The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-24 00:00:00

IRELAND.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.
MR. SMITH O'BRIEN—THE WRIT OF ERROR.
Dum.nr, Nov. 23.—The argument in this case termi-
nated last night. Mr. Whiteside argued at great length,
and with his usual ability in support of the error as-
signed. At the conclusion of the argument,
Mr. NAPIER, Q.C., applied to the Court that counsel
might be heard on the part of the other three prisoners,
in whose behalf writs of error had been lodged, before
judgment was given in the case now before the court.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that had the matter
been mentioned to him before there might have been no
possible objection to what was proposed by Mr. Napier.
As it was, the matter was discretionary with the Court,
and it occurred to,him that alter the very full argument
which the subject mat er the writ of error in the pre-
sent case had received, it would scarcely be necessary to
hear any other counsel uron it.
Mr. NAPIER said that it was the wish of the other
prisoners-that their counsel might have an opportunity
of putting forward their views on the sutject. It had
been done before in cases tried on the Leinster circuit,
in which he (Mr. Napier) had been assigned as counsel
for the prisoners. Nor was it unreasonable that in cases
like the present such an arrangement should be com-
plied with.

CHIEF JUSTICE—My difficulty is, that those other
cases are not in issue. They have not been entered on
the list, and I understand that the books are not yet
made up.
Mr. O'CALLAGHAN said that in all cases error had
been joined, and, on the part:ot M'Manus, he (Mr. O'C,)
adopted the points of error assigned in Mr. O'Brien's
case. Surely not a word too much could be said in mat-
ters of such paramount importance, where the lives of
the prisoners were concerned.
CHIEF JUSTICE—The Court is very anxious, as far as
is in its power, to accede to the wishes of the counsel for
the different prisoners; and we are anxious not to pro-
nounce any judgment until we have heard what can be
urged in support of the errors. We therefore suggest
that we would hear counsel for each of the three remain-
ing prisoners who have writs of error depending—if the
Crown think proper, one counsel for each; and then, if
the Attorney-General should think groper to reply, he
would be at liberty to do so.
Judge PERRlN—Pr.vided the prisoner in this case
has no objection—provided he does not call for judg-
ment at once.

Mr. O'Brien said, that so fir as ho was personally con-
cerned, he could not pay sufficient homage to the ability
of the Learnt d Counsel who had been assigned to act on
his behalf: but it was right that the Court should know
that the other prisoners had not been comulted in refer-
ence to the selection of their counsel. Ile conceived that
their cases were entirely involvt d in the decision wh:ch
the Court should pronounce .upon. the one now before it;
and it would be only fair towards them that they should
have an opportunity of being heard by their counsel
before that d.•ciFion should be pronounced. That was
strongly the impression of the other prisoners. Mr.
Meagher had addressed a letter to him on the subject,
which he would read to the Court.

CHIEF JUSTICE—Better leave this matter in the hands
of counsel.

Mr. BUTT said that he had been assigned as counsel
for one of the three remaining prisoners, and he thought
that the proposition of hearire., one counsel for each of
them, before the decision in Mr. O'Brien's case, was as
much as they ought to expect.
It was finally arranged that one counsel should be
heard for each of those prisoners before judgment in the
present case; and that the counsel should confine them-
selves to the points of error which had already been dis-
cussed in that case.

The Court then adjourned to this day, (when the Srst
of the three counsel will be heard

MR. DUFFEY'S TRIAL.
The exclusion of Catholics from the juries impannelled
0 try illsisr4. Mitchel, Martin, O'Dogherty, and Williams,
has afforded Mr. Duffey an opportunity of departing
from the ordinary course, and s,rving cautionary notices
on the lligh Sheriff and Attorney-General.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
ROLLS' COURT, Not,. 23.
THE NORFOLK RAILWAY COMPANY V. WOW:11011SE AND
OTHERS.
This bill was filed against Edward Thornton Wode-
house and William Wodehouse, the executors of the late
Lord Wodehouse, praying that the rights and liabilities
of the plaintiff's end defendants in respect of certain
pieces of land at Kimberley, in Norfolk, lately occupied
by Thomas Bayes, a defendant, might be ascertained
and declared ;—for a declaration that Bayes was not en-
titled to any sum for compensation in respect of the
pieces of land lately occupied by him, and that ho
be ordered to surrender and assign all his interest
therein to the plaintiffs ; but if it should appear that
Bayes was entitled to any compensation from the
company in respect of their having taken the pieces
of land, then that the sum which ought to be paid by
the company be ascertained, and its payment made by
the plaintiffs—that Bayes be ordered to assign all his
interest in the lands to the plaintiffs, and that the two
defendants, Edward and William Wudehouse, as such
executors of Lord Wodehouse, deceased, be ordered to
repay to the plaintiffs what they should have so paid.
and also the costs of the suit, and that Bayes should be
restrained by injunction from proceeding in an action of
ejectment for recovery of the land at Kimberley.
Ur. Turner and Mr. Chapman were for the plaintiffs,
the company; Mr. Roupell and Mr. Follett for the de-
fendant, Thomas Bayes; and Mr. Walpole and Mr.
Chaundless for the executors of Lord Wodehouse.
The case was argued at great length, and occupied the
whole of the day, but it was finally ordered to stand over
until Saturday for further consideration, and Lord Lang.
dale said he would look at the pleadings.

COURT OF QUEEIV'6 BENCH, Nov. 23.

THE QUEEN V. THE CALEDONIAN RAILWAY COMPANY.-

MANDAMUS.

Mr. WATSON, Q.C., and Mr. HEW, appeared to show
cause against a rule for a mandamus the defendants to
command them to complete their railway, in conformity
with the plans and sections which they had deposited
with the clerk of the peace pursuant to statute. It ap-
peared that disputes having arisen between the corpo-
ration of Carlisle and the defendants as to the con-
struction of a railway at Carlisle, and particularly with
respect to a road and bridge in that city, negotiations
took place between the parties which ended in an ar-
rangement, on the faith of which the corporation with-
drew their opposition to the Bill, and it passed through
Parliament. Subsequently, however, the defendants
deviated from their arrangement, and made the bridge-.
way 18 inches higher, and the road much more con-
tracted and irregular than had been agreed. upon and had
been laid down in the deposited plans end sections. The
present rule was then moved for, and the Learned Gen-
tleman now contended that it must be discharged, be.
cause, although the words had not been constructed in
conformity with the sections, they had been constructed
strictly in conformity with the provisions of the Lands
Clauses Consolidation Act.
Mr. MARTIN, Q.C., (with whom was Mr. Gregg) was
contending that the company were bound by their agree-
ment and by the sections and plans deposited with the
clerk of the peace, when he was stopped by
The COURT, who ordered the rule to be made absolute.

EMIGRATION.—PLYMOUTH' Nov. 22.—There are
in the Sound, the Governm, nt Emigration ships, Stead-
fast, with 1821 statute adults, all well, and the Osprey,
with 264 adults, for Sydney; the Cadet, with tem4le
convicts for Hobart Town ; and the American two-top-
sail schooner Crocus, Captain Sturtebanks, with 150
German and other emigrants from Bremen for New
York; she was in the Downs on the 13th inst., when
the Burgundy, with emigrants From Bremen, was lost.
The crocus took shelter in Torbay on the 19th, sad

a rrrprietor seeking a profit, than a viceroy looking
to tl e happiness and prosperity of his subjects, how
much more keenly ought it to be felt and acknowledged
by Abbas Fuchs, a man of our own time and epoch, who
has had advantages of education, culture, and observa-
tion, denied to either Mahommed Ali or Ibrahim Pacha,
his predecessors. Every traveller who has visited Egypt
during the last twenty years concurs in stating, that,
notwithstanding the natural advantages of the climate
and country, nothing can equal the misery and wretch-
edness of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, it cannot be
denied by the most prejudiced of these travellers that
Mahommed Ali was in his way, and after his own
fashion, a considerable reformer. That he created
an army and a navy—that he introduced telegraphs—
that he commenced and extended public works—as,
for t xample, the canal from Alexandria to Cairo—that-
he introduced manufactories of sugar, of saltpetre,
and of gunpowder—that ho established cannon foun-
dries and excavated docks—that he improved roadsteads
and harbours—cannot by friend or foe be gainsaid. But,
on the other hand, it is equally clear and incontestable
that the Fellabs were ground down by a severe and
grinding taxation, and that the kingdom wes in a mea-
sure confiscated to the personal and pecuniary profit of
the money-loving and money-making Viceroy. By such
means it was that Mahommed accumu:ated immense
treasures, and realised immense receipts—receipts which
rendered him a wealthy and prosperous Pectin. But,
notwithstanding these acquisitions, he must ever be
considered by the historian and by posterity as rather a
great merchant and successful commercial sre culator,
than as a great ruler. Under Lis mercantile sway,
Egypt became an immense granary and a huge fabric,
in which a species of imperial merchant, manufacturer,
and agriculturist, enriched himself at the expense of the
country, whose inhabitants he over-taxed, and whose
soil be over-farmed, almost to sxhaustion. In the present
condition ,of Europe and of the Esst, it becomes the
duty of a foreign Minister of Great Britain—instead of
wasting his time in a wordy war with Sotomayor, or in
a petty personal struggle with Namaez—to turn his eyes
towards Egypt—nearer to us now than Vienna was half
a century ugo—and to seek to maintain in that country
the necessary and . holesome preponderance and protec-
tion of Great Britain. To other great Powers an influence
in Egypt may be useful—to us in Engl end it is indispensa-
ble; and the Minister who, in the present conjuncture of
Continental polities, loses his hold on Egypt, deserves
impeachment in the face of the Parliament and people
of England.- Ia the Rest there is always a disposition
to submit to an appearance of strength7-and to be coun-
selled by anything savouring of the prestige of power.
As it is the nature of all power to assert and vindicate
itself, so never was the occasion fairer or more fitting
for Great Britain than at this moment. Let Abbas
Paella be made unmistakeably to understand our fixed
will—and our earnest wishes—as a question that con-
cerns his own independent life and existence—and the
intrigees of Russia in Wallachia,- Bulgaria, Servia, and
Persia, her attempts at undue influence in Constan-
tinople may be disregarded and scorned. We have ten-
dered fair counsel to the Foreign Secretary. But that
Noble Viscount sometimes allows wise words to sleep in
his ear, and listens only to the small suggestions of a
wrathful vanity. " Tani pis pour lui, pauvre here comic
it eat."—Herold. -