_English Newspapers on the West Port Tragedies--The "Sun," and its
Idea of the Popular Feeling--Gray and his Wife._
These strange on-goings in Edinburgh, it has been seen, met with the
approval of the greater number of the Scotch newspapers; but many journals
on the Southern side of the Border professed the utmost horror at the
manifestations made by the populace of Edinburgh against the West Port
murderers. Indeed, so much was this the case that the _Times_ was
constrained to speak in this way--"Some of our contemporaries affect to be
shocked at the shouts of disgust and horror against the miscreant _Burke_
which broke from the excited populace of Edinburgh while witnessing the
legal retribution for his crimes. We are more shocked at the sickly and
sickening pretence to fine feeling by these newspapers. The exclamations
of the Scotch were ebullitions of virtuous and honest resentment against
the perpetrator of cruelties unheard of: we honour them for it; they
proved themselves to be unsophisticated men." That, certainly, is a
generous view of the conduct of the crowd at the execution; but perhaps as
generous, and certainly a more thoughtful and fair one, was taken by the
_Sunday Times_:--"The extraordinary sensation created by _Burke's_
atrocities caused a display of feeling on the part of the populace while
the last dreadful ceremonies were in progress, similar to that witnessed
in England when the wretched Jonathan Wild, and when the cruel Brownriggs
suffered at Tyburn. In that awful hour, when the hand of justice is about
to descend on the devoted sinner it were to be wished that no clamorous
shouts of abhorrence or of sympathy, should interrupt the parting prayer
which would fit the crime-stained spirit for the passage; but certainly,
if any excuse can be offered for exulting over the dying agonies of a
victim, it is furnished by the extraordinary guilt of the sufferer in the
present case."
At the time of the trial the London _Sun_ contained some comments on the
few circumstances connected with the tragedies, which had been revealed to
the public by the Scotch newspapers before that great event shed a flood
of light and information upon the actual nature of the occurrence. The
writer of the article was apparently ignorant of the real state of
matters, founding only on the few scattered and not very accurate
paragraphs then published, and not being within hearing of the vague
rumours of impending revelation which circulated in Edinburgh, and from it
gradually over the whole of Scotland. The editor of the _Caledonian
Mercury_, however, took the matter up, and being able to read between the
lines, he penned an admirable article upon the production of his English
contemporary. He thought some specimens of the "ignorance, presumption,
and talent for abuse" in the _Sun_ would amuse his readers, and on the
same principle, and as having a direct bearing on the subject in hand, the
following quotation is made:--
"'The Scotch character (quoth the Luminary) _is amusingly developed_ in
the comments made by the different Edinburgh and Glasgow papers on the
subject of the late West Port murders. _Each journal seems to think its
own honour implicated in the business, and hastens to prove_, first, that
Burke and his wife are both Irish; and, secondly, that the idea of cutting
people's throats for the sake of selling their bodies to anatomists is far
too original for the _inferior_ conceptions of Scotchmen.'
"'The Scotch character is' much more 'amusingly developed' in this
paragraph than in any of the comments made by the Edinburgh or Glasgow
papers; for it bears to be an editorial lucubration, and as such must
proceed from an exported Invernessian, who seems to be ashamed of his
country, very probably because his country had some reason to be ashamed
of him. It is false, however, that any Edinburgh journal ever dreamt 'of
its own honour being implicated in the business,' or 'hastened to _prove_
that Burke and his wife (concubine) are both Irish.' Our contemporaries,
like ourselves, stated such facts as came to their knowledge, without ever
imagining the nonsense which this blockhead thinks proper to ascribe to
them; in fact, they appeared much more anxious to express their horror of
the crime than to 'prove,' as the Solar scribe has it, what country was
entitled to claim the 'honour' of having given birth to the criminals. But
it seems our brethren and ourselves also 'hastened to prove that the idea
of cutting people's throats for the sake of selling their bodies to
anatomists, is far _too original_ for the _inferior conceptions_ of
Scotchmen.' We know of nothing, however, which we should not consider 'too
original for the inferior conceptions' of _one_ Scotsman, whom we need not
name, and whose talent for misrepresentation seems to be nearly on a level
with the shallow petulance and presumption under the cloak of which he
tries to hide his ignorance. This, however, is not the best of it.
"'Further than his name,' continues the Solar gentleman, 'there is nothing
to prove that Burke is an Irishman.'
"Indeed! Why, man, Burke himself has confessed it in his declaration, read
at his trial; and, if the murderer had been silent on the point, his
brogue would as certainly and inevitably have betrayed his country, as
your Invernessian nasal drawl, with a little touch of the genuine Celtic
accent engrafted thereupon, would have betrayed your Northern origin and
your Celtic descent. Burke _is_ Irish, and so is Hare, and so is Hare's
wife; and so is the woman M'Dougal, Burke's concubine, though her name
would indicate that some of her ancestors might have been Highland cousins
to some of your own--a relationship which your 'amiable bashfulness' will
not, we trust, 'prevent you from publicly claiming.'
"He proceeds,--'with respect to the inferior conceptions of Modern
Athenians, what, let us ask, can equal the ingenuity of _Lord_
Lauderdale's famous torture boot?' Nothing, certainly, except it be the
'ingenuity' of such a driveller as this, who fancied that there is
anything at all _ingenious_ in putting a human leg in an iron hoop or
ring, and driving in a wedge between them. A more brutal decree, or one
betraying less of 'ingenuity' was never fallen upon to inflict torture on
a fellow creature. It might even have been invented by the blockhead who
here calumniates his country; it is not below even _his_ 'inferior
conceptions;' we consider the device on a level with _his_ capacity: and,
we believe, it was generally from among his countrymen that persons were
sought for, and found to enact the part of executioners in putting the
heroic martyrs of the Covenant to this species of torture. The following
is his concluding touch:--
"'The West Port murder,' judging from internal evidence, _is decidedly of
Scotch origin_. There is a cool, methodical, business-like air about it, a
scientific tact in the conception, and a practised ease in execution,
_which no Irishman could ever yet attain_! An Irish murder is hasty,
sudden, impetuous,--an English one, phlegmatic, cunning, mercenary,--but
it has been reserved for the Scotch, in this last unequalled atrocity, to
blend the qualities of both English and Irish guilt, _with a scientific
effrontery peculiarly and pre-eminently their own_."
"With an 'effrontery' which is very far indeed from being 'scientific,'
but which is nevertheless 'peculiarly and eminently his own,' it has been
reserved for this blundering renegade to pronounce a series of murders,
devised and perpetrated by Irishmen alone, as 'decidedly of Scotch
origin;' and to talk of the 'internal evidence' of a murder, while he is
in ignorance of every thing concerning it, except the mere fact of its
having been committed; to pander to the prejudices of the very lowest
class of Englishmen by pouring out abuse upon Scotland; and to compromise
the solid interests of his constituents, the highly respectable
proprietors of the _Sun_, by venting libellous scurrilities against the
country which had the misfortune to give him birth, and where that journal
has hitherto been received with a degree of favour to which, not the
talents of its editor certainly, but the activity of its reporters seemed
to entitle it. But let that person look to himself. We know it is always
renegade Scotsmen who are loudest and fiercest in abusing their country.
Dr. John Macculloch is one of that class, and he has accordingly been
served out in some measure proportioned to his deserts. If the editor of
the _Sun_, therefore, has a mind to indulge further in such disgraceful
scurrilities, he had as well accustom himself _paullatim et gradatim_ to
stand a pretty vigorous application of the scourge."
This display of energy on the part of the _Mercury_ was greatly
appreciated by the people, and a letter which was addressed to the editor
on behalf of Gray and his wife gave expression to the popular feeling in
the matter:--"Sir,--You drubbed Maculloch (the libeller of his country)
delightfully; and it is hoped you will keep a good look-out if '_The Sun_'
again shows any more such dirty dark spots as the one you lately held up
to merited abhorrence. It is a general remark that our Scottish papers are
sadly deficient in public spirit."
As for Gray, in whose favour the letter just quoted from was written, he
was given an appointment in the Edinburgh police establishment, in which
he is said to have become an active and intrepid officer. A public
subscription was raised for him, but the amount did not anything like
adequately acknowledge his services to the country. Perhaps Burke himself
gave the best testimony to these services, when he said, to a gentleman
standing near him while he was making his confession before the
Sheriff--"The murders never would have been discovered had Gray not found
the body among the straw." This was supplemented by "Candidus," the writer
of the letter to the _Caledonian Mercury_, who remarked--"Could they (Gray
and his wife) have been bribed not to inform about the dead body, these
murderous _fiends_, Burke and Hare, aided and abetted by their _miscreant_
female companions, would still have been pursuing their dark deeds of
blood." The relationship between Mrs. Gray and Helen M'Dougal, it should
be here stated, was simply that the former was the daughter of the man
M'Dougal with whom the latter took up in Maddiston, and lived with until
his death, when she met Burke.