The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-26 00:00:00

THE BONN PROSECUTIONS:
•
-
Do in the Code Napoleon - ,;)
is on the= conduct of a s
used by the State Procnrab-
-2r and his abettors to inflict an indignity
on our countrymen at Bonn. It will be remem—
bered that when, on the examination into the case
of Mr. Macdone ifficial applied a number of
insulting epithets to the English travelling on thei
Continent, the English residents at Bonn signed a
protest in which the conduct of M. Moller was
spoken of in terms not more severe than were
warranted by the provocation, but too free for the
institutions which prevail even in the Wienish Pro-
vinces of Prussia. The inculpated functionary at
once proceeded against our countrymen for improper
14nguage uttered against him while tie was it? .dis-
charge of his public duties. What was thought o.f.
conduct in the first trial by the Prussian Govern-
ment is now well known to the world. Although
the creed at Berlin is that an official can do no
wrong, yet the spirit with which the matter was
taken up in England and remonstrances of the
British Legation induced the authorities to inquire
into the matter, and the result was that the Procura-
tor Moller was reprimanded and told to be more
guarded in his language for the future. However,
this could not prevent him carrying on his prosecu-
tion against the British residents at Bonn. They
had in their protest used language which might be
construed into a contempt of Court, and had in
particular charged the prosecutor with a "cowardly"
attack on the English nation. So Mr. Perry, who
drew up the document, and all who signed it, have
been brought to trial, and the process is only just
over. Sentence has been pronounced, and Mr.
Perry has been condemned to pay 100 thalers, or
undergo five weeks' imprisonment in default. Three
other gentlemen are Rued 25 thalers each, with nine
days' imprisonment in default.
The magistrates engaged in this second investi-
gation are acknowledged to have behaved with
all due courtesy ; and, no doubt, they were glad to
have an excuse for passing a comparatively lenient
sentence. But against any sentence at all we must
protest in the name of justjoe and common sense.
Whatever may be the technical merits of the case,
there is no doubt that Moller showed so much ne-
gligence in his duty and so bad a spirit in his re-
marks that any criticism on him is fully justified.
In the first place, if an officer of State is to be pri-
vileged in the performance of his duty, he is bound
to confine himself strictly to the matter in hand.
Moller might have inveighed against the defen-
dant ; he might have used all his influence, even
unfairly, to obtain a conviction, without justifying
the criticisms of the English residents, for he would
not have wandered from the strict limits of his
duty. But when, without cause, merely to gratify
his spleen againstthe English whomhe saw around,
he declaimed in an insulting tone and with the
coarsest language against a friendly people, he will
be thought by all unprejudiced men to have for-
feited the privilege of his office. The case, accord-
ingly, against the English defendants is so pecu-
liar, the circumstances are so exceptional, the pro-
vocation was so great, that an acquittal was the
only proper solution of the affair. M. Moller
should have been told that the comments were not
made on him in the execution of his duty, but in
doing something which was totally unconnected
with his duty—that is, giving way to his temper
and polluting a court of justice by an unseemly
harangue.
But, bad though the conduct of the State Procu-
rator would have been even were Mr. Macdonald
guilty, it is now proved to have been far worso.
If even the original defendant had behaved dis-
gracefully, if he had been in his own person all
that Moller described the English people to be,
still the Procurator's language would have been
indefensible. He would have had no business to
generalize, and to cast on a community the blame
due to one man. But it is now conclusively shown
that Mr. Macdonald's account of the affair was
perfectly correct, that the places were taken by
him, that he merely touched Dr. Parrow's wife
.when she entered the carriage, and indicated to
her that this was the case ; that the lady's hus-
band immediately began to storm, and called an
inspector, who, without giving any opportunity for
explanation, ordered Mr. Macdonald out of the car-
riage, and that Mr. Macdonald was morally, if not
according to police regulations, justified in refusing
to leave, It also appears that this very Dr Parrow
persuaded a lady who might have given evidence
to absent herself, and by these means aided in pro-
curing an unjust conviction. To the Procurator
Moller it, fell to make the preliminary examination
—it was his duty to sift the matter, and it was
owing to his negligence and stupidity that Mr.
Macdonald was brought into court at all. After
blundering in this first inquiry, and coming to the
c•rnclusion that Mr. Macdonald was in the wrongr
he takes upon himself most zealously the part a
prosecutor, and launches out in the manner so often
described. More than this, he, in accordance with
the usages lately exposed in the police trial at Ber-
lin, kept Mr. Macdonald for six days in v dirty
prison, when the whole matter ought to have been
s tiled in at most 48 hours. When all these delin-
queneis are put together, there is certainly suffi-
cient reason that Moler should be prevented from
wreaking his vengeance on onr countrymen for
' merely protesting against his most offensive acts.
It is now for the Prussian Government to say whe-
ther this sentence shall be carried into effect, and
also to decide whether some compensation is not
due to Mr. Macdonald for the scandalous treatment
which he has undergone. We sincerely trust that
our Minister at Berlin will not lose sight of this
affair. Foreigners are unable to understand the
importance which Englishmen attach to the per-
sonal treatment of their countrymen abroad, and
how the Bonn Railway case excites them as much
as any question of high policy, But our feeling is
the right one. Individual security is more essential
even than national greatness. The sum of a com-
munity's happiness is made up of the happiness of
its members, and every household among the upper
and middle classes of the United Kingdom will
find their safety and pleasure in foreign travel
diminished if the Bonn Railway case ends in the
victory of an uncourtly official.

• PLYMOUTH, Dec. 25.—1 t is very unusual for
snow to remain long on the ground in this vicinity, but for
nearly a week past the town and the neighbouring country
have been covered. 'The weather is, however, very calm.
The chief interruption to the regularity of the trains on the
South Devon, Cornwall, and Tavistock Railroads has been
caused by an increase of traffic exceeding the ordinary ave-
rage of the season.
RACES.—Wesee how much will has been expended
to extinguish the Jew, in vain. Look at, the unpalatable
conclusions of Knox, in his " Fragment of Races"--a rash
and unsatisfactory writer, but charged with pungent and
unforgetable truths. " Every race has ifs own habitat."
" Detach a colony from the race, and it deteriorates in the
crab." See the shades of the picture. The German and
Irish millions, like the negro, have a great deal of guano
in their destiny. They are ferried over the Atlantic, and
carted over America, to ditch and to drudge, to make corn
cheap, and then to lie down prematurely to make a spot of
green grass on the prairie.—The Conduct of Life, By
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
PERFECTION OF ART IN WATCH MANUFACTIIItts.
The stranger in London cannot fail to be struck with the
magnificent establishments of goldsmiths with which the
City abounds. Such displays as aro presented
tthoethweorelyde,
are rarely to be met with in any other city in
indeed whole fortunes are concentrated in their windows.
Foremost among such establishments is that of Mr. Ben:
son, 33 and 34, Ludgate-hill, which may
truly be called the
Home of Art. Everything exhibits the most perfect taste i
aril while the beautiful is thus cherished, the useful is also
carefully studied. Mr. Benson has gained a high positiOn
for the superior manufacture and artistic designs of ?if
watches especially." City Press.—Benson's illustrate°
Pamns trphletuction , post
of watch now free for two stamps, is descriptive of every
all parts of the globe, mad
e. Watches safe by Pest to
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