The Express.
London, England, 1862-06-19 00:00:00

4 i.'

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tanX nPEIOSS,

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their forensic undertalaisi. Hot . did popular
suspicion in fanner days spare the judicial
bench. That bench was once the chosen seat of
party rule, the entrenched camp of sectarian do-
mination, the high place of prejudice, partisan-
ship, and political oppression. The voice of the
law sounded like the sound of vengeance ; and the
features of justice were reddened and wrinkled
' with ill-suppressed rage. Terrible traditions are
still preserved of the scenes enacted in criminal
courts in Ireland under the old rdgime ; and even in
our own time, traces have been observable that the
ill habits of faction had not been wholly extirpated.
Happily for the true interests of society, all this
now is changed. The public prosecutor is no
longer chosen for his office because he has proved
himself elsewhere a fanatic or a firebrand ; and
the judge who tries the criminal, whatever his
religious or political leanings may be, is rarely,
if ever, supposed to betray the recollection of
them when presiding in a court of criminal justice.
We say this, and we rejoice to be able to say it,
irrespective of party or creed ; and we know not
any element of good more beneficent or pure, or
one to the continued prevalence of which we look
forward with more hope for the future condition

of Ireland.
The mere fact that the supreme tribunals by
which questions of life and death are disposed of
have ceased to be exclusive in their composition,
tends greatly to strengthen the moral weight of
every sentence they pronounce. The observance
of the same principle of impartiality in the choice
of administrative functionaries of every degree
contributes potently to the same result. Instead
of Orange judges, sheriffs, and jurors, the Catholic
peasant accused of Whiteboyism is now brought up
in the custody, it may be, of a Catholic sheriff, ar-
raigned probably before &Catholic judge, and tried
by a jury one half of whom are tolerably certain
to be professors of the same communion. Occa-
sionally, no doubt, jurors disagree ; and their dis-
agreement is sometimes imputed, rightly or
wrongly, to the prejudices of creed or clams. But
the temporary failure of justice now and then is
as nothing compared with the civilizing and
humanizing influence of the more excellent way
which has gradually come to be established- In
the main the guilty are made amenable, and the
innocent are acquitted; and what is equally im-
portant, the public mind is no longer poisoned by
doubts and misgivings about the fairness of either
conviction or acquittal. One, if not both, of the
judges named in the Special Commission which
opens this week at Limerick, belongs to the religion
of the majority of the people ; and the law advisers
of the Crown, under whose direction these excep-
tional proceedings are about to be taken,
are partly of one set of opinions and
partly of another. We can afford, there-
fore, calmly to await the issue, whatever it
may be. It is not for us to hazard any conjec-
ture as to the guilt or innocence of those on whom
the dreadful suspicion of direct or indirect compli-
city has fallen. What we wish to dwell on ratheris
the consolatory assuranoe that not only will these
unhappy persons have a fair and patient trial, but
that all will feel they have bad it. In the frail
ness of newly awakened horror and disgust at two
or three fearful acts of violence, people are liable
to forget the disproportion which, at worst, these
atrocities bear to those with which, some five-and-
twenty years ago, we were but too familiar. Vice
and crime of every kind, as a national reproach
and a national evil, must, alter all, be estimated
comparatively. We loathe the theories and ideas
that would ascribe to the merciless necessities of
climate, soil, or race the recurring tendencies to
evil. We have seen with our own eyes great
mitigation and great amendment in agrarianism on
the other side of the Channel, and we aro quite
sure that it is neither !ust nor wise to countenance
the thoughtless and sinister e:,"ccielice which we
"things are just bad ,„; ever."
sometimes hear,
This is not true in any sense of the term, and til!kt
it is not true we must say we attribute very much
to the more equal spirit of improved laws, and the
more humane and patient temper of those who
administer them.

Conn. .

WINDBOR CAII.R, Jun 13.
The Queen, accompanied by the Prince of Wales
and Primer Alice, walked in the grounds this morning.
The Right Hoa. Sir George Grey arrived at the Quitle
yesterday, sad had so audience of her Majesty.
The Countess of Caledon has succeeded Lady Churchill,
as Lady in Waiting.

The Viceroy of Egypt was seized with sudden indisposition
yesterday, which prevented his Highness leaving his yacht,
and proceeding to the Turkish Embassy, in London, for the
pumas of receiving a deputation from the church of Scot-
land. The address will therefore be received this day
(Thursday) at Woolwich.
A deputation, consisting of Mr. Nisbet (churchwardeo)
and Mr. S. J. ifyam (vestry clerk), from Spitalfielda
Hanson and Mr. Talbot, from Bt. Andrew, Holborn, and
Bt. George the Martyr ; M. F W. Shorter, from St. John,
at Hackney ; Mr. A. C. Reed and Mr. Tifiln, from Wool-
wich ; Mr. T. Rsffey, from Lambeth ; Mr. W. Newton,
from Mile -mid Old-towa ; and Mr. R. Madding and Be. H.
Mitchell (vestry clerk) from Whitechapel, had an interview
with the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers, yesterday, at the
office of the Poor-law Board, Whitehall.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat yester-
day in the Council-ebamber. On a petition from Aatigna,
" Kennington v. Houghton," for leave to appeal, Lord Jus-
tice Knight Bruce, on the part of their lordships, dismissed
the petition with cats. As appeal from Jersey, " Lean-
priers v. Vibert and others," was heard ez. parte. Au ap-
peal from Gibraltar, Tarim, v. be Pines and another,"
was commend. The lords present were the Lords Justices
Knight Bruce 'Bernina; and Sir E. Ryas.
Despatches were sent yesterday from the Colonial-office
to the Governor of Malts.

TifUiSI3AY EVENING, JUNI

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.
GARIBALDI IN SWITZERLAND.
The charming little village of Locarno, in tho
canton of Ticino, was a scene of extraordinary
excitement on the evening of the Bth. The streets
and roads were thronged with an enormous crowd,
comprised of inhabitants of every town in the
canton and an immense body of peasants. While
all was expectancy the booming of a cannon was
heard. An immense shout was raised, and
the neighbouring mountains re-echoed thou-
sands of voices, exclaiming " Long live
Garibaldi!" The gun was the signal of the
debarkation of the conqueror of Varese. At
the Crown Hotel, which was decked with Italian
and Swiss colours, Garibaldi was called to the bal-
cony, but, owing to the almost delirious excitement
which prevailed, not a word that he said could be
heard. At a banquet a splendid Swiss carbine
was presented to him by a deputation. In
the course of the evening Garibaldi was seen to
caress some little children, and this so delighted
the spectators that several ladies and young girls
surrounded the general and solicited bim to kiss
them on the forehead. The account says that lie
consented, and that to many of them he expressed
the hope that their children would be valiant de-
fenders of the liberty of their country. The next
morning, at 6 o'clock, the shored' of Logo Maggiore
were covered with a multitude, who greeted the
illustrious general on his embarkation with, if pos-
sible, even greater enthusiasm than they had dia-
on the preceding evening.