A curious piece of news has come from Melbourne,—that the
two passengers, Messrs. Mount and Morris, who were on board the kidnapping vessel Karl, and had been sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude,—and who were certainly Murray's accom- plices in the murders committed,—had been released on a writ of Habeas Corpus, while the crew (who were apparently less guilty) remain in prison. The explanation is not given. Nor is it appar- ently suggested by the letter of Mr. Michie, the Colonial agent for Victoria, to Wednesday's Times, for what he suggests is, that punishment could only be administered under the Act at the pleasure of Her Majesty's Secretary of State, and that as no application had been made to the Colonial Secretary on the subject,—the Colonial lawyers believing that they had authority enough without applying to the Colonial Secretary,—a writ of Habeas Corpus was applied for, and granted by the Colonial Judges. But that ex- planation would surely apply to the crew as much as to the passengers,—whereas here the passengers seemed to have gained their liberty by some technical evasion of the law without the crew. No one will accuse the Colonial authorities of indifference to the crimes committed. But a technical blunder is very deplorable in the case of such deliberate enemies of the human. race as these.
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