The Sun.
London, England, 1834-03-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

In the various attempts which have hitherto
been made to amend the law of libel, or rather
to establish a law where nothing like the preci-
sion of law has previously existed, the unsuc-
cessful reformer has proceeded on the dictates of
his own judgment, or the results of his own
reasoning, without calling in the aid or shelter-
ing himself under the responsibility of a Parlia-
mentary committee. It was generally supposed
that not requiring that knowledge of detail which
the examination of witnesses could supply, and
depending only upon facts which were notorious
to all the world, an improvement of the libel law
might be the matured fruit of individual inquiry,
knowledge, and reflection. In' such a case a
committee was not imagined to be a neces-
sary preliMinary to a wise or judicious
legislation while, forming a kind of de-
bating club, it might rather retard than
forward the object in view. In ord:,-„ary
instances we would allow that till-, reason.
ing would be correct ; but the great number of
failures which have taken place in endeavours to
amend the law of thes press would seem to render
zidvisable some change in the mode of procedure.
The Solicitor. General appears to us, therefore,
to have acted judiciously in taking the assistance
of some able lawyers and libel-law reformers in
the house, to give their sanction to his scheme,
or to afford it the benefit of diets correction be-
fore its introduction. We are confirssad in this
idea by considering that there are at present
before the house two or three bills, one by Sir ,
F. Vincent, and one by Mr. O'Connell., with
..he same object ; and we scarcely see how the
'new Solicitor-General could have introduced
another to supersede the former, without apply-
ing for some previous sanction which they do
not possess. That sanction will be found in the
report of a committee, which will, no doubt, em-
body the chief clauses of the bill to which the
learned gentleman alludes as already in a state of
lorward preparation. It scarcely required any
ingenuity to expose the present anomalous state
of the libel law, though that exposure demanded
the sacrifice of prejudices which few lawyers
have hitherto been willing to make. Its mis-
eiievous tendency or absurd contradictions, as
administered in the different forms of actions
Tor damages, where the truth can be pleaded in
justification,—or in consequence of ex-eicio
informations and criminal indictments, where,
as it may happen, "the greater the truth the
greater the libel,"—its vagueness and uncer-
tainty, which often make the character of the
verdict depend upon the direction of the presid-
ing judge, or the submissive temper of the jury,
without due reference to the real merits of the
case—and the facility with which it can be con-
verted into an instrument of oppression to
gratify the caprice, vindictiveness, or cu-
pidity of individuals, where there was no
reasonable ground for invoking its rigour
or calling for its protection, have all been
denounced without the walls of Parliament, and
-acknowledged within it, for a century, yet no
law officer of the Crown has before in his official
character proposed a remedy. We therefore hail
the proceeding of the present Solicitor-General
as a certain omen of success, backed as he must
be by a committee of the House of Commons,
and by the general, we might almost say, the
unanimous opinion of the country. We shall
not at present enter upon the details of those
changes, which common sense, common justice,
and the analogies of all other legislative enact-
ments, require in the libel law, some of which
were judiciously touched upon by the Solicitor-
General. He admitted (as, indeed, how
could he refrain from admitting ?) that
printers and venders of papers which may be
adjudged to he libellous ought not to be sued
ter prosecuted on the mere presumption of ma-
:lice, where no malice can possibly be established
or even supposed. Had the improvement of the
law which this admission contemplates, therefore,
been earlier introduced, the late bucaniering
adventure of a notorious solicitor against news-
venders must have been arrested in its origin,
and have produced neither the fruits of plunder
nor the costs of the piratical equipment. The
learned judge before whom the cases were tried
might indeed, even in the present state of the
law, have stripped the plaintiff of his anticipated
spoils by certifying the frivolity of the action,
when the jury, by giving nominal damages,
testified that no darnaE,Te of character was sus-
tained through the malice of the defendants ; but
it is one of the anomalies of the existing prat •
thee, that though such a verdict was essentially
one of acquittal, the award of costs became a
real penalty 'upon innocence, and a tempting
premium to oppression or cupidity. Hence-
forward, however, when a jury gives farthing
damages—if such cases shall ever occur under
an unproved system—the judge must be en-
joined to refuse costs, and thus put an end
to those monstrous actions in which the ruin
or the injury of the defendant is effected more
to obtain the amount of the attorney's bill than
indemnity for the plaintiff's character. If a
malicious libel has actually been perpetrated,
the real offender must first be sought for in the
person of the author or his publisher (the latter
of whom may be supposed, unless the contrary
can be proved, to be identified in evil intention
with the termer), but neither the responsibility
nor the punishment should extend beyond them
to agents who distribute the libellous matter
unconsciously as a part of their business. If
the original parties really guilty cannot be found,
and have employed inferior instruments to ex-
ecute purposes from which they themselves
shrink with alarm, then the evil might be
arrested by establishing proof of malice
against the latter ; but malice in such a
case should not, as lately, be presumed
against them, from their mere distribution of
an alleged malicious publication. It is perfectly
true, as stated by the Solicitor-General, and
previously admitted by all libel law reformers,
that though the truth of facts alleged to be
libellous should be allowed to be given in evi-
dence on trials for libel, yet that malice may
be established where truth has not been violated.
In such cases the libeller should not be allowed
to escape with impunity under the shelter of his
veracity, though it may be difficult to adjust
the kind and degree of punishment due to his
offence ; but in all others, where malice cannot
be proved, or where a laudable motive may be
proved or presumed, truth should be a justifica-
tion. Nor ought that justification to be made
to rest on the proof of the narrow, technical,
minute, special pleading particularities which are
now exacted, but on the sincere conviction of
the jury that all has been proved which the
plaintiff meant to insinuate, or which can affect
the real merits of his statement. We say this from
remembering that an action was brought against
this journal several years ago for only copying
from a provincial paper a paragraph, stating that
a clergyman had been guilty of brawling in the

pulpit. We, at great trouble and expense, pro-
cured evidence from witnesses belonging to his
own congregation, that he had brawled in church
on the particular occasion in question, but that
it was from the reading desk, and not from the
pulpit ; and under the direction of the learned
Judge, bur justification was pronounced by the
jury incomplete Such an example shows
that the limits of the jury's province require
further enlargement, and that to be of any use
in actions for libel, their judgment must he re-
leased from the dictation of the bench. In the
case of Dicas, where they gave nominal damages,
it is a thousand to one that they would have
given a verdict for the defendant, except for the '
direction which the learned judge thought
it his duty to deliver. It is alleged by
those who arc desirous to involve as
much game as possible in the meshes of the
libel law, that they must catch copyists, printers,
dist;ibutors, and news-renders, because the real
authas of the libel might otherwise escape them,
anti employ these men of straw to propagate
their malicious mischief. No argument more
invalid could be built on a statement more un-
grounded. If men of straw are more employed
than they ought to be, it is because the state of
our libel law affords no protection to integrity,
and no security against injustice; but though
the real authors of the publication cannot be
found, it is surely enough to proceed against
those employed in distributing it, against whom
malice may be presumed or proved. We
have left ourselves no space to notice the re-
marks of the Solicitor-General respecting ex
officio ii formations, or to observe on several
etll,:r topics of his liberal speech, but we should
be bel, i:• 7 our conviction if we did not take this
opportunity of stating that we expect a great
amendment of the law from the labours of his
committee.-- Times.

Scepticism, and the many evils to which it
gives birth, have pecli ips never .been , convincingly
exemplifiwd as in " The ilistory of Eue tact', Conway, the
Man of Enthu-iasm," in the new novel under that name,
wherein sophistry, however specious and dangerous, is
refuted with the triumphant eloquence which distin-
guished its prtdecessor, " Tremaine." the l'o!y of infi-
delity is nut the only error against which this udi::irable
writer directs the force of his genius; but lie lashes •!sti
vices of modern life in a tone of equal severity.
story is throughout one of great originality.

DREADFUL CASE OF SUlClDE.—Tuesday
artrrnoon an inquest was held at the Prince Regent pub-
lic-house, Arthur-street, Sr. Luke's, before Mr. }hirer,
Coroner, on the body of Thomei Drew, a coach-trimmer,
aged thirty-seven years, who committed suicide by shoot-
ing himse:f with a farce military horse pistol. It appeared
in t vidence that the deceased had formerly been in the
employ of Mr. IVhitbourn, coach-manufacturer, in Gus-
welLetrer t, but for the last eighteen months had not been
n any regular employ, owing to his having refus,d to join
the Tia•les' Union. He was prevented from obtaining
employment in conseqeence of his not having joined the
Union, and was driven to great distress. On Saturday
last the deceased's landlady heard the report of a pistol,
but, supposing it to be some one shooting at the pigeons
at the back of the house, she took no notice of it. In the
af-ernoon, howdver, a friend of the deceased's called upon
him, but, receiving no answer when he knocked at the
door of his room, a young man named Crumbleholme,
employed at Mr. Whithourn's, was sent for, who broke
open the door, and fund the deceased undressed and in
bed, with his bead blown off. The jury returned a ver-
dict, " That the deceased committed suicide while in a
state of insanity."
EXTRAORDINARY MURDER IN GER-
MANY.--A trial took place very recently in Hesse Cassel,
which excited a very strong sensation throughout the
whole continent. Two young travellers, in the course of
a tour into one of the provinces in Hesse, visited a bene-
dictine monastery, situated on a high mountain, which,
from the beauty of the scenery, had been much frequented
by tourists. In returning down from the convent the
strangers saw under a beech-tree a dead man, with a cord
doubled round his neck, and they instantly ran end gave
information to the monks. The prior despatched a
messenger to the proper officers, who hastened to the
spot. Upon an examination of the body they found it
was that of a distinguished nobleman, Count Uregg,
who lived in the neighbourhood, and whose ancient
castle could be seen from the monastery. The question
was how he met his death, and es the circumstances
justified the suspicion that he lest his life by violent
means, the officers instituted an immediate inquiry.
An inquest was held, and the jury brought in a
verdict of " murder." The late• officers were immediately
charged with the duty of making a complete investigation
of the c rue, and, if possible, to find out the parties to
whom the crime was to be attributed. They devoted a
considerable time to the inquiry, and at last succeeded i❑
obtaining a full explanation of the way in which the
merder was committed, of the motives which led to it,
and also the perpetrators. Count Uregg lived in his
castle in splendour and happiness. About the period
when he attained his 15th year there came into the
neighbourhood to live a military gentleman and his
family. The name of the stranger was Conrad Essor, and,
having the habits of a gentleman, he became acquainted
with the Count, and was hospitably received by him. An
intimacy sprang up between the Count and Essor's
family, and the result was that the former offered his hand
to Miss Essor, then a beautiful girl. The Count was so
determined on the marriage that he was ready to secure
the young lady for his wife on any terms, and agreed
net only to provide an ample fund for his wife, in case
of his death, but to support the parents in his cast'e, or,
if they disagreed, that he should give them an ample al-
lowance for supporting them suitably. For some time
they lived happily together, but about two years after the
marriage, the villagers began to remark that a very rieb
landlord, who resided a short distance from the castle, and
whose name was Antoine Osterfeld, came every Sunday
to see M. Essor. The real truth was, that Oster:eld
paid clandestine attentions to the Countess, and he was
encouraged by the parents, and particularly Mrs.
Essor, in his immoral project. Such was the nature of the
evidence obtained by the officers in their early inquiries;
and having ascertained this, they thought it essential at
once to proceed to the castle, and make inquiries. They
examined the Countess. The Count had left his castle
some months before for a short time, had charged his
wife with criminality, and imputed to both her father
and mother a privity of her guilt. He, moreover,
obtained a legal prohibition for preventing Osterfeld
from visiting his residence. The mother of the
Countess was examined, as were also her father and the
servants, and the nature of the evidence was such as to
authorise the officers to place them in custody, on the
accusation of being accessaries to the murder. Whilst in
prison a young woman who happened to be a prisoner
also, in an adjoining apartment to that where the
Countess and Osterfeld were placed, overheard their
conversation, and communicated the substance of it
to the officers. A great variety of witnesses spoke
to the utterance of various expressions on the part
of the Countess, her mother, and Elsor, which con-
firmed the suspicion that they bad had a hand in the mur-
der. The Countess was therefore submitted to a fresh
examination, when the President of the Court conducted
the interrogatories. The acuteness and address which he
displayed were too much for her, and she confessed that
Osterfeld had told her be murdered her husband, with
the assistance of her father and mother ; but, in the
most solemn manner she declared that she was con-
vinced that neither of her parents had any thing
to do with the crime. At this juncture, Osterfeld
was brought in and confronted with the Countess. He
first attempted to make a denial, but he at length con-
fessed that he and Essor, with Essor's wife, were all par-
ties. Osterfeld proposed a mild way of getting rid of the
Count, but Essor would not listen to this, and said he had
injuries of his own to avenge. He then stated that he was
the person who dragged the Count from his horse,
assisted by Mrs. Essor, and when be was down
he held his mouth while Essor perpetrated the
murder ! The death of the unfortunate victim was
rffected in a manner which showed great anatomical
skill. Essor put the cord about the victim's neck. The
whole were found guilty. Essor died in prison before
the final trial. The other prisoners were sentenced as
follows:—Osterfeld, imprisonment for life, but in the
meantime he is at liberty to prove he was not the principal.
Julia Essor, the mother-in-law of the victim, four years
of herd labour, after which she must give security that
she will be forthcoming whenever required. Amelia Uregg,
three years and a similar penalty. The three prisoners were
further obliged to pay the whole expenses of the prosecution.

POST-OFFICE.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL IMPROVEMENTS
WHICH HAVE TAKEN PLACE El ORDER or THE
PONTNIASTER-GENFRAL DiJRINd THE LAST THREE

YEARS

The eonsolidition of the Post-offices of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, and the abolition of the se
parate appoiaments at the head of the two latter
departments.
A new establishment for the General Post-office
in London, and consolidation of the departments of
account, with a diminution of 17 officers, an imme-
diate saving of 5,258/. per annum, and a further
prospective reduction of 1,1901.
A new establishment for the General Post-office,
Edinburgh.
A new establishment for the General Post-office
in Dublin, with a diminution of about fifty officers,
and a saving of between 5,000/. and 6,0001. per
annum.

A daily post with France.
Negotiation with Belgium for a post four times,
instead of twice, a week, with Ostend, thus doubling
the number of communications with Belgium and
other parts of the continent, the correspondence of
which is forwarded by that route. This measure
only awaits the formal approval of the Belgian
Government.

The communication with Hamburg and Holland
established by steam-vessels instead of sailing
packets (I).
The correspondence with France passing by cross-
post accelerated 24 hours.
The general-post delivery in London extended
to a circle of three miles from the General Post-
office,

The tw•o-penny post extended to a circle of
12 miles from the General Post-affice.

The delivery of letters throughout London greatly
accelerated, so that in former cases it should be
finished by ten o'clock i❑ the morning, Mondays
excepted (2).
The foreign mails delivered with the inland let-
ters some hcurs earlier than before (3).
The more expeditions distribution of letters by
foreign mails arriving after the general delivery (4).
The extension of time for the receipt of letters to
be forwarded by the foreign mails—they are now
taken in every evening as late as those for the
United Kingdom.
An earlier delivery of letters throughout the
country districts of the twopenny post, and an ad-
ditional delivery and collection every day at nearly
every place round London. .

The Geueud-post delivery at Edinburgh ex-
tended, and the i):,sts in the neighbourhood much
improved.
Fourtecti pczt-town: r,stablished in addition
to thirty-three which had been established since the
occupation of the ett.lr7ed General Pos!-otliel in St.
Martin's-le-Grand.

The mail-coaches throughout the kingdcm have'
been generally aceolerated, especially those to and
from Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, the
principal commercial districts, and the main lines of
cross-roads. It is to be observed that when a post
is improved, it is not the points of arrival and de-
parture only that are affected, but the inhabitants of
every intermediate place on the whole route derive
the advt.ntage of an earlier receipt of their corres-
pondence, and a longer interval for answers, and
that the improvement extends to the branches from
the main lines.

Twelve new mail-coaches established; amongst
others, one direct between Bristol and Liverpool,
and many extended arid improved.
Thirty-four new horse-posts established, and nu-
merous others accelerated, connecting main lines of
communication, and enabling places wide of such
main lines to answer letters earlier, and in many
cases by return of post.
One hundred and twenty-eight local posts esta-
blished, affording accommodation to many hundred
villages and places in the neighbourhood and inter-
mediate of post-towns, where there had not previ-
ously been any'official and responsible arrangement.
Additional clerks and letter-carriers appointed at
many post-towns for the acceleration of the delivery
of the correspondence within those towns and in the
neighbourhood. An increase to the number of re-
ceiving-hou,es for lettersat many towns where the ex-
tension of buildings has called for it, and additional
communications to those already existing between
neighbouring towns of importance. Improvements
of this description are so numerous, arid so con-
stantly in progress, that any attempt at minute de-
tail would be tedious and unnecessary.
The abolition of the fee or gratuity on the de-
livery of letters within post-towns ; this is already
nearly accomplished at every town in the kingdom,
and will be completed as soon as the necessary ar-
rangements for a free delivery can be made at the
very few post-towns where a fee is yet charged.
A new and improved arrangement of the ship-
letter duty at Liverpool (5), for the better and
more expelitious despatch and receipt of letters
conveyed by merchant-vessels between that port
and places beyond seas.
A new arrangement of the mail-boat service in
the West Indies, for the more efficient performance
of the duty, at a considerable saving of expense to
the public.
The regulation of post-office agencies at home and
abroad as vacancies occur, attended with a consi-
derable reduction of expense (6).
The post and post-office regulations in the Bri-
tish North American provinces in a course of re-
vision.
The main line of communication with Ireland by
Holyhead and Dublin has been essentially improved.
The mail that leaves London at 8 o'clock at night
reaches Dublin, under ordinary circumstances of
weather, between 7 and 8 on the second morning
(7); and arrangements have been made (to con,
mence from the Ist of next month), by which
letters from Dublin for London will be taken in at
the General Post-office as late as those for the inte-
rior, affording to the Irish Government and the
public of the metropolis of Ireland two hours more
time for their correspondence with this country, in
addition to a previous extension of one hour.
The communication by the Milford line has also
been improved, affecting the correspondence with
Waterford, Cork, and much of the south-west of
Ireland.

The power of the machinery of the packets in-
creased at Holyhead and most of the other
stations.

The mail-coaches materiallly accelerated, espe-

(1) It was necessary to dispense with nine established
sailing packets at Harwich ; by the appointment of some
of the captains to other stations, as vacancies have oc-
curred, three officers only are now on the retired list.
Two of these, from age, must have been superannuated
shortly, and the third only awaits the first vacancy to he
again brought into active service.
(2) The despatch of the letter-carriers from the Gene-
ral Post-office must vary according to the arrival of the
mail-coaches, and the quantity of letters, foreign mails,
ship letters, &c. Some of the mail-coaches do not arrive
until seven o'clock and after, and a considerable time is
required for the assortment of the letters and adjustment
of the accounts before the delivery can commence. The
average number of letters arriving in London on ordinary
mornings may be taken at 43,000 ; on Mondays 10,000

more.
(3) The foreign delivery did not commence until
10 a.m.
(4) These letters were distributed by the twopenny
post, and only at fixed hours, corresponding with the de-
liveries of that department. They are now sent out as
soon as they can be assorted and got ready.
(5) Above 1,200 ship-letter mails are forwarded via
Liverpool in the course of a year, and about 365,000
ship-letters are received annually at the Post-office of that
port for the United Kingdom.
(6) This bas already been carried into effect at Dover,
Harwich, Jamaica, Brazil, Gibraltar, and Cuxhaven. The
object is not merely to reduce the annual charge upon the
revenue, but to relieve the expenditure of the department
Hof dead weight in pensions.
(7) 35 to 36 hours from London to Dublin ; 269
miles by land, and a sea-passage of 70 miles, including
stoppages for official business, and other necessary
purposes.