The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The proposed appointment of a Public Prosecutor
at the Old Bailey, under the Criminal Court Act, is
not likely to take place either with the rapidity or fa-
cility that were at first contemplated. The Judges,
we hear, are far from being unanimous in their ap-
proval of it, and to the county-rate payers throughout
the kingdom, it has been represented as likely to lead
to heavy additional burdens upon them ; for, of
course, if the project be feasible in this one instance,
it is equally applicable to, and required in all, and
every Assize and Quarter Sessions must expect to
have such an officer, with a salary competent to be-
speak the necessary ability attached to it ; and at
least twenty gentlemen from the Bar, with their one
or two thousand a year, may calculate upon being
taken from the, at present, crowded ranks of their
profession. Nor ought it to be concealed, that
this will not be the only expense attached to the
appointment. Each officer must have his office,
with one or more clerks attached, where the depo-
sitions may be received and prepared in the shape
of a brief, and where, should there be such a thing as
" an itching palm," even convenient suppressions may,
in the hurry of business, by possibility take place, But
let us view the other side of the question, which we
readily admit has its recommendations. Those mainly
consist in a greater certainty in brit%- ing home charges,
and in saving the time of the Jur.lges and Juries, which
Is at present often unprofita.bly occupied in fishing out
the particulars of a ca, se with which no one is ac-
quainted. That it may save trouble to an indolent
Judge, we can imagine, as it may spare him the
labour of informing himself as to the particulars of each
case, a duty at present too frequently neglected, while
in truth it ought rather to increase his previous dili-
gence and labour in this respect ; for placed as he has
hitherto been considered to be, in the situation of
Counsel for the accused, how much should his labours
in this respect be enhanced, when he finds that the lat-
ter has, in all cases, not only the facts to grapple with,
but the distortion, or, at any rate, forced construction
which an ingenious professional prosecutor is able to
clothe them with. And then as to time, if the result
be, as is probable enough, that each prisoner being
prosecuted by Counsel may find it the more necessary
to be defended through a similar channel, those who
are acquainted with the proceedings in our Courts of
Justice will be able to judge how far " Counsel on
both sides" are likely to effect that object. Upon the
whole, then, taking for the present this cursory view
of this projected arrangement, it may, perhaps, be rea-
sonably doubted whether any reasons sufficiently strong
exist to call for a change in our criminal proceedings
of so expensive and doubtful a character as this ap-
pears to be. At any rate, it is one which requires
much previous deliberation ; and we trust that it will
not be brought before Parliament in a partial, crude,
and undigested state ; but that it will, with the whole
of its details, be first submitted to the consideration of
the Judges, and the sentiments of those learned per-
sons earnestly courted upon all its probable bearings.
—Morning Herald.

If the Whig Radical Ministerial party were not
previously satisfied of the " re-action" at which they
have been pleased periodically to sneer, an attentive
perusal of the reports of the dinner given at Aberdeen
to the Hon. Captain Gordon, on the same day that the
Radicals at Glasgow gave Lord Grey's " dear Lamb-
ton" the feast of " Cloven feet and Durham mustard"
will convince them that the fact is no longer to be con-
cealed. Let them simply read a faithful account of
the tumultuous scramble, the drunken broils, the vul-
gar hootings, and the disgusting exhibitions made at
the one place under the eyes—and, we may add, the
nose—of one of the daughters of the Earl, the hero
of the day, and contrast those and other circum-
stances connected with the dirty festival, with those
which characterized the dinner to Captain Gordon at
Aberdeen. Surrounded by the (ilk of the country,
who anxiously and voluntarily rallied round the
Noble Chairman (the Duke of Gordon), Captain
Gordon found himself the much-desired guest of
upwards of seven hundred men of honour, character,
and reputation. There had been no drilling, no can-
vassing, no bribings, no threatenings to make it show
—the dinner and the meeting were a spontaneous tri-
bute to high principle and consistent conduct, and a
prouder day for an individual eircumstanr.:ed as the
Hon. and Gallant Captain is we cannot well imagine.
It is notorious that until the measure of Reform had
been tried such results would not have attended the ap-
pearance of Captain Gordon in Alradeen —and this is
the point. Estimable as Captain Gordon personally
is, and deserving as lie is of the esteem and affections
of all who personally know hien, we deny that the tri-
bute of the 20th of last month was exclusively personal.
The people, who, when they were dazzled and blinded by
the empty promises of a mob-serving Government into a
belief that Reform meant something advantageous to
the country, would at that period, in their blind-
ness, have driven Capanti Gordon from their streets,
rather than welcome. him to their hearts and homes.
See the reverse—One delusive measure has been tried,
its folly, its wickedness, have been made manifest.
Captain Gordon has firmly maintained his principles ;
has boldly, steadily, and unflinchingly stood to his
" cause ;" and conviction, reason, and common sense
have combined to justify the independent conduct he
has adapted, and the course he has so wisely, so ho-
noura!oly, and so steadily pursued. What then is this
but a re-action ? Has Captain Gordon changed
since the days when it was not considered safe
for him to appear in Aberdeen, and when in-
stances of outrage occurred scarcely parallelled in•
the history of elections ? Has he deviated from
the straight line which he chalked out for him-
self ? No. Then let those who deny the re-
action explain why seven hundred individuals of
the highest character and respectability should now
rally round the man who, while the Whig Ministry
were living upon promises in prospectu, and duping
the people whom they have since betrayed, was treated
as an enemy to liberty and popular prosperity, because
he was opposed to the Government ? Contrast this
dinner to Captain Gordon with that given to Lord
Durham, at which the cream of the company were Mr.
Oswald, the member for Glasgow, and Mr. Silk
Buckingham, the itinerant lecturer at eighteen-pence a
head. Or, contrast it with the dinners given to Lord
Durham's " bitter foe," the Chancellor, in Aberdeen
itself, at which, with all the prospect of conviviality,
tumbling, and rope-dancing, not one quarter so
many persons could be pressed or bribed, or even
hired into the service, as thronged the tables at
Captain Gordon's dinner of their own accorl
We say, independently of all the gratification `we
feel at the display,of personal feeling towards the, gal-
lant Captain and his noble family upon this oc'ea-sion,
we feel, nationally and politically, the great imr4c,rtance
of the meeting as a display of that " re-acticin ' which
the Ministry and the Political Unions still egect to dis-
believe, and as an earnest of what may be expected
from the noble Conservative feeling whl.ctil is manifest-
ing itself in every part of the empire, Aliether in Scot-
land, in Ireland, or in England ; and, we repeat that if
the people will only take the trouble to read the reports
of the meetings in Downshire, is Kent, in Bucking-
hamshire, in Gloucestershire, raid at Aberdeen, they
will see cause to rejoice that the mist is fast dissipating,
and that the people are everywhere opening their eyes
to the folly and wickedneFs of the system upon which
we have been governed ever since the accession of the
.Whigs to power.— Mot-ning Post
It is not in England only, we find, that Lord Dur-
ham's speech at the Glasgow dinner has called fortethe commentaries of the press. The Journal des
_Mats of Tuesday last contains a long article on the
same speech--we were going to say w. the same sub-
ject : but the subject selected for observations by
the French writer is as different from that which was in
a manner forced upon English jionrnalists by the gene-
ral feeling of the country, as i.s the point of view from
-which he meditates the opinions and expressed wishes
of Lord Durham. Here, it was the collision between
the Noble Earl and another political person, and the
degree of reputation or discredit thence to be reflected
upon the character of each, which chiefly and natu-
rally engaged the public attention. Whereas the
French journalist., with equal reason, frankly throws
overboard all that concerns the domestic parties and
affairs of Englend, as matters which concern them
not, and fastens exclusively upon that portion of Lord
Durham's speech which treats of the relations between,

both' countries, present and prospective—those which
the existing alliance has produced, and those on which his
Lordship speculates as likely to grow out of it. The
Journal des Debats is known to be the avowed, if not
official, organ of an influential portion of the French
Government. Its sentiments, therefore, carry a weight
with them, which, if those of the Government itself be
worth attending to, we should be foolish to overlook,
and so would Lord Durham, while his Lordship la-
bours to enlarge upon the manifold advantages of the
French alliance, and principally, if we remember right,
for the sake of that commercial intercourse to which it
must lead, and of the common interests and friendly,
sympathies therefrom of necessity resulting. As cer-
tain guarantees against a future war between these na-
tions, it would be strange if without a definite and
important object a French writer in the confidence
and employment of the Ministers should endeavour
strenuously to overturn the whole flattering fabric
of Lord Durham's hopes, shared in as they have
been by a numerous class of merchants in both
countries, as to the approaching removal of com-
mercial obstacles hitherto raised by the prohibitory
coac of France, and declare, as peremptorily as lan-
guage can do, that so far from extending the field of
partnership, lending facilities to commerce, the con-
nexion between France and England is no more than
political, and political it shall remain. It is all very
well, says the Journal des Debats, if a commercial
union were thereto superadded, but he hints that
things had better remain as they are. This is in fact -
a species of religion with many descriptions of French-
men ; they insist that England has prospered through
prohibitions, not in spite of them ; and that if other
countries are to prosper, it must be through the
like means. There is envy, and jealousy, and
gross ignorance, their handmaid, at the bottom ;
but what of that ? Their Statesmen act upon such
views, yielding ready credence to their frightened
and unenterprising manufacturers. Buonaparte was
devoured by this frenzy, for even in 1802,
when he wished to display an enlightened policy,
the Moniteur, in answer to the overtures of the
British Government towards a commercial inter-
course with France, was authorized to declare that
the treaty signed not low? before comprised all the
favours to which England' should be admitted. Le
Trait!: d' Amiens, they exclaimed—Le Traite
d' Amiens. Rion que le traite d Amiens ! So at this
moment it is repeated Rien que l' Alliance Politiquc.
Formerly the spirit of military rancour and thirst for
vengeance upon England fanned and inflamed the
antipathies of manufacturing rivalship, which the
later growth of political friendship, though unques-
tionable, has not been able to supersede. It is true
that the great body of growers in France, much the
larger portion of the consumers, and a very consider-
able majority of the mercantile interest, join in an
earnest desire to shake off the trammels upon exporta-
tion, upon consumption, and on commerce generally.;
nor do we doubt that finally their powerful voice,
reinforced by the hourly lessons of common sense
and experience, will prevail over the monopolists
in manufacture and fuel, and over the more elaborate
and conceited crotchets of certain members of the Bu-
reaucratic of France. But in the meantime Lord Dur-
ham's rational wishes for free trade are sneered at, as
having no better motive than a sordid eagerness to sell
the produce of his collieries ! Nor is it the small and
feeble attempt at reasoning, visible throughout this
curious article, that strikes us so much, as the spirit of
scarcely suppressed bitterness which it breathes, as if
there were really, though not ostensibly, something to
resent in the mere proposition of a commercial treaty.
We are no more insensible than they of whom the
Journal des Debats is the organ, to the essential bene-
fits of a political union between Great Britain and
France, for the repression of tyranny, the protection of
liberty, and the maintenance of general peace through-
out Europe, so long as France shall act faithfully
a'4d cordially in the spirit of such a policy, and in
the execution of such engagements. There is no dis-
position on our part to question the integrity or good
faith of France ; but since she has herself talain care
to announce that the subject matter of her connexion
with England shall not spread beyond the sphere of
objects purely political, and shall exclude all provisions
for the improvement and well-being of the indus-
trious classes of both nations, so we are entitled to re-
commend that the British Government, strictly adher-
ing to all compacts, expressed or implied, which those
with whom his Majesty has made them continue to
preserve inviolate, may, nevertheless, keep a watchful
eye upon our cold and distrustful neighbour, and not
suffer the period of our national engagements to be ex-
tended one hour beyond the first certain evidence of
duplicity. England can take her own part, and loses
more by confidence misplaced than she could ever gain
by a precarious and hollow co.•operation._*** Since
these remarks were written, we have learned from our
Paris correspondent, whose express we publish in a
preceding column, that M. Thiers is understood to be
the author of the article.— Times.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, Nov. 6.

TONER V. THOMPSON.
Sir EDWARD SUGDEN stated that in this cause the ordi-
nary decree was made for administering the assets of an
intestate, John Thompson, who died in 1829. The intes-
tate left his mother, Mrs. Thompson, an old lady of 82,
who took out administration, and several sisters surviving
him. The plaintiffs were one of the sisters and her hus-
band. In taking the accounts in the Master's office very
extraordinary circumstances occurred. The Master made
an elaborate special report, from which it appeared that se-
veral folios had been frarAdulently abstracted out of the intes-
tate's books produced by the administratrix, and erasures
made in them ; thrt large sums of money had been also re-
ceived by lier, prior to an answer in which she had omitted
these s:4ms, and sworn she had received no more than she
then, accounted for, and that several books and papers were
produced under like circumstances. The plaintiffs thought
It necessary to employ an accountant to investigate the ac-
counts, through whose services it was alleged the frauds
were discovered. The object of the present pettion was to
bring these matters before the Court, ai.la to obtain a re-
ceiver, and liberty to examine t; ,e other defendants
viva voce, and for payment of e:oney into Court. All these
portions of the petition werzi conceded. The question was,
whether in the present stage the administratrix and her
daughter Ann, who was mainly charged with the frauds,
should pay the costs of the accountant and the costs in-
cidental to the petition, which must be very heavy.
Mr, KNIGHT, for the defendants, insisted that there was
no r.ecessity for this heavy and burdensome petition, since
the, greater part of its prayer was offered long since by the
defendants ; and as to the costs, if the plaintiffs were en-
titled to them, they would have them at the proper time, on
further directions.
The VICE-CHANCELLOR said the costs of the accountant
stood in a different situation from the other costs which
were sought. An accountant was not generally allowed.
But as the necessity for his assistance was occasioned by
the mother trusting her daughter, who had shown herself so
unworthy of confidence, it was not unreasonable that she
and her daughter should pay the expense. The costs of
the petition, however, must be costs in the cause ; and as
to the proceedings before the Master they would be con-
sidered when the cause was heard hereafter. ,

ROLLS COURT —Nov. G.