The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-01 00:00:00

NOTICE—LIEUT. F. E. FORBES'S
(Commander of H.M.S. Bouetta)
WORK,
FIVE YEARS IN CHINA,
From 1842 to 1847,
IS PUBLISHED TIIIS
And may be had of all Booksellers throughout the United Kingdom,
in Bvo., with a highly finished Portrait of the Empress of China,
and numerous Wood Engravings. 15s. bound.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street,
(Publisher In Ordinary to her Majesty).

Now ready, In 2 vols.. with Portrait, 21s. bound,
REMINISCENCES OF
PRINCE TALLEYRAND,
With
EXTRACTS FROM lIIS POLITICAL. WRITINGS.
Henry Colburu, PubiLsher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

Now ready, Part 111., price 2s. 6d., with Portraits, and a Map,
completing the work,
STORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR,
A Companion Volume to
THE STORY OF WATERLOO.
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.
(Incorporated 9 and 10 Vic., cap. 71, 26th June, 1846.)
NOTICE of CALL THIS DAY made, of 21. 10s. per Share, making
a total of 131. per Share called up.
TO THE SHAREHOLDERS.
Notice is hereby given, that the Directors have This Day made a
Call of 21. las. (Two Pounds Ten Shillings) per Share upon the
whole of the Shares composing the Capital of the Company, being in
number 224,000 Shares, and numbered 1 to 224,000 ; and that the
said Call is required to he paid on or before TUE3DAS, 29th day of
February instant, to one or other of the Company's Bankers, viz. :
The Union Bank of London, Princes-street, Mansion House,
one of the Company's London Bankers.
Messrs. Smith, Ellison, and Co., Lincoln.
Messrs. Beckett and Co., Leeds.
Messrs. Swann and Co., York.
Messrs. Moss and Co., Liverpool.
Messrs. Jones, Loyd, and Co., Manchester.
The British Linen Company, Scotland.
A Call Letter, with full instructions, will bCsent to each Proprie-
tor, showing the amount to be paid on his or her particular Shares.
The attention of Shareholders is particularly directed to the Com-
pany's Act, Sec. 8, and to the " Hallway Clauses Consolidation Act"
1845, Cap. 16, Sees. 23 and 113, to the effect that if such Call be not
paid on or before the dates fixed for the payment thereof, Interest
thereon at the rate of 5 per cent. will be charged so long as such
Call
remains unpaid, and the Interest not only on those Shares but on
ALL OTHERS which the Proprietor may hold in the Company
will not acerae, will be forfeited, from that day until such Call in ar-
rear and Interest thereon be paid.
Observe—This Call does not apply to London and York Extension
Shares, either in Scrip, or Registered and Consolidated.
Parties who have made payments in advance of Calls, are to dis-
regard this Notice.
Transfers of Shares cannot be registered after this date, unless
this Call be previously paid, and cannot under any circumstances be
registered from the 10th to the 25th instant, daring which time the
Books will be Closed, preparatory to the I calf-yearly General Meet-
ing of the Shareholders, to take place at the Albion Tavern, Alders-
gate-street, at Twelve o'clock on Thursday, the 24th day of February
instant.

By order, J. R. MOWATT, Secretary
Company's Offices, 14, Moorgate-street,
London, February I, 1848.

LANCASHIRE & YORKSHIRE RAILWAY.
PRESTON and WYRE RAILWAY, 11.111.11011 R, and
DOCK COMPANY.
Notice is hereby given, that the BOOKS in which Transfers of
Shares in the Preston and Wyre RailwAy. Harbour, and Dock Com-
pany are Registered, will be CLOSEIS from and after Monday, the
14th February, to and inclusive of Weduesday, the Ist March, 1848
By order,

JOHN S. HERON, Secretary,

Manchester, January 27, 1848.

N G OF PA RL IAMENT

.i 1 WEATHER—SON OFFICE, FEB. 1.
FIIMIIIIODIBTEB, Loweat, 28 ; Highest, 34 ; Noon, 32,

BARONZTER, 29 93.
WIND N.W. by N.; fine clear frosty weather.

til, ;1i WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE THIS DAY.
M.9rnin7... 35 minutes after 10. 1 Evening .. 16 minutes titer

ir E g 'l9 ri

establish upon a firm basis the independence of
Spain, instead of converting her into a fron-
tier province of the French Monarchy. The
increasing ill•health of the Queen of SPAIN,
and the pains that are taken to increase her tendency
to dieease, seem to render. it probable that the day is
not far distant when Spain will again become the
theatre of a war of succession—a war in which the
parties will meet upon much more equal terms than
they ever did during the late Carlist contest, inasmuch
is the quadruple treaty is at an end, and the French
candidate for the throne can no longer count upon the
active assistance of England.

Public attention has recently been directed to the
system under which public prosecutions, or rather,
we should say, what ought to be public prosecutions,
are conducted in this country. We have recently
seen, at the Central Criminal
,Court, two persons
charged with the commission of the most serious
offence known to the law, placed upon their trial,
without any counsel previously instructed appearing
to conduct the case against them. Justice, however,
was satisfied; the majesty of the law was vindicated.
A learned gentleman who was accidently present in
court, and who, at the solicitation of the presiding
judge, examined the several witnesses, elicited the
material facts necessary to warrant a conviction, and

a verdict of guilty was obtained against the murderers
one of whom has since expiated his crime by an igno-
minious death. A great chance of escape was, however,
afforded to the offenders, and a general feeling was ex-
cited that such an occurrence should not again be per-
mitted to take place, but that every important case
should be conducted by public prosecutors, and that,
for the future the aggrieved party, who may suffer
either in purse or person, should not have his in•
juries increased by being compelled to expend a
considerable sum of money in protecting the interests
of society. Nor should the guilty man be permitted
to escape the punishment due to his crimes through
the negligence or poverty of his victim.
Another case has materially strengthened this feel-
ing. A trader in this city had been induced to part
with his property through the deep laid
machinations of a gang of swindlers. His loss
was a heavy one, but he did not remain
inactive or supine. The moment his suspicions
were awakened, and he became fully aware
of the nature of the conspiracy against him, he fol-
lowed up the case with a zeal and energy which few
persons could have exhibited. His exertions were
not thrown away. He traced out the various acts of
the swindlers, exposed their different schemes, and
got up an overwhelming case against them. Propo-
sals were then made which would have been readily
accepted by those who regarded their own pecuniary
interests more than the public benefit. The value of
the property obtained, together with all the expenses

incurred in his investigations, would be paid forth-
with, if he would connive at the escape of the persons
by whom he had been defrauded ; but in vain. The
upright and high-minded man spurned the sugges-
tion. He knew that a determined perseverance
of his charge was essential to the protection of
trade and of his brother tradesmen from similar
frauds. He followed up the prosecution with the
greatest vigour and efficiency, and succeeded in ob-
taining a conviction of the principal offenders, who
had previously plundered his fellow-citizens to an
enormous amount. And what was the result ?
What reward was bestowed upon him by a grateful
community ? His original loss was more than
trebled ! The costs of the prosecution amounted to
many hundred pounds, and, although his conduct was
universally applauded, he had to defray the whole of
these costs out of his own pocket, and furnished
another proof of the truth of the assertion that it is
much better to put up with the first loss
than seek to bring the criminals to justice. The
cases to which we have alluded of the possible
escape of the murderers of Mr. BELLORAMDERS, and
the fraud on Mr. GRAY, must lead to the introduc-
tion of a better system, more analagous to the manner
in which prosecutions are conducted in Scotland, to
which we have already repeatedly directed the public
attention.
But, while we are thus anxious to see that no loop-
hole should be left through which criminals may
evade justice, there is another defect in the admini-
stration of the law that should not be lost sight of.
Many innocent persons have been unjustly charged,
and we regret to say, unjustly convicted,
from want of means to bring forward the necessary
witnesses for their defence, or to present that defence
properly to the court and jury. There may
be a strong prima facie case against a poor and igno-
rant man, which he may be wholly unable to rebut
by his own unassisted exertions, and he may also be
unable to provide the funds necessary to obtain pro-
fessional assistance. The law presumes every man
to be innocent until his guilt is proved, but he is
subjected to a very unequal contest before he can
make that innocence apparent. It is the humane
principle of our criminal code " that it is better that
ninety-nine guilty men should escape than that one
innocent man should be unjustly convicted." And
yet is that principle practically acted en ? Generally
speaking—for the cases of defects in the prosecution
form the exception rather than the rule—the chances
are very much against the prisoner if he happens to boa
person in humble life, and unable to fee counsel to act
on his behalf. A practised and able barrister is usu-
ally retained against him, who, being instructed by a
private individual, and not by the Crown, seeks rather
to obtain a verdict than to further the ends of justice.
Allegations are made which might be refuted if he
were placed on equal terms with his opponents; but
such is not the case. Poor HOOD somewhere depicted
such a trial as a few legal gentlemen throwing "the
lasso" over the neck of the unhappy wretch, who
vainly endeavours to fly from the fatal cord; and
there was unhappily too much truth in the illustra-
tion. It is in the spirit of the repealed law, which
forbade the assistance of counsel to a person accused
of felony. True it is that the exertions of Mr.
EWAIT and other legal reformers removed that
blot from our statute-book, that stain from our cri-
minal jurisprudence. But, although it is so removed
in theory, does it not still practically exist in the
great majority of eases that are brought before our
tribunals ? How often do we read of prisoners being
undefended, when charged with the most serious
offences, involving, if not the life, at least the
liberty of the accused party, and his perpetual banish-
ment from his home and friends to the horrors of a
penal colony. If the humanity of the presiding
Judge should even assign counsel to act for the tra-
verser, such counsel is wholly uninstructed, and
the etiquette of his profession prevents him from
holding a conference with the defendant, or
learning from his own lips the real facts of
the case. He may possibly succeed, but the
chances are most undoubtedly fearfully against him.
He is, probably, wholly unacquainted with the cir-
cumstances until he hears them detailed in evidence,
and must trust to his ready wit, or to chance, to
discover on what points that evidence is defective, or
to elicit facts on the cross-examination which may
weaken or upset the testimony of an opposing wit-
ness. Matters should not be suffered to remain in
such a state. Every fair opportunity of proving his
innocence should be afforded the person on his trial;
and whenever his pecuniary resources did not enable
him to obtain professional assistance •for himself, a
counsel and attorney of competent skill and unim-
peached integrity should be provided to manage his
defence. We should have not only public prosecutors,
but public defenders, who should act in every case
where the prisoner does not wish to select his own
professional advisers.

The Committee appointed by the Swiss Diet to
draw up a reply to the note of the three Powers, have
agreed upon a solemn protestation against any at-
tempt at foreign interference in the affairs of Swit-
zerland.

Monsignor LUGUET, Bishop of Herebon, the new
Papal Envoy to the Diet, has arrived at Lucerne;
the former legate, who took such an active part in
support of the Sonderbund, having been recalled. The
canton of Schwyz has rejected the new constitution.

Letters from Rome ,of the 21st ult., state that
Cardinal ROFONDI, Legate of Ravenna, will succeed
Cardinal FERRETTI as Secretary of State, and that
the latter will go to Ravenna as legate.

Madrid papers of the 25th ult. have arrived. The
only news they contain is an announcement of the
re-appearance of Carlist guerillas in Catalonia.
MADRID BoLeA, 25.—The Three per Cents.

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