The Press. — London, England, 1858-09-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 4, 1858. LEO X. In the violent and fanatic brief which that Pontiff gave to his confidential friend, the Bishop of FABRIANO, when he sent hint to the Diet of Nuremberg, while he inveighed bitterly against the new doctrines, and appealed to the Princes of Germany to draw the civil sword against all who propagated or even favoured them, he did not hesitate to own that the troubled state into which Christianity had fallen was to be principally attributed to the clergy, and to the abominations, the abuses, and the excesses which the Holy See itself had been the source of : the disease, he said, had begun at the head and thence spread to the members, till, from the Supreme Pontiff's down to the lowest prelates, there was no one to be found who did good —no, not one. the King and his principal advisers, and between the King and the members of his family. They express, I understand, apprehensions of a popular outbreak, and they say that, from the divisions which prevail in the royal councils, it is to be feared that if one takes place it will not be easily suppressed. The situation of the French Govern ment in presence of this Sicilian danger is some - what embarrassing. On the one hand, it cannot and will not strength en the King by coming to a reconciliation with him, so long, at least, as he shall refuse to make the con cessions which France and England long ago demanded ; on the other hand, a successful revolt in the Two Sicilies might lead to a sudden resuscitation of the revolutionary spirit throughout Italy and in— France. As attention will probably be excited in Eng land by the accounts in the newspapers of the arrest of some Protestants at Maubenge, nea r the Belgian frontier, who had assembled for Divine service, and of the prohibition by some de partmental prefects of the hawking about of I'rotestant Bibles, it may be well, in order to re move misapprehension, to state that, in all pro. bability, the Protestants in question neglected to observe some of the very strict formalities which are imposed on all public meetings in this country, even those for Divine worship; and that the prohibition of Bibles, though in Protestant eyes extremely illiberal, and even wicked, is no novelty, and is in accordance with what is done wherever the Roman Catholic clergy possess predominating influence. Doubtless, it is to be regretted that France does not enjoy more liberal laws ; but as she does not, it would not be fair to get up an outcry against the present Govern ment for executing those she has. It may be added that in some places, of late years, the re volutionary party have held meetings under pre tence of being Protestants, and have spouted at them the wildest sedition—a fact which naturally renders the Government somewhat suspicious of the movements of soi-disant Protestants in towns where Protestants were never before known. Some weeks back I informed you that Marshal Bandon had resigned the Governor-Generalship of Algeria, but I learn to-day that it was not until yesterday that his resignation was formally accepted. lie felt bound to give up the post in consequence of his authority having been trans ferred to Prince Napoleon, the new Minister of Algeria and the Colonies. General M'Mahon, of Crunean celebrity, will most likely be nominated Governor of Algeria, with little more than nominal powers. I hear it said that before long a series of regulations for that colony, drawn up by the Prince, will be decreed by the Emperor. The Emperor and Empress have gone to Biarritz, leaving behind them, as last year, the little Imperial - Prince. By the way, when Lord Palmerston was received by their Majesties, they, not without pride, showed him the little Prince ; and it is positively asserted—whether truly or not I cannot tell—that his lordship solicited and obtained the honour of kissing him ! If this should be true, one would almost be inclined to credit another story which is current about the noble lord, but which is certainly not becoming his dignity as an ex-Minister : it is, that hear ing that the Emperor wears, in hot weather, a Panama straw hat, which cost the enormous sum of 641. English, he humbly prayed to be allowed to see it, and it was brought forth for him ! A third story told of him I am not at all disposed to believe : it is, that on being shown at the Louvre the coats, waistcoats, chemises, stockings, pocket-handkerchiefs, and other articles of ap parel belonging to Napoleon 1., which are there exhibited for the veneration of the vulgar, he was "profoundly affected," and even tried to shed tears, but couldn't. A slight thing pleases the Parisians; and they are now talking, with very evident pleasure, of having a real Chinese Ambassador in Paris before long. If one should come, he would certainly for at least a whole month—an eternity in a I'arisian season—be one of the greatest lions ever seen. He would have to eat dinners until he would be almost dead of indigestion; to go to soirees until he would be wearied and to finre at balls until he could scarce l y walk; and, besid i (as the Queen was) he would be overwhelineti with petitions for charitable donations, and would be pestered by thousands of people to make them Knights of the Chinese Orders of the Gree n Dragon or the Peacock. I hear that M. Fould, Minister of State, rather seriously ill at Vichy. Ills brother (lied quite recently. P.S.—From what I hear it is not at all impro• bable that the French Government will shortly send an expedition to Madagascar. It is not eren improbable that under the auspices of Prin ce Napoleon an attempt will be made to open up other African and Asiatic countries to French commerce : there is even a talk of forming a grand commercial company to exploiter those countries. CORONER'S LAW. TO TEM EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir,—ln your strictures upon the mode in which coroners administer the law, you appear to have over. looked the terms of the statute from which they derive their powers. The statute de officio coronatorfi, after defining this classes of cases into which A b i e nq i t n ti ti r u e, ire g d oe w s he on we t r o e, saanyd:—in whet Like wise it coroner is s s manner, cu t l ot p o able, either of the act or of the force, and who were present, either men or women ; and of what age soever they be (if they s c e a e n ve s r pe b a e k fe o u r nd have eul p a a n b y le d b i y sc i r n e ti ti n o i n) and h inquisition enin any neon yw of the manners aforesaid, they shall be taken and delivered to the sheriff, and shall be committed to the gaol." e s o t ed in that htaarng t yed h t h e i coroners, ro with s n ha e o r , eu s l , dn i . ot be permitted e p tts o et w di y e t r oa s bps l ru i e k rv e de n t t h to e a s a e rpge v ir st e offence from being before his court. It is alike doe to the gravity of the inquiry and to the interests of the party charged, who might wish to make his defence, that he should be there. The unseerob conflict of the two jurisdictions is not created by the coroner, who simply adheres to a practice which bee worked well for eight centuries. The powers of the justices, who are the successors of the conservators of the peace, and who, like the coroners now, were for merly appointed by the freeholders and not by the Crown, are comparatively modern. The statute I have quoted will, I think you will admit, disposed your progressive theory of, Ist, the coroner's inquiry; 2nd, the inquiry before the magistrate; 3rd, the committal. The fact is simply this, that if a person should, upon the coroner's inquiry, appear to have been guilty either of murder or manslauuhter,— according to the laws of England he stands coni• mitted, on the coroner's warrant, to take his trial in the ordinary way. Your maxim, that a coroner and a coroner's jury are to do nothing more thin "inquire into the facts," and "everything be yond that is unnecessary and irregular disquisi tion, the sole object and end of which are the self-glorification of the office," seems to me to require explanation. The duty of the coroner and thejari is to inquire whether any person be culpable. Cul pable of what? Why, it of anything, it must nee. eerily be of an offence against the law; and how is s jury to be reminded of the law, but by the coroner' and how can that be done, but by explanation and reference to the law ? The subject does indeed require ventilating, sod no doubt it will he. What is wanted is some legisla tion upon the subject, ariapted to the exigencies 0 .l t the age. One great fallacy which appe ars to prevai even in well-informed quarters is, that an inquiry . bY the coroner is like an ordinary proceeding betore the justice of the peace, having simply for its object h, detection of some criminal act. But, rightly viewil the duties of a coroner embrace a much wider fie i They extend not alone to the detection of foul p but to a public investigation by a perfectly pendent tribunal into the policy and administration of the laws which relate to the preser vation of human .. The t ; life—taws which affect our sanitary arran"nien navigation, manufactures, and railwa y s. embrace a consideration of all the mean' by which death in every shape ro may e t or averted. Can you suggest a more a a Pp p bunal than one which has existe d some eitl_cs. nine hundred years, and has on ma n y a trying '". sion done good service ? What is wanted is to d or n the and in some directions to extend , t he powers salon salon coroner, and to pay him by a mod erate proportionate to the value cf the s ervices of tnel;"`_. and intelligent public servants ins tead of, by —I au" sent objectionable system of payme nt by fees.nattri sir, your obedient servant, Wri.uAm Bentley, near Doncaster, Aug. 30, 18V. jortigß oLorrespoilbtnct. PARIS, Thursday. MArrnts are so extremely dull in the political arena just now that many politicians and journalists are endeavouring to make " capital " out of Lord Palmerston's presence in this city. At his great age, say they, he would not travel without an object, and, Restless, unfix'd in principle and place, In pow'r unpleased, impatient in disgrace, his object can be no other than to intrigue for the overthrow of the Derby Cabinet. Having settled that point, they go on to argue that as the Emperor knows that his lordship was ejected from power for no other reason than obsequious submission to the commands of his Majesty, and ignominious fear at the threats of the Colonels, his Majesty must needs be anxious to see him Minister again. Having settled that point, like wise, they come to the conclusion that the Emperor has promised to co-operate with the noble lord in trying to remove Lord Derby You will wonder that anything so extremely silly should be credited for a moment by men who are not fools; but Continentals are, generally speaking, so extremely ignorant of English politics, that they are ready to believe anything that is said, however impossible or absurd. Assuredly the Emperor is not ill disposed to the Derby Cabinet, and even if he were he must know sufficient of our country to be aware that nothing on earth would tend so much to consolidate a Ministry as a foreign potentate presuming to intrigue against it ; whilst as to Lord Palmerston, the recollection of the punishment he incurred for bowing to foreign dictation must still be sufficiently vivid in his mind to render him not at all disposed to employ foreign aid to get back to power again. The fact is, as I told you last week, that his lordship's visit here has no political object whatever : it can have none, in fact, for even supposing, as is likely, that he has talked about politics with the Emperor, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with Count de l'ersigny, and with Lord Cowley, the ambassador, what does it amount to ? Exactly to the same as a similar conversation with M. Thiers, or M. Guizot, or the Duke d'Aumale would do. In very truth, his lordship has come to Paris to amuse himself, just as Brown, Jones, and Robinson do, and he has come for nothing else. So certain is this that, like those respected gentle men, he has invested the sum of nine francs in the purchase of " Galignani's Guide," and like them is now, armed with the "Guide," going about to see the sights—" miladi " accompanying him everywhere. Accounts from the Two Sicilies of considerable gravity have, I am informed, reached the French Government within the last few days. Not only do they represent the disaffection of the mass of the people to have increased greatly, but they state that serious dissensions have arisen between re ki es The is ed 1 en Tx en rem ch the; a to ise put wri visi ma' Th , mii ith fru' et. the ter sch the bef ke in i is, hot par the hat er tiol [ley bet inc cul the the wit red al. the re tie cer be am oti; it c Ine tin of his Grp mlr gui the the ha; an the bre sot nut for. Pal the Del of e of kr; ml the wo ton aft are ini eat ob ner th vn be Pa thi the tw Lire At arY gu :al till - ex is s otl re t ad ag DO and de of pe rail fo by tit the is the sii el, ki Id. St iti de- lan it ti ley t: en , be a tra or ti ;he CI cry ble ire us, 1