The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-15 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1857.

A fifth Princess—and a fifth Parliament. These
are the boons, domestic and political, just vouch-
safed to the Sovereign. And her MAJESTY is but
- now in ber thirty-eighth year—in the first bloom
of her perfect womanhool With many years yet
of a peaceful and glorious reign before her, please
Goo! So youthful was she on ascending the
throne of her ancestors, so young her hand when
it first closed upon the sceptre, so smooth her
brow when it first felt the pressure of the awful
diadem of her Sovereignty ! Eighteen at the de-
mise of her immediate predecessor, VICTORIA has
now passed through more than half of her whole
lifetime as the regal head of our great Constitu-
tional Government. Twenty years! Considerably
beyond the average length of an entire reign.
And such years I—years tranquil for the most
part, both internally and externally. Yet at the
same time, with our social condition and foreign
relations convulsed at intervals, during the lapse
of that memorable period of nearly a quarter of a
century ! Rebellion requiring, one while, to
be repressed in England when Monmouth
became the head-varters of JOHN Fnosr's
lawless conspiracy. Insurrection at another time
demanding (according to the stern prero-
gative of the Crown) the temporary exercise
of dictatorial power for its suppression--when
SMITH O'BRIEN's frivolous audacity, threatening
the horrors of civil war, ended only in a ridicu-
lous skrimMage in a cabbage-garden ! A

third revolutionary outbreak in France—over-
turning a throne—leading to the incidental esta-
blishment, for three or four years, of a purely De-
mocratic
form of Administration ending at
last, as the first Gallic Republic ended, as our
own famous epoch of the Commonwealth ended,
in a simple but, we hope not, a permanent
and hereditary Dictatorship ! Various oriental
wars—the war in Affghanistan—the war in the
Punjaub--the war iu Scinde—the war in Persia
—two wars in China : the second of these wars,
in fact, only just now commenced A sanguinary
conflict with Egypt ! A still more bloody
and disastrous contest with Russia! The
imminent threatening of two ruptures with
the Republican Government of the United States!
But—as a "set off" against these internecine
struggles on either side of St. George's Channel—
as an ample compensation for these wars and
rumours of wars in the different continents—the
general maintenance and ultimate establishment
of Peace with the Chief of the Great Powers of
Christendom ! The consolidation of a defensive
and aggressive Alliance with our Gallic neighbours
—that ulterior realisation of the cherished day-
dream of CHARLES Fox and NAPOLEON BONA-
PARTE! The enormous aggrandisement of our
Asiatic territories, by conquest, forced upon
us by a succession of flagitious warlike demon-
strations—in Scinde, is the Punjaub, on the
banks of the Indus, among the windings and
wanderings of the Sutlej ! Together with which
events, contemporaneously with which achievements
—our commercial prosperity has been gradually,
at times rapidly and almost miraculously, expand-
ing ! Our social condition has been progressively
and appreciably ameliorated ! Our political ad-
vance has been steady—at intervals slow—but
in its results invariably satisfactory ! Such
are the epitomised facts—such briefly are
the succinct but suggestive themes for reflection,
in reference to the principal features of the first
twenty years of the memorable and glorious reign
of VlCTORlA—presented to the mind's eye, almost
at a glance, in this spring time of 1857, now that
there has been (almost simultaneously) vouchsafed
to Her MAJESTY—her ninth child and her fifth
Parliament.

This day the Grand Duke CONSTANTINE, Grand
Admiral of Russia, and head of the old Muscovite
or war party, is expected to arrive iu France.
His first visit will be to the dock-yard and arse•
nal of Toulon, doubtless with the view of ascer-
taining their capabilities and spying out their
weak points. It is said that extraordinary pre-
parations are made to render his reception of the
most flattering character. The French Minister
of Marine has proceeded to Toulon to meet the
Prince, who teste Sir ROBERT PEEL "by no
means gives one the idea of a frank and open-
hearted sailer." Even a higher honour was con-
templated, which, but for the unexpected firmness
of a Prince of the Imperial blood, would have
been bestowed on the visitor. Prince NAPOLEON
—cousin to the EMPEROR, and next heir to
the throne after the Infant Prince was
solicited by the EMPEROR personally to head
the cortege that awaited the arrival of the
stranger. A formal refusal was, however,
given. His Imperial Highness (and all honour
to him for the act) refused to disguise his real
sentiments, or to assume the appearance of con_
diality which he did not really feel. He declared
his readiness to withdraw from Paris, but he
could not, and would not, condescend to take the
part of a liveried lacquey, in a pageant of which
he did not approve. He is conscientiously op-
posed to the Muscovite tendencies of the EMPEROR.
His sentiments are those of a true-hearted friend
of freedom, who will resist even to th.li death the
Cossackising of Europe.
This independent proceeding of the Prince will
not, however, avert a series of entertainments de-
signed to render the visit a remarkable event,
scarcely second i❑ importance to that of the
Queen of GREAT BRITAIN to the Capital of Paris.
It is of course right that an illustrious visitor
should be kindly and honourably received.
But matters seem to be carried to an
extravagant extent in the present instance. The
Grand Duke is the great advocate of the tra-
ditional policy of Russia. It has been more than
hinted that it was his aggressive disposition t'lat
occasioned the late war, which cost the Western
Powers at least 150,000 lives and 150,000,00►01.
sterling ! Why, then, should there be the affec-
tation of rejoicing at the advent of one who merited
neither admiration nor respect.
It is said that after his visit to Paris the Grand
Duke proposes coming to England. We could
easily dispense with the proffered honour (?) from
which we anticipate neither pleasure nor profit.
Should he choose to come he will be received as
any ordinary visitor, but most assuredly the
English people will join in no fulsome demonstra-
tions of welcome. His elder brother, the present
CZAR, was kindly received, because the intentions
of Russia were at the time of his visit closely
veiled, and many were induced to yield
some degree of credence to the specious pretexts
of moderation which the AUTOCRAT was accus-
tomed to put forward. But now that the cha-
racter and views of CONSTANTINE are fully dew_
loped—that it is known that he is mainly
responsible for the lives of our gallant brethren
in the Crimea, and the addition to the Na-
tional Debt and the war taxation, we cannot
imagine that any Englishman will make the
slightest effort to render him honour. He will
not be insulted, but most assuredly he will not be
cordially welcomed.

We do not suppose that the peoplo of France
will act differently from those of England. But

we regret to sea the EMPEROR travelling out o:

his way to display his Muscovite predilections,

He may be assured that his cousin will receive
the greatest credit for the straightforward and

manly course which he has adopted. Frenchmen

have no great reason for admiring or loving the
House of Romanoff. The circumstances under

which ALEXANDER visited Paris cannot easily be

'orgotten, nor can the system of which the

Grand Duke may now be considered the rc.

presentative find any great favour in their

sight. They may be certain that the present
visit has in it some concealed object, which can-

not be regarded as very beneficial either fir the
liberties of France or the peace and tranquillity of
the world ! And, knowing this, they will not

uplift their voices, or raise their hats, on account

of the Grand Admiral of Russia, the represen

tative of her aggressive propensities.

We are happy to find that the proprietors and
other gentlemen connected with journalism in
Northumberland and Durham have determined, "in
grateful acknowledgment of the services of Messrs.
DUNCAN " (proprietors of the Durham Advertiser),
" and also as an act of justice to these gentlemen,"
to raise by public subscription a sum sufficient
to defray the costs in the late celebrated case of
DAVISON v. DUNCAN. The object is highly meri-
wrioui, and we trust that the inembrs of the
Fourth Estate in all parts of the kingdom will
readily participate in the proceeding so properly
inaugurated by their brethren of Northumberland
and Durham. A great principle was at stake;

and it was exceedingly desirable that the actual
state of the law should be clearly and distinctly
defined. But this desideratum should not be
attained at the sole expense of Messrs. DUNCAN.
As truly stated in the second resolution adopted
at the meeting, they " were defending not their
own interests and privileges only, but those of
British journalists and of the whole community."
The question at issue was simply this, whether
newspapers were justified in publishing a fair and
bona fide report of the proceedings, not merely
of an ordinary public meeting, but of the meeting
of a constituted body having the Control and
management of public funds, and which were
regarded in the locality with intense interest.
Had the publication not taken place the journal
with which the defendants were connected would
have been guilty of a gross dereliction of duty.
There was not the slightest imputation of any
vindictive or malevolent feeling. There was
nothing of malice. It was in the legitimate and
strictly honourable discharge of their duty that
Messrs. DUNCAN beeame liable to the charge, and
in defending the liberty of the Press they have
incurred costs to the amount of some 4001. ster-
ling, from which, under any circumstances, they
should be indemnified and saved harmless.

Nor is this all that they have accomplished for
their brother journalists. The anomalous state
of the law is reference to privileged reports, as
they are termed, but which may more justly be
described as fair and honest publications,
in which a particle of malice or improper feel-
ing cannot be traced, was so clearly exposed,
that the Lord Chief Justice of England
unequivocally declared the imperative neces-
sity for an amendment of the Law, and ob-
tained a vote for the appointment of a Select
Committee of the Upper House, to inquire and
report how far the rule now applicable to Courts
of Law may be applied to proceedings in Parlia-
ment and other assemblies.

This investigation has only been postponed,
and we may hope its ultimate effects will be to
liberate the Press from many, if not all, the re-
strictions to which it is now liable, and the griev-
ances under which it suffers. Even a successful
defence must cost the victor a large amount,
which he cannot recover from the other party,
and where, as in the case of Messrs. DuNoeN, a
mere formal verdict is given for the smallest coin
of the realm, the person so unfairly dragged be-
fore the court must bear all his own costs ! Is
t'iis just, or is it reasonable ? We think not.
And yet it is the effect of a mere legal fiction, one
of those obsolete fallacies that the common sense
of the nation has long since exploded. The
non-professional reader may easily understand
this from the fact that the declaration must
expressely allege malice on the part of the defen-
dant. If that were omitted the action must fall
to the ground, for without malice the defendant
would be legally exonerated—he had committed
no wrong. The constitutional law is thus clearly
developed, but unfortunately a judge-m. de law
has taken its place. Although malice may be
clearly disproved—although the defendant may
have exhibited the utmost readiness to do
all that any reasonable man could re-
quire, the question is not allowed to go to
the jury. The Judge decides it by declaring
that the mere fact of publication is not merely
presumptive, but conclusive proof of that malice.
All that journalists require is that the whole case
should be fully and fairly submitted to the jury,
and that their decision should be conclusive. The
man who acted above-board would be protected,
while the vindictive slanderer would
,be properly
mulcted in heavy damages and cost+. Contrary to the
general rule, persons occasionally speculate on the
untoward state of the law to enforce unreasonable
demands. They ignore every offer of reparation
until the attorney has run up an exorbitant bill of
costs ; and the final and expensive struggle talc's
place in reference to those costs—for damages are
utterly out of the question. If, then, in libel
cases the question of malice were to be decided
by the jury according to the actual facts, and
not from mere presumptions declared by the
Judge, and if the defendant should be held
entitled to his costs against the plaintiff whenever
the damages did not exceed is., leaving each
party to abide their own, when they were assessed
at between is. and 403., the Press would be re-
lieved from what frequently turns out a serious
grievance, and no person really injured would be
left without an adequate remedy. It is only what
are commonly called "Attorneys' actions" that would
be discouraged, and they should certainly not be
favoured either by the Legislative or Judicial
authorities. We trust that the subscription will
be properly responded to, and produce sufficient
not merely to indemnify Messrs. DUNCIA.N from all
pecuniary loss, but also to bestow on them a
handsome testimonial of public approval for their
honourable, manly, and straightforward conduct
throughout the whole of the proceedings.