The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-28 00:00:00

CRIME 1N FRANCE.

The last statistical returns of criminal justice in
France are examined by the Constitutionnet with a
view to showing that the number of offences has of
late years been steadily diminishing. Such an
improvement, our contemporary observes, coincides
with greater firmness in repression, greater promp-
titude in bringing the guilty to trial, and infinitely
fewer acquittals
"If we go back," says the writer, " to 1851, we
shall see the number of causes brought before the
Courts of Assize increase—at first, in small pro-
portions, it is true, until 1854, and from that
period go on constantly diminishing. In 1851,
5,287 causes were submitted to the jury ; that
number had, in 1854, risen to 5,525; and in 1859
it had decreased to 3,918. Crimes against
the person, placed highest in the scale of punish-
ments, have all diminished. Cases of murder
decreased from 280 in 1852 to 186 in 1859 ;
homicide, from 196 to 102; poisoning, from 38 to
28 ; and parricide, from 20 to 12. Infanticide
alone presents a sad exception, that crime having
gone on increasing in a frightful manner. From
164 in 1851, it amounted in 1859 to 226."

One other species of offence has, however, aug-
mented—namely, criminal assaults on both young
girls and grown persons. Of the former the num-
ber was 103 more in 1859 than in 1851 (718 to 615),
whilst for the latter the increase is not less than 51
per cent. The writer expresses a hope that great
severity shall be manifested towards this offence,
evincing as it does so great an increase in immo-
rality. The article then says :
" Incendiarism, which causes so much alarm in
the country districts, diminished in 1859, when
there were only 190 cases. In the preceding years
the number was greater : 223 in 1858 ; 239 in 1857;
and 286 in 1854. Let us hope that the diminution
which we now point out for 1859 may not be an
isolated fact. It is robberies attended with aggra-
vating circumstances which have decreased in the
greatest proportion. In 1851, 2,233 cases of that
kind were submitted to the jury; whereas the
number in 1859 was reduced to 1,329."

Speaking of the general statistics of crimina
oases, the writer observes :

It is not without interest to remark that in
the number of prisoners, which in 1859 was 4,992,
the proportion of females was 905, or about 18 per
cent. The number of condemnations to death was
36, of which only 21 were carried out, the remain-
der being commuted to hard labour for life. The
other sentences pronounced by the Court of Assize
were 152 to hard labour for life, and 856 for dif-
ferent periods; 811 to solitary confinement, and
1,880 to simple imprisonment. The number of
prisoners acquitted was 1,230. Theproportion
acquittals in the course of the year increased by
2 per cent., and that of the condemnations to in-
famous punishments decreased by 3 per cent."
On cases brought before the Correctional Courts,
the writer says :
"The police courts, which in 1858 had tried
171,490 cases, and 211,081 prisoners, had before
them in 1859 only 159,463 affairs, in which
196,163 individuals were implicated. This dimi-
nution is not abnormal, as that of 1858, as com-
pared with 1857, showed a greater one. In-
the course of those two years the number of correc-
tional affairs decreased by more than 25,000, or
nearly 14 per eent. This still enormous number of
159,463 affairs must be examined in its elements,
in order to ascertain exactly the criminality which
it represents. It must not be forgotten that it com-
prises 25,053 offences against the game laws ;
30,949 contraventions against the post-office,
fisheries, customs, &c. If we class the offences by
the penalties which they entailed, we find that
15,709 were acquitted; 97,044 condemned to a
simple fine; 71,217 sentenced to less than 12 months'
imprisonment, and only 9,096 to a more severe
punishment. To the above numbers must be added
3,097 children of less than 16 years of age, of whom
1,362 were delivered up to their relations, and
1,735 sent to Houses of Correction."

THE MORTAR CANNON.

_-.f___......

The following are further particulars relative to
the new French mortar cannon : _ _

The tube or barrel is formed of several cylinders
or rings of cast or wrought iron, its longitudinal
cylindrical parts affording the means of uniting the
rings. The interior of the tube is rifled by means
of a certain number of projecting spiral rods shaped
in triangular prisms. The tube can be lenthened at
pleasure. The breech of the gun is a mortar, to
which the tube is attached, and from which it
may be detached, either for the purpose of load-
ing it at the breech or of making use of it as a
mortar. It is alleged that this cannon cannot
become heated, that the process of cleansing
after each discharge is unnecessary, except as
regards the breech, and that it may be fired
five times during the space now required
to fire any other gun once. Another conse-
quence said to follow from the non-heating of the
barrel of the gun is, that there is no danger of burst-
ing, either from defect in the metal or from over-
charge. The gun may likewise be lengthened or
shortened at pleasure. The inventor states that a
gun throwing a shot of 120 pounds weight may
be taken to pieces and conveyed on the back of a
horse or mule over roads impassable for carriages.
He shows that there is a considerable saving in the
construction of this gun in consequence of the tube
being of open work, and of iron, in place of bronze.
It may be as light as is consistent with the resist-
ance which its weight must necessarily oppose to
the recoil produced by its discharge. The inventor
expects that this gun will supersede mortars, and
that every cannon mounted on a ship's deck may
be used both as a cannon and a mortar, and that a
ship which carries 40 guns may be said to carry
40 guns and 40 mortars.

77-,TITE BLACK PRINCE.—GLASGOW, Feb. 27.—The
Black Prince was successfully launched at five minutcs
lnfore 3 o'clock. She went off beautifully.
Although the quotation of exchange from New
York by the Kedar shows another unfavourable movement
of about a half per cent., it is not believed that shipments
of gold from this side can even now be made at a profit.
The remittances taking place are not entered into re
banking'transactions, but are simply ordered as direct
returns for the unprecedented quantities of cotton and
grain lately consigned to us. As cotton is as good and
almost as convertible as gold, our intrinsic position is
very little altered by the substitution of one for the other,i
and much of the disqu.etude occasioned by the operation s:
therefore without foundation,