The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON LORD DERBY'S
FATHER.---EXPENSIVE METAPHOR !—The Conser-
vative leaders can now estimate with some accuracy
the exact cost of an unfortunate trope. A metaphor
often goes a great deal further than an argument,
and the majority of men arc evidently much more
powerfully affected by a figure or an illustration
than by the substantial reasoning which it is meant
to colour. Lord Derby, as an accomplished master
of the whole_art of eloquence,, might fairly have

been expected to know this, and as the respectable
leader of a party he might fairly have been expected
to profit by his knowledge. Everybody who has
had any experience in discussion, even in private
life, is aware that plenty of people who can listen
with patience to a series of the most crushing argu-
ments, so long as they are advanced with gravity
and deference, will be thrown into violent anger by
a single jocose simile. In the case of large and im-
portant bodies of men this disposition is intensified.
The offensive tropebecomes more offensive by being
on the lips of all men, and it is soon felt too that the
trope is a condensed and graphic expression of the
orator's real sentiments. Nobody knows better than
the author of " Coningsby" what is the worth of
a cry, and Mr. Disraeli must have felt that the
elaborate and pointed figure of the Muzzle was
supplying his opponents with a far better cry
than they could have devised by their own un-
assisted ingenuity. It is very hard upon the lieu-
tenant that a single metaphor of his reckless chief
should have demolished the sublime structure which
had been so artificially raised upon the mysterious
base of Caucasian Catholicism. For six long years in
the cold shade of Opposition he had cherished a
becoming sympathy with the Pope, whom he no
doubt looks upon as a brother in affliction, as he is
only parallel in impotent perversity. During the
whole of that time he had done all he could to win
_ _

the sweet confidence of the Irish Ultramontanes,
and at last he even tried to persuade them that no-
thing but a wise regard for their best interests could
have induced him to vote against the Oaths Bill.
He laid great stress on the sincerity with which he
" honoured their ancient faith and venerable creed.",
With Mr. Whiteside and Sir Hugh Cairns by his
side, Mr. Disraeli deserves some credit for having
had the courage to go so far. He even said that, if
the Roman Catholics considered that any reproach
was laid upon them by the opening words of the
existing oath, he would not for a moment oppose
their omission, though, parenthetically, he rather
thought any feeling of this kind was of "a morbid
character." The Pope himself could not reasonably
ask more. Such fair speaking deserves a better
reward, but Mr. Disraeli's evil star was, as it usually
is, in the ascendant, and his three columns of argu-
ment and appeal and deep religious feeling were
worse than nullified by one pungent metaphor in
the mouth of his rash chief. With fatal complete-
ness the metaphor was worked out and polished
until rhetorically it was faultleSs. When the last
sentence was finished, the hearts of all Liberal
whips and solicitors and electioneering agents
must have rejoiced with exceeding gladness. " I
am very much obliged to you, but I had rather
" keep the muzzle on," was as welcome an inspira-
tion to them as " Our Young Queen and our Old
Constitution" was to Taper and Tadpole. The
eight seats which have been lost to the Conservatives
in Ireland, unbalanced by a single gain in that
country, are a striking and substantial proof of
what rhetoric can do. The peculiarities of the ()pen-
sion make this especially provoking to the Opposi-
tion. They were on the point of reaping the fruit,
which had been so long ripening, of the Italian
policy of the Government. The support given to
the impious assailants of the property of the Holy
Father was supposed to have utterly destroyed the
traditional ties between the Roman Catholics in Ire-
land and the Whigs. Indeed there is every reason
for thinking that, if the Conservative leaders had
not fallen blindly into the trap which Mr. Monsell
set for them, their sanguine anticipations would have
been fully realized. Solomon's proverb, however,,
that in vain is the snare laid in the sight of any bird,
does not apply to the Conservative birds. Instead
of giving the Oaths Bill the go-by as adroitly a s
they could, both Mr. Disraeli and Lord Derby. did
their best to make it one of the most prominent
questions of the Session. They could not vote for
it without offending the more fanatical of their Pro-
testant followers, nor against it without offending
the Roman Catholics. In either case they were in
a difficulty ; and their delicious skill and thrice ad-
mirable tact were shown by Mr. Disraeli making a
speech that was sure to annoy all the staunch Pro-
testants, and by Lord Derby working out a trope
that was sure to outrage the feelings of all the
stanch Catholics. Such be thy gods, 0 Carlton !
TILE " EXAMINER" ON TILE ROAD MURDER.—Con-
stance Kent is sentenced to death without the ver-
dict of a jury. There was no finding. for thorp was
no searching. The prisoner was her own accuser,
declared herself guilty, and the Judge thereupon
ordered the plea to be recorded, and proceeded to
pass sentence of death. There was thus, in fact, no
trial. The only evidence was the evidence of the
prisoner against herself, which was accepted as con-
clusive and decisive. It seems to us that, according
to all the principles of jurisprudence, Constance
Kent's accusation of herself should have been tried
just as if Constance Kent had been accused by an-
other, and evidence should have been called for and
examined to see whether the self-crimination was or
was not corroborated by circumstances. This would
have thrown light upon the method of the crime, a
knowledge of which is always for the interest of jus-
tice. As it is, all is left in darkness. The seal of
confession has, indeed, closed up truth against jus-
tice, as the priest's lips against disclosure. We all
know that there is a sort of mania for false confes-
sions, and without meaning to say that the confes-
sion of this convict falls within the number, we hold
that it ought not to have been accepted without the
severest scrutiny. As we have said before, we
rather believe in it than not, but it is possible,
though barely possible, that it may be the fancy of
a diseased mind, or an invention for a purpose to
which we shall presently advert. The truth of her
whole statement, as conveyed by her counsel, we
do not believe. She denies that she was goaded
to her crime .by any unkind treatment in her
home, where, she declares, she met with nothing
but tender and forbearing love. The object of
this avowal seems to be to aggravate her guilt to the
utmost, and to make the foul, unnatural murder
appear absolutely motiveless, a fiendish caprice.
But there are many persons who know that,-whether
with cause or without cause, Constance Kent was
unhappy in her home, and thought she had reason
to complain of her treatment. And for this she had
the sympathy of the neighbourhood. That sym-
pathy might have been given on mistaken grounds,
for there is always some prejudice against a step-
mother's rule, but, be that as it may, it was believed
in the vicinity that Constance Kent had undergone
oppression and humiliation, which had goaded her
to her cruel act of vengeance. And when this
opinion prevailed in the neighbourhood, the eager-
ness for the detection of the criminal declined. To
believe that a girl of sixteen could have deliberately
committed this detestable crime without any venge-
ful motive, and in return for tender and forbearing
love, is to believe something utterly out of human
nature. In very unnecessary efforts to deepen the
dye of guilt much stress has been laid upon the sus-
picion under which the convict's father fell and suf-
fered for many years. But is it quite fair to assume
that the girl living out of the world knew anything
of that suspicion ? And here occurs a supposition
far from credible certainly, but not to be pronounced
impossible. Suppose this confession a device to de-
liver the father's character from the cloud that has
hung over itsince the murder. Suppose the daughter
sacrificing herself to restore her father's fame and
lost place in society. Mark how much it would do
for him, for it would not only rescue him from an
unmerited odium, but it would give him a claim for
all the reparation society could make. The hypo-
thesis will be said to be to the highest degree
improbable ; be it so, but to the highest degree
improbable also is the crime confessed. And by the
issue of the proceedings in the Criminal Court, to
which the name of trial cannot with any fitness be
given, we are left in a wide sea of conjecture open
to all imaginings. To one conclusion only we can
cenfidently come, that the statement made by Con-
stance Kent's counsel, as authorised by her, is not
all true. She may be guilty, but not guilty with
every motive for innocence. Her obvious object has
been to criminate herself to the utmost in order to
acquit her family to the utmost. We see a very
significant circumstance supplied to the report of
what passed when the judge was passing sentence.
In dwelling upon the bad passions which had led to
the crime, the judge mentioned jealousy, upon which
Constance Kent interposed, not jealousy. Now
what ground had the judge for specifying the bad
passions to which this crime could be attributed?
He had nothing judically before him but the indict-
ment for murder, and the prisoner's plea of guilty.
There was not a circumstance, not a tittle of evi-
dence before the Court, to indicate the motives of
the crime, or the bad passion to which it might be
referred. All was wanting that should belong to a
conviction. And in his difficulty the judge had to
place Constance Kent through certain bad passions
of which the Court had not a jot of evidence in the
possession of the Evil One. In the indictments of
former times judges were saved the trouble of citing
this agency, for the crime was always laid to the
instigation of the Devil. The commutation of Con-
stance Kent's punishment to penal servitude for life
is what every one was prepared for, and if, as re-
ported, her destination is Western Australia, that is
an additional mercy ; for in a prison of her own
country her punishment would 'be more keenly felt,
well educated as she has been, and nurtured far