The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-09 00:00:00

t, tits n

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1848.

We were not deceived. Although the month of
August had commenced, we felt, and we proclaimed,
that one last opportunity still remained within the
reach of the popular representatives. That oppor-
tunity has not slipped away unnoticed. Before the
Parliamentary session of 1848 has come to a con-
clusion one step at lmest has been made towards the

general advancement. THE BALLOT has been ac-
cepted by the Lower House of the Britisi a Parliament.
It matters little to us, comparatively .speaking, that
the majority which last evening welcomed the motion
of the Hon. Member for Bristol was merely five in
a House of 167-86 to 81—the fact of that majority
is what we are principally disposed to regard, that fact
we consider as something more than an encourage-
ment, we congratulate the country upon that fact
as upon an augury of the ultimate success of
this great measure of political improvement. THE
BALLOT, we repeat it, has been accepted in the Lower
House of the British Parliament. Nothing can alter
the accomplished fact. of the majority of yesterday
evening—not all the phlegm of the Administration,
not all the rage of the Opposition, neither the bilious
indifference of Colonel SIDTHORP, nor the atrabilious
common-places of Lord Jonx RUSSELL. It must be
remembered that the Commons have not been sur-
prised into a division. They were fairly warned—
they were fairly consulted—they were fairly counted
out into the lobbies; and the result has been a majo-
rity in favour of the long-projected, and long-calum-
nieted system of the Ballot. It is precisely at
such a moment as this that the inimitable
Catechisms of Colonel Tnomrson tell so ad-
mirably with the population—dissecting a Ques-
tion, as they do, to its minutest ramifications—
placing, line by line, the tough threads of argument
—the cartilaginous fibres of truth—the very nerves
of the logic of an investigation. We shall look for-
ward, therefore, to the appearance of a Catechism on
the Ballot, and with the more confidence as we re-
cognise a half-promise of such a pamphlet in the
last letter (published in this evening's impression of
The Sun) addressed by Colonel PERRONET THOMP•
SON to the Secretary of the Bradford Association.

Of course we do not for an instant regard yester-
day's decision as conclusive. In 1810, as well as in
1848, the Ballot was favourably received in
the House of Commons, and yet the Bal-
lot has still to accomplish its triumph over
a fastidious opposition. What principally causes
our exultation is the naked circumstance that
the motion of the Hon. F. IL F. BERKELEY was suc
cessful. The extravagant demands of Mr. FEARGUS
O'CONNOR, backed as they were by a brawling rab-
ble and an obscure petition, had received all the at-
tention they deserved ; that is to say, they were
treated with the ignominious derision of Parliament.
The manly attempt of Mr. HUME to cleanse away all
the corruption and rottenness of the Constitution, by
one vigorous gust of Reform was scarcely a jot more
fortunate. It is true that the endeavour was wit-
nessed with the respect due to the Honourable
Member for Montrose and his distinguished sup-
porters ; but it is no less true that the motion
of the Radical Reformers was negatived almost
as unanimously as the motion of the more
ambitious Chartists. The coincidence was too re-
markable to pass unobserved. A suspicion floated
across the imagination of some of those sincerely de-
voted to the cause of the popular movement. It began
to be conjectured that nothing was gained in the way
of political improvement simply because too much
was attempted ; and the results of that conjecture
were first the motion of Sir JOHN HANMER, and
secondly the motion of the. Hon. F. H. F. BERKELEY.
Both had reference to the security of the indepen-
dence of constituencies ; both tended towards the
diminution of the bribery and intimidation practised
with such gross and flagrant effrontery throughout the
general election of 1847; both were projected as in-
stalments of Parliamentary improvement—the one for
the punishment of the offence, the other for
its prevention—the one for the better exposure of
boroughmongers, the other for the better protection
of the constituents—the one against the nominees of
aristocracy, the other for the honest but dependent
voters. It will not have been forgotten that the motion
of the representative of Flint merged into a Govern-
ment measure, having been adopted by the First
Lord of the Treasury. The motion of the repre-
sentative of Bristol has, on the contrary, been ex-
posed to the direct antagonism of the Prime Minister
himself, and yet, in defiance of the opposition of Go-
vernment, it was accepted last evening by a majority
in a House of 167 Members.

Government would do well to meditate upon the
occult and yet obvious meaning of this occurrence.
They would do well to recognise in it an assurance
that the rational demands of a great and enlightened
nation are not to be rejected incessantly with impu-
nity. Deny the popular rights time after time;
remain stubborn in your contempt for required inno-
vations ; throw petitions under the table as waste
paper ; and cough the popular advocate down as a
bore, he attempts to encroach upon your conveni-
ence by his exposure of humbug and his demands for
reparation—•and what is the upshot ? Will demon-
strations like the 10th of April be of frequent recur-
rence ? Will rebellions in Ireland and brawls in
London be put down as easily as they were only yes-
terday ? IVill the demagogues of Bishop Bonner's-fields
be exercised on the treadmill without exciting sym-
pathy beyond the walls of the Penitentiary ? Or
will the rebels of Boulagh Common be incarcerated
in the gaol of Kilmainham without one finger wag-
ging for their rescue ? No. All confidence in the
Executive will have evaporated, and then—farewell to
the awe of the State and the obedience of the popula-
tion ! It is scarcely necessary, towards the close of
the summer of 1848, to lay down as a newly dis-
covered axiom that High Pressure Governments, as
well as High Pressure Steam-engines, are liable to
explosion. Neither is it necessary, after the
grand bouleversement of February, and the
successive catastrophes of Berlin, Milan, and Vienna,
to insist that those political explosions are as bewil-
dering as they are tremendous and destructive. Let
the Administration remember the glorious demon-
stration in favour of law and order which was made
on the 10th of April in the streets of this metropolis ;
let them reflect upon the noble devotion to the Con-
stitution which has recently crushed the rebellious
anarchists of Ireland, and let them respond to the
confidence of the population. The dire alternative is
before them, an alternative which is at this moment
oscillating upon the patience of the million. Let the
Government act, but let them bear in recollection
while they act that the people are not prepared to
kiss for ever the grinding heel of Finality.

Every day's experience furnishes us with additional
evidence in support of the proposition of which we more
than two years since enunciated, and the truth of which
we have on various occasions endeavoured to impress
on the public mind—that the whole system of the
law of lunacy is " a mockery, a delusion, and a
snare." In another part of The Sun of this after-
noon will be found a report of a case
which came on for hearing before Mr. Baron AL.
DEkSON at Chambers, on Monday last. It was an
application made at the instance of the Alleged Luna-
tics' Friend Society for a writ of habeas directed to
Dr. HENRY HAWES Fox, the keeper of the North-
woods Lunatic Asylum near Bristol, directing him
to bring up the body of ' Ir. GEORGE WILLIAM
DIXON, an alleged lunatic, and return the authority
and cause of his detention. It appears
that some time in the month of June last
Mr. DixoN, who has an income of 3001., was visited
at his lodgings at Bath by Sir GEORGE PREVOST,
his cousin, accompanied by a Dr. WATSON. Two
days after a keeper from Northwoods Asylum,
called on Mr. DIXON, and, after a fruitless attempt to
induce him to quit his residence by false pretences,
he sent for Dr. WATSON, who declared that he had
given a certificate that Mr. DixoN was insane, and
that that was a sufficient authority for his removal.

" Mr. Dixon, however, refused to go, and the keeper
went away, but returned the following day with. another
keeper, and produced an order signed by Sir George
Prevost, one of the keepers stating that they had had
the night before to send twenty miles tor another certi-
ficate, and ultimately Mr. Dixon was forcibly removed
to the asylum.
" Information of these circumstances having been for-
warded to the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, their
solicitor, Mr. Bolden proceeded to Bath and Bristol, to
inquire into the circumstances attending the case, when
the irregularity in the certificates, as required by th©
statute of 8 and 9 Vic., cap. 100, having been discovered,
the application for the writ of habeas corpus was made
on the 17th July, and granted by Mr. Baron Alderson;
but the irregularity having on the 15th of July been
communicated to Dr. Fox, on the 17th July he wrote to
the solicitor, stating that ' Mr. Dixon was sufficiently
recovered to be discharged, and he was no longer his
patient.' Mr. Dixon not having returned to his lodg-
vinogsts,fauprphliisca.tritodnrewssas
bmuat dree
ftuos
eDd r;.
aFnidot
it a ntdh
then
Sn i rbe
ing evi-
dent that Mr. Dixon was still kept privately confined,
on the 28th July last the writ of habeas was served on
Dr. Boa.
"The ease-now came on, on the return to the writ of '

habeas corpus, from which return it appeared that since
the former application, only four days before the writ
was lodged, Sir George Prevost had signed another
order, and obtained two other medical certificates of Dr.
Watson and Dr. Symonds, upon which the alleged luna-
tic was now detained in the asylum, having been taken
back there on the 25th of July."
We will not go into the other facts of this most
instructive case, but will confine ourselves to the
question of the certificates, for the purpose of demon-
strating how worse than useless is this certificate
system as a safeguard to the liberty of the subject.
It appears from the affidavits that the parties
were well aware of the necessity that existed
for two certificates, inasmuch as when the
keeper seized Mr. Dixon, he said that he had
had to ride twenty miles the night before for
the other certificate, but he does not say that he pro-
cured it. If he seized Mr. Dixon without the second
certificate, he ought to be prosecuted ; if with a cer-
tificate, that certificate ought to be produced, and if
found to have been signed by a medical man who had
not seen Mr. Dixon immediately previously to the
granting of such certificate, the Commissioners of
Lunacy will be guilty of a gross breach of duty if
they do not immediately order the prosecution of the
person so signing. But it is admitted that at the
time of Mr. DIXON'S final removal from Bath, the
second certificate had not been given, but that he was
removed to Dr. Fox's private residence, attached to
the asylum, where he was seen by a medical man,
who gave the second certificate, authorising
his incarceration. Knowing these things, Dr.
H. Fox was perfectly well aware that he had
no answer to the writ of habeas, and
that the Judge would order the immediate discharge
of the alleged lunatic. He, therefore, states to Mr.
BOLDEN, the solicitor for the alleged Lunatics'
Friend Society, that Mr. Dixon was so sufficiently
recovered that he had discharged; him, whereas it
appears Mr. Dixon was during the whole time
kept under strict surveillance and restraint, the
object being to enable the parties interested to
obtain fresh certificates, upon which they hoped
to be enabled to sustain their return to the writ-
Was Mr. DIXON really recovered, or was he not, at
the time that Dr. H. Fox represented to Mr. BOLDEN
that he had been discharged as such. If he were
so, why was he kept under surveillance ? If he were
not so, why did Dr. H. Fox represent to Mr. BOLDEN
that he had been discharged as recovered? The public
will look to the Commissioners of Lunacy to institute
a strict investigation into the conduct of Dr. Fox in
this matter, and they will also expect that no Com-
missioner who has been in the habit of living on terms
of intimacy with Dr. H. Fox shall be entrusted with
the Aarge of conducting the investigation.
The whole affair is another proof of the utter
worthlessness of the abominable certificate system.

SPAIN.
Madrid papers of the 31st ult. have arrived.
Senor FERNANDEZ CASTOR, the managing director
of the Iris Company, has been arrested, and the funds
of the company placed in a state of liquidation.
The Marquis of BEDMAR has left Madrid for Wies-
baden. It appears that it was he who betrayed Gox.
ZALES BRAVO to NARVAEZ. The QUEEN, it would seem,
had been prevailed on by the Marquis of BEDMAR to
suggest to NARVAEZ the propriety of issuing an
amnesty ; upon his refusal, her MAJESTY was to have
made a stand, and to have sent for GONZALES BRAVO.
On the QUEEN mentioning the amnesty to NARVAEZ,
he sent for BEDMAR, and so bullied and terrified the
unfortunate man that he immediately gave up the
names of associates, and GONZALES BRAVO was forth-
with arrested.

A Carlist band under MIRALLES has taken pos-
session of Amposta.
MADRID BOLSA, JULY 31.—The Three per Cents.
were done to-day at 20 cash, and were 19i too buy ers
after the close; Five per Cents., 11 buyers, 114 sellers;
Coupons were done at 6i cash; Passive Debt, 3i buyers,
4 sellers; and Foreign ditto, 3i sellers; Bank `hares,
50 buyers; Discount on notes, 7f to 8.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

Wo have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The Sardinian envoys, it appears, made an official
application to General CAVAIGNAC for an armed in-
tervention on the part of France against the Austrians
in Italy. To this demand General CAVAIGNAC replied
that he must refuse the immediate armed intervention
of France, as France and England had already offered
their joint mediation.
The Journal des Debats gives the following account
of this transaction :

" The Marquis Brignole Sole, ambassador to the King
of Sardinia at Paris, and the Marquis A. Ricci, were re-
ceived to-day by General Cavaignac, President of the
Council. We are assured that in this interview the
Sardinian envoys made a formal and official demand to
the head of the Executive power for the immediate
intervention of the French army in Italy. To this
demand General Cavaignac, it is said, replied by an-
nouncing that the Government of the Republic had
already provided for that eventuality, and that it had
opened on that subject, with England, negotiations of
which the very early result would be the offer of a
mediation made to the belligerent parties by the two
Governments united of France and Great Britain.
It is affirmed this evening that the basis of this mediation
had already been settled between the two Cabinets, end
that they were? resolved, in giving satisfaction to the
rights of all, to attempt all means to spare Europe the
misfortunes of a general war."

The Patrie states that CHARLES ALBERT has pro-
posed to open negotiations for peace with the Austrian
Government.

The new Jury Law has passed the National As-
sembly. The following are its provisions:—
" All French citizens of the age of thirty years are to
be inscribed in the jury list; but the general and perma-
nent list will merely serve as the basis of another an-
nual list, out of which the juries will be taken by ballot.
-The annual list will be to a certain extent selected. It
will be arranged annually in each canton. The number
of names of jurymen which it will contain will be fixed
in proportion to the population. There may be one
juryman for every 200 inhabitants, but the lists must
not exceed 3,000 in the department of the Seine, and
1,500 in the other departments of France. The annual
lists are to be drawn up by a special commission ap-
pointed for that purpose, and formed, in the departments,
of the members of the general council representing the
department, the juge de pair and the delegates of the
municipal council. At Paris the commission will be
composed in each arrondissement of three members of
the municipal council, of the mayor, the adjoints, and the
juge de paix."

The discussion on the Bill relating to the press was
begun on Monday and adjourned to the day fol-
lowing.

Count MOLKB, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of Denmark; General Baron FAGEL
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
of the King of NETHERLANDS ; and the Chevalier
PERUZZI, Resident Minister of the Grand Duke of
TUSCANY, presented their credentials to General
CAVAIGNAC on Monday.

On the same day Count LUDOLF, Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the King of
NAPLES, charged with a special mission to the French
Republic, and M. DE ARNAU DE AOIZ, Charge
d'Affaires of Spain, were admitted to private audiences
by General CAVAIGNAC, to whom they delivered let-
hers from their SOVEREIGN, accrediting them
,to the
Government of the Republic.
It was rumoured in Paris last evening that General
OUDINOT, Commander-in Chief of the army of the
Alps, had applied by telegraph to the Government
fur iu►tructions as to his future movements.

The Constitutionnel has the following on the affairs
of Italy :
"It was rumoured :yesterday that Marshal Radctzky
had retaken Milan. However that may be, an armed
intervention of France in Italy is spoken of. A negotia-
tion is also spoken of on the part of England and France
in favour of the independence of the Italians. It would
be a great misfortune for France and Europe if an armed
intervention were necessary; for it would probably lead
to a general war. The interests of Austria are not alone
engaged in this struggle against Italian liberty. The
German union is now proclaimed; and thus Germany is
bound to the Austrian causela part of the German states
would at once serve that cause with ardour; and all
Germany would perhaps be drawn down the same slope.
What is certain is, that Russia would not be wanting
to the Austrian army fighting against a people claiming
their independence. Who can doubt that France would
suffer from such a war? Peace is always necessary for
the development of liberal institutions and labour, and
prosperity can only flourish when thoughts of war are
distant. This simple view of the probable consequences
of an intervention is sufficient to form a judgment of the
sagacity of the men who have directed our affairs since
February 24. It was said that it was enough to effect a
revolution and proclaim the Republic to ensure the
peace of the world. The revolution and the Republic
had the effect of pushing Germany towards that unity
which is precisely one of the great perils of Italy.
It is true, that at present a negotiation is looked for
to save Italy and the peace of the world. If the
a Austria, negotiation
ought to have
Provisional Government had possessed a little fore-
sight, it is twobeemnonotphesnedb,acaks
thenthat
con-
quered at Milan, and a prey to interns, commo-
tions, separated from the rest of Germany, placed in
face of the untouched army of Charles Albert, would
have been evidently disposed to negotiate on more equit-
able bases than now, when Eadetzky it on
-the poixt fsf

entering Milan in triumph. But all that was done was
to assemble the pretence of an army along the Alps, and
to remain inactive. To Charles Albert, who devoted
himself to the defence of Italian liberty, was exhibited
the greatest coolness. The aid which was shown near
the Alps to Northern Italy was not for Charles Albert
and his army, but for the scattered favourers of the Re-
public in Italy. The fall of the King of Piedmont was
waited for, and the birth of three or four Republics
to then intervene by negotiation or arms. But these
hopes were not realised ; the little Republics were not
established ; no insurrection overthrew Charles Albert ;
Austria inundated Upper Italy with soldiers, and re-
gained the advantage. Thus the favourable moment
was lost. Is not the negotiation spoken of at present
too late ? Will it not be attended with insurmountable
difficult ies ?"

The Havre Journal of Monday thus describes the ar-
rival of the State prisoners:—" Three convoys of insur-
gents arrived this morning at Havre to be embarked for
Brest, on the steam-frigate Ulloa, on board of which
the necessary measures had been taken for some days to
receive them. The first convoy, consisting of about 180
insurgents, arrived at the station of the railway between
six and seven o'clock. Each carriage contained 18 in-
surgents and 12 keepers. A number of gendarmes of the
department of the Seine occupied the first and last car-
riages of the train. At brief intervals two other detach-
ments of insurgents also arrived, and the total number
embarked on the Ulloa is at present 441. The neces-
sary arrangements for the maintenance of order were
taken in the town by the authorities. The troops, the
National Guard, the Garde Mario; and the Pompiers
were on foot to escort the insurgents from the station to
the basin of La Floride, where the Ulloa is anchored.
To prevent the confusion and inconvenience of too great
an assemblage of curious, the bridges Vauban and of
the citadel were successively raised after the passage of
the detachments ; so that the conquered of June were
able to be taken on board the Ulloa without being ex-
posed during the passage to the regards and observa-
tions of the crowd. In order to prevent any attempt at
evasion, the insurgents ware attached by the hands, three
by three; the Gardiens of Paris and the Gendarmes of
the Seine, who are to accompany them to Brest, remained
by their side. The embarkation was effected with the
greatest order. The hold of the frigate has been divided
into compartments, each destined to receive fifteen insur-
gents. The Ulloa, as we have said, goes out to Brest,
where the insurgents will wait on board the definitive
destination which will be indicated. Among them are
remarked—bourgeois,
soldiers, Guards Mobile, National
Guards, still in uniform, workmen, o:d men, and chil-
dren. Some seem profoundly discouraged, after having
accomplished this first etage of the voyage which is
about fo remove them for ever from their native coun-
try; the faces of others express only resignation or in-
, difference. The careful dress of some contrasts with the
negligence, disordered hair, and uncultivated beards of
their companions of exile. In the ranks figure some of
the illustrious of the emeute ; Thomassin, the getter-up
of the banquet of 25 centimes, Gaetan, and several Ita-
lians and Poles who played a prominent part. The Ulloa
leaves for Brest next tide."
BOURSE—PARIS, TUESDAY, AUG. 8.
THREE o'CLocK.—The Bourse was exceedingly agi•
tated to-day. At the commencement matters appeared
very black. The rumour of the armed intervention of
France was currently believed, and it was even stated
that General OudinOt had marched; but, upon a contrary
rumour, and a report that M. Bastide bad announced in
the National Assembly a pacifies mediation, in com-
mon with England, a rise was produced, which continued
to the end of the Bourse. The Loan Certificates, which
were at one time as low as 1,200, rose to 2,300. The
Bourse was exceedingly animated, and a great deal of
business was done. For the Account, the French Three
per Cents, have risen If.; the Five per Cents. have risen
to the same amount. Loan closed at 2,300. For Money,
the Three per Cents. have risen 75c.; Five per Cents.
have risen 50c. Bank of France Shares have fallen sf.
Belgian Bank Shares not quoted. Belgian 5 per Cents.
have declined per cent. Spanish Funds not quoted.
Roman are the same as yesterday. Rothschild's Receipts
have declined per cent. Exchange on London (30
days), 25 22g. Exchange on London (90 days), 25 27k.
Railway Shares for the Account, settling of Ai ay 115:
Nothingquoted. For Money—Rouens, Versailles,
Strasburgs, Bales, and Bordeaux, have fallen 2f. 50c.
each; Northerns, Orleans, and Marseilles, are the same
as yesterday; Vierzons and Lyons have gone up 2f. 50c.
each.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCIIANGE, AUG. 8.
Boulogne and Amiens, 61 Dutch Rhenish. I—ltalian
and Austrian, %—Paris and Lyons, 4A—Sambre and
Meuse, 2%.