The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-07 00:00:00

Commence at '.

THEATRE-RO AL, HAY MARKET.
Lessee. Mr. J. B. Buckatone.
THIS EVENING, at Seven o'clock, will be performed
OUR AMERICAN COUSIN. Asa Trenchard, Mr. Buck-
stone ; Lord Dundreary, Mr. Sothern.
After which, a new and original Extravaganza, entitled
RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA; or, The Happy
Valley. Rasselas, Miss Louise Kerley.
Concluding with MRS. WHITE.

1 YCEUM THEATRE ROYAL, Will OPEN,
under the Sole Management of Mr. FECHTER, on
SATURDAY, January 10.
The perfermances will commence with an OrWnal Sketch,
entitled A SUDDEN ATTACK, in which Messrs. Shore,
Garden, H. Widdicomb, Miss Henrade, and Mrs. Lee rill
appear.

After which, at a Quarter to Eight, a New Romantic
Drama, in Three Acts, and Pr3logue, entitled THE
DUKE'S MOTTO, by Paul Feval and John Brougham,
Esq. The principal character will be sustained by Mr.
Fechter, sunported by Messrs. G. Vining, J. Brougham, Tr-
Widdicombe, M`intyre, F. Charles, Garden, Raymond,
Butler, Dawson; Mims Carlotta Leclercq, Kate Tern', E.
Lavenue, and Elsworthy.
Mr. Phelps and Mr. Walter Montgomery are mg
will shortly appear.
,„9,flea to Doors open open at half-past Six o'clock, Per'c'rArT, and £2 2s.
aged, and
mence at Seven. Private Boxes, £2 1.25.-- 6d.; Upper
Places registered. Stalls, 6s. 6d. ; Dress Circle, ss.
Dress Circle, ss. ;
Circle, 4s. 6d. Prices at doors—Stalls, 61.761.-O half-price. Box-
Upper ircle, 45.; Pit, 2s. ; Gallery, Itage-Manager, Mr. G.
office open daily from 1 till N.
Vining ; Acting-Manager,
mr. yr. Barnett.

N-
..-R0 YAL, ADELPHL-
E W TH RATRE
Sole Proprietor and alanag,er, Mr. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, A TICKET OF LEAVE : Messrs. J
L. Toole, P. Bedford. and Mrs. Billington.
After which, DIAEGERY DAW.
To conclude with " GEORGE DE BARNWELL :
riecruin Folly in the Realms of Fancy." Miss Woolgar,
ICelly, 31198 Seaman ; Messrs. J. L. Toole, P. Bed-
Veialls K.
lord. s,,;ephenson, C. J. Smith. Harlequin, Mr. John Lauri;
columbine, Miss Caroline Adams; Ciown, Mr. W. Hildyard ;
t• a ntaloon, Mr. J. Pa ulo. The celebrated Arthur and
I;ertrand.

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE,
Lea see and Manager, Mr Lind'''.

THIS EVENING, THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. Mr. H.
Marston, Mr. Wallace ; Miss Constance Aylmer, Miss M.
Oliver, and Mrs. B. White.
After which, the New Grand CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME,
ItIQUET WITH THE TUFT ; or, Harlequin and Mother
Shipton." Mr. G. Belmore, Mr. C. Seyton, Misses Gray and
Hudspeth, Mr. Milano, Mr. R. Power, Miss A. Collinson, and
Mr. Raiford.

as it was almost, from the Legislature against the
wish of the Home Secretary, and in opposition to
some of the most respected members of both parties,
does really override the most settled principles of
English law. They have so interpreted it that the
onus of proof of innocence is thrown on the accused,
not that of the proof of guilt on the accuser. The
act is one perplexed and difficult enough, as might
be expected from its hurried passage, in the hottest
haste, by the county squires hurrying up as on a
life-or-death question to town, when most other
members felt but too secure that the transaction of
formal and routine business would alone be tole-
rated. Still it does contain the reasonable provi-
sion that " such game is obtained by unlawfully
going on any land in search or pursuit of game."
The country magistrates have maintained that if
the game, nets, are found on any person, it is
for him to show that be got them without " enter-
on land. The defendants' legal
ing unlawfully"
advisers have contended in vain that the trespass on
the part of the offence under the statute,
and that is a
therefore the mere possession of the game
land
does not create the crime contemplated by the act.
That unlawful entrance on land must be proved, in
fact, as well as possession of game.
This last view of the case has now been sustained

for the first time, we believe, by an appeal to a le-
gally-qualified judge from a decision of one bench
of the Great Unpaid. It was brought before the
Stamford Quarter Sessions ; the bench of magi-
strates had convicted several undoubted poachers,
who were seen leaving the town at night,were waited
for by the police in the morning, and caught re-
turning to_the town with game in their possession.
The fact of their poaching no one could doubt.
Their profession was well known. They had no
land of their own to take game from. No one would
authorise them to take even rabbits at night. And
the game, with implements to take it, was in their
bags. Many a man has been hung for murder on
not clearer circumstantial evidence. But in the
case of every murder the corpus delicti must he
shown to exist. It must be proved that there has
been a person killed—that the offence, that is, for
which the accused is tried, has been committed. It
is on this point that the prosecution here fails, It
is a part of the corpus delicti that the possessor of
the game should have been "unlawfully on land"
for it. This might indeed be believed by everyone;
it was believed by magistrates, recorder, and every-
one else in this case, but it was not proved before
the court. A person suddenly missing under very
suspicious circumstances might be presumed to be
murdered, but no trial for murder could take place
till the body or remains of the murdered man were
found. On this sound principle the learned judge
ruled that the conviction must be quashed.
It shows how much the public resent the harsh
administration of the un-English code termed the
Game Laws, that this drily legal decision elicited
the applause of the court. The applauding indivi-
duals had certainly ne sympathy with the poachers
personally. They are a class of men all the com-
munity would be glad to be rid of. But it would
like to be rid also of game preservers, arbitrary
parish squires, and game laws. The prevalent
feeling is that those who will pester the country
with flocks of hares and pheasants, and tempt
men to poach, by packing together wild animals
like flocks of sheep or poultry, do not deserve the
countenance of the public.
It was also apparent, in this case, how the
police of towns and counties will be withdrawn
from their proper duties to perform the office of
gamekeepers. A gentleman meets some men,
whom he takes to be poachers, walking out of
town in the direction of some extensive preserves.
He informs the police. Forthwith the police, in-
stead of being employed in watching the property
of those who pay the police rate, are set to watch
the game for which the preservers pay no rate
whatever, because game cannot be made property at
all. The police are, as it was predicted they would
be, turned, in fact, into gamekeepers, and tLe game,
which is the training school for crime in the rural
districts, and thus the heaviest indirect charge on
the county rates, now becomes a direct charge on
them. These Norman laws must be revised, and
brought into accordance with our modern sense of
justice. And in some way game preservers must be
induced to exchange their present unmanly system
for one of moderate preservation.