The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-06 00:00:00

The rule, too, will have the effect, if not of pre-
venting, at least of greatly diminishing, the number
of dishonest claims, as well as of unjust defences.
The bill-swindling fraternity will find that their in-
famous occupation has received " a heavy blow and
great discouragement," while those who refuse to
satisfy well-founded demands on the ground that the
claimant would find it difficult, if not impossible, to
prove his case, will begin to think that honesty is,
indeed, the best policy. On the whole we are con-
vinced that the Act will work well, and that when it

. _
has received a fair trial and its operation has been
tested by experience, it will be pronounced one of the
most valuable measures of legal reform that ever re-
ceived the legislative sanction.

Elsewhere will be found a paragraph announcing
the celebration of the interesting festivity of the
Polish and Hungarian Ball as certain to take place on
Thursday next, the 13th instant, under circumstances
of the most auspicious character. Assuredly no in-
ducement whatever can be wanting to attract the
sympathies of the public at large to an enterprise of
this description, more particularly when it is remem-
bered that now, more than ever, the merits of the
twofold cause here advocated are opened to universal
appreciation. Had, however, any additional at-
traction been required it would certainly be dis-
coverable upon the present occasion. We allude
here not so much to the additional efforts
made by the managing committee to secure every
accommodation to the public, though they have
unquestionably been most energetic and efficacious•
Neither do we refer to the supplementary sources
of entertainment, though these of themselves would
be sufficiently remarkable, as may be seen by refer-
ence to the arrangements made for retaining in the
Guildhall the superb decorations employed forty-
eight hours previously in the carrying out of the festi-
vities of Lord Mayor's-day, and to the fact of
the interest of the ball being very considerably
increased by the concert announced to take place in
the Council Chamber at the same time, thanks to the
generous assistance afforded by several artistes of
distinction. Our allusion is to the promised appear•
ance among the company assembled at Guildhall of
Lot's KOSSUTH himself, the de jure Governor of
Hungary—a personage whom every Liberal in Eng-
land is just now solicitous to honour as at once the
Dictator and Representative of the heroic race of the
Hungarians.

Under these propitious circumstances, we canno
for an instant doubt that the Polish Bill of 1851 wil

be the most brilliant and successful yet achieved
through the instrumentality of the Noble Lord the
Member for Marylebone.

THE FRE.NtH REPUBLIC

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The journals of the re-actionary party are unani-
mous in their declarations of hostility against the
PRESIDENT and his Message. The Constitutionnel
supports him as a matter of course, and M. LAMAR-
TINE at length enrols himself among his supporters.
The Pays thus speaks of the Message :
"As to the new policy which the Message proclaimed
yesterday, it is ours. We have constantly defended it; we
have not ceased a single day to demand the re-establish-
ment of universal suffrage as a reparation, and the par-
tial revision of the Constitution as a solution. Because
this policy becomes that of the Government, it will not
cease to be ours, for it has not ceased to be that of right,
of equity, and of necessity; and if we see it so highly
supported now-a-days, we are more happy than proud.
Oar pride is only the gratitude and confidence of our
patrioiism."
The Siicle, the organ of the CAVAIGNAC section
of the Republicans, also supports the Ministerial
measure for the restoration of universal suffrage. It
says—
" The arguments of the President are the same as
those we have been bringing forward for some time.
He supports himself on the defects in the law; by shows
that it has gone beyond its object, that it was unjust,
and contained the germs of civil war, that it brought
the powers of the State into disrepute, and that, in fact,
it was in flagrant opposition to the text of the Constitu-
tion as to the Presidential election, a text which requires
a certain number of electors which the law of May 31
will never furnish. One thing which we must admit is,
that the President of the Republic has had the good
sense not to make the re-establishment of universal suf-
frage subordinate to any condition; he has merely sought
to demonstrate to the majority, a demonstration, how-
ever, which but slightly concerns us, that in the re-
pealing the law of May 31, the difficulties which in
the Assembly and the country opposed themselves to the
revision of the Constitution would be smoothed down.
The majority did not allow itself to give way for so little;
it evidently did not expect anything so clear and so posi-
tive; it immediately rejected the urgency demanded by
the Ministry. M. 13erryer had the bad skill to throw
himself in the way of a first favourable vote. He unfor-
tunately found a pretext in the incredible order of the
day of General Saint Arnaud. France will judge of the
causes of this hostility, which suddenly breaks out be-
tween the majority and the President of the Republic.
She will not allow herself to be led away by all that re-
action and its adherents may imagine to impede the re-
establishment of universal suffrage. She will not lose
sight of the fact that the tranquillity of men's minds, the
security of industry and the certainties of the future de-
pend on this re-establishment. She will unanimously
declare all those to be enemies of the country who by mis-
chievous considerations of party and of personal interest
should oppose the repeal of the law of May 31. There
never has been any cause for that law. We defy any
one to find a substantial argument for its being main-
tained."

The following is the text of the new electoral Bill
resented to the Assembly by the ➢Minister of the
Interior :
Art. 1. Within thirty days after the promulgation of
the present Bill the electoral list will be drawn up by
the mayor, aided by two delegates from each !com-
mune, named by the juge•de-paix, and living in the
canton.
Art. 2. It shall contain in alphabetical order all
Frenchmen of 21 years of age, in possession of their civil
and political rights, and inhabiting the commune for six
months at least; sueh persons as shall attain their majo-
rity before the definitive closing of the list; soldiers and
sailors on duty inscribed on the electoral lists of the
commune, where they shall have satisfied the necessary
conditions.

rt. 3. Public functionaries, whatever may be the
length or brevity of their residence; also clergymen of
religions recognised by the State. Members of the Na-
tional Assembly shall be allowed to vote where the As-
sembly sits.
Art. 4. Are excluded from the list of persons designed
in Paragraphs 1,2, 3,5, 6, and 7 of Art. 3 of the law of
March, 15, 1849; bankrupts, individuals designated in
Paragraph 4 of Art. 3 of the law of March 15, 1849,
whatever may be the term of the imprisonment to which
they are condemned; persons condemned to imprison-
ment in virtue of Art. 330 of the penal code; individuals
condemned for acts against public morals and decency;
individuals condemned to more than three months im-
prisonment in virtue of Articles 98, 100, 101, 102, 103,
105, 106. 107,0 t
al
roiBe,s 109, 112,
other andpublic 113
functionarieso f the law of d
Marchis.
;2;134 5:81: n
r Esel.prgotioils porton! condonanod At Two_

parti-coloured spectacles, and to give an erroneous
and overstrained interpretation to doubtful expres-
sions. Whenever this state of facts shall arise, the
jury may be a little puzzled, but that will be all the
evil. Neither party will have committed perjury,
for he will have stated nothing that he did not be-
lieve to be well founded, and it is possible that the
gentlemen who are to pronounce a verdict may
be assisted, rather than otherwise, by obtain-
ing the various impressions created in the minds
of two honest men by the same transaction. One or
the other will probably be corroborated by circum-
stances ; but regarding the matter in the most unfa-
vourable light, the conflicting testimony can scarcely
prove more perplexing than the ingenious suggestions
and fine-drawn deductions of a clever counsel on ad-
mitted facts.

A greater danger, and that which constitutes the
chief, if not the only objection to the system, is, the
temptation to perjury, to which dishonest persons are
exposed. This is unquestionably an evil, and one of
no ordinary magnitude. We cannot, however, hope
to arrive at perfection ; we must only strive for the
attainment of that which, on the balance of advantages,
shows " the greatest good to the greatest number?'
On calm and mature consideration, then, we are con-
vinced that the regulation will tend rather to the
diminution than the increase of perjury. An un-
conscientious and unscrupulous person, anxious
to obtain a verdict, per fas aut nefas, and
heedless of the means by which his object might be
attained, could easily procure others of similar
character to bear false witness. Subornation of per-
jury is as grave an offence as the actual perjury
itself. Nay, on the same principle that " the receiver
is frequently worse than the thief," it may be more
dangerous to society, and merit a more stringent
punishment. Besides, it involves the guilt of several
distinct individuals—of the man who gives as well
as of him who receives the bribe. And yet many
persons might be found who, with a strong perver-
sity of disposition, would not venture to commit the
offence directly, of which they would be quite willing
to receive the proceeds indirectly—that is to say,
when it could be obtained by the crime of a third
person.