Mr. Bruce, we are glad to see, is getting tired
of being bullied about his commutations of capital punishment. The last instance was that of Jacob Spinasa, who was respited, we imagine, on account of a doubt whether his act, though morally murder, was not by law an aggravated case of manslaughter ; and on Tuesday, Sir G. Jenkinson, who aspires to Mr. Darby Griffiths' place in the House, and succeeds in securing half of it,—Mr. Griffiths was a useful bore,—asked why he let off this prisoner and others. Mr. Bruce thereupon sharply told him that his business was to attack him by motion, not to question him in that off-hand way, and encouraged by the cheers of the House, finally refused to answer the question, as apparently he had at first intended to do. The point seems to be this,—is the revision of a sentence by the Home Secretary a ministerial or a judicial act? If the latter, it is as much beyond cross-questioning as the sentence of the judge who tried the case ; if the former, why should not the Minister be interrogated ?
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