The Sun.
London, England, 1827-02-15 00:00:00

common feeling revolt. VOA fall of britAsuelif, and of
base inattention of those who make laws,
.tn,the happiness of thoss
for whom laws were made. We wonder that any Juryman can
convict, under such a shocki-ng violation of all natural justice.
The iron age of Clovis and Clottaire can produce no more atro-
cious violation of every good feeling and every good principle.
.Can a sick man find strength and nerves to speak before a large
assembly? Can an ignorant man find words?. Can.a low man
find confidence? Is not he afraid of becoming an objaet
.of-ridi-
cnle? Can he believe that his expressions will be. understood ?
How often have we seen a poor wretch struggling against the
agonies of his spirit, and the rudeness of his conceptions, and his
awe of better dressed men and better taught men, and the
shame which the accusation has brought upon his head, and the
sight of his parents and children gazing at him in the Court, for
the last time perhaps, and after a long absence? The mariner
sinking in the wave does not want a helping hand more than does
this poor wretch. But help is denied to all ! Age cannot have
it, nor ignorance, nor the modesty of women ! One hard uncha-
ritable rule silences the defenders of the wretched, in. the.7pret of -
human evils ; and, at the bitterest of human moments,.
blotted out from the ways of men

Suppose a cri►ue to have been committed nrulertheiuffuense of - -
insanity, is the insane man, now convalescent,. to plead..iia
insanity? to offer arguments to show that •he must "li.ave.beeu
mad ? and, by the glimmerings of his returning reason, to prove
that, at a f'rmer period. that same reason was-utterly extinct ?
These are the eruel situations into which Judges and Courts of

Justice are thrown by the prevent state of the..lw.
There is a Judge upon the Bench who never took away
the life of a fellow-creature, without shutting himself up alone,
and giving the most profound attention to every circumstance of
the case ! and -this solemn act he always -premises with his own
beautiful prayer to God, that he will enlighten him with his di-
vine spirit in the exercise of this terrible privikge! Now would
it not be an immense satisfaction to this feeling and honourable

Magistrate, to be Awe that cozery witness on the side of the
Boner had been heard, and that every argument which could be
urged in his favour had been brought forward, by a man whose
duty it was to see only on one side of the question, and whose
interest and reputation were thoroughly embarked in this partial

exertion? If a Judge fails to get at the truth, after these instru-
ments of investigation are used, his failure must be, attributed to
the limited powers of man—not to the want of good inclination,
or wise institutions. We are surprised that such a measure does
not come into Parliament with the strong recommendation qf the
Judges. It is surely better to be a day longer on the circuit,
than to murder rapidly in ermine.

It is argued that, among the various pleas for mercy that are
offered, no prisoner has ever urged to the Secretary of State the
disadvantage of having no counsel to plead for hiM. But a pri-
soner:who dislikes to undergo his sentence, naturally addressee to
those who can reverse it, such arguments only at will priduce, in
the opinion of the referee, a pleasing effect. 1.15 does not there-
fore find fault with the established system of jurisprudence, but
brings forward facts and arguments to prove his own innocence.
Besides, how few people there are who can elevate themselves
from the acquiescence in what is, to the consideration of what
ought to be; and, if they could do so, the way to get rid of a
punishment is not (as we have just observed) to say, " You have
no right to punish me in this manner," (but to say), " I am inno-
cent of the offence." The• fraudulent baker at Constantinople,
who is about to be baked to death in his own oven, does not com-
plain of the severity of baking bakers, but promises to lige snore
flour and less fraud.

If the effect of reply, and the contention of Counsel, have all
these baneful consequences in felony, why not also in misde-
meanour anti high treason ? Half the cases at Sessions are cases
of misdemeanour, where Counsel are employed, and half informed
Justices preside instead of learned Judges. There are no com-
plaints of the unfairness of verdicts, though there are every now
and then of the severity of punishments. Now, if the reasoning
of Mr. Lamb's opponents were true, the disturbing force of the
prisoner's counsel must fling every thirig into confusion. She
Court for misdemeanours mist be a scene of riot and perplexity ;
and the detection and punishment of crime must be utterly im-
possible : and yet in the very teeth of these objections, such
courts of justice are just as orderly in one set of offences aa the
other; and the conviction of a guilty person just ascertain and
as easy.
The folly of being counsel for yourself is so notorious ins civil
eases, that it is grown into a proverb. But the, cruelty of the
Lev compels a man, in criminal eases, to .be guilty of kmuch
greater act of folly, and to trust Ids life to an advocate who, by
the common sense of maukind," is pronounced to be inadequate to
defend the possession of an acre of land.
Why is the practices's) good in all other easel', and so pernicious
in felony alone? This question has never received even the
shadow of an answer. There is no one objection against the allow-
ance of counsel to prisoners in felony, which does not apply to
them in all cases. If the vigilance of Judges depend upon this
injustice to the prisoner, then, the greater injustice to the prisoner.,
the more vigilance ; and so the true method of perfeeting the
Bench would he, to deny the prisoner the power of calling wit-
nesses, and to increase as much as possible the disparity betweeta
the accuser and the accused. We hope men are selected for the
Judges of Israel, whiSse vigilance depends upon better and bighee
principles.
There are three methods of arranging a trial, as to the mole .
of employing counsel—that both parties should have counsel, or
neither—or only one. The first method is the best; the second
is preferable to the last ; and the last, which is our present aye-
tem, is the worst possible. If counsel were denied to either of
the parties, if it be necessary that ary system of jurisprudence
should be disgraced by such an act of injustice, they should rather
be denied to the prosecutor than to the prisoner.
But the most singular caprice of the law is, that counsel are
permitted in very high crimes, and in very small crimes, and.
denied in crimes of a sort of medium description. In high trea-
son, where you mean to murder Lord Liverpool, and to levy war -
against the people, and to blow up the two Houses of Parliameote
all the lawyers of Westminster Hall may talk themselves dry, and
the Jury deaf. Lord Eldon, when at the Bar, haS been heard foe'
nine hours on such subjects. If, instead of producing the destruc-
tion of five thousand people, you are indicted for the murder of
one person, here human faculties, from the diminution of guilt.
are suppoSed to he so clear and to unclouded, that the prisoner ie
quite adequate to make his own defence, and no counsel are allow-
ed. Take it then upon that principle; and let the rule, and the
reason of it, pass as sufficient. But if, instead of murdering the
man, you have only libelled him, then, for come reason or ano-
twhears,everthoughs
lteh utterly unknown
defendedunknow-n by publictons,tlie
m original
in grave nal imbecility of
faculties in accused persons is respected, and counsel are allowed.
assem-
blies? The prosecutor too, (as Mr. Horace Twiss justly pie
serves), can either allow or disallow counsel, by selectiug his
form of prosecution ;---as where a mob had assembled to repeal, by
riot and force, some unpopular statute, and certain persons had
continued in that assembly for more than an hour after proclama-
tion to disperse. That might be treated as levying war against
the King, and then the prisoner would be entitled •to receive (as
Lord George Gordon did receive) the benefit ofcouneele It'might
also be treated as a seditious riot ; then it would be sr misde-
meanour, and counsel would still be allowed. But if Government
had a mind to destroy the prisoner effectually, they have only to
abstain from the charge of treason, and to introduce into the in-
dictment the aggravat:on, that the prisoner had continued with
the mob for an hour after proclamation to disperse; this is a
felony, the prisoner's life is in jeopardy, and counsel are effectually
there are c
should
donf treason are 4 ci4:lY
excluded. It produces, in many other cases disconnected with
treason, the most scandalous injustice. A receiver of stolen goods,
who employs a young girl to rob her master, may he tried for tli.o
misdemeanour; the young girl taken afterwards would be tried
14 felony. The receiver would be punishable
.only with
ybeztrenclio:vvnmedonily felony
rather fine,
impritonment, or whipping, and he could have counsel to defeu,i
him. The girl indicted for felony, and liable to death, ulc
enjoy no such advantage.
In the comparison between felony and treason,
hreipatnyenlrack)
esac,oictitau,rnscus.sceeeaidl:csettosluollfasni oefticu(eaj
btl in nsele to be influencedssemmies and to
persons of education anl:ds;
bye people.
more
the Crown, and to,
lean against the prisoner, this cannot
trpt lowestar:eittpb:llseYiorenssotrlpf7aaetranehel
apply to cases of misdee
rneanour, or to the defendants in civil
that Judges should be watchful in political cases, but if it be necessary
eases of felony connected with't?) how.
awn
ate
political isairection ? Every judge,
too, has his idiosyncrasies, which required to he watched. Some
hate Dissenters—some mobs; some and the ultimate trutr have oneweaknees, some ano-
ther;ts, teat no court of justice is cafe,
unless there is some Ole proem whose occupation and-interest it
is to watch the safety of the•
prisoner, Till then, no man of right
lthes: in :Loge:hr.4:
feeling ,can he easythe
at administration of justice, and the punish-
ment of death.
Two men are accused of one offence; the one dexterous, hold,
subtile, gifted with speech, and remarkable for presence of mind ;
the other timid, hesitating, and -confused,—is there any rea'"
why the chances of these two men for acquittal should be, as they
are, so very -different? Inequalities there will be in the meet)*
of defence under the best system, but there is no occasion the
law should make these greater than they are left by chance or
nature. . .
The opponents always forget that Mr. Lamb's plan is not to
compel prisoners to have counsel, but to allow them to have coun-