The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

THE ACQUITTAL OP PRINCE PIERRE BONAPARTE. •
The Times thinks the result of the trial of Prince Pierre
Bonaparte at Tours will disappoint public expectation and
the sense of public • justice in France. Prince Pierre
Bonaparte has been acquitted. This result, however it
--ny have been expected, is to be regretted. It is true his
ariLagonists have done their best to destroy our sympathy
for his victim, but the fact cannot be obscured that Prince
Pierre has shewn himself a dangerous member of society
—one whose liberty ought to be. restrained if those who
have the misfortune to come in contact with him are
to enjoy any security for their personal safety.
It is this man who- has been acquitted, when.
it might have been supposed that • the only
question would have been the amount of MI
punishment. His bearing during the course of the trial
its2lf confirms the worst impressions of his disposition.
Ha has allowed hisassions to rule him, and especially
his passion of wrath and revenge, until lie has become''.
creature who should never be trusted with weapons of
offence, lest he should, at any moment, when an obstacle
arises to' his will, let the brutality of his nature explode in;
a fit of homicidal frenzy. The appropriate punishment ot!
such an offender would have included surveillance an
denial of the privilege .of bearing arms, and it may be
believed that Louis le Grand wouldlave-thus treated any
kinsman of his who had in the same degree revolted the
conscience of the nation and proved himself unworthy of
the priVileges of honour. If such a result had followeqf
the tragedy at Auteuil would have been an honour, as lt;
is now a slur, upon the empire.
The trial of Prince Pierre Bonaparte has ended, as we
have always believed it would end says the Standard, in finding
an acquittal of the accused. The of the jury w,ill,
certainly be canvassed with more or less acrimony by t
Liberal press throughout Europe • and we may expect o
sea the whole judicial system of france discredited. What
the verdict of the larger tribunal will be we cannot P.re,"
sume to say. But we confess we do not see how the Higu
Court sitting at Tours could have arrived at any oth.,,er
conclusion. Whether the finding of the High Court will
not furnish a new argument for the enemies of the ImPe"
rial dynasty, whether a slight punishment would not
jciu
bselisei.
served the Imperial Government better, are open
tions. For our own part, we incline to the opinion tha,
the jury have taken a common sense view of the case, sec`
have acted a bold and honest part iu acquitting the pri-
soner. -
• -

The Daily News remarks it is curious to reflect upon the
matter from an English point of view. To us, who di-3,W
no distinction between duelling and murder, and who
would, in case of a fatal duel, hold the bearer of the
original cartel as an accessory before the fact, all the
parties seem equally guilty, and our view of the matter
would really be decided by what we knew of the
characters of the actors in the sad drama. The
jury, however, seem to think that a blow
justifies a man in shooting another, and that
the onus probandi lies with the prosecution, wil°
have to demonstrate that the murder was not provoked.
From this point of view the acquittal of the Prince is onlY
natural. That he would have been found guilty of dilibe.
rate murder was never expected. The doubt was whether
he would be acquitted altogether or found guilty of illsti‘
fiable homicide. Had the witnesses for the prosecution
been a little more discreet, Prince Bonaparte's evil reputa-
tion, would doubtless have had more weight, and the
verdict would not have been one so entirely repugnant to
our English notions.
The Post would be sorry to admit that a blow thus givell
is a sufficient justification to shoot the person who elle'
it, and to Englishmen it must seem extraordinary that it
should be allowed to be so. Human life is too sacred to
be sacrificed save under the most unavoidable necessitl
such as had not arisen when Prince Pierre sbe
Victor Noir, and we cannot but consider it be
be a failure of justice that the Prince should ue
held—as he is by the verdict—entirely blameless,
and allowed to go entirely unpunished. But these mat"
ters are looked upon in a very different light in France,
and there are few Frenchmen who would hesitate entirely
to support the act of the Prince as one that was impell
tively called for by his honour. In England we Pull's
the duellist who kills his adversary as a murderer, and we
have by this course, supported as it is by public feeling
entirely stopped duelling; but in France that method e`
redressing injury is still in full vogue.
The trial of Prince Pierre Bonaparte at Tours, says the
Pall Mall Gazette, has concliided, and contrary to expecta
tion the jury returned a verdict of acquittal on evel
charge. From the first it has been clear enough on whic.
side the sympathies of the jury, as well as of the Pres!:
dent and the. Procureur-Imp6rial were enlisted, but 1:
was supposed that the Prince would be convicted at leas"
of some minor offence, if only for the look of the thing'
The whole course of procedure in this case has been si°
extraordinary that we must confess we have very lit
astonishment left for the verdict. The Prince's behavl
in court, however, confirms the impression that he mro'
be just the man to open fire with very little provocatio?.
Viewed in a political light, his absolute acquittal must be
deemed rather a misfortune for the Emperor and
Ministry, since it will give colour to the complaints of
t A
irreconcilable press as to the unfairness of the trial.
partial conviction, with a light sentence of imprisonmer"
would have certainly been much more in the interest of
the Government.
The Telegraph observes that the trial of Prince Pierr,,e
Bonaparte ended in a-Verdict of " Acquittal on all points
of of the indictment ;" a result which may somewhat qi7
appoint the
,general anticipation as to the issue, but what
probably will not lead many Englishmen to assert ths;
there has been a gross miscarriage of justice. Loolch.;!,
back upon the whole case, the only surprise to anybo%
conversant with the course of legal-proceedings 1„,
this country must be, that the trial could he'li;
lasted a whole week. There can be small doubt that a
English Chief Justice and a Middlesex jury would her:
disposed of such a little matter in a couple of hours. t
should say that the French Emperor and his
Minister would have been too happy to endorse and f 0
the decision of the jury at Tours, whatever it might ha\
been ; but both must as heartily aquiesce in the acquittiae'd
the reasonableness of which was not a little recommell,
by the outrageous behaviour of M. de Fonvielle and "
other Irreconcilables in the court.

GOVERNMENT POLICY IN IRELAND.
The Standard declares that the Government must hq°
known two months ago, as well as ten days ago, that 0;
powers were inadequate, and it was its duty to has',
asked of Parliament, the moment it assembled, such
extension of them as it deemed necessary to enable it t°
fulfil the first, the chief, the all-important functions ef:,
Government. The question is not whether Mr. 0-15'ct
stone has allowed agrarian crime to go unpunished a 135
spread unchecked out of good intentions or for resse'n,..
which may be acceptod in foro conscientice. The Vtt.
tion is whether he has neglected the duty of puxiisri
ing and checking crime; and if he has—and eV a,
man in Parliament, except his own supporters, who 'tam
not say what they think, allows it—he has betrayed a
trust reposed in him by the Soverign, and done the
he
grievous wrong to the people. of Ireland. However, er.
G-overnment has how asked and obtained powers the ex
„t
cise of which, it asserts, is necessary, and will be sufficl,..
not only to check the spread of agrarian crime but to 154',te'r
press it. And if it finds these powers insufficient aSe
having proposed and obtained an interference with
vd
liberty of the subject, for which no parallel can be, f"for
in our modern history, it must not shrink from ask'a
a suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act.

BRIDGWATER BRIBERY PROSECUTION.
iir64
The Daily News believes that after the disclos
which haVe been made, Bridgwater cannot claim &clod
tion from the doom which has befallen Lancaster 10
Great Yarmouth, Mr. Vanderbyl and Mr. ICillg ter•
are likely to prove the last members for Bridgw'nds
They close its Parliamentary history. The matters ntr.
thus. Mr. Vanderbyl is acquitted on the ground 01.
Fennelly:s unauthorised zeal, and Mr. Fennellys 11
cretion is half excused on the ground of Pre bite:
Whose pressure ? Where is the primula In'° the
Working our way backwards, we find it I_ll the
local electioneering agents, and especially 111,try,
political attorneys of Bridgwater. These g: their
knowing the circumstances and the weaknesses of 0,0
neighbours, seem able to manipulate the constituency'
they choose. The only thing which will sensibly rvo.l.l_!„.
their power for mischief will be the Ballot. Secrets tfa
will make their knowledge comparatively useless, ca
tca
will deprive them of a great portion of the •
which they now exercise. What has takenouplac
17_
Bridgwater affords a strong and a tinahlerbtahllot!
means a novel argument in favour of t
ere
is scarcely a constituency
d into the light of days
ace in the Kingdom thde doings of
not bear similar testimony.f
which, if they were f

STRIKES
aoor
llitasesasetTit NAIL TRADE.—There are 11°Sm
.
cohricledsrteenrs,hiraree,ouatndof neenairpliyoya. throauroof
two strikes in the wrought- nail trade of South Staffor
shire
ee
laavrnoeindheoEnrsesa-tnnadWil makers and part of them are coro1411;a
nail makers, resident principally around Old-hill, ill: to,
But a worse fate to,othh,fhwea noeltradhl
sitetshtathh.
whole
reeithi
useheoeteesile,
;e:::::xotfer:ttieo
bpit,t_oehrnoeaauneidilsmimiger,2aYptuaesuentaernentdddrd iiesas,sety:tr ige tOvei the trade. Six months etie
progress,that
no,
snaatpts ur.
from
ceoetesmwys
vriwoieefuradtas• sivlmtoidhnraeketvem dsaeitgtni
longer to the list, and therefore ever one in
must make the best arrangement they could with the vi°-r
people.
THEFT OF £B,OOO FROM THE NATIONAL at
On Thursday last the police received the information t4;he
£B,OOO had gone amissing from the National Bank. -3,13-
cash consisted of £lOO notes, and they had beerliiieo
stracted from a desk of one of the tellers. After inllYoU
had been made, suspicion pointed to a clerk, naroeui. the
White, who was apprehended ; but the evidence at to
to
time being somewhat defective he was not convoreu
the police:office, but detained in the bank buildlbite
charo•e of detective officers. On Friday morning trot
admitted that he had taken the money, and stateu „ro•
the cash would be found in his lodgings. • After aNat
priating the notes. on Thursday, the prisoner haris
£7,400 into an envelope,
.and sent a porter with it t' the
house ; and at a later period of the day he despatnileulost.
remaining £l,OOO to his lodgings through the cot
White is a young man, and has been in the employ tis
of the National Bank for nearly seven Years' be-
believed that he was labouring under mental sinell
ration when he committed the act. He was esa,ninu ---
before Sheriff Clark, and committed to V.'s"
Scotsman. died
Three pupils of Marlborough College have hoe
from scarlatina. Altogether about sixty of the boYs the
been attacked. The epidemic is entirely confined t°f the
college, not a single case existing iu any other part
town. .
Dr. Grant, Roman Catholic Bishop of Soutlilt
is convalescent, and able to celebrate Mass. t
It be
remembered that a few weeks ago he was reportE:Gl a tije
lying so dangerously ill at cometi? have 1;""VQ
itk§t of the Clarclu •