The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUL=Y 21•_1856;

tyrants, to last ? England now takes a deeper
interest in foreign policy than she has done for
years. When will she see her rulers guided by her
masculine and free instinct, and warning the
crowned magnates of the continent that she will
no longer endure intervention against their sub-
jects ? We may be sure that su.cli a determina-
tion on the part of England, one so plainly
reasonable and just, would be the precursor, not
of revolution, but of improvement in the behaviour
of Autocrats from the Atlantic to the:very borders
of Russia herself.

After a patient and searching investigation,
he jury have convicted WILLIAM DOVE of the

wilful murder of his wife. The prisoner had
every possible advantage that any man placed in
his unfortunate position could desire. His de-
fence was conducted by counsel of the highest

rank in the profession, and the ability displayed
was worthy of the well-established reputation of
those eminent gentlemen. There was manifestly
no want of funds to meet the necessary expenses,
and every witness, who by any possibility could
testify in favour of the view chiefly relied on, was
brought forward without regard to the heavy
outlay. The perfect fair play accorded to the
most atrocious criminals is a portion of the
British Constitution of which Englishmen may
well be proud. No man is entrapped into de-
clarations, to be subsequently used against him-
self. The more atrocious tke charge, in fact, the
greater the facilities given to the prisoner to show
that he is not guilty of that which must be, to a
certain extent established, before he can even be
oalled on for a defence.

As to the facts, that Mrs. DovE died from the
effects of strychnine ; that it was administered by
the hand of her husband, the man who had vowed
solemnly to love and cherish her ; and that it
was so administered with the deliberate intention
of causing her death,—they were established be-
yond the possibility of doubt. There could be no con-
flicting opinions of medical men as to the cause of
death ; for the fatal drug was so clearly detected
by a number of different tests, that the learned
counsel for the defendant could not venture to
argue against the assumption. The only suggestion
was that it might have been aceldentally adminis-
tered on the last occasion when the act was con-
summated, and that, on all the previous
times, when precisely similar symptoms were
manifested, they arose from hysteria. This sug-
gestion, ingenious as it was, could not persuade
an intelligent jury. The manner in which the
prisoner obtained possession of the poison, and his

entire conduct during what was well termed the
fatal week, placed the entiro matter beyond

the possibility of reasonable doubt ; and if the
matter remained in that state, the jury could
have had no alternative but to return the verdict
that would consign WILLIAM DOVE to an igno-
minious death on the scaffold.

Accordingly we find the chief efforts for the
defence directed towards proving that the pri-
soner was not a responsible being—that he was,
in fact, subject to delusions which would render li
him not accountable for his actions. For this
purpose a number of witnesses tracing his career
from childhood were produced, who clearly
showed that he was a wicked and mischievous
child, delighting in acts of cruelty, and dull and
stupid in his intellectual faculties. Bat if these
facts could be taken as a justification there
would be no protection for society. The
usual practise of attempting to show that
the party had maintained a good character
should be set aside, and the available defence
would be that he had always been incor-
rigible, and proceeded from bad to worse in the
course of an atrocious career. The throwing of
oil of vitriol or other corrosive substances on cows
or cats, for which he ought to have received
severe punishment at the time, could not be held
to justify the subsequent pDisoning of his wife,
under circumstances of the most atrocious and dia-
bolical cruelty. Had he been severely chastised at
first, be might not haveindiilged his malignant pas-
sions to such an extent as to have involved him
in the awful position in which ho is now placed,
and it is possible if juries had on every occasion
displayed inflexible firmness poor Mrs. DovE
might now have been alive and well.
The object of penal law is not the punishment
of the guilty, but the protection and security of
the innocent. It is not vengeance on DovE
that is required, but such an example
as will show others who have a strong
impulse to crime that they cannot carry their
malevolent desires into execution with impunity.
Persons of that temperament are peculiarly sensi-
tive to consequences falling on themselves, and
DovE's acquittal on the score of insanity might
cause the murders of many innocent persons,
and the necessity of similar trials in other parts
of the country.

LATEST NEWS.)

THE SPANISH INSURRECTION.

MARSEILLES, SUNDAY EVENING.

The Spanish steamer Balear, which left Barce-
Lona yesterday, has brought the intelligence that
the rising which took place to the cry of " Long
live Espartero " has been suppressed.
The barricades were carried.
The Government pardoned the insurgents.
The ships Suffren and Toulon sailed for Barce-
lona yesterday.
The 37th Regiment left last evening for the
Spanish frontier.

The Messages de Bayonne of Sunday states that
Espartero is watching Madrid (garde a vile
Madrid). At Barcelona, on the 19th, tranquil-
lity is said to have been re-established, and the
militia disarmed and dissolved. There has been
a movement at Janquera. A junta has been
formed at Saragossa, of which General Falcon is
President.

All Aragon has pronounced against O'Donnell
Gurrea commands the insurrection.
The Cortes is assembling at Saragossa.
Eighty,
five deputies have already arrived.

The Simois arrived at Marseilles on Saturday
from Constantinoplu, with advices of the 10th

nst.

Balaklava was to be given up to the Russians

on the 12th.

The Himalaya hail arrived at Constantinople
M 10 days from England.
Admiral Lyons arrived at Constantinople on

Strictly speaking, the Cortes were not prorogued.
The new Ministry, immediately after its forma-

lion, sent to the Queen the folloi.ving address :
" Madam, —The Ministry presided over by the Duke
de he Vittoria having been dissolved in consequence of
d.fferencee which have broken out in it, and the direc-
tion of public affairs having been confided to the respon-
sible Ministers who have now the honour to submit the
present statement to your Majesty, the first duty of
the Cabinet was to consider with calmness and im-
partiality the situation in which the nation is placed
in consequence of the fatal and complicated con-
currence of innumerable causes, past and recent, which
places it in a situation more serious and more perilous
than it has been reduced to during the present century.
To the excitement of passions, the shock of interests,
and the struggles of parties which accompany and
follow the appearance of all political revolutions, are
added, Madam, since the triumph of the movement of
July, 1854, the absence of systematic political and almi-
ni,trative legislation, the renewal and the change of all
the public functionaries, the accumulation of questioes
of great importance, either on account of their social
and religious aspect, the dynastic war recommenced in
the province of Arragon, the epidemy, scarcity, and
continued disturbance of public order in every part of
the monarchy. In order to complete this sad picture,
Madam, the late insurrections of an eminently social
character, which have affected the peaceable pro-
vinces in the centre of the Peninsula, have spread
like a plague into other provinces on the coast
and in the interior. It was in vain Madam (and
this is a sad avowal to make)—it was in vain that
the Constituent Cortes, in their intelligent foresight,
and the Cabinet which have retired, with zeal and
patriotism endeavoured to check the increase and spread
of these evils and of those disorders. Neither the pre-
sence, the authority, the co-operation of the Parliament,
nor the use of the power which, to the last moment of
its existence remained with the late Ministry, nor the
state of siege maintained or established on the great
territorial zones, nor the action of military justice ap-
plied to the imperious law of necessity, have been able
hitherto to re-establish political and social discipline,
preserve public peace, and consolidate material order
for any length of time.
" This crisis, Madam, evidently demands a change of
system in the Government of the State ; it requires a
policy of union and conciliation between all men and
towards all the parties which exist in the constitutional
monarchy ; it calls for a just and efficient repression of
all the elements which agitate in the depths or work
on the surface of society ; it required, in short, Madam
the concentration and the firm unity of the public
power, exercising simultaneously its action on all
parties with prudence, but with vigour, in order that
that action might restore its lost spring to the principle
of authority, to the laws their respect, to the citizens
the guarantee of their most sacred rights, to the people
moral order, and to the monarchy internal peace.
"It was in no other manner that, under circumstances
incomparably less imperious and difficult, it was possible,
Madam, both in Spain and abroad, to save society from
dissolution, and nationalities from ruin.
"The Government, Madam, encourages the firm hope
that, thanks to the means hich it proposes to your
Majesty, and to others which it has not now pointed
out, owing to the haste in which it submits this state-
ment to the high consideration of your Majesty, it will
be able promptly to attain the object to which its exer-
tions tend, and in which are summed up the most sacred,
the most imperious, and the most vital of the duties of
a constituted power.
" When it shall have attained it with the invincible
support of public opinion, energetically pronounced in its
favour, it will hasten to fulfil another duty not less
imperious—that of reestablishing normal order and sub-
mitting its conduct to the judgment of the Cortes, re-
ligiously practising in the administration of the State
and in its relations with the Parliament the principles
of respect for the law and love of liberty which have
the objects of the worship of your present advisers dur-
ing their whole existence.
" Animated by these sentiments, and founding our
conduct on these reasons, we have the honour respect.
fully to submit for your Majesty's approbation the fol-
lowing decree, and subscrioe ourselves with the greatest
respect your Majesty's most devoted servants.
" LEOPOLD O'DONNELL,
" NICOMEDES PASTOR DIAZ,
" MANUEL CANTERO,
"ANTONIO DE LOS RIOS Y Roses,
"JOSE MANUEL DE COLLADO.”
The above document, when published, was fol-
lowed by the following Royal decree :
" Considering the extraordinary circumstances in
which the monarchy is placed, and, in conformity with
what has been proposed to me by my Council of Mini-
sters, I decree as follows :
" Art. 1. All the provinces of the Peninsula and the
adjacent islands are declared in a state of siege.
" Art. 2. The Captains General of Provinces will re-
sume, and exercise during the state of siege, the extra-
ordinary powers which in such a state are attributed to
them by the general regulations of the army, and the
laws and provisions in vigour.
Art. 3. The Government will render an account to
the Cortes of the use and application of those extraord
nary powers.

"THE QUEEN.
(Countersigned) "ANTONIO DE LOS .RIOS Y ROSAS,
Minister of the Interior."

The Madrid Gazette publishes the text of the re-
signation which the Duke de la Vittoria had sent
to the Queen, in addition to his intimation, viva
voce to her Majesty to that effect. It is :thus
couched:—

“ Madam,—The shattered state of my health does
not permit me to any longer perform the functions of
President of your Council of Ministers. Will your Ma-
jesty deign to relieve me of that position, and I shall be
grateful for it as the greatest favour your Majesty can
confer on me ? May the Almighty guard during long
years the important life of your Majesty ! I have the
honour to be, Madam, your Majesty's most devoted
servant, 4‘ BALDOMERO ESPAIITEIIO.”
The Madrid Gazette of the 14th brings official
details of the Ai inisterial crisis and the names of the
new Ministers. It states that at a Cabinet Council,
held after O'Donnell and Esoosura had given in
their resignations, the difficulty that had arisen
was discussed at great length, and that at a second
Council, held at the Palace, Espartero expressed his
opinion that it was best both those Ministers should
remain or both retire. This was found impossible,
and Espartero then declared his intention of resign-
ing, and his colleagues went with him. The Queen,
says the Government organ, thrice advised and
asked him to remain and to settle the difficulty as
might best be decided by the Council, but he per-
sisted in relinquishing office, and her Majesty then
accepted the resignation of all the Ministry except
O'Donnell, to whom the formation of a now Go-
vernment was entrusted. The following are the

names :
President of the Council—O'Donnell.
Foreign Affairs—Pastor Diaz.
Financa—Cantero.
Public Works—Collado.
Interior—Rios Rosas.
Grace and Justice—Luzuriaga.
Marine—Pedro Bayarri.

A supplement to the Gazette contains the decrees
of nomination ; also two others, by which Rios
Rosas is appointed temporarily to fulfil the duties
of the Minister of Grace and Justice in the absence
of Luzuriaga, and O'Donnell those of the Minister
of Marine in the absence of Don Pedro Bayarri.
The Gazette also contains the decree putting
Spain under martial law.