The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-26 00:00:00

The Great American Trial,

The particulars of the M'Farland trial in Ne w
York have been already laid before the public on
this side of the Atlantic,but some of the details of its
conclusion are singular enough to deserve comment.
Mrs. M'Farland, the unhappy heroine of the
tragedy, has written a long statement describing
the miseries of her married life since she first dis-
covered M'Farland's habit of drinking, and giving the
particulars of her acquaintance with Richardson. A
lette: written by Richardson in 1807, after M‘Far-
land's first attempt on his life, and marked not to be
opened until after his death, is added to the
statement. It confirms in a great measure Mrs.
M'Farland's story. This letter was referred to during
the trial, but was not allowed to be put in. Mrs.
M'Farland gave her statement to the editor of the
New York Tribune, which has throughout warmly
espoused her cause, Richardson having been a pro-
minent contributor to that paper, and having been
shot while standing in its office. She stipulated that
it should not be published until after the close of
the trial, that it might not affect the verdict. The
trial concluded on Tuesday, the 10th, and the
day following the statement was published.
the eagerness to obtain it was some-
thing wonderful, even for New York. The
office of the Tribune was besieged, and large
sums given for copies. The presses were incessantly
at work throughout the day, but were unable to
keep pace with the popular demand, so the statement
was stereotyped and printed on a separate sheet.
Strange stories are told of the efforts made by rivals
in the press to Obtain early copies. The Tribune
declares that an editor of the New York Sun offered
one of their employes two dollars for a sheet, but was
imposed upon by an old page with a pasted heading !
The Tribune offers to return the money it the dupe
will call at the office for it !

PARIS CORRESPONDENCE.

TUESDAY EVENING.

The Central Committtee of the Plebiscite of 1870 have
issued the following circular : " Yielding to numerous
and pressing solicitations, the Central Committee of the
Plebiscite of 1870 asked permission from the Government
to form itself into a permanent association, with
the object of rendering all future administra-
tive intervention in the election of Deputies use-
less, according to the views expressed in the Minis-
terial declaration of February last in the Corps Legislatif.
M. le Garde des Sceaux having, however, informed
them that they could not receive the necessary authorisa-

tion, the committee have no alternative but to consider
their work accomplished, and to dissolve,which they have
now done.

The debate on the new Press Law was resumed in the
Corps Legislatif on Monday, when the articles which had
been referred to the committee, were discussed. The first
article which reserves for the court of assize, political and
press offences, was the subject of an amendment by M.
Laroche Foubert, who insisted that the offences meant
should be plainly specified.
M. Genton, the reporter of the committee, having
declared that this proposition was simply impractiCable,
the amendment was rejected, and Article 1 read as it
stood. Article 2, providing that offences of libel
or verbal defamation, and certain other press of-
fences, shall remain under the jurisdiction of the
correctional police, gave rise to an animated discus-
sion. M. Cremicux had an amendment on the
paper to modify the effect of the clause, but M.
Grevy adopted the shorter and more efficacious
method of suggesting its abolition altogether. The
great point at issue was whether the police should
have jurisdiction over any offences of the kind, and M.M.
Gr6vy and Cremieux, as you may suppose, fought vigo-
rously for the rights of the gentlemen of the tribune and
the pen. The former indignantly denounced the arbitrary
division of offences of this class into three degrees of cri-
minality, and declared that in regard to press
offences everything was conventional. There was hardly
ever any question of actual morality or public virtue, but
only a matter which was innocent or guilty according to the
intention of the, writer. National freedom, concluded M.
Grdvy, consists in making a nation and applying
its laws itself." The second condition is no less necessary
than the first. Measure the part which the jury plays in
the application of the laws, and the part which the
country plays in the making of the laws, and you will
know what distance separates us from liberty !" (Loud
applause from the Left.)
M. Philis, State Councillor and Commissary of the
Government, followed M. Grevy in an eloquent speech,
and defended the Government measure, which he said
was introduced as a concession to the wishes
of the Opposition. He was also loudly applauded.
M. Cremieux, who accepted M. Grevy's improvement on
his amendment, reminded the Government that to give
with one hand and withdraw with the other, was held to
be no gift at all. He saw, he said, with the greatest re-
gret that at the present moment a large number of press
prosecutions were being conducted before the Correctional
Tribunal, and that they were usually followed by convic-
tions. The prisons no longer sufficed for the prisoners
(a fact confirmed by M. Pelletan, who stated
that two detenus had been put in one cell. If
these convictions, added M. Cremieux, were the work
of a jury, we should regret, but respect them. Coming
from the 'correctional tribunals, they were afflicting on
behalf of the magistrates no less than of the accused.
Let the trials be removed to the cognizance of a jury,

and then let them see how many acquittals there
would be. However, the Ministry which had distributed
four million journals throughout the country to secure
Oui need not surely fear such acquittals.
The discussion continued for some time, but I need not
tell you that little alteration was made in the form of the
bill.

YACHTING.
THE SAPPHO AND CAMBRIA.

We, Bell's Life, are informed that Mr. Douglas, the
owner of the Sappho, has challenged the Cambria to sail
a return match, to consist of two races, each sixty miles
to windward and back. In one race Mr. Douglas offers
to give the Cambria allowance for difference of tonnage
according to the Royal Thames Yacht Club measurement,
and in the other according to the New York Yacht Club
measurement.