Two men at Tying, armed with guns, recently attacked two
gamekeepers, and beat them to death with blows so savage that death was obviously intended. They were tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. As usual, several of the journals ordered the Home Secretary to commute the penalty, and on Wednesday Mr. Conybeare asked if the condemned were to be "judicially murdered" by Mr. Matthews. That gentleman, however, who throughout his term of office has upon this subject behaved admirably, kept both his temper and his nerve, and refused absolutely to recommend a commutation of the sentence, which was, accordingly, on Thursday carried into effect. The motive of these attacks is partly hatred of Mr. Matthews for not considering himself amenable to newspaper orders, and partly, of course, the old objection to inflict the punishment of death on anybody except innocent conscripts who may be ordered to invades Stay, death may be inflicted by murderers, without any sympathy being expressed for the persons whom they at their own discretion choose to execute. If Mr. Matthews had murdered the gamekeepers, he would have been defended as eagerly as for protecting future victims he is now attacked.
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