The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-28 00:00:00

822 the duty of a coroner. In early times, when law less violence was quite above the power of the executive, and many feudal lords possessed and exercised the power of life and death almost unchallenged over their vassals and dependants, paramount allegiance of all subjects to the Crown and the consequent loss to the realm by the death of any man within it was asserted by the officer whose name (a clrona) marks his duty. It was plainly to investigate the circum stances under which the deceased came by his death, and, if possible, to ascertain whose were the band or hands, as the case might be, who were the authors of it. In no one instance is a power of punishment or reward committed to him; and the sole judicial act consequent on his exer cise of his office, is the finding of the jury or inquest, to which they solemnly attach their names. Such being the first step in the course of justice—in fact, the inquiry whether the sword of justice should be unsheathed is followed in regular course by the inquiry before the magis trate and committal of the accused, and subse quently by arraignment before his Peers at the criminal bar of the country—the whole essence and value of these proceedings is their complete publicity and impartiality; and such fortunately has been the character that by a long course of years has been justly earned by every one of our courts of justice. But, on the other hand, the importation of unnecessary and irregular disquisi tions, the sole object and end of which are the self-glorification of the office, tend not only to the bringing of the proceedings into contempt, but materially hamper and entangle the even course of law. So when the Coroner, on the occasion we have referred to, observed in his summing up— " If Lieutenant CLAVERING and Captain MILLER believed they were assaulted by a person whose intention it was to rob or to inflict personal injury on them they were right in acting in their own defence ; but they had stated that, notwithstand ing the provocation they received from the de ceased, no thrust or blow was inflicted on him by either of them during the affray ; and there was the statement of Mr. LINGHAM, the surgeon, that the deceased might have sustained the wound by rushing forward and falling on the sword. Sup posing it possible that the wound was wilfully inflicted by Lieutenant CLAVERING, no transaction could hardly be of a more dark or brutal cha racter. It was impossible to say under what cir cumstances the wound was received by the deceased ; but, supposing it to have been inflicted as represented by Lieutenant CLAVERING and Captain MILLER, by the deceased rushing or falling against the sword, the ,jury could return no other verdict except homicide by misadventure or that of accidental death. 1f however, they thought the wound was inflicted by Lieutenant CLAVERING in the heat of passion, it would without doubt amount to manslaughter. On the other hand, supposing they believed he delibe rately and wilfully gave the deceased that stab it would be murder, and as atrocious a murder as ever was committed. Ile (the Coroner) would express no opinion on the facts. The jury had to look at the circumstances, and if they appeared to them to brand the transaction as one of an atrocious character their verdict must express their opinion, or they would not discharge the obligations imposed by the oath they had taken. The maxim of English law was that if there was a doubt, a person accused of a crime ought to have the benefit of it. But, if the facts in this case were not susceptible of doubt, the duty de volved on the jury of expressing their opinion fearlessly in their verdict, regardless of conse quences"— We contend that such questions arc quite out of the scope of his inquiry; and when a demand is made for the production of the accused to satisfy a mere idle curiosity, as it appears to us, and thereupon a disgraceful contest is opened up between the police and the coroner as to the custody of the prisoner, there can be no doubt that a more certain definition should be authori tatively given to the duties of an office whose importance is somewhat waning in modern times, which perhaps may account for the undue assumption of it. It was very well for the Coroner in the above case to say he would express no opinion on the facts, but the question is, has a Coroner's Jury any right to exp ress an opinion on the facts any more than the Coroner ? TII E PRESS, AUGUST 28, 1858. Is not their simple duty to discover what the facts are? We are perfe3tly well aware that the constant practice of these juries at the present day is to go beyond this ; but we sincerely doubt whether, in doing so, they arc not exceeding what is in reality expedient We think it desirable that this subject should be ventilated, and we have accordingly thrown out the above suggestions. For, to judge by the results, there certainly seems to be something wrong in the mode of conducting these inquiries at present. lartiga darrespanenct. PARIS, Thursday. TIIE political event of the day is a speech deli vered by Count de Persigny, the ex-Ambassador at London, in the Council General of the Haute Loire, the department to which he belongs. It is remarkable for the manner in which our country is spoken of. England, says the Count, is sincerely desirous to maintain the alliance with France ; but she not unnaturally took offence at being denounced in speeches from high official per sonages in Paris, and in addresses from the army, as sympathizing with the odious Italian assassins who in January last attempted the life of the Emperor. Nevertheless, he says, her anger, which he evidently thinks was, under the circumstances, perfectly justifiable, has not led to any real estrangement between the two nations, and he proclaims that it depends entirely on France to re-establish and maintain the alliance in all its former cordiality. This language has created a profound sensation, and it will no doubt entirely dissipate the singular notion which has taken possession of a large portion of people's minds in this country, that the predominant sen timent in England is a dislike of the alliance, and a desire to see it dissolved. In thus speaking, Count de Persigny has once again demonstrated that he has the sagacity to perceive that the Anglo-French alliance still continues the best safeguard of the Imperial Throne and of European peace, and the courage to proclaim his convictions, even though in so doing he runs the risk of giving offence to a not inconsiderable number of his countrymen. Apropos of M. de Persigny, Lord and Lady Palmerston have arrived in France on a visit to him at his country seat. Passing through Paris on their way there, it was natural that they should be received by the Emperor, and they have obtained that honour. The reception took place at St. Cloud the day before yesterday. Of course the presence in Paris of a veteran states man like Lord Palmerston has occasioned a good deal of gossip in political circles ; but it has really no sort of political import ance whatsoever. This is so true that all the foreign Ambassadors and some of the French Ministers have this very week gone from Paris, deeming evidently that his lordship can do and say nothing which it can concern them to know. In Paris, you are aware, there are a number of French and foreign intriguers whose object is, by any means, to bring about a misunderstanding between France and England. To these bad minded people the bombardment of Jeddah seemed a godsend ; they went to and fro prating that it was done by England in violation of an agreement with France that French ships should take part in it, and that it was consequently a gross insult to France. But this new attempt to create discord has completely failed. The French Emperor and his Ministers do not consider that they have any ground at all for complaining of the bombardment ; on the contrary, they rejoice at it, because it was necessary, in order to over awe the barbarous population ofthe place, that the chastisement for the recent assassinations should he promptly administered ; and as France has no ships in the Red Sea, months would have bad th e surprise co - operation. p E as ag se l i i :l sh b w ef a o it r ed e anythincouldg arraed ca b - e " thrdeo=r4co,:se:ehaar: Considerable interest, and greater some what caused by the announcement that% s a e ' h" Pelissier, notwithstanding his and ten " (minus twice twelve months), to marry a Spanish lady of the name of Valerashout d h e ea l a 'a ti i f i a ier surpassinglyatth though s le has described what staid age of twenty-six ; as of ri,4 noble family, though very poor ; and as a ?' nend and even a relative of the Empress. The Marshal, it seems, was struck with her charms some months afro ; but he would probably never l thought of matrimony had no t the Empress,la anxious to provide for her friend, "inspired" him with the idea. And when h e gave a "coy,i reluctant " consent, her Majesty d as h e d into tlt matter with such impetuous zeal as to leave him no chance of backing out, even if he had been so disposal. The wedding is to come off on the Bth of September, the anniversary of the taking of the Malakoff tower, the exploit which gave the Marshal glcry, title, and fortune. Albeit the Marshal receives from the public treasury for • his various employments and dignities a far larger sum than any other man in France, excepting only the Emperor, his Majesty has not - thought fit that he should be allowed to marry a portion less bride, and has accordingly resolved, with his usual lavish generosity, to present the fair senorita with a million of francs-40,000/ ! As was expected, the Emperor delivered a speech at a banquet at Rennes. but it contained no reference to foreign politics, nor, strictly speaking, to domestic politics, being little more than a string of neatly-turned generalities ad dressed to the Bretons. An expectation had been entertained that his Majesty would in this discourse announce that important relaxations would be made in the system of government, as regards the press, the right of public meeting, and political liberties in general ; but the expec tation has been disappointed, and, in fact, a little reflection would have sufficed to convince any one that the Emperor would hardly make a pro vincial dinner the occasion of promulgating his intention of effecting what would be nothing less than a complete revolution in the existing form of government. Notwithstanding the terrible fatigue which the Emperor and Empress underwent in their long "progress" through Brittany, they both were in excellent health when they reached St. Cloud on Saturday evening. Their Majesties have, how ever, instead of going off to Barritz at once, as they originally intended, deemed it advisable to remain quietly there till Monday next. Before the departure the Emperor will despatch to Queen Victoria a cannon—made to fire shell as well as ball according to his recent invention. It is intended as a return for the cannon with which her Majesty presented him. The French have a saying that " les petits cadeaux entre tiennent l'amitie ;" and it may be asserted that when sovereigns are exchanging "petits cadeaux, the alliance between their respective countries must needs be a "great liict." As usual at this season, Paris is as dull as a small provincial town on a rainy Sunday—saciety being broken up and dispersed, and everybody who is anybody, or who thinks himself so, being ashamed of being seen on the Boulevards. But two noblemen who happen to be here by the merest chance—one the young Duke de Grammont- Caderousse, member of one of the most ancient and distinguished families of this country, and a foreigner whom some persons state to be Count de la Roca of the Sardinian Embassy, others a Spanish duke—have kindly afforded some relief to the dreadful monotony under which we arc labouring, by slapping each other's faces at Franconi s Circus and fighting a duel the next morning. The immediate cause of the encounter was, it seems, the arrogant refusal of the foreigner to return the salutation of the French duke; which refusal was the consequence of a bitter quarrel of long standing. The duel did no liarni to either, beyond a little pricking of the dio l wrist. Grim dowagers of the Faubourg St. Ger; main arc, it appears, indignant extremely, 1.1,1? are exclaiming loudly —quelle horreur ! gis horreur—at the idea of two noblemen exchanguli blows ; but the profane vulgar are rather dispo_ to regard the affair as "jolly." Undoubtedly the vulgar are grossly in the wrong; but, wen, Paris is so dull!