be found in St.
jantes's-square. It presents, in fact, a fair repre-
sentation of colonial opinion and interests, and, if well
conducted, must rise, as it has risen, into more im-
portance every day. Entertaining a sincere regard
'hi' its meritorious objects, as well as a personal re-
spect for many of its members, we cannot but
regret the very deplorable and inefficient man-
ner in which, when taking, as justly entitled,
the lead in paying a public compliment and
offering a public welcome to a noble citizen,
fof whom not Canada alone but the whole empire may
be justly proud, the Society, as represented by-its
Committee, fulfilled its important mission. On the
occasion of Sir Allan M‘Nab's visit to this country,
it was very properly resolved by the Committee to of-
fer him something in the shape of a public entertain-
ment, as a mark of respect and admiration for the sig-
nal services rendered by that distinguished man to
country and to Canada, in a season of imminent
!peril and perplexity. And what was the course pur-
amel to give the greatest e&ct to this very praise-
worthy determination ? Why, instead of taking
the custotflary means to give the greatest pub-
licity possible to an intention which would have been
Mailed and responded to throughout the whole extent
of this great metropolis by men of all parties, the
.ironer was just left to be talked about among the
usesnisees of the Society, and Within the walls
or daoir ellib house,
and so when the great de-
monstratiosi came off the consequence naturally
was that fifty persons only were found to assist
at a banquet which •was to represent to Ca-
nad;,, the magnificent reception and hospitality of Eng.
bind L'o one of her noblest sons.

S

Tuesda; morning, between six and seven o'clock,
the body of a
.isnrinale child was found under the arch Nn.
1N of the Lon& m and Greenwich Railway, by one of the offi-
cers of the CompaLlYt No. 22. Upon the constable taking it
up blood ran from th.' nose and mouth, and it evidently had
been dead but a shoit time. Information was immediately
g'ven to Mr. Carttar, thse coroner, who directed that a post
inertern examination should Pe made.