Up to Friday night no intimation of the decision of
the Home Office in the Penge case had been published, though Tuesday is the day fixed for execution. The showers of letters continue, but it is by no means certain that the popular enthusiasm for the convicts is very great. Petitions for a commutation of sentence are not very numerously signed, except by those who object in all cases to the penalty of death ; there are no petitions to sign, on behalf of the sentence ; and the Grand Jury, who returned a. true bill, and who have been asked to interfere, have unanimously refused. The general disposition appears to be to leave the mat- ter to Mr. Cross, who has all the evidence before him, and probably much that has not appeared, and who is quite sure not to desire to sanction more executions than he can help. Whatever his final deci- sion, the effort to override the verdict of a Court by an outburst of popular feeling has manifestly failed, and it is not yet necessary to protect the law by instituting a Criminal Court of Appeal.
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