The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-01 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 1, 1851.

pearance from the severity of the gale. The lamps are
all extinguished. Its aspect is most dreary.
" half-past 11—Itailway steamer Scotia jut arrived,
crowded with passengers."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS,

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—Some time ago we called attention to the
very inadequate provision made by the Legislature
for the investigation of charges against the judges of
the county courts, a question which the increase of
their jurisdiction, present and prospective, renders
daily of more pressing importance. We have now
to call public attention to a train of circumstances
illustrating most fully the defects of the present law,
and casting, we regret to say, no small discredit on
a number of persons occupying judicial situations,
and bound by the nature of their offices to more than
ordinary care and discretion. Some time ago the
Judge of the Liverpool County Court was drowned.
The Earl of Carlisle, upon whom, as Chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster, devolved the duty of naming
a successor, selected for the place Mr. Ramshay, of the
Northern Circuit, a gentleman who, in addition to his
other qualifications, possessed the merit of being the
son and grandson of two successive land agents for
his Lordship's family. This gentleman's conduct in
his office gave great dissatisfaction to a large number
of persons in Liverpool, and complaints rained thick
as hail upon Lord Carlisle, who has by the 18th sec-
tion of the County Courts Act the power to remove the
judge for inability or misbehaviour. So forcibly was
Lord Carlisle impressed with the unfitness of Mr.
Ramshay for the situation which he occupied that he
earnestly requested him to resign his office, and
even went so far as to offer that, if he would do
so, he should be indemnified at Lord Carlisle's ex-
pense for the pecuniary loss • which such a step would
involve. Mr. Ramshay refusing to accede to this
request, was prevailed upon to discontinue sitting, and
to discharge his duties by deputy until the complaints
against him should be investigated. In this investi-
gation Mr. Sergeant Wilkins appeared as counsel for
Mr. Ramshay. The County Courts Act provides
no means of enforcing the attendance of witnesses to
give evidence on such an occasion, or of examining
those who present themselves on oath, and the result
was, as might naturally have been expected, that Lord
Carlisle, whatever might be his private opinion about
Mr. Ramshay's unfitness, did not find in the evidence
adduced sufficient to warrant him in removing him
from his office. Mr. Ramshay was therefore remitted
to his duties as County Court Judge in Liverpool by
a superior who felt so strongly the necessity of his
removal that he bad actually engaged to pay him
a thousand a year for life rather than that
he should continue in his office. The first
step of Mr. Ramsbay tended to justify Lord
Carlisle's private opinion, and to discredit
his judicial decision. The judge issued cards for a
banquet to be held in his own court, " in honour of
the great principle of judicial independence, so long
and so recklessly assailed in this town." The ban-
quet was held accordingly. The Mayor did not
honour it with his presence, though Mr. Ramshay, in
a carriage drawn by four gray horses, with postilions,
waited upon him with an invitation ; but we regret
to say Mr. Mansfield, the police magistrate of Liver-
pool, and Mr. Harden, the judge of the Cheshire
County Court, were present at this most unseemly
festival. After dinner Mr. Ramshay delivered a long
and rambling speech, insinuating, we trust without
foundation, that the death of his predecessor was at-
tributable to persecution from the press of Liverpool.
He then narrated the circumstances of his own ap-
pointment, and intimated that, had the decision of Lord
Carlisle been against him, be should have resisted it.
He then expressed his determination to teach the
press of Liverpool to behave themselves better, and
assured them the greater their insubordination the
greater would be their punishment. In conclusion
he presented Mr. Sergeant Wilkins with a piece of
plate in acknowledgment of his services. •In return-
ing thanks Mr. Wilkins entreated Mr. Ramshay not
to abuse the vantage ground he bad gained, re-
minded him that he could afford to forgive, and
begged him while he judged to entertain mercy. On
drinking the health of a Hungarian gentleman pre-
sent, Mr. Ramshay recited some doggrel verses ex-
pressive of the hope that England, France, and Hun-
gary would fight again the battle of freedom on the
plains of the latter country. The sequel of these
proceedings, which explains the threats of the judge
and the deprecation of the sergeant, we gave in our
impression of yesterday. A placard having been
posted not far from the court, bearing the heading,
" Mr. Ramshay's Opinion of the People of Liverpool,"
the judge dispatched a bailiff to take into custody
the editor of the Liverpool Journal, by whose direc-
tion this placard, announcing the publication of the
paper, had been issued. Mr. Whitty, the editor,
asked the bailiffs for their authority, and, upon
their being unable to produce any in writing, he un-
der the advice of his attorney refused to attend. A
scuffle ensued, but the bailiffs were unable to appre-
hend the editor. Finally the Judge condescended to
issue a summons, in obedience to which Mr. Whitty
attended, and was fined 51. under the 113th section of
the County Courts Act, which Imposes that penalty
on any person who shall wilfully insult the judge or
an officer during their sitting or attendance in court,
and three sums of Si. each, under the 114th section,
for assaults on the bailiffs in the execution of their
duty. In default of payment of each of these sums
of 51., Mr. Whitty was sentenced to four terms of
imprisonment of seven days each. A reporter for
the Albion, who asked for a chair, and on being re-
fused, under the supposition that he was connected
with the obnoxious journal, told the bailiff that he was
as bad as his master, was for this sentenced to a
similar fine. It would be an insult to the common
sense of our readers to comment gravely on these out-
rageous proceedings, or to show by argument what is
transparently clear,—that the placarding question had
nothing offensive in it, and that, if it had, the posting
it at thirty or forty yards from the court was not an
insult to the judge during his sitting or attendance
there. Nor shall we condescend to show that bailiffs
seeking, on the verbal command of the judge of an
inferior court, to drag a free citizen from his dwelling,
are not in the execution of their duty, and have no
claim whatever on the protection of the law. Of
course Mr. Ramshay cannot be allowed to proceed in
this unprecedented career, or to get up a small reign
of terror of his own, for the purpose, as he boasts,
of avenging the fate of his predecessor. If Lord
Carlisle had not sufficient evidence before, he
has it now, and will incur a heavy responsibility if
he allow such proceedings to continue for a single
moment. Of Mr. Ramshay's conduct we are un-
willing to think or write harshly; there is an
eccentricity, an extravagance, and absurdity about
it which seems only too clearly to point out that,
whatever may have been the case before, the mind
of this gentleman is not now in a state for the dis-
charge of judicial duties ; and we sincerely regret
that they in whom the authority is vested should have
permitted him to retain a situation in which he has,
unhappily, had the opportunity, not merely of making
public his infirmities, but of rendering himself liable
to legal proceedings of the most formidable descrip-
tion. We cannot suppose that on a true return to a
habeas corpus any judge would permit a person to
remain in prison under such a sentence ; but it is
DANGEROUS SPORT.—Two young gentlemen were,
i o-xnt
Orford
r a
renovating
a few evenings since, trying the strength of their arms by melancholy to think of the scandal to public justice,
as well as the inconvenience to private persons, which
clasping the right hand of each and resting the elbow on hopaisniboneen occasioned by the disregard of public
which has retained this gentleman in a situa-
the counter, and trying each to force the hand of the other tion long after his bodily illness and mental in-
down. aurrareopforotnelouwdas
enough
hn
tsohobret firmities had become unhappily matters of notoriety.
offh e
araab
above
from
eoI
theln the toh
elbow,one
e ex t
extreme
struggle,causingm e
ot hf
the saloon to the other.—Nero We cannot conclude without expressing, our sur-
York Tribune. prise that the police magistrate of Liverpool, and
the Judge of the Chester County Court, should have
ROYAL DONATION.—Iier Majesty the Queen has
been graciously pleased to give a donation of 251. to Mr. been guilty of the glaring impropriety of attending a
proceeding so exceptionable and objectionable in its
Wilson, editor of the IVorth of Scotland Gazette, for the
benefit of the funds of a school erected in connexion with the character as a banquet given by a Judge in his own
Aberdeen Ragged Kirk. court to commemorate his own acquittal, and which,
OxFoRD, MONDAY.--A most distressing accident iintsaindddiistioornettioonevaenrdybaacdcetsassotrey,
wwahsiscuhrewtooublde aggravate
occurred
an insult by many of those to whom it is their duty
occurred here yesterday, which has thrown two
mohriagkthhelrey,
alrasned-t
bleF
to administer justice. Singular and mixed also must
have been the feelings of the Learned Sergeant who ,
occasion—pleasuremperedby pa atin
shfopi
fortnight
setenftoiargbehlmet
a 3
ifnairo,r.:cliirea.smHipneiytoogn
,at the greatest
Lhgaorvneaedtobens:tebnaifilliiniiacrtiod
therese
present,
te
in company with a young man named Gar- figured so conspicuously
OMnr.sßuinedkaeyrtothne'syb, billiard-tables previous to the October term.
dener and a female, went to Sandford in a two-oared" dingy." the receipt of the splendidonp
On their return to Oxford, about five o'clock, the boat was, in at the speech by which it was accompanied, and
consequence of Mr. Campion missing his oar near Sandford
Lasher, upset in about fourteen feet of water, and melancholy which only too clearly proved that the eloquence
to relate, both Mr. Campion and his foreman were drowned. which it rewarded had been exerted in vain—exulta-
Mr. Gardener rescued the lady, and attempted to save Mr. tion at the triumph of past advocacy, mingled with
Campion, and no doubt would have done so but for the latter well-grounded apprehensions of future indiscretion on
clinging so tightly round his neck. In that state they both the
part of his client. Now that all these rejoicings
went to the bottom, when, for self -preservation, Mr. Gardener g
was compelled to release himself; and although a good are at an end, it only remains for Lord Carlisle itn-
swimmer, when brought to shore he was nearly exhausted, mediately to remove their object from his judicial
and it was some time before he could be brought to himself. situation, and save him from that ruin which a few
The deceased were highly respected in Oxford. The fore- more such exhibitions as those of last Monday must
man, with Mr. Campion's late father, has been in the habit • f ll•bl b•in a t y ring upon him.
of attending here for many years.
ADVERTISER.—We yesterday published an
SURREY CONSUMERS' GAS LIGHT AND COKE COM" article under the head, " The Judge and the Bill-
PANL—Yesterday the first half-yearly meeting of this " s tick er. T o-day we give much more copious details
company was held at the Bridge-house Hotel ; Mr. Thomas
Pocock, deputy-chairman, presided. Mr. S. H. Powell, the of the circumstances under which the functions of the
secretary, read the report, from which it appeared that the 1 bill-sticker were interfered with. The matter alto-
works had been completed at Rotherhithe, and some of the ' gether reads more like romance than reality. It is
public lamps in that neighbourhood had been lighted on the 1 one of the most extraordinary affairs with which the
previous evening. The local authorities and commissioners, •
i
tudicial character has ever been mixed up in th
with one exception—namely, Southwark—afforded every - s
facility to the company. The districts to be supplied are I country. Mr. Ramshay, the Liverpool Judge, and
Rotherhithe, Bermondsey, and Deptford. Many of the Mr. Whitty, the Liverpool newspaper editor, are not
shareholders are in default from non-payment. In pur- ; the only persons interested in the matter. Judges
nuance of a power granted to the directors in April last '
1 and journalists everywhere, and the public
of borrowing 20,0001., they have raised 8,0061., and they ! also, are
affected by the issues which have
hope that no further exercise of that power will be neces- 1
nary.
From the balance-sheet it appeared that the income"
collision . between Mr. Ramshay and Mr. \Th. bitty.
of the company amounted to 7,2791. 145., and the outlay and Hitherto it has been the prevailing belief in this
liabilities to 25,2371. 2s. 6d., exclusive of what is due to the country that a judge's conduct •
was alegitimate
solicitor. The amount due to other creditors is stated to be subject for fair and temperate • b
17,957/. Bs. 6d. ; cash at bankers, 3,607/. 12s. The chairman discussion. And it
certainly has be
having moved the adoption of the report and statement of en the practice of news-
the accounts, Mr. Brickhill wished to know how much was papers to express themselves very freely on the
due to the solicitor. Mr. James, the solicitor, said he had conduct of our judicial
functionaries, whenever
not made up his accounts, as he was in no hurry for the .it was thought that • t
circums ances called for the
money. The account extended over two years and a half, expression of their ' '
and is impression was that it would exceed 8001. Mr. Brick- , opinions. We have not, we are
hill—l am glad to hear that, for I understood that it would 1
a e are any right to deal with the motives of those
amount to 2,500/. The chairman having satisfactorily an- who are entrusted with the administration of public
swered several other questions, the report and statement of justice. However erroneous we may deem their de-
accounts were approved of and the meeting separated. ' cisi 1 ons to be, we would not, on that account, be justi-
NonanumneuaeND-Rnaise.—ln answer to inquiries! fled in arraigning the integrity of their characters.
made yesterday it was stated that his Grace the Duke of ' Not the least extraordinary ofthis is
part
Northumberland had ordered Northumberland-house to be fact that ' -
kept open to visitors to Saturday the 25th of this month, the offended judge did not know the con-
and Syon-house to Thursday the 23d, inclusive, to give the tents of the paragraph at which he was so indignant,
public an opportunity of seeing those noble mansions for a' when he instructed his officers to bring the proprietor
' fortnight after the closing of the Grand Exhibition. ' and editor of the Liverpool Journal before him. He

THE LATE BALLOON ACCIDENT.

We have mentioned the balloon accident at Cha-
lons-sur-Marne, arising from the escape of the bal-
loon, from the breaking of .the hoop to which the
ropes were attached, as it was being conveyed from
the gasworki to the place from which the ascent was
to have taken place on the occasion of the fete, and
the death of one of the two persons who were in the
car directing the men who were dragging the balloon
at the time when it broke loose, and ascended. The
following details are given in a letter by the survivor:
—Launched into the air, without anchor and without
vane, it was difficult for us to entertain the idea of
descending immediately, on account of the wind.
Another still more powerful motive deterred us, and
that was the darkness. We decided on waiting for
daybreak, as the wind, which blew from the north,
caused no fear that we should be driven out of France.
There was one danger attendant on our position,
and that was, that the balloon might carry us to a
height of from 5,500 to 6,000 metres, where we should
be inevitably exposed to a cold of from 15 to 20 de-
grees, particularly during the night. After some
time we opened the valve fifteen times successively,
in order to arrest the progress, and make us descend.
M. Merle, suffering from cold, enveloped himself in
a piece of canvas, and lay down in the bottom of the
car. I leant on my elbows on the edge of the car,
endeavouring to distinguish some lights in the towns
we might be passing, in order to ascertain the pro-
gress, of the balloon. I had just advised M. Merle
to take his cotton nightcap, as being more conveni-
ent than a hat, when, feeling myself affected by the
cold, I asked him whether we should descend a
little. He did not reply ; I took him by the arm, but
he was senseless, and I thought he had been attacked
with apoplexy. I afterwards thought that he must
have been in a perspiration when he first ascended,
and that the cold had seized on him before he was
sufficiently aware of his position. I then pulled
strongly on the cord attached to the valve, in order
to descend as quickly as possible, and at the expira-
tion of about three quarters of an hour I came to the
ground without any shock, in a meadow about four
leagues from Troyes. I continued to use friction on
the body of M. Merle for some time, for the night
was so dark and the fog so thick that I knew not in
what direction to seek for assistance, but without pro-
ducing any effect. Soon after, hearing a cook crow
I directed my steps towards the spot, and discovered
a farm, the proprietor of which came to me. We
carried my companion into his house, and then sent
for a medical man. During an hour and a half the
farmer and myself did everything in our power to
restore animation, and when the doctor arrived he pro-
nounced that all further attempts were useless."—
Galignani's .Messenger.

THE MURDER AT FROME.
FROME, TUESDAY.—AII efforts to apprehend the
perpetrator of these atrocities have as yet failed. This
morning the articles of wearing apparel stolen from
the cottage were found in a field in the neighbour-
hood.

The inquest was commenced on Friday, and ad-
journed. It was resumed to-day, when
Mr. Francis Giles, surgeon, deposed that he had
made a post mortem examination. He found a large
qutetity of blood between the ,scalp and the bone on
the fore part of the head towards the right side. On
opening the skull, be found that the bone was not
fractured ; the brain was very much congested, but in
other respects healthy. On the neck were two bruises
beneath the skin, one in the middle of the line, just
over tho windpipe, the other two or three inches dis-
tant ou the left side. The heart and lungs were very
much congested, but in other respects healthy. All
the other viscera were healthy. [The post mortem
examination also proved that a rape had been com-
mitted.] He believed death to have been caused by
strangulation. It was quite impossible the girl could
have strangled herself.
The verdict was an open one, viz., that the de-
ceased was murdered by some person or persons
unknown.

not only, on his owh confession, had not seen it, but
had not the remotest idea of its nature. For anything
he knew to the contrary, it might have been penned
in strains of the highest eulogy. The heading of the
paragraph in the placard which was offensive to Mr.
Ramshay was simply "Mr. Ramshay's Opinion of
the People of Liverpool." Possibly he may have
been conscious that he had recently expressed
some opinion not particularly flattering to
that people ; but then how was he to
know, not having seen the article, nor learnt its
character from any second party, that the editor did
not indorse his " opinion of the people of Liverpool,"
and hold it up to the gaze of the world as the soundest
and most enlightened opinion which either judge,
jury, or private individual, ever expressed ? But it
is right our readers should be enabled to form
their own opinion of the article which stirred up such
deep indignation in the soul of this judicial func-
tionary. The article is not long, and therefore it has
all the greater claims to a place in this department of
our paper. Here is the incriminated paragraph.—
" In a case," says the Liverpool Journal, " before
the Judge of the County Court yesterday, in which
W. Holrum, a shoemaker, of Edge-hill, claimed
nineteen shillings for goods supplied to R. Fox, the
latter having a set-off against the plaintiff for board
and lodging supplied to the plaintiff's son, a boy, his
Honour expressed himself in rather strong language
with respect to the characteristics of some people
in this part of the country. The plaintiff's
wife had observed that the boy was in a very weak
state of health, and on one occasion when at Holrum's,
she proposed to take him home with her to Rainhill,
'where he would be attended to, and have the benefit
of pure air. From some cause the boy was brought
back to his parents at the expiration of a month, and
the set-off was a demand of ss. a-week for board and
lodging, as previously agreed on. His Honour cha-
racterised the conduct of the plaintiff as unfortunately
like that of many persons in this part of the country,
and which to him (the judge) was a perfect problem ;
they appeared to have not the slightest regard to the
solemnity of an oath, and were equally destitute of the
feelings of humanity. The defendant, with the most
praiseworthy motive, had made a proposition to the
boy's parents, which they no doubt jumped at with
avidity. The ss. a week charged by the defendant
for the boy's board and lodging was a very mode-
rate charge, yet the plaintiff attempted to deny the
agreement, and had told a positive falsehood with
respect to the time the boy was at Rainhill.' He be-
lieved that nearly all that had been stated' by the
plaintiff was false, and he therefore had great pleasure
in giving a verdict for the defendant." Few of our
readers, we presume, will differ from us, when we say
that we have rarely met with anything more harmless
than the paragraph we have just quoted. It is inno-
cence itself, compared with articles relative to the
conduct of judges, which appear, from time to time,
in the metropolitan journals. And yet it is the rarest
thing in the world, to see any of our metropolitan
judicial functionaries embarking in a crusade against
the newspaper press, on the ground of alleged
departures from that respectful treatment which is
supposed to be due to the dispensers of justice.
It will be observed, that in the incriminated para-
graph, it so happens that there is not a single word
in the shape of censure or of animadversion in any
shape on the: character, judicial or otherwise, of
this county court judge. The paragraph, which
has created so great a commotion in Liverpool, and
which will attract attention in all parts of the coun-
try, consists simply of a narrative of what took place
in Mr. Ramsbay's court on a particular day. In
other words, it is purely a report of a judgment
which the Learned Judge delivered in a case which
came before him. For ourselves, we must own that
some of the observations of this judicial functionary,
were particularly inviting of remark. And had the
circumstances occurred in Lendon, where, somehow
or other, we use greater liberty of speech than they
do in the provinces, the chances are ten to one that,
instead of a mere simple narrative of what took
place—a report of what fell from the judicial
lips, he would have had to encounter no small
amount of leading-article thunder. Our only wonder
is, that the Liverpool journals, in reporting such
al case, had to much control over their editorial
tempers, as to abstain from canvassing freely and
fulty some of the startling " opinions" expressed in
this judgment of the functionary who presides over
the county court of that place. However, that is
their affair, not ours. Here the public would have
charged the press with a flagrant dereliction of duty,
had such a case occurred in the metropolis, and we
passed it over without animadversion. But the cha-
racter of the paragraph is not the point in dispute.
The question is, whether it be contrary to the con-
stitution of this country, that the press should discuss
calmly and temperately the sayings and doings of
judges—just as they are confessedly at liberty to
discuss the sayings and doings of other servants of

the Crown acid of the public. The matter must
be brought to. an issue. It cannot rest where
it is. An ,appeal must be made to an-
other court The judgment of a higher tri-
bunal than that of the County Court of Liverpool,
must be obtained—a tribunal whose proeeedings have
been hitherto characterised by the decorum becoming
the dignity which we are accustomed to associate with
the judicial functions. The appeal must be made to a
tribunal whose decision will be respected. But there
are circumstances connected with this case to which
we have not yet alluded. The way in which Mr.
Whitty was brought before the bar of the
court, or rather the way in which it was,
in the first instance, attempted to bring him
before that tribunal, was in happy keeping with
the whole affair. On two several occasions the
officers of the court went to drag him before the judge
without a warrant, and it was not until Mr. Whitty
threatened them with something very like " an assault
and battery," if they dared to lay hands on him with-
out a warrant, that they bethought themselves of
going about their work in a legal manner. But we
must defer any further allusion to the subject, until
we have a more ample report of the case before us,
than that which appears in our paper to-day. The
result was, that Mr. Whitty was sentenced to pay a
penalty of 51. each on three cases of assault, and seven
days' imprisoment each for two cases of alleged assault
on the officers of the court.