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

fu tentas

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1848.
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Eighteen Hundred and Forty-seven has closed, and,
by the tim3 our present impression is published, the
first day of Eighteen Hundred and Forty-eight will
be tolerably well advanced. It is not allowable to
become sentimental on political occurrences ; other-
wise we should find ample opportunities for the in-
dulgence of that mental faculty in the retrospections
of the past twelve months. In that interval how
much has been accomplished, and how much has
been 'left unaccomplished !—how many have ad-
vanced, and how many retrograded 1 The recollec-
tions of the past year are forced upon us by the fact
of its conclusion, and by the sudden appearance of
its successor. Everything tends to remind us of the
birth of 1848, and speaks to us almcst in the language
of TENNYSON :

" There's a new foot on the floor, my friend ;
And anew face at the door, my friend ;
A new face at the door."
Upon the European continent, 1847 has worked many
changes of no trivial importance. Russia has
strengthened its hold upon the commercisl stability
of Coe Bourse and the Exchange by further invest-

ments of capital ; and it has advanced towards the
true development of its immense internal resources,
lky laying the foundation of that network of railways
which must ultimately connect Tobolsk with War-
saw, and form a line of communication between
relgssa and the Baltic. Austria has beheld its do-
mination over the Italian principalities " vanish into
thin air" at the voice of the Reforming PONTIFF, and
while it has confirmed its authority over the incor-
porated territories of Poland by the occupation of
Cracow, it has also confirmed the popular movement
in the Roman peninsula by the occupation of Ferrara.
Prussia has continued to flourish under the novel
auspices of a representative legislature, and has be-
come still more confirmed in its loyalty to a Patriot
King by the bonds of admiration and gratitude.
Sweden and Norway have accepted with passive
indifference the royal ordonnances of the son of
BERrcADOTTE ; and Denmark has pursued its system
of self-tuition, comparatively inattentive to the expe-
riences of adjacent countries. In Belgium a fresh agita-
tion of a democratic character gives promise of further
concessions on the part of the administrative, and of
those rational reforms which are compatible with the
preservation of public tranquillity and the mainte-
nance of the constitution. In Switzerland, on the
other hand, an internecine war has but just ended in
the discomfiture of the Ultramontane party, and in
the unconditional transference of the supreme power
to the opponents of the now-extinguished Sonder-
hued. Of Italy there is much that is glo-
rious to be recorded and commemorated by
the historian ; and in France much that is
reprehensible and unsatisfactory. In the former
country the rulers and the people have emulated each
other in the labours of social, political, and re-
ligious liberation. Sardinia has afforded, in the per-
son of CHARLES ALBERT, an evidence of kingly mag-
nanimity such as must eventually kindle the flame of
patriotism, and excite the thirst of independence in
the bosoms of the population of Venetian Lombardy.
Tuscany has, in like manner, imparted a fresh sti-
mulus to the Great Movement by the co-operation of
the Grand Duke LEOPOLD. Additional measures of
emancipation have emanated from the Quirinal, and a
new Senate has for the first time been assembled
under the shadows of the Vatican. Even the
Neapolitan Bourbon, who wears the diadem of the
Two Sicilies, has evinced a disposition not altogether
inimical to the cause of legislative innovation. As to
the lesser principalities, the alterations have been in
many particulars remarkable. Lucca has escaped
from the sway of an uncongenial potentate, and be-
come merged into the dominions of the ducal eman-
cipator of Tuscany. Modena has, however, been also
aggrandised by the acquisition of a marginal portion
of Tuscany, and the death of the ex-Empress MARIA
LOUISA has rendered the duchies of Parma,
Piacenza, and Guastalla the possessions of the
late ruler of the Lucchese—unless indeed the
provisions of the treaty of Vienna be so
far modified in regard to Guastalla as to
conduce to the fulfilment of the first principles of
dynastic justice. While the Gallic stock-jobbers of
Athens have been deploring the decease of COLETTI,
OTHO has still held, though with an unsteady grasp,
the sceptre of Greece, and enhanced his preceding em-
barrassments by a frivolous contention with the
Sublime Porte. Spain has again witnessed the
malign influences which invariably accompany the
Duchess DE RIANZARRS, although its present Mi-
nister, NARVAEZ, has evinced so much unex-
pected moderation as to compensate, in some mea-
sure, for the presence of CHRISTINA. Por-
tugal, on the other hand, has afforded additional
evidence of the faithlessness of MARIA DA GLORIA,
by recognising the increased importance attached
to the movements of the CABRALS and the opinions of
their partisans. In England and France the political
world has proved in a singular manner uneventful,
as far, at least, as actual changes of any sort are con-
cerned. Much, though in a small way, is promised
by the Speech just delivered before the Cham-
bers by his Majesty the. KING of the FRENCH—
having reference to such things as salt, postage,
mortgage, savings' banks, and pawnbroking : and
much in a very large way is guaranteed to Great
Britain by the programme of the Russell Adminis-
tration—these improvements bearing in an especial
manner upon the sanitary question, the educational
question, and the religious toleration question, as well
as upon taxation, criminal jurisprudence, colonial
government, and our national defences. With the
exception of the electioneering excitement which was
experienced among ourselves, and the reform
banquets which have agitated the Liberal party
among cur neighbours, quietude has been maintained
in both kingdoms. Peace and Preparation have been
the predominant characteristics of 1847: may Peace
and Fulfilment be the characteristics of 1848 !

Some of our Contemporaries have severely censured
the line of defence which Mr. SEYMOUR, who acted
as counsel for REID on the occasion of the late trial
for the Airfield murders, thought proper to offer on
behalf of his client. It was said that he, being
fully aware of the guilt of the party for whom he
was engaged, on the very best and most conclusive
evidence—his own confession—still attempted to ob-
tain REIDS acquittal, by imputing the actual com-
mission of the appalling outrage to the other, pri-
soner, thus seeking to transfer the odium and
the punishment due to the crime from the
real offender, to a persr,n of whose innocence he
was fully cognizant, and of which innocence he him-
self made a representation to the presiding Judge
immediately after the verdict of the jury was re-
corded. The Learned Gentleman has published a
letter (which will be found in, another column) in vin-
dication of his own conduct, in which the real facts of
the case are set forth. It appears, then, that previous
to the trial REID had returned in confidence to his
attorney, in answer to certain questions submitted
to him as to the character of the new evidence, re-
plies which were almost conclusive as to his crimi-
nality, " which (in the words of Mr. SEYMOUR),
tended very much to inculpate himself, but did not
at all exculpate M'CAUE from the suspicion of being
some way engaged along with him." These replies,
moreover, were so contradictory in themselves, and so
totally opposed to the evidence for the prosecution,
that they were not credited, and the Learned Counsel
did not in any manner depart from the line of
defence which he had previously decided on adopting,
a line of defence which had been resorted to on the
previous trial, by one of the most distinguished or-
naments of, the bar—Mr. Sergeant WiLittNs, a
gentleman whose high character affords the strongest
guarantee that he would not have had recourse to
any unfair or unprofessional conduct. A line of
defence, too, which obtained the acquittal.of the un-
fortunate man on that occasion, the jury manifestly
believing that M'CABE, who was then examined as a
witness for the prosecution, was himself implicated
in the transaction. The entire facts of the case led
to the conclusion that two persons at least must have
been concerned. There were three separate murders, in
different apartments—several weapons used—the sol-
dering iron and the kitchen poker, in the first in-
stance, and subsequently the razor, by which the
throats of the victims were cut. There was
much struggling— the keys taken from the
pockets, drawers opened, the house plundered,
curtains drawn, doors and windows bolted, the escape
of the murderer or murderers, and all within a very
few minutes—ten at the outside; then there was the
great improbability of M'CABE's statements, which
were hardly credible, until corroborated by the sub-
sequent explanations, the more explicit confession of
REID these circumstanees combined together and
attentively considered, led to a very strong presump
tion of M'CAEE's guilt, and it was not improbable
that REID might have desired at that time, to shield his
companion, and not to make any statement, even to
his own professional advisers, that would criminate
him. There is frequently a principle of rude fidelity
to their accomplices, that is regarded in the most
sacred light, and observed even by the most aban-
doned criminals. This is peculiarly the case in
Ireland, of which country REID was a native.
Mr. SEYMOUR was therefore fully justified in acting
upon his own judgment, and leading others to adopt
the same opinion to preserve his client, even should
the conviction of M'CAEE have been the result.
But he has been blamed for having acted as a "vo-
lunteer prosecutor for having aided the counsel
of the Crown in their efforts to obtain a verdict
against M'CAns;" and it has been said that be was
not justified, in doing so, even if perfectly satisfied

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