The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-30 00:00:00

rate body necessitates the continuance in that part
of the county of one of Ireland's greatest curses—
absenteeism. In this aspect of the difficulty lay the
chief interest of the debate ; but it is confessedly a
most awkward and perplexing matter for the Le-
gislature to deal with. It is not possible, as Lord
JOHN BROWNE observed, to say in this free country
that a man must live in a particular place, and no
amount of legislation will cure the inevitable evils
of a delegated government. Instead of either party
serving as a fence or a protection to the other, the
unpopularity of a landlord is visited on his agent,
while the unpopular agent makes his landlord also
disliked. Much harsher things can be done through
a third party ; but it is not so much the actual
evictions that are unjust as the whole system that
is bad.

The estate is regarded as a mere piece of pro-
perty, of which the annual return is the matter of
chief importance ; no interest is taken in improve-
ments, and no encouragement given to enterprising
tenants. The landlord receives his money as if it
came from some investment with whose administra-
tion he had no concern, and with no recollection of
the fact that property has its duties as well as its
rights. In every respect the results of absenteeism
are most disastrous, injurious to trade, and ruinous
to the social welfare of the country. A great
civilising and refining agent is lost to a nation
whose keen susceptibilities and mercurial tempera-
ments make them especially sensitive to external
influences, and education, the importance of which
is consequently not sufficiently appreciated by the
lower classes, receives a powerful check. All
friends of Ireland are unanimous upon this point,
however much they may differ upon questions
of religion or of politics. This is a social
matter, and as such exercises an influence
whose widely extending powers are like the
spreading circles which follow the plunge of a
pebble into the waters. We can never hope to see
great improvements, important reforms, and sub-
stantial changes for the better carried out in Ireland,
while the great body of the owners of the soil have
so little in common with their fellow-countrymen.
We can never hope to sea trade prosper, commerce
extend, industry flourish, and prejudice die away,
while the class which should give stimulus to busi-
ness and elevate the tone of thought and feeling
around them, are scarcely known by sight to the
dwellers on their estates. It is an evil of long stand-
ing; one, too, which is extremely difficult for Par lia.
ment to deal with, one which is a serious barrier be-
tween the two countries. It must be owned, however,
that the fault does not all lay with the proprietors.
The frightful system of intimidation and outrage
which has become a bye word and a reproach to
Ireland, has cost the country some of its best proprie-
tors, and it is certainly idle to expect a landowner
to show a kindly interest in his tenants, when all
the gratitude or recognition he can expect is a
bullet through his head at the first opportunity.
In this, as in so many other instances, the innocent
have to suffer for the guilty, and the wild disorderly
characters, perhaps, deprive a district of the super-
vision of a humane and liberal landlord. We trust
that the discussion on Friday night may be the
means of doing some good, by calling piblic atten-
tion to the great need that exists of some reform,
with respect to the delegated authority now exist-
ing in SD many parts of Ireland, and that conse-
quently some means may be found of dealing with
the crimes and redressing the wrongs of the sister
kingdom.

There is nothing of more consequence in the ad. 1
ministration of justice than to take care that there
should not be any undue severity exercised. Of

,„„,„ ;f• th't (lee eautioe be tekee to
prevent the escape of offenders, and to provide that
no opportunity should occur for the criminal elud-
ing the due means of his actions. Judex damnatur
cum nocens absolcitur is a very true adage, but,
like many more such wise maxims, it may be car-
ried too far, and be cited too frequently. There is
no mistake calculated to prove more fatal in its
effects on the minds of those who should be influ-
enced by the infliction of penal sentences than the
unnecessary harshness that at times intervenes to
mar the course of the law, and injure the operation
of its workings. The other day, at the Middlesex
Sessions, a case occurred which is rather out of the
common, and certainly does not redound to the
credit of any concerned in it. In the first place,
the whole case rested on the evidence of one man, a
police-constable, who did not give a very defiuite
account of the affair. When a sentence of such
severity is issued, the greatest care should be
taken to procure concise statements, and to be quite
certain as to the facts of all the attendant circum-
stances. There were several discrepancies in this
affair. The constable admitted, on cross-examina-
tion, that he did not make known the circumstance
of the prisoner touching his goods till next day,
also the charge entered at the time was for stealing
a roll of " linsey," which the shopman said was not
at the door that evening, and did not resemble
cloth. These mistakes may not be of real conse-
quence, but some attention might have been paid to
them. The man did not go off with the roll of
goods, and it was possible that he might have been
looking at it. If every one who is discovered
touching the wares exhibited at doors is charged
with robbery, the consequences may be very serious.
It must be considered by all who have noticed the
frequency of such cases in the Courts, that it is a
very dangerous custom for shopmen to persist in
exposing their goods in the streets. There is plenty
of opportunity in the windows, for all desirable ex-
hibition, and it ia quite inexcusable to put temptation
in the way of misguided fellow-creatures. At all
events, whether this man WHITE was guilty of this
charge or not, the sentence inflicted upon him was
For this small offence he was
most extraordinary.
adjudged to receive 10 years' penal servitude. This
is not the course to adopt in order to impress the
public with a favourable opinion of the manner in
which the enactments of the law are carried out.

It is seldom that such a peculiar case as this meets
the eye, but too much care cannot be taken to pre-
vent the recurrence of the like incongruities.
When we conetder the many far more serious
charges that are brought under the notice of the
Courts, it seems almost incomprehensible that so
much more severe a punishment should be awarded
to this minor offence. It is not the way to deter
evii.disposed persons from the commission of serious
errors, if they think that after all they may not fare

so badly as some who are far less culpable. It is to

be trusted that it will be long before a similar
instance of undue severity be again witnessed, for
it is certain that it is detrimental to the interests of
the community, and subversive of the principles
which should actuate all authority.

It is always in!eresting to notice the progress of
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
'There is no more excellent institution in its way,
and, notwithstanding the absurd attempts made by
some to decry its purpose, or to sneer at
its prceecd-
ings, it is gratifying to mark its continuance, and
to observe the good effects of its workings.
The
report of the Secretary showed the great services
which have been rendered to the cause of humanity
by this Institution, and the best proof of the c ffirts
of the Society resting on solid conviction, and not
a fancy or an exaggerated estimate of things, 4