The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-05 00:00:00

OLD COURT.

The April session of this C.turt commenced this morn
ing at the Old Bailey, before the Lord Mayor (Sir R.
W. Carden, Kni., M.P.), Sir C. Marshall, AHertnan
Fitrneo.ube, Al,ieriipsn Sir F. G. Moon, Bart., Alder-
man and Sheriff Allen, Mr. Under-Sheriff Millard, and
Mr. Under-Sheriff Parker.

The calendar contains the names of 143 prisoners for
trial, embracing one charge of murder; one as accessory
before the fact of murder ; one for bigamy, three for
forgery ; thirteen for burglary, and three for malieiou,ly
wounding. The remaining cases are of the ordinary
character.

The grand jury having been sworn,
The learned Recorder charged them with reference to
the cases in the calendar, He explained thelarge num-
ber of prisoners for trial as arising more from the
lengthened period that elapsed between this and the
last session, than from an increase of crime, and said the
cases generally were not of a very serious cbaracter. He
was, however, sorry to say there was one charge a
wilful murder, viz., that of Giovanni Lani, for the wilful
mu: der of Heloise Tauhin. The general evidence against
him from the depositions that had been returned was
that the woman was found dead in the evening and had not
been seen by any one since the previous night. The
prisoner spent that evening in her company, and was
seen to leave the house about 7 o'clock in the morning
of the day on which the woman was found dead. He
was shortly after taken into custody, when property was
found in his possession which the murdered woman hail
in her possession immediately before she was seen in the
prisoner's company, There were three charges of man-
slaughter, but by some accident or other he had only
before him the deposition in one case—that of the man-
slaughter of a lad on board ship. There could be no
doubt that the cause of death in point of law came under
that of manslaughter, but he thought it would be
found to be a case differing in degree to that
which ordinarily ranked under that name. The next
case of a serious description was a charge of arson with
intent to defraud an insurance office. The evidence, as
was usual in such cases, was of a circumstantial character,
but it would be their duty narrowly to watch the
evidence to see that it led to the conclusion that the pri-
soner set fire to the premises with the intention laid in
the indictment. The next case to which he then directed
their attention was one, happily, not of an ordinary
description. Simon Bernard was charged with conspiracy
with other persons to assassinate the Emperor of the
French. It was not necessary for him to call
their attention minutely to the facts of the case,
and still less to call their attention to the law of
the case. Supposing there should be any doubts as to
whether the English law was applicable to cases of this
kind, he could scarcely imagine they could reasonably
entertain it, but leave it to be discussed at another time
and before another tribunal. Their duty would be to
ascertain whether the facts proved before them were
sufficient, in their judgment, to call on the prisoner to
answer the charge of conspiring with others to effect the
object charged in the indictment. In such a case they
must not expect to have direct evidence of the charge,
because persons engaged in the pelfsrasance of wicked '
actions, did not openly engage in them or in the presence
of good :nen, and therefore the only direct evidence they
would obtain was that of an accomplice. Supposing such
to be laid before them, it.would be their duty to ascertain
whether there was any confirmatory evidence, from
purer sources than that of the accomplice, so as to lead
them to believe him, notwithstanding the suspicion his li
participation in the acts had cast on him. No such
person was examined before the committing magistrate,
and he (the recorder) was not aware if such would be
produced before them. Supposing the same evidence was
laid before them as was taken by the magistrate, it would
appear that on the 14th January last, an attempt was
made to assassinate the Emperor of the French, in which
two persons named Orsini and Rudio were engaged, but
they were unknown to many of the witnesses by those
names, but Orsini as Allsop, and Rudio as Da Silva.
The evidence would go to show that the attempt to
assassinate the Emperor of the French was to be made
by the use of grenades, and that the prisoner dealt with
the particular ones used. Evidence would be adduced
to show that the prisoner sent the grenades to Brussels,
and was there in company with Orsini, and, i❑ connec-
tion with him, forwarded them by a person to Paris ;
that he purchased materials for making fulminating
powder, with which the grenades were charged ; and
that one of the persons engaged in the attempt was em-
ployed by the prisoner, provided with money and
clothes, and his wife maintained by the pri-
soner during her hetaband's absence in Paris, upon th
prisoner's business. Most of the evidence would be
given by foreigners, and as it was necessary they should
have a knowledge of the case to elicit the necessary facts
from the witnesses, if they wished it an officer of the
court should attend, acquainted with the facts of the
case, and assist them in examining the witnesses, and
elioiting the necessary evidence. The other oases, to
which he now called their attention, were those of True-
love and Tchersewski, charged with having published a
defamatory and malicious libel, concerning the Emperor
of the French, with intent to incite others to assassinate
the Emperor of the French. There was no
question that by the law of this country it was an
indictable offence to publish a libel on the head of a
foreign Government in amity with this country
with intent to defame and vilify him, but, at the
same time, in applying that law it was necessary to
consider it with caution, lest in any way they interfered
with the right of free discussion, which we in this
country possessed, because the same law that applied to
the bead of a foreign Government in amity with our
own, applied to the heads of our own Government, whose
conduct, and the character, tendency, and motives of
their acts, we claim a right freely to discuss. It was ex-
ceedingly difficult to define the exact boundary between
what constituted libel, and the right of exercising free
discussion, and in all cases of the kind it was necessary
to trust to the good sense and intelligence of grand
juries, before whom such charges were preferred, to
draw the boundary line, and it would be for them to say,
looking at the whole character of the publication, and
judging of the intention of the party by the tendency of
the language used, whether the object of the writer was
to vilify and defame, and go beyond that free discussion
to which he bad alluded. In the present cases
I the charges were not only for publishing false
and defamatory libels, but with intent to incite
persons to assassinate the Emperor of the French.
In the indictment passages from the alleged libels were
inserted, but it was not his intention to direct their at-
tention to them because the whole of the publication
would be laid before them. It, no doubt, sometimes
occurred that particular passages were greatly controlled
by the context, and it would be for them to say, looking
fairly at the whole of the publication, whether its natural
tendency was to incite other parties to assassinate the
individual he had named. Supposing they were of
that opinion, they would be bound in law as well as
common sense to presume it was the intention
of the party by whom the language was used to retur❑ a
true bill against the parties charged. By so doing they
did not decide the case, the party charged could not
offer an explanation of his conduct before them ; but if
they thought the case required further investigation, an
opportunity was then given to the parties charged of
explaining their language and its tendency, and it was
the duty of another tribunal to decide as to the guilt or
innocence of the party charged in the indictment.
The grand jury then retired.

EABLI MARRIAGES. —There was much more chance
of eaily marriages, and happy ones too, whin neigh-
bours of that large class who have children at their
desire, but little eubstanca to leave them, met as
neighbours : when personal intercourse was more unre-
strained ; when a lad could grow up in intimacy with
another family, and learn to call the girls by their
Christian names, without any fear of being asked his
intentions ; when there were such things as fishing
parties, and lounging in gardens, and country rides and
rambles on long summer mornings, and family dinners
and round games on winter's nights; not to speak of
extempore dances, to which no one minded going ai,d
returning eight or ten miles, packed into any kind of
conveyance, six inside, or, well wrapped up, three in a
gig—"the more the merrier." Those were the days,
not exactly when we were young, for they were rather
before our time, but of which our fathers have told us ;
those were the days to live in ! when it was not con-
sidered " ungenteel''—that was the old ward—or incor-
rect to walk home, if need were, two or three miles on
a clear frosty night ; or if the roads were muddy, it was
only a splashed ankle ; there were ankles then ; flounces
had not yet grown down to the toes. Men fell in love
in those days—they couldn't help themselves ; walking
into it deliberately, after debate duly held pro and con.,
is a much slower process. Suppose there was a stolen
kiss now and then : bless ns, don't be shocked, my dear
young ladies—it don't hurt nobody—it was not a whit
more improper, and maoh more pleasant, you may take
my word for it, than your present waltz and polka,
which we, remember, not so many years ago either,
felt our propriety shocked at. Oh ! if you only knew
the golden opportunities of those patriarchal times, you

16.094

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56s O sto 4s d Gto .: .. .
—a o —5 Od would be the first to head a ladies' crusade, in which I
1,330 844 thus volunteer the part of Peter the Hermit, to rescue
94,218 93.595
712 216 youth at least eut of the grasp of these infidel corivee-
-93,081 95,595 tionalities, whose god is Form, and Fashion his pro-
-01 9d 505 94 phet I—Blackwood'i Afaszine.