The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-15 00:00:00

of France and the United Kingdom. Until this

happy change has been eff.,led, correspondence be-
tween Paris and London by electricity must he re-
tarded unfortunately by the enormous interval of fifty-
nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds, in consequence
of the passing of messages to and fro from the tempo-
rary stations on the sea shore and those
directly communicating already with the principal
termini in the French and English metropolis. A
little while longer, and the wire having been laid
down throughout the whole route to be traversed, and
a clerk of the Telegraph Company, seated in his
office at Charing-cross, will be enabled in an instant
of time to communicate with the central establish-
ment at Paris, and on, on, on, radiating from that
point to the rest of the great capitals of the Conti-
nent to Vienna, and Berlin, and Brussels, and
Madrid, and Lisbon, and Turin, and Lucerne, and
Milan, and Florence, and Rome, and Naples,
and Palermo, and Munich, and Warsaw, and Mos
cow, and St. Petersburgh. In an instant—with the
glance of an eye—in the bending of a finger I
PUCK'S boast of girdling the earth in forty minutes
is reduced to insignificance. Science has outstripped
the magical swiftness of elfland. The experimentalist
has effected more than the poet could imagine. And
whereas formerly, according to the estimate of geo-
graphers and arithmeticians united, it took
upwards of 4,752,000,000 barleycorns to, go
round the globe—now-a-days, according to the
system of electricity, to effect the same it takes little
more than one WHEATSTONE.

It was ingeniously remarked, if we recollect
rightly, by one of the Quarterly reviewers, that the
Electric Telegraph is the offspring or offshoot of the
Railways—the writer maintaining that but for the
railways there would have been no electric telegraph.
Undoubtedly the remark holds good so far as it sp•
plies to the conveniences afforded to the telegraph
speculators by the margin of the various lines of
railroads threading the whole surface of the
country. But for this an infinitude of
difficulties would have presented themselves,
insomuch that we doubt if it would have
been practicable to have surmounted these with safety
to the enterprise. In the sub-marine routes now
being taken, however, in the development of this
marvellous system, the electric telegraph is inde-
pendent of all such collateral assistance. Alone, or
aided only in one instance by the application of gutta
percha, the invention has been successfully carried
out as an agent for instantaneous sub-marine com-
munication. It must be regarded in the light of this
brilliant realization as the greatest miracle in an age of
miracles—an age which must ever be memorable
for the unprecedented number and extraordinary
character of its scientific achievements.

The new law of evidence has now been a fortnight
in operation, and our predictions with respect thereto
have already been fully verified. In every case
where the facts were in dispute, and the parties must
necessarily have been cognizant of all the circum-
stances, plaintiff and defendant have availed them-
selves of the privilege afforded by the recent statute,
and given, under the sanction of an oath, their
own version of the transaction, which, we re-
gret to soy, differed so materially in many
instances, that no conclusion could possibly be ar-
rived at, but that one, at least, of the litigants had
been guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury—that one
or the other had deliberately and solemnly sworn to
the truth of that which he knew to be totally false
and unfounded.
This is, indeed, a melancholy state of affairs, going
to a certain extent to sustain the views of those who
opposed every description of legal reform, and who
boldly prophesied that the effect of the alteration
which admitted the testimony of parties interested
in the subject-matter under investigation would be
to give an enormous stimulus to the crime of perjury,
and to afford a temptation to which but too many
would yield, by forswearing themselves for their
own pecuniary benefit. Such unquestionably appears
to be the result of the experiment so far as it can as
yet be ascertained. Our faith in its beneficial ten-
dency has not, however, been by any means shaken ;
and we are still convinced that ere it has been many
months in operation, even the most sceptical will ac-
knowledge how completely it has verified the most
sanguine anticipations of its advocates.
It could not be supposed that such a Law could
come into operation without finding many persons
quite unprepared for so vast a change. It must he
considered, too, that every suit that has as yet been
tried had been instituted before the measure had re-
ceived the legislative sanction, that the plai atiffs had
told their stories to their respective attorney s, before
they supposed that they themselves or their opponents,
the only persons who could be acquainted with all
the circumstances, could have been examined, and
that through a feeling of false pride they were
ashamed to draw back, and endeavoured to support
the accuracy of their assertions and stateme n.ts even
by the most desperate means. Such things cannot
again occur. Persons before giving instrwations to
their professional advisers will be well aware of the
ordeal to which they may, and if putting forward
unconscientious claims will, unquestionably, be
subjected, and they will therefore abstain
from giving highly coloured statements which
they cannot afterwards sustain. Although,
therefore, the Act may for the time being
occasion some few cases of false witness, it will for
the future materially diminish the number of uncon-
scientious demands put forward, and also tho subor-
nation of perjury—a crime of no less magnitude than
perjury itself, and, if possible, fraught with even
more fearful consequences to society.
The strenuous determination evinced by the Judges
of the land to put down the offence, by availing them-
selves of the stringent powers placed in their hands,
must exercise a most beneficial influence. Parties
will see the danger of coming forward to 'support
falsehoods by their testimony, when the difficulties
inseparable from a prosecution for perjury have been
smoothed away and removed ; and when, moreover,
the presiding judges are firmly resolved to inflict a
" heavy blow and great discouragement" on a a ytbing
which can justly be characterised as .r eckless
swearing.

This salutary rule received the strongest illu a tration
yesterday. In two different courts, the ii,►ueen's
Bench and Exchequer, the learned occupants of the
judicial bench, Mr. Justice ERLE and Mr. Baron
MARTIN, issued their respective warrants for the
committals of plaintiffs, whose evidence ha d been
disregarded by the juries. Nothing could exot red the
astonishment of the parties when they found. them-

selves consigned to the care and custody of °f in c ers, in
order that they may take their trials at th e next

sessions of the Central Criminal Court, and! when
they saw the rebutting witnesses duly bound over to
appear against them. They received a valuabi e lesson
which will not be thrown away on other pe r sons in
similar circumstances, and we have no doubt It hat the
affairs of Messrs. " MAHON" and " ASPLAN E," will
henceforward constitute leading oases, that will be

strongly impressed on the minds of persons w h o seek
professional assistance with doubtful stories on their

It was manifestly the intention of the Lel stature
to deter parties from bringing forward un.6,unded
claims, and sustaining them by false swearing., Not
only did it simplify the forms of indictme r its for
perjury and subornation of perjury, give ad J itional
powers of amendment, and enable certifica,,;( s con.
taining the substance and effect only of the former
trials to be given in evidence, in place of the formal
records, but (by 14th and 15th Vie., c. 100, 5.:19) the
court or judge,
&c., is authorised to direct a
prose-
cution for perjury in any case, to commit the parties
for trial, bind over witnesses, and give a certificate
of the prosecution being directed, which will I )( t suffi-
cient evidence of the same, and entitle the parties
to all the expenses of such prosecution.
These powers, when exercised so stringentl,, will
have their natural effect ; and notwithstanding 1 ;ae pro-
secutions that have already been directed, v r'a have
no doubt that the effect of the new law will b e to di-
minish rather than increase the crime of pc rjury.
and that its results in other respects, in pr( iv.enting
unrighteous demands or defences, will be oft he most
beneficial character.

The pollutions of the Thames are, it woo? A seem,
to remain for years to come the fertile so, mem of
disease to ell who inhabit its banks ; in vain has the
Board of Health denounced them, in vain J lave the
Commissioners of Sewers deliberated on the E abject--