The Express.
London, England, 1856-04-11 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 11, 1856.

itself in any leagues or oonventione with the absolute
Governmeats of the Continent, with a view to
interference in the affairs of Italy. A proposal
has been made that the French and English Govern-
ments should interfere to mediate between the Xing
of NAPLES and his sebjects. It is to be hoped that
our Government will peremptorily decline all such
insidious overtures. The absolute Ruler of France
and the responsible Government of England could
act in concert—have acted with anacceo—whore the
object wee to repel foreign invasion from the terri-
tories of an ally; but in domestic disputes between
a despot and a people repining to liberty, the Ruler
of France and the responsible Government of Eng-
land can at present have nothing in common.

Ir was on Wednesday our painful duty to record one
of those dreadful incidents which mark distinctively
the social condition of Ireland. Agrarianism, which
for a season slumbered, seems to have lately re•awak-
cued to fell activity and vigour. Within the last few
months several appalling cases of mid-day assassina-
tion have followed each other in quick and terrible
succession. More than one of these appealed pecu-
liarly to the indignant sympathies of the community,
because the objects of unpitying vengeance were
women. A Special Commission is now sitting in the
county of Cavan to try the suspected murderers of
Miss liittne ; and upon the very eve of its being
opened another unhappy victim, of the same de-
fenceless se:, has in a neighbouring county been shot
to death in broad day while walking with her nephew
in her own grounds.

Of the circumstances that wad as the imme-
diate provaatiou to this dreadful deed we are se
yet but very imperfectly informed. Pkusiblesteries
of dispossession or distraint an always reedy upon
such occasions; and the character of the unfortunate
individual whose cruel fate has thus been casein-
mated was not of a kind calculated to cause any
special incredulity in the present instance as to the
troth of such tales. The time, we fear, has not yet
oome when details of the description we allude to are
destitute of significancy in mitigating the degree of
severity with which pradial crimes are reprobated in
Ireland. By us they are read with impatience, as
though they were obvious irrelevancies. On the other
side of the Channel it is otherwise. Everybody con-
cerned is the management of landed property in Ire-
land feels more or less keenly interested in the dis-
mission of what is called the cause of the lent great
crime committed there ; and the Irish impale will
be occupied for days and weeks to come in analysing
sad answering, statements of the manner in
which poor Mrs. XELLT dealt with the tenantry
of her somewhat extensive and scattered estates in
Westmeath and elsewhere. We tarn in sickness of
heart from such controversies, whose vehemence and
bitterness invariably betray the aflame of feelings
not openly avowed, but w►ose prevalence is the key
in a great measure to the inefficacy of all attempts
hitherto made to extirpate agrarian combination.
Apart from these perplexing and disastrous con-
, sideratiees, there Sr. some Incidents suggested by
the recent tragedy to which we would draw a
momentary attention.

There is hardly to be found, perhaps, in the
voluminous varieties of French romance, a story more
fall of strange and startling vicissitudes than that
which the life of SARAH BELLY might supply. The
daughter of an inn-keeper in one of the smaller
towns (AIWA, she had been brought up with as little
are as persons of her elate too frequently are;
and at an early age was sedated by a gentleman
of rank and fortune, by whom she was taken from
place to place, in order to elude pursuit, and ulti-
mately removed to Ireland. After no very pro-
tracted interval, the power to charm the veteran rani
for whom she had forsaken bee father's roof came to an
sod; and after a resident's of some months in Dahlia
she found herself not only abandoned but turned
out of doors, without the ordinary means of subsist-
ence. The circumstances beams accidentally known
to a well-known practitioner in the Irish courts of
law, and by him an motion was brought against
her betrayer; and owing to the singular exertions
made at the trial by Kr. Onst.s.thes a distinguished
Mei press advomite, damages were recovered to the
extent of several thousand ponds. The mains of
retrieval from bet deplorable position seemed the.
unexpectedly opened to lee; bat it was not so to be-
In the mule of a 4w weeks the whole of the sum
referred to was lost, by the Mare we believe of the
person in whom hands it had been deposited; and
the unhappy woman whose wens had enlisted fee
the hour the worthlme sympathy of the sentimental
and the idle, wee ones more brought hoe to facts with
hunger and privation. Who shall tell the struggles
' and remorseful efforts that she may have made to
escape the gaff of shame into which she was
eventually drawn P We dare not dwell upon the
fearful theme, of give unmarried utterances to voo-
doos that suggest themselves to every humane and
mereital mind that has calmly contemplated the
terrible temptations abet beset despair. Buffos
it to say, that for a period little short of twenty piers
this ill-fated woman lived in the eceiditica of an oat-
east is the city of Dublin, sad that at the end of
that time she breams the mistress, sad eventually the
wife, of a Mr. LILLY, who had messed a very con-
siderable fortune by the proferdes of the law. On
his death, some tea or eleven years ago, questions re-
garding the right to his real end personal estate were
raised by several members of his family. Bills of
discovery were flied in Chancery, and snits of eject-
ment were brought is the common law courts.
The proceedings were complicated and protracted, sod
famished lucrative employment to the gentlemen of
the long robe for several years. Mee. Baum was an
many occasions subjected to searching examination
by the pear:dad skill of those retained against her;
she had to answer mina* inquiries as to endless
series of facts, and to explain apparent incongruities
and inconsistencies that might have puzzled the brain

deny ordinary man of badness. Pitiless imputations
of fraud and perjury were hurled at her by her
hungry end avaricious competitors for the rich prise
at stake; and recourse was remorselessly had to ell
that in her previous life could tend to shake the
credibility of her testimony, or create prejudice
against her. Again and spin her legal advisers,
fearing that at some moment her self-possession
would fail, urged her to oomprornise with her antago-
elate, and be =stoat to save a portion at the
sacrifice of the rest. Bat with a comp
and oiestasey almost unrivalled, she rejected
all Nish resommesdatioes, except in one hetanee,
we believe of very inosnsiderable amount. She had
not swore falsely, she averred, and she would prove
it. She had not robbed the man who had rescued
her from poverty and degradation, and she would
asks all ma own it. She did Kt, sad sneseeded fa
obtaining the final judgment of every wart of law
sad of equity wherein she had been nod. Latterly
she has lived unostentatioosly, and almost In seek-
sire. We have Tomo to knew that she never ceased
to retain in her own hands the mill= direction of bet
pecuniary affairs ; and moneyed men, whom she
from time to time consulted with regard to par-
ticular investments, were streak by the aeon-
racy of the varied intimates As displayed,
and the quickness with which she appre-
ciated distiastioes or diatoms of whisk do
had sot bard beam How her loaded estates was

administered we rennet tell ; and, for the reason'
above glanosdat,we should be very slow in venturing
at present to form any opinion. Bat we think he
must have a strange nature who can contemplate the
wear of each a woman—neglected as a child, be-
trayed as a girl, tang u a woman seder the very
hoofs of fate, winning, after youth and beauty had
long rased away, the pity, confidence, and respect of a
shrewd man of the world, and in old age holding the
fortune he had bequeathed her against all odds to
perish at last by the hands of an assassin—without
feelings that he hardly knows how to express.

Wz have before ni the copy of a letter recently
published by Mr. Asucoui, the polio, magistrate, re-
lating to the tenure of office by the Magistrates of
the Metropolitan Police Courts. The point raised
by Mr. ARNOLD is very simple, but by no means
unimportant. His case is this. AU other judicial
functionaries in this country are made independent
of the Crown by holding their offices " during good
behaviour;" in other words, they an only be de-
prived of them in consequence of publicly proved
misconduct. The police magistrates of the metropolis,
on the contrary, and the stipendiary magistrates
in the provinces, only hold their offices "during
pleasure;" in other words, they may be deprived
of them without any cause publicly assigned, by the
mere will of the Home-celoe. Is there any valid and
satisfactory ground for this distinction? We think
not.

It is quite clear that the duties of the metro-
politan magistrates are at the present time ex-
ceedingly onerous and important. The sphere of
their powers is continually on the increase. They are
oonstantly called upon to pat new interpretations on
complex and difficult Ants of Parliament. They have
an extensive penal jurisdiction, quite independent of
police charges—they have a very considerable civil
jurisdiction—they can fine from a few shillings up to
hundreds of pounds, and in many oases inflict very
lengthened imprisooments without fine.
The question is, ought judicial functionaries of this
importance to be kept in a state of absolute depend-
ents') on the mere will and pleasure of the Home
Secretary for the time being ? Is it not desirable
that the judgment which has to be exercised on so
great a variety of matters of such moment should be
exercised, not only without fear or favour, but without
the possibility of any suspicion of either P And can
this be the case so long as matters remain as they are P
By way of reply to these questions we take leave to
state only one case out of several that are put by
Mr. ARNOLD. Under the Smoke-Nuisance Preven-
tion Act all proceedings before the magistrate are
initiated by the Home Secretary i every case is
investigated in his office, and he becomes actually
the prosecutor. " Here, then,' as Mr. Aithow
truly says, "we have an instance of a magis-
trate who Ins to adjudicate upon the merits
of a ease, holding his office at the will of the pro-
secutor—a state of things, I believe, quite unparal-
leled in the whole range of our judicial institution."
A single instance of this kind is worth volumes of
abstract reasoning. The system under which it is
possible cannot be a right system. We quite Inner
with Lord CAMPBELL, that instead of leaving Ohs
metropolitan magistrates removable, as at present,
on the mare order of the Home Secretary, it would
be far more satisfactory to make them removable by
an order of certain selected Judges of the Supreme
Courts, after due process of investigation.

A vacancy in the But India Direction has just
been caused by the death of Mr. Maus Maivu.m.
The appointment is in the hands of Government,
land we treat that it will be exercised with a due
sense of responsibility. Mr. Morris, the principal
opponent of the five time-expired directors, has, we
perceive, just been defeated by 80 votes through the
influence of the House-list. It would, we believe, be
Idifficult foe Government to make a better 'elusion
lfor the vacancy than Mr. Morris. He lea member of
the Madras Civil Service, and there is at resent no
IMadras civilian in the Direction. He is well
known as a man of distaste practical ability,
and of no mean peodoisoey in Oriental liter&
tore. On five previous memo= he has neUselsil
the votes of the proprietor& Is the d
present=
lout of 2,670, the total unmixe votes, be
in obtaining 1,067. Some year. bank he was, it may
be remembered, defeated by Mr. Marjoribanks, the
gentleman whose most signal qualification for sharing
in the government of India ooneisttd in his never
having set foot in the dominions he was to amid in
ruling. We feel confident that the appointment of
Mr. Morris would very generally be hailed as a wise
and beneficial mends, of Government patronage.

TIM ESSENCE OF THE BLUE BOOBS,
There is at length &chance of the blue books being
brought within the range of human powers of read-
ier, as far at least as the severer and more earnest
clam of students are concerned. Hitherto, these stu-
pendous folios have been among the Wit obiblia even
to the meet omnivorous consumers of printed paper.
They would have appalled the appetency of Maglia-
heal and turned the stomach of Justus Lipniis.
Their antlineas was as repulsive as their bulk.
And yet, in this unreadable and unpur-
abatable chaos, the raw material of most useful,
nay, invaluable knowledge lies buried. Who would
not be grateful to the skilled labour which should
succeed in extracting it ? Messrs. Smith and Elder,
with the valuable aid of PrJessor Levi (already
known as a marvel of indefatigable iodustry by his
laborious and learned work on " the Commercial
Law of the World"), am about to make the attempt.
For an annual subscription of two guineas they pro.
miss those whom it may concern an Essence of the
Blue Books--• sort of Bouquet de Parioneet—in a
saper-royal octavo volume " of not less than 1,000
pages" let us hope of net much more. If this work
is done well—and Professor Levi's name ought to be
• guarantee against its being dare badly—it will un-
doubtedly be one of the most useful publications of
the time. We heartily wish it all manner of snows,.

It will be men by oar parliamentary report that
Lord Jolts Busell &WIN to the Souse of Comeau leas
trashily to the commas of a domestic dB etit-n la the
fatally of the hon. member for the Wrst Riding. The
fared to is of a very dimming satire, c s si oo tog
of the sadden death at Wolaheim, Hades, on hloaday last,
of Yr. Cebdea's only so., a tooth of 16.

Th. marriage of thi Lady Lavinia Bingham,
daughter of tits Earl aid Coastal's( Lusa, with the Hos.
Charles Hardiase, eldest am of Verrosat Herding', took
pima yesterday at St. Q.srgs•. shu sh. liasever4quare,
is the pretests of a limited eirsie of privets &leads, tits
earesmay Mies eesdasted whit as htt!. display as pesible,
la rosemsesos of a resist &moods • fitiotios is Lord Lomas%
yalifly. TM bride wee &Mewled to it. altar by tee Hes.
Mks Steslay of Aldo/lay, Eke Jamas, the Hos. Eke Her
Mar, tad Kiss &room Bathant. Early is the thermos
the happy couple lest tows Is. Booth Park, mar Neslasnt.
As a compensation for tha over-time in which the
asetersys workless of Wealaktt sad D.ptterd kayo berm
ememerily messed for the despatch of the gas sad mortar
heats, it is said that the Leeds of the Admiral*, ham
decidod m Improprieties a stsem•voseel kg the &0801111110.

deities of the elves sailothon thus employed is Woolwich
sad Doptiowl dockyards, et so to suable anal, whims the
Oast to .he thole labours sad sztitioss Imo so imply
costribatod.

The Monitor, aanesaces that the rsilways half
Leaks to Dever sad Fellness,. Nut Corti& Is Newest*
Goa Dersastoe ti eteehtm, sod the Caledeatae Ha*, have
ceateet.d to trsaapart the &Waal, fee tin cattle obey at
Paris at the rates pill by exhibit we at the steelier of the
Soya &ditty el Agriseltere, aaraely, smalltime manias
of the Weals, sae a redsettee of 1G per lest ea the
treassort of atashiam sae feapieswate.

Ms works ea tbs railway from Marseilles to
Tosio• an es tie plat of WWI wwiest