The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-28 00:00:00

~.Q- io,tning aUlt.

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 28, 1851.

A fortnight can scarcely have elapsed before the
Imperial Parliament will be prorogued. According
to an official intimation, it may be observed elsewhere
that the ceremony of prorogation will be conducted
by her Most Gracious MAJESTY in person, and con-
sequently every eclat will accompany the close of the
legislative session of a year already rendered remark-
able by its pageantries. The national representatives
may, therefore, look forward to a participation in the
famous sports of the 12th proximo, when the
pleasures of the wild moors will compensate
for the labours of so many nights and
days fraught with senatorial anxiety. As a sig-
nificant preliminary to this movement on the part of
the two Houses, it will hare been seen, from our
last impression, that the Ministerial white-bait
dinner is fixed definitively for next Saturday.
Having banquetted upon that most seasonable deli-
cacy at Greenwich, the members of her MAJESTY'S
Government will forthwith prepare themselves for
that annual period of relaxation which custom has
vouchsafed to our national administrators. That
some lull of this kind is absolutely requi-
site
for the proper conduct of public af-
fairs, must be at once obvious to every
individual of even the most ordinary discernment—if
only for inasmuch as it affords the Cabinet an oppor-
tunity of deliberately reflecting upon the position of
the country apart from the storms of debate and the
agitating influence of party conflict. Besides which
it should be remembered that the temporary separa-
tion of the House of Commons is desirable, if merely
on account of the occasion it presents for some direct
intercommunion between the people and their repre-
sentatives. Several of the latter, it cannot be
forgotten, have each year considered it so far
desirable that this exchange of thought between
themselves and their respective constituencies should
take place, that they have periodically called meetings,
at which they have, so to speak, unburdened their
consciences to their supporters, and explained to them
the course they have considered it right to pursue in
reference to some of the most important subjects
brought under discussion in the course of the recent
session of the Imperial Parliament. Such elaborate
and formal explanations as these, have, of course,
proved inconvenient to the majority of the
Members, but a few honourable exceptions
have testified the benefit resulting to the mass
of electors from such a proceeding. By con-
vening these periodical assemblies, and bringing under
their consideration the legislative labours accomplished
during the past year, the popular representatives in
question have materially advanced the general cause
of enlightenment as to the management of public af-
t fairs and as to the improvements demanded in the
Government. Nothing, indeed, could be better cal-
culated to educate the community to a due apprecia-
tion of the value of the rights of citizenship than these
retrospective surveys of the progress made in the way
of reform within the walls of the Legislature.
Moreover, it should be borne in remembrance that
those backward glances at the improvements
effected by the Parliament, enable the multitude in
the most effectual manner to perceive the nature of
those additional reforms which are especially required
as the next achievements in the way of emending the
great fabric of the Constitution. Viewed in this light,
the interval of repose which elapses between the pro-
rogation and the re-assembling of the two Houses may
be regarded as advantageous to the nation, not less
in regard to the future than to the past,
not less as a means of consolation than as a means
also of encouragement. From the evils already
removed from our pathway we can discover the power
remaining to us for the dissipation of other and yet
more formidable obstructions to the general develop-
ment. While as a method of improving the very
manner of their Parliamentary tactics, the retro-
spect taken by the popular representatives them-
selves cannot but prove productive of the greatest
benefit imaginable, inciting them appreciably
to yet mote strenuous exertions, reminding
them of the nature of the impediments
yet remaining to be vanquished, and revealing yet
more the cause to which are attributable so many and
such reiterated disappointments. Everything, in
short, combines to satisfy the mind of the more re-
flective observer of the good resulting to the nation,
to the Parliament, and to the Government, from this
annual lull in the toils of legislation.
"All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy,
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,"

seems to be a scrap of nursery wisdom, especially
applicable to Jecx. Bum., if we may be permitted the
familiarity of that diminutive in reference to so very
sedate and respectable a personage. So likewise
might the distich be applied with point to the whole
mass of our national administrators from the PRIME
MINISTER downwards ; and it was doubtless in con-
sideration of this necessity for recreation that it was
arranged for Parliament to be prorogued each year
in sufficient time to enable its Members to share
in the sports of the ever-memorable 12th of
August. It should likewise be recollected
that the lapse of time which takes place
between the commencement of August and the be-
ginning of February, between the prorogation and
the re-assembling of Parliament, is time by no
means lost to the nation, but time, on the contrary,
occupied to the general advantage. During it the
Members, though availing themselves to a reasonable
extent of the opportunity afforded in it for relaxation,
are, nevertheless, industrious in preparing for the
next session ; the more active and conscientious
amongst them, to say the least of it—knowing as
they do that upon their exertions at this period the
efficiency of the subsequent discharge of their
duties may be said to be in a very great measure de-
pendent. Therefore it is, that for a variety of reasons,
we may look forward with satisfaction to the proro-
gation of the Legislature.

This evening the House of Commons will be called
upon to act in a new capacity, to give a judical de..
cision on a question which, although of vital import-
ance to the cause of civil and religious liberty, is yet
one of the very plainest and most simple character.
Two important constituencies have petitioned that
their chosen representatives should be admitted to
take their seats, or that, at least, before their un-
questionable privileges should be violated, that they
should be heard by counsel at the bar of the
House, to show that there is no sufficient
reasons for excluding the Baron ROTHSCHILD or Mr.
Alderman SALoMoNS from the honourable positions
to which they had been called by the voices of their
fellow-countrymen. To the manly and energetic
conduct of the latter gentleman is owing the present
state of the case, arid the prospect of an early deci-
sion. Conscious of the justice of his cause, and de-
spising the penalties to which he might be subjected
if he had taken an erroneous view of the law, he
flung himself boldly into the breach, and assumed all
the responsibilities of the contest. His Jewish brethren
could not have selected a better or more chivalrous
champion. They are fortunate, indeed, in having
such a man to fight on their behalf.
The question itself lies in a nutshell. We venture
to assert that in a court of justice, before any one of
the judges of the land, the sworn and experienced in-
terpreters and expounders of the law, it would be
promptly decided without doubt or hesitation, and
without even a point being reserved for the considera-
tion of the full court. The celebrated and leading
case of OMTCHUND V. BARKER (1 Atkyns, s. 8)
is decisive on the point, and the principle
thereby affirmed has never since been impeached, but
has always been received as an unquestionable
authority.
In that case we find C. J. WILLES declaring that
" the nature of an oath is not at all altered by
Christianity, but only made more solemn from the
sanction of rewards and punishments being more
openly declared ;"
whose opinions whilewif
for ever
command
nu
annwd
respect,
x.
added, " All;that is necessary to an oath is an appeal
a
ejudge,
to the Surnma BBING, as thinking Him the rewarder

of truth, and avenger of falsehood." If therefore
the matter rested there, we should think that there
could be but little difficulty as to the solution of the
problem. Bat it was rendered, if posssible, more
unequivocal by the 1 and 2 Victoria, cap. 105—a
declaratory Act " to remove doubts as to the validity
of certain oaths "—by which it was declared and
enacted " that in all cases in which an oath may
lawfully be and shall have been administered to any
person, either as a juryman, or a witness, or
a deponent in any proceeding civil or crimi-
nal, in any court of law or equity in the
United Kingdom, or on appointment to any
office or employment, or ON ANY OCCASION WHAT
RYER, such person is bound by the oath adminis-
tered, provided the same shall have been administered
in such form and with such ceremonies as such person
may declare to be binding." It then provides that,
" in case of wilful false swearing, every such person
may be convicted of the crime of perjury in the same
manner as if the oath had been administered in the
form and with the ceremonies most commonly
adopted."
What further argument then can be urged ? Al-
derman SALOMORS and Baron ROTHSCHILD have both
declared the form to be not only "binding," but "most.
binding" on their consciences. There can, therefore,
be but little doubt but that they would have been
subjected to every legal penalty for any infringement
of the solemn obligation. Even the ATTORNEY-
GENERAL, while arguing on the opposite side—(alas
that ALEXANDER CocanußN should fight under the
wrong banner in such a cause)—was forced to
make that admission. The gravest sanction, not
only of eternal but of temporal penalties, is
thus accorded to the sacred declaration. They
have substantially complied with the spirit of the
law. They have not, as they might, evaded the point
at issue, by requesting to take the Roman Catholic
oath—in which the objectionable words were not
included—but they complied with it in all essential
points. The object of that oath was to guard against
the claims or supposed claims of a family now ex-
tinct. The succession to the throne of these realms
is no longer disputed. The allegiance of every Briton is
not only due, but freely rendered to our Most Gracious
QUEEN. It requires no oaths or declarations to en-
sure their affectionate loyalty. If ever there was a
work of supererogation, it is the enforcing
of such unnecessary obligations. But that is
beside the question, for Alderman SALOMONS and
Baron ROTHSCHILD have taken it in its real essence,
and only objected to a portion of the form which was
intended to give it additional validity, but which
would have been less binding on the con-
sciences of the Honourable Gentlemen then
that by which they bound themselves.
What, then, will be the position of the House of
Commons, if they should, after refusing to admit the
parties, find themselves opposed by the unanimous
decision of the judges of the land, if they
should say that Greenwich and London were
partially disfranchised, while the Exchequer Cham-
ber should declare that Alderman SALOMONS had
taken the necessary oaths, and had incurred no
penalty for sitting and voting in the House ?
Would they persevere obstinately and pertinaciously
in wrong doing ? or would they confess their
error, and make the amende honorable by admitting
those whom they had previously rejected. Either
course would be sufficiently humiliating to a body
whom we are ever anxious to treat with respect, and
we only hope that by a sound and judicious decision
the possibility of so unpleasant an alternative will be
prevented.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of Saturday
and of yesterday.
The Committee of the Assembly appointed to con-
sider the proposition for regulating the leave of ab-
sence of Members, determined unanimously on Fri-
day to recommend that the Assembly should adjourn
from the 10th August to the 20th October.
The consideration of the question of the ratifica-
tion of the Lepredour treaty with the Argentine Con-
federation was, on the motion of M. DE Italica, post-
poned until after the recess.
'1 be Councils-General of the Departments meet on
the 25th August, and the efforts of last year to pro-
cure from them Bonapartist and unconstitutional mani-
festations will, no doubt, be renewed. On this subject
we find the following in the National:—
"The Councils-General are convoked for the 25th
August. The 13onapartist taction reckons on the
Council,-General to give support to a new proposi-
tiou for the ravision of the Constitution. It may be
remembered what unheard of efforts were made
last 3ear to obtain from these councils the vote
of revisionist wishes; those efforts will be renewed
this year, and it is hoped to repair by a manifestation
of departmental aristocracy the defeat submitted to in
the Assembly, and the branding imposed on the Mi-
nistry on the occasion of the mauceavres employed to
obtain revisionist petitions. The agitation of the dis-
cussion which has just taken place is about to be car-
ried into the Councils-General; some disturbances will
be excited in the country; the Constitution will be ac-
cused of causing them, and the uneasiness which will
result from them. By harassing the country it is hoped
to throw it into the hands of the party of prolongation—
old tactics, odious manoeuvres, on which the good sense
of the public has long since done ample justice."
The same journal says—
" The Council of State, in its sitting of Thursday last,
continued the discussion of the Bill on the responsibility
of public functionaries, and of the President of the Re-
public. Thanks to the efforts or those who have an in-
terest in preventing the Bill from being brought before
the Legislative Assembly in proper time, the discusion
on it goes on very slowly. Things are come to that point
that, in order to detest these mauceuvres, it will be per-
haps necessary for the Assembly to withdraw the Bill
from the Council of State, and to discuss it as it was at
first sent to it."

On Friday M. DUTAURE presented the report of
the Committee on the Lyons Railway Bill. The re-
port recommends that the line should be completed
by the State.
BUSOESS vONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, JULY 26.
Boulogne and Amiens, 103/4—Rouen and Havre, 9%—
Sambre and Meuse, 3