The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-06 00:00:00

:he soundness of the views and the correctness of the

responsibility can scarcely be said to be of a persona
character, for, except in cases where wilful malice
can be substantiated, the law effectually screens the
magistrate from suffering, either in his person or
pocket, for any consequences, however injurious, that
may have resulted to an accused party, from the
inadequate performance of his judicial functions.
But, notwithstanding that their personal responsibility,
for the reason stated, is practically next to nothing,
they still lie under a very heavy moral responsibility
to the public, proportionate to the extensive powers
with which the law has clothed their office. It
grieves us to repeat that there is a wide-spread in-
difference to the strength of this public obligation, as
evidenced by the repeated blunders and serious errors
into which the magisterial body are constantly fall-
ing ; and even where this feeling of indifference
does not exist, on account of the lax
manner in which the corps of justices is organized,
the public suffer just as much in another
way, as though it did, owing to the gross ignorance
and incompetency of a large proportion of those who
are placed in the commission of the peace. Neither
can we expect to rid ourselves of these objectionable
blots, which affect the administration of justice in the
hands of the minor functionaries of the law, until the
system by which they obtain their authority be en-
tirely revised. It is n,torious that the magisterial
bench is filled by men whose qualifications for the dig-
nity have been inconsiderately measured, not by their
intellectual capacity, but by their personal influence, as
connected with property. If a person resident in a
county is desirous of elevating his social position
among his neighbours, he frequently induces his
tenantry to vote for the political party, from whom
the aim of his ambition is not kept a secret, and
through whom, by a seasonable hint to the Lord-
Lieutenant, he is in due time raised to the bench.
In this way individual vanity is gratified, the re-
quirements of the public, that the magistrates should
be selected from men of intelligence, and somewhat
versed in the laws of their country, being almost
altogether unheeded. Considering, however, the
hap-hazard mode, and the heterogeneous materials
out of which the justices of peace are constituted, it
is matter of wonder that the administration of th
law is so well conducted as it is; and, at all
times, it is far more gratifying to admire than to
criticise and reprehend the manner in which the
servants of the Crown, in their several departments,
perform their duties to the State. The admirable
efficiency that ordinarily stamp, the judicial conduct of
the successive Chief Magistrates of the city of London is
deserving of the highest eulogy ; and we always feel
chagrined when anything occurs calculated to de-
tract from the efficacy of their example.
A man, who called himself JOHN BAKER, was
charged before the LORD Mayoa on Saturday with
having shouted out, " There goes a -- Bobby 1"
whilst two of the City police were following two
thieves. The latter took the hint and made off. The
police, considering this exclamation an interference
with their duty, inquired of BAKER what he meant
by it, and ultima.ely took him into custody. This
was an unjustifiable act. A man is not to he de-
prived of his liberty because he happens to exercise
his lungs and voice in the manner above-mentioned,
and because others choose to presume it was done
for a sinister object. Such a proceeding constitutes
a dangerous precedent where the liberty of the sub-
ject is concerned, and alarms people as to the extent
to which the police may, even for the most trivial
circumstance, be inclined to stretch their authority ;
and it is no justification of such a step to allege, or
prove, that the prisoner has not borne a reputable
character. It may be that the prisoner was both abu-
sive in his language and violent in his demeanour when
addressed by the police; but had they any right, in the
first instance, to interrogate him as they did ? We
think not. They clearly exceeded the limits of their
duty. It was proved that, two years since, the pri-
soner had been tried for stealing a watch. The pri-
soner declared that he was honourably acquitted, and
had since been honestly employed, whereupon the
LORD MAYOR remarked, " the magistrates well know
how frequently juries acquit in cases of guilt, in con-
sequence of the ingenuity of counsel, the tampering
with witnesses, and other circumstances." 'These
were exceedingly ill-timed ehaervations, which,
however true, ought never to be made from
the seat of justice. In the eye of the law
a m anis considered innocent until found guilty, and
it is highly unbecoming in a judge to weaken the
value of this presumption to a man who has been
tried and acquitted—to surmise, off-hand, and parti-
cularly after a lapse of two years, that a man owed
his release from the grasp of the law, not to his in-
nocence of the crime charged, but to the dexterity of
1 his counsel. Such extra-judicial remarks may be
quoted and successfully handled by a malignant
Iperson, inflicting great pain upon another, who has
been under the misfortune of having stood a
trial for an offence of which, in the opinion of
every candid mind, he was then considered to be
wholly innocent. The theory of the law, to which
we are alluding, is equally wholesome and bene-
volent, presenting a fine moral bulwark against the
shafts of malice and the assaults of tyranny. It is
based upon a sound principle, and ought not to be
tampered with. It is a principle that ought to be
rigidly maintained, however dubious its application
may appear to be in any given instance ; and, least of
all, should its sanctity be invaded by those who, by
their position, are expected to be its most faithful

guardian?.

All danger of a deficiency of food in Ireland is now
happily dispersed; the enormous quantity of bread-
stuffs that have been imported into that country have
had the effect, not only of bringing down the markets
to more reasonable rates, but of inducing persons
who had hoarded large quantities of corn, and other
cereal produce, to bring forth their secret stores to
the world. Few persons will be found to regret the
disappointment that awaited those heartless men,
who, with ample supplies in their possession, saw des-
titution prevailing in their respective neighbour-
hoods, and the people suffering under all the
pangs and horrors of starvation, and still,
not satisfied

arguments of the Free-traders, or of the fallacies of
the Protectionists. The principle has been subjected
to a test of the greatest severity. A fearful crisis
was to be surmounted. All the ordinary calculations
were displaced by the extent of the calamity. An
insufficient and scanty supply under the recent cir-
cumstances of the country could not be considered as
fatal, or even injurious, to the doctrines of free trade ;
indeed it would be hard to conceive any state of the
law by which the difficulties occasioned by the mys-
terious visitation of PROVIDENCE, in the destruction
of the chief part of the nation's food, could have been
averted. But the happy result is conclusive as to
their soundness and efficiency. What would have
been the state of the country had Sir ROBERT PEEL
postponed his great experiment for even a single
session ? We shudder at the contemplation of the
harrowing details that must inevitably have occurred.
No stronger confirmation could have been afforded
of the soundness of the Ministerial policy in leaving
the supplies of the country to be provided from the
legitimate sources. Had the British Government en-
tered the markets of the corn-exporting countries as

extensive purchasers, the immediate effect would
have been an enormous increase in the
prices of provisions of every description, the
cessation of all private enterprise, the banishing all
those who would not venture to encounter so power-
ful a competition. Had the Government once at-
tempted the task, or hesitated in giving the required
pledge, they could not have halted or held back. They
should Lave undertaken the supply, not only of Ire-
land, but of Great Britain, and we should
have seen a famine prevailing throughout
the entire land. The scenes of Skibbereen
would have been re-enacted on English ground ;
the artizans and labourers, even of this great metro-
polis, would have seen their helpless children pining
from the inadequacy of their food, and piteously
demanding the abundance to which they had been
accustomed. That such scenes have not taken place we
owe to the firmness of the Premier and his colleagues ;
their strict adherence to the sound principles of
political economy has saved their country from this
accumulated misery. For this they have been reviled
and insulted ; reproach and obloquy have been heaped
upon them for conduct that should have secured, and
most undoubtedly will eventually secure, the national

g rati tude.
Not the least curious part of the secret hoarding that
has been brought to light is the re-appearance in
the markets, not only of Dublin, but in all parts of
the country, of large supplies of sound potatoes that
were kept back during the months of pressure and
scarcity, in the hope that the most exorbitant prices
would have been obtained. The object, however, has
failed, as the rates are not higher at this moment
than they were many months since, when their pro-
duction would have been most valuable. It is impos-
sible to speak of this conduct in language sufficiently
strong to expose its atrocity.

Madrid journals of the 30th ult. have arrived.
One of the appointments in the new Cabinet, that
of. Senor PASTOR DIAZ to the Ministry of Commerce
and Public 'lnstruction, is very_ significant. He is
the author of an exceedingly clever pamphlet against
the Montpensier marriage.
'the Heraldo announces that Senor BAIZAMONDE
had accepted the office of Minister of Justice.
In his opening spe:.,ch to the Cortes, a sketch
of which we gave yesterday, and a full re-
port of which is published in the Madrid
Gazette of the 30th, Senor PACHECO, speak-
ing in the name of the Ministry, said that " With
regard to foreign affairs, their policy would be to live
in harmony with all nations, but not to form with
any that kind of close intimacy which could only
take place at the expense of Spain herself. They
had taken office at the moment when Spain had
contracted alliances, all of which should be
equally respected, without predilection in favour
of one more than another. At home they
would be guided by the laws, the spirit of which
they would seek to follow, and so rigorously,
that should there exist any doubt as to the

true meaning of any laws, they would adhere to
the letter of them, and then come before Parliament
for its ratification of their conduct. They meant to
propose a law in favour of the press, submitting it to
a tribunal independent of the nomination or the
Sovereign, and acting upon the true principles of
jurisprudence. He accepted the vote of the Chamber,
withdrawing authority to regulate the budget and pub •
lie debt, for the reason that, on principle he should al-
ways treat such authorisations as limited to the session."
It was gpnerally believed in Madrid that PACIIECO
could command such a majority in the Cortes as to
render a dissolution unnecessary. General FuLotoso,
the brother of the !Juke of RIANZARES, has been

dismissed from his command of New Castile and
Madrid, and General Coßnovi has been appointed in
his room. It is said that PEZUELA will also be dis-
missed, and be succeeded by JOSE DE LA CONCHA..
Senor PACHECO has announced a new act of
amnesty.
MADRID BOMA, MAUCH 30.—The Three per Cents.
closed at 321 for cash ; the Five per Cents., at 201 ;
the Debt without interest, at 51 , and the Coupons,
at 17.

We have received the Paris papers of Sunday.

The change of Ministry in Spain has brought out
the Opposition papers in grand force, and they all
contain the most biting and caustic remarks on what
the Constitu•ioonel calls the " tumbling down of the
castle of cards, which M. GUIZOT had erected with so
much care in Spain. If the evil," continues the
anutitutionnel, " was limited to the destruction of
this card -castle, it would be of no great consequence
The caprice which has destroyed it may perhaps build
it up again. But we have been deceived, not only as to
the duration of this mighty work, but also as to its
results. Nothing was to be changed in Europe. On
the contrary, we find everything changed— alliances
and antipathies. It is in Spain alone that nothing is
changed. The marriage has not modified either the
ideas, the customs, or the manners of the country.
It is still the land of complaisant Cortes, of ephemeral
Cabinets, of Court influence, and of palace revolu-
tions." In another part of the same article the Con-
salutionnel asks whether the journey of CHRISTINA to
Paris is one of pleasure or of necessity, and:whetherthe
return of M. BaßssoN to Madrid is impossible or is
ardently desired. It thus concludes :—" We do
not see in the recent transactions in Spain
anything like a triumph for any party.
There can be neither conquerors nor conquered where
everything changes so rapidly and without serious
cause—it is ridiculous to sing a song of triumph for
the success of an influence which is so easily obtained ;
it would be madness to make it a basis of any system
of policy."

The National is less grave, but more annoying'. It
says—" No sooner '.had the new Ministers entered
upon office than they boldly faced those same Cortes
who a week before had given such signal proof of
confidence in their predecessors !—so turns the wheel
of fortune ! M. PACHECO, after having uttered a
few words of explanation, obtained a majority of 154
votes against 56. As to M. i7iERRANO, he found him-
self at liberty,
fiscal who had commenced his prosecution, and who,
and nimbly presented himself to the
in the politest terms, begged of M. SERRANO not
to give himself any further trouble about the
matter.' Mr. BULIVER triumphs all along the
the line ; the Minister of Justice, whose
appointment will cc' eviete the Cabinet, will bo chciren