The Express.
London, England, 1859-12-30 00:00:00

SONDON. FRIDAY. DER 30.

Az interesting discussion has been going on lately
In the French press, occasioned by the published
reports of t►e Lemoier infariticide. The cue we.
la itself so abominable that it needed no artificial
Denise, no ingenious arrangement of lights and
shadows, to strike the reader with horror and
disgust. Our neighbours, however, have sleep,
an eye to acme, and if the conviction of the
aceemd Is the first eausideratios, everybody's
" stated," is at least the second. It is just possible
that the reporters of • trial so "palpitating" as
theta( Mdlle. ANGELINA LENOINE end her more this
Homan mother, encouraged by the " attitude" of
judge and counsel, may have heightened the effects
of the mews la the cellar and the dirlioueineni in the
grate with • touch ar two harrowed from Bat.i.se ass
lemon Bcs. We cannot say that we perceived
anything of the kind in any of the versions of this
particular trial ; the questions and answers of the
wittiness in extmination and the interjectional ear-
rums from the Bench were given pretty fully, but
the details of evidence were abridged about as much
us they would be in a similar case in oar country
But such is the susitiviness of moral feeling in
France seder the Empire, that when the preeerip-
tt vely pious and prudish Univers railed a cry of ludic
east amassment at the publicity given to the trial,
me of the seeni-officiel papers, which had reported
the proceedings se copiously as its contemporaries,
joined the cry, and it began to be argued by mom
than one journal in Paris, and by many in the pro-
vinces, that the right of publishing criminal trade
should he, if not suppressed, at all events clipped
are closely as the right of publishing the speeches of
Deputies in the Corps Ugislatif. It was natural
enough that the Demi-official prom should adopt this
theory of " legitimate restrictions ;" it is part of
the business of pipers connected with the
government in Francs to argue in favour of
esetrietions upon the liberty of the press ;
bet the independent press, and generally all the
joirn•is of a high character, resisted a (urine, in-
vasion upon the domain of publicity, which was only
too favourably regarded by the authorities. They
cesitended, as we should contend in this aide of the
water, if it were ever to be proposed to abolish or
abridge the publicity of the law curb, that absolute
puldicity was a guarantee, not only for the prisoner
but for the Court itpelf, and that it wee essential to
the liberty of the public conscience. In Franco there
is a discretionary power to prevent the publics-
tion of the proceedings; in Eosertad, where the prin-
ciple of liberty is as mach at home in • court of jus-
tice as is the Houses of Parliament, the discretion is
wisely left to the press itself, performing its functions
ander the censorship of that public opinion which it
represents. When it was proposed last maim to
give the Judge Ordinary authority to try certain
divorce cases with closed doors, it was felt that pub.
lofty, with all its obvious inconveniencea, was pre-
brable to suppression with all its decencies. It
nay be true that the Judge Ordinary's sittings
are attended by ■n audience somewhat pro-
miscuous in tact° and morals, and with a bear
appetite for unmeoury secrets than for wholesome
warnings; still the discomfort which demure
readers suffer from the perusal of the proceedings et
the open court (which they need not peruse) onset
to be compared with the evils of the slightest en-
croachment on our great charter of publicity ; and
it is practically found that when publicity is Last
restricted it is most discreet. In France, imbed. a
distinction has been attempted between the admis-
sion of the public to • court of justice and the pub-
horiou of the proceedings ; it has been attempted Is