The Sun.
London, England, 1818-04-20 00:00:00

nirlie the dagger If the-patriaL.mucb less for en,
rering the stiletto the assassin with the mantle
of pfitriolisinT rime 'w 49, when the soundest. po-
litician was prowl-to' inter, that (tee discussion
relieved the body politic: from percant humourst,
by giving them' free vent. 'rite time, alas, is now
ution us, when the British Press, vi.iated
and. cankered- by French principles, bids fair eo
poison and.comipt-the body altogether.
The justificaiiuu of bad actions is a-standing
persuasive to' all- who are- prone to commit them..
We are- told-by that, RAVAILLAC was
iuc-rted• to murder ilkNav IV. by the praises and
encomitims• passed upon the murderer of his Pre-
der essors !

But What, say the really liberal opponents of
Mr CANNING, has the present- Conduct of that
Gentleman effected? He 11'as exposed himself. -to
obits-guy, by noticing the contemptible threats of
a eloaked and obscure assassin; and the assassin
is still ondisccive'red. IVe are mo- apt, in this age
of calcuistiim, to weigh every thing in the scale
of expediency. We will, for a moment, suppose
ttrat no good hat been obtained ; but is there no-
thing d,ur to die feelings of a Man of honour ? is
Ore mere orcupancy of a pubic station to benumb
ur aLogether suppress the just resentment which
a Gentleman feels upon being charged with prin-
ciples of action which are abhorrent from his na-
tnre ? is he tacitly to acknowledge the justice of
the imputatiim, or, though he despise the libel, is
he to suffer the libeller to escape in triumph? Be-
cause he is stabbed in the dark, is he to surrender
himself an unresisting victim ! But, Sir,-I deny
that Mr. CAN tILNG'S conduct upon the occasion
has been unproductive of good. He has tailed to
drag forth the assassin, but has lie failed in stamp-
ing him, in fixing upon him indelibly, the foulest.
stain which can-stigmatize a man in society ? The
libeller labours through a work of studied false-
hood and inventive malice to asperse Mr. CAN-
NING'S character. Nothing could give effect to
such an attempt but the conviction upon the pub-
lic mind, that the writer, though anonymous, was
a Gentleman. It Mr. CANNING has not thought it
necessary to disprove his statements in detail, lie
has stripped them at least of all that adventitious
authority whieb such an inference might possibly
bring to their support. He has marked his opi-
Rion of the Author, which the Author has taken
the pains to confirm in its strictest sense by his sub-
sequent conduct. It will be vain to urge that he
wrote anonymously in order to conceal his name
from motives of modesty, or from the apprehen-
sion of prosecution ; it is evident he conceals his
name from the personal fear of meeting the man
whom he has injured! He might have pocketed the
affront, most assuredly, and have blushed, if blush
he could, under a mask, at his own degradation.
But no ! he publishes •liis shame to the world,
and betrays s feature which no mask can hide, no
future shift can justify. He has not only outraged
the eimimon rules of civilized life, but has exhi-
bited his practical ignorance of the feelings which
mark the character of a Gentleman. lie has
shewn that he can tamely acquiesce in a chastise-
ment which excludes man from his station, what-
ever it May be, in society, and that he is callous
to the sensibility of a Gentleman, because he is
screened for a time from detection ! Is it no-
thing, Sir, to prove to a British Public that the
character of an assassin is unaccompinied by any
of the great leading features which distinguish
Britons from the nations of the South! If Mr.
CANNING has erred, it is the error‘ot a high mind
transgressing on the side of honour ; it his con-
cealed Calumniator has erred, in making a false
estimate Of his own courage, because he encoun-
tered his intended victim in the dark, his error hums
incurred the contempt of all honourable minds,
by proving that he can descend to the drpt ha of
infamy without a feeling of remorse, and publish
his disgrace without a sense of shame. Let hint
console himself with the -single gratifying tetlec-
lino that his person is secure, and balance this
security with the further reflection, not quite so
consolatory, that if, like the libeller whom he has
in %sin laboured to imitate, except in the basest
and lowest parts of his scheme, lie is the sole de-
pository of his own secret—lie can never make
himself known to his most cinifidential himd
without an acknowledgment of infamy. Let him
consider too, that the condemnation passed upon
the object of his calunmies by the bitterest Of his
opponents extends not beyond the transgteision
of having treated the threats' contained in his
anonymous libel with snit thing but Cotrrtirr ;
and if his pillow be not a pillow of thorns, his
heak must be hauler than adamant,
I am, Sir,
.yours,
FALKLANFL

Saturday .the ItEcoanva Of LONDON made his
deport to the PRINCE REGENT in (:01111C11, at
Carlton House, of the convicts capitally convict-
ed at the SOsions bef(ife list, when John Ward
and llariet -Skelton, convicted of uttering forged
Batik of 'England notes, were ordered for execu-
•tion.

Kelly "and Spicer, the two boys sentenced to
'death 'for having forged Batik thite's, but whose
execution *B9 respired in consequence of -Finney
being suspected as enticing them to commit the
'act's, are to he transported to New South Wales.
They, together with Chapman, the resurrection
are:novr on board the -Retribution convict
`ship, at Sheertiess, waiting the arrival of the
Glory transport„ to 'convey them -and several
otheis toPort Jackson.

SHOCKING OUTRAGE.--VCSlelligy, about three
o'clock in the afternoon, the neighbourhood of
Field-lane and Saffron-hill was thrown into great-
alarm, in conseqUence of a desperate attack made
upon a man named Morris Cullen, and. his wife.
and child, by 3 man named Jaci Murphy. Cul-
len and his wife were standing at the end of
George-alley, when Murphy, with a hammer,
rushed upon them, struck Cullen a violent blow,
and knocked him dOwn ;'he next struck his wile;
and the child, which tell upon the ground, and
he kicked it. unmercifully. The place was covered
with blood. The neighbours now seized him,
and he was conveyed to :he watch-house in Sal-
;Cullen 'ras placid on a shutter, and
carried to St. Bartholomew's Hospital ; he has
not spoken since be received the &so blow with
the hammer. The wife and child were also car-
ried to the Hospital in a Most -dangerous flute.—
Murphy was the terror of that itei6hbohrhoOdi