The Sun. — 1863-07-23 (London, England)

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,  TIMES.—The case of Mr. Bewicke is one of those in which the honesty and compassion of the public have a deeper wisdom than the caution of official persons. It is not wonderful, it is not even blam• able, that gentlemen in the position of Sir G. Grey and the Salicitor-General should look at a matter of this kind in its relation to the general adminis tration of justice, that they should fear to establish a troublesome precedent, to excite hopes in others which they would have afterwards to disappoint, and, in fact, by giving compensation for one glaring wrong, to break down the principle that no person has a claim to compensation for anything be suffers through the process of criminal justice. In their eyes Mr. Bewicke's is merely a hard case, and they are unwilling that it should bring forth bad law. But though opposing Mr. Berkeley's motion through a sense of official responsibility, they are unable to deny the greatness of the victim's injury, and the scandal which such a wrong, if unremedied, brings upon the administration of English criminal law. We think that their reasoning and their con• elusion were unsound, and that Mr. Bewicke might be compensated for his extraordinary misfortune without any breach of sound jurisprudence, or any chance of the Treasury being besieged by a legion of claimants. Although the outline of the case will dwell in the remembrance of our readers, we may once more mention the principal circumstances : Mr. Bewicke, of Threepwood-hall, in Northumberland, was defeated in an action at law, and the sheriff proceeded to levy on his property. How this functionary brought together his assistants does not appear, but they are alleged to have been men of the most villainous character. Felons, perjurers, ife-beaters, drunkards, were, according to Mr. Berkeley, the executors of the law in that distant county. The sheriff's officers went to Air. Bewicke's, but he refused, as he had a perfect right to do, to admit them to the house, and told them that there was sufficient for the levy outside. One of them then produced a pair of pistols, and Mr. Bewicke, seeing this, went for a revolver. He barricaded himself in the house while the bailiffs remained in possession outside. The next day he wanted to fire the pistol out of the window that it might be clean. He told them what he was about to do. They answered, "All right, Sir," and he fired it, doing no harm, and, oceourse, thought n D o more about it. But this a. gave o fthe ruffians the idea of bringing an accusation attempted murder against him, probarvvi.' ikto w h the i s intention of extorting money. held to bail, but thought too ligntii ofthe matter It The sheriff's to take proper steps to defend ims he vacs convicted, and officers swoie up to the mark, sented to four years' penal eervituNtde. The Trustees theand scs a sthosemanor, seoiztetal omfrG. rßeeenwai-oiikAoi,sHofusprnitiatul, aros good convicted felon. Property to the value of £1,600 or £l.BOO was sold for I:430. At last, after remain. Mr. housekeeper Sergeant ing more than a year in prison, and beingdeplorably weakened both in body and mind, Mr. Bewicke's innocence was made tahpepnaarseen before t. His camewho , to London,recommended laid mended her to an active attorney, and the result was the issuicg of warrants against the whole gang, and the conviction of three of them forconspiracy or perjury, one having turned Queen's evidence We cannot but think that, according to the dictates of natural law, a man has a right to be