The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC SOURSAM.

The Times expresses the opinion that irthis countlg had
been ruled by a strong Government, capable of defending
its own measures, there can be no doubt, that the recom-
ynendations of the Boundary Commissiotitwould have been
tstained and definitively adopted by arliament. But
ajjinistry living in continual fear for ?its existence, one
day.supp7:ant to, another day defiant of, the House of
Coro: awns, but always ready to avoid
.a, conflict by sacri-
ficing 'anything to which it is not futly committed, has
requiesced in the temporary setting aside of the com-
reissionerFe report. They were hard pressed by the Opro•
kition, their Scotch Reform Bill was not out of danger,
SA'ie temper or the House of Commons was disagreeable,
.63 threats of the independent Liberals were many and
doe:), and no expedient for making the session smooth and
sher,`, was more obvious than to postpone the consideration
of tl ‘e se changes in the boundaries of boroughs. If the
control.: sioners' report had been discussed and voted upon,
there vtc, uld have been debates by the night and divisions
without number ; and in some of these the Government
would lie—•e been sure to receive ugly treatment. Hence an
easy asseni: \ 7as given to the device of a select committee,
and when thet,committee was appointed it musthave known
by a natural i mtinet what was expected of it. It was to
sit de die in dim.% It was to report at the earliest pos-
sible time ;it r; to agree to something which should
calm all disputes, wocl allow the Boundary Bill to become
law before the end Of a very short session. Under these
conditions what was tt., be expected? The committee knew
well that it was inapo:lsible to inquire thoroughly within
the space of a few days into matters which had employed
ti,eir predecessors all the Autumn, and they also knew that
if they agreed with the more important of the former
recommendations the battle '.Fould be fought over again in
the house of Commons, and their own labours would be
,looked upon as fruitless. They were appointed less to review
critically the limits of English constituencies than to pro-
mire for the Government and the Souse a quiet session,
They knew that the only way to conciliate was to assist
legislation on the subject, and to get of controversy,
at least for the present. This work being easy, they have
done it with a speed which is somewhat startling to the
Uninitiated. Thirty-three boroughs were submitted to
thorn, some of these being the largest and most important
in England. Yet all was over in eleven days. On Tuesday,
the 19th of May, the committee sat for the first time ; oa
Friday, the 29th, they agreed to their report. The result
is, that in the•cases of fifteen boroughs the recommenda-
tions of the commissioners are set aside, and it is denlared
wiadvisable• to .make any alteration in the existing
boundaries.

The Post thinks the grand jury in the case of Mr. Eyre
acted as every rational being thought they would act.
Our contemporary hopes that the self-constituted prose-
cutors, and, we may acrd, persecutors, of this gentleman,
it not satisfied with the result of their proceedings, will at
least permit him now to rest in peace. Never, perhaps, were
criminal proceedings more causelessly instituted; never,
most. assuredly, were there any which have been more
universally condemned. The difficulties which beset the
path of a man who, like Mr. Eyre, is called upon to adopt
extraordinary measures for the suppression of disturbances
And the preservation of the peace, were well illustrated by
Mr. Justice Blackburn, in referring to the prosecution of
the mayor of Bristol for not having acted sufficiently
energetically in endeavouring. to suppress the famous riots
which took place in that town some,five-and-thirty years ago.
If a man neglects the duty imposed on him of doing
everything necessary to preserve the peace, he becomes
criminally responsible for such neglect just as much as if
he exceeds his duty and acts oppressively. The difficulty
is to strike the happy mean, and in the presence of this
obvious difficulty the practical question for decision
becomes whether a man placed in so embarrassing a Mg-
tion'acts with ordinary firmness, or with good faith. M.v.
Justice Blackburn admitted that it was impos-
sible to draw the line where criminal responsibility
began, and said that the question of criminality
in each particular case necessarily rested with a jury. If
Mr. Eyre had acted with less firmness the massacre of St.
Domingo might have been repeated, and if the governor
had escaped from the colony he would most assuredly have
been put upon his trial in this country for neglect of hie
duty. No one, we believe, ever deserved better of his
country than Mr. Eyre; none have ever met with worse
treatment. Dismissed from office by the Home Govern-
ment and forced into retirement, he has been made tax
object of um elenting persecution by men Whtlse conduct is
condemned by the entire mass of their fellow-country-
men. Let us hope in the nam,;,, of humaniV that tli
unfortunate gentleman will now be left in peace.
The Daily News deplores to some extent the result of
the prosecution, but refrains from impugning the conduct
of the jury. After recapitulating the more prominent
facts in connection with the Jamaica Committee, it gives
credence to the general idea that the case has ended as far
en that committee is concerned. It is difficult to say what
'useful purpose can be answered by persisting in prosecu-
tions which are not likely to have any practical issue.
committee have scattered the seeds of a sound public
0-es-diluent—seeds which, though they may seem now to
have fallen on barren ground, are sure to ,germi-
rate and to bring forth fruit. They have kept
the public mind active and the public conscience
awake. The disposition to favour arbitrary doc-
trines and violent practices of which Mr. Carlyle's
writings are in a small de-eree the cause, and in a
great degree the effect ; and the stimulus given to the
latent antipathies of race by the association of negro
emancipation in the United States with Northern triumph
and Southern defeat, have created feelings among
certain classes of Englishmen which have insured Mr.
Eyre impunity and even admiration. These timings
exhibit, however, only a passing mood of mind in
the English nation, or in certain busy portions of
it. The brutality of the new faith is an all but
inevitable reaction from a humanitarianism which
occasionally threatened to become maudlin, and its
despotic theories are a protest against doctrines of liberty
Which now and then seemed to skirt the verge of anarchy.
Against the Latter Day frenzy, in its attempt to pass
from literature into action, the Jamaica Committee has
made a protest which, though it may not have told on Sir
Baldwin Leighton or the grand jury at Westminster, will
prove in the cud to have been effectual.

The Telegraph criticises the charge of Mr. Justice
Blackburn, and complains that there is as yet no final,
Clear, or authoritative declaration of the powers vested in
Colonial governors, or of the rights and liberties possessed
by colonial subjects. If Mr. Eyre be a man who nobly
saved a colong, he—dismissed without pension, harassed
and worried at law—is the worst-used man in Eng-
land. On the other hand, if Gordon and others
were murdered, if panic drove the Jamaica autho-
rities into cruelty and wrong, the injuries have
not as yet been redressed : nobody has been adequately
punished ; and we only learn from a distinguished judge
that " somebody has blundered." This is' a bad ending
to a very painful story. It may be attended with most
mischievous results. We may by our want of decision
terrify weak governors into dangerous inaction in some
future colonial crisis, and we may encourage othef
governors and subordinates like Ramsay to be brut
without fear of the consequences.
The Star indignantly declares that the charge of Mt.
Justice Blackburn was in the teeth of i'iat delivered by
the Chief Justice. But as to the law given, there is the
splendid address of Sir Alexander Cockburn to answer it.
Mr. Justice Blackburn, however, did wrong (our contem-
porary thinks) in designating Mr. Gordon as a " pesti' ent
firebrand." But in that history will reverse his lordship's
judgment.

The Herald speaks very warmly of the conduct of the
prosecution in the case of the Attorney General v. Edmund;
just decided by Vice-Chancellor Giffard. It would be im-
possible for a private gentleman to act as the Crown has
thus acted towards its servant. When a gentleman dis-
misses his bailiff, or a merchant his confidential clerk,
every one likes to see the parties shake hands and settle
amicably all outstanding matters. At such times it is felt
to be but right that the employer should treat the em-
ployed with perfect fairness' and even with some little
liberality ; nor is there anything more fatal to the reputa-
tion of the former than that he should rake up all manner
of stale disputes, question long-settled balances, and for
the first time in his life impugn the footing on which
their mutual dealings have all along been conducted.
It has been said that corporations and departments are
impervious to such considerations ; that they have neither
bodies to be kicked nor souls to be saved, and that there-
fore they will, without scruple, commit offences on which
no private person could venture for fear of suffering social
ostracism. In some such theory we must find the solution
of the course taken with respect to Mr. Edmunds. For two
cr three years he has laboured under a weight of obloquy
and reproach almost overwhelming. He has been accused
of unfaithfulness to his trust and of misapplication of trust
funds. He has been dismissed with disgrace from an office
to which he was appointed by one Whig Chancellor and
in which lie was succeeded by the son of another. He has
•
been oppressed with chancery proceedings, and threatened
with a criminal prosecution ; has been cut at his club, and
peinted at as if he were the most prominent sinner of the
clay. Aud t when the case against him is brought to
the test, in ayedoral sense,
.it breaks. down entirely. Every
charge fails, every accesation is. disproved. The honour of
the object of so much calumny is declared to be effectually
vindicated, and though technically. the decision is adverse,
the judge who pronounces it twice expresses his deep
reeeet that the words of an Act of Parliament compel him
e`his
to do violence to what are evidently his feelings and
Convictions.

The Standard sneers at the announcement of a new
Congress to he held at Berne for the promotion of Inter-
national Peace. It recalls the scenes of last year, and
esks whether we are going to have a repitition at Berne
(4, the row which took place at Geneva.. Last year tilt
G.,nevese had positivcly.to turn the " delegates " (as they
call themselves) out et tWeir city. Geneva has put ut
`l,ith visits from all the political, literary, and religious
iniisa.nces- in Enropc.. But our, friends and the Interna-
tional Leagueeace were too martial for anything; and
Accordingly last September they were finally drummed out
the town they had well-nigh turned into a bedlam.
Will Berne be able to be more tolerant ? These workers
k)f- the telegraphic wires, as unfit as they are few, are
only a little knot of exiles from the " France, Germany,
llnssia, and Italy" of which they speak, with whose
ostracism from home we could sympathise if it were not in
!a
~st cases deserved and •in •a great many self-imposed.
,'hey have peace on their lips, but war to the knife in
their hearts. Wherever they go they recklessly abuse the
hospitality extended to them, and would be only too
delighted f they could to-morrow involve the Swiss Con-
federation in war with France forthe mere chance of some.
i; irni
.gtl;imtlug,
IT
_thp course eof A uropean co Sa,