The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-01 00:00:00

Obetnimafll

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 1, 1848.

A splendid and, we trust, conclusive victory
pah as
been achieved by the Moderate Republicansof
and the French departments. Those political advern's
Anarchist:
turers who are variously designated
Ultras, Terrorists, Socialists, and Communists, the'
Montagnards of 1848, the worshippers rather of
FOURIER than of ROUSSEAU, the dreamers of Saint
Simonian visions, the men whose gospel is the Orga-
nization du Travail in lieu of the Contrut
have been utterly routed, disarmed, and paralysed.
Nothing, in truth, could by possibility have afforded
a nobler testimony of the ripeness of France for
Republicanism, or of the fitness of her
citizens for the discharge of the sacred responsibi-
lities of an universal suffrage, than the triumphant
result of the moderate elections for the National
Assembly. It is a sublime consequence of the
glorious days of February. The success of LAMAR-

TINE is the acceptation of a principle—the principle
of peace and fraternity—that principle which must
be henceforth the verb of the Republican Government.
In th French capital the announcement of the
catalogue of elected representatives—the thirty-f,ur
I npresentatives `of the department of the Seine—has
diffused a profound sense of joy and security. LAMAR-
TINE,;a3 a matter of course, heads the list, with the
enormous number of 259,800 votes—a majority
which exceeds the suffrages awarded to LEDRU
ROLLIN by no less than 127,213. Glo-
riously has this civic crown of confidence been won
by the Provisional Minister for Foreign Affairs—by
the constancy with which be has dedicated his
genius, his time, his life, and his property to the hap-
piness of his country and the consolidation of its
institutions—by the matchless valour with which he,
an unarmed orator, braved the pikes of the revolu-
tionary mob, and conquered the passions of the rabble
by the majesty of his eloquence. Yes! if ever a
simple citizen merited the love and admiration of his
compatriots LAMARTINE is that man, and the
unanimity with which he has been elevated by
the Parisians to the principal seat in the Legislature
is a testimony that such is the opinion of the pro•
moters of the late Revolution. Nor has this been the
solitary attestation of the enthusiasm with which
the character of LAMARTINE is regarded beyond the
Channel. Far otherwise. The departments have
emulated the metropolis in their decision. In the
Department of the Nord, the name of the Foreign
Minister of the Republic is inscribed among the
twenty-eight successful Deputies. Again, he has
been declared one of the ten representatives of
E3ouches-du-Rhone, one of the ten deputies of the
Cote d'or, and in the Seine Inferieure he has headed
the catalogue of candidates with no less than 76,000
suffrages. Popular commendation could not be ex-
pressed more emphatically. .
The voice of a free
people could not be more audible its acclamations.
LAMARTINE will enter the National Assembly co-
vered with the prestige of his fame and of his popu-
larity.
Very different is the position of the anarchical
minority. CORBON (ouvrier), a wood-carver and
principal editor of the Atelier, being the nineteenth
on the catalogue of the Seine. ALBERT (ouvrier), the
Provisional Minster in the Luxembourg, being the
twenty first. PEUPIN, a journeyman watchmaker,
being twenty-third. LEDRU ROLLIN, the Provisional
Minister of the Interior, being twenty-fourth. CAESSI-
DIERE, the Prefect of Police, twentieth. FLOCON, the
Provisional Secretary and editor of the Reforme,
twenty sixth. Louis BLANC, the colleague of ALBERT
in the Luxembourg, twenty-seventh. And AGaicoi,
P,ERDIGUIER (ouvrier), cabinet-maker,: twenty-ninth.
such is the subordinate situation of the Communist
representatives in the metropolitan list of deputies—
subordinate we mean in relation to their competitors
and victors the Moderates. For example those
Moderates, after the favourite of the Parisians, ap-
pear in this succession upon the catalogue—DuronT
(De L'Euae), the Provisional President, second.
ARAGO, Provisional Minister of Marine and of War,
third. GASSIER PAGES, Provisional Minister of Fi•
nance,fourth. MARRAST, Mayor of Paris, and editor of
the National, fifth. MARIE, Provisional Minister of
Public Works, sixth. Cansa LEI: X, Provisional Minister of
Justice, seventh. CARNOT, Provisional Minister of Pub-
lic Instruction, ninth. BETHMONT, Provisional Minister
of Agriculture and of Commerce, tenth. DUYIVIER,
Commandant-General of the Garde Mobile, eleventh.
CAVAIGNAC, Governor-General of Algeria, fourteenth.
PAGNERRE, Provisional Secretary to the Republican
Government, sixteenth. BUCHEZ, the Assistant-
Mayor of Paris, seventeenth. CORMENIN, Provi-
-ional President of the Council of State, and
celebrated author, under the pseudonym of
Tinton, eighteenth. SCHMITH, an artizan, twenty- fifth.
RECURT, another assistant mayor of Paris, twenty-
eighth. JULES BASTIDES, under-secretary to the
Provisional Minister for Foreign Affairs, thirtieth.
And GUINARD, colonel of the artillery of the National
Guard, thirty- third. By such superiority both of
position and numbers have the Moderates exceeded
their antagonists, and to these mimes must be added
the neutral naa.es remaining on the catalogue, names
which at once attests the perfect fraternization of
classes and the pacific aspirations of the multitude :
BERANGER, the renowned song-writer, eighth. L AS-
TEYRIE, ex-deputy, twelfth. VAYIN, also an
~x-deputy, thirteenth. BERGER, an ex-de-
puty, fifteenth. WoLowsica, professor of the
Conservatory of Arts and Manufactures, twenty-
,.econd. COQCEREL, a Protestant clergyman, thirty-
first. GARNON, another ex-deputy, thirty-second.
And the thirty-fourth, the illustrious Abbe DE La •
stEssats. As an analysis of the catalogue of repre-
sentatives for the metropolitan department the fore-
,going is as scrupulously correct as it is satisfactory.
It forms a brilliant corroboration of our previous
opinions as to the tendencies of the February Revo-
lution; and affords the first, and certainly a mag-
nificent, example of the working of that double
system of democracy —the ballot and universal suf-
frage. We may now, therefore, anticipate with
renewed confidence the opening of that National
Assembly the constituent members of which have
been selected under such glorious auspices.

On Friday we alluded to the recent decision in
the case of GEILS Y. GrEms, in the Court of Arches,
and we pointed oat the vexatious delays—the extra-
vagant expense—and the objectionable mode of taking
the evidence of the several witnesses, which rendered
it utterly impossible for the Judge to arrive at a sa-
tisfactory decision on any disputed point, all of which
were so conspicuous in that case. We shall now in-
quire into the nature and amount of the " cruelty"
necessary to warrant a sentence of separation, as laid
by the Learned Judge in his very elaborate judg-
tnent.

So far as actual violence is concerned the law
is simple enough, and perfectly clear. A single
blow inflicted by the husband in a moment
of exasperation may bring him within the juris-
diction of the Court, although his usual conduct
had been of the most exemplary character, and
he had generally conducted himself as a faithful and
affectionate consort. "Anything which tended to
bodily hurt or peril might be a sufficient reason for a
separation between the parties. Many acts were not
required ; one was sufficient if it were likely to occur
again." So says the Learned Judge, and we do not
dispute the justice or propriety of the principle. It is
..ssential that the stronger and Mora powerful should
he
compelled to abstain from any actual violence
which, if tolerated for a moment, under any pretext
whatever, might lead to the most fearful consequences.
.k man who could be base enough to strike a woman
under any possible circumstancesort is utterly unworthy
of sympathy or sup
nant wife should desire to
andt it his abused and indig
derson who had so forgotten shermrsaetlef
ahsetroseclof
commit
soa
cowardly an outrage, she should be justified in so
worpdrotefction ceases, for
injury
doing. But here the
might
although we are told that
in every
tianiaeyredsalarypossible to
menace leading
to a reasonable apprehension of bos
dily
case
es sufficient, cpi
reonvt
e, and that
at 111 at
violence,"it was not
may actwie
sustain a charge of legal cruelty under any other
circumstances, as the very case to which we
alluding will exemplify. A husbandare
most brutal and disgraceful manner, he may use theth
most opprobrious language, • and apply the most in-
famous epithets to the woman whom he has vowed
at the altar "to love and cherish,"—he may treat her
with habitual harshness and tyranny, rendering her
life miserable, and yet she may be compelled to return
to Ha society, and still be subjected to repeated an-
noyance and constant provocation.
Sir H. JENNER Fusr stated
In the present case,
" that he was not satisfied that the charges of euelty
Would entitle Mrs. GEILS to a sentence on that
'zround." We do not in the slightest degree accuse
that Learned Judge of being
influenced by any un-
worthy motive, or of having departed from the usual
urecedents which he was bound to respect. He was
undoubtedly placed in a very painful position in con-
,itequence of the charges that had been preferred, and
consider most
the more essential that he should
so asid t:
most attentively the grounds of his judgment,
prevent the possibility of any future impu-
tation or charge,um e ineonsequence thereof. We may,
therefore, as thst it contained a fair exposition
of the law, and was
n perfect accordance with the
principles and practice
fore, we may feel ourselef the court. Whatever, there-
ves justified in condemning in
that udgment moat be
,Inderatood as being directed