The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-17 00:00:00

been accorded to humanity—another instructive
example of the mutability of Fortune. The last
avenging blow will then have fallen from the brand of
NEMESIS on the perpetrators of one among
the blackest acts of treachery ever adventured
upon by European. The victim of that most
execrable crime against truth will then be compen-
sated in some measure for his protracted immurement
by the tardy but not less precious acquisition of his
freedom—while one of the authors of his misfor-
tune remains in a dungeon, and another continues in
exile. AI3D-EL-KADER would, under those circum-
stances, be allowed to escape from thraldom—when
LOUIS PHILIPPE still lay crumbling into dust on a
foreign shore, when the Marshal's baton had long
since dropped from the inanimate grasp of BUGEAED,
when the glory of his youth was already forsaking
the Prince DE JoIzYILLE during the melancholy con-
tinuance of his banishment, and when—strangest
freak of all—the walls of the fortress of Ham sur-
rounded the defeated, disgraced, and deserted Lemo-
RiciERE. A merited retribution would be recognized
in these events, such as could not fail to impress the
imagination of the:multitude, and to be borne long in
the popular remembrance. It would, doubtless, be
satisfactory, moreover, for M. THIERS to record, in
some future page of that great history which he may
possibly continue in his German home as a
refugee, that while TOUSSAINT was rigorously
retained in durance vile by one BONAPARTE, ADD.-
EL-KADER was magnanimously restored to liberty by
another, This would at least be a new and curious
change in the shifting fortunes of that State which is
nothing less than a vast political kaleidescope.
Under every consideration, it is earnestly to be hoped
that the PRESIDENT of the Republic will, within a
very brief interval, be enabled to realize his benevo-
lent solicitude as to the alleviation of the sorrows
hitherto endured by the glorious leader of the Arabs,
a prince in whose veins, according to the belief of his
people, flows the royal and sacred blood of MAUOMET.
Upon such a celebration, likewise, of his newly-
augmented authority Louts NAPOLEON might the
most effectually found the hopes of an increasing
amount of popular sympathy and admiration. To the
Marquis of LONDONDERRY, also, the event we are
here anticipating would inevitably be a source of
large and peculiar satisfaction. For he could not fail to
remember that he it was who ventured to plead the
cause of the illustrious captive when no other voice
was raised in his behalf, that he it was who appealed
in his favour to a Government apparently obdurate in
its resolves to profit by the turpitude of the last mo-
narchy in purchasing safety from the revival of a
general war in Algeria by the perpetuation of a most
vile and infamous injustice. As for the object of this
noble interposition, he most of all could not but be
' profoundly impressed by the recollections excited by
his liberation—beholding in the head of the French
Democracy, in the man to whom he would be per-
sonally indebted for his release, the descendant of that
great and terrible warrior whose victories are che-
rished by the children of the desert, and whose name
is mentioned among them under the title of the
Sultan of Fire. Whatever might be the motives
experienced by the Prince Louis NAPOLEON, by the
Emir ABD-EL-KADER, or by the Marquis of LON-
DONDERRY respectively, the people both of France
and of England could not but exult in a proceeding
which would be literally one of graceful reparation,
an act in which the sin of falsehood would be covered
by the virtue of magnanimity.

The case of HARRIET ANNE NEWMAN, otherwise
Roneats, who was yesterday convicted at the Central
Criminal Court on a charge of wilful and corrupt
perjury, is one of a most extraordinary and singular
character, in many respects deserving of serious at-
tention. The circumstances of the transaction, which
caused a deep sensation at the time of its occurrence,
must be fresh in the public recollection. The pri-
soner was found at a late hour sitting on a door step,
stupid, and nearly insensible, and quite incapable
of giving any rational account of herself. It
was supposed that she had been drugged
or " hocussed" for some improper purpose.
She was, accordingly, removed to the Royal Free
Hospital, where she remained five days before she was
sufficiently well to be discharged. On her recovery
she made a very strange statement, to the effect
that she had been induced to go out on the evening
in question, in consequence of having received a
letter, purporting to be signed by a young man,
named RO➢ERTS, who was then courting,
and had since married her ; that, on going
to the place of appointment, she had, to her
great astonishment, met another man, who
forced her into a cab, and drove about with her
to various places. At length they arrived at a large
house, where something was given her to drink, which
had the effect of stupifying her. She was then as-
sailed by three elderly persons, in the garb of gentle-
men, who each attempted to obtain possession of her
person by force. These infamous and criminal as-
saults excited her for the moment, notwithstanding
the powerful soporific administered. She obtained a
knife, and with it succeeded in fighting her way out
of the house. She was again taken into the same cab,
and driven about in company with the person whom
she had first seen. She then became insensible, and
had no recollection of what subsequently took place
until she was found sitting on a door-step by the
constable as above mentioned. This improbable and
almost incredible narrative was received at the time
with almost implicit faith, and the deepest anxiety was
manifested to bring to justice the miscreants who had
been concerned in an outrage so abominable and
disgraceful.
The singular tale received some degree of confir-
mation from something which fell from a person
named DAY the evening after the alleged occurrence.
ROBERTS, the young man whose name had been made
use of, was in the gallery of the Standard Theatre,
accompanied by a friend, when he was accosted by
DAY, who in rather a jeering tone said, ".There you
are, DICE—I had such a spree with a girl last night,
and drove her in a cab round Poplar, Stepney, and
Limehouse." This statement directed suspicion to
DAY, more particularly as the route he indicated
was that which the girl declared that she
had been taken. lie was arrested on the charge,
and immediately identified by the prisoner as the

person who had been with her in the cab. He was
shortly afterwards brought before a magistrate and
duly committed for trial, and a Society undertook to
carry o❑ the prosecution, holding at naught, or set-
ting at defiance, the laws of, touching, and concerning
the offences of champerty and maintenance, /cc. &c.
Some doubts were cast upon the authenticity of the

tale even before the trial of DAT. He had, however,
been duly committed, the indictment was framed
with the utmost care, and the party was ar-
raigned in due course. Although the story was
of so startling a character, it found favour in the sight
of the jury, who were bound "to give the benefit of
any reasonable doubt to the prisoner," DIY was con-
victed, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment.
A memorial was, however, forwarded to the Secretary
of State for the Home Department, who, after mature
consideration, thought it a favourable opportunity for
the exercise of the Royal prerogative, and a free pardon
was accordingly granted to DAT, who was discharged
from custody.
The situation of the parties was then reversed.
The former prosecutrix W29placed in
trial, and the the dock for
that adduced on
box in turn. qTuohndam prisoner occupied the witness-
the evidencee was nearly the same as
a Verdiformer investigation. The jury
Aagains
iz o broughtnEßT
isnis now M custody awaiting the sen-
one (or both)
ict of " Guilty " and HARRIET
of
the
et strike
pence of the Court. The first
the observer is that
have fallen into the very serious and lamentablejles ermust
of improperly convicting an innocent person thatror
in this instance that which has been described as
" the Palladium of our national liberties"—the
trial by jury—has proved a lamentable failure.
In place of affording protection and security to
innocent persons, the great object for which it was
instituted, it had created the very evil it was intended
to prevent, and made one person at least wholly
guiltless of the offence laid to his or her charge
the victim of the law that should have guaranteed
his (or her) safety. We trust that persons who are
placed in the important and highly responsible situa-
tions of jurors in criminal cases—from whose judg-
ment there is no appeal, whose verdict may be
ruinous to the future prospects of the unfortunate
wretches whose very existence may depend on their
decision—will ponder these matters, and reflect on the

THE SUN, LONDON,

different duties imposed on them in civil and
criminal matters. In the former they are bound to
decide according to the weight of evidence—the
balance must be held with an equal and impartial
hand, and judgment pronounced in favour of the
party on whose side it inclines in any
degree, however minute. But in criminal
affairs it is wholly different. The guilt of the de
fendant must be established beyond the "possibility
of reasonable doubt." He is not to establish his inno-
cence, that must be presumed until his guilt is
clearly proved ; and the humane principle of the
British law, "that it is better that ninety-nine
guilty men should escape with impunity than that
one innocent person should be unjustly convicted,"
must, or at least ought to, be exercised in his favour.
We fear, however, that this theory is very frequently
not carried into practical operation, that haste or
petulance are sometimes permitted to enter the jury
box. It was an old complaint that—
" Wretches hang that jurymen may dine."

Something similar may be said at the present day ;
and this in some degree springs from the misappre-
hension that the acquittal of the prisoner brands the
prosecutor with perjury. In the present instance both
might have been acquitted ; and it would not have
followed because the young woman now awaiting her
sentence was mistaken in the identity of the party
that she bad wickedly, deliberately, and corruptly
stated that which she knew to be false. We trust
that Sir GEORGE GREY will direct his
serious attention to the case of the unfortunate
prisoner, HARRIET ANNE ROBERTS. The entire
transaction furnishes an additional and very powerful
illustration for the necessity of th• establishment of
a Court of Criminal Appeal, and, in that respect, is
eminently deserving the notice of Members of Parlia-
ment and of legal reformers.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

e have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The publication of the Siècle has been again sus-
pended, notwithstanding the caution with which the
writers in it have abstained from all comment on
passing events. The reason of the suspension is said
to have been the recommendation of the Siècle to its
friends not to abstain from voting in the approaching
election of President; in making this recommenda-
tion the Siècle was merely re-echoing the advice of
the Patrie, the Constitutionnel, and of the Count
DE MONTALEMBERT, but the Minister of the Interior
probably considered it improbable that the friends of
General CAVAIGNAC would vote in favour of Louis
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. It is also stated that the
editor bad refused to insert an article supporting the
claims of Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE to the Pre..
siden cy.
The Patrie says :
" The anarchical party, finding the impossibility of
being able to disturb the country by violence, have had
recourse to a trick in order to influence the ballot which
is to open on the 20th inst. Emissaries are going
through the country districts, endeavouring to mislead
the electors, by affirming to them that the question to
be solved is whether the French people wish that Louis
Napoleon should retire from power. They consequently
say that those who wish his maintenance should vote No.
It is to defeat this manoeuvre that the Minister of the
Interior has sent into the departments the following no-
tice, which is to be posted up in all the places where
electoral meetings are held:—
" MINISTRY OP THE INTERIOR.
" Notice to the French People.
"It is well understood that those who wish to maintain
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and to give him the power
to establish a Constitution on the bases pointed out in his
proclamation of the 2d December, must vote with a bul-
letin bearing the word Yes."
The proprietors of the journal, the Pays, having
announced the publication in its feuilleton of a literary
work of M. DE LAMARTINE, that gentleman has
written to the Debats to declare that he has had
nothing whatever to do with the Pays since the
events of the 2d, and that the work in question was
purchased from him previous thereto.
The Presse announces for publication as a feuilleton,
the autobiography of ALEXANDRE DUMAS. It will
extend to eight volumes.
M. DE LAROCHEJAQUELIN, the Legitimatist leader,
has published the following protest against the coup
d' iitat

" TO THE FRENCH NATION.

" An act whose results are incalculable has last been
perpetrated. The constitution is overthrown, the Na-
tional Assembly unlawfully dissolved by the Executive
power, the freedom of a great number of representatives
violated, and the arbitrary caprice of an individual is
set up in the place of law. Long have I desired to
raise my voice, and call on France to put an end to the
succession of adventurers who dishonour her ; then
might we save France and those principlus
without which no nation can be truly great. But
my endeavours were misunderstood and thwarted.
Since the appeal to the nation, as it is made by M. Bona-
parte, is altogether wanting in those conditions and
features which alone can ensure the honour, freedom,
and truth of an appeal to the people, I protest, with all
the energy of my conviction, against that act, and the
illegal proceedings by which it is accompanied. Personal
preference and compulsion are alike employed to give a
peculiar directio❑ to the expression of the national will
in a manner which wounds every conscience, and must
arouse the indignation of every free man. The consti-
tutional prerogatives which M. Bonaparte, under the
hollow pretext of a delegation, usurps, would hurl us
once more into inconceivable contusion. The time for
Caesars cannot have come for France. As a defender of
the principle of the national sovereignty, I must loudly
protest, even if I stand alone, against the present viola-
tion of this principle. May my sad forebodings for my
native country nut be realised. May France see at
length that her help lies in her own bands, and that in
a Republic no one has the right to dispose of the desti-
nies of the land except according to the free and full
expression of the public will."
MM. VATISMENIL, BARTHELEMY, and other Legi-
timatist notabilities, have addressed circulars to their
adherents in the departments, urging them to vote
against the PRESIDENT.
It is said that at Meta the garrison was not at all
unanimous in favour of the PRESIDENT. Out of 110
sous-officiers who are in the military college of that
place only four voted for Louis NAPOLEON; all the
others voted against him. In the Polytechnic School
iu Paris the whole of the scholars who are electors
voted against him. Among them is the young Prince
DE POLIGNAC.

General OUDINOT has written an extremely ener-
getic letter to the Minister of War, in which he
expresses his indignation at the insult cast on him in
the motives alleged by the Government for the pro-
motion of General VAILLANT to the rank of Marshal
of France. He has also written a letter to the POPE
on the subject. It will be remembered that the POPE
wrote a letter to General °ODIN(); thanking him for
his services.

The following protest has been adopted by the
Council General of Morbihan _ _ _

" Upon the-intelligence of the grave events which have
just occurred, the undersigned members of tho Council-
General of Morbihan, faithful to the honourable engage-
ments assumed by them in their sessions of 1848, 1849,
1850, and 1851, spontaneously assembled in the chef lieu
of the department, where they passed unanimously the
following resolution.—
"' Considering that the 68th article of the Constitution
declares that every measure by which the President of
the Republic dissolves tho Assembly, prorogues it, or
places any obstacle to the exercise of its decrees, is a
crime of high treason,
" The undersigned protest with all the power and
energy they possess against the flagrant violation of the
Constitution, the violent dissolution of the National As-
sembly, and the odious outrages consummated upon the
persons of the representatives of the people.
" Deeply sensible, however, of the dangers which
menace society, they appeal to their fellow citizens to
maintain the calm and firm attitude which belongs to
law and right, and not to complicate, by violent and
intemperate manifestations the situation of the country,
now become so grave.
" Signed by 22 members present; nine members
of whom three were absent at Paris; one mem-
ber arrested.' "

Several lithographic bills and circulars attacking
the PRESIDENT have been clandestinely distributed :
in these his " bid" for the support of the parli-pritre
is not forgotten. The following is an extract froco
one of them.
" ' ART. IV. OF THE CONSTITUTION.

" The right of instruction is free.
" Consequ ntly, M. Montalembert and his friends,
the Jesuits, are alone charged with the instruction of
youth."
In justice to Louts NAPOLEON, however, it should
be recollected that it was the Assembly, led by
TRIERS, CIIANGARNIER, DUPIN, DE LAROCHEJAQ.UE-
LIN, DE FALLoux, who confided the instruction
of the youth of France to the Jesuits.
The Patric states that the reports of military exe-
cutions in the Champ de Mars, the Court of the Pre-
fecture, and other places, are calumnious inventions,
entirely devoid of the least foundation of truth.
The Constitutiomuu, iu order to prove the existence
of a plot for dtposiug the PRESIDENT, publishes two
drafts of decrees seized in the apartments of M.
RAZE, and drawn up without the knowledge of tha
President of the Assembly. The first decree is as
follows :

" The President of the National Assembly, seeing the
32d article of the Constitution in these terms, ' The
Assembly determines the place of its sittings; it fixes
the importance of the military forces established
for its security, and disposes of them.' Seeing the 112th
article of the regulations of the National Assembly
in these) terms:—The President is charged to watch over
the internal and external s, curity of the National As-
sembly. To this each he exercises, in the name of the
Assembly, the right conferred upon the legislative
power by Art. 32
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