The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-08 00:00:00

IiEWF

with a revenue of X 2,100,000. re-
reach even that, for one of the mar
which the country has to struggle A*
emigration, which year by year erupt'
of their most energetic children, an d ich
heavy taxation would be certain to it !crease. Out
of this sum she will have to pay the interest on a
debt of £10,000,000, leaving her less then
£1,300,000 for court, army, navy, coioni?,s, and in-
ternal administration. We may arnagino in these
days of ironclads the sort of fleet a: he would be able
to maintain out of the balance remaining. But
Denmark, argue the men, who in weariness of the
temporary paralysis of Great Britain are think-
ing that they approve of Mr. Cob fen's opinions,
may live without fleet and army. She may, but it
will be a life without a future, for she is not, be it
remembered, tinder the European guarantee. In-
deed if she were it would be worthless, for the Five
Powers were. salerunly pledged to maintain the in-
, tegrity and independence of Denmark, and broke
the pledge because it was inconvenient. The Ger-
, man stream flows ceaselessly into Jutland, the
traders in Zealand are German, the Caurt is purely
Garman, and once tbo Dechies are gone the rest
of the monarchy can be absorbed whenever a Prus-
sian Premier desires to crave off an unn;casult in-
tern-.) reform. Switzerland exists with a separate
life without either fleet or army, but that there
Oven steel bolts "at a pound a piece" are wasted on
mountain sides. Denmark may avoid incessant
compulsion by entering the Confederation, but
then she becomes a Scandinavian province ; or
by accepting a Russian Protectorate, but- then she
becomes a Russian satrapy—in any case, even the
mosNfavourante, " there is an end of an mild sang,"
as good Lord Belhaven said, Denmark as a
member of the European family is dead,
and the only subject far speculation is the
manner and time of her burial, In other
words, England rather than risk her commercial
prosperity, or risk a cessation of harmony between
the Court and the people, has suffered afree Pro-
testant maritime State to be swept from the map
by a great despotic semi-Catholic rower. There
are but two more such States in the world, Ho:.
land and Sweden, and either may now be attacked
on the same pretexts, and with the same certainty
of success. That policy may be wise, it is waste of
time to argue in England when all the political
leaders aro on one side, but at least let us acknow-
ledge to ourselves and the world its visible results.
THE " EXAMINER" ON A QUESTIONABLE CON-
VICTION.—We have always contended for the severe
punishment of outrages against women, but in pro-
portion of the severity of punishment should b©
the care and circumspection in coming to the con-
clusion of guilt. The charge of Miss Moody is fresh
in public recollection. She accused a middle-aged,,
man, named Nash, of having indecently assaults d
her in a carriage of the South-Western Compar .y,
and the risked her life to escape from the ma a's
advances, real or imagined, for she got out upon ate
ledge which runs along the side of the train, a'ad
would probably have fallen and been killed but for
the brave exertions of a passenger, Mr. Stokes, of
Coventry street, who supported her when she
had lost the power of making any effort for
her self-preservation. A. woman would never b are
put herself in this terrible position of peril wit ;bout
cause, real or fanciful, and there could not 'be a
doubt about Miss Moody's impression that she was
in danger of insult or worse; but the question was
whether that impression was warranted hr facts,
or whether it was merely fanciful. The affair hap-
pened in the middle of the day in a train stet aping
frequently. The circumstances of alarm are thus
stated by the prosecutrix :
"The defendant then questioned her as to how of d she
was, but she did not answer the inquiry. The deft ridant
then laid himself full length on the seat opposite n) her,
and there remained staring her full in the face. The p rose-
cutrix then stated that she began to feel nervous and rose
from her seat to open the window of the carriage w ith a
view to get out, the train at that moment having sca:cely
got into motion. The defendant said, "do not get out,' and
she closed the door and resumed her seat. The defe:adant
wanted to close the window, but she objected, and sto ad up
to prevent his doing so. While she was making the art empt
to open the window she felt the defendant's band upon her
shoulder. She moved, as if annoyed, and immediately a fter-
wards she felt his arm round her waist. She moved a[ ;ain,
and he then put his arm quite round her waist, and then
she felt her dress quietly raised in front. She then to rued
round, and, taking up her parasol and bag, opened. the
carriage door and got out upon the ledge that runs trot a one
carriage to another.
It is remarkable that in such a moment of terror 3liss
Moody thought more of her parasol and bag than ,of her
own personal safety. She carefully secured those articles
before she risked her life for her honour. The progress of
nervous alarm is clearly traceable in the above evidence.
Nash, probably a rude man, stared his fellow-passenger in
the face, which made her feel nervouq, and she rose to leave
the carriage, which he, possibly repenting ed his bad man-
ners, begged her not to do. There was next as little struggle
about the window, and it is very conceivabLe that the man,
seeing that she wanted the window open. ,because of her
fear of him, might Bays prevented her oper.in:: it without
any bad design, and merely not to let her have her way in
her suspicions of him. As for laying the hand on the
shoulder and the waist, there are classes with whom these
acts nre not cprisiderA as necessarily liberties, And though
Miss Moody was not one of these tree-and-ev,sy classes the
man Nash inigbt be, she therefore may have the eght much
of what lie, of coarse habits, thought little. Ba t the next
is the material point. Miss Moody felt her dct sa uptietly
raised, but, whatwas there to connect Nash with tie Luotiaa
of the dress ? Absolutely nothing. Who travels „by rail or
omnibus without seeing crinolines lifted without lisnds ? It
is a dress of self-exposure. Any unequal pressure ciloranges
it, and in Miss Moody's struggle for the window she :nay un-
consciously have given the motion to her dress which she,
with a foregone conclusion in mind, attributed to Nash. She
was in the state of excitement in which there is little attention
to cause and effect. For having put the.girl in that fright
Nash deserved some punishment, but hardly the sentence
dealt out to him, ruinous to a man in his condition. And
whatever view may be taken of the case, the verdict is
absurd and unjust; for it convicts the man of a common
assault, and not of the indecent attempt charged in the that
count of the indictment. Now clearly if there was no in-
decent assault the man was guiltless altogether. There was
indecent assault, or no assault whatever. To what insig-
nificance, indeed, is the case reduced if stripped of all the
alleged circumstances of indecency. Let the crinoline be
underanged, and the facts of the common assault would be
laying a hand on the shoulder and waist—assaults com-
mitted in every ball-room. The acts were freedoms unper-
miscible, undoubtedly, but the jury did not regard them as
indecent liberties; and considered merely as freedoms, and
vulgar freedoms, they did not amount to assault in any
sense of the word. But for this Nash is sentenced to im-
prisonment with hard labour for nine months 1 If the man
was guilty of the indecency charged, he deserved four times
that measure of punishment ; but if all that part of the
charge against him was false or fanciful, a ninth part of the
punishment assigned would be sufficient for an offence more
of bad manners than morals. The truth seems to be that
the Court was perplexed, and made one of the bad compro-
mises frequent in doubtful cases. The jury could not find
grounds for conviction on the serious charge, nor were they
disposed to acquit altogether; so, as they could not find
indecency, they found assault in acts not of the character
of assault rather than let the prisoner escape altogether.
This is not justice, and we think the case deserves the at-
tention of the Home Office.

THE LONDON REVIEW ON MEXICO.—Tho Ethperor and
Empress of Mexico have entered their capital, and have
met with a right imperial welcome. Whatever may be the
origin of the new throne, there seems every reason to believe
that it offers to the country the prospect of a stable and
regular Government. All classes of the people seem rally-
ing around it; and, although the authority of the new
monarch is now actually established in largo portions of his
dominions, there is no doubt that ho will be as readily
welcomed there, as he has been elsewhere, as soon as the
marauding bands of Juarez are dispersed. Such, indeed,
is the confidence of the Emperor Maximilian and his Minis-
ters in their ability to accomplish the speedy pacification of
the country, that the last of the French troops are on the
point of leaving. Under these circumstances our acknow-
ledgment of the new empire ought not to be long delayed.
We have none but the best wishers for its prosperity ; blue
anything which tends to develop° the resources and in-
crease the commerce of Mexico must redound to our ad-
vantage. It has long been clear that the Mexicans were
wholly unfit for republican institutions. We have acknow-
ledged President after President, only to see the conqueror
of to-day become the conqueror of to-morrow. Probably
few of the military chiefs, ;rho have successively seized the
reigns of government during the last few years, exercised
anything like substantial authority over a more extensive
tract of country than now owns the sway of the Emperor
Maximilian. There is certainly no one in arms against him
with the slightest chance of success.

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TIIE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN BRITAIN.—A new
measurement of Ben Macdhui and the other moun-
tains of the Cairngorm group, has just been made by the
Loyal Engineers presently engaged upon that part of the
Ordnance Survey of Scotland. Ben Macdhui, which was
formerly supposed to be 4,390 feet in height, is now set
down at nearly 100 feet loss than that—viz,, 4,296. Some
years since Ben Macdhui was supposed to be 17 feet higher
than Ben Nevis, the height of which was then put down at
4,373. Ben Macdhui was therefore at that time authorita-
tively stated to be the highest mountain in Britain. Since
then, however, the tables have taken a turn, and Ben Nevis
would new appear to be by far the highest of the two. The
Ordnance survey of Ben Nevis, so far as we are aware, has
not yet been made, but taking its height at the old measure-
ment of 4,373 feet, and Ben Macdhui at its newly aner.
tained height—viz., 4,296 feet, Ber Nevis appears by this
calculation to be 77 feet higher than the highest of the
Grampian range. The difference is still greater in favour
of Ben Nevis if we accept its height as being 4,406, as
marked in a map lately published by Messrs Chambers in
Milner's "Gallery of Geography.Braer,och is set down
(..:airto
iul, which was formerly
in the new survey at 4,248.
believed to be 4..G45 feet in height, s now taken down five
feet, and matte 4,240. The height of Ben;tiv.putd is 11:,:eti at
3,923 feet.—.Elgin Courant,

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