The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-18 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS DAY.

OUR next day of publication in the ordinary coarse would fall upon
Christmas Day. To each and all we tender our sincere wishes that
Christmas-tide may bring to themselves and to their jdouses happiness and
pleasure ; and as it is not consistent with our view of what is due to the
observance o: this great Christian Festival that any in our employment
should be debarred from its free enjoyment, we propose to publish THE.
PRESS of the ensuing week on Friday afternoon, instead of on Saturday
morning.

Now that the Reform agitation has once been set going, there is no fear
of its being allowed to stop. We have this week four political meetings to
chronicle, exclusive of Mr. BRIGH r's, and all of them devoted principally
to this one topic. In Cornwall: we have had Mr. ROBARTE4 (Liberal) and
Mr. KENDALL (Conservative) addressing themselves to this subject,
neither apparently knowing very well what to say. But it must be con-
fessed that the latter gentleman brought forward a rather strange
reason for distrusting Mr. Disit.tim—i.e., that he was a man of such
transcendent ability. England has been too distrustful of men of
ability. Witness CANNING, witness BURKE, and many another who had
not the opportunities which they had. There cannot be a greater mistake
than this kind of talk. It teaches the people to distrust the only thing by
which they can, in the long run, be guided. If brains are not to rule,
we may just as well give up the old theory of the government of the few
by the many at once. The meeting at Glasgow, and the speech of Mr.
DALGLEISH, afford us nothing beyond the old well-worn argument which
Mr. BRIGHT has so often set up merely to be so often thrown down. Mr.
GERARD STURT, in the course of a lively oration at Sherborne, congratulated
the country on the new Reform Bill being placed in the hands of Lord DERBY
instead of those of the Whigs. " I mean," said the Hon. Member, " the
" Whigs proper, not the Liberals, for they are as tar apart as the two
" poles; and if there is one thing which a Whig thoroughly enjoys and
" appreciates, it is a job. They were born jobbers, they were bred
" jobbbers, and they will die jobbers. Now Ido hope Lord DERBY, when
" he brings in the Reform Bill, will not lay himself open to that charge ;
" and [ hope Lord DERBY, when he brings in the Reform Bill, will bring
" in such r tiill as the advanced state of civilization and increasing know-
" ledge of this country demand; and, if he does this, I am convinced
" that the people of this country will rally round Lord DERBY, and will not
" countenance any attempt to defeat him for the sake of popularity, or
" merely for the sake of gaining the advantage of six months' office.
" Thikt is my opinion, and my advice to you is—put your trust in Lord
" DERBY." Mr. STURT also made use of some very sensible observations
in relation to the French alliance, and commented on the absurdity of
those attacks upon the Emperor which are to be found in some of our
journals, while at the same time the whole country admits the good
policy of the French alliance.

Whether the acquittal of Mr. WELLINGTON GUERNSEY on the charge
of stealing the despatches be in accordance with law, we will not at this
moment undertake to determine; but, according to Baron MARTIN'S sum-
ming up, it is obviously contrary to common sense. To make out the
charge of larceny, we are told, it is necessary that the offender should have
manifested an intention to deprive the person injured of all property in the
article abstracted. Now, in what does the property in a document of this
character consist ? Clearly in the intelligence which it contains. When
the despatch is made common property by publication, it ceases to be any-
body's property in particular ; and clearly, therefore, its original proprietors
have suffered some kind of loss, for which they ought to be able to obtain
redress. If the Jury's verdict be really according to law, it indicates a
defect in our legal system which ought speedily to be remedied. If a man
takes letters from a merchant's office, and publishes the contents, thereby
jeopardizing the credit of the firm he belongs to, have they no remedy,
unless the publication can be brought under the head of a libel ? If such
an action is not to all intents and purposes theft, words cease to have any
meaning. To say that Mr. GUERNSEY expected no advantage to himself
from what he did, is downright nonsense. It might not be immediate
pecuniary advantage, but he must have hoped to further his own interests
in some way by the transaction, or he would never have imperilled his own
safety ashe did. Or arc we to suppose, as was more than half implied by
his counsel, that he was actuated only by patriotism ? He simply desired,
says Mr. Sergeant PARRY, that the despatches should be made public.
Now, to pass over the manifest absurdity of allowing any private individual
to constitute himself the judge of what Government intelligence ought to be
made public and what ought not, and of adopting this very summary pro-
cess of' carrying out his views, see the glaring contradiction into which the
Learned Gentleman has brought himself! He admits that his client's cha-
rirter is blasted. But, although any gentleman's presumption in investing
)unaself with the discretion here spoken of might bring him within
the grasp of the Lunacy Cormuissioners, it certainly would not blast his
PAntcy b...gged tho Jury not to fOßVitt him, *TOW