THE SYMPATHY WITH SIR W. GORDON- GUMMING.
[TO Tea EDITOR or TUE " SPECTLTOR,"]
SIR,—While admitting the truth of many of the remarks in your article on this subject, I cannot think that "the tinder- lying seriousness" of English society accounts for the favour showm by the collected samples of the Upper Ten to Sir William as against his brother-gamblers.
My theory is quite different. If there is a strong character- istic of our people, it is the wish that every accused person should have all the chances. It is a sporting sentiment. Guilty or innocent, the fox is only to be run down according to the rules of the chase, and one of those rules is that the accused shall not be trapped into a confession. The damning evidence was what was equivalent to a confession extorted by pressure, and pressure which was not thought to be wholly disinterested, Add to this the English jealousy of Court influence, and the English instinct of disliking to see parvenus
victorious over a man of family, and there is quite reason enough (good or bad) to account for the hissing in Court.—I
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