The Express.
London, England, 1850-08-20 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, - TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 20, 1850.

aceosat of the holiallmi it may at times afford to the
soodessaatioa of the Meese&
Penal prosseatioes are the mustsof the mew&
pot of bedieiffsals. The patio** and punts nient
of offeadas by pewees elf law rush of a Molt
compact between the injnred and the state. fie
former forego the right to redress their own wrens,
which in a state
,of mime 411 m. Weald peewee, •
condition that the stet?. by Jesttumentality ol its
judges sad ethic OfflouVoldnittie, sees right done
between them. The private indiyidual foregoes all
title to avenge himself: thc ,ctqte nadertakes so to
deed with genders, thatt-they shall not be encouraged
by this self-denial to penile is their,misdeeds.
In order that the state may be . in a condition to
fulfil its part of the bargain, it would require an
officer, competent by ability and . acquirements, to the
discharge of so difficult and delicate a task, and com-
pelled by a sense of the place he occupied in the
public eye to set with justice and eircammectioe.
But in Ragland we have no such officer. The task
of promenUg is either devolved upon the injured
parties or ts left to a subordinate set of functions:hie,
the police, of whose reviler duties it is scarcely con-
sidered • part, and whose discltarge.of it in therefore
remissly and leniently watched.
The consequence is that sometimes crimes are pro-
stewed laxly and remissly, and %medium alleged
crimes are eillowed up with .undue and vindictive
efforts to procure a euvietioe. Parties seriously . in-
jured have been known to 'abstain from prosecuting,
because of the trouble, loss of time, and ;expense it
would entail upon them. In many districts
them is no organised potion, and in others the police
may be indisposed to take troubli that can scarcely be
considered as a part of their duty. On the other
hand, a spirit of enmity and image. may induce pri-
vate parties to impute criminal designs to accident ;
and a bustling, ambitious official may seek to establish
a character for seal and activity by making the mast
of such cases as moor in his district. A functionary
the importance of whose station impressed him with
• constant sense of what he owed to public opinion
would be less apt to err either on the one side or the
other. We should thu be spared, on the one side,
regret at seeing offenders *soaps with impunity • on
the other, regret at seeing innocent parties exposed to
prosecutions at the instigation of pante mac 3 or
the bustling vanity of some pragmatical official.
At the last Birmingham assizes, a teacher of a
Sunday school wee convicted of the seduction of a girl,
one of his pupils, under age. At the trial, counsel
appeared to conduct the defence, bit no counsel ap-
peared on the part of the prosecution. There are few
crimes against which society has more need to be de-
fended than that of which the criminal was convicted.
It strikes at the very root of national morale, when
in the very trainers of innocent youth its seducers
may be suspected. And yet in the case to which we
have referred, the result of the trial may almost be
said to have been abandoned to acAdest. The cul-
prit had his legal defender, but The Intatere of the
public were unrepresented. Had tikee then a public
prosecutor, this could cot have happened.
On the sue of WILLIAM Ross, left at it is in un-
certainty, we are not entitled to speak so decidedly.
But we may boldly affirm, that had there been • public
pre secutor, that n neertai nty could scarcely have e rested.
Huss was committed by the justices on the strength
of declarations made by his wife's relation., wi
whom he 'toad at enmity. Tbe care of getting up
the case appears to have been left to the local police.
The disinterestedness of the private accusers and the

competence of the polio. are-bath called in question.
A public prosecutor would not have been bible either
to the suspicion of personal enmity, or to doubts as to
his capacity for the discharge of his duty. No doubt.
could have arisen, had a public prosecutor conducted
the case, that sufficient grounds existed for a proteat-
tion, and that every allowance was made to which the
accused was entitled. In such circumstances even
those who deny the tight of society to take life in any
me would no: have been haunted by the addition.!
painful reflection that the sufferer may have been in-
nocent.

Intimately associated with these reflections is an-
other consideration. It is asserted by the advocates
of Ross's cause, that the evidt nos which they col-
lected subsequently to his sentence cJuld have been
produced on his trial but for his poverty. If this
averment be true, evidence to which less weight
was attributed on account of its not having been con-
firmed by oath, and subjected to a rigorous cross-
examination is open court, might have received these
corroborations had Itoss's pecuniary circumstances
allowed of it. It is our boast as Englishmen that no
man can be convicted in England except upon a fair
trial in open court. The wealthy, indeed, may com-
mand a fair trial, for they can afford the expense of
producing evidence. Nay, the dishonest plunderer
may defray the expense from the money he has dis-
honestly acquired. lint what power has the poor
man, be he innocent or guilty, to bring witnesses in
his favour it may be a distance of sixty miles ? Even
though witnesses might be found disinterested enough
to appear for him at their own cost, they may be poor
as himself and unable to carry thee good intentions
into act.
In Scotland there is not only a public prosecutor in
the person of the LORD ADVOCATE, aided by his staff
of Advocates Depute and the Crown Solicitor, but
there is in every county and borough • Procurator
Fiscal, charged with the functions of public prosecutor
in his district. Again, in the supreme courts • limited
number of advocates and writers to the signet are
appointed at intervals to act for poor suitors, and •
similar arrangement is made, unless we have been
misinformed, among the practitioners in every sheriff
court. In Scotland provision is made to smart the
interests of the public against criminals, and at the
same time to enable even the poorest 0 obtain all the
assistance required for his complete defence. We are
far from maintaining that the Scotch system is effi-
cient in all its minor details, or that it could be
adapted without modification to our English forms of
legal procedure. But the want of some analogous
arrangement for the prosecution of offence@ in behalf
of the public, and for enabling the very poorest to
obtain a fair trial, is a grave reproach to our judicial
system.

•
PARIS, [format BMus*.
Tlis Lyme, as yea ate already
aware, betwesalMe and ten on the morning of the
17tb. Toe warm, at the head of the municipal
, council, the peeks*. sad General de Castellano, with
string detashmenis Of_ sanity, accompanied him on
the mad to Bourget. some distance from the well, of
Lyons. TM mayor .thett • addreseed some words of
myttrfareweli to the city'e parting pest:
I.ltrisee," mid the worthy mop, 'sleeting the style most
ratefel to the presidential air, after the Joy sassed by
)eser present:sin our itelent eiq comas the .aehtese of swing
you feet out so soon. Nut it calms our aria to think
that you go to any the benefits of your pre.
senee to seirghbonfing population', which are as
impatient to receive. you as we were. Permit as,
b fore your departureoo stye you, is the same of the ally
of Lyons, the ensuranee that it will forget the ammo-
r.ble words which you have, with so much &Allude to the
• cession, uttered at the bsoonet of Lyonrse oiromeree Yes,
wo v.ply from the bottom of our hearts; yes, the lohnhitents
of Lyons love Louts Napoleon as they loved the emperor, his
mote." - "

The President, seeming much moved at this allti-
siou to the elms of his speech on the day before, an-
lowered as nearly as possible in these words:

_z
Thanks, Mr. mayor; think., redeem n of the municipal
&mad!. for the sympathetic settee: which you giddiest° me.
I shall preserte a lariat recoil, aims of the cordial reception
whisk you havelliren me ; -and I give you here the promise ,
that I will make ev.ry effort to vetoes' as soon as possible and
pay another visit to the city of Lyons.
The party arrived at Bourg at two o'clock. The
peasants on the line of road made their appearance in
bands, with flags and ribbons, and oak leaves in their I
hate. At Bourg the President reviewed the troops ,
and distributeil'some crowns. The reception was as
usual of a mixed character, but not unfriendly. Ile '
took his depoottre at four, hiving addressed the as-
aembled authorities in a short speech. The party
arrived at Loos-k-Saulnier shortly after ten. The
circumstance of its being Savorday evening
gave the working classes leisure to assem-
ble in large masses, and to swell the
chorus of " Vive la republititv." Having retired early,
and recruited hi-naelf by a good night's repose at the
prefecture, the President attended mass next morn-
ing at 8. At 9 ho reviewed the troops of the garrison.
and set out immediately after breakfast f.r Dole,
where he arrived et 3. This small town is an import-
ant centre of the manufacturing districts, and contains
a buoy industrious population. The cries of " Vire la
republique " greatly predominated. Haying reviewed
the garrison the President eat cut at four for Bevan goo,
where he arrived at half-past 9. Tt.is capital of the
department of Doubs is remarkable for its strong
catholic spirit. was &moon that returned
M. de Montalembert to the Constituent and to
the Legiolative Ant mbly. M. de Montalem-
bert had now the honour of presenting the elect of
six millions to his constituents. The bishop, at the
head of his clergy, with UMW/ and banners, came to
meet the Pn sident, who was also received by the
prefect and the gent mil in command of the town.
These arc the latest details which have been com-
municated by the telegraph this morning.
The Prteidtnt will arrive to-day (19ta) in Belfort,
and reach S reg-bourg no the 22nd.
Several clfieers of the national guard at Strasbourg,
who were appoin'ed to receive the President of the
Ittpublic, bare given in their resignations rather than
comulywith this duty.
M. Morin :ho republican candidate, has been re-
, turned for the canton of Thiron to the Council-general
of 'he Eure-st-Loire. M. Duprom, the socialist can-
didatr, has been returned for the canton of Valence to
the Council-general of the Geer.
Ltturs from Mulnouse state that, among other
. testive preparations which are making for the temp-
) Lion of the President, the manufacturers have obtained
subscriptions for turning out their workmen in uniform,
; 1 to form the line along the Arcets,u wu the case on the

tee; ption of Charles X. Perhaps the same uniform will
serve; and under the eagles daubed on pasteboard
perhaps thefrsr•de./is will he• still traceable. Every
garret :tantalum a heap of rubbish which may serve,
as recision demands, to receive the triumph►nt ruler
of the hour. A bust of Louis Philippe lies there ;
here one of the Emperor or of Charles X. A hammer
and a pair of tacks will sccommodate the dost.wiped
e lligy with an appropriate crown. The citizens of
France are furnished with an assortment of royal
lteg•fair properties, euitablu to all dynasties and forms
of government.
A private later, reec.ced by M. Baroche, from M.
Blume, the Minister of Public Works, who accom-
panies the President, gives a high-flown descripticn
of the reception of the party in the east.
understand from a pod source that a member of
the Committee of Permanerco hu received a letter
from the Prince de Joinville, which contains an ex-
plicit declaration of his opinion that the question for
France there can only lie between the legitimate
monarch and the republic; but that a " republique
princielre" is chimerical, and cannot last. "As to the
monarchy of expedients, which we have had for 18
years, a second trial of it would be dangerous in the
extreme." It should seem from this that Joinville
has turned legitimist.
M. Fould, the Minister of Finance, will set out on
Wednesday for tt e PyrenCes.
M. Houher, who has been to recruit himself at the
baths of Vichy, will return on the 20th to take upon
him, ad interim, the functions of minister of finance.

SOUW4F..

tor Account.
PAILI4 Avo. 19. 1 For - --
Money. Open hip Ilteneet.: Loscet. Closing.
- "---, - -
per Otota. 'le 50 'l' 55 65 58 65 53 50 53 60
per Coma. 97 iS '97 50 97 50 97 30 97 30
do. New Lose. .1 . .. .. ..
pa Coat& N N N N a
per (s.nte. . .. cN
Itsdkance ea lesion :at sight, 25 30; KO day:: 9
23 'O. _

i FIR 0111{1 II 69 i' 38 63 58 63 54 50
6 per Rata 97 86 97 30 97 SO 97 30
S do. New !eras „, re 1110 n
14 pa Coat& “ . .. •
4 per Omni. .
„
Itsehange ea !meson :at el;ht, 25 30; 90 dap, 23 20.
Belgian, 5, 1640 lOOl illossy. I Naples Rental — draw
Do. 1141 ltlog „ Born= 13. n 1849 72,1 „
Do. — „ Do. 1350
Dn. 2
Piedmont 6 per Osseo. .4 80 „ Bank Shama
a.. —Versailloirtsht 641114. HO: Ditto (heft bank). 50;
Parts and Orleans. 7. 50; Teri. and Rouen, 590; and
Slane, ISO; Avignon and liarreillert 180; Blasboorg and Bale,
117 SO; Orleans and Bordeaux. 30 ; North, 471 U; Paris and Was-
hours, 231 23; Tours and Nantes, 230; lluntereeu and Troyes, 95;
Boulogne and Amiens, 182 50..