The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-30 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 30, 1863.

If anything could be accepted as "cautionary"
by her MAJESTY'S Ministers, it would certainly be
th© reception accorded to a man like,Mr. BUSFIELD
FERRAND by his constituents down at Devonport.
The mere fact of the return of a man like Mr.
FERRAND by that borough, during the existence of
a Whig Government, had about it, as we ail very
well remember, a peculiar significance of its own.
If the so-called Conservative reaction could be seen
nowhere else, it could certainly be seen there.
About there being a reaction of some sort, of a poli-
tical character, dead against the Government and in
favour of the Opposition, there was no
room left for doubt—after the rejection of
Sir FREDERICK GREY and the return of Mr.
WILLIAM BUSFIELD FERRAND as M.P. for the
borough of Devonport. The former condidate, the
Whig candidate, and one, moreover, who bore the
timbre of Whiggery stamped upon his very name as
a GREY, appeared before the electors of Devonport,
quite notoriously, as the nominee of the First Lord
of the Admiralty, his grace the Duke of SOMERSET.
Yet for all that—but no, we should ratker say at
once, precisely because of all that, those free and in-
dependent electors rejected the advances of Sir FRE-
DERICK, and, rather than have him GS their represen-
tative, elected to that post of honour one of the
moat thoroughgoing, out and out, determined, stub-
born,
neeompromising Tories in the land. Mr
FERRAND, seeking •
the bubble reputation in the
mouths of
the Dockyard cannon—found himself,
very bur,
, 'o to his own astonishment, shot
acatneless
into his seat as M.P. for the borough
of Devonport,
When
the smoke and uproar
of the political
explosion had cleared off. It
was the result of
disgust. It
Was
not that
of a reaction of sheer
that the electors of Devon-
port loved Mr. l‘zit4lll3.B views more, bat that they had acquired
abhorrence of those of hie oan intense and utterP
at the time was very nearienietnts ! Their feeling
y aP
dictating the burning lines of c in
indeed to that
" Give me the bold, the erect, the ta
Dauntless I'll meet, perhaps avert tntilY
_foes
But from all ills, Great Heaven, thy
Wrath can
Save, save, 0 save me from the Caildidvran'cincl,
Acting upon which earnest and passionate impulse,
Devonport rejected Sir F
the electors of D REbtatex
GREY and accepted Mr. FERRAND. The result of
the contest was so startling at the time that upon
the apparition of the newly-elected M.P. for the
Borough, in the House of Commons, there to take
his seat W. B. FERRAND, M.P., redivicus
was hailed with stormy shouts of exultation by the
Opposition, as he walked up to the table between
his introducers. Ia his reappearance just now
amongst his constituents he speaks out quite as
boldly and resolutely as ever he did in the old days,
when be was wont to cross his dagger of lath with
that flexile, incisive blade of purest metal, wielded
with such a dexterous hand, held in such a grip of
iron, and directed by such formid.ble thews and
sinews as those of the arch-champion of Free
T7tds, the arch-foe of Protection. Hitting about
him now as boldly as ever he did in the heyday of
his career, the blunderer of twenty years ego has
contrived th" •
ti is me by one happy hit, at a single blow
to strike exactly the right nail precisely upon the
head, and in so • • strikleg it, to drive it, in that one
instant, home ! a - A
Sir ARTHUR BULLER," he re-
marked towards the close of his speech in the Town
Hall of Devonport as recently es the day before
yesterday, " Sir ARTHUR
HULLER has called me a
Tory. I, for my part, Lowever, say Judge me by
/By Totes.' If those votes
are Toryism, then I
am a Tory. If serving you faithfully and
looking after your interests must be re-
garded as Toryism, then, again sag 1,1 am a Tory.
While—if making solemn pledges from the hustings,.
and them breaking them afterwards in Parliament,
is to be regarded as Li beridism, then in truth j am
no Liberal." Whereat loud cheers from the Liberal
electors of D.:sonpor:,, who out of sheer disgust for
all the old Candid Friends of Liberalism, have

turned by preference a bold, erect, and manly foe
in the person of this their outspeak Tory represen-
ta' ire. There can be no question whatever any
iger about it, that the late Government, the Con-
se Government, the Government of Lord
D ERBY and Mr. DISRAELI, were, as Mr. FERRAND
bluatliy expressed it, just simply " jockeyed" out
o f c ffice upon the question of Reform. The
d odige (as Sir HUGH CAIRNS at once
d tfhbed it) by means of which they were thus
joe keyed being those famous " Resolutions" of
Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S—the pendant to which
esolutions, we prefrume, is Earl RUSSELL'S emi-
t,' !nted, complacent placeman's axiom of " Rest and
Ile Thankful"—that being, as we know, our noble
x-Reformer's Final declaration for Finality only
the other day down in Scotland, at Blairgowrie

The Calcutta Mail brings us news of some im-
-0 ortant changes about to be proposed for the im-
;:..rovement of our Indian towns. The administra-
lion of justice is unquestionably one of the most
serious difficulties that meet us in our efforts to
aecure the efficient !and upright Government of
cur Indian possessions. The native mind is so
intricate and subtle, the native tendency to fraud
and dishonesty is unhappily so powerful and so
prevalent that it is extremely difficult to secure
e. system which shall at once protect the creditor
from imposition and the debtor from cruelty.
The perplexities attending the enforcement of the
contract laws are already familiar to many readers,
and the undue severity of recent enactments was
very properly objected to by the Home authori-
ties. The natives, whose turn of mind makes
them ready and willing to turn to the law for
settlement on any disputed point, and who are
continually cheating, or endeavouring to cheat
each other, are constantly bringing cases before
the courts. There have been many complaints of
the distance which separates the courts, the tardy
decisions, the facility for appeals, and the diffi-
culty of enforcing the fulfilment of obligations
undertaken by contractors, who insist upon cash
advances, and then let the work stand still. It has,
therefore, long been a matter of public concern that
the cumbrous machinery of the Indian law courts
should be made to work more surely, expeditiously,
and cheaply. We all know what is involved in a
long course of litigation, and when we learn that
three-fourths of all the law suits in India are for
sums under £5O, we can readily believe that, in nine
cases out of ten, le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, to
the real owner of the money, and that the shuffler,
whether he wins or loses, has really and substanti-
ally the best of it. With a view to the adjustment
of these causes of complaint, a Bill has been pre-
pared by the Hon. Mr. MAINE, with the avowed
object of improving " the administration of
civil justice in respect of suits of small
value," which, it may be hoped, will in
good time be the means of introducing a better
state of things. It proposes to empower each local
government to establish courts wherever necessary,
under judges from whose decisions there can be no
appeal, excepting on points of law, to the high
courts, with their consent. The present ruinous
system of disputing every decision on the ground of
inferior rank in the judge, and the hopeless removal
of a case from court to court for mere litigation, or
a desire to postpone the evil day of settlement, will
therefore be entirely reconstituted. These courts
are to adjudicate on all matters up to £5O or £lOO,
as the case may be, and will hear suits to enforce
the performance of contracts, when such suits
claim, as they often do, to damages ranging below
those sums. Tae complainant is also to be able to
institute proceedings against the contractor, whether
or no he have fulfilled part of his contract, and the
defendant, if found guilty of breach of contract,
may be ordered by the court to complete his under-
taking by any given time. Failing to obey the
orders of the court, he will be liable to distraint or
attachment, and thus a class who are only too nu-
merous in India, and whose misconduct has mate•
rially retarded the progress of the nation, will find
themselves in a new and awkward position. To
guard, however, against any abuse of power on the
other hand, the Bill provides that the court shall
have power to punish a complainant who brings
a groundless or vexatious charge. Each court is to
have a registrar, who is to have a good deal of the
minor business in his own hands, subject to the de-
cision of his superior. It is suggested that in rural
parts one judge may go on circuit among several
courts. In the selection of the judges, Mr. MAINE
admits, lies the great difficulty of the scheme. It
will be anything but easy to find a sufficient num-
ber of capable and honest men to fill the required
judgeships. Able Europeans are never too
plentiful in India, and, although there is
no lack of native legal talent, yet the
first requisites of a judge—impartiality and
uprightness—are unfortunately too often wanting.
With a view to check as much as possible any un-
fair administration, this bill has several provisions
intended as a check on the judge. Barristers are
temporarily to act as second judges in districts
where they do not practise, that they may see a
little how matters are carried on ; while some of
the Bengal judges of the High Court will probably
occasionally go on circuit, and thus supervise the
administration of the lower courta. From these
outlines it appears that the bill is framed very
fairly and temperately with a view to the settle-
ment of a great practical perplexity, from which
many and continuous evils are in the habit of
arising. It cannot, of course., be said folly to
answer the purpose until it has been tried ; but
Mr. MAINE has evidently weighed carefully the
various sides of the question, and has succeeded,
we may hope, in laying duwn a foundation for
future reforms. It is to be hoped that all parties
will agree to give the bill a fair hearing, and, if it
be proved on consideration to promise well, to give
it a fair trial. There is evidently much need for
"me alteration in the constitution of our small
Indian
courts, whose number, uncertainty, and
lingering delays seem only to encourage the fraudu-
I lent and
worthless, while they aro likely to drive
a cora
"'int whose case has been carried from
court to court, by appeal after appeal, to seek some
shorter and more certain method of obtaining
redress than that indicated by the laws of his
rulers,

The intelligence fr-77----------0,11- pi
ussia still confirms the
hopes of the
party of pro,,„
members of the F tt Party have bortschri .
turned by a large majority, and theifi Berlin
" n"
freoeamnll
the
e_
provinces indicate that a " decided
h
triumph"
onn
yt
ihn g
been obtained by the Liberal party. if as
can influence the infatuated party i„.
illder
ouaht to be returns like this. in the strongest' iandt
most emphatic manner the country, in city and pro_
vinse, have declared for freedom, and it is yet to be
seen what notice will be taken of this marked mani.
festation of popular feeling. ,Barely, if ever, in the
present day, has there been seen so daring an inroad
upon the rights of a people and the privileges of a
nation ; and now it is gratifying to find that a de-
cided check has been put to these extreme measures
by the almost unanimous voice of the people. It is
curious to speculate on what line of conduct the
Ministers will adopt, and what course of policy
they will pursue when the now Parliament as-
sembles. It is almost certain that they must take
some decided step, for a collision is inevitable. Th e

whole of the vexed question will be again brought
forward into discussion, and both sides will engage
in the contest with more acrimony of feeling and
angry excitement than before. The Ministers will
be flushed with power, and eager to maintain the
footing they have established during these months
of absolutism. On the other hand, the representa-
tives of the people will be no less zealous on their
part to vindicate the cause, and set forward the
wrongs inflicted upon those to whom they are
trustees. It is a glorious privilege and a proud posi-
tion to stand forth as the champion of a nation's
liberties and the defender of a people's rights. In
the present state of Prussia it is a sad task that
falls on its representatives in the Chamber of De-
puties. There are broken promises to be referred
to, arbitrary decrees to be questioned, undue inter-
ference with the liberties of the subject to be
discussed, and, above all, the individual ac-
tions of Ministers must be accounted for.
They will not find this so easy a task,
and Herr VON BISMARK will be puzzled, with all
his ingenuity, to explain why he prevented ad-
dressee being sent to the SOVEREIGN, and under
what pretext he tampered with the liberties of the
press. No trifling and hesitation will do when
such vital questions are at stake ; and, above
all, a haughty and imperative demeanour cannot be
tolerated for an instant. If the Ministers of the
Crown recommence their old notion of asserting
their immunity from inquiry and their non-respon-
sibility to the Chambers, it will be an evil day for
peace and tranquillity in Prussia. The people have
borne with admirable self.command and remarkable
reticence the unparalleled attacks that have been
made upon their privileges, and the inroads
on their Constitution. The present is a
critical time; the day of passive endurance is
past, and the season for action has commenced. It
is to be trusted that the clouds will blow over, and
that the position may be readjusted without any
serious strife ensuing; but if such a happy issue
does not arrive to the troubles and disturbances of
the political arena, it will be for the people of
Prussia to vindicate themselves before the nations
of Europe. They must make up their minds either
tamely to submit to indignities and suffer their
country to be trampled down and become a second
or third-rate Power, or they must declare that they
are resolved to make a stand for their rights, and to
reinstate themselves in their ancient position. This
is one of those difficult questions where only deci-
sion and daring will carry through, and where
temporising is fatal to the parties who hesitate to
claim their own, and to the cause which they com-
promise by want of firmness.

The prorogation of the Canadian Parliament gave
occasion to the utterance of loyal sentiments, and
also to the expression of patriotic feelings,
which at
this critical juncture are particularly welcome.
The Address of the Legislative Assembly, which
was read by their Speaker, was a satisfactory one in
every way. The readiness with which they have
entered into the question of the Volunteers and the
Militia prove that the importance of the sub-
ject of defence was duly appreciated. There
is nothing of so much consequence at this
moment as to put the whole population into a pro-
per state of defence, and to institute the necessary
inquiries into the state of the present provisions for
war. The enrolment and discipline of volunteers
has been of course one of the chief subjects brought
under the notice of this special session, which has
been convened for the express purpose of making
adequate provision for the emergency that may take
place at any time. It is encouraging to those at
home and abroad to mark the earnest expressions of
goodwill, and the zeal which animated the tenor of
the discourse which the Speaker addressed to the
Governor-General. A State at unity with itself,
and on reciprocal terms of amity with the mother
country, is a pleasing picture to behold at this mo-
ment when distraction reigns paramount in the
land around it. If any one questioned the sound-
ness of the sentiments of Canada, the earnest and
energetic language of the Assembly would put a
stop to such doubts, and confirm all waverers in the
cause of the unanimity of the subjects of New Vic-
toria in that direction. There is no reason to doubt
the declaration of the Speaker that their union in
debate was the type and symbol of the zeal and
patriotism that pervaded the whole country ; nor
yet, further, can his next assertion be gainsaid—
that, if trouble comes, all creeds and origins will
unite in the defence of the land and the mainten-
ance of its connection with the mother country.
We live in happier times than our forefathers. The
aspect of American affairs is different in the days of
Queen VICTORIA to what it was in those of her
grandfather, King GEORGE. Then misrule and
weak administration lost to the Crown of Eng-
land many important possessions in North America.
Now, good government and right apprehension of
their mutual position, has maintained inviolate the
sway of a Sovereign, while around our province the
storms have raged, skaking the foundations of other
States to their centre. Whatever the danger may
be, it is best guarded against by the exercise of a
free constitution. There is a peculiar influence im-
parted by that blessing of a State which is never so
strong and unfailing as when other hopes falter
and other supports give way. In the days of their
first establishment the pioneers of the wonderful
republic would have been scandalised to know that
in after days their States would vie with each other
in anarchy over the extent of their vast arena, while
a province of the despised Royalists would be a star
in the darkness, and present an example of internal
order and external peace which grander neighbours
would do well to copy.

A SINGLE VAPOUR BATH is said, by a French
medical journal, to be a certain cure for hydrophobia.
MR. BARON PIGOTT. Yesterday Mr. Baron
Pigott sat at the judges' chambers for the first time
since his appointment, and disposed of a number of sum-
monses. The applications were of a routine character. His
lordship will take his seat on the bench on Monday, in the
Court of Exchequer, being the first dayof Michaelmas Term.
Mr. Justice Mellor also sat at chambers, and after he had
heard the summonses returnable before him, assisted the
new judge in getting through his list. One or more of the
learned judges will daily attend at chambers to facilitate
the proceedings in their respective courts.

PROTEST AGAINST THE POLKA !—To say the truth

it is not a pleasant dance, and how it ever could
have come into vogue is a marvel. Does any young gentle-
man call to mind its first appearance in this country ? (of
course it is beyond the ladies' recollection) the elaborate
pirouetting, hand in hand, vis d vis, dos a dos, toe-and-heel
business which characterised its original performance ?
Any couple who should now go through those elaborate
figures would be put down as reciprocally insane. The
dance of St. Vitus itself would hardly be looked upon with
more horror. Even reduced to its simplest elements of
two slides and a hop, it is open to objection. Why hop
at all, in the strictest sense of the word ? Dancing
should be an easy gliding motion, or a downright spring
from the ground (which of course would never be tolerated
in decent society). But this capering on ono leg is
detestable. When Mdlle. Coryphee comes down to the
footlights, and, supported by M. Glisseur, balances herself
on o
rdity—a nt toe, and points the other at right angles to the grand
tier, I
can
Wonderful
venerable gentleman in the stage box may applaud,
but u
hiss with equal gusto from the pit. ?
yea; difficult?
yes; but graceful? no, No, NO I It is a
monstrous abdamsin( • gross imposition to call this ballet-
is not dancing • it is cruel posturing, scarcely
less
ministers ugly than
of Ju those Which fanatical fakeers, or dervishes,
or ggernaut perform, They say the poor
girl's feet are horribly deformed in consequence—clubbed
together at the toes from this unnatural exertion. Down
with the monstrosity; let the figurantes at least stand well
on the stage if they can take no ~ther pc.sal • • -on in society.—
From " .London Ayociety" for Aovenoen