The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-13 00:00:00

the assistance of a jury. Many cases have recently
occurred showing the necessity of a reform in thu
matter, to two of which only we.catiall allude, with
the hope that the LORD Amman; will at length be
stirred to devise a remedy for so flagrant a defect in
the administration of justice. About two months ago
a large steam-boat stopped at the pier of Xi!mum, a
beautiful village on the Holy Loch, a few miles from
the Clyde. She had not been at the pier above two
minutes when her boiler burst. Many passengers
were severely scalded, and jumped overboard
into the sea. Amongst others were a lady
and her child, who were brought ashore
dreadfully injured, and conveyed to a neigh-
bouring inn. During the afternoon the child died.
The hapless mother lingered for about a week in
great agony, and, after having given birth to a still-
born infant, died of lockjaw. If we are correctly
inkrmed, on the very afternoon that thes.xplosion
occurred, the steam-boat that had caused ?the mis-
chief was towed away. her boiler taken out,
and repaired, or patched up, and, days be-
fore the last fatal result of the calamity,
was plying on her usual station. There was
no investigation, except such as the owners
of the steam-boat chose to make for their own pur-
poses ; and if the Procurator Fiscal inquired into the
circumstances attending the deaths, he had no ocular
demonstration of the extent of the fissure in the
boiler, and no means of judging by whose fault
(whether that of the boiler-maker, the captain, or the
stoker) the accident occurred. Nothing was ever
known of it except from the meagre informs.
tioi, conveyed in a paragraph of a few lines
in the Glasgow newspapers, which merely mentioned
the deaths. No information was elicited to serve for
the guidance of future engineers or stokers, and no
satisfaction was afforded to the public by the know-
ledge of the fact, that some party or parties had been
held responsible for the past evil, or had been taught
more caution for the future. In England the case
would have been very different—so different that we
need not dwell upon the points, but leave our English
and Scottish readers to reflect upon and digest them.
'fhe second case is even more striking. A week
or two ago the police of Glasgow received informa-
tion that a shoemaker of the name of Fay had kept
his wife locked up in a privy for several months. On
breaking open the place they discovered a miserable
object, covered with filth and rags and vermin—half
dead with disease and famine—her body covered
with bruises—and her mind destroyed by ill-treat-
ment. The unhappy idiot was conveyed to the
Town's Hospital, and the brutal husband was given
into custody, along with some other persons, male
and female, who were cognisant of his crime, and
aided him in its commission. On Thursday list the
womau died. We barrow the conclusion of the
tragedy—more horrible than that of the Praslin
family—from the North British Mail of Saturday :
It was arranged that the interment should take place
yesterday, at three o'clock ; and, a little before that
hour, the husband of the deceased and a few friends
arrived at the hospital, in two mourning coaches, to
attend the remains to the gore-yard. About the same
time, however, orders were received from the procurator.
fiscal to delay the interment until the body of Mb de-
ceased underwent a medical examination. Drs. Easton

and Macgregor were appointed to discharge this duty ; bed
owitts; to the secrecy in wAicA all such inquiries are con.
ducted in Scotland, it is impossible to ascertain the particu-
lars of this inrestiyaton. or of the precious ones which were
instio•ited on tA is painful case. Great surprise leas mani-
fested at the liberation of l'uy on a paltry bail-bond of lot. ;
-and the decease of the unfortunate woman has increased
teal f.:l lag to • eery uneasy extent. Unless some circum-
stances transpired in the course of the examinations
which give the case an entirely different complexion from
that which it has assumed in the eyes of the public, the ac-
ceptance of bail fur any amount, and especially for the small
sum of 151., is certainly a very extraordinary proceeding."
Such " extraordinary proceedings" as these are of
constant occurrence in Scotland ; but this case is so
atrocious, if the original statement of it be true, that !
we believe the Procurator Fiscal will be compelled to
depart from the usual secrecy and privacy which
characterise the proceedings of all the gentlemen who
exercise his functions. Not only the public of Scot-
land.
who may be considered more immediately inte-
rested, but the public of the entire kingdom, have a
right to know upon what principles the administrators
of the law have acted in this case. A case more hideous
it is impossible for imagination to conceive; and the'
public justice requires, not only that it should receive
the fullest investigation, but that the whole of the
proceedings should be given to the world. If it be
right that the man FAY should be allowed to go at
large upon so paltry a bail, the man FAY has been
grievously injured by the published statements which
have been made in reference to the case. Some:time
ago, when Mr. MacNstu. was Lord Advocate, the
constant exposures of the evils malting from the
want of a coroner, made by the principal Scottish
journals, induced his lordship to issue instructions to
all the Procurators Fiscal to exercise more vigilance.
Bat no case equal in atrocity to this occurred during
his lordship's administration. We hope that Mr.
ItcrotanseaD will look to it, and that the Scottish
public will, in some way or other, mark their sense
of the defectiveness of the Scottish law as regards
sudden and auspicious deaths, and insist upon a
remedy.

Tits efficient organisation of the medical profes-
sion ought to form no secondary object with the
governments of civilised communities. We attribute
no small amount of the enormous sanitary evils, under
which this country labours, to the want of anything
like organic union amongst the members of the medical
profession, and to the inefficiency of existing medical
corporations. It was on this account that we drew
attention to the question of medical reform, and advo-
cated Mr. NVAHLETN Registration Bill as likely to
produce good results. But whilst in this country we
were contending for first principles, and seeking for a
small amount of beneficial change, the Chamber of
Deputies in France was ocuupied with dis-
cussing a much more complete and substan-
tial measure than any that has been proposed
in Great Britain. This has arisen from the fact that,
in that country, hospitals and corporations have not
been left to their own mismanagement and cor-
ruption. Long ago did France cast away the re-
proach of making her charitable institutions spheres
for increasing the wealth and the patronage of a few
ignorant and selfish surgeons and physicians. It is
on this account that Paris has for many years been
justly regarded_ as the first medical school in the
world. Her LAMM'S DUCtiYTKENS, LANNFAA, and
Lou is have never been the nominees of an irre-
sponsible few, but have obtained their commanding
positions through industry and merit alone. In
France there are not seventeen corporations to con-
sult at each step of medical reform, each with its own
paltry end and selfish purpose to serve in opposing
the public good.
For some time past, the attention of the Minister
of Instruction in France has been directed to improve-
ments needed in the present state of medical law,
and, on his representation to the King, a com-
mission, consisting of the most eminent medical men
in France, was appointed for the purpose of delibe-
rating upon the alterations required. The object of
this commission was to decide " upon interests affect-
ing the public health, the right of all classes to an
equal partition of medical assistance, the most efficient
guarantees of medical knowledge, the conditions
of the studies, and the sacrifices imposed
upon a whole class of the youth of France ; the ad-
vantages which may accrue to families and towns; I
the rights attached to professorships ; but, above all,
the progress and development of science, for this
interest must predominate above all others:'' Such
was the object set before the commission of medical
men in France, the report of a committee appointed
by which was the subject of discussion in the
Chamber of Deputies during its last session. Some
may inquire here whether such a commission of
medical men might not have been appointed in
England? But from whence, we ask, would
the materials for such a commission have been
found' Unfortunately, the most distinguished
medical men in England are all more or less con-
nected with some of her corporations, and it is the
class interests and class prejudices of these bodies that
have kept England behind every otter country of
Europe in her nu dies! organisation. At this moment,
instead of assisting Mr. WAKLEY to render his bill
for the next session more efficient and valuable, the
three corporations of London, the Colleges of l'hysi-
clans and Surgeons an theApothecaries' Society. are
using every effort to frustrate its becoming law. That
their efforts will be successful we doubt, especially
since the publication of the evidence taken before the
select committee of the House of Commor:s appointed
to imjuire into the registration of legall qualified
practitioners in medicine and surgery.
We cannot here enter into the details of the report

• lionarLs cn M ci ("rpm/el:Lion, by Id Nia Lcc.

of the committee appointed by the French medical
congress, but we are anxious to draw attention to
two principal topics which formed subjects of discus-
sion in the Chamber of Deputies. It has long been
the custom in France to appoint persons to many of
the professorships and hospitals by a public examina-
tion, called the contours. This the committee recom-
mends to be generally adopted as the only plan
which can secure the public against recourse to im-
proper
.practices for securing elections. During the
discussion in the chambers the roncours had some
violent opponents, but the practice has gained so
strong a hold upon the -French mind that it
will never be allowed to drop. Whatever may be
the objections urged against the contours it is un-
doubtedly a better system than that pursued in the
public appointments of this country, in which personal
interest is everything, and merit a matter of little or
no importance at all. We would here call the
attention of the governors of our hospitals to the
system of nepotism that is so generally pursued in
these institutions, not only to the degradation of the
medical profession, but to the manifest injury of the
sick within their walls. Surely the sufferings of
diseased and dying humanity ought not to be made
the price of the bargain struck between the officers
of our medical charities and their obsequious
flatterers ?

A second point recommended by the committee is
the suppression of a body of medical men in France
called " njfleiers de caste," who resemble in character,
station, and knowledge, the old apothecaries of Eng-
land previous to the passing of the Apothecaries' Act.
They perform, generally, only the humbler duties of
.the medical man, but are frequently called upon to
undertake the management of dangerous and import-
ant cases. The result has been, that from their want
of education much mischief has ensued. The French
government, therefore, finding these men in the way of a
11 better educated class, have determined on suppressing'
them altogether. In this one point we may, perhaps, be
thought to have had the advantage of France ; we '
have never authorised a body of men to practise with
so low a quality of education as the afficiers de
smite. It should not, however, be forgotten that at
this moment, with all our medical laws, we have no''
power in this country to stop from practising medi-
cine, the vulgarest quack that ever opened his'
brazen throat to deceive and gull the public.
In recommending the suppression of the offleiees
de sante, the French government has recognised the
great principle that the state ought to know nothing
of the grades of medical men.. It is for this principle
that we have all along. contended. It is the duty of
the state to protect its subjects from becoming the
dupes and victims of imposture and ignorant pre-
tence. It is the right of every legally qualified me-
dical man to practise what part of his profession he
pleases, and in any psrt ofher Majesty's dominions. In
order to secure the first, the state can establish an
uniform test of ability in all bodies giving diplomas,
licenses, or degrees, and institute a legal registration
of those who thus afford satisfactory evidence of their
ability to practice. The second object may be at-
tained by repealing ali restrictive powers possessed by
any of the existing medical corporations. It was
because we thought that the Medical Registration
Bill of tho last session would secure these objects
that we supported it ; and we shall shortly refer to
the evidence given against that bill, for what we
think is most conclusive evidence in favour of the
principles on which it is based.

The following appeared in a late edition of last
evening's Express.
The Paris journals and our correspondence of Mon-
day have coma to hand. . .

The announcement of the immediate negotiation of '
the new loan of fourteen millions sterling, which we
gave yesterday, has hod a favourable effect on the
money market in Paris, apparently for no other
reason than this, that it removes the state of uncer-
tainty which has hung over affairs ever since the bill
of last session was passed. The manner in which the
new stock is to be issued, and the conditions under
which the loan is offered, are given as follows :
The tenders are to be handed in, sealed, on Wednesday,
November 10, 1817,at twelve o'clock precisely, at the Hotel
of the Minister of Finance. The minister will first place on
the table a sealed paper signifying the minimum of price at
which he eau consent to the sale and adjudication of the
rente that is to represent the capital of 2.50 millions. This
paper is not to be opened except in caw no tender shall have
reached the minimum fixed by the minister. Once that •
tender is handed in, it cannot be withdrawn. Each tender
is to be accompanied by a receipt from the Caisees des Depota
et Consignations, for a guarantee of at least 10 millions of
francs, previously paid in. That sum may consist of inscrip-
tions of Three per Cent. relate at 731 ; or of Four, Four-
and-a.11a14 or l ire per Cent rente' at par; or of Treasury
Bonds, or of Canal Shares, guarautsed by the government.
Such deposits shall be paid back, within a space of twenty-
four hours, to the persons sending in successful tenders. As
soon as all the tenders shall have been put in, the minister
shall prteeed to open them in order, and the loan shall be
adjudged to the party offering the highest price, not below
the minister's minimum. Should two or more parties offer
the same highest price, and should they not unite together,
the bidding shall be continued at the s ime sitting, either
publicly or with sealed tenders, if demanded by one of the
parties. The payment of the 210 millions shall be effected
in 25 months, from November 22, 1047, in the followingpre,
portions: First instalment of 12,500,0001. shall be de
livered on the said November 22nd, 1017 ; a second one of
12,500,0001. on December 22, 1847 ; a third of 5,090,000 f.
on January 7, 1848; and all the rest, each amounting to
10,000,0001., on the 7th of each month, down to November
7, 1849. on which day the last instalment shall be paid.
The payments, however, shall be effected on the Bth, instead
of the 7th of the month, in May 184 S, and January and
October, 1849. The Minister of Finance shall alone be the
judge of the validity of the tenders. Within ten days after
the adjudication, the party obtaining the loan is to increase
the deposit to 2j millions. Should this not be done, the
former deposit of 10 millions shall become forfeited to the
treasury as an indemnity. The deposit of 2,1 millions of
francs shall not be obiigatorT if the party, within a delay
of ten days, shall pay by anticipation the two first instal.
meats. For those sums a discount of o per cent. per annum
shall be allowed for the time that is to run from the day of
payment to the period when each term becomes due. In case
the payment of an instalment is retarded, the debtor shall
be liable to pay 4 per cent. per annum interest to the trea-
sury, dating from the fifth day after the instalment has
become due. _ . . - _ _ .

It is understood that the house of Rothschild will
take the contract for the loan probably at 77, and
that several of the receivers-general will accept shares
in it. The Nationo/ has the following on this subject,
which indeed occupies a considerable space in all the
Paris journals of Monday:
The Moniteur leaves as no more doubt on the subject of
the loan. A royal ordinance informs us that on the 10th of
November there will be emitted a sum of 3 per cent. rental,
sufficient to produce a capital of 250,000,0001. These rennet
will be inscribed to bear interest from the 22ad December,
1847; the payments will be effected from 22nd November,
1647. to 7th November, 1349. What we feared is then aces..
I •
plished ! The Minister of Finance himself desired to d
this emission ; but • great financial influence, in a hussy ts
realise large profits, has triumphed. That was necemsrfly
, the case, for nothing can resist the aristocracy of money,
especially when the fault has been committed of increasing
its power tenfold by daily concessions, by railways, by
loans. &e. At present, in order to realise enormous gain,
It obliges the ministry to emit a loan at the most inopportune
moment. To-morrow, to prevent a national war, which
would trouble its sweet repose, or diequiet it as to the pre-
servation of its accumulated riches, it will refuse its co-ope-
ration, at the decisive moment, and when time will be want-
ing to create other resources. What a shame for a govern-
ment thus to seek support from • pawer so fatal, without
elevation, without dignity, without patriotism, always ready
to squeeze out the wealth of a country, which it abandons
when it becomes exhausted. When shall we set at the head
of affairs men who ere rosily desirous of the future welfare
of France, and of its interests In the meanwhile the fol-
lowing is what falls to the lot of the taxpayers, in the lout
to which we refer : it :is contracted at a moment in which a
financial crisis which cannot last renders the emission of it
moot onerous, and on such tern s that it is evident that it
takes place without tirgency, and in a manner to procure
enormous profits to the person who obtains the adjudication.
In fact, the Three per Cents, being to-day
For the interest of 22nd June

75t. 25c.

And the average of the 25 payments being
12 months, or at 4 per cent 3f.
From which must be deducted halfa year's
nide, for the interest. which will run
from 22nd Deceneler, 1411 1 .50 1 50

Tqtal

it may be supposed ;UT the adjudication will take place at
the price of from 77f. to nr. 40c. Now, the person taking
the adjudication with the skill generally possessed by those
who carry on this sort of operation, will have no need to
wait two years for an advance iu the public funds to realise
his profits ; he will discount it in advance by selling his loan
very dear in detail to a pablic both numerous and desirous
to speculate on an important eum of renteu by disbursing
little money at the commencement. So that by dividing in
two the difference of tut, which exists between the price of
the 3 per cents. of today, and that which it had attained 15
months ago, speculation will give to the person obtaining the
adjudication as immediate profit of more than K000,000r.,
and, besides, an equal part of the profits, but only in the
future. l'oor France !!

The reform agitation goes on augmenting. Ban-
quets have been given and numerously attended in
fifteen chief places, among which are Paris, Or-
leans, and Strasbourg. Similar meetings are en-
nuanced to take place at nineteen other towns, in-
cluding Amiens, Lille, Rouer, Bordeaux, liesam;on,