NOT for the first time, and not for the last, _Mr. Punch_ asks, where is
The Public Prosecutor? Why is it that the observations of Mr. Justice
BUTT and Sir HENRY HAWKINS are disregarded? Very much "for the public
benefit" was the sentence of one year's imprisonment passed on the
journalist who, without one tittle of trustworthy evidence, attempted to
blast the character of an innocent man. But is it not still more for the
public benefit that professional perjurers, suborners of witnesses, and
fabricators of false evidence--the suborners first and foremost--should
be publicly proceeded against, and treated with the utmost rigour of the
law? WINSER, the cabman, who gave his false evidence so gaily in the
Thirkettle Case, has been had up, and sentenced. Having dealt with
WINSER, it is only a short step from WINSER to SLOUGH--but perhaps such
a slough of muck, that it wants the pluck of a Hercules in the Augaean
stable to commence operations, and a _deus ex-machina_--that is, the
Public Prosecutor from the Treasury--to see that the proceedings are not
abortive. Oh, where, and Oh, where is The Public Prosecutor?
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