The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-16 00:00:00

etteubut atm

LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1851.

From the shuffling character of the report issued
by the Select Committee, it still remains doubtful
whether the Legislative Assembly will consent to
pronounce either a modified censure on the Prince-
PZESIDENT, or an indirect encomium on General
CHANGARNIER. Such are the tendencies, at any rate,
of the document referred to, that even under the
most congenial circumstances the members of the
Committee cannot expect anything more decisive from
the resolution of the popular representatives. The
report, in face, asks nothing further than this
timorous kind of decision.
It indicates a
solicitude that the Legislature shall at the
recent
least betray some such feeble and timorous
deternainltion. Under the pressure of its
discomfiture more than this could scarcely be antici-
pated, supposing even that the Assembly were ap-
pealed to under the most compliant phase of its tem-
perament. A more audecioas proceeding than the one
here indicated wculd hardly be judicious, considering
the late decisive triumph achieved by the Executive.
As it is, we cannot but regard the suggestion thrown
out by the Committee as in the highest degree inso-
lent, and, fir that very mean, in the highest degree
reprehensible. It is proposed, for instance, according
to the phra.seolegy employed in the offictul report,
that the Assembly should recognize the indisputable
privilege of the ExecutiVV, Authority to dis-
charge at pleasure any officer whomsoever
from command in the military forces of the
Republic—that it should at the same time, however,

censure the Ministerial coercion of that most im por •
tant prerogative; and in addition to this, proclaim
ri.7 7i44\, CrHANGARNIER to have been fully entitled to the ap-
--,z4,4
an
probation pronounced in his favour by the Legisla-
cs
tan in its well-remembered sitting of the sth of
3srnwy osals more Y . pro P erroneous in Obit

t

character than these we are bold to say never before
emanated from the councils of a Parliament. They
assert in their very preamble the legality of the power
used by the Executive, or, in other words, by the
PRESIDENT, and then go on, forsooth, to blame
the exercise of that constitutional right by the
Administration. Now, it should be clearly understood
that the PRESIDENT is punishable in case of mis-
conduct, but punishable only in one way, namely, by
impeachment. Any intermediate censure is inappli-
cable to the first Magistrate of the Republic. Either
his policy is in no respect reprehensible, or it is de-
serving of a formal impeachment, according to the
corrective powers entrusted in his regard to the As.
sembly. The Legislature, however, under present
circumstances, has gone out of its constitutional
course, in order to gratify its despicable
and impotent spleen against the Executive.
Unable to vanquish LOUIS NAPOLEON in a
bi,ld and resolute encounter, the droit have
resolved, if possible, to slti,fy their animosity in some
measure by administering a furtive stab to his dig-
nity—they are striving, with all imaginable assiduity,
to bring about his indirect condemnation.

In this sinister endeavour we are sanguine that they
may be frustrated. Our reliance, towards that end,
is placed upon the love of fair play still surviving in
the breasts of a large majority of the French repre-
sentatives. We cannot induce ourselves to imagine
that the gauche will allow themselves to be cajoled by
the sophistries of the Burgraves into a resolve
beneficial only to the Orleanist-Legitimatist-
Socialist-Cossack conspiracy. The accomplices in
that atrocious intrigue, embracing, among other more
ignoble persons, several of the most conspicuous
statesmen in the Republic, have been hitherto foiled
in their efforts to betray the cause of Democracy.
At the very instant when they were exulting over
the prospective downfall of Louis NAPOLEON and
their own victorious elevation to the direction of the
affairs of government, they found their expected vic-
tim transformed into their conqueror, and their sup-
posed hero turn out the veriest nobody in Christen-
dom. Even now they have scarcely recovered from
the shock of their disappointment, yet al-
ready they are making preparations for the
gratification of their vengeance. Deceived in their
hopes, they are yet struggling to extract a bitter
compensation from their despair. They are employ-
ing every imaginable strategy to persuade the bulk
of the Legislative Assembly to aid them in di-
minishing the satisfaction of Louis NAPOLEON
at his late brilliant success, and to offer
some consolation, however inadequate, to his defeated
subaltern, CHANGARNIER.

Taking for granted even that the report of the
Select Committee will be accepted by the Legislature
—an event which we regard as anything but assured
—the miserable scheme of the Burgraves can tend in
no effectual manner to realize their aspirations. On
the contrary, the betrayal of so much spiteful impo-
tence by the hitherto boastful and intolerant body of
intriguers, must inevitably result in their speedy and
overwhelming defeat—a defeat so decisive, we mean,
that the extinction of any sentiments of respect in
their regard might be readily predicated. Already
the confidence reposed by a considerable faction in
the leaders of the " right" has begun to evaporate.
The wretched falsification of their vainglorious as-
sertions as to the incapacity of the Prince-PRESIDENT to
withstand the force of their intrigues and machina-
tions, has compelled the most credulous of their sup-
porters to moderate their enthusiasm in behalf of
counter-revolutionary principles, inducing some even
to withdraw themselves betimes from the
perilous vicinage of a defeated conspiracy.
That such should be the case in any country
would not be surprising, but that it should be the
consequence in France is an event that could alone be
expected. From a falling house the rats fly instinc-

tively, according to the terms of a well-known
adage; but especially and peculiarly in France it
may be averred that the people are prepared on the
instant to desert a political cause on the decline.
The effect, therefore, of late events, can only be the
rapid and perceptible enhancement at once of the
power and popularity of the PRESIDENT.

In the olden time much depended upon the venue
in criminal prosecutions. The place where an act
was committed was often considered as of greater im-
portance, so far as the issue was concerned, than the
act itself. Drawing a sword, or other weapon of
offence in any of the Royal parks or other privileged
place, was regarded' as a crime of no ordinary magni-
tude, which exposed the offender to the most stringent
punishment, although a person might yield to the
temptation which the possession of such an append-
age afforded in almost any other locality with per-
fect impunity. Indeed, in Whitefriars it was re-
garded as a laudable performance, which reflected
great credit on the party. The distinction has
long since been abolished theoretically, but it
still exists practic in many districts. There
are localities in which various propensities not
warranted by law may be safely indulged in. The
begging fraternity—the whole tribe of " cadgers"—
know the townlands where they may practise their
honourable profession. "His Worship" may be "a
kind gentleman, who would never bring a poor man
into trouble for asking a bit to eat, or a copper from
those better off than himself." Other amiable weak-
nesses may also find sympathisers on the magisterial
bench. The pugnacious in disposition should visit
the land where, according to MaxwELL, " bating's
chape, and poteen is plenty." No impertinent inter.
ference is there exhibited with the innocent pastimes
of the people, and those sho wish to dis-
play their bellicose propensities may "fight it
out in peace and quietness," without any tear of
disturbance, or of sustaining any very severe punish-
ment if broken heads should chance to occur. We have
heard of a worthy "Justice," who, in every doubtful
case, where the litigants were at all equally matched in
size and age, recommended the parties to adopt the
" trial by battle," and caused them to be conveyed to
a secluded part of his demesne where they could
obtain a speedy solution of the doubtful problem
" which was the better man." There is, in fact, " a
time and place for every thing ;" and for those who
choose to starve or flay their servant girls, we
would suggest the county of Worcester as the place
where they may indulge their amiable propensities
without any fear as to the consequences.
In The Sun of Tuesday we reported the proceed-
ings before a bench of Worcestershire magistrates

which shows the mode in which " the great unpaid"
of that favoured county are disposed to deal with
transactions which they themselves declare to be
, "cases of great and unnecessary cruelty." A Mr.
Jonzs LEE and his wife had been summoned to an-
swer before their worships for their conduct to an
unfortunate girl, named HANNAH HINTON, whom
they had hired as " nursemaid" at the statute fair or
mop," last Michaelmas, at the handsome wages of
21. per annum. It appeared that the girl,
who was sixteen years of age, was never
very healthy or strong, but that she had be-
come much emaciated since she took up her
abode with her new master and mistress. She is de•
scribed to have appeared "much emaciated," her
" features pinched and careworn, and her general
aspect that of a person much older than she really
was." On her examination she swore to " various
castigations inflicted by her roaster and n.istress, but
especially
head by the latter." The master beat her "ever
h
with a pair of leggings," because she bad not
got the fire lighted at seven o'clock in the morning,
teial ly
while, "just before Christmas," Mrs. LEE exhibited a
Christian spirit worthy of the "season," by styling
her a " nasty hussy" and flinging her violently down
stairs, by which, according to her own statement,
she was hurt badly all up her side, and her
arms Were bruised and as sore as could be."
The tender-hearted couple were in the constant habit
of "cursing and swearing at her," and chastising her
on the most trivial occasions. But the distinct as-
-emits and the ill language so frequently used were of
far less consFqueree roan the total disregard of their
duty by neglecting to provide the wretched child with
a sufficiency of wholesome food. They resorted to
the" starvation system," giving but little of anything,
and that of the very worst description ; for " when
she had meat or dripping on her bread, it was stale
and offensive to the nose and palate." This startling
evidence was corroborated by persons residing in the
vicinity. Mrs. POWELL, a neighbour, had heard "a
great noise on a Sunday evening, as of something fall-
ing down stairs, a great cursing and swearing from
air. and kw. 1,z4 and the girl crying," and the