The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING,

bility whatsoever be more explicit. Nevertheless, the
Court of Queen's Bench has decided otherwise, and
the hero of Scinde has been sacrificed to the Board
of Directors ! After this, let the Company look well
to their Charter. The time for its consideration is
now rapidly approaching, when we anticipate with all
confidence its searching and patriotic revision by the
Legislature.

At length the case of the unfortunate and deeply-
injured Baron DE BODE is placed in a position afford-
ing a prospect of future adjustment. The clear and
simple, but effective statement of Lord LYNDHURST,
in moving on Friday evening for the appointment of
a Select Committee to inquire into the allegations of
the claimant's petition, must have convinced every
unprejudiced and disinterested person of the justice
of the demand. The boasted honour and integrity of
the British Government, or at least of those
who, acting in its name and on its
behalf, resorted to such pettifogging and paltry
expedients to evade payment of a fair and honest
liability, is placed, in no very favourable light. It
must indeed be deeply humiliating to every English
heart to be informed that a plea of the Statute of
Limitations had been put forward on behalf of their
SOVEREIGN, more especially when the delays had been
occasioned by the acts and erroneous decisions of
parties acting on behalf of the Crown, and when the
applicant had steadily, perseveringly, and unceasingly
urged his rights before the legal tribunals of the
country, and even in both Houses of Parliament. The
case, indeed, affords a melancholy example of " hope
deferred," and we can scarcely wonder that the heart
of the late Baron, who was so long and so unjustly
deprived of a princely income, enduring the res
augustce domi during the interval, should have
sickened and eventually broke under the severity of
his trials and his disappointments.
The case, as detailed by the Noble and Learned
Lord, lay in a nutshell; and the only suprising cir-
cumstance is, that it should have been so long deferred
and procrastinated, that its manifest justice should
not have insured a favourable decision without delay
or difficulty. The father of the late Baron, and
grandfather of the present claimant, was a German.
He bad married an English lady, and his son (the
late Baron) was born in England, and therefore to
all intents and purposes an English subject, owing
allegiance to and entitled to protection from the
British Monarch. In the year 1791, the first Baron
(being then in the military service of the French
KING) conveyed a very valuable estate in Lower
Alsace to his son, the second Baron, conceiving that
his position as a British subject, would save his pro-
perty from confiscation, and ensure the enjoyment of his
rights. In this opinion he was, however, mistaken ;
for when father and son were compelled to seek re-
fuge in 1793 out of France, the estate was confis-
cated as belonging to French emigrants. After the
termination of the war, sixty millions of francs
(c) 400 • 000/ sterling) was paid by the French to the
English Government, in pursuance of a convention,
for affording compensation to English subjects who
had suffered by confiscations; and the English Go-
vernment, in consideration thereof, undertook to satisfy
the English claimants, and to indemnify France
against their demands.
Under that convention and arrangement England
became responsible to Baron DE BODE, and was bound
to recompense his losses, provided he were an English
subject, and as such subject entitled to property that
had been confiscated. These were the only questions
that could arise—viz., was he a subject of the British
Crown in 1793, the period of the confiscation, and
was he at that time entitled to the estate above re-
ferred to. If he could establish the affirmative of
these issues, he had a clear title to the value of the
confiscated estate from the national Exchequer. He
lost no time in putting forward his claim. In Janu-
ary, 1816, the second Baron lodged his claim. The
Duke DE RICHELIEU at first thought that claim inad-
missible, considering the second Baron a German, but he
then collected the evidence relating to his birth, and laid
it, with the opinion of Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY, to the
effect that " there could be no doubt that he was a
British subject," before 111 r. MAcKENnE, the chief
English Commissioner, who admitted that there had
been a mistake, and promised to have the Baron's
name inserted on the list of claimants. In 1819 the Act
of Parliament was passed, giving force and vitality to
the convention, and regulating the manner in which
the claims should be diposed of. The Baron's name
was placed on the list, but, by what is now
universally admitted to be an erroneous con-
struction, the Commissioner rejected it. From
that time forth the Baron was unceasing
in his applications. His claims were repeatedly
brought before Parliament, but they were opposed on
grounds that any private gentleman would be ashamed
to resort to, in answer to demands on his purse.
No atone was left unturned by the Baron
to obtain justice. He applied for a mandamus
to the Lords of the Treasury, to apply the money
for the pu'xposes for which it had been received. This
was resisted, and refused on the technical ground
that " the possession of the Lords of the Treasury was
virtually that of the Crown, and that the Crown
could not command the Crown to any particular act
He then applied for a writ of right, which was re-
sisted on the ground " that the money was not
in the possession of the Crown, but of the Lords of
the Treasury 11 !" 'Was there ever such a mockery
of justice, such disgraceful subterfuges put for ward
on behalf of a Government priding itself on the fide-
lity with which it discharged all its engagements, and
the strict observance of public faith ? It was really
too bad, too scandalous to be defended for a mo-
ment.

At length Lord COTTENIIAM, when Chancellor,
appointed four eminent barristers, assisted by a jury
of fourteen persons, to examine the claim. That
jury returned an unanimous verdict that all the
statements contained in the petition of right, and
on which the claim was founded, were proved. The
Attorney-General traversed the finding, but he also
pleaded the Statute of Limitations, which was consi-
dered fatal in law to the claim. The matters of
fact were, however, submitted to a second jury, who
again found in favour.of the claimant, confirming the
finding of the first jury in every particular.
Other technical objections not going to the
merits of the case were, however, raised,
and thus the present claimant, the third Baron,

who succeeded to the rights of his late father, was
delayed, and his unquestionable rights detained from
him.

To his lasting honour, Lord LYNDHURST has taken
up the case. Not, as he himself stated, " for the
sake of the claimant alone, but for the character,

honour, and dignity of this great country." The re

suit has been the appointment of a Select Committee
to inquire into the circumstances of the case. This

will, we have no doubt, lead to complete although tardy
justice, and that not only to the Baron DE BODE,
but also to others, such as those entitled to what are

termed the Danish claims, and the representatives of
Mesdames ROBSON and ANISLIE, whose case in some

degree resembles that of the Baron DE BODE.

THE TRADE OF INVERNESS.—It is curious to note
how trade may be created in a district, or directed to it from
others, by the exertions, perhaps, of a single enterprising
individual. Inverness at one time possessed a reputation for
a large trade in wines, far as it is from the clime of the grapes,
and it still deserves the name ; but now it seems to be getting
popular in other quarters of the globe for various kinds of
manufactured goods, to supply which the excellent mill at
Holm, and the mills of Elgin and Forres, are laid under con-
stant contribution, but for many things which cannot be
produced locally. For some time back it has been a thing of
constant occurrence to see active carpenters hoisting in, and
nimble tinsmiths, with hot iron and solder in hand, dancing
round, huge boxes at the door of the Tartan Warehouse
here, closing up goods addressed to Calcutta, or Penang, or
Bombay, or Hong-Kong, or Shanghae, or Sydney—great
boxes, containing large assortments of splendid goods, of
local as well as south country manufacture. One box lately
dispatched contained more than eleven hundred Kilmarnock
bonnets, destined for the supply of an entire Indian regiment,
with not fewer than 1,300 sets of brass numbers for the caps !
Large supplies of good tweeds and fine goods have also been
dispatched from the same house to meet the wants of the
gold-spending as well as gaining " diggers" in Australia. It
is something new, certainly, in Inverness, and whatever the
credit dun, it must be ascribed to the activity and restless
enterprise of Mr. MacDougall.— Inverness Courier.
Major-General Sir Harry Smith and Lady Smith
dined with the Earl and Countess Grey on Wednesday. Im-
mediately on. the General arriving in London, he received a
special letter from Lord Grey.—Naval and Military Gazette.
IRISH SuRmARINE TELEGRAPH COasPANY.—A
charter of incorporation has been granted to the English and
Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company. The line of this com-
pany across the Channel, which is to establish a connexion
between the Home-office in London and the Castle in Dublin
CLid Portpatrick and Donagadee), is expected to be laid down
in about seven weeks.—. Dublin Express.
Negotiations are now
going on between the Post-
offices of London and Brussels for establishing twice-a-day
'nall communication between England and Belgium. --
Galignani,