The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

Archduke
in Mexico is
SATURDAY —The appointment of
the accomplishment
highest order REviEw.
to the
sed skill,
the
o.flunbexelpoencgt
Maximilian to occupy an Imperial throne
Ivitehritc:el.
meNrea
contented e. surprising event, both in itself and as
of a projieict. which seemed
wholly
of thaumaturgic performers. Not
he challenges t_
the scepticism of his audience by
nouncing beforehand'
almost incredible an.
which he the
_ afterwards proceeds to perform. When
Mr. Disraeli became a leader in the House of Com-
mons, when Prince Louis Napoleon
. ascended the
throne of France, the adroitness of both achieve-
ments was enhanced by the recollection that neither
aspirant to power had ever doubted of his own ulti-
mate triumph. The Emperor of the French has
since that time ventured upon many enterprises,
without wearing out his astonishing good fortune.
When he embarked. against the wish of his subjeers,
in the mexican speculation, and
during the long delay of his forces on their to
the capital, it was thought by many that his ay
demon
or guadian angel had at last deserted him.
still by no means obvious that any solid advantageIt is
will accrue to France from the expenditure of trea-
sure and life in a superfluous conquest ;but the
army and the people will exult in the power of a
Sovereign who can create and give away pi
It was as unlikely that an Austrian Aermres.
c hduke
should accept a crown from a Napoleon that a
French garrison should occupy the chief city
Spanish America. The splendour of the t of
ransac-
tion
will compensate for its inutility or lm provl.
dance, and new strength will be added to
the popular belief that civilisation i
round the world on the wings of thes borne
Impe-
rial eagles. The new Monarchy must iinPe-
becee-
sarily rely on the protecting power of
ranee, as
Austria has neither ships nor money to
crusading errands across the Atlantic. It is said,
indeed, that Frenchmen hope to be rel. •
ieved by an
Austrian force from the burden of the Mexican oc-
cupation • but even if the Emperor Francis Joseph
and the 'Council of the Empire were disposed to
undertake the task, the appearane
army in Mexico would be a curiouse ofa German
mode of com-
mencing that establishment of a great Latin and
Celtic State which Napoleon 111.
letter to Gen. Forey as the main proposed in his
object of the war.
It is not by Austrians that the Teutonic supremacy
of the United States can be balanced on the Western
Continent. The Archduke orEmperor Maximilian
mus n
real founder of the new
t be content to ackowledge the patronage of
the dynasty.
EXAMINER.—A fellow
gets into a railway car-
riage, and presently indecently
woman. The husband interferes, threatening him assaults a married
with chastisement if he does not desist. The ruffian
pulls out a clasp knife, and
makes a dash at the
husband, and a desperate struggle
ten minutes. Fortunately follows for about
the carriage who assists the there is a passenger in
the two the ruffian is over husband, and be
custody. Such was the overpowered and given into
rage of the kind that we , ighton case, the last out-
but not the last we shall u
h appen to be informed of,
that lenient punishreehts eve to notice if it be true
Finigan was brought before
offence. James
magistrates (Messrs, soote ore the Sussex county
nation and the charge oft and Warner) for exami-
nation,
the defence drunkennessoutrage was fully proved.
master of the prisoner was
was pleaded, and the
his man a good as brought forward to give
character. Now mark what follows :
"Mr. Scott, in Paw
of the offence, and ng sentence, dilated on the enormity
magistrates if they said it had been a question with the
taking into considerationought not to commit him for trial, but
the fact that he was his previous good character, and
had determined to treatrunk and did not injure any one, they
him to two months' the offence summarily, ar, d sentnced
It would have imprisonment with hard labour.
dilated on the been much better if Mr. Scott had not
tended to treat as enormity
f of an offence which he in-
considerations vv_
.oh no enormity whatever. The
pass so light a hic induced the magistrates to
sentence for so wanton and savage an
offence were,
previous
s.
ht us
ask good character and drunken-
weight and whether the two were of equal
Ni orth
to character is of In cases of doubt, evidence as
proof of the value, but when there is positive
duct, previous mostblackguardly and ruffianly con-
show that the good character will only serve to
he was—in a
word
had passed for better than
But rdthat he was a successful hypo-
crite.reason for characterdealing mildly with the offence. The
worshipful he
drunk, for it lleh had to consider that Finigan was
seems. that, in Sussex, drunkenness is
accepted in mitigation of punishment. Here, then,
are directions for all who may be desirous of com-
mitting gross outrages at the smallest coat. First,
they have by hypocrisy to get better characters than
they deserve, and next, they must get drunk, and
by these two recommendations together, deceit and
drink, they will secure lenient treatment. Yet a
few days ago we saw it laid down by the highest
authority, Chief Justice of England, that
drunkennessthe
was an aggravation ut offence. The
occasion
was a charge of unskilful treatment by a
andmidwife, Sir A. Cockburn directed the jury that
if they belie
fact
aggravved the cause to be drunkenness that
the
the offence. And thoroughly
is
sound reasoning, for the wilful act
of getting drunk worked the incapacity causing in-
jury. And
80, too, in Finigan's case, the wilful act
df getting
drunk made a filthy and dangerous
of
him,ruffianßut the Sussex justices, instead of
regarding drunkenness as aggravation of offence,
or, in other words, wilful cause of indefinite offence,