The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-29 00:00:00

Ironing

LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1848.

Protection, after all, seems really to be only half
abolished. If our agriculturists are deprived of the
criminal delights of monopoly monopoly is still
maintained upon a gigantic scale among the great;
corporations, who, under the shadow of the British
sceptre, rule those vast tracts of the American conti-
nent which are scantily populated with colonists and
aborigines, while they abound in wild animals from
the buffalo to the weasel. Already we have endea-
voured to expose the trickery by which a splendid
island, very nearly as large as England, is about to
be consigned by the Government to the charge of the
Hudson's Bay Company. In spite of the masterly
speech delivered by Mr. GLADSTONE in the House of
Commons during the sitting of Friday even-
ing, 18th August, in spite of all that
has been said either within or without the walls of
Parliament by legislators and journalists, the Cabinet
still seems to evince its determination to carry out its
project as to the transference of Vancouver's Island
from the care of the mother country to that of an '
isolated and almost irresponsible body of merchants.
Unless some decided movement be made for the pre-
vention of this dire arrangement, Quadra will be
closed for eleven years, if not permanently, against
emigration ; the project of the Colonial Secretary
will be successfully consummated by his subordinate ,
colleagues ; the selfish aspirations of Earl GREY,
seconded by those of Mr. Hawes and Mr. BULLER,
Will be realised ; and, if, to use a cant term of the old
astrologers, Orion be not predominant in the House
of Death, the Great Bear will be supreme in the
House of Misfortune.
Reference is being perpetually made by the ad-
vocatee of the projected transference to the Red
River Settlement and to the Puget's Sound Association.
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman the Member for
Liskeard has even gone so far as to brag about the
" flourishing settlement," said to exist in some corner
or other of the island of Vancouver. It will be per-
ceived, from a communicatio❑ published by ourselves
in another column, and addressed to one of our contem-
poraries,
that every one of these vain-glorious allusions
are nothing better than empty air—that the boasted
settlement in Vancouver's Island is a miserable group
of two or three Europeans and half. a-dosen Indians
in a small wooden pent-house ; that the Red River
settlement is a disgrace to humanity, and that a more
wretched bugbear can scarcely be supposed to exist
than the famous Puget's Sound Association. Nor
can these revelations be any matter of astonishment,
as we have already intimated, when the character of
the avocations practised by the servants of the
Hudson's Bay Company is taken into con-
sideration. A company of speculators, whose
object of merchandise is fur, is assuredly the very
last which one would expect to foster the humanising
cause of colonisation, and to promote the diffusion of
the civilising arts and of Christianising knowledge.
The wilder the possessions are the more their
stock of bears and jackals thrive, the more they
propagate among the fastnesses of the primeval
forests, the more they multiply the riches of
the monopolists in the lonely valleys and the un-
trodden mountains. Every tree felled, every
acre cleared, every streamlet navigated, would
be a sensible diminution of the resources
of the association. To keep up the exorbi-
tant dividends to the shareholders the most rational
course would be to prevent the habitation of the
countries from the solitudes of which they derived
their enormous profits and unflagging traffic. These
have invariably been the considerations of the direc-
tors of the Hudson's Bay Company. It is this prin-
ciple, or rather, we should say, this total absence of
principle, which has secured to them for a century,
and a half such an astonishing prosperity, a pros-
perity as malign in its influences and as in-
glorious in its results as it- has been marvellous
in its continuance and unprecedented in its

magnitude.
From the experience afforded us by the past history
of this remarkable community of merchants, we may
argue with some degree of security upon the pro-
bable consequence of the extension of their disastrous
policy elsewhere. From the statistics furnished from
their continental possessions in North America, we
may very safely and readily conjecture the results of
their insular administration. The barrenness— in an
agricultural sense—of the former would be only
repeated in the latter ; the ignorance, the despot-
ism, and the numerical poverty of the population,
would be the the same only upon a proportionate scale.
We should, at the end of the eleven years, look to
the narrative of occurrences inVancouver's Island, and
find ,ifothing—just as we have turned to the narrative
of the occurrences in the continental districts of the
company, after their sovereign rule of 150 years,
and have found a dismal and appalling void.
It muss be acknowledged that the Hudson's Bay
Company have striven to screen themselves from the
odium of their repressive policy by a meagre pre•
tune of enterprise in the way of promoting emigre-
lion—still, in proof that this movement has been
only a pretence, and a very shallow pretence
to., we need merely mention the settlements of
Jute's Wound and on the Red River. Those settle-

ments are as dwarfish in their dimensions and as
pernicious in their character as any that have ever
been recorded in the history of civilization. And as
Mr. GLADSTONE very happily observed, after quoting
from WORDSWORTH the great poetic truth that " the
boy is father to the man,"—" So it is with nations :
infant settlements are the fathers of great nations ;
and the means of a healthy development ought,
therefore, to be afforded to them ; for sickly,
stunted, and mutilated creatures are likely to
spring up beneath the poisoned shade of mono-
poly and despotism." Such settlements, if any
settlements at all, are the only ones that can be an-
ticipated for Vancouver's Island, if that noble and
fruitful colony be abandoned to the grasp of the
Hudson's Bay Company directors. With these
considerations, we resign the matter to the ripened
judgment and the retentive conscience of the mem-
bers of the Administration.

A casU was tried yesterday at the Central Criminal
Court which affords another powerful illustration of
the necessity for the establishment of a public prose.
cutor, whose duty it shall be to examine attentively
and accurately the depositions, and to ascertain that
there shall at least be a prima facie case to go to a
jury before any person shall be committed for trial
on an aggravated charge. We have repeatedly
shown that under the present impolitic system the
most innocent persons may be subjected to serious
annoyance, inconvenience, and expense, that their
feelings may be outraged, and perhaps their
prospects in life wholly blighted. It is
no light or trivial matter for any person to be
arrested, torn from friends and family, detained in
custody, exposed for even a brief period to public
odium as a hardened and atrocious criminal, and
finally compelled to incur a heavy expenditure, which
cannot possibly, even under the most favourable cir-
cumstances, be recovered, and all because undue faci-
lities are afforded to any person who chooses to pre-
fer a trumpery accusation for the gratification of
private malignity or revenge, or for the purposes of
extortion and oppression, to obtain a public
investigation. According to the constitutional
theory, when a criminal action has been
commited, the private injury is merged in
the public wrong. The offender is not punished
for having transgressed against his neighbour, but
for having violated the peace of our Sovereign Lady
the QUEEN. Protection is due to every subject. He
yields his allegiance to the supreme authority and
contributes to the National Exchequer, and in return
he is defended in the enjoyment of all his rights, and
any invasion thereof is resented by the body politic,
of which he is a member. This is the theory ; how
different is the practice ! If a person is robbed of his
property, he is bound over to prosecute the plun-
derer, and his original loss is materially increased by
the legal expenses of that prosecution ; if he is as-
saulted, he must incur a heavy outlay in bringing
the aggressor to justice, and discharging the duty
which should devolve upon the law officers of the
Crown. Thus the protection to person and pro-
perty, which is the only legitimate basis of the na-
tional taxation, is practically withheld. But still
more is this the case when a party is taken up on in-
sufficient grounds, and, after suffering the deepest
injury, dismissed without compensation or recom-
pense. There is no respect in which the protection
due to every subject is more urgently required than
in guarding him against unfounded accusations,
whether such accusations be the result of private
malignity, or of the blundering and stupidity of in-
competent persons called upon to discharge a public
duty.
The case now under notice was owing to the latter
cause, but the grievance to the aggrieved parties is
precisely the same, and it would have been wholly
averted if a public officer had examined the proceed-
ings of the coroner's inquest before they had been
given in charge to the jury. Even the grand jury,
who too often have deserved censure for the reckless
manner in which they are in the habit of finding
true bills on insufficient testimony, had ignored
the bills that had been preferred, but the coroner's
jury having returned a verdict of Wilful Murder, the
parties were necessarily arraigned upon that inquisi-
tion.

E The facts were very simple. MARY SPRY and
MARY ANNE Doi; mother and daughter, described
as well dressed, respectable persons, were charged
with the wilful murder of a child of the latter, by ad-
ministering poison to it. It appeared that the
prisoners had invariably treated the deceased infant,
who was only four months old, with the utmost kind-
ness and affection, and there was not the slightest
attempt to show that any poison had been in the pos-
session of either. On the 13th July last
the younger prisoner had arranged to go on
an excursion of pleasure to the Isle of Wight,
on that morning the child was taken ill. A medical
man was immediately sent for, who administered
some medicine, but did not think the case a serious
one. The parties thereupon proceeded upon their
journey ; but the child still suffering, another pro-
fessional man was consulted on their arrival in the
island, who ordered more active remedies, and recom-
mended the mother to return to London with her
child. During this period the mother exhibited the
greatest affection for her child. On arriving in
town the former medical adviser was again con-
sulted, and certain powders administered under
his direction. The child died shortly afterwards.
On a post mortem examination, a small portion of
arsenic was found in the child's intestines ; but this
did not appear to be the cause of death, which was
distinctly shown to have been occasioned by a natural
cause ; the child having suffered under what is
termed intersusception of the bowels. Under these
circumstances, the Learned Judge who presided
stopped the case, and with considerable warmth de-
clared, "that there did not appear to be the
slightest ground for the charge ; and it only
showed what might be done by a coroner's jury."
Even the Learned Counsel who conducted the prosecu-
tion, in opening the case, declared that from a perusal of
the depositions he entertained an opinion that in the
result the prisoners would be freed from the charge."
Why, then, should the case be proceeded with under
such circumstances ? The humane principle of the
law is, that "it is better that ninety-nine guilty
persons should escape, than that one innocent person
should be unjustly convicted." And juries are inva-
riably told " that if they entertain any reasonable
doubt they are to give the benefit to the prisoner ;"but
here, although the prosecuting counsel acknowledges
that he himself feels such a doubt, witnesses are ex-
amined and the feelings of the innocent prisoners har-
rowed up by a recapitulation of the distressing facts of
the case. We do not desire to be understood as casting
any reflection upon the learned and able gentleman
who made that admission, and who, in doing so, de-
served credit for his candour; it is the system to
which we are conscientiously opposed, and which
should be altered with the least possible delay.

SPAIN.
Madrid papers of the 23d inst. have arrived.
The QUEEN, accompanied by her husband and her
mother, had left Madrid for Segovia.
Malaga has offered to subscribe twenty millions of
reels to the loan asked for by Senor Moir.
:MADRID BOLSA, AUG. U.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 19} cash, and 19 3-10ths for the
account ; Five per Cents. 104 cash, 11 for the
account; Passive Debt, Si cash, 4 for the account ;
Coupons, 7 ; Bank of San Fernando, 46 cash, 50 for
the account. Exchange on London, 46 50.

THE PRINCE OF WALES STEAMER RUN
DOWN.—SEVEN LIVES LOST.
LIVERPOOL, AUGUST 27.—The Prince of Wales steamer,
from Belfast to Fleetwood, was in contact yesterday off the
Point (Isle of Man) with a smack; the steamer sank or was
beached—three of the passengers and four of the crew
drowned ; it is not known what became of the smack.

Mr. Villiers paired with Sir C. Burrell (who was
against) for the Copper Duties Bill.
DREADFUL FIRE AND EXPLOSION.—Shortly after
two this morning a dreadful alarm prevailed in High-street,
Shoreditch, owing to an explosion on the premises of Mr.
Spurway. an oilman, &c. With the greatest difficulty the
family effected a retreat, and the fire spread most furiously.
But little time elapsed before several of the A and B engines
of the brigade from several stations, with those of the West
of England and County, were set to work. The fire 14 as at
length subdued, but not a vestige of property on the lower
part of the premises was saved This loss will be covered
by insurance in the Sun and Imperial offices.
shalleiuosutose
BoaDEn. L
houses o n theh bordersezecxn-UP Housas.---Lord Morpeth and
SlrGefeorrgte_Gerey have prepared and brought in a Bill to pro-
vide
shy:
no
of
theaowl
r sesofofeoeurnecttieha, and The
Bmiallinptaironviindgeslotchka-tuipt
feuhulodrefdorerzsthe county magistrates to erect lock-up
of two or more counties, for the safe
and that the expenses of erecting and
maintaining the same are to be paid out of the county rate.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
Neither Louis BLANC nor CAUSSIDIERE have as
yet been arrested, and it is positively affirmed in the
Siecle that Louis BLANC is safe in Brussels.

The Gazette des Tribunaux says—
" Yesterday (Saturday) morning, upon a requisition
from M. Pinard, Procureur de la Republique, two war-
rants were issued by M. Bertrand, the examining
magistrate, for the arrest of MM. Louis Blanc and
Caussidiere. Commissaries of Police and their officers
went to the residence of M. Caussidiere, at No. 26, Cite
Beaujon, and to that of M. Louis Blanc, at No. 57, Rue
Neuve Vivienne, to execute the warrants, but neither
of them was to be found. They left their homes on
Friday, at seven in the evening, and had never returned.
M. Bertrand, in the presence of the Procureur, made
searches in the apartments of both. The papers found
at M. Caussidiare's were taken to the registrar's office,
but the desk of M. Louis Blanc was put under seals. At
eleven o'clock yesterday evening the warrants had not
been executed."

The Messager gives the following explanation as
to the non-arrest of these gentlemen before they
quitted the hall of the Assembly.
"M. Louis Blanc and M. Cauisidire were at first to
have been arrested at the Assembly; but, from a high
sentiment of propriety, General Cavaignac was not wil-
ling that this arrest should be made in the sanctuary of
the Legislature. Orders were given to arrest them only
at their places of residence. They did not return thither.
The police, however, has been informed of their place of
retreat, and, if their arrest has not already taken place,
it is because the two representatives have promised to
constitute themselves prisoners this very day."
The protest of the journalists whose papers have
been suppressed was yesterday presented to General
CAVAIGNAC, who returned the following answer :
"In suppressing the journals whose attacks appeared
to me dangerous to the Republic, I believe I fulfilled a
duty. You journalists, you do your duty by protesting
against an attack against the liberty of the press and the
privileges of the writer. This protest is an act which
does you honour, and for the dignity of your class I
should have been astonished at your sileace. I ex-
pected it."
Tranquillity has been completely re-established at
Lille, and the leaders of the emeute have been taken
into custody. Messrs. BYRNE and M'CoRMAcK, two
of the Irish rebel leaders, have safely arrived in
Paris.

M. MAUGUIN has given notice of a motion in the
National Assembly on the subject of the suppression
of the journals.
BOURSE—PARIS , MONDAY AUGUST 28.

THREE O'CLOCK.—This has been one of the most ani-
mated days at the Bourse that we have had for some
time. The funds opened rather higher than the closing
prices of Saturday, and after a moment's hesitation they
became steady, and continued afterwards to rise till the
close. The prices for Cash continued during the day
rather higher than for the Account. For the Account,
the French Three per Cents. have risen 75c.; Five per
Cents. have also risen 75e.; Loan has risen 50e. For
Money, the Three per Cents. have risen 75c., end the
Five per Cents., 50c.; Bons du Tretor, 22 dig.; Bank of
France Shares have risen 10f.; Belgian Bank Shares
not quoted ; Spanish Funds not quoted; Roman and
Rothschild's Receipts are the same as on Saturday.
Exchange on London (30 days), 25 32k; ditto (90 days),
25 20.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, AuG. 28.
Northern of France, 53/4—Paris and Lyons, s—Ditto, 43',;
—Tours and Nantes, 13/4.