The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-22 00:00:00

of the love of place and power, and irrespective of
the unworthy considerations of party. A large
majority on the Liberal side of the House
does not at all insure the success of popular
measures, unless there is a Ministry that
acts in unison, and a party that can be relied on tr,►
carry the propositions laid before it. The last Par-
liament has been signally unproductive of -works,
and indeed more time has been wasted than in many
of its predecessors. A greater degree of responsi-
bility rests, therefore, on the one now in course of
formation, and as much will depend on its doings it
is to be trusted that it may be found equal to the
occasion. Hopes are always entertained that the
new Parliament will be striking improvement on the
old one, but it too frequently happens that little, or
nothing occurs to place it on a better footing as de-
serving of increased regard or respect for those in-
terests it is bound to serve in the best possible manner.

The Cuba brings us intelligence from New York
up to the 11th of this month, but there is little
in it to encourage the hopes of the real well-
wishers of America. The President refuses to re-
peal the clause in the amnesty which exempts
from its benefits the holders of Southern property
over the amount of $20,000, in spite of the re-
presentations made to him by Virginian mer-
chants and others. It is evident that such a re-
striction must (=amp trade and enterprise, besides
being most unfair and arbitrary. It bears an
awkward construction for the North, since it
seems to indicate a desire to confiscate Con-
federate property according to its value
rather than according to the loyalty or oppo-
sition of the owners. If President JOHNSON
really wishes to conciliate and tranquillise the South
he must remove all such barriers. Internal
harmony and social and commercial prosperity will
never be restored while the Government puts such
artificial obstacles in .the way. There are, one
would think, enough difficulties in consolidating the
country without adopting the very means most
likely to aggravate the people and keep up soreness
and disaffection. Some sects and parties in the
North, however, are so wrapped up in the
endeavour to secure the theoretical good
of the negro that they are impervious to
every other consideration. While the unhappy
blacks are dying of want and disease, they are busy-
ing themselves in the endeavour to secure negro
suffrage. The Boston advocates of this cause have
just published an address, in which they declare
that the South has only been subjugated by superior
force; it has not been convinced or morally subdued,
and that the people will do all in their power to pre-
vent the freed men from haVing any political influ-
ence. They therefore advocate the maintenance of
negro suffrage as a sine qud non. These enthusiasts
appear to forget that it is quite impossible the negroes
can be at present qualified to exercise any
political rights. A great injustice cannot be so
hastily repaired, and gradual freedom and en-
lightenment must precede the exercise of the full
rights of citizenship if America would avoid fresh
evils. The great body of negro voters would vote
under influence or dictation of some sort. They
would be nothing more than puppets in the hands
of designing whites. The suddenness of the change
from slavery to freedom has been so great that the
kindness has been cruel. It is not given to man to
repair his errors by a word or an act. Prolonged
and careful efforts may fail to undo the mischief of
wilful error, but at any rate they will be necessary
to secure anything like success. American enthu-
siasts do not appear to realise the present condition
of their country nor to appreciate the perils with
which they.are surrounded.

Few murders of any kind within our own time
have excited more attention or occasioned more dis-
cussion than the terrible tragedy at Road Hill
House. The mysterious nature of the crime, the
tender age of the victim, and the impossibility, as it
seemed, of tracing the murderer, all combined to
create a degree of excitement and interest which has
never entirely died out. The crime of the MAN-
NINGS was considered remarkable from the fact of a
woman being implicated in it. Rum slaughtered'
his victims with the daring of a desperado, and
PALMEI: gained a dreadful notoriety from the
number of his crimes. Very lately the assassination
of poor Mr. BRIGGS startled all London by the
nature of the crime, and the risk incurred by
every railway passenger ; but in all these instances
the murderer was at once detected, his guilt brought
fully home to him, and its terrible penalty inflicted.
With the case of the unknown criminal at Road Hill
there was, however, no such painful satisfaction of
public justice. Suspicion, indeed, attached to seve-
ral parties in turn, but there was never any evi
deuce brought forward which could substantiate the
charge. Slowly and darkly the story lapsed into
the calendar of the past, being only occasionally
referred to as an instance of remarkable and un-
detected crime.

Now, however, there is another act to the tragedy.
Five years have elapsed, when again it is brought
forward, and that in the most painful and startling
manner, by the confession of a young girl, the sister
of the murdered boy, who, at the time when the
murder was committed, was only sixteen years of
age. Her positive reiteration of guilt leaves no
room for any hesitation in passing upon her the
full sentence of the law, but there is still much that
is unsatisfactory and mysterious about the case.
The prisoner gives not the slightest explanation of
her motive for the commission of the crime, of the
manner in which she effected it, nor of the way in
which she contrived to elude discovery. In the
Court yesterday, when the painful and unusual
nature of the case made a deep impression upon
*yen those accustomedto such momentous scenes, the
unhappy girl could not be induced to say nothing
beyond the one word " Guilty." Her counsel, in
speaking for her, declared on her behalf that no
one else was implicated in the crime, . and that no
unkindness had driven her to its commission, but
no further details were added. No actual evidence
of the guilt of the prisoner, such as it might have
been hoped would have been given, has been elicited,
while her persistent plea of guilty debarred the
prosecution from any further search for evidence.
There is only one point which seems actually clear
—the mental aberration of the unhappy girl.
Whether she actually murdered her innocent and
helpless little sleeping brother, or whether
urged by the strange perversity of madness
her mind has dwelt upon the mystery of the unde-
tected criminal until she believed herself to be the
murderess, it is certain, even without the substan-
tiating fact of the lunacy in her mother's family,
that she is of unsound mind. Her whole conduct
has been that of a maniac, accepting her own con-
fession of the unprovoked murder, and the subse-
quent cunning and calmness she displayed. Hap
pily, however, much there is painful and mysterious
in the affair, the course of public justice is not
doubtful. It is quite out of the question to hang a
girl of twenty-one for a crime committed five years
ago, and only proved by her own confession, while
it is equally impossible to allow CONSTANCE KENT
again to be at liberty. She must remain under the
charge of the State, probably as the inmate of an
asylum, and possibly she may be hereafter induced
to add to her scanty confession. All throughout
the case has been of the most painful and remark-