The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-29 00:00:00

Mr. T. W. Saunders, who appeared for the prosecution,
said he should like to call the first wife to explain the facts.
Mr. Justice Willes—l am surprised to hear a learned
Judge propose to do such a thhg.
Mr. Carter said the fact was thik the second wife knew
of the first marriage and of the separation.

Mr. Saunders said the first wife had £3OO, and the pri-
soner had broken open the drawer and taken the money and
spent it.
Mr. Carter said that was not evidence, and that the Re-
corder of Bath ought to have known.
Mr. Justice Willes said, as no evidence was called, the
case must be left in the hands of the Court, and he should
sentence the prisoner to be imprisoned with hard labour for
six weeks.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The elevation of Mr. Monckton Milnes
to the Peerage by the title of Baron Houghton will
take no one by surprise. His name has more than
once been designated for this honour in rumours of
that kind which are officially called premature, and
has been favourably received by the public. Few
people would agree beforehand as to the precise
theory upon which the ranks of our hereditary,
nobility should be recruited; but there is a sort of
tacit understanding in high quarters, to which the
country is more or less privy, which generally ex-
cludes unfit randidates, if it does not always secure
the promotion of the worthiest. The popular text-
books of our Constitution inform us that the grand
prize of hereditary nobility is reserved for the
greatest ornaments of the House of Commons, the
heads of the legal profession, and officers who have
earned it by eminent achievements by land or sea.
Practically, we know that it is not so, and that in-
dividuals who have none of those titles in a trans-
cendent degree sometimes find their way into the
Upper House, and, what is more, prove very-useful
members of it. Here, as elsewhere, it is a combina-
tion of qualities which is in request, and the fortu-
nate possessor of this combination not only wins
favour and success but frequently justifies it. This
is exactly Mr. Monekton Milne's case. To a high
social position and sufficient wealth he unites an
honourable literary reputation, a long political ex-
perience, and a good deal of that prestige which is
the joint result of recognised ability and character.
In what may be called the secondary questions of
politics, and in the semi-political questions which
are better discussed outside the House of Commons
than within its walls, he has taken a very active
and influential part. Until lately there were few
persons in Parliament who felt so warm an interest
in continental politics, or who had anything like
the same acquaintance with them, and very few in-
deed who had thought and written so much about
such matters as national education, sanitary reform,
and the treatment of criminals. These merits
and accomplishments are not the elements of
Parliamentary fame, but they are of great
value in themselves, and certainly contribute
to adorn a seat in the House of Lords. Mr.
Milnes does not belong to the highest rank
of poets, or statesmen, or philanthropists, or econo-
mists, but he is enrolled as a working member
in all of these classes, and has done a greater
amount of good service for the public than
many more conspicuous men. To this rather
than to any claims upon the gratitude of the
Liberal party, we must attribute the choice of the
Premier. It has no political significance whatever.
Mr. Monckton Milnes's temperament is not that
of a partisan, and his seat has been too secure
to make it necessary for him to profess uncompro-
mising adhesion to any political leader. Perhaps
his career has been as nearly independent as that of
any of his contemporaries that can be named, and
the difficulty of counting on his vote must have
given successive whippers-iu on both sides a good
deal of trouble. When he was called a Liberal
Conservative he never conformed to the traditional
policy of Conservatism, and when he became a
Conservative Liberal he was constantly rebelling
against party discipline and taking up some line of
hie own. When there was an open breach in the
Liberal camp between the followers of Lord Rus-
sell and those of Lord Palmerston, Mr. Milnes
sided with the latter; but when a fresh issue w, s
raised on the Conspiracy Bill, he was found both
speaking and voting against his late chief. In his
subsequent conauct he has shown similar insubordi-
nation,especially on the famous measure for the aboli-
tion of the East India Company. Opinions may
well differ as to the wisdom of this course of action,
but Mr. Milnes is at least entitled to the credit of it
as a proof that he does not owe his peerage to poli-
tical subserviency. If he cannot be said to deserve
it as Wellington and Brougham deierved it, be
deserves it far better than most of the country gen-
tlemen who have been ennobled by virtue of terri-
torial influence.

I DAILY NEWS.—Simultaneonsly with the proro-
gation of Parliament is announced the death of a
Peer who of late had taken a conspicuous part in
its deliberations. The Marquis of Normanby will
not be remembered as a statesman. He, however,
filled a number of the most important offices in the
State, and obtained the distinctions which we are
accustomed to consider the reward of eminent pub•
lie merit. He was in succession Governor of
Jamaica, Lord Privy Seal, Lord-Lieutenant of Ire-
land, a Secretary of State, and Ambassador at Paris;
and as marks of the favour of his Sovereign he re-
ceived the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and
the coveted Garter, besides an accession of rank in
the Peerage, having inherited only the title of an
earl. The circumstances and interests in connexion
with which the late Marquis is best known to the
majority of the newspaper readers of to-day are so
different from those amongst which he established
his title to the gratitude of the Whigs, acknow-
ledged in his honours and promotions, that some
explanation is necessary to make his possession of
them intelligible. There can be no doubt that at
Dublin, where he was able to make himself very
popular—being accepted, on O'Connell's recommen-
dation, as " the best Englishman Ireland ever
saw"—he was exceedingly useful to the Government
of the day. In no other position, however, can it
be said that he achieved any remarkable success ;
and it is only on the supposition of personal merits
greater than any which can be submitted to the
vulgar judgment, but nevertheless known and ap-
preciated by those who guard the fountain of hon-
our, that the favours accumulated upon him can be
accounted for. On this high and mysterious ground,
however, our readers can have no desire to trespass.
The noble lord's early Parliamentary career was
promising. He was the ardent advocate of Liberal
measures in the unreformed House of Commons, and
stood up manfully for Catholic Emancipation and
Parliamentary Reform when to do so was not an
idle pastime. The declension which made him in
his latter days the equally earnest advocate of the
deposed Princes of Italy, and of that Prince under
whose yet remaining throne the marauders of
Naples find shelter, is a political phenomenon too
common among our noble Liberals to deserve
special reprobation.
POST.—Yesterday's American mail brings us no
tidings of importance respecting the movements of
the Federal and Confederate armies in Virginia.
Lee has proceeded unmolested in the direction of his
old camping ground to the rear of Fredericksburg,
and the line of the Rappahannock is by this time
once more defended by a Southern army. Meade
has not yet followed his opponent across the Poto-
mac, and some weeks, if not months, may probably
elapse before the rival armies once more meet on
the battlefield. In New York, the riots which oc-
casioned so serious a sacrifice of life and so great a
destruction of property, have not yet been brought
to a close. In Staten Island, in the vicinity of the
city, the depot and water-station have been de-
stroyed, the negro shanties have been burnt, and
many of the occupants slaughtered in cold blood.
Between the military and the citizens several colli-
sions have taken place, in which many lives were
lost on both sides. On the morning of the 17th
inst. quiet was said to have been restored, but, as it
would appear, mainly through the instrumentality
of a large military force which had been despatched
to the assistance of the civic authorities by the Go-
vernment at Washington. The direction which the
course of the war in America has recently taken
makes it more difficult than ever to speculate on the
possible period of its termination. The final result
is as little enveloped in doubt as it has hitherto
been. The Southern Confederacy has made a more
successful if not a more gallant stand against
Northern aggression than even its warmest friends
at this side of the Atlantic at first anticipated. As
for ourselves, we admitted that the Southern States
might be overrun by the armies of the North, though
we denied the possibility of holding in military suc-
jection a population of six millions spread over so
vast an extent of territory as that comprised within
the area of the seceded States. The success which
has attended the Southern efforts to secure indepen-
dence has been so great as to be well-nigh inexplica-
ble. At every point of its extensive confines the in-
fant Confederacy has gallantly, if not in all cases suc-
cessfully, resisted the numerous and well-appointed
armies employed to invade it. With ports blockaded
by a hostile fleet, and with but slender. means for
providing from its own resources munitions of war,
the South found itself obliged to equip gigantic
armies. It was not, however, daunted by what to
many would have seemed a hopeless task. It sus-
ceeded ; its armies took the field, and, in almost
.
every instance in which they came collision with
the more numerous and better appointed battalions
of the North, the former proved victorious. With-
out a navy the South has succeeded in retaining
possession of its fortified seaports, and has with
but two or three privateers inflicted considerable
damage on the Northern mercantile marine. Until
three weeks since, a Confederate garrison retained
possession of a town on the banks of the Mississippi
against the combined operations of a large army