The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY'

the papers so published on each such days, signed by
the printer or publisher thereof in his handwriting,
with his name or place of abode under a penalty of
1001. in every case of neglect, and it was enacted

that
"In case any person 7or persons shall make appli-
cation to the Commissioners or such officer, in order that
such newspaper or other paper, so signed by the printer
or publisher, may be produced in evidence in any pro.
ceeding, civil or criminal, the said Commissioners, or
such officer shall, at the expense of the party applying,
at any time within two years from the publication thereof,
either cause the same to be produced in the court
in
which the same is required to be produced, and at the
time when the same is required to be produced, or shall
deliver the same to the party applying for it, taking, ac-
cording to their discretion, reasonable security, at his
expense, for the returning the same to the said Commis-
sioners or such officer."
Here, then, the time is plainly and distinctly indi-
cated within which any proceeding, whether, civil
or criminal, should be instituted by a Par-
liament which certainly could not be accused of
unduly favouring the liberty of the press. The most
stringent laws had been passed, the fullest responsi-
bility was ensured ; but if the complaining party
slumbered on his grievances for more than two years,
no assistance should be afforded. The evil could not

be very great if he could submit to the imputation
for such a time, and it would manifestly be wrong to
call upon an editor to answer for his publications
when the opportunity of offering a justification, and
proving their truth and accuracy, had passed away.
We have never even heard until the present case of
an action being commenced after the appointed time.
How, then, was it possible for the ex• Duke to bring
the alleged libel of the 19th September, 1830, under
the notice of the Court, or to claim damages in respect

thereof?
It appears that the Duke had for some time
been subjected to a series of most improper and
unjustifiable attacks on his private conduct, which
were contained in journals of a very different cha-

meter indeed from that which has ever been main

I tamed by the Dispatch. He had instituted numerous
1
proceedings, civil as well as criminal, against the
parties concerned in these objectionable publications.
Heavy, almost vindictive damages, were returned, and
some parties had also been sentenced to long terms of
imprisonment. The Dispatch had, however, nothing
in common with these journals, and although certain
articles were published in the years 1847 and 1848,
we believe that these publications could not have justi-
fied an adverse verdict against the respected proprietor
of the Dispatch, unless taken in connexion with, and
viewed through the medium of the article of 1830,
from which, if ever responsible, he was long since
exonerated by the-. Statute of Limitations. Under
these circumstances, it became the great object
of the Duke to obtain a republication of
the paper of the 19th" September, 1830. For
this purpose, according to his own showing, he
procured a person calling himself Captain RENNAULT,
who stated that he was a teacher of languages, but
who is said to be " now studying hat-making in the
borough," to go to the office of the Dispatch and to
apply for a copy of the paper in question. Capt lin
RENNAULT declared that on his first visit, some time
previous to the 14th March, 1849, he was requested
to call on the following day, and that he subsequently
procured a copy from a person at the office, for which
he paid. This sale was held to constitute a republica-
tion of the alleged libel. The paper of the 191 h
September, 1830, was submitted to the jury, and, as
we have already stated, a verdict was returned for the
plaintiff with 5001. damages.
Various questions both of law and fact arose
thereon, on which a new trial was applied for oa the
21 instant, the very first day on which it was pos-
sible for the defendant to take such a step.
It was totally denied that any such sale
or republication as alleged by the " gallant
hat-maker" had ever taken place. The affidavits of
two unimpeachable witnesses who had been engaged
in the Dispatch office were produced to show that no
paper of the date in question could possibly have
been sold in the office between 1841 and November,

1848, without their knowledge, as they were the only
persons who had had charge of the papers since 1840,
and they also stated that no paper of the kind was at
the office. This testimony would alone be sufficient
to cast considerable doubt on the evidence of the
gallant captain, but some strange circumstances were
produced in corroboration. It appeared that a person
named EASON applied in 1848 to a newsvender named
PLUMMER, who had previously procured for him
various copies of the Satirist and Dispatch, to obtain
for him a copy of the paper of the 19th September,
1830, for which he offered ls., 55., and ultimately no
less than Si. After much inquiry,PLUMMER discovered
a person who had a file of the Dispatch for 1830,
but who refused to sell a single paper. He, however,
was willing to sell the entire for 3/., which sum was
paid by Mr. HADDY, the secretary to the Duke of
BRUNSWICK, who thereupon received the papers about
the latter end of July or August, 1848. It will be
in the recollection of our readers that two papers only
were produced on the trial—one, which had been
obtained from the British Museum ; the other, that
which the hat-maker swore he purchased previous to
the 14th of March, 1848, at the office of the Dispatch,
and which constituted the republication on which
alone the action could be maintained. Under such
circumstances it was pertinently asked by Sir FRE-
DERICK THESIGER, "for what earthly reason the
Duke, when in possession of this important paper
before the 14th of March, could, through his secretary,
be offering so large a sum as 51. for a single
paper in the July or August following ?" It
does not appear very difficult to arrive at
the true solution of the problem. On this ground the
rule nisi was granted, and we are gratified to think
that the matter will be subjected to that strict and
searching investigation it requires, so that the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth may
eventually be obtained.
The other points on which the new trial was ap-
plied for were purely questions of law. First; it was
contended that even supposing that the sale had taken
place at the Dispatch office, as alleged by Captain
RENNAULT, that it was not such a re-publication as
would be sufficient to sustain the action ; and, se-
condly, that damages to the amount of 5001. sterling
were clearly excessive, when the nature of the re-
publication was taken into consideration.
On the first point it was argued that Captain REN-
NAULT was the admitted agent of the Duke 01
BRUNSWICK, and that a publication to him
was to all intents and purposes a publication
to the Duke himself, which, although it might be
sufficient to found a criminal charge, could not pos-
iibly give the plaintiff a claim for damages. In The
S U7L of the 30th June last we fully put forward the
arguments on this Part of the case, which were sub-
sequently used by Sir FitEDERICK TEIESIGER. There
cannot, therefore, be any necessity for a recapitula-
tion thereof.
On the point of damages it was well argued that
the republication of a single copy was very different
indeed from a new article in the Dispatch, with its
enormous circulation of seventy or eighty thousand
papers of each impression, which would necessarily
be read by many hundred thousands, perhaps millions
of readers, and distributed throughout the length and
breadth of the land. It was therefore insisted that the
Chief Justice should have told the jury that in assessing
damages their consideration should be directed not to
the publication of 1830, but to the single:copy deli-
vered at the request of the Duke himself eighteen
years subsequently, the Duke having another copy in
his possession.
On these latter points judgment was reserved, in
order that Lord DENMAN might be consulted ; but
when the paramount importance of the matter is
taken into consideraion, it cannot be doubted but that
all the questions will be argued before the full Court,
a:ld that a decision will be obtained that may safely
be referred to for a long series of years.

" If it be true, as we often hear it said, that Know-
ledge is Po er, it certainly is not less true that
Kr.owleage is Pleasure," said Lord MAuoN at the
recent festival of the Leeds Mechanics' Institute—

a sentiment singularly appropriate to the time and
place in which it was uttered. Ather mums and
Mechanics' Institutes are living testimonies of the
pleasures of knowledge. The researches of the
scholar are, in most instances, prompted by the
desire of celebrity, or some kindred ambition, but
the motley concourse who pore over the well-
thumbed volumes, or listen to the public lecture at
the Mechanics' Institute, seek Knowledge for the sake
of her pleasures only. The heart weary, and the

brain oppressed with the burden and heat of the cares
of the day, seeks, and haply finds, solace and refresh-
ment in the pure delights of mental improvement.
GOD speed all such undertakings, say we. They have
for their object the elevation of the people by the
diffusion among them of the privileges and pleasures
of knowledge. Whether it be the Ragged School,
which puts a hornbook into the hands of
the heathen children of a Christian country,
or the Mechanics' Institute, which places the literary
facilities of the rich within the reach of the lowly,
the object they have in view is one which we, in
common with all true lovers of the people, have
deeply at heart—an object which is, above all others,
worthy of the disciples of Him who characterised
His Gospel as "preached unto the poor." The ele-
vation of the people is, and should be, the grand
ambition of every individual unit worthy of being
numbered among " the people ;" and how is that
elevation to be effected save by the universal
diffusion of knowledge? Considering these things'
such meetings as the one recently held at Leeds,
become invested with especial interest—an inte-
rest wholly independent of the individual circum-
stances of the assembly, or of the eloquent harangues
then and there delivered. These latter attractions
were, however, not wanting to the festival, which
boasted the presidentship of Lord MAHON, and the
presence of Air. MILNES and Mr. ROEBUCK. The
speech of the Chairman was in every respect worthy
of the historical erudition and polished refinement Of
the biographer and descendant of Lord CHESTERFIELD.
Mr. MONCKTON MILNES spoke as a poet and a
politician ; but perhaps the most interesting speech of
the evening was that of Mr. ROEBUCK. Rarely have
the sarcastic powers of the Member for Sheffield
been more happily exhibited than when at the com-
mencement of his discourse he described himself as
" a plain working man," an observation which seemed
to say, let no working man be ashamed of his calling,
for all whose respect is worth having are themselves
working men. And in so saying, Mr. ROE-
BUCK spoke no less truly than effectively. The
spirit which had given rise to such institu-
tions, the voluntary efforts after self-improvement on
the part of the people, the same speaker rightly de-
signated as a distinguishing mark of the present
times. But, however much such establishments may
demonstrate the anxiety of the people to educate
themselves, it would be a grievous misapplication of
their meaning to infer from thence that the people
are to be entirely left to their own resources in that
particular. True, nature may have gifted them with
capacity for imbibing truth, and some of them may
even thirst after its possession, but the
.well of know-
ledge is deep, and they, in their helplessness, have
nothing -to draw withal. How, then, shall we
advocate the voluntary principle ? Let us encourage
that principle by all means ; but let us first be
careful to enable it to be duly exercised. Let us
give to the ignorant the key of the temple of
knowledge, and then they may voluntarily enter in
and abide there. Then, indeed, we may enjoy that
equality which "the plain working man " who repre-
sents the borough of Sheffield so beautifully and
truthfully described when he said—
.' I want us all, in whatever sphere, to be happy and
virtuous. Knowledge makes us so; and it is tor that I
wish to acquire knowledge. I have no care whether or
not it frightens any body that the people should be
learned. I have seen states—we know them, my Lord
—in which there are classes who are forbidden to learn.
In this country, centuries back, we were like this; but
we have outgrown these things—we have forgotton them
—and are all on a perfect level as to the acquirement of
knowledge ; and no class can be distinguished from
another by the mere acquirement of science or literature.
We are all alike; and, as in social life, the peculiar ad-
vantages of scientific knowledge are placed within the
reach of all, so far as knowledge is concerned, each is
placed upon an equality with every other man; and that
to my mind appears the true equality and the true fra-
ternity which philosophers desire; and which do not
mean those fanciful notions which are elsewhere held.
True equality is that of a man standing by himself alone,
his knowledge acquired by his own means, and having
that supremacy above the lower animals to which man
was destined—that supremacy of knowledge which leads
to virtue, without which we cannot be happy. It is for
this, then, that I look so favourably on an institution
like this ; it makes us all, my Lord, entertain right
notions of true equality ; it teaches us to have these
sympathies which nature intended, and which you have
always felt vehemently; it makes us all understand each
other as true men; it is the bond of knowledge that is
the tie which shall unite us to each other."
The discourses of the various speakers are well
worthy of perusal. That of Lord MAiioN will be
found practically useful to students of high and low
degree ; and altogether the proceedings of the assem-
bly afforded another happy indication of the times we
live in. " You have a right to be proud of being
Englishmen," said the Noble Chairman of the Leeds
mechanics, and well might his hearers respond to the
exclamation, if they called to mind the fact, that
while the nobles and senators of England were thus
personally assisting in the diffusion of knowledge
among all classes, in Vienna a decree had just been
issued forbidding the publication of any work unless
the manuscript had been inspected by the military
Government. Which of these two courses is the most
politic time will demonstrate, if it is not already de-
monstrated.

PRIVY COUNCIL AT WINDSOR CASTLE.—This
morning, at half past twelve o'clock, the Marquis
of Lansdowne, Lord President ; Lord John Russell,
First Lord of the Treasury,- Lord Campbell, Chan•
cellor of Lancaster; Earl Grey, Colonial Secretary;
and the Right Hon. Sir G. Grey, attended by the
Clerk of the Council in Waiting, Mr. Greville, left
the Paddington Terminus of the Great Western
Railway, by special train, for Windsor Castle, where
her Majesty held a Privy Council at half past two.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, and Viscount
Palmerston (who is on a visit to the Queen), also
attended the Council. The principal business to be
transacted, it is understood, was the appointment of
a Day of Thanksgiving on account of the great
decrease of the cholera. His Excellency the Austrian
Ambassador, Count Colloredo, was to have an audience
of her Majesty to take leave on his departure for
Vienna, having been recalled. The Cabinet Ministers,
after partaking of a dejeuner, are expected to return
to town at five o'clock.

ERRATUM.—In the copious statistical comparisons
of our first leading article yesterday, one group of
figures was inadvertently re• quoted instead of another.
A glance at the preceding argument will show that
when it is said " England has her 600, while Russia
is contented with 211 lieutenants"—it is in reality
France which has 600, while England has no less
than 2,353 lieutenants, a fact which we had imme-
diately before particularised.

We regret to announce the death of General Sir
John 0. Vandeleur, G. C. 8., Colonel of the 16th Lancers,
which event took place in Dublin on the Ist of the pre-
feet month. He was one cf our most distinguished
cavalry c fliers, and had served in the army for the long
period of 68 years. As Lieutenant-Colonel of the Bth
Light Dragoons, he served with the local rank of Colonel
in et mmand of a brigade of cavalry under the late Lord
Lake, in ladia. At the battle of Las ,varree, on the Ist
of November, 1803, his brigade turned the enemy's left
tLI nr k,
d Laank
hisde
Lake's thanks.
ootorhdkasnhk2i
ps,o;
800 In
thanksN o vprisoners,era
furbefrolrh
leNBv
choa4i
rehyon6areceived
re-
ceiveda
Fatty Gliur, where the Mahratta chief Holkar was
surprised and defeated. At the conclusion of the war in
India Sir John Vandeleur returned to Europe, and in
1311 was placed on the staff of the army in the Peninsula,
as Major-General. He commanded a brigade of the
light division of infantry, and was wounded while leading
a divit.ion to the breach of Ciudad Rodrigo, in January,
1812, after the late Major- General Crawfurd had received
a mortal wound. This wound prevented General Van-
deleur being present at the siege of Baclajoz; but ho was
present with the light division at the battles of Salamanca
and Vittoria. A few days before the latter his brigade
was so fortunate as to intercept a French division and
to cut off one of its brigades, taking 300 prisoners and
forcing the remainder to disperse in the mountains. He
was subsequently appointed to command a brigade of
Light Dragoons attached to the column under Lord
Lynedoch, and afterwards under Lord Niddry, and par-
ticipated in all the operations of that column. He served
in the battle of Waterloo, and afterwards commanded the
whole of the British cavalry from the time that the
Marquis of Anglesey was wounded till Louis the XVIII.
entered Paris.
On Monday, the 6th instant, a general assembly
of the Academicians, was held at the Royal Acadera
of Arts in Trafalgar-square, when Mr. John Henry
Foley was elected an Associate of that institution.
A lucid anti new analysis of Cholera, by W.
Parker, Esq , treated on an elementary system, unlike
anything before suggested, and professedly a cure,
me tits general diffuti' n.
An almost unprecedented sensation in the silk and
drapery trade has recently been excited by the failure
of a large establishment in Oxford-street, and by the
keen competition of the proprietors of other houses to
become possessed of so valuable a stock. We allude to
the bankruptcy of Messrs. Walley and Hardwick, silk
mercers and drapers, who have for the last eighteen
months rendered themselves so conspicuous. We are
informed that Messrs. Sewell and Co., the well-known
silkmercers and drapers, have been the successful com-
petitors; and although the stock is so rich, and the
tenders ware so numerous, they have obtained it at an
enormous discount off. We believe it is their intention
shortly to submit it for sale at their extensive premises
1 in Compton -street and Frith- street, Soho.— 064crver.

TUE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The PRESIDENT'S Message to the .Assembly,
announcing the dismissal ot. the Barrot Ministry,
wa3 communicatA to the departments by telegraph.
It has been everywhere received, net only without

excitement, but in many instances with strong ex-
pressions of approval. Those of the Paris journals
which were at first loudest in their censures, now
consent to calmly argue the question as to whether
or no the PRESIDENT has, by dismissing his Ministry,
exceeded the powers confided to him by the Constitu-
tion, and they almost unanimously admit that he has
not done so. Even the Journal des Debuts admits
that in acting as he has done, the PRESIDENT has
merely performed a legal act. It says—
• Under the Monarchy of July the King, Louis
Philippe, was accused of personel interference in th-.
government. We have often met this reproach with the
reply that it was absurd to exclude from all part in the
government the party most interested in its manage.
anent, and that the fiction of irresponsibility ought not to
be pushed to the extreme of rendering the King power•
less. What used then to be our adversaries retort?
Very welll if you wish that the King should govern,
make him responsible. Events have proved that, in point
of fact, whatever the theory might be, the King was re-
sponsible, and it was on him, and not on his ministers,
that p)pular injustice was wreaked. The Republic
eagerly hastened to make its President responsible. We
thought, Heaven forgive us, that then there would be a
perpetual hold upon him, and that the more he would be
kept under, the more responsible ho would be. It has
just turned out the contrary, as, indeed, might have been
expected. It is by virtue of his responsibility the Presi-
dent claims independence, and forces his own policy on
the Assembly; it is by virtue of such responsibility he
names such ministers as suit him, without troubling him-
self about the tastes of the majority. The President
has, therefore, performed a legal act in changing his
ministry."
The .National, which may be considered an excel-
lent authority on constitutional questions, seeing that
the Constitution was mainly the work of those who
have been for years connected with that journal, has
the following, on the authority confided by the Consti-
tution to the PRESIDENT of the Republic :
The President (it says) cannot follow a line of policy
opposed to that of the Assembly. The Assembly makes
the law; the President promulgates and executes it. He
has no veto; he can only demand a fresh discussion; and
if the Assembly persists in its resolution he must give
way. lie may pardon individuals, but the Assembly.
alone can grant an amnesty. So much for the interior.
With regard to foreign affairs his power is not more
extensive. He cannot make peace or war without the
consent of the Assembly. No treaty negotiated by him
is definite until ratified by the Assembly—such are the
limits of his authority. Does it folio N, however, that he
must share the sentiments and blindly follow the tenden-
cies of the Assembly? Not at all The 58th article of
the Constitution, anticipating cases of difference, allows
him to retain his opinion, but obliges him to yield to and
obey the will of the majority, legally expressed. Should
a disagreement of opinion take place between the two
powers, the moment will come when the country shall
be called on to judge between them, and that moment is

the general eleCticai."
The immediate cause of the dismissal of the Barrok
Ministry Is stated to have been the discovery by the
PRESIDENT of a plot on the part of the Legitimatists
(concocted at Frohsdorf ) for the purpose of bringing
about a counter-revolution, and the immediate restora-
tion of HENRY V. as Absolute King. An attempt
was made on Tuesday last, by some officers, to create
an eineute in the Rue St. Antoine by shouting " Vive
IlEmte V.," "A bas le PRESIDENT;" the populace,
however, instead of joining them, arrested and gave
them into custody. The Ministry, it appears, whose
Legitiinatist propensities were more than suspected,
endeavoured to treat the affair as a matter of no con-
sequence, whereupon the PRESIDENT, who had accu
rate information on the subject of the conspiracy,
dismissed them.
The PRESIDENT reviewed a large body of cavalry
on Sunday at Versailles. Ilis reception was most
enthusiastic. The soldiers hailed him with sponta-
neous cries of " Vice NAPOLEON." It was remarked
that the people, broken into groups, discussed with
great animation the events of the day, and seemed to
be under the impression that matters would not rest
where they were. The fe,ling towards the PRESI-
DENT seemed to be of the most friendly character.
Tne aspect of the army and the people at Versailles
has been much talked about. Tne PRESIDENT was
accompanied by General Fox, the Earl of CARDIGAN,
and the Belgian Minister of War.
A Cabinet Council was held on Sunday evening,
for the purpose of considering the dispatches which
had been received from General LAJSZORICIERE on the
subject of the Russo-Turkish question. The Rus-
sian Minister had, it appears, introduced certain
covert threats in his note, and the PRESIDENT, always
alive to the honour of France, proposed that France
should assume at once an imposing attitude. He was,
however, opposed by the Minister of Finance, the
Jew banker, M. FoULD, who urged submission to
the behests of Russia, and the preservation of peace
at any price, as war would produce a financial crisis,
which would be ruinous to the moneyed interest.
We cannot believe that the French PRESIDENT and
the French people will suffer the honour of France,
" which never yet the breath of calumny hath
tainted," to be sacrificed to the aristocracy of the
money bags.
We read in the Sitcle—" The accession of the
new Ministry gives birth to a number of rumours
more or less founded on the changes which it is said
are to take place in the high personnel of the Ad-
ministration. A journal speaks of a complete change
in the list of Prefects, on which are, it is said, to be
placed 25 new functionaries. M. PEAUGER, ex-
Prefect of the Bouches-dte Rhone, where he has
been replaced by the Legitimist, M. DE SULEAU,
is the object of a crowd of suppositions. Some
make him the successor of M. F. BARROT, as
Secretary-General at the Elyse e ; others pretend that
he will take the Prefecture of Police, M. REBILLOT
being about to be made a General. Also, it is said,
that he is to be made Under-Secretary of State, or
Secretary-General of the Interior, from which post
M. DEZMASIERES would withdraw. Some persons
also speak of M. DUCLERC for the post of Secretary
of the Elysk, and M. DE BASSANO, ex-Secretary of
Embassy, for the Police. A new distribution of em-
bassies is also to be made, it is said. Thus M. DE
RAYNETAL is to be replaced at Naples, it is said, by
M. ANTOINE BONAPARTE, who would in that case, no
doubt, resign his place of representative of the Yonne.
A rumour also designates General MAGNAN for the
command of the army of Italy."
We read in the Akhbar of Algiers of the 3d—
" The following account of the attack at the oasis of
Zaatcha has been received by the general in command of
the staff. The approaches were conducted methodically,
and with very little loss. On the morning of the 20th,
two breaches appeared practicable, and the attacking
columns rushed forward under the protection of a fire
from the artillery. Their bravery and their efforts
could not, however, overcome the obstinate defence op-
posed by the fanatics of the whole oasis enclosed in the
town. One of the breaches was disputed during a space
of two hours, and at last it was found necessary to with-
draw to the trenches, carrying back 170 men killed or
wounded, of whom 9 were officers. The siege has now
resumed its slow and regular course; the sanitary con-
dition of the troops is good. A little garrison left at
Bou Cada by Colonel de Barral, when he dep ..rted,
in
order to join Gen. Herbillon, was attacked in its pro-
visional establishment by a hostile faction of the inhabi-
tants of the town, aided by upntingents of the Ouled
Nails, on whom a razaia had been effected some days
before by the cel.mel and by the vain under the orders
of Lieur.-Colonel Cirrus. Tile little garrison, sup
ported t,y our numerous pzrtisansm Bou Cada, repel ed
all the attacks. The goums of Aumale and of Berdj
ben Areri !j, who hastened to its succour, succeeded iu
disengaging it. A column was obliged to leave Aumaie
to take at Bou Cads the place of the column of Colonel
de Barral. Other measures have been taken to put
down any agitation which might be produced by the
prolonged resistance of Zaatcha. In other respects
nothing now has taken place; the insurrection remains
confined,- as at first, within the subdivision of Bathna
(Aures and Zibm), end within the fractions. of the Ouled
Nails, long since r• mai kable for th-.,ir non-submission."