The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-02 00:00:00

SPIIUT of the PU.B.LiC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—The love of order and the obedience to
lawful authority for which the people of England
have been so race:ntl . complimented by the Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs never shone out with
greater lustre than during the singular, and, we are
happy to SP7, unprecedented scenes which have been
passing at Liverpool during the last few days. We
can imagine nothing more irritating, more ellen.
lated to rouse and in some degree to extenuate re-,
sistaece to lawful authority, than the course of con-
duct which, for causes hitherto unexplained, though
only too e'eily surmised, has been adopted by the
Judge of the Lancashire County Court. Placed there
contrary to the wishes of the great majority of those
among whom he was to administer justice, from hie
connexion as the son of a land agent of an aristocra-
tic family, the new judge had, doubtless, much ori-
ginal prejudice to surmount. It was felt, and with
considerable justice, that so important a situation in
the second city of the empire ought to be
the reward of distinguished merit, and not of
mere eersonal claims. Reasonable as this feel-
ing was, it is probable that a little tact and good
sense on the part of the judge would ie a abort
time have succeeded in removing it; but so
far from this being attempted, a course of conduct
was pursued which completely obliterated the re-
membrance of the original appointment in discontent
at the manner in which the business of the court was
conducted and the sort of treatment to which liti-
gants and witnesses were constantly subjected. Then
followed an investigation, in which Mr. Ranashay was
acquitted of charges of which the public opinion of
the town considered him guilty, and readmitted to the
exercise of his office. As if this were not enough to irri-
tate the public mind, he performs a sort of ovation over
his defeated antagonists, and while loading them with
the most unmeasured abuse announced his intention
of opening a regular campaign against the press.
It is with these preliminary causes of irritation
fresh on their minds that the public are called upon
to witness the carrying into execution of threats
uttered a week beforehand. The style of the
examination which the judge addressed to his own
witness has probably not, been paralleled since the
memorable interrogation of Donne by Chief Justice
Jefferies at the trial of Lady Alice Lisle.
Judge—" Was his hand doubled ?" Witness—
",ludge—" Then,
t you ass, don't you
know that was a fist ? hat is what it is called
legally;
you ought to know that." Next to the stu-
pidity
of the witness, nothing seems to have annoyed
Mr. Ramshay so much as the name of the indoor
superintendent of the police, Mr. Clough, which ep-
pears to have had somewhat of the same effect en the
Judicial mind as the exhibition of a piece of red cloth
to a bull. "I do not care who he is, or how big or
how low his name may be ; but as sure as he is a
offence imputed to
living man I will bring him before me." The whole
bailiffs
be
tchoia itsidthere
remark to to can
the hardly.l)4.r. Clough, in addition to his name
—wawshhiicsh
arrest Mr. Whitty without a warrant—an extremely
and
sound opinion in point of law, yed acsoaulfdauint—ot
scarcely, we,sp-
prebend, amounting to a contempt of court. But
the astonishment and indignation of the audienoe
reached its climax when the judge, grinding his
teeth with rage, stated that Mr. Vhitty had been
guilty of a crime against the Act of Parliament;
that he looked like a man in whose eyes and
in whose face the worst passions of our nature
were delineated ;" and after having imposed fines
under every illegal pretence conceivable, wound up
with a declaration that, whether he should impose
any more, or not, at that moment he could not say.
Two of the bystanders were also fined five pounds
each for giving vent to their feelings by applauding
the sentiments of the advocate of the prisoner—a li-
cense which, though always repressed by Courts, has
never, that we are aware of, before been visited wide
a fine. We have mentioned these things not with a
view of making out a strong case against Mr. Rsm-
shay, an effort perfectly superfluous, especially as we
do not, notwithstanding the threawhich preceded
by some days these outrageous p'roccedings, believe
the judge to be in a state of mind which would jus-
tify us in treating him as responsible for his
actions, but in order to show the amount of pro-
vocation which will be patiently submitted to in
England rather than do violence to that strong
national instinct which impels us to submit to
lawful authority even when most scandalously and
notoriously abused. Mr. 'Whitty was sent off by the
railway, to undergo a term of imprisonment for feat
or five offences, of all of which everybody knew
he was perfectly innocent, in the presence of a
crowd indignant at the insults he had sustained and
the barefaced and cruel injustice of which he was
for the time the victim. Yet, inasmuch as
these things were done in the name of the law and
sanctioned by the warrant of a judge, the loge
multitude present at the departure of the prisoner
contented themselves with expressions of sympathy,
and made no effort whatever to interfere with
the execution of the sentence. The reason of
this extraordinary forbearance is, no doubt, to be
found in the cause to which Lord Palmerston
attributes it. The people of Liverpool know
well that whatever excesses may be committed for
a moment, there is no fear that their perpetrator
will find any sympathy from any officer of the Go-
vernment. They feel the utmost confidence that so
soon as this extraordinary outbreak shall be known
not a moment will be lost in setting the prisoner at
liberty, and removing from his office the judge who
has thus abused the power with which he is invested.
Were it not for this entire confidence of instant jus-
tice and redress, it would hardly have been in human
nature to have stood by and witnessed the perpe-
tration of so monstrous a violation of individual
liberty. Bat the people have no occasion to do
that irregularity by their own hands which they
know that their Government is ready and willing
to do for them. ' It is with some disappointment
that we find that a single day has beenApwed to
elapse without taking measures to put nd to a
state of things at once so dangerous and so discredit-
able. The Earl of Carlisle is, we observe, in at-
tendance on her Majesty at Balmoral, and as for the
rest of the Cabinet they are we know not where. The
extremely agreeable and exhilarating plan adopted
by the present Governmek of leaving the affairs of
this great country to take care of themselves dulling
the reoess of Parliament is not without its inconveni-
ences and dangers. A flagrant outrage on private
liberty is committed, and the Minister to whom the
protection of that liberty is intrusted is not at
his post. A judge runs riot, and the only
person who has the power of stopping him is not to
be got at. No doubt it is highly complimentary
to
the spirit of order of the English
a part of the year their affairs should be left to ad-
minister themselves ; but there are cases—and
the present is one of them—to which this conve-
nient mode of governing does not apply. The
practice is, however, so pleasant that it is sure to
be persevered in till its folly and rashness are
satisfactorily illustrated by some heavy 'disaster.
We do not regard the occurrences to which
we have been calling attention as reflecting any de-
gree of discredit on the administration of jus 'es
in the County Courts, or as evincing any seri e
1 defect in the law. After legislative wisdom as
1;
done all it can, much must still be left tb the work-
ing of individual discretion apa- of that most deli-
cate and easily disorganised instrument, the human
mind. Did the County Courts Act, indeed, confer
the powers claimed by Mr. Ramlthay on the judges,
there would be great reason to complain of the
negligence with which the Legislature had guarded
our liberties ; but as these powers are mere as-
sumptions and mere imaginations, we can blame
no one for their exercise except the judge himself.
It is quite necessary that the judge should be pro-
tected in the execution of his office, and it is not
the fault of the Legislature if a gentleman should
be found with a mind so unhappily constituted as
to convert this necessary power into a general claim
to fine and imprison his fellow citizens at his will
and pleasure.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.—Yesterday information was
received that a man who called under pretence of wantivg an
answer to a letter, had plundered the premises, 52, Hunter-
street, Brunswick-square, of eight 51:Bank of England notes,
two gold cigar-cases, several double sovereigns and guineas
of the reign of Queen Ann and Charles the Second, about
501. worth of jewellery, a number of Spanish dollars, and a
gold California coin, inscribed Augustus Humboldt, assayer,
United States, 1851 ; also a similar robbery at 43, Hare-
wood-square, from whence a 101., and three Si. Bank of
. "In memory of Colonel Wild,'
ring,Y, a mourning
silver medal, with
England notes, about 20/. worth. of ;jeaweller
two bars engraved " Ava am Napaul," and other valuable
property, were carried
.off. In both instances the thieves
gota s clear
a
othnelSrabtoourtdya last upon the body of au
old man named Barnes .y
held away with
DEATH OF AN AGED DEUNKARD.--An inquest
w
The deceased, who
,wahnod was
Wednesdays7syearsof
age, had long been
night was brought home so drunk that he was obliged to lay
t Devizes
in bed the whole of the next day. He got up about three
o'cicck on Friday afternoon, but feeling ve uncomfortable,
he was about to go to bed again,ry
on ascending the
stairs, he fell backwards, andwas when,killed upon the spat.—
Salisbury
.-•
Salisbury Net aid.

SHIPS CARRYING LETTERS TO SAIL IN OCTOBER;
For Mauritius, the Stratford, from the West India Docks,
Oct.
ct ; Sydney, New South Wales, the Glenbervie, from
London. Docks, 10; ditto, the Royal Stewart, from ditto, 15;
ditto, 15; ditto, the Prince of Wales, from ditto, 1; ditto,
the Joseph Somes, from Plymouth, 11; Port Phillip, the
Maitland, from ditto, 11 ; Geelong, the Clifton, from ditto,
1 ; Pert Phillip and Adelaide, the Duke of Bedford, front
ditto, 20 ; Launceston, the Arnon, from London Docks, 1;
Hobart Town, the Anna Maria, from Woolwich, 1; Ade-
laide, the Hashemv, from Plymouth, 8; ditto, the Adelaide,
from ditto, 5; New Zealand, the Katharine S. Forbes, from
St. Katharine Docks, 10; Port Lyttelton and Wellington,
the Marmora, from East India Docks, 10; New Plymouth,
the William Hyde, from ditto, 15; Western Australia, the
Will Watch, from London Docks, 15 ; Sierra Leone, the'
Salsette, from St. Katharine Docks, 10; Madeira, the part,
from Southampton, 7; ditto, the Brilliant from ditto,. 1;
New York, the Ocean Queen, from Portsmouth, 1; Phi;a-
delphia the City of Glasgow steamer, from Liverpool; 8.--
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