The Express.
London, England, 1862-03-18 00:00:00

NAM had constantly shown signsof Wad.
If such a case is henceforth to be excluded from
oonsideration, let the CHAwcasom say so. But
if, on the one hand, congenital imbecility
is still to form a good ground for finding
• man lunatic, how is it to be proved except
by tracing the conduct of the alleged lunatic
'from his birth If, on the other hand, this
history is to be excluded, is congenital idiocy to
be proved by the evidence of doctors, founded on
an inspection of physical peculiarities? Surely
it cannot be forgotten that the most cogent proof
of Mr. Wt.,: tuctir's sanity was the mode in which
he conducted himself at Eton, and the treatment
which ho met with there. Is it proposed that the
alleged lunatic is to be prevented from producing
such evidence, or is he to be allowed to produce it,
and are the petitioners to be forbidden to contra-
dict it It certainly seems that if such evidence
s really relevant to the issue, which it was in Mr.
WIN otwess cue, it must be admitted; and if it be not
relevant it ought to be excluded by the presiding
Judge, acco-tung to the present rules of evidence.
The same line of observation applies to the pro-
posal of the CH•NCELLOR. to check the " mad

;lectors." It is obvious enough that in Mr. WIND-
Hsu's case a mane of scientific evidence was
admitted which ought to have been excluded, and a
number of questions were asked which ought not to
have been answered. But when the CHANCELLOR.
' proposes to lay down by Act of Parliament that
the evidence of mad doctors shall only be admitted
" when the subject is removed from the ordinary
" sphere and knowledge of common sense," he
proposes a rule which it will be very difficult to
enforce. In ordinary cases before the Common Law
Judges it Is matter of great difficulty to prevent
doctors stating their opinion as to the state of a
lunatic's mind so as not to usurp the functions of
the jury. According to present rules, at least
as illustrated by the WINDHAM case, the
doctors in the witness-box were only asked as to
what they saw and what they observed, and to
state their opinion, as medical men, upon the ease.
The jury were allowed to draw their conclusion as
to whether the facts proved sanity or insanity. But
in what way the CHANCELLOR proposes to reduce
the number of mad doctors who may be called, it
is difficult to understand. It must be observed
that all the doctors examined in Mr.
WINDHAM'B case were persons who had seen
and conversed with him, and who stated to
the jury facts of which they had personal
knowledge. These facts were all material to the
inane, though questions may7have been put which
ought not to have been put. And so long as any
doctor is put into the witness-box who has per-
sonal knowledge of the conduct and demeanour of
an alleged lunatic, it seems impossible to refuse to
hear his evidence, or to prevent any number of
such witnesses being produced. Lord WESTBURY
may, no doubt, shorten the inquiry by placing on'
the bench a magistrate who has knowledge and
authority strictly to enforce the rulea of evidence ;
but no new Act of Parliament is required for
this purpose. It is the capacity of the presiding
judge, not the law itself, which most needs reform.

" EITIAOILDINAZT ROBEIELIES AT THE GENERAL
Pour-omes." Under this heading we pub-
lished on Saturday a statement, furnished to
as by a reporter of long standing, relating
the circumstances under which there had
been stolen, it was said, from the Post-office a
registered letter containing 5,0001. in Bank notes
and cheques, the whole of which had been realized
at the Bank of England in gold, and was eons&
fluently irrecoverable. We are now able to state,
on the best authority, that, with the exception of
the fact that a registered letter had been stolen,
the statement was utterly false. The stolen letter
contained the halves of notes to the amount of
651., and a cheque for 91. 9s.—together W. 9s. ;
and as one set of halves reached their destina-
tion, and payment of the cheque was stopped,
nobody will lose a farthing by the disappearance of
the letter. Some of our re►ders will doubtless
remember similar previous reportsof extraordinary
derangements and mishaps alleged to have occurred
at the General Post-office, and there can be little
doubt that they have a common origin in private
animosity. Reserving the right to take all mea-
sures necessary to protect ourselves and our con-
temporaries from further imposition of this kind,
we think it only due to put the public on their
guard.—Daily Neits.

LATEST INTILLIGENC&

ITALY.

At Turin on Saturday, at a grand dinner given
by the President of the Council to the Diplomatic
Corps, the senior member of the diplomatic body
proposed a toast to the King of Italy. M. Rattuzi
thanked the English ambassador for the sentiments
he had expreseed towards the person of the King,
and proposed a toast to all powers friendly and
allied towards Italy. The Prussian ambassador,
whose position was not without embarrassment, had
the tact to propose as his toast, "The Prince Hum-
bert." The American Minister then proposed—
" The happiness and union of a divided people."
This toast doubtless referred to Italy, but was
also susceptible el being applied to America,
"although," says the Nahosalites, "it has not
been generally deemed appropriate on inch occa-
sions to propose a tout to one's own nation."

(now oua owl

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 18, 1882.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

PARIS, MONDAY EVIIIING.
In the Corps Legislatif to-day, M. Baroche, re-
plying to the attacks of M. Picard upon the muni-
cipal administration of Paris, taunted him for
having brought forward the same amendment as
last year, supported by the same arguments, and
likely to be voted by only the same five persons.
He expressed the determination of the government
to maintain the present system—namely, a munici-
pality appointed by the Emperor, and not elected
by the citizens, and gave, for a reason, that this
system is " good, useful, and necessary, and that
the present municipal council of Paris is intelligent,
laborious, and profoundly devoted to the interests
of the city." Replying to M. Picard's assertion
that if Paris were polled it would prefer an
elected to a court-appointed municipal council,
M. Baroohe said that he would not inquire what
might be the opinion of Paris, because the question
was one eminently political, and concerned all
France. Even if all Paris should be against the
present system, that would be no argument, unless
you, the " representatives of the country," should
be of their opinion. This was a very artful way
of putting the case, because M. Baroche knows
very well that the present chamber is in the habit
of voting against every proposition brought for-
ward by the five members. It is an unanswerable
appeal to Bunkum before this audience to say,
"Gentlemen, are you not the representatives of
the people 1" because (except in the ex-
traordinary and unexplained case of Count
Palikao's flotation, which, moreover, is not
yet finally settled) the Emperor's nominees

have always dutifully obeyed his orders,
This same rhetorical flourish was always used with
equal success when K Picard exposed the other
day the habitual frauds practised by the prefects,
mayors, and all other functionaries at elections.
" What," said MM. Baroche and Billault, in the
teeth of the most damning evidence, "are you,
gentlemen, not the real representatives of the
people 1" Of course they voted that they were.
The mode of reasoning is a piracy from K Guizot,
who, when pressed to grant parliamentary reform,
exclaimed, by way of a clincher, "Gentlemen, do
you feel yourselves corrupted r But on this
particular subject of the municipality of Paris, K
Baroche's adoption of the old form of argument is
not plausible. The Corps Legislatif may agree with
him that not Paris but all France is interested in
the administration of the municipal funds of the
capital, and yet it does not at all follow that the
municipality should be appointed by the Emperor.
They might even disapprove of the Emperor's pre-
rogative in that respect, but their disapprobation
would not alter the law, because they have no
initiative, and can only accept or reject such pro.
positions as the Emperor chooses to bring before
them. If the reason why the Paris corporation
should not be elected by Paris citizens is that it
represents France, and not Paris, then France should
have a voice in the election, but that is not
proposed. K Baroche is still speaking while I
write. There can be, of course, no doubt about
the fate of the amendment, but M. Picard's
humorous saying, that the government would do
well occasoinally to "take warning" from the
observations of the journals, instead of "inflicting
warnings" upon them so often, will not soon be
forgotten. The debate on the address will pro-
bably finish to-morrow.
The Revue Contemporaine (speaking of the debates
up to the date of its new number, March 15) says
that the discussions in the Senate and Corps Legis-
latif seem to prove that the concessions of Nov.
24, 1860, require " either a complement or a cor-
rective." Those concessions maintain for the most
part the political system established in 1852,
and are confirmed by subsequent laws and
decrees, framed in a spirit quite in accordance
with the constitution of that date. Up to Novem-
ber, 1860, the country was assumed to be content
with whatever was. But now the Senate and the re-
presentatives of the people are authorised and en-
couraged publicly to criticise every act of the go-
vernment, It is not wonderful that after ten
years of silent adhesion, not (in many cases) by
any means voluntary, the suddenly unloosed
tongues shoull empty long pent up vials of wrath.
But now the question arises how far it will be
possible to dissociate the power of free criticism
from the power of remedying what the great bodies
of the state think wrong. Men of diametrically
opposite opinions, such as M. Pietri and hi Segur
d'Aguesseau in the Senate, and M. Jules Fevre
and M. Lemercier in the Corps Legislatif, condemn
in very splendid language this or that policy
of the government, and are invariably told
by the speaking ministers that the prerogatives
assumed ten years ago, with the sanction of univer-
sal suffrage, will continue to be exercised. If
this kind of thing is to go on—if the members
of the assemblies may say what they like of the
government on condition that their observations
are to go for nothing—there must be angelic
patience and self-denial on one side or the other
to prevent a crisis in which the government will
be seriously annoyed by censures and the cham-
bers tired of giving advice which is despised. The
great question is whether the dilemma will lead to
a forward or • backward step. The positive
declarations of MK Billault and Baroche that
the present laws on the press, the laws of
public safety, and other laws, severely attacked,
will not be parted with, and an exclamation of
regret let fall by Count de Morn), in regard .to
the reforms already granted, do not authorise the
belief that the government inclines, for the pre-
sent, to lean towards the liberal party.
A debate is coming on about the Society of St.
Vincent de Paul, and, apropos of this, Bullier's
Correspondence says that the government has made
• compitomise with the leaders of the society—they
are to elect their own president, subject only to the
Emperor's approbation.
M. Grote, the first secretary of legation at the
Russian embassy here, has just been appointed
grand marshal of the household of the Grand
Duke Michael, and will leave Paris immediately.
This appointment is cited as evideuce of the liberal
tendencies of the Grand Duke, because M. Grote,
whose father made his fortune in the red herring
trade, belongs to the new or parvenue nobility.
The annexation of Nice has brought a curious
law case before the court of Aix. An advocate of
Nis has brought an action against the ex-Duke of
Parma for 600,000 fr., the amount of fees alleged to
be due for professional assistance rendered to his
royal highness in the matter of negotiations with
the French government.

The Bourse was firm, but without animation. The
Rents left off at Saturday's prioe for cash,
80fr. 70c., and 69fr. 80c. (with a rise of 5c.) for
account. Mobilise rose Ur. 25c., and the Italian
Loan 25c. Railways were from Ifr. to 3fr. higher.
Prince Napoleon is expected to leave for London
the day after to-morrow.

A bill la now before the American Oongreee for
the establishment of an tagetooltural apirenasst to be.
pieced wider a commimicata appointed by the Presiding,.