The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-19 00:00:00

THE S.UN, LONDON, - MONDAY E V ENING;

he had been an " accessory before the fact," lie
would have been justly responsible, and we should
have regretted, in place of rejoicing at, his acquittal.
But SIMON BERNARD was no murderer. There
was a link missing in the chain of evidence. He
had been intimate with ORSINI, but so were many
other good and excellent men, against whom the
breath of calumny has not dared to utter a single
slander. He relieved RIIDIO and his young
wife ; but it would be hard indeed if an act of
simple charity towards a less fortunate refugee
should bring with it punishment in place of
applause. He was cognisant of the manufacture
of the grenades, and assisted in bringing them
into Belgium, and in forwarding the revolvers
purchased in Birmingham into France. But
there was nothing on earth to show that these
instruments were intended to be used against the
EMPEROR, or to inflict injury on any human being
either in France or elsewhere, save in the way of
bona fide war—a matter of which neither LOUIS
NAPOLEON, nor his accredited Ambassador to the
Court of St. James's could justly complain. We
fully credited, and what disinterested and unpre-
judiced person would not have credited, the em-
phatic denial of M. BERNARD of any participation
in the contemplated murder. It was not brought
home to him, and thanks be to GOD, England has not
yet substituted suspicion, or, what has been
called " notoriety," for proof, clear and convinc-
ing "proof." He was therefore properly ac-
quitted, and the questions that had been reserved
for the consideration of the 15 judges, must wait
another trial, where the complicity is more
clearly established.

There is another charge hanging over the head
of M. BERNARD, but we hope and believe that it
will not be persevered in. He is still under the
accusation of Conspiracy to Murder. But
the charge was to all intents and pur-
poses , the same that has been already
disposed, and it is a sound principle that no one
shall be twice placed in jeopardy on the same
charge. If M. BERNARD was guilty of the conspi-
racy laid to his charge, he would have been justly
and properly convicted, and we should not have
endeavoured to save him from the extreme
penalty, which he, in such case, would
have merited. But, believing him, to be innocent
—believing him to be the victim of unfortunate
circumstances, which occasioned suspicion, we
cannot help rejoicing at his escape, and blessing
the "trial by jury," which will receive a new
illustration in the eyes of all the peoples of
Europe by the result of this very remarkable trial.
The Maniteur has not given the result of the
investigation. The Debals dares scot give the
arguments of Mr. JAMES. An official blind ie
placed over the light that ought otherwise to have
been diffused throughout the length and breadth
of the land. But still the secret will become
known. The people of France will learn that
English judges, English juries, or English advo-
cates are not to be bullied, intimidated, or ca-
joled, and they will necessarily look for that great
blessing—a free trial by a honest, independent,
and unprejudiced jury.
There is another ind;.ctment hanging over the
defendant's head—one for the cotispiracy to mur-
der. But it would be an insult to the Jury, who
have delivered an honest and unimpeachable ver-
dict, to try it ; and that insult will not, we be-
lieve, be attempted by Sir FITZROY KELLY, who
displayed the most perfect fair play towards the
prisDuer.

So, then, the Sceptics were right ! There was
no PALMERSTON Reform Bill. A Conspiracy Bill
we all know there was, and none knows it better
than Lord PALMEE.STON ; there was time for that ;
there was time, too, for au India Bill, which a"ko
seems likely now to come to grief ; but, there was
no time for a Reform Bill ! Good intentions of
Reform, says Lord PALMERSTON, there were, but
good deeds there were not ; and as the latter are
the road to Paradise, and the former, according
to all Divine 3, pave the facilis descen.sus Averni,
the late Premier seems to be only another
illustration of the dogma of our spiritual police.
For his India Bill, good or bad, however, we
thank Lord PALMERSTON. He had the courage
to back the popular demand for the abolitio❑ of
the double Government ; he erred, perhaps, in
some points, as Lord DERBY erred in others, but
we do not wish to be unfair, or to withhold front
him the credit of complying with the general wish
of the country ; but what we do blame him for,
and what we consider to be the proof of his anti-
popular bias is—first, that ho could have ready,
at au hour's warning, two aristocratic bills—
secondly, that the popular one was not even
drafted. The India Bill, as he gave it us, an-
swered the people's demand for abolition of the
double Government, by opening fresh advantages
to our aristocracy ; the Conspiracy Bill was pare
subserviency to the Ruler whom our aristocracy,

our Whig aristocracy especially, have made their

pet. If India demanded prompt attention,
alterations in our criminal law rather demanded
consideration ; above all did the outrageous bully-

ing of the French Colonels, the complicity of the
EMPEROR through the Moniteur, and his direct
and insulting appeals through PERSIGNY and
WAnnwsKr, require that we should legislate on
the subject, if at all, with the utmost composure
and dignity. A Conspiracy Bill could have well
waited till next session.

We, therefore, hold that Lord PALMERSTON'S
reply to Mr. DIINCOMBE on Friday evening was
evidence enough, if we needed it, that he never
intended to let the Reform question come on at
all. That be intended to " hurry scurry " a bill
of any importance, together on such a subject in
the Easter holidays, no mortal politician will be-
lieve. He had all the time after his promise last
spring, till the short-lived Christmas fever of the
panic, which happily subsided far more quickly
than could have been expected, and left him
another good six weeks till February. He had
plenty of time, therefore, to put his bill together,
had ho been so minded. Besides, it ought to have
had precedence of the India Bill. There is no
question that the latter, though hardly if at all
second in importance, did not press in point of
time. After Easter would perhaps have suited
better where the subject on which we had to legis-
late was so remote, and the information respecting
it therefore less at hand. Lord PALMERSTON,
and it is useless for his supporters to disguiso it,

is quite as averse to Parliamentary Reform a;
Lord DERBY can be. For what liberal purpo,e
has he given his vote for many a long year ?
Some excuse was ever at hand for his joining the
Tories whenever a Liberal member divided the
house. Indeed, we can hardly remember the
time when on Reform questions ho has not been
a Tory.

Well, we deduce two lessons from the Noble
Lord's empty desk ; cue, that so far as v:e decided
Liberals are concerned, he is quite as well out of
office as in, or better. In all administratiTo mat-

ters the Tories are quite as good workmen, to r ay
the least, as the old Whigs. The positiou of thii go
is such, that iu regard to practical measures, either
party is but too glad to secure the reputation of
having done something well. In almost every.
thing but, what concerns the transfer of power to

the. people, the Tories are quite willing to be re-
formers ; quite as willing, certainly, as their party
opponents. The country has settled it that pro-
gress must be the rub., and it were childish, now,
to imagine that any Administration could lest to
a second session, which had not some respectable
advance to exhibit in its first one. Indeed, the
effort of the aristocracy of both the old parties is,
to divert us from political to legal and social re-
forms, and to keep us from pushing reform in
Parliament, by asking what more we should do if
it was reformed ?

The other lesson we should learn from Lord PAL-
MEaSTON'S everlasting proorastination is, to take
this work into our own hands. Between the
Whigs and Tories, as one of the journals of the
latter pertinently observes, the difference is, that
the Tories honestly say they would rather keep
things as they are ; the Whigs would rather do it
too, but do not say so. The people without,
therefore, and the really liberal members in the
house, and those whose services the people can
command, must all be brought to act together.
There ought to be one hundred real Liberals
surely, out of some four hundred who more or
less profess to be so, and if only that number
would combine to act steadily together, and avow
that they would concede their allegiance to no
Minister who would not concede the great points
in Parliamentary Reform, they would soon find
those who would bid for their support. It is but
for the independent members to declare unflinch-
ingly the political price of political support—to
convince the aristocrats that they could have it on
no lower terms, and they would get their price.
Since the great Reform Bill, so long promised,
is therefore now quite dismissed for this year, we
warn the House that it must no longer trifle with
individual Reforms. Mr. LOCKE KING will
soon test the slippery ones. The abolition of the
property qualification for England can surely be
no longer refused. When a person is lying in
prison for having been tempted to make a decla-
ration not more untrue, morally, than similar
declarations made by many others ; and when,
most scandalous of all, peers' sons, without a
penny in their pockets, are deemed qualified by
their aristocratic blood, how can the miserable
property qualification for a seat be longer main-
tained a If Mr. LOCKE KING'S motion be rejected,
we would advise him to give notice of a resolution
immediately, that until the property qualification
be repealed, Scotch members and peers' sons
ought to have the same qualification as other
candidates. Mr. KING will also bring forward
his motion for extending the ten-pound franchise
in the counties. Now, we should advise the in-
dependent members to declare, that if the Whig
leaders deceive them again, they would never aid
them to regain office again. Men who will refuse
such easy, simple, and necessary reforms, session
after session, do not deserve the support of the
really Liberal party.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

The revival of " King Lear," at the Princess's
Theatre, on Saturday, may be regarded as the most
important event in the history of the modern stage.
Our great tragedian attempted a character in which
the deepest emotions of human nature are repre-
sented with a terrific force, to which no other
part can afford a parallel, and succeeded to an ex-
tent that even his most sanguine admirers could
hardly anticipate.
His first appearance, when he was discovered on
his throne, surrounded by his three daughters, at
once created a burst of surprise and admiration.
Was that really Charles Kean with the white beard
and lock., and with the fourscore years and up-
wards stamped upon his countenance ? The man-
ner in which he successively addressed his daugh-
ters, his senile fondness, his disposition to sense-
less rage' brought, as it were, a new character on
the boards that had never been seen before. Mr.
Charles Kean's Lear does not totter till sorrow has
undermined him • his mental feebleness is not ac-
companied by physical debility; he is still a hale,
hearty, old man, who can take part in a hunting
expedition, and enjoy his joke when it is over.
The famous curse, which is called down by Lear
on the head of Goneril, and which for the moment
raises him to the level of an inspired seer, was ut-
tered with matchless power, and shook the audience
to the very depths of their hearts. The whole be-
ing of the aged father seemed absorbed into the
dominating feeling; his voice had become the or-
gan of imprecation only ; be was an embodied
curse ; and when the sentiment that actuated him
was exhausted, his sustaining power was gone, and
he fell completely senseless. The thunder of ap-
plause that arose at the end of the first act, and
summoned the great actor before the curtain, was
one of those ungovernable demonstrations that
genius can alone command.

But the immense power with which Mr. Kean
delineates the excesses of rage does not tempt
him to overlook the tenderness, which is, after
all, the foundation of Lear's nature, and the
scene with Goneril at the end of the first act, is
perhaps the most terrific ever witnessed on any
stage. The scene with both daughters at the
end of the second is the most pathetic. He has
already called upon " goddess nature" to visit
Goneril with childlessness, or to make her rear a
wester of serpent-like ingratitude. Now he
simply prays the gods to preserve him from un-
manly weeping. The efforts at rage are abor-
tive ; he constantly drops into tears, until a hor-
rible foreboding of his fate comes over him at
the words, "Oh fool, I shall go mad !"
Beet this tender nature of Lear, which Mr.
Charles Kean has approciatel with such wonder-
ful discernment,' and exhibited with such exqui-
site truth, receives its full development in the
recognition of Cordelia. The shriek of delight
with° which he clasps the one good daughter in
his arms, the countless little acts of endearment
that indicates a doating affection, the close em-
brace, which may not be broken, constitute a
wonderful exhibition of feeling. And when Cor-
delia is dead, and her aged father brings in the
corpse, the blank of his countenance shows that
all is lost to him for ever—the one sustaining
prop of his life is gone, and he can only lie down
and die. We have heard other actors louder in
their grief while showing Lear's bereavement,
but we never saw its paralysing effect so terribly
p ourtrayed.
Where Mr. Charles Kean obtained the know-
ledge of human nature which he displays in the
mad scenes we cannot conjecture, unless we sup-
pose that genius can take the place of experience
in arriving at the darkest facts of the mind.
Wonderfully minute are all the signs of intellectual
aberration ; marvellous is the power with which,
when the madness becomes methodical, Mr. Kean
calls up a distinct thought from the grand chaos.
His sarcasms are cutting ; the sudden return of
dignity at the words, " Every inch a king !"
startled the whole house.
The accessions of character which belong to the
Saxon period are exceedingly beautiful, but we
would distinctly impress upon our readers that it
is not by virtue of these, but by his fine acting,
that our great tragedian demands the enthusiastic
admi,atiou of the public. Nothing of an episodical
kind is introduced throughout, and the beautiful
tableaux that occur in the course of the piece are
always for the purpose of assisting the action. One
of the most striking scenes of all, the primitive
" room of state" in King Lear's palace, ornamented
with heads of game and hunting implements in a
manner that would do honour to "a fine old Saxon
gentleman," admirable as a picture, is still more
admirable from the conspicuous manner in
which it marks out the beginning of the tale, and
shows, combined, all the personages included in
its development. Th,re is the old King, and there
are the three daughters gathered together. All
seem under the influence of unmitigated sunshine ;
the difference between genuine love and hypocracy
is not yet discovered ; and Lear may fancy that lie
has at la-it attained the highest degree of felicity
that can fall to the lot of wan. In a few minutes
that group will be broken up, and those who com-
posed it will never be brought together again by
an attraction of love simulated or real. The worst
passions, and the deepest sufferings, are ready to
break from beneath that surface, apparently so
smooth and fair. The history of that group is told
by our greatest poet in the grandest scenes of which
the world can boast ; the misery inflicted on the
principal personage, the kind, good old man, whose
heart was made for love only, is delineated with
surpassing accuracy by the greatest actor of his
day.

The calls for Mr. Kean at the end of the first
and second acts, and at the close of the entire
play, accompanied by the waving of hats and hand-
kerchiefs, were the most genuine tribute of admi-
ration ever paid to transeendant genius by an en-
lightened public.