The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-21 00:00:00

ig -iliening atint

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1850.

After the discussion and division yesterday on the
Larceny Summary Jurisdiction Bill, we trust that the
House of Commons will see fit to reject it peremp-
torily in Committee. A measure so directly opposed
to the principle of trial by jury should assuredly
never have been permitted to pass through a second
reading. Yet so it has done in consequence of that
good-natured procrastination of opposition which cus-
tom is rendering somewhat too habitual in the legisla-
ture. Time after time we have witnessed the progress
of some altogether impossible scheme as far
as the third and most perilous of all stages
for enactments—Committee. Then, but not pre-
viously, the House has revealed that resolute objec-
tion to its further consideration, which if only dis-
played before. might very appreciably have economized
the hours allotted for public business. For the cir-
cumstance of a Bill having passed uninterruptedly
through a first and second reading involves the ne-
cessity of a deliberate, and in some instances a pro-
longed discussion. Besides the leniency evinced by
the opposing .Members in the preliminary stages of
the transaction unfortunately assumes the appear-
ance of the virtual acceptance by the House of
the projected innovation. It was thus that the
Hon. Member for North Warwickshire, last evening,
presumed, from the fact of the Bill having reached
Committee, that the House had thereby decided in
favour of the principles it embodied. So far from
this being the case, the very first objections made to
it, those entered, we mean by the Hon. Member for
Dundalk, and the Hon. and Learned Gentleman the
Recorder, were cordially supported by a large ma-
jority, insomuch that, while merely 54 voted
against, 124 voted in favour of Mr. LAW'S amendment.
After, we will not say a very profound, but
a reflective consideration of that amendment,
we are satisfied that a very large propor-
tion of the multitude will coincide in the opinions
yesterday expressed in opposition to the Bill intro-
duced by the Hon. Baronet the Representative of
Droitwich. What the Learned Recorder regards as
the most objectionable feature in the proposed enact-
ment is the extraordinary nature of the power en-
trusted to county magistrates, whereby they will be
enabled to deal summarily with adults as well as
juveniles in all cases of petty larceny, when the value
of the article purloined does not exceed one shil-
ling. According to this arrangement the old
and inestimable privilege of Trial by Jury—that
right which has been termed, and not extravagantly,
the Palladium of British Liberty, and which has
nevertheless been recently depreciated by an anony-
mous pamphleteer—would be abstracted from the
possession of a large portion of the population. It is
altogether a farce to talk about the capability still
afforded to the persons accused of those smaller acts
of petty larceny—the capability of rejecting the
summary jurisdiction of the magistrate, and demanding
in lieu of that abrupt and peremptory adjudica-
tion, a consideration of their guilt or innocence
by twelve of their fellow-countrymen. Like the
Honourable and Gallant Member for Bradford, we
have " the least posible confidence in what has been
styled the concurrence of the criminal." As the
Honourable Gentleman the Representative of Oxford-
shire observed very pertinently, " what chance would
the accused have at the sessions when the jury were
told that be had objected to summary jurisdiction ?"
Seriously as the Bill is calculated to affect the com-
munity at large, it is less the measure itself than the
principle embodied in it that we are disposed to pro-
test against, fur if carried through the Legislature it
might be regarded thenceforth as an important and
calamitous precedent. The first stab would be ad-
ministered to one of the most precious of the birth-
rights of every Englishman. Apart entirely from
the question ae to whether or not the maintenance of
the system of trial by jury is jeopardised by the in-
tended measure, we conceive that the Bill now in
Committee is open upon a wider scale to yet stronger
and more immediate objections. With the Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Dumfries, we are averse
to the notion of the mere possibility of the Legislature
assenting to any new doctrines, defining crime by the
amount of money involved in it, and the age
of the criminal. So soon as any innovations of this
character are adventured upon, so soon will the pro-
posed changes, and improvements, and remodifica-
tions pour in in interminable succession and multi-
plicity upon the Parliament. Here, at least, we
know we should have to commence, but where we
should have to terminate it would be difficult for
the most imaginative to conjecture. Age being taken
intd account—why not sex ? The vistas of altera-
tion opened by the movement would prove, we fear,
illimitable. Besides, as the Right Hon. Baronet the
Member for Ripon observed, " the law as ex-
pounded by Sir MATTHEW HALE, a law which has
prevailed since the reign of ELIZADETII,
is that fourteen is the age at which a distinc-
tion ought to be drawn between a juvenile
and an adult offender." To propose the transference
of this differential period from fourteen to sixteen is
mere quibbling over ciphers, mere proposal for poli-
tical botch-work, and legislative pottering, alike detri-
mental to the maintenance of public morality and
depreciative of the labours of Parliament. It is a
proposition as idle and perverse as it would be to pro-
pound a scheme for the change of the legal age of
majority from twenty-one to twenty-three. While,
viewing the notion in another light, it is hazarding
a somewhat dangerous struggle for the next two
years between the law and the young vagabonds in-
festing the more squalid neighbourhoods throughout
the United Kingdom—perilous, we mean, in as far as it
might tend to confirm and diffuse and disseminate the
already large and lamentable amount of juvenile de-
pravity. One thing, however, affords us encourage-
ment in the hope that this Larceny Summary Juris-
diction Bill will be rejected in Committee, notwith-
standing the sanguine expectations of S
PA KINGTON, and that is the sweeping and decisive
character of the division upon the first amendment.
Let the House take duly into consideration the im-
portance of the principle at issue, and, in spite of the
two readings, we shall not have the misfortune of
witnessing such summary and despotic jurisdiction
over the Great Unwashed entrusted to the incompetent
hands of the Great Unpaid.

The various details of the Marriages Bill are to
be considered in Committee this evening. After the
decisive msjority by which the principle of the mea •
sure was affirmed on the second reading, we should
perhaps have considered it unnecessary to offer any
further observations until it had been finally disposed
of in the popular branch of the Legislature, were it
not for the determination manifested by its inveterate
opponents to neutralise and emasculate the Bill, and
render it worse than useless. Mr. ROUNDELL
PALMER, who has made the most strenuous efforts
against its further progress on every: occasion
during the
past and the present session,
when it was brought under the consideration of the ,

House, has given notice of several amendments, all
of which affect its general provisions. We shall not,
however, at present enter into any consideration of
these proposed alterations, for, striking at the very
root of the measure, no Hon. Gentleman who sup-
ported the second reading could, with any degree of
consistency, vote for the amendments brought for-
ward by the Hon. Member for Plymouth. But there
are others of a more insidious character, for limiting
its operation by excluding the sister kingdoms, Scot-
land and Ireland, to which it is necessary that the
attention of the House should be more pointedly
directed.

We cannot conceive anything more unwise and
impolitic than to maintain restrictions affecting the
civil and religions liberty of the subject, in any part
or parts of the United Kingdom, which had, after
mature consideration, been abrogated in another more
favoured portion of her MAJESTY'S dominions. A most
invidious distinction would then, indeed, be sanc-
tioned, of which the people of Scotland and Ireland
would have just cause to complain in the strongest
terms, and which, in the latter country especially,
would give the strongest impetus to the
" Repeal " agitation. Then, indeed, there would be
a "grievance," of which the gentlemen of Conci-
liation Hall would not fail to avail themselves, and
which would furnish arguments stronger than any•
now in existence. What would have been said if it
had been suggested to limit the Emancipation Act to
England ?—to declare that Roman Catholics should
be permitted to represent English constituencies,
while their disabilities should be continued on the
other side of St. George's Channel ? We can
easily conceive the sensation that would be excited
from Cape Clear to the Giant's Causeway if any pro-
position so monstrous had been brought forward.
Then, indeed, it would be asserted that there was to
be one law for England and another for Ireland—
that the Irish were looked upon as slaves who could
not be entrusted with privileges that had been freely
bestowed upon their English brethren. The stability
not merely of the honour, but of the connexion of
the British Islands, would be materially endangered,
and a speedy separation would be the probable result ;
and yet we are now gravely told that such a distinc-
tion may be enforced upon a question of still more
vital importance, on a dearer and more sacred fran-
chise, the liberty of selecting a partner and companion
for life—that marriages which were fully recog-
nised and perfectly lawful in this country, should be,
ipso facto, ♦oid, if solemnized, in the sister kingdom ;
that the woman, who would be a happy and
respected wife in England, should lose caste, and be
considered a mere concubine in Ireland, whose
nominal husband could put her away at any moment
of caprice, and be at liberty to contract second
nuptials with impunity. The criminal laws and the
laws affecting inheritance would be completely
altered. Here a person would be justly subjected to
transportation for an act that would there be per-
fectly legal. Here the issue of the marriage would
enjoy every right and privilege as children born in
holy wedlock ; there they would be bastardised and
deprived of the inheritance of their ancestors, which
would pass away to comparative strangers. The
position of a second wife would be equally anomalous.
In Ireland her marriage would be valid and binding,
for the former nuptials with the sister of the former
partner would be absolutely void, ab initio. Her
children would be legitimate in one part of the
country, while in another she and they would lose
caste, and be subjected to the deepest social degra-
dation.

Again, nothing is more injurious than the enact-
ment of laws which can easily be disregarded and
evaded. A mere change of residence, a crossing of
the narrow channel which separates the countries,
nay, the crossing of the border, would enable parties
to set at nought the provisions of the criminal code,
and to commit offences that would justly be regarded
as of the most serious character, involving the highest
secondary punishment—a prolonged banishment to a
penal colony—without any fear of incon-
venient results. " Bigamy" would become a
mere trifle, that would have no terrors for any
who could afford a mere temporary change of resi-
dence. Under the existing law it is immaterial
whether the second marriage be contracted in or out
of the country, provided the party accused be a Bri-
tish subject. It is justly considered that no man
should be protected from the consequences of an
offence against the laws of the country to which he
owes allegiance, because it was committed in another
clime. What then will be the effect if the amend-
ments of the Secretary at War, or the Hon. and Gal-
lant Gentleman the Member for Cork, be carried ?
A man may contract a perfectly valid marriage in
England or in Ireland, and the moment he ventures
to cross the boundary between the countries he be-
comes a delinquent, subject to severe and well-merited
punishment. Or, if it should be held that the ille-
gality of the former marriage in the place where the
second was solemnized would afford a sufficient an-
swer to the charge, what would there be to prevent a
gentleman with a taste for polygamy from
maintaining separate establishments, with a
lawful wife at the head of each, and two se-
parate families of legitimate children, who
would severally inherit the English and Irish estates
of the father ? There would, in fact, be no end to
the litigation to which an exemption so mischievous
would give rise. And yet we are called upon to en-
counter all these inconvenienc.:s, merely to gratify
the bigots who desire to bind the consciences of their
fellow-men, and* to compel others to entertain the
same opinions on doctrinal points by which they
themselves are actuated. This cannot, and must not
be. If the matter be contrary to Scripture or to
sound policy—if it be expressly prohibited by the
DEITY in Ireland, it is so in England likewise. No
argument can be alleged in its favour in one country
that does not equally apply to the other. Let it then
be carried in all its integrity, and be made applicable
to every part of the United Kingdom, or let it be
completely and peremptorily rejected. There is,
there can be no alternative—no halting between two
opinions.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Moniteur announces that the PRESIDENT 01
the Republic has received a letter in which the Em-

peror of RUSSIA notifies the birth of a Grand Duke,
son of his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke CON.
STANTINB NICOLAEWITSCU. The Prince received the
name of NICHOLAS at his baptism.
The Patrie of Tuesday has the following :
"It is stated that the Council of Ministers which as-
sembled to-day at the Elysei, before the public sitting of
the Assembly, was engaged in the consideration of se-
veral important measures. Several eminent Members of
the majority wore invited to attend. The presentation
of these Bills is fixed for to-morrow."
This Council was attended by MM. MOLE,
THIEBS, and BEBRYER, and the measures proposed
are, the greater number of them, in direct violation
of the constitution, and such as the Assembly has no
power to render law. One measure is to put down all
kinds of public meeting ; such a proposition is a
direct and positive violation of the droit de reunion
guaranteed by the constitution, which constitution the
Legislative Assembly is forbidden by law to alter.
Electors are not to be permitted to as-
semble to deliberate on the choice of candidates,
neither are candidates to be permitted to address the
electors. The:caution money and the stamp duty on
journals is to be increased; trial by jury is to be done
away with in many cases, and there is to be a measure
proposed for restricting the exercise of the suffrage.
These measures are dictated by MM. TRIERS,
MOLE, BERBYEE, DB BROGLIE, and DE MONTALEM-
BERT, who, however, refuse to take upon themselves
the responsibility of proposing them as Ministers.
If they succeed the fruits of that success will be
reaped exclusively by the Bourbonists, who will,
without ceremony, kick aside the planche Napolio-
nenne so soon as it shall have served their purpose ;
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an amendment to the budget for the reduction of
1,500,000 f. in the allowance to the parochial clergy.
In the Assembly on Tuesday M. Ducos opposed
clause in the Stamp Bill which proposes to tax trans-
fer of stocks and Treasury bills as an infringement of
the public faith. He said that no former Government
had ventured to interfere with the transfers in the
funds. If they took this step they would raise a host
of enemies against the Republic in the small holders
of rentes. The first Constituent Assembly had re-
jectedtime w
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hausted, and commerce annihilated, never thought of
imposing a duty on the transfer of mtgs. ll'e raid

he considered that it amounted to spoliation. If they
agreed to this clause, it would alarm the foreign cre-
ditor, who would withdraw his capital, and thus
public credit would suffer. The law would press
upon the small, and not upon the large capitalists.
They had been disturbed by revolution, and all their
institutions had been shaken to the ground ; one
alone remained—let them not assail that. To what-
ever party they belonged let them respect the great
book of the public debt. He concluded by saving,
that other Governments had perished from having
threatened liberty—let it not be said that a free
Government had fallen from having threatened its
finances.

The Committee charged with the task of examining
the proposition relative to the foreign legion has
named General GROUCHY president, and M. DE
PLANCQ secretary. The Committee has decided that
it would apply to the Minister of War for all the do-
cuments which concern the legion.
We find the following in the Siecle:—" Yester-
day morning, at eleven o'clock, pickets of the gen-
darmerie mobile were marched to the prisons of
the Abbaye and Cherche-Midi, in order to form
an escort for the soldiers who are to be trans-
ported to Africa for their republicanism.
From the prisons these unfortunate men were taken
to the terminus of the Lyons Railway, by which
they proceed to Chalons, and thence by the
steamers on the Saone and the Shone to the Mediter-
ranean. Several of the barracks of the capital have
furnished their contingent; among others that of the
30th regiment, from which a sergeant-major, a cor-
poral, and a private have been removed. At the mo-
ment when the men left the lbbaye the people
assembled, bourgeois, workmen, and women eagerly
deposited in the kepis of the soldiers all the money
they could collect, and which, though the quarter is
a very poor one, amounted to a very considerable
sum. The hawkers who were in the streets presented
the men with some of their merchandise; it was a
general outburst of feeling. Some cries of " Vive la
Republique" were raised.
A letter from Cherbourg mentions that consider-
able activity was observable in that port. The ship-
of-the-line Henry IV., 100 guns ; the frigate La
Forte, 60; and the steam-corvette the Colbart, and
the Milan, are in the course of equipment.
Similar activity exists in the port of Rochefort.
The Duguesclin, 90, is to be fitted out. The three-
decker Louis XIV. and the Ville de Paris, the
frigates Catinal and Bertholes, are also in course of
preparation.

The Ville de Paris, 120, will be launched in May
next. The keel of the Ville de Paris was laid in
1807, under the], same name it now bears ; it
was constructed on the plan of the celebrated
naval architect SABIE. Under the Restoration it
was named: the Comte d'Artois; after 1830, Louis
Philippe; and now iti resumes its original appella-
tion. In the budget of 1820 it was announced as
ready to be launched in 1821. This ship has been,
therefore, forty-three years on the stocks. The
Triton, 86, is in course of repair. The Triton was
built at Rochefort in 1808, and launched in 1823.
Letters from Toulon of the 17th inst. announce
the arrival there of the transports the Perdrix and
the Marsouin, from the Levant; they left the Gulf
of Smyrna on the 21st inst. They announce that
the French fleet is at Naples. It was believed at
Toulon that the Government had resolved to disarm
several of the steam-frigates in that port.
The Moniteur du Soir says :—"lt is stated that
the commandant of the squadron on the western
coast of Africa, has just entered into an important
convention with GREZO•APOJI, King of Dahomey,
one of the most powerful countries in Africa. This
Sovereign has for many years carried on a consider-
able traffic in slaves ; the presence of the French
and English squadrons had recently caused him con-
siderable losses, and the fear of losing the immense
treasures he possesses has induced him to enter into
an arrangement with us."
PARIS BOURSE, MARCH 20.—Latest Prices--Five per
Cents. 91f. 7.5 c.; Three per Cents. 56f. 60c.; Bank Ac-
tions, 2,220 f.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, MARcn 20.

Dutch Rhenish, 2—Namur and Liege, 6—Northern of
France, 13—Orleans and Bordeaux, 2X3.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 15th inst. have arrived.

The Ministry, which had been considered fur some
time in a somewhat precarious position, is now, it is
said, as secure as ever.

MADRID BOLSA, MARCH 15.—The Three per Cents.
28i for account; the Five per Cents., at 12i for paper.
Exchange on London, 90 days. 50 25.

GERMANY.

A telegraphic dispatch from Berlin states, in con-
tradiction to previous accounts, that the mission of
General Reucu in the Duchies would have a more
favourable result than had been anticipated, and that
the rupture of the armistice on the part of the Pro-
visional Government had disappeared. The dispatch
adds that the negotiations which had been entered
into for the marriage of the Duke of BRUNSWICK had
failed, on account of the obstacles arising from the
claims of the Duke CUARLES.

A Berlin letter announces that, on the 13th, the
Bavarian, Saxon, and \Vurtemburg Ambassadors
presented, in a collective note to the Prussian Cabinet.,
the treaty concluded at Munich for the establishment
of a new German constitution.

A letter from Erfurt, of the 16th, states that the
Deputies of the German Parliament had begun to
arrive in that city.

At Vienna, on the 13th, the anniversary of the re-
volution, the church of St. Stephen was crowded
during the greater part of the day. In the apprehen-
sion of disturbances, extensive military precautions
were adopted by the Government, and the people
were prevented from visiting the cemetery where the
victims of the barricades were interred.
A letter from Vienna states that the Government
has decided that all apprentices under fifteen years
are bound to attend the public schools on Sundays,
the parents or masters being responsible for their at-
tendance, under pain of fine or imprisonment, the
Minister of Justice has also resolved to establish li-
braries in the. prisons.
The Austrian Government has decreed that, after
the 31st of May, the Hungarian notes of two florins
shall no longer be circulated ; but treasury bills are
to be issued, to prevent any diminution in the paper
circulation.