17 DECEMBER 1881, Page 17

THE BRIBERY SENTENCES.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." j Slit ,-I ant sure we ought all to thank you for your courage in protesting against the false sentiment which is being excited on behalf of the bribers now in prison. If the idea that there is a hardship in punishing some criminals while others escape is to be generally accepted, we should certainly petition for letting off half the pickpockets in London, because the others are not caught. But the root idea of the petitioners is, of course, the intense respectability of the criminals. In other words, they wish, definitely, to assert the principle that there ought to be one law for the rich, and another for the poor. If you, Sir, or any one else, will get up a counter-petition in favour of letting justice take its course,—I, for one, will gladly sign it.—I am,

Sir, &c., C. E. Mi.uaict;. Hy due!' Cottage, Roslyn Hilt, Illoystecul, December nth.