The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-20 00:00:00

THE LAW OF ASSAULT.

The judges and the magistrates have been very
Much censured of late—and justly sc—for punishing
offences against the person with fines. If a man
steals a chain he has Eeveral months' imprisonment.
If he is prevented
.from committing the crime of
theft, and nearly kills a man, deprives him of an
eye, or reduces considerably the number of his
dentals, be has a very good chance of escaping with
a fine. If he assail a policeman in the execution of
h's duty, he seems to have license to commit any
offence upon him short of murder, provided ho
comes down promptly with money the next day.
This, if we may believe the chief constable of Staf-
ford, is not the fault of the administrators of the
law, but of the law itself. A bench of
magistrates in petty sessions has summary power
to award an imprisonment without the option of a
fine for a period of two months for a common assault
on a civilian. For an assault on a policeman in a
borough the imprisonment is limited to one month ;
in the case of a county policeman it is the same as
for a civilian—two months. In either case, however,
of a policeman being the victim, the bench cannot
award the imprisonment without giving the ruffian
the option of paying a fine. The imprisonment is
only in default of payment. Surely some alteration
is required.

FOREIGN NOTES.
TLIR FRENCH ELECTIONS.

The period assigned by the law of France for the hold-
ing of public election meetings terminated on Monday
'evening without any further disturbances. The authori-
ties, however, seem to have been apprehensive. The
guard at the Tuileries, says the correspondent of the
Daily News, was increased by 500 men, who slept in their
accoutrements, with loaded Chassepots at hand. But
they have not been required. The political effervescence
caused by M. Emile 011ivier's meeting last Wednesday
lasted only forty-elght. hours. The polling earanleaces on
Sunday.

DEFEAT OF THE PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN HANOVER.
A
very exciting election has just taken place in
Hanover. The capital city of that Prussian province has
hitherto been represented in the Parliament of the North
German Confederation by Herr von Munchhausen,
formerly one of King George's Ministers. This
deputy resigned, and a fierce contest for his
vacant seat has just terminated. The national
Liberals, or Prussian party, put up a lawyer,
Herr Brande; the Socialists supported a workman named
York ; and the old Hanoverian party had as their can-
didate no other than Heir Ewald, the Gottingen Pro-
fessor, who was recently acquitted on a charge of high
treason, brou2llt against him by the Prussian Government
on account of a pamphlet, in which this eminent
scholar vigorously denounced the annexation of
Hanover. As might have been expected, a stirring
agitation preceded the polling. Many of the Hanoverian
party, afraid to oppose the Prussian candidate, and not
liking to support him, did not vote at all. Nevertheless
the Professor was returned by a large majority. Of 21,000
electors only 15,000 voted. Professor Ewald was elected
by 8,832 votes; Herr Brande obtained only 3,900, of whom
3,000 were Prussian employs ; and 2,400 electors polled
for the Socialist. The result, n face of King