The Sun. — 1860-09-08 (London, England)

THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER AT ROAD.  The excitement occasioned by this mysterious affair is in no way abated by lapse of time, but the public appear more anxious than ever that some means should be taken beyond those already employed to detect the murderer. Memorials are being got up in all the towns in the neighbourhood of Road appealing to Government to grant a Royal commission. The movement, however, it seems, will be fruitless, the following letter having been received by the Mayor of Bath in reply to the memorial from that city which was forwarded to the Home-office, through Mr. Tite, N.P. :  "Whitehall, Sept. 3. " Sir,—l have received and laid before Sir G. Lewis a memorial, signed by yourself and many other highly re•. spectable gentlemen of Bath and its neighbourhood, calling the attention of the Secretary of State to the murder lately committed at Road.  'You represent in this statement that the family in whose house the murder took place may be collectively responsible for it, but the individuals of which it is composed have not, in the proceedings which have taken place, been examined and cross-examined as to their complicity in that frightful transaction. " You add that, in your opinion, such an inquiry is neces• sary for the ends of justice, and you pray Sir G. Lewis to grant a special commission for the investigation. of the crime, as the ordinary means have entirely failed. " I am directed by, Sir G. Lewis to inform you that he is satisfied, upon deliberate consideration of this matter, that he would not be justified in advising her Majesty to create an exceptional and extraordinary tribunal, for the purpose of interrogating persons suspected of this murder. " To supersede, in a case of this description, the established courts of justice, which are governed by well-known and carefully defined rules, and to establish by Royal authority in their stead a commission exercising new and arbitrary power of examination, unknown to the English law, would be, in his opinion, highly unconstitutional, and a departure from the principles upon which this country has long been governed. " The doctrine that, in cases of great obscurity and difficulty, like the present, on which the existing law appears at first to be insufficient, that law is to be strained or altogether superseded, appears to Sir G. Lewis to be of a most dangerous description. " The rules which govern our ordinary courts are intended, not only for the detection of guilt, but for the protection of innocence from unjust accusations, and when the crime is of so grievous a nature as to excite a strong feeling of horror and indignation in the public mind, a strict adherence to those rules is absolutely necessary for the fair and impartial administration of justice.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, " H. WAnDrxwrox. " The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Bath." It is satisfactory to know, however, that, although a _Royal commission has been refused, the Govern' ment have intimated to the Wiltshire magistrates a desire that the matter be further inquired into, and in accordance with the hint given the magistrates have retained Mr. Slack, of Bath, a solicitor of great experience in criminal proceedings, to pursue the investigation, and go into the whole case, beginning de novo. The whole of the depositions have been laid before Mr. Slack, who has held a conference with the magistrates thereon, and has subsequently had several of the inmates of the house under examination at his office in Bath. The inquiry is, of course, strictly private, and at .present it is impossible to say what the result will b. e, but we have reason to believe that the public will, ere long, have the opportunity of hearing what the inmates have to say about this murder in examination in public court. If such a course does not lead to a conviction of the guilty party, it will, at least, have the effect of removing from the public mind many erroneous impressions which have sprung out of the unsatisfactory pr:vate examinations hitherto held.  [