The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-07 00:00:00

THR EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 7,1848.

administration ()flintier, and the honour of the English
bar., Isltas *risen out of the proceedings in the all*
of " Duren v. Denman," which has been more titaness, •
referred to in the House of Common denim theists ,
session, and the trial of which is fixed to take *seat
bar in the Court of Exchequer on the 3d of February.
The action, it seems, is brought by a Spanish subject
against Capt. DENMAN, R.N., to recover damages •
for the destroction of his property in the river Galli-
nes, on the western coast of Africa, and was
commenced so long ago as the 3rd of August, 1842.
As the acts complained of were committed by the
defendant while in command of her Majesty's ship
the Wanderer, and in exercise, as alleged, of his
instructions, hie defence has been conducted by the
Admiralty solicitor. Of thie, perhaps, the plaintiff
has little to complain, as it leads to the inference that
any damages which he may recover will be paid to
him by the crown ; but of this the public, who will,
in any event, have to bear the heavy costa of the
defence, and in the event of a verdict for the plaintiff
the damages also we presume, may very grievously
complain: for it cannot be forgotten that about
the very time the action was commenced,
Lord AitERDEEN, then Foreign Secretary, ad-
dressed a very formal despatch to the Admiralty,
in which he stated that the law advisers of the crown
had pronounced the cause of action to be unjustifiable
by public law, and decided that instructions might be
issued to the officers commanding our African
squadron not to repeat such " exploits." This, how-
ever, by the way only.
At the commencement of the action in 1842 Mr.
HAY, the plaintiff's attorney (who is the petitioner),
states; that he retained the services of Mr., now Sir
Firmot KELLY, and that, from November in that
year "up to the month of May last (with tho
exception of the short interval during which Sir
FITZROY KELLY held the office of her Majesty's
Solicitor-General), he acted under the advice of
Sir FITZROY KELLY in all the stages of these
actions at law," and that in consequence " Sir
FITZROY KELLY has become most intimately ac-
quainted with the case." In October last Mr.
liar, however, received an intimation that Sir
FITZROY KELLY could no longer act as plaintiff's
counsel, the ArroENEY-GENEHAL having required his
services as counsel for the defence. To this requisi-
tion Sir Firzaoy KELLY, it would appear, at once
yielded, though for five years previously he had been
advising the plaintiff and pocketing his money ;
yielded on the plea that he had " no choice in the
matter; that the Crown had required his services
and that he was bound by his oath of office [as
Queen's counsel we presume] to obey." Against
this grand larceny—this stealing of his coun-
sel, the plaintiff's attorney appealed to the
Board of Admiralty • bat though all the facts
of the case have {yen fully explained to the
ATTORNEY-ORNERAL and to that board " their lord-
ships have refused to forego the services of Sir
FITZROY KELLY ;" so Sir FITZROY, nothing loth to
all appearance, is now the defendant's counsel, with
all the plaintiff's secrets in his possession. Where-
upon the attorney, whose confidence has thus been
betrayed, and whose fees have been thrown away on
Sir FITZROY KELLY, and who at the eleventh hour is
left to seek another Queen's counsel—to be crammed,
feed, and, it may be, carried away also—petitions the
House of Commons for its interference ; and as that
house cannot now take the subject into its considera-
tion before the trial comes on, we propose to assist
Mr. HAY by calling fur an expression of public
opinion to prevent the perpetration of so flagrant an
outrage on honour, morals, and justice.
No one, either in or out of the profession, expects
a very high standard of moral or professional con-
duct from Sir Firznov KELLY—of Ipswich and
" apple-pip" notoriety ; but as an honest mao he was
bound to hare remonstrated with the ArrolorEy-

GENERAL &initiat being forced to change sides in this
manner, and to the prejudice of his client lIURON. If
"by his oath of office he could not refuse to turn
round at the Attorney-General's bidding, justice
to the plaintiff, whose fees he had largely taken, and
regard for his own honour, likely to be placed in a
most hazardous and delicate position by the ',auk-
rersement, required him to do everything in his
power—the more so because his original client was a
foreigner—to prevent the enactment of suck a change
of characters as none of this year's pantomimes
displays. Yet from all that appears in the petition
he has changed clients quite as a matter of course—
am readily as WELDERBURN did sides in the House of
Commons : it was an operation about which he had
"no choice;'' the ATTORNEY-GENERAL handed him a
fee, and he took it.
But what are we to say to the conduct of the AT-
TORNEY-GENERAL ? It may be legal; Sir FITZROY
KELLY'S "oath of office" may give the crown this
poser; but the exercise of it in this way hiss a ten-
dency to interrupt the due administration of justice,)
to destroy all professional confidence, and to lower the
character of the bar. The power to call the services of
Queen's counsel from a plaintiff to a defendant whose
cue is voluntarily defended by government, is,
we should suppose, doubtful. But assume its
legality, it must be exercised fairly —it must
be exercised in that spirit in which all
proceedings connected with the bar are supposed to
be conducted—it must not be exercised so as to
snatch at the confidence of the plaintiff—it must not
be exercised in an Old Bailey manner. Push the
ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S principle to its full extent, and
one by one might the plaintiff BURON be deprived of
every Queen's counsel whom be had successively re-
tained. If Sir FITZROY KELLY may be thus taken
from him, why not Mr. HILL? Admit the AT-
TORNEY-GENERAL'S practice, and the crown may de-
prive this foreigner suing in our courts of all the
leading ability of the English bar. If the crown
have this power it ought to be deprived of it ; if it
have not the power, it ought not to be exercised.
And will Sir FITZROY KELLY really appear for the
defendant in this action with the plaintiff's confidence
in his breast and the plaintiff's fees in his pocket ?
Or is it only a professional ruse on the part of Sir
/outs JERVIS, to deprive the plaintiff of Sir FITZ-
ROY'S services without requiring them for the de-
fence? In this light it would be bad enough : for
then Sir FITZROY KELLY would be feed for silence.
But to assign any part of the defendant's case to Sir
FITZROY KELLY'S conduct, for the defence to avail
itself of any of the information he acquired while
retained by and advising the plaintiff, would indeed
be an outrage on the administration of justice scarcely
exceeded by Mr. DIGRY SEYMOUR'S late performance
at York.

We have received our Paris despatches of yesterday
noon.
The King and royal family, with their numerous
suite, arrived at the Tuileries from Dreux, where the
obsequies of the late Princess were solemnised at 11
o'clock on Wednesday night. The reception of their
Majesties at Dreux was such as suited the solemnity
of the occasion. The houses and principal hotels dis-
played the national flag covered with crape.
According to a commonly circulated rumour, the
late Princess Adelaide was privately married to the
Baron Athalin, first aide-de-camp of Louis Philippe
and peer of France. This report, however, leas
known to be destitute of truth by all persons really
acquainted with the Orleans family. Baron Athalin
has been for many years married, and his wife still
survives. The baroness was an intimate and favoured
friend of the late princess, as well before as since her
marriage, and it is even said, that her union with
the baron was promoted by the advice and suggestion
of the princess h( rself. Whatever relations therefore
may have subsisted at an earlier period of life between
M. Athalin and Madame Adelaide, it is quite certain
that no marriage, private or otherwise, was ever con-
tracted by them. Persons, however, who have been
long in the enjoyment of the intimacy of the chateau,
and who were on a similar footing at the Palais
Royal and Neuilly long before 1830, have assured
us that no other sentiments were ever supposed to be
entertained by the late princess towards Baron
Athalin save those of the highest esteem and friend-
ship, returned on his part by the most respectful and
grateful regard and attachment.
Although no circumstances have really existed to
justify the late announcement of a London journal
that King Louis Philippe had resolved to abdicate
and get a regency nominated, it is nevertheless true
that in high political circles at both sides of the Seine
such a contingency forms the subject of much conver-
sation, and is regarded as an event placed very much
within the circle of possibilities, if not probabilities,
at no very remote epoch. The nature of circumstances
and the position and relation of parties confer, in the
opinion of many well-informed persons, more than
common likelihood on such an arrangemeat daring
the life of the present monarch. It would form a sort
of gentle declivity down which the monarchy would

glide without a shook, and even without violent pre-
cipitation, from the steady and practised hand of its
present experienced and sagacious ruler to his youth-
ful successor. The regency would, according to these
who favour such a plan, for several, perhaps many
years, be still guided and steadied by the present head
of the state, though occupying no position of admitted
authority. The collision which is more than appre-
hended between the party of the future queen-mother
(whose eonduot and character have already sur-
rounded her with much respect and consideration) and
that which would support the Duke of Nemours would
be adjourned if not prevented. Perhaps the ru-
mours of such a project have originated quite as
much from speculations on its intrinsic probability as
from any external evidence of its serious existence in
the thoughts of the only individual who could at
present realise it. Madame Adelaide being now re-
moved, there is one individual possessing a great
ascendancy over the affections, if not the understand-
ing, of Louis Philippe, who would undoubtedly
favour such an arrangement, as likely to withdraw
his Majesty from those attempts so often made
against his life. That individual is Queen Amalie,
whose mental sufferiage are visible to the least
penetrating observer on all occasions on which the
ceremonies of the state render it necessary to expose
the royal person to danger from the fanatical
assassin.
M. Guizot has laid before the committee of the
chamber on the address, a most formidable mass of
diplomatic correspondence on the Swiss question, con-
sisting of not less than 22 documents, commencing
with a copy of the treaty of 1814, which forms the
bases of the confederation, and terminating with the
last despatch of the Duke de Broglie from London,
dated 2nd of December last, giving a report of a
conversation with Lord Palmerston, from which it
appeared that all real intervention was at an end. It
would, of course, be quite impossible, within oar
necessary limits, to give even a synopsis of this
voluminous diplomatic discussion. A selection ft.c
it fills the chief part of the Journal des Debate al
yesterday.
The committee of the Okamber of Peers on the ad-
dress met on Wednesday,lßad heard the draft of the
address read a first time by the Baron de Baraute.
The chamber is summoned again for Friday. The
debate, however, will net commence before Monday.
The Duke of Wellington's letter, and the agitation
in England on the alleged defenceless state of the,
country, has begun to occupy the attention of the
Paris journals. Several of the leading papers of
Thursday have articles on the subject.
The Marchioness of Normanby has arrived at the
British embassy from England.
We have already stated, that in consequence of
some alleged disorder among the students attending
the lectures of Professor Michelet, the course was sus-
pended by order of the Minister of Public Instruction.
Several journals publish a protest by a considera-
ble number of students of the different school, against
this suspension. These young men maintain that a
professor ought not to be made responsible for dis-
turbances that may take place before his entering, or
after his quitting the lecture room ; for, if the students
were so disposed, they might, by these means, cause
the suspension of all the lectures by doing certain acts
or delivering speeches against the policy of the go-
vernment.

Letters from Naples of the 29th announce the con-
tinuance of the general state of agitation, but that no
popular movement of a violent nature had taken place.
It Re said the King wishes to make some concession to
the spirit of reform, bat is afraid of appearing to yield
to popular tumult. Some favourable changes in the
public administration were made, among which is es-
pecially to be noticed the removal of Marshal Lardi
from the command in Sicily, who was rendered in-
famous in the eyes of the whole civilised world by his
proclamation inviting the people to become betrayers
and informers. . . .

Letters from Parma of the 29th unhappily dissipate
the hopes, slight as they were, that were entertained
that the new sovereign of that duchy would adopt a
reforming policy. After visiting Milan, and sending
thence a body of Austrians to Parma, who are to be
followed by a much greater force, for which quarters
were being prepared, the new l)uke went to Mo-
dena to concert measures of repression with the
sovereign of that state. He thence sent a pro-
clamation, which we subjoin, and which, unfor-
tunately, destroys for the present every expectation
of the people emerging from an iron despotism
otherwise than through a revolution of violence. As
soon as this proclamation was published, thousands of
persons of all classes in Parma assembled and signed
an address, apprising the duke of the serious danger
to which he would expose the country if he opposed
the reforms claimed by the people. 'rho following is
the proclamation :
We, Charles Louis de Bourbon, infant of Spain, by
the grace of Clod, Duke of Parma, Piacenza, etc. &c.,
God Almighty having, in his impenetrable decrees, called to
himself her Majesty the Archduchess Maria Louisa,
of Austria, your well-beloved sovereign, our family is
about to return. after long years of enrolee, among you,
in virtue of the treaties which replace it upon the
throne of our ancestors. On taking into our hands the
government of the state, we assure you that our whole care
shall be devoted to your welfare. We are firmly determined
to reign over you with justice and love, to procure you every
real and permanent advantage, and to consider it our first
duty to maintain public order, the respect which is
due to the laws, the peace and tranquillity of the
immense majority of our good and faithful subjects
The respect and veneration in which we bear the remem-
brance of our glorious predecessor, deceased, and the con-
viction which we entertain, that the institutions established
by her, such as we find them, are needful to your present
welfare, make us declare unto you that we do not intend to
make the least alteration in them, but to follow exactly her
steps in the road of piety, love, religion, justice, and firm-
nem We confirm our ministers, the authorities both
civil and military, now in the exercise of their functions,
in virtue of the sovereign decrees of the august deceased,
your sovereign, and we trust they will, by their constant
fidelity and attachment, alleviste the weight of sovereignty
in these difficult times. My well-beloved subjects, the re-
membrance of our ancestors must be still alive in the bosoms
of many of you ; we shall esteem ourselves happy to follow
their example, and to be to you a tender and affectionate
father, trusting you wll prove tons sons equally affectionate,
respectful, and obedient, and then peace and happiness will
reign among us, and Ood will shower down upon us his
heavenly blessings—Given at Modena, this 26th December,
1847, CHARLES LUDOVIC.

The Roman journals of the 24th give in detail the
addressed delivered by the Pope to the consistory
on the 17th. In this document his Holiness, after
referring briefly to the affairs of Spain, mentions
the negotiations which were commenced with
Russia, which he declares have hitherto been
attended with no result. The contrary has
been pretended, he says ; but, as to him, all that he
can announce is, that-he trusts in the mercy of God
towards the children of the church. His Holiness
then disavows the charge made against him of a
false and indiscriminate tolerance. Such he declares
I is not the motive which prompted the late amnesty.
With respect to the affairs of Switzerland, his Holi-
ness bitterly deplores the demonstrations made upon
the taking of Lucerne; civil war is a lamentable
event; he deplores it with an affliction so
much the more lively as it proved of im-
mense injury to catholicism, which it menaces
with still greater evil, and that it leads to sacrileges,
which must be regarded with horror. The address
terminates with exhortations to all the patriarchs,
archbishops, and bishops, to disseminate the seeds of
union, peace, and concord.
We have received the Madrid mail of the 31st ult.
On that day a motion was made in Congress that a
message should be addressed to her Majesty, suppli-
cating her to invite the Infanta, her sister, to come to
Madrid, and remain at her side while next successor
to the crown. This proposal was, as usual, signed by
seven deputies.
The Minister of Finance brought in a bill to autho-
rise the government to collect the revenues.

AUSTRIA.—The Nurem7sery Correspondent states
that Herr Fruwirth, an extensive manufacturer of firearms
in Vienna, hill received from the government en order for
500,000 guns. It is added that, every day, a general, a staff
officer, and two captains, visit the factory, is order to make I
sure that the work is progressing.

GERMAN Jaws:lThe Jews of Vienna recently
petitioned the Emperor to grant them civil and
political emancipation, by abolishing the personal tax on
their community, the tax on theirs stay in towns, and by
giving them the right to be chiefs of trades and citizens. His
Majesty received the petition favourably, and referred it to
the competent authorities, who have since presented a report
in recommendation of it.
_ _ _

RUSSIA—ST. PETERSBCRG, DEC. 24.—SERrous
ILLNESS OP TEE EMPEROR OP RUSH/L.—The Cologne
Gazette of the bth inst. (Wedneaday) contains the following
article:—" Berlin, Jan. 2.—lt is asserted that the Emperor
of Russia is seriously indisposed (se& erkrankt) with a
bilious fever, a complaint from which his Majesty has
frequently suffered, and one which, as is well known, is
dangerous in Russia."