The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-18 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

CURIOUS POINTS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW.—The Judi-
cial Committee of the Privy Council has before it a case
of right of way to a family vault, in which the counsel has
been requested to address himself to the following points :
Whether a minister can be compelled to perform the
burial service where he has to stand on unconsecuted
ground, and the use of the vault in case of the owner of
the vault changing his religion.

£l,OOO DASIAGSB AGAINST A RAILWAY CODITANY.—On
Monday, at the Liverpool Assizes, an action was brought
by a traveller, named Hyatt, against the Midland Rail-
way Company to recover compensation for injuries sus-
tained by a collision on the defendant's line near Stavely
Station in March last. The company did not deny its
liability, and the medical testimony shewing that the
plaintiff would not be able to resume work for some years,
and that he never would permanently recover, the jury
awarded £l,OOO damages.

ACTION FOR ASSAULT AGAINST THE SON OF THE LATE
LORD MAYOR.—Mr. Justice Blackburn and a common
jury tried the case of Stoner v. Phillips, which was an
action for assault against the son of Sir Benjamin Phillips,
late Lord Mayor. The plaintiff was a provision merchant
at Ormskirk, and had edited the Philanthropic News.
He came to London for the purpose of starting anewspaper,
and wrote to Sir B. Phillips about his scheme. No answer was
returned to the letters, and plaintiff called on Sir Benjamin.
Defendant asked plaintiff his name, &e. Having told
him, plaintiff proceeded to say that he intended to
animadvert on Sir Benjamin Phillips's public conduct in
the newspaper he was about to establish, and defendant
immediately took him by the shoulders and thrust him
out of the office. Plaintiff now sued for damages on
account of injury sustained. He admitted that he had
written to Sir Benjamin, addressing him " Sir —.
Phillips, Knight, a boasted Liberal that accepts a
paltry knighthood from a tractarian Tory Prime
Minister." He considered he was a Briton striking home.
Before the case was concluded the jury said they had
heard enough, and immediately returned a verdict fo/
the defendant.

THE OATH OF UNBELIEVERS.—In the case of Brad-
laugh v. De Rin, which was an action upon a bill of ex-
change tried in the Court of Exchequer, Mr. Bradlaugh
(" Iconoclast ") came forward to give evidence. Mr.
Keane, the counsel for the defendant, objected to his
being sworn, on the ground that he was an avowed
Atheist. The judge said he would take on himself to
allow Mr. Bradlaugh to affirm. Ultimately the counsel
for the defence admitted the facts that Mr. Bradlaugh was
called to prove.

. SUB-WARDER OF THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION SENT
TO PRISON.—At the Old Bailey, before the Common
Serjeant, Alfred Williams, a sub-warder of the House
of Correction, was indicted for stealing £2 100.
The prisoner, by the influence his office gave him, got a
convict, named Burton, to send by him (prisoner) to the
convict's father a request for money. By representing to
the parents that their son would obtain pudding, &c., if
they gave him the money, the prisoner obtained the
amount he was charged with stealing. The jury found
him guilty, and he was sentenced to twelve months'
imprisonment.

STEALING BOOKS FROM MR. BOHN, THE PUBLISHER.—
James Irving Carl was sentenced in the same court to five
years' penal servitude for stealing £l5 from Messrs.
Dunnett and others, and for stealing a quantity of printed
books belonging to his master, Mr. Bohn, the publisher.

ATTEMPT TO POISON A MAN AT LISKEARD.-At the
Liskeard Police-court, John Coath, of Liskeard, painter,
was summoned by William Inch, of the same place,
miner, " for feloniously and maliciously administering
a certain noxious drug, called opium or laudanum, to
the said William Inch, with intent to do him grievous
bodily harm." Several witnesses were examined at some
length, the principal one being Mr. Corin, surgeon, who
deposed to being called in on the evening of the 7th inst.
to attend the complainant, who was suffering from a strong
narcotic and seriously ill, his face being distorted. He
gave him an emetic, which took effect, but complainant
continued seriously ill during the night, but on the follow-
ing day was a little better. Coath, who for many years
past has been addicted to intemperate habits, being still
under the influence of alcohol, was remanded by the magis-
trates, bail being refused.

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S COURT OF APPEAL.
—The Archbishop of Canterbury (assisted by Sir Travers
Twiss) has been engaged in hearing the case of the Rev.
S. Boucher v. the Bishop of St. Asaph and Bangor, &c.
It was an appeal on the part of a clergyman who had
been dismissed from the head mastership of a training
college by the managing committee. The question raised
is whether the archbishop, as visitor of the institution,
has a right to decide a case relative to the appointment or
removal of a principal. Judgment was reserved.

Two MEN KILLED.—An explosion took place
in Belfast on Saturday evening, in a mill belonging to the
Northern Spinning and Weaving Company. Two men,
named Andrew Porter and Edward Bruce, went into a
boiler house to do some work at the flange of one of the
pipes. When they began to unscrew the !I ,:nge the steam
violentlyc.-2caped, bursting the pipe, and immediately filling
the room with the vapour. The two men were suffocated
on the spot, and their blackened and scalded remains were
found coon afterwards near the place where they were
working.

DISTRESS IN BEDFOIIDSHIRE.—Owing to the
increased disuse of straw as a material for bonnets, the
straw trade—on which thousands of the residents of
Bedfordshire and the immediately contiguous districts
entirely depend for their sustenance by plaiting and
otherwise preparing the material for manufacture—is
depressed to an unprecedented extent, and several suspen-
sions of traders in straw have been announced during
last week. The poor people of Leighton Buzzard, Luton,
Newport Parnell, Tring, and other towns and villages,
especially the females, have already begun to experience
much distress ; and the applications to the local boards of
guardians for relief have materially increased within the
last fortnight, and are sure in a short time to be so nume
rous as to severely test the capacity of the several work
houses, and the existing funds of the different unions in
the district.

211 E PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

'The following is the full text of the President's
Message to Congress :
Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Re-
presentatives,—The continued disorganisation of
the Union, to which the President has so often
called the attention of Congress, is yet a subject of
profound and patriotic concern. We may, how-
ever, find some relief from that anxiety in the re-
flection that the painful political situation, although
be/ore untried by ourselves, is not new in the expe-
rience of nations. Political science, perhaps, as
highly perfected in our own time and country as
iin any other, has not yet disclosed any means by
-which civil wars can be absolutely prevented. An
evdightened nation, however, with a wise and benc-
ficent constitution of free government, may diminish
their frequency and mitigate their severity by
directing all its proceedings in accordance with its
fundamental law. When civil war has been brought
to a close it is manifestly the first interest and duty
of a State to repair the injuries which war has in-
flicted, and to secure the benefit of the lessons it
teaches as fully and speedily as possible. This duty
was upon the termination of the rebellion promptly
accepted,not only by the Executive Department, but
by the insurrectionary States themselves, and resto-
ration in the first moment of peace was believed to
be as easy and certain as it was indispensable. These
expectations, however, then so reasonably and cenfi-
dently entertained, were disappointed by legislation
from which I felt constrained, by my obligations to
the constitution to withhold my assent. Itis therefore
a source of profound regret that in complying with
the obligation imposed upon the President by the con-
stitution, to give to Congress from time to time in-
formation of the state of the Union, that I am un-
able to communicate any definite adjustment satis-
factory to the American people of questions which
since the close of the rebellion have agitated the
public mind. On the contrary, candour compels
l me to declare that at this time there is no Union as
our fathers understood the term, and as they meant
' it to be understood by us ; the Union which they
established can exist only where all States are re-
presented in both houses of Congress; where one
State is as free as another to regulate its internal
concerns according to its owu will, and where the
laws of central government, strictly confined to
matters of national jurisdiction, apply with equal
force to all the people of every section. That such
is not the present state of the Union is a' melan-
choly fact; and we must all acknowledge that the
restoration of the States to their proper legal rela-
tions with the Federal Government and with one
another, according to the terms of the original com-
pact, would be the greatest temporal blessing which
God in his kindest providence could bestow upon
this nation. It becomes our imperative duty to
consider whether or not it is impossible to effect this
most desirable consummation. The Union and con-
stitution are inseparable : as long as one is obeyed
by all parties the other will be preserved, and if one
is destroyed both must perish together. The de-
struction of the constitution will be followed by
other and still greater calamities. It was ordained
not only to form a more perfect union between the
States, but to " establish justice, insure domestic
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and ourposterity." Nothing but implicit
obedience to its requirements in all parts of the
country will accomplish these great ends. With-
out that obedience we can look forward only to
continual outrages upon individual rights, inces-
sant breaches of public peace, national weakness,
financial dishonour, the total loss of our prosperity,
general corruption of morals, and the financial ex-
tinction of popular freedom. To save our country
from evils so appalling as these we should renew
our efforts again and again. To me the process
of restoration seems perfectly plain and simple.
It consists merely in a faithful application of the
constitution and the laws. The execution of the
laws is not BOW obstructed or opposed by physical
force ; there is no military or other necessity, real
or pretended, which can prevent obedient.; to the
constitution, either North or South. All rights
and all obligations of the States and individuals can
bs; protected and enforced by means perfectly con-
sistent, wish the fundamental law. The courts may
be everywhere open, and if open then their process
would be unimpeded, and crimes against the United
States can be prevented or punished by proper
judicial authorities in a manner entirely practicable
and legal. There is, therefore, no reason why the
constitution should be disregarde I and violated at
the mere naked will of this government, or of some
one or more of its branches. Is there auy obstacle
that can exist to a perfect union of all the States
on this momentous question, and some of the
measures growing out of it ? I have had the mis-
fortune to differ with Congress, and have expressed
my convictions without reserve, though with be-
coming deference to the legislative department.
These convictions are not only unchanged, but
strengthened by subsequent events and further
reflection. The transcendent importance of the
subject will be a sufficient excuse for calling your
attention to some of the reasons which have so
strongly influenced my judgment. I hope that we may
all finally concur in a mode of settlement consistent
at once with our true interests and with our sworn
duty to the constitution, which is too natural and
too just to be relinquished. It is clear to my ap-
prehension that the States lately in rebellion are
still members of the national Union. 'When did
they cease to be so? The ordinances of secession
adopted by a portion—in most of them a very small
portion—of their citizens were mere nullities. If
we admit now that they were valid and effectual
for the purpose intended by their authors we sweep
from under our feet the whole ground upon which
we justified the war. Were those States afterwards
expelled from the Union by war? The direct con-
trary was averred by this Government to be its pur-
pose, and was so understood by all those who gave
their blood and treasure to aid in its prosecution.
It cannot be that a successful war waged for the
preservation of the Union had the legal effect of
dissolving it. The victory of the nation's arms was
not the disgrace of her policy ; the defeat of seces-
sion on the battle-field was no triumph of its law-
less principle ; nor could Congress, with or without
the consent of the Executive, do anything which
would have tho effect, directly or indirectly, of
separating the States from each other. To dissolve
the Union is to repeal the constitution which holds
it together, and that is a power which does not be-
long to any department of this Government or to
all of them united. This is so plain that it has been
acknowledged by all branches of the Federal Go-
vernment. The Executive (my predecessor as well
as myself) and heads of all the departments have
uniformly acted upon the principle that the Union
is not only undissolved, but indissoluble.
Congreis submitted an amendment of the con-
stitution to be satisfied by the Southern States, and
accepted t heir acts of ratification as a necessary and
lawful exercise of their highest functions. If they
were not States, or States out of the Union, their
consent to a change in the fundamental law of the
Union would have been nugatory, and Congress in
asking it committed a political absurdity. The
judiciary has also given the solemn sanction of its
authority to the same view of the case. The judges
of the Supreme Court have included the Southern
States in their circuits, and they are constantly iu
banc and elsewhere exercising jurisdiction which
does not belong to them unless those "States are
States of the Union. If the Southern States are
component parts of the Union the constitution is the
supreme law for them, as it ,is for all the other
States. They are bound to obey it, and so are we.
The right of the Federal Government, which is clear
and unquestionable, to enforce the constitution
upon them, implies correlative obligations on our
part to observe its limitations and execute its guar-
antees. Without the constitution we are nothing ;
by, through, and under the constitution we are
what it makes us. We may doubt the wisdom of
the law; we may not approve of its provisions, but
we cannot violate it merely because it seems to con-
fine our powers within limits narrower than we could
wish. It is not a question of individual, or class,
er national interest, much less of party predomi-
nance, but of duty, of a high and sacred duty,
which we are all sworn to perform. If we cannot
support the constitution with the cheerful alacrity