The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 29, 1855,

garded in different lights. No one can doubt
that a series of disasters has occurred, which
ought, for our future guidance, to be traced ac-
curately to their causes, even if no individual
were visited with censure. Hence many will
support Mr. ROEBUCK on this ground. Still, such
an inquiry must necessarily be somewhat pro-
tracted, and could not furnish the ground for
immediate remedial action, which is the present
want. It could also be, in some respects, even
better conducted some time hence. So far as this
reason goes, therefore, we must think it insuffi-
cient, and the House may safely assume that, if
the half only of what is known be true, it may
justly demand the most satisfactory bond against
the continuance of the mismanagement.
Other members think that it is properly & cc no_
confidence motion." Of this there can be no
doubtall
feels
dsinceprobably no one but Ministers
themselves any confidence in them as a body
—at least so far as concerns " those departments
whose duty it has been to minister to the wants
of the army"—it seems quite reasonable to pass a
" no-confidence" vote. Although the most mor-
tifying and cruel failure has been in the Commis-
sariat, and all which is under charge of the Duke
of NEWCASTLE and the Honourable SIDNEY
HERBERT, yet the whole Cabinet, and its Chief
especially, must be untrustworthy also, if, seeing
all the mischief, they did not insist on the changes
requisite to its rectification. Lord JOHN very
properly doubted whether he should not
have resigned in November ; rather, we should
say, he ought to have had no doubt at all.
The country had none. It showed in every
way that it desiderated a practical man in the all-
important post, on the competent filling of which
the efficiency, nay the very physical life, of the
army depended. It held all the Cabinet respon-
sible for the dreadful consequences of the in-
capacity of those who were for the time its most
important mentbers. Hence the House might,
with perfect consistency, vote that it had no con-
adence in her MAJESTY'S Ministers.

We must think, as at present advised, that
such ought to be the vote of the House, unie ss
the real end of the motion which we suggested at
the commencement of this article can be thoroughly
secured without. No considerations of mere
etiquette ought to stand in the way of Par-
liament obtaining the fullest security for the
future, if it foregoes the adoption of Mr. Ron-
BUCK'S motion. The lives of our soldiers, and
the entire expedition, are not to be sacrificed any
longer to Courtly or aristocratic considerations.
Better twenty aristocrats go out of office, and go
with the brand of incompetency too, than ono
poor, bravo soldier die to spare them mortification;
it is, indeed, profane to make for a moment a
comparison between the importance of saving in-
capacity from its deserts, and saving the precious
men upon whom the hearts of all England are now
pityingly and even affectionately set. The coun-
try has come quite to love its fine fellows through
tdmiiation of their bravery aid commisera-
tion with their sufferings, and woe to the
Legislature if it -does not new insist that
the cherished objects of the people's re-
gards shall find themselves cared for quite dif-
ferently to what they have been. Till assurances
are given, or completed arrangements announced,
which shall prove that without a day's delay the
whole course of the war administration will be
Amazed, it will be the duty of the House of Com-
mons to declare that it has no confidence in
Ministers.

Is what we already know of 'Ministerial changes
a sufficient guarantee ? The alteration is no doubt
great. The man whose claims on the post Lord
ABERDEEN would not recognise, till forced to do,
.co et the eleventh hear, is now placed in it ; and
the ex-Minister of War is to be consoled by filling
Lily post occupied by one so much his superior as
Lord Joins' RUSSELL, and some Whig perhaps is
to be Home Secretary. So far well—at least
s well as might be expected while Lord AlUilt-
DION is at the head. Lord PALstmnsTorr will
be obeyed, and the country will have him
obeyed in his department ; but it must be
demanded that he be supreme tkere—that no one
shall venture to re-examine and modify, or pre-
tend to' authorise afresh what he has ordered.
The precious story told by Mr. LINDSAY of the
style of chartering and loading ships by three or
foir independent authorities must, like a thou-
sand similar things, be incapable of repetition.
Parliament will as readily grant requisite powers
as requisite money, and will admit of no excuse
for their nit being asked and used.

But is there not another essential ? Does or
oan the country confide in Lord ABERDEEN to
head the contest with Russia ? We believe him
to want both the capacity and the will. These
are not times for false delicacy. Is an amiable
Peer we respect him greatly, but we are confident
tiat far as Lord Joax RussELL falls below our
mark, tie country would look very differently
upon its war prospects if he became Premier. He
has avowed his reconciliation with Lord. PALMER-
,,TON and Lord PALMERSTON; with him, and he has
proclaimed that Mr. GLADSTONE is the man on
whom ho could rely as Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer. Such an arrangement in the principal
places, if filled up not by family connexions, but
by men of proved experience, would give more
confidence than can be felt at present, to say the
least. With such colleagues Mr. GLADSTONB would
adopt any plan needful to meet the War expen-
diture.

THE BRIDGEWATER ADDRESS TO
PRINCE ADAM CZARTORYSKI.

The following letter has been received by the Rev. S.
Alfred Steinthal, Bridgewater, from Prince Ladiolas
Czartoryski, acknowledging, on behalf of his father,
Prince Adam, the address voted to him at a public
meeting of the inhabitants of the borough of Bridge-
water :

" Paris, January 18, 1850.
" Sir,—My father desires me to acknowledge the re-
ceipt oyour favour of the 11th inst., conveying the ad-
dress voted to bim at a public meeting of the inhabitants
of the borough of Bridgewater, and signed on behalf of
the meeting by his worship the Mayor of the borough,
who presided. The enclosed is the answer of my father
to it, which please to give to his worship. lam desired
also by my father to thank you more particularly as the
mover of that address, and to say that we receive with
pleasure your bringing to our recollection that your town
was the first in 1831 to petitioi Parliament in behalf of
our country. Assuredly it is an honourable dis-
tinction, that the borough of Bridgewater can
claim new with pride; because many A trying day has
passed away to test the sincerity of the advocacy
of that cause, and yet the people of England stand fast
by it, because they felt, and the recent facts go far to
prove it, that that cause was intimately connected with
the welfare of the world, Would to God, that the con-
viction of the people of England became that of the
Government ; not only would we then benefit by it, but
the world at large with us, and the desired end once ob-
tained, all of 11Y, the Poles, as well a 3 their steadfast
friends in England, would look back with pleasure on
the long days of toil and trouble. We are happy to col-
lect from your letter that Mr. Zabo has so eminently
succeeded in captivating the attention of your people,
as we think that the better the history of Poland is
known the stronger will be the sympathies of the world
for us.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedi-
ent servant,

"LADISLAS CZARTORYSKI.
" The Rev. S. A. Steinthal, Bridgewater."

LAW INTELLIGENCE.-(THIS DA Y).

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

MOSS V. THE COMMISSIONERS OF SEWERS FOR THE CITY

OF LONDON.

Lord Campbell, in giving judgment in this case, in
which the plaintiff, a resident in Sergeant's-inn, Fleet.
street, appealed against his liability under the 11th and
12th Vic., c. 163, entitled, "An Act to provide for the
Sanitary Improvement of the City," said the question
involved was, whether the occupiers of houses in the
locality alluded to were liable to be rated under this
act. After deliberately considering the provisions of
that act, the Court wag of opinion that they were
so liable, inasmuch as the object of the act appeared to
be to constitute the whole of the places within the City
as one district for sanitary improvement; and its
language was quite clear upon the point that the Legis-
lature intended to subject all property in the City to
the rate, whether situated within or without a ward.
It was objected at the hearing that the Legislature had
provided no machinery for the administration of a rate
in places like Sergeant's Inn, not situate within a ward,
but the Court thought this difficulty might be obviated
by the commissioners directing the ward officers to rate
that place as a ward of itself. Under these circum-
stances judgment must be for the defendant.
Judgment accordingly.

THE CRIMINAL INFORMATION AGAINST
THE "TIMES" NEWSPAPER FOR LIBEL.
TEE QUEEN T. HARRISON.

The Court gave judgment this morning in this case,
which has stood over since last term. It will be recol-
lected that a criminal information was applied for and
issued against Mr. William Harrison, as the pub-
lisher of the Times, in consequence of an article
appearing in its coluisans affecting the character
of the Hon. Francis Scott, as chairman of the London
and South-Western Railway and his co-directors, and
that last term, when the trial was heard bdore Lord
Campbell and a special jury, a verdict of guilty was
returned.

After some preliminary proceedings had been gone
through,

Sir F. Thesiger, as counsel for the defendant, very
ably addressed the Court, in mitigation of the judg-
ment. He regretted that after the article which
had appeared in the Times subsequently to the
trial, the clients of his learned friends en the opposite
side (the Attorney-General, Mr. Bramwell, and Mr.
Bovill) should have thought it necessary to proceed
further in that matter. The learned counsel then pro-
ceeded, at some length, to review the article in question,
contending that it clearly showed that, with regard to
the sutject of what the jury had deemed to be libel,
the writer was actuated by no improper motives against
the prosecutors ; that it was merely a comment upon a
question in dispute between the shareholders and directors
of the company in question, and that if it contained expres-
sions which had affected the public or private character
of the directors they were quite unintentionally and
hastily made use of.
After hearing the Attorney-General and the other
learned gentlemen on the other side in support of the
view that the libel was not thoughtlessly written, and
that it was not a mere comment but a direct charge
against the directors ; and further upon this point that
the subsequent aricle placed the prosecutors in exactly
the same position as before the trial, inasmuch as it juP-
tified the previous one, and did not, as it ought to have
done, contain any verbal apology in reparation towards
gentlemen whose characters had been offended,
Their lordships consulted for a few seconds, and
Justice Coleridge proceeded to pass 'the sentence of
the Court. Whilst he held that the most extended
freedom ought to be extended to the press, he drew
attention to the well-defined line of propriety by which
it must be limited, and, after reviewing the subject
matter of the libel, he said he and his learned brethren
fully concurred in the ♦erdict of the jury. Taking the
well-known respectability of the defendant, and the fact
that no doubt he was in no way concerned in or respon-
sible for the appearance of the article, the sentence of
the Court would be that he be fined in the penalty of
3001., and that until it be paid he be imprisoned amongst
the first class of misdemeanants in the Queen's Bench.

THE FOLEY-PLACE TRAGEDY.

ADJOURNED INQUEST THIS DAY.

The adjourned inquest upon the body of Mr. Latham,
who was murdered upon the 7th inst., was resumed this
morning Fat eleven o'clock, at the Middlesex Hospital,
before Mr. Wakley, the Coroner. After some preliminary
examination of the surgeons, as to the state of the health
of the assassin, Baranelli, and it being stated that he
was fit to undergo an examination, he was brought into
the inquest-room, where his statement was read over to
him.

Upon being asked whether it was true, he said it was.
One of the medical gentlemen said, although prisoner
was well in health, lately his mind was affected. The
prisoner was then removed in n cab to Foley place,
where the jury were assembled to take the depositions
of the wounded woman, Lambert.
The jury, after same delay, were assembled around
her bedside, when the examination was proceeded with.

The wounded woman having been sworn said—My
name is Mary Ann Lambert. lam a widow and single.
I do not like to tell what my husband's name was.
After some hesitation, his name was George James.
Coroner—What else ? Again she hesitated. At this
moment, the medical officer who had come from the
hospital with the prisoner, came into the room and stated
that the prisoner said he felt very cold, and wished to
know if he might be taken down to the kitchen fire.
The wounded woman upon hearing this became most
violently agitated, and screamed out " no, no," do not
let him go there.
The Coroner, after quiet had been obtained, and the
witness somewhat composed, again pressed her to tell
the name of her husband, and maid that there were plenty
to whom it was known. After some further hesitation
she said in a low voice, betraying deep emotion, George
James Jeanes. He lived in Dorsetshire, and was a gen-
tleman farmer, 'Upon the 7th instant I was in bed with
Mr. Lambert, when Baranelli came in and saw Mr.
Lambert, and put the pistol quite close to his neck and
shot him dead. I at first got under the bed clothes, but
thinking that would not save my life, I got out of bed,
and tried to get hold of the pistol when he shot me
through the arm, and it went into my body. I did not
see Baranelli afterwards. Thera hal not been any
quarrel, nor had he held out any threats to either of
us. About 10 days before this occurrence Mr. Lambert
had told him he must leave the house. He had been
living with Its ; we let him stay out of charity. He
left the same day this conversation took place ; he
parted good friends.
Her evidence having been completed, it was read
over to her, and Baranelli was then brought into the
room, for the purpose of being identified. Upon this
she became fearfully agitated and could not be got to
look towards him, but as soon as she turned her head in
the direction he was standing and caught sight of him,
she uttered a wild scream and, fell back in the bed ex-
claiming that it was him.

The depositions having been read over in the presence
of the prisoner, he was asked if he had any question to
put, and he said no.
He was then placed in a cab and taken bask to the
hospital, to where the inquiry was again adjeurned.
Upon the re-assembling of the jury at the Middlesex
Hospital evidence was adduced, and the jury returned
a verdict that Joseph Latham was wilfully murdered
by Laigi Baranelli.