The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-13 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1867,

" The leopard will not change its spots, the
Ethiope his skin." Russia still pursues her
traditional policy with indefatigable zeal. By the
events of the late war, which cost to this country
so much blood and treasure, the Muscovite snake
was merely "scotched, not killed." She did not
abandon a single design of self-aggrandisement ;

took her discomfiture with as much cooluess as the
late DANtgr, O'CONNELL the censure from the
chair of the House of Commons ; and to show her
sense thereof brought forward a fresh motion the
moment the jobatur had been concluded.
Her present proceedings are partly directed
against Circassia. She seeks to take advantage
of the Peace—perhaps " (race" might be the
more correct phrase—to crush the liberties of
that independent race. Tae battle, however, is
not always to the strong. She has recently re-
ceived a heavy blow and great discouragement
at Bay ek, where her troops were de-
feated with very considerable loss or men,
and what she thinks of greater importance—of
guns. The brave Citcassians have thus vindi-
cated their ancient reputation ; but, alas, what ,
can they do against such an antagonist, one that i
spares no efforts to accomplish her sanguinary
purposes. A few words at the Conferences
might have saved them ! But these words
were not spoken ! The perfect neutrality of the
Black Sea was one of the chief objects of the
Western Powers ; and yet that which could alone
have insured that neutrality was completely
ignored. No hint was put forward that the wel-
fare and independence of Circassia might be re-
garded as a matter of European interest, or that
the Great Powers were in any degree concerned in
its fate. It would almost seem as if the Turks
were deliberately and advisedly consigned to her
tender mercies to be dealt with as she deemed
most expedient, while questions were artfully
raised respecting the Moldavian boundary, and the
western coast of the Euxine, Russia was allowed
a " carte blanche" as to the eastern shore. Her
abandoned forts have been restored, new garrisons
have been stationed to coerce the people and
extend tilt) boundaries, and the Western Powers
look on tranquilly and indifferently while the
Muscovite policy is receiving such extraordinary
developehrent.

It cannot be said thab.there was not ample
warning. Before the Treaty of March wai con-
cluded the probable consequences of restoring the
Abasian forts to Russia was clearly pointed out.
But the Government wilfully closed their
eyes. They would not embarrass the pending
negotiations by the introduction of a new element.
One did not think that there was any danger to
be apprehended from the restoration. Another
could not see what claim the Circassians had to
English consideration, as Sir C. WOOD unblush-
ingly stated in the House of Commons ! It was " a
mull" from beginning to end, and Russia is
allowed to solace herself for her temporary dis-
appointments on the Western by her progress
MI the Eastern Littoral of the Black Sea. What
may be the results when the inevitable contest is
again resumed it is impossible to predict. We
fear that they must prove very prejudicial to Eng-
lish interests. Our prestige will be greatly
impaired in Asia—and all know the vast
importance of prestige in dealing with
the semi-civilised nations of that quarter of
the globe. By her diplomacy Russia has con•

trived to tui m her defeat into a triumph, while
England has " lost by the pen what she gained by
the sword." The wilful abandonment of Circassian
and the pe mission to Russia to regarrison the
Abasian Forts, will be regarded by posterity as
an appropri ate sequel to the terrible negligence
that occasic ,nett the fall of Kars and the abandon-
ment of it a gallant garrison to the tender mercies
of the bes iegers. We trust that the first week of
the approaching session may not pass away be-
fore lVii'aisters shall be required to explain their
intentions clearly and intelligibly, and to state
whe' ;her any real limit is to be imposed on the
aggressive propensities of the AUTOCRAT.

Under the presidency of the greatest Law-
Reformer of his age—HENRY LORD BROUGHAM
—the "Law Amendment Society " is steadily
advancing the interests of the general community
by the furtherance of a grand series of constitu-
tional innovations. With a view to the still
greater development of these comprehensive im-
provements, it has been very recently, and we
cannot but think most judiciously, decided that
1857 shall witness, under the auspices of the
Association, a succession of bold and practical
discussions, collectively and significantly entitled,
" The Mercantile Law Conferences." Discussions
upon no less than eight separate themes, em-
bracing within their limits a vast area for the
working out of beneficial changes in our sys-
tem of commercial jurisprudence. Unsatis-
fied with the result of the Bankrupt Law
Consolidation Act of 1849, the Society proposes,
in the first place, to take into consideration the
whole question of " The Law of Bankruptcy."
To the end, of course, that some more effective
scheme, than any hitherto dreamt of, may even yet
be hit upon for the better adjustment of the relations
between Debtor and Creditor, and for the more
satisfactory administration of the laws at once
of Bankruptcy and Insolvency. Secondly, the
working of the "Law of Partnership," as it stands
at present, is to be subjected to a rigid invest,iga-
lion. Thirdly, " The Law of Merchant Shipping"
is to be carefully scrutinised—the Law, that is to
say, as it actually is nowadays, since the time of
its being remodelled and reorganised in 1854 by the
17 and 18 Viet., c. 104. Fourthly, it is proposed
that the Mercantile Conferences of 1847 shall
scrupulously pass under review " The Law of
Principal and Agent," the law closely analogous to
the one affecting that relation of Master and Ser-
vant, which is necessarily and obviously a relation
bailed upon considerations of social convenience.
Fifthly, the Society designs to investigate, in the
course of this propitious Mercantile Conference,
" The Seventeenth Section of the Statute of
Frauds," the memorable statute passed as far back
as the year 1676, being literally, in point of fact,
the 29 Car. 11., c. 3, entitled " An Act for Pre-
vention of Frauds and Perjuries." Sixthly, it
proposes to discuss the existing state of "The
Law of Banking," a system surely requiring some
degree of revision, as recent occurrences have
rather deplorably demonstrated, notwithstanding
all those ingenious modifications which have
latterly tended to place it more or less, in
every particular, upon an entirely new footing,
in the hope of securing the circulation, and of
preventing, as much as is at all practicable, the
chances of ruinous fluctuations. Seventhly, these
Mercantile Conferences are to have especial regard
to the magnificent project of the " Assimilation of
the Commercial Law of England, Scotland, and
Ireland"—a project much more practicable, much
more capable of realisation, than some might
suppose, viewing it through its many apparent
but really superficial difficulties,—as any one may
comprehend at a glance, in very despite of these
manifold difficulties, by simply bearing in recollec•
Lion the fact that the mercantile laws of the three
countries are, for the most part, alike deducible
from the Imperial Code of Rome, and from the
various maritime exies of :Mediaeval Europe or of
the Feudal Epoch. Eighthly, and lastly, the
Society for Promoting the Amendment of the
Law—no mere fartfarronading Sham, but one of
the very few genuine and practical Reform Asso-
ciations—undertakes to discuss the whole compre-
hensive question of the " Tribunals of Commerde"
during the course of the projected Mercantile
Law Conference. So much, briefly, in the way
of a rap id analysis of the remarkable programme
but just now put forward for the new year by this
very daring and energetic Association ! So much
for its new promise of yet more sturdily and
strenuously setting its Shoulder to the great
Wheel of Change.
Meantime, while preparations are thus actively
making for a grander campaign, perhaps, all
things considered, than any upon which the
Society has yet adventured, its ordinary business,
in the way of promoting the cause of legal
reform, continues to bo carrie I on with the same
indomitable assiduity and the same unflinching
perseverance. Conspicuous evidence of which is
afforded in another part of our impression of this
evening : namely, in the lengthened report there
given of the very important meeting of the Law
Amendment Society, under the chairmanship o

the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn-Regis, the

discussions at which meeting, it will bo seen, had

especial reference to the one of the MO3

difficult and imminent problems of the day, tha.

relating to the question of the " Treatmen

of our Dangerous Criminals." It is peculiarly
deserving of note, we conceive, in regard to the
proceedings of yesterday evening, that the general

opinion of the speakers, and the general feeling. o

the meeting, appeared to be decidedly adverse to

the notion of returning to the old and at leas

temporarily abandoned system of transp )rtation.

According, at once, to the Report of the Criminal
Law Committee, read last night by Mr. G. W.
HASTINGS the Secretary, and to the views indi•

vidually enunciated by Lord STANLEY, m the

Chairman of the occasion—the obnoxious Ticket

of-Leave System must be allowed not even yet to

have had a fair trial ! According both to the

Report of the Committee and the Speech of the

Chairman, the recent enormous increaso in crimes

of a violent character, is a lamentable fact, to be
attributed not by any means so much to the

Ticket-of-L3ave System, as to that wholesale dis-
bandmentof the militia, which has thrown upon the

country some 70,000 men, without providing them
with adequate means of employment ! Very satisfac-
tory all this—no doubt of it—to the armour propre

of the more infatuated advocates of the new Dangled
scheme of criminal reclamation by Ticket•of•Leave.
A Scheme that has notoriously broken down, and
that in thus breaking down has as notoriously

become invested with an utter and irretrievable

unpopularity. Very satisfactory—these saving
clauses in the Report of the Committee and in
the Speech of the Chairman—to the humane but

mistaken originators of the system of Ticket-of-

Leave. But diametrically the reverse, or we are
very much mistaken, with regard to the great mass
of the general population.

Adverting to the old scheme of transportation may
be out of the g uestion altogether! Or supposing it to

be in any way really practicable, there may be

an insuparable difficulty in the selection of the
right class of Penal Settlements ! Old settle-

ments may be impossible to be reverted to, in
consequence of the adverse sentiments upon the

subject existing among the present colonists. New
settlements may be„ equally to be, despaired of,
because—of the three already suggi:sted—llud-
son's Bay necessitates the acquisition of a
subsistence only by hunting--Northern Aus-
tralia, being situated in thci tropics, is noto-
riously unhealthy, as was indicmed rather
strikingly by our forced abandonment of the set-
tlement of Port Essington—while 'Vancouver's
Island is obviously in very tempting, mid there-
fore (considered in relation to convicts), very
perilous, proximity to the gold diggings of
California 1 All this may be perfectly in-
controvertible, and yet the Ticket-of-Leave
System (still dandled and coddled by theoretical
philanthropists with a tenderness only resulting
from infatuation) may—really--a fter all—be
none the less a failure. It has not yet had a
fair trial, however—we are reminded 1 Not yet
had a fair trial ? England thinks otherwise. The
English people regard the matter differently. We
have had enough, we have had more than enough,
of these frightful and disastrous experiments.

It is essential to the national interests that the
constituencies which may now be called upon to
exercise the privilege confided to their charge
may faithfully fulfil their duty. The proceedings
at the hustings are closely watched, not only by
members who may speedily be called on to render
the accounts of their respective stewardship, but
by the Government itself. The debates and di-
visions in Parliament, as well as the Ministerial
measures brought under the consideration of the
Legislature, may be materially influenced by the
result of a single contested election. Under such
circumstances the most strenuous efforts will be
made to oppose those professing sound opinions,
so as by their defeat to retard the passing
of the wholesome reforms of which they are the
advocates, aud, for the time being, the represen-
tatives. It is not, as at ordinary times, regarded
as a contest between individuals, but as one of
principles, and a single adverse decision may
completely alter the course of political events.
We are therefore justified in reminding every
person entrusted with the elective franchise in the
contested districts that his conduct at this mo-
ment is closely scrutinised—that the eyes of the
community are upon him, and that his future
reputation may greatly depend on his acts during
the coming crisis.
At Newport the distinguished author of
"Michell" has addressed the Liberal electors as
a candidate for their "most sweet voices."
Nothing can be more satisfactory than the
means put forward by Mr. KINGLAIM He ad-
vocates " the extension of the Franchise—the
Ballot in all its integrity, the abolition of Church
Rate; a National System of Secular Education,
and others of paramount importance to the welfare
and prosperity of the industrial population.
There is one point, however, on which he dwells
at considerable length, which is peculiarly deserv-
ing of attentive consideration. It is the limited
circle from which the holders of high office must,
under the existing system, be selected. There is
as close an observance of "castes" in the choice of
Ministers as in any part of Hindostan. We
have so frequently heard of " select family
parties" in the Cabinet that it is needless to
expatiate on the subject. It is notorious, as the
Honourable Gentleman remarks, " that the high
offices are unduly distributed among persons of
particular families, and belonging to a particular
class in society, without due regard to their quali-
fications for holding them." The effects deducible
from these causes are clearly explained by the
Hon. Gentleman. There is a " great firm,"
whose periodical difficulties fall under public ob-
servation. The Government, no matter what
party may hold the reins of power for
the time being, are under constant pres-
sure. Its acceptances are too frequently dis-
honoured, and it is almost impossible to induce

to undertake new responsibilities, however tempt-
ing the returns. Every failure, every deficiency
is accounted for by the sterc3typel excuse that
"England cannot b 3 without a Government,"
which Mr. KING-LAKZ truly explains should be a
Government " selected from the accustomed
classes." Were it only to advance this wholesome
doctrine the Hon. Gentleman should be the chosen
representative of Newport. His views on all

as we have explained
wwietvht,he great majority of the
otherthose
i points o i
accordanceu ts are,
however,
er
people ; and, judging from his antecedents, his
proved talent, indefatigable energy, and indis-
putable character, we trust that the electors of
Newport may obtain the high honour of returning
a man who will be a fitting coadjutor with Mr.
LAYARD in the House of Commons.

His Excellency the Turkish Ambassador left Broad-
lauds, the seat of Viscount Palmerston, on Saturday for
town.

The Countess Dowager of Vernlam ie stayinc on a
visit with her daughter the Countess of Clarendon, at
the Grove, near Watford.
The Earl and Countess of Lichfield have left the St.
George's Hotel.
The Countess of Listowel has arrived in town from
Convatnore, co. Cork. The young earl is expected in a
few days.
Viscount Wellesley has left the Clarendon for Dray-
cott House, near Cnippenham.
Lord and Lady Hantingfield have left the St. George's
Hotel.
The Hon. Misses Sidney are staying on a visit with
the Countess of Albemarle, at her villa, near Twicken-
ham.