The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1835-09-01 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.  Heart of Mid Lothian must be as familiar with the circumstance as we are. This PORTEOUS was dragged to the gallows, as the gamblers of Vicksburg were, and  hanged !  What were the consequences? The magistrates of dinburgh were charged with a dereliction of their duty. hey were held responsible for the riots which had oc'44arred and the fatal consequences which ensued. The city was deprived of its charter, and the citizens were fined in a Aim which made Arthur's Seat and the Calton Hill look very piteously upon each other. It was a just 1 sentence. A crime had been committed— law and justittld been outraged—the supreme power, in the pers° of the King, had been insulted and trampled upon ; aal, in order to vindicate the sovereign authority and the omnipotence of the law, it was necessary to punish the conservators of the local commonwealth.  This we say, borrowing from example, is English justice placed in fair contrast with the law and justice of the free, moral, and just republic of the United States of America. In this country we are proud to proclaim to the world that the vindication of law is the first principle, which is held in the most sacred regard by the people of England. No matter who the man is—no matter how horrid the charge may be against him—no matter how daringly or bow wilfully he may have assailed public rights or personal security—he is deemed innocent, under the clearest charge, until proved to be guilty by evidence snbmitted to a jury, of his countrymen. This is not only our law—it is also our invariable practice. Is it so in America—in the land of freedom? Let recent events answer.  The most singular and anomalous part of this proceeding on the part of America is that, as far as the accounts go, and they reach to many days subsequent to the murders, no cognizance has been taken of them by the authorities of the United States. The facts are, recorded, the crimes are admitted ; but we hear of no judicial proceedings—no inquest upon the dead bodies—no inquiry into the facts, which in the most arbitrary nation of Europe would even before the coroner be deemed a prima facie case of murder ! All the newspapers give publicity to the deeds of guilt and shame—some of them —most of them, to their honour—more especially the New York Daily Advertiser—condemn the atrocity as bringing odium upon a free country, and an odium so identified with crime that it must call down judgment upon a people who by their sufferance of it make themselves parties to the crime—still the voice of the government is not heard, the law sleeps, the victims are in their graves, the murdered are unavenged; even the bloodstained homicides seek no retreat in the bosom of penitence or by supplications for pardon at the throne of mercy.  ‘Ve notice this stolid reluctance more in sorrow than in anger. The people of the United States, rendered bold by commercial success, and even impious by toleration, offer no humble prayer at the footstool of OMNIPOTENCE for forgiveness. They regard not the throne of mercy. They do not look upon homicide as a crime. They have robbed so long in the fields of the red Indian that• they consider the power they have usurped to be in accordance with the decrees of HEAvEg. This is a fearful state of delusion. He who fishes with the long line must expect entanglement. The Americans have done so too long. In proof of this, as regards the outrages in Jackson, we beg leave to subjoin the proclamation of the Governor of Mississippi. It is a curious document, and deserves the closest attention :