The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-08 00:00:00

Ellrertinct a'lnt

ONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1849.

The point raised on behalf of MARIA MANNING
at the recent trial at the Central Criminal Court, as
to her right to be tried by a jury de medietate
was, as we had anticipated, unhesitatingly and unani-
mously overruled by the Judges of the Court of
Criminal Appeal. No doubt could indeed have
existed in the mind of any person at all acquainted
with the principles of law as to the ultimate result.
The fate of the wretched criminal might possibly
have been postponed, but it could not have been
averted. If the objection had been placed
on the record, and carried on to the House of
Lords, the execution might have been delayed for
several months, and that could be the only advantage
gained by the culprit. But would that have been
really beneficial to the miserable woman ? Would
it not rather have kept alive a wild and unreasonable
hope that could never have been realised ? Would it
not have multiplied her agonies a hundredfold,
while enduring the " hope deferred that maketh sick
the heart," and which hope must have eventually been
disappointed ? It has been truly said that the actual
execution of the sentence forms but a small part of the
punishment of a person capitally convicted. The bodily
sufferings are of brief duration, but the fearful antici-
pations of the vast and incomprehensible change that
must be undergone occasion bitter and heartrending
pangs, on the intensity of which it is impossible to
speculate. If, then, the inevitable termination of the
proceedings could not be doubted for a single mo-
ment, it is a mercy to the criminal that it should be
speedily derided, and that the unreasonable expecta-
tions in which she so confidently indulged since her
condemnation, and by which her spirits were unduly
buoyed up, should be set at rest at once and
for ever. It is also of the highest importance
that the majesty of the law should be promptly vin-
dicated in a case of such magnitude and importance,
and that the public should not be led to suppose that
the salutary penalties affixed to crime could be
evaded or indefinitely postponed on such frivolous
pretexts. The " certainty " of punishment has even
a greater effect than its severity, and a greater delay in
the execution would be fraught with the most injurious
consequences, while the public mind remained highly
excited and in doubt as to the fate of the criminal.
The Attorney- General, therefore, acted judiciously in
refusing his sanction to the writ of error, while the
fullest justice was accorded to the convict in permit-
ting the case to be brought under the consideration of
six of the Learned Judges of England.
The question itself, as we long since stated, lay in
a nutshell. It was simply this—what was the
status or condition of MARIA MANNING at the time of
her trial ? Was the issue to be taken, and which the
jury was impannelled to try, one between the QUEEN
and an alien? If the prisoner was at that time a
naturalized subject, entitled to the rights and pri-
vileges, and subject to the responsibility of
an Englishwoman, she could not only
claim a trial by a jury de medietate
lingua, but it would have been a mis-
trial, if it had been granted. In our impression of
the 30th ultimo we pointed out this fact, and showed
that among the privileges so acquired was that of
being tried by twelve of her peers, who must be of
" the king's liege people, returned by sheriffs or
bailiffs of franchises, and of whom none shall be out-
lawed, or fled to sanctuary for treason or felony."
The Attorney-General in his argument fully explained
this point, which was indeed so plain, that the
Learned Gentleman declared that " he made the
observation, not for the purpose of the argument,
but because several learned persons, or persons who
were considered learned by courtesy, had made observa-
tions, and written opinions, that the right ought
to have b ?en conceded as a matter of fairness ;" in-
deed, as the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
remarked, "it would have appeared by the record,
not simply that she was admitted to be an alien, but
the matter of fact would have shown that she could
not have been an alien. It would have appeared
that FREDERICK GEORGEMANNING was a natural born
sulej.,-- ; that she was his wife, and,
consequently,
that she was by the operation of the statute
7 and 8 Victoria, chap. 66, sec. 16, a naturalized
subject of Great Britain, as fully as it a Bill of na-
tufaLzetion had been passed.
The effect of such a Bill Ind not been questioned;
all cur eminent jurists, lioaT, HALE, BACON,
BLACKSTONE, and numerous le,gel commentators,
have laid it down as settled, on indisputable autho-
rity, that a person naturalized became, to all intents
reel purposes, the same as a British born subject.
Here, then, was a person naturalized by Act of
Parliament, which as fully related to her
al if she had been mentioned by name
therein. It gave her " all that belonged
to the character of a British subject; t took

away " all that did not belong to a British sub-
ject." Her entire status was changed by the act of
marriage, and therefore the privilege that belonged to
her former status as an alien—that of being tried by
a jury de medietate linquce—thereupon ceased and de-
termined.
The Judges very properly rested their decision on
the effect of the statute. They very properly declined
to enter into the elaborate arguments adduced
as the effect of BARRE'S Case, which, to say
the least of it, is of very doubtful authority,
as well as being exceedingly obscure. Indeed,
the Attorney-General was unable to state whether
the reported decision had been made in a civil action
or in a criminal prosecution, a matter on which the
result might very easily turn. It would palpably
only weaken the effect of their clear and unequivocal
judgment on the operation of the statute if such a
precedent were relied on.
The Learned Counsel for the prisoner—Mr. BAL..
LANTINE—did all that man could do on behalf of his
client. He contended against fearful odds. The
law and the facts were alike against him,
but he laboured zealously and energetically
for his client, as he was bound to do. We cannot
blame him if his arguments could not stand the test
of reason. They were the best that could be adduced,
and it was his imperative duty to bring them forward.
An advocate, as we have already stated, must consider
his client, and his client alone ; he must disregard all
other persons, and let no feelings of compassion or of
sensibility influence him in the performance of his
task. Thus it was that Sergeant WlLlttivs acted in
his admirable defence of MANNING, the husband.
Thus it is that Mr. BALLANTINE has acted for Mrs.
MANNING, the wife. Lord BROUGHAM has placed
this just principle in so strong a point of view, when
defending Queen CAROLINE before the House of
Lords, that we cannot refrain from quoting his very
words. They will be found in Vol. 1., p. 105, of his
published Speeches. He says—
" Let no man vainly suppose that not only I, but that
any, the youngest member of the profession, would he.
sitate for one moment in the fearless discharge of his
paramount duty. I :once before took leave to re-
mind your Lordships—which was unnecessary, but
there are many whom it may be needful to remind—
that an advocate, by the sacred duty which he owes his
client, knows in the discharge of that office but one
person in the world—THAT CLIENT AND NONE OTHER.
To save that client by all expedient means, to protect
that client at all hazards and costs to all others, and,
among others, to himself, is the highest and most un
questioned of these duties. And he must not re-
gard the alarm, the suffering, the torment, the
destruction which he may bring upon any
other. Nay, separating the duties of a patriot from
those of an advocate, and casting them, if need be, to
the wind, HE MUST GO ON reckless of the consequences,
if it should unhappily be to involve his country in con-
fusion, for his client's protection."
Let those who prate about how far a barrister
should go in defence of his client consider this deli-
berate opinion of one of the most brilliant advocates
that ever appeared in a court of justice, and relin-
quish their own ridiculous crotchets on this point.

Our naval intelligence of this evening affords
another melancholy illustration of the mismanagement
of that noble service which has been the instrument
at once of the creation and the conservation of the
puissance and the glory of England. It will be ob-
served in the accounts transmitted yesterday from
Portsmouth that the difficulty experienced in manning
our vessels, so far fromldiminishing in any respect, is
rapidly on the increase. Even a twelve gun brig,
" the most tempting craft in the navy for seamen,"
finds almost insuperable obstacles to obtain its neces-
sary complement ; while " a dashing first class frigate,
with a popular captain," is compelled to put
up with a number of inefficient hands and the
offscourings of various seaports. The futility
of the efforts recently made by Captain
DACRES to collect together an adequate complement
of able•bodied mariners to man the 50-gun frigate
Leander, lately put in commission, is a glaring and
lamentable testimony of the rottenness, not to say the
insanity of the prevailing system—a system by which
the maritime power of the country is very materially
deteriorated, while a vast number of excellent seamen,
rough and tough salt-water Jacks, noble fellows who
deserve better treatment from the nation, are thrown
suddenly out of employment, and very frequently cast
adrift upon parishes but ill qualified to afford them
assistance.

Grievous, however, as are the evils resulting
from this deplorable mismanagement, it is not to
them that we are now going to refer. Our object
at present is to pursue the line of argument
commenced by ourselves on Monday—to dilate upob
the grievances accruing to the naval profession, and
the unnecessarily heavy disbursements required from
the national Exchequer, in consequence of the enor-
mous number, the preposterously enormous number,
of superior officers, whose names are inscribed upon
the Navy List as post-captains, rear-admirals, vice-
admirals, and full admirals. _

Already we have shown that, while the United
States navy is without one, -while the French navy
has but thirty-one, and the Russian navy but sixty-
three, the navy of England is encumbered with no
less than one hundred and ninety-four admirals-43
on the retired list, 151 on full-pay, 31 full admirals,
45 vice-admirals, and 72 rear-admirals ! We have
intimated, moreover, that this enormous assemblage
of flag-officers is exactly 158 more than were enu-
merated on the books of the Admiralty during the
period of our gigantic wars with NAPOLEON. At that
period 36 admirals were found sufficient for all the
emergencies of war, for all the wants of the service,
for all the advantages of the profession. It is quite
manifest, therefore, that a number so monstrously
disproportioned as 36 for war-time and 194 for
peace-time is indicative of a shameful unsoundness in
the organization of the Royal Navy. It demon-
strates quite unanswerably that the evil has become
so immense as to render its instant diminution
and its gradual dissipation imperatively necessary.
Nevertheless it may be asked how on earth matters
can be remedied ? The answer is sufficiently obvious.
Let the number of superfluous admirals, vice-
admirals, and rear -admirals be diminished—slowly,
and to a certain extent almost imperceptibly, if you
will—but still diminished. According to the present
arrangements of the service, no sooner is a superior
officer deceased than the Gazette is crowded with a
long list of consequent promotions. Some octogena-
rian dies admiral of the fleet ; and forthwith we are
informed that the vice-admiral of the United King-
dom becomes admiral of the fleet as his successor;
senior admiral of the red becomes vice-admiral
of the United Kingdom ; second admiral of
the red becomes rear-admiral of the United
Kingdom ; admiral of the white becomes
admiral of the red, admiral of the blue becomes
admiral of the white, senior vice-admiral becomes
admiral of the blue, vice-admiral of the red becomes
senior vice-admiral, vice-admiral of the white becomes
vice-admiral of the red, vice admiral of the blue
becomes vice admiral of the white, rear-admiral of the
red becomes vice-admiral of the blue, rear admiral
of the white becomes rear-admiral of the red, rear-
admiral of the blue becomes rear-admiral of the
white, and the expectant post captain fortunately
succeeds to his flag rank, moderately beginning upon
the superior catalogue as rear-admiral of the blue.
Phew ! the mere list makes one breathless. " And
so the world wags !" Now such as the foregoing are
the nature of the changes occurring immediately upon
the death of any old " tarpaulin "of an admiral. We
would see this interminable accession to the highest
rank in the service retarded in some measure until
the present preposterous list of 194 flag officers were
reduced to within a rational compass. Nor would we
desire that this beneficent innovation should be accom-
plished with an abruptness such as would entail any
hardship upon any class of the naval profession. Let
the reduction be effected in a manner so graduated as
to excite no reasonable disappointment among the
numerous aspirants for promotion. At present the
senior post-captain obtains his flag-rank immediately
an admiral departs lire, be he admiral of the fleet
or
junior rear-admiral of the blue. Now instead of
the senior post-captain attaining his flag-rank with
every individual death, let it be with every two, or
three, or four deaths among the admirals. Say,
with every three deaths—and let this regulation
continue in force until such time as the present
monstrous list of admirals, eke.
admirals, and
rear-admirals shall be sufficiently diminished. The
felicitous result of such an arrangement would very
soon be perceptible. We commend the plan with all
earnestness to the consideration of the Honourable
Gentleman the representative of Montrose, or to some
other energetic and patriotic Member of the House