The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-19 00:00:00

TIIE

THE GIFT BOOK OF THE SEASON, North Hampshire in the unmeasured language of
/11HE DRAW ING-ROOM
.TABLE BOOK.
apostrophe, and concluded his encomium in the fol-
x Edited by Mrs. S. C. HAIL. Compnsing Twenty-four highly
finished Engravings, from Paintings by Wilkie, Landseer, warren, lowing' , terms after alluding to the erudition and
Leslie, Daniell, and others ; being Illustrations to Original Tale?, by ,
the Editor, and Poetry by popular living Authors. Beautifully printed experience of the preceding Speaker (AnEit-
in imperial svo., each page enriched with Ornamental Devices. Price
CROMI3IF) :—"; Placed in this position of dis-
-169., elegantly bound and gilt.
London: A. Hall and Co., 25, Paternoster-row. advantage by the Itualifications of your immediate
predecessu, you have'nevertheless established a cha-
racter as gpeaker of this House which is not a matter
of envy to any one, but is equal to that of any
former Speaker, and I trust that being long in the
possession of the honour conferred on you by the
House, your reputation may continue to increase,
and that you may leave a bright name to posterity
as one of the greatest Speakers that ever sat in that
chair." Earnestly as those aspirations were ex-
pressed by the First Lord of the Treasury, they are
in no one particular exaggerated beyond the merits
of the Right Honourable the Speaker of the House
of Commons--for whose urbanity, impartiality, and
dignity of bearing, for whose unquestionable learn-
ing and ripeness of scholarship, for whose
soundness of judgment and extraordinary knowledge
of the Constitution, all political parties and
all classes throughout the empire entertain feelings
of respect and admiration which have been justified
by experience. It is already certain that the name
of LEFEVRE will not be recorded less conspicuously in
the national annals than that of ABERCROMBIE, Lord
Dunfermline; than that of SUTTON, Viscount Can-
terbury ;. than that of ABBOTT, Lord Colchester ;
or than those indeed of any of the distinguished men
who have filled that illustrious office down even to
the days of the great, the wise, and the good Sir
THOMAS MORE.
Having prepared themselves by these preliminary
proceedings, the newly-elected representatives of the
people seem to be prepared to enter vigorously
into the discussion of those measures of
alleviation or precaution which are demanded
by circumstances. With the commerce and in-
dustry of the United Kingdom in a deplorable
state of depression, with want and murder fright-
fully prevalent among the wretched population of
Ireland, with the plague hurrying towards us on the
wings of the wind, and threatening to afford a new il-
lustration of the necessity for greater cleanliness and
decency in our larger towns and cities—there is suf-
ficient, in truth, to incite the Members of the Legis •
lature to those active measures and rapid but saga-
cious deliberations which can alone sustain the hopes
of the community—hopes that have been thinned and
weakened by a congregation of disasters. Factious
sentiments no longer divide the Commons into two
gigantic and malevolent parties; there is just enough
of confusion to admit of unanimity in the urgency of
a national dilemma, and just enough of positive
antagonism to stimulate inquiry, and arouse a
wholesome spirit of emulation. Even those Members
who may be regarded, from their duplex position at
Westminster and Capel-court, as the peculiar and
authorised guardians of the railway interests of the
country, must for the time being abate the fury of
their speculative predilections to aid the Government in
ameliorating the sorrows, and abbreviating the
agonies of the community. Even those again, who
from their twofold authority in the lobby and in the
courts may be considered as the pertinacious up
hohiers of the law, as it at present stands, must
diminish their professional enthusiasm fur a while,
and co-operate in striving for those measures of re-
lief for which the exigencies of the kingdom are
becoming clamorous. Much may be accomplished
even before the adjournment for the Christmas vaca-
tion, if due regard be only had for the proper
economy of time, and the most judicious se-
quence of motions. There has latterly been ample
opportunity for agitation ; there is now ample oppor-
tunity for legislation. The people:have, with their
accustomed precision, availed themselves of the
former; their representatives must in turn prove
theiieufoacity for availing themselves of the latter,
and bs a. sagacious response to the aspirations of their
constituencies, confirm the hopes of the nation, and
redeem that strength which its late sufferings have
unquestionably diminished.

•
This Day is published, price 6s. 6d.,
THE LAWS of HARMONIOUS COLOUR-
ING, adapted to Interior Decorations, with Observations on
the Practice of House Painting.
By D. R. Hay.
A new Edition (being the Sixth,) in crown Svo.
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

The public attention should be directed to a prose-
cution which has recently taken place at Castletown,
in the Isle of Man, which forcibly illustrates the de-
fective state of the law itself, or of the manner of
its administration in that island. It also affords a
strong instance of the restrictions still existing on the
liberty of the press, and the grave responsibilities to
which any person must submit who devotes his time
and property to the discharge of the duties of a
public journalist. A report of the case to which we
allude was published at considerable length, under the
title of DUMBELL V. FAR.GiggAe. 911 r Ja.J"eat-rs pdir
of the present month. We then, however, abstained
from comment, inasmuch as the last act of the drama
had not been completed. The sentence of the law had
not been passed upon the innocent although convicted
publisher. That, however, has since been supplied,
and at this moment that gentleman is suffering close
imprisonment in Castle Rushen, to which he has
been consigned for three months, away from his
family and friends, he has been also condemned to
iiay a fine of 501., together with the costs of the pro-
secution, and to be imprisoned until such fine is paid.
During that period he will necessarily be unable to
exercise the watchful control over the articles in-
serted in his periodical, which it wPs distinctly
proved on his trial he had ever manifested, with the
exception of the day on which the libel for which he
has been convicted appeared, when he was neces-
sarily occupied on another matter connected with his
business, and which no other person but himself was
competent to discharge. He may consider himself
fortunate if, on his discharge from custody, he
be not again made responsible, and sub-
jected to severe punishment for matters with
which he must necessarily be wholly un-
acquainted, but for which he may, notwithstanding,
be criminally convicted, according to the Manx law,
as administered by Mr. Deemster HAYWOOD.
The facts of the case, then, are shortly these :
The defendant, Mr. ROBERT FARGUER, was the sole
proprietor and publisher of a weekly newspaper
called the Mona's Herald. In the month of August
last a letter, signed " A Manx Advocate," appeared
in that journal, containing serious charges against a
gentleman named DUMBELL, a resident in the town
of Douglas, and a member of the Manx bar. That
letter had, however, been inserted without the know-
ledge, approbation, or consent of Mr. FARGUER, who
during the whole of the day on which the mauu

script was brought to his office, and while it was
being printed and published, was necessarily engaged
in managing and working a patent printing ma-
chine which he had then lately procured, and
which no person connected with the office but himself
was capable of managing, and in which at the time he
was printing another periodical, of which he was also
the publisher. Mr. FARGIIEE, it appeared from the
evidence of Colonel JOHNSON (the editor), had usually
exercised a more than ordinary degree of caution as
to the articles that were about to be inserted in his
paper, he having insisted that every manuscript
should be submitted for his approval before it was set
in type, or, technically speaking, " composed ;" in
fact, it was a standing rule of the office that nothing
whatsoever, even of the most trivial description,
should be given out to the compositors, or inserted
in the paper, until he himself had perused and ap-
proved of it. The article in question, however, had
been published in violation of that rule, and without
his knowledge, while he was so engaged at the
patent machine, and as he himself stated
(to which all the circumstances of the case

trusted and believed that his strict nunci tons would
gave the strongest corroboration) that "he fully
ij
have been complied with, and that no article that had
not previously been inspected by him would haver
appeared in the Mona' 3 Herald of that day." The
moment Mr. FARGHER'S attention was called to the
ratiecti,,nable article, he did everything that man
could do to remedy the evil. He expressed to several
persons his deep regret for its appearance, and imme-
diately suppressed the further publication of the paper
of that date, and, notwithstandin
cations, positive] g numerous appli-
y refused to sell any further copies,
the remainder of the impression (GO or 70 copies)
tion thereto he
having been sealed up by his direction. In addi-
, directed the editor to proceed to
Castletown to obtain a correct report of the real facts
of the case, from the examination of authentic
documents, that a true statement ',night be inserted
in the next Herald, together with an rimple ap
o.ogy.
Accordingly, on the next day a publication a notice