The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-10 00:00:00

I.llcfn a., disorderly as the Irish, to say nothing of tugal, which appears to us to be not
6,4.Ve boorishness of our own peasantry.—lbid. only erroneous, but highly illiberal and tin-

If any thing can show the necessity of a
public prosecutor, it is the _Finchley case of
poisoning. That case is only clear in two
points—namely, that the life of a human being
has been sacrificed by the substitution of a de-
leterious drug for a medicine ; and that it is not
one of the cases in which the ignorance or neg-
ligence of the compounder of a prescription has
occasioned the melancholy result. All the rest
is involved in deep obscurity. As to the hand
by which the poison was substituted for the
wholesome medicine, after it had left the shop
of the apothecary, and the time and manner in
s..hich it was done, nothing is known. In the
tneen tnoe, the parties who taught to be most in-
tersested in the inquiry, either on. account of their
winection with the deceased or their public si-
tuation, iteetsead of being emulous to rival each
*:"Oirci; fq their assiduity to procure evidence, and
i4eetiecute the matter to some satisfactory con-
clusion, appear only desirous to shift the duty of
turther investigation from one to another. This
culpable apathy on the part of those who ought
to require no incitement but the claims of kin-
dred, or a sense of •the duties of humanity, to
make them anxious to search and probe this
matter to the utmost, is peculiarly unfortunate at
the present time, when that most cowardly, secret
anti malignant crime of assassination by poison
has increased in this country beyond all former
example. If, indeed, by any possibility, the un-
timely death of the ill-fated Mrs. Phillips could
have been the result of accident, it were %yell if
the public mind were disabused of the fearful
impression that she has fallen the victim of some
iabolieal contrivance.. Almost every day some-
thing appears in the public Papers relative to
what is the " mysterious death of Mrs.
Pha;ips." To preserve the mystery of a romance
Is very well, and a skilful writer of novels will
not too soon let his readers into the secret of the
attractive horrors by which he stimulates the ima-
gination ; but mysteries in real life arc not de-
sirable—and, above all things, justice should
know nothing of mystery. The death of Mrs.
Phillips, however mysterious it may be described
to have been, was not brought about by super-
!:atural means; hut the real cause must always
be involved in darkness, as that of Sir Theodo-
sius Boughton was, until a regular inquiry be in-
stituted, and prosecuted with similar zeal and in-
telligence to that which dissipated the " mystery"
of his fate, and tracked the criminal through all
the mates of his crafty guilt into the hands of
There are three parties whose duty it is
to investigate the cause of the death of Mrs.
Phillips to the utmost. In the first place the
husband, who is bound by relationship, by affec-
tion, and by the feelings most dear to the human
14eart, to ascertain the cause of his sudden and
tieplorable bereavement. Whether he lived with
his wife on those terms of mutual kindliness,
coustaniy, and doniestic peace, which rendered
the teerriage state peculiarly happy, and the loss
such a woman an affliction that steeps the
bean in wretchedness, anti deprives a sensitive
disposition, for a time, of the natural energy
of action, we know not—a sudden calamity is
apt. to paral)ze the mind fora time, particularly
where the tenderest ties are torn asunder ; and
we understand that the parties had been married
but five Months, and that Mrs. Phillips was a
lady every way capable of making a husband
fondly attached to tier. He must feel, however,
that the best proof of affection he can now give
is to satisfy his own mind, and that of the public,
by riid and persevering exerticn, whether she
came to her untimely death by accident, or whe-
ther time fell the victim of a meditated blow. We
should like to know whether he has yet made
every possible effort to ascertain, among the do-
mestics and servants, how the phial of medicine
sent from Mr. Snow's was converted into a
deadly poison—also whether he has been able
to discover if any person in the house or neigh-
bourhood, having access to where the medicine
eras deposited, bore malice towards the deceased.
The second party are the executors to the will,
who should co-operate with the husband in the
inquiry, if he be willing to exert himself in the
discharge of so sacred a duty ; and, if he be not,
they should proceed without him. The third
party are the parochial authorities. If the rela-

uts:tice.

tions or executors are slow to inquire into this
affair, they have a public duty to fulfil. They
owe it public justice and their country not to
allow this matter to remain where it does at
present. Mr. Snow, the respectable surgeon of
Highgate, has done enough to show that the
poison of which the unfortunate lady died did
Dot find its way into the medicine by the act or
mistake of any person in his establishment. The
parish authorities make the dread of incurring
expence a plea for not instituting any proceed-
logs. Whenever an excuse for a good feast is
to be had at the expence of the parish funds,
we never hear the parochial authorities complain
of the Cost. But, perhaps, the " Vestry Lords"
of Finchley may be more abstemious than their
metropolitan brethren. However this may be,
we think their caution about expence in a case
of this nature is rather ill-timed. It is certain
that if they proceed with the inquiry, and have
grounds elentually to prosecute some person or
persons, the Court can and will allow their ex-
pellees from the county. Among all parties,
however, there is so much remissness or vacil-
lation, that we fear a failure of justice. This
state of things could not occur if there were a
public prosecutor—it would be his defined and
imperative duty to inquire and collect evidence
in such a case—to commit, if there were grounds
for so doing, any person whom the evidence
strongly pointed at as the perpetrator, and to
fidlow up the committal of him or her by a bill
to the Grand Jury—that so all which the law
could do might be done to remove suspicion
from the innocent—and to bring home convic-
tion to the guilty. We hope that, under the
peculiar eirctunstances.of the case, the Secretary
for Oe flume Department will consider it his
duty to interfere, and have such an inquiry insti-
tuted. as will ascertain whether the " mysterious
death" was accidental; and, if not, may relieve
the land from the stain of unexpiated crime.--
Morning Herald.
We are not about to propose the example of
the Pope as an authority that ought to weigh
an,J thing in determining the future policy of the
other European Governments, or especially of
England, towards Portugal. It cannot, how-
ever be doubted, that the recognition of the
Sovereign Pontiff of the actual Monarch of that
eminently Popish nation, will contribute much
to the consolidation, and affords a powerful gua-
rantee of the permanency of his regal sway ; or
that it thus becomes one circumstance of great
importance among the many, by a combination
of.,,vhieh the conduct of Great Britain, and that
of every other State ought to be decided. Some
of the Journals which boast most loudly of their
liberality, have,.,recently advanced an opinion
'Oil the subject -of our relations with Kr-

gerous, and we avail ourselves of the pre-
sent opportunity to notice and correct it. The
Journals to which we allude admit that a great
majority of the Portuguese people, of the upper
as well as inferior classes, are decidedly and un-
changeably attached to the existing Government,
and that this circumstance, if its effect were not
qualified by another, would justify and require
the acknowledgment by England of an authority
so supported. But, say they, there are a con-
siderable number of persons in Portugal, chiefly
belonging to the middle class of who
adhere steadfastly to the Brazilian party, or, as
it is called, to the cause of the Constitution.
That the latter constitute a small minority of the
whole nation is not denied ; but a claim to greater
consideration is set up in their behalf upon
the assumption that they are more intelli-
gent and enlightened than the great mass of
-their fellow-countrymen. Hence it is pretended
a difficulty arises. If the support of a decided
majority of his own subjects could entitle Don
Miguel to the acknowledgment of Foreign
Powers, that title he would have undeniably ; but
the recognition ought, it seems, to he withheld
until each Foreign Government has, for itself, ex-
amined and decided in what precise proportions
ietellectual endowments and cultivation are vi-
sible among different classes of the people of Por-
tugal, and has further determined upon the adop-
tion of certain rules, by which (in imitation we
suppose of the greater number of votes allowed
in our parish vestries to the inhabitants who pay
the greater amount of direct taxes ) certain speci-
fied measures of intellect and attainment arc
to tell, in the comparison and adjustment
of political value. We have heard of the
Schoolmaster being abroad, but to give ef-
fect to this new discovery in political sci-
ence, it would be necessary that a whole army of
schoolmasters should be sent abroad; and
however we may admire the genius and talent
which must have been employed in forming and
bringing to light the sublime conception, we fear
the affairs of mankind. must continue to be guided
by principles of which the application is more
simple and easy. That Don Miguel is firmly
seated on the throne of Portugal, and that the
interests of England forbid the political inter-
course between the two Governments should be
indefinitely suspended, is quite enough for us to
know. As to the comparative number of pre-
tensions of the learned men and philosophers who
respectively adhere to one or other of the parties
in Portugal, it is a question with we have very
little indeed to do—a question which it would
be the wildest insanity to attempt to decided—
a question with respect to which, if the
British Government were even to inquire, it
would be an interference with the domestic 1
affairs of Portugal, more minute and vexatious,
more insolent and unjust, than has ever yet I
been practised by one nation towards another.
Nothing can be more plain, indeed, than that the
assumption of superior intelligence on behalf of
the Brazilian party is wholly confounded, and
that the advocates in England of that defeated.
party have adopted it merely that they may not
seem destitute of any thing to offer as a compen-
sation for its hopeless inferiority in number, in
spirit, and in power, which they are com-
pelled to admit. It will scarcely be de-
nied that justice and consistency are the
genuine symptoms and the natural accompa-
niments of high intelligence. Have the Brazi-
lian party exhibited these ? Ask the holders
of Portuguese bonds, and they will answer that
they have been shamefully defrauded by the
leaders of this, party, with the general applause
of its followers. Ask the Legislature of Brazil,
and it will reply that the authors and adherents
of a free Portuguese Constitution have flagrantly
violated the free Constitution of Brazil ; that
they have illegally and dishonestly appropriated
to one purpose, funds destined by the Legisla-
ture, in virtue of its constitutional rights, to
another ; that they have stained the public faith
and impaired the national credit of Brazil, fur
the advancement of a desperate project of their
own, which the Brazilian Legislature and people
never approved, and never consented, nor ever
will consent, to promote at the expense of a
single dollar.--Morning Post.

Mr. O'Connell, it would appear, is not yet
tired of agitation. The passing of the Catholic
Bill, by cutting off a great source of grievance to
the people of Ireland, also deprived him of a
great source of influence ; and so wearied is he
with the absence of excitement, and the absence
of the vulgAr applause which greeted his ears
once a fortnight in the Dublin Association, that
he has, if the Irish papers may be relied on, seri-
ously set his wits to work to excite fresh agita-
tion, and procure for himself fresh applause, by
mooting points, which we think at this time of
day no frtend of his country would even dream
of mentioning—the repeal of the Union, and
the establishment of a resident Parliament
in Ireland. On the Ist instant, says the
Dublin Evening Packet, Mr. O'Connell
thundered forth the following, at Youghal :
Ireland alone, of all nations of the
earth, has achieved a bloodless revolution. In
1782 she stood up in the majesty of national
power. Is there no other 1782 ? It is a truth
grown into a proverb, that what has been once
clone, may be again
effected—lreland is too
good to be a province, and. she must and shall
again have her resident Parliament. I have
heard named the union between England, Scot-
land, and Ireland ; but such union only tends
to the degradation 9f the entire. Nor can
Ireland hope for such happiness until she is'
again a nation—wail she has again within her
bosom a domestic Legislature." If such really
be the case, we will venture to assure Mr. O'Con-
nell that Ireland never will be happy. If the
people of that country have not sense enough
to perceive the benefits which they derive
from a union with England and Scotland, the
people of the latter countries have wit enough to
ace that that union is for the interest of all ; and
we need not add, that if such be their opinion,
they will make it good. Mr. O'Connell, in
fact, deceives himself egregiously, in thinking
that he can find a fool in Ireland for every foolish
scheme that finds a habitation in his brains. The
people know better. They followed him whither-
soever lie chose to lead them, before the Catho-
lic Emancipation Bill was passed ; but then
they were denied their just rights, and a sense of
their degradation would have induced them to
foillow any other who might have set up as the
apostle of freedom. The case is now altered—
and Mr. O'Connell will find his appeals in
favour of further agitation received with as much
coldness as they formerly were with fervour and
acclamation.--Morning Advertiser.
It will lie seen from another part of our Paper
that the Governors of the Licensed Victuallers'
Asylum have, with the approbation of his Royal
Highness the Duke of ,Sussex, agreed with the
Proprietors of Covent-garden Theatre, for a be-

nett in behalf of the Institution, on the 10th of
next month. The state of the funds of the In-
stitution—the benevolent purposes to which it is
devoted—zmd the number of decayed Licensed
Victuallers who were unsuccessful at the last
election, and who must remain unsuccessful for
some time, unless the funds are recruited by
further donations, imperatively call upon their
brethren in the Metropolis to come forward in
their behalf with the same liberality which has
distinguished them on all former occasions ; and
we know too well the generous sympathy by
which the Licensed Victuallers of the Metropo•
lis are animated, to doubt for a moment that the
proposed benefit will be a bumper, and leave the
funds of the noble Institution to which its pro-
ceeds are to be devoted, in a flattering and flou-
rishing condition.—lbid.