The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-12 00:00:00

PASS.PORTd AT BOULOGNE.

We have been favoured by the Boulogne agent
of the South Eastern Railway Company with the
copy of a letter just received by the Sous Prefet of
the arrondissement of Boulogne from the Prefet of
the Department, giving instructions for a modifica-
tion of the passport regula!ions at that port. The
foll(Ning is a translation of the letter :

"Prefecture of the Pas do Calais, ht Division,

"Arras, July 7, 1858.
" Monsieur the Sous Prefet,—The Boulogne
Chamber of Commerce has addressed to M. the
Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Publio
Works, by whom it has been referred to the Minister
of the Interior, a resolution passed with a view to
obtain, on behalf of the French and foreign inhabi-
tants of the arrondissement of Boulogne, domiciled,
eslablished, and well known there, the same facili-
ties of embarkation and disembarkation as were
autliorised previously to the circular of the Ist of
March last.

"M. the Minister of the Interior informs me
that under present circumstances he does not see
that there would be any inconvenience in those
facilities being re-established to the same extent
as before—that is to say, upon condition that the
persons who may be called on to avail themselves
of the advantage of this permission shall be allowed
to embark or disembark upon producing their
cursionists' passes, or permits delivered by the
police authorities of Boulogne and Calais.
" I beg, you M. the Suns Prefet, to transmit to
them inst:ructions to this effect. This determina-
tion, moreuver, smislies the desire expressed in
your letter of the Gth of July inst.
(6i6:ned) " The Prefect DE TAULAY."

APPEALS IN CRIMINAL CASES.

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It is represented that juries would estimate their •
responsibility more lightly if they deliberated with
the knowledge that their decision was not neces-
sarily conclusive. We may ask, in reply, whether
this is found to be the case in civil actions—whether
there is the least reason to suppose that juroraine
dulge themselves in greater laxity in dealing 'with'.
questions of property because they know that 'the
party against whom they decide may carry his case
to the highest court in the land ? In one class of
cases it is probably true that juries would, under
the proposed system, bear their responsibilities with
greater ease to themselves, and by their so doing the
interests of substantial justice would be greatly ad-
vanced. It notoriously happens not infrequently
in trials for murder that twelve jurymen will
acquit a prisoner of whose guilt they cannot
be supposed to entertain any reasonable doubt,
because they shrink from sending a fellow-creature
to death while they fancy there is a possibility of
error. From such compunctious weakness they are
clearly much more likely to be free if they can be
assured that any mistaken deductions which they
may draw from the evidence are liable to be revised
by another tribunal, which will also have the power
of taking into consideration any facts which may
have been unknown at the time when they were
called upon to pronounce their verdict. In
this way the effect of a recognised mode of
appeal would, probably, have been to prevent
the escape of some of the unconvicted mur-
derers who, there can be no doubt, are now walk-
ing abroad in society as the result of certain abor-
tive proceedings which have attracted alargeshare
of attention during the last two or three years. By
working in a somewhat analogous way on the mind
of the Minister intrusted with this department, the
system would also save us occasionally from wit-
nessing the commutation of a capital sentence in
cases where public opinion does. not. go with
the leniency of the Crown. As the law stands,
however heinous may be the crime asc ibed to
any convict on whose behalf an effort is made,
the Secretary of State, if some slight misgiv-
ing as to time question of actual guilt be -awa-
kened in his breast, has no resource but to reduce
the punishment. We need only glance at the
cases of Celestine Somers and of the Irish. artist •
who murdered his wife on the sea-coast near
Dublin to illustrate the practical absurdities' in
which we are involved by the unjust test to which'
we expose the natural weakness of the administra-
tors of the law. Were it possible for every conviction
to Le exhaustively investigated before it came into
the hands of the'Crown we should have fewer instan-
ces of persons confined in Her Majesty's gaols who.
unquestionably ought to be banged if they are
guilty ; while, if they are innocent, they should as
certainly be free. The establishment of a regular
method of appeal on matters of fad would thus tend
to produce consistency in the administration of the
law as well as to impart additional certainty
to conviction. It is fully in accordance with •
the humane spirit in which our criminal code
his been reformed during the last 30 years. By
common consent the consideration of the subject.
has been postponed until next session, but the.
utility and importance of the desired change may
be considered to be established. —Mattcheste
Gvardian.