The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-16 00:00:00

SPIRI-TOP THE PUBLIC AgatNigi,g.

The common belief that murder is on the increase is
not confirmed by statistics, but there are times when it is
favoured by an inexplicable concurrence of atrocious crimes.
The Spring Assizes of the present year have disclosed a
blacker calendar than the Times remembers for some years
-past, and our own circuit reports for the 12th and 13th March
alone contain the account of no less than four trials for
murder. One of these cases belongs to what must, we fear,
be called the ordinary type of murder, committed by a lover
in a violent paroxysm of jealousy. Each of the other three,
jwwever, exhibits some remarkable features which appear
to call for special attention. Two resulted in conviction,
one in acquittal ; but the undisputed facts of this last case
(which had been known as " the Bromley murder")
were shocking enough without the inferences drawn
by the prosecution. The other two are the notorious
" Tpdmorden murder," the author of which was taken
red-handed, and confessed his guilt, and the " Romney
murder," which was committed by Mrs. Kidder on the
child, and which contrasts strangely with the former in all
its external incidents. However widely these cases may
differ in their superficial features, there is a certain deeper
resemblance between them which it may be instructive to
notice. They are all characterised, not excluding the
Dvomley case, by a disparity between the motive and the
crime which is nothing less than p3rtentons. The man
who could resolve to immolate a whole household because
he was not allowed to keep company there with his sweet-
heart, the woman who could drown a harmless child
because it was not her own, and the two men who at
least thrust out a poor homeless creature to perish of cold
on a rough winter's night because she could not pay
for a lodging, must have been equally destitute, we
might be tempted to say, of any human feeling.
And yet the evidence does not altogether justify such a
conclusion. The first, in particular, though he carried out
his execrable design with relentless ferocity, and silenced
every prayer for mercy with the words, " Where's my
Sarah ?" appears to have been capable of sincere affection,
and might possibly have lived to make a kind husband, if
these fiendish passions had not been kindled within him.
The one reflection which is forced upon us by such revela-
tions as these is that murder is never likely to be extin-

guished by any future progress, whether of law or educa

tion. Christianity and civilisation have done much to
banish or check some other crimes, but the spirit of murder
remains unsubdued. Murders, indeed, are seldom com-
mitted by professional criminals, and seem to spring from
a moral source which no preventive agency has yet suc-
ceeded in reaching.

The Post comments on the " strange " bill introduced

into-the French Chamber for the regulation of public meet-
ings. Having dealt with the Press, the Corps L4glislatif
proceeds to make a law limiting the right of public meet-
ings. The Press Bill is extraordinary enough, and has.
taken from many papers the most interesting part of
their contents ; but the meetings bill is stranger still. There
are only two ways of expressing one's opinion—by writing
and speaking. The latter may be carried on by a candi-

date for the Corps Ltgislatif, but under the surveillance
of the police. The police commissary will, in fact, take
the chair, and when he calls the speaker to order, the
latter, if not in his own interest, at least in that of his
seven sponsors, is found to comply, and turn the attention
of his hearers to a less exciting topic. The police are prover-
bially zealous, and French commissaries of police are espe-
cially so, and it is therefore not unfair to assume that into
whatever errors those who are called upon to temper
the warmth of parliamentary candidates may fall, they
will not be attributable to want of zeal. At any moment
the prefect of the department or the mayor can dissolve the
meeting. Such is the unsolicited boon which the French
Government are about to confer on the French people.
That it was unsolicited we can really believe ; that it
should be unappreciated is equally possible. The notion
of addressing future constituents under such conditions
must seem to us indescribably funny ; but the existing
political system in France, under which the sovereign is the
Government, renders the proposed course of procedure at
least intelligible.

The Daily News points out that during the last twenty
years continental Governments have borrowed money to
amounts out of all proportion to their resources, and for
purposes and objects which it is notorious have not contri-
buted to the good of the nation, and which have since been
renounced. We have been so foolish as to lend money to
help Governments to keep up large armies and hostile
tariffs, depriving their people at once of the power and the
means of purchasing of us. This, however, is not so
much a consideration for individual lenders as for
Governments. What is now to be remarked is that the
Governments who have been so recklessly borrowing are
at length compelled to face their difficulties. A country
that borrows money in some, though undue, propor-
tion to its means, has it in its power to correct its
mistakes at its own expense. What other Governments
can do we are likely soon to see. It would be satisfactory
to know that they were in all cases about to meet the
exigency by economy and a conscientious rigour of taxa-
tion. It is said that Russia, for instance, always pays its
dividends regularly; s 3 did the Brighton Railway until its
rosources came to an end. And it is exactly to this point
that the lender must look, even at the cost of some trouble,
if he would have the satisfaction of having acted prudently.
The good intentions of weak Governments are worthless :
every spendthrift means to pay some day in full with
interest. The punctuality of reckless Governments is of
no value as a pledge of the future ; their collapss is only a
question of years. Resources—not undeveloped resources,
which are practically non-existent—but proximate and
effective resources, sufficient for the burden they have to
bear, should stand first in the consideration of the foreign
lender. They may not form an absolute guarantee, but
they are the sine qua non of the lender who has not the
motive of patriotism.

There is a popular song which, in language mor(
emphatic than elegant, invokes Divine displeasure upon
those " who rob a poor man of his beer." Thirsty souls
who cheer this refrain to the very echo, have probably
perused with peculiar satisfaction the report of some recen
proceedings at Bow-street against an offender who conies,
says the Herald, if not within the lett A., at least within
the spirit, of the malediction. Mr. C. C. B. Williams, of
Kingsland, was summoned for selling to a publican a quan,
tity of saccharine matter, to be used as a substitute for
malt. The defendant was a brewer, who appears to have
been too ambitious. Not content with the manufacture
of malt and hops into the liquor which the London public
loves, he has made two decoctions, called "maltheine "
and "hydromel," which appear to be valued chiefly
because they can be passed off for what they are not.
But Mr. Wil;iams has been well punished. The magis-
trate, deeming that maltheine and hydromel were only
fine names for adulterative compounds, inflicted the
penalty of £5OO ; thus, we should imagine, completely
spoiling the look of that part of Mr. Williams's balance-
sheet -n which the profit and loss of the maltheine and
hydromel trade are entered. Our contemporary trusts
that the infliction of this heavy penalty will suffice to send
such stuff, for a time at least, out of the market, and will
satisfy brewers that they will do best by keeping to their
legitimate trade.

Coventry has avenged Devonport. Mr. Basilela
}'errand, who was deprived of his hardly-won seat for the
latter on the ground of certain technical lacheg, has re-
turned the compliment by ousting his successful rival at
the last election for Coventry. The select committee
which was appointed to try the petition against the return
of Mr. Mather Jackson has concluded its labours by
declaring that the sitting member was guilty of bribery
by his agents ; that he was not duly elected, and that the
election is therefore void. If the Premier's Corrupt
Practices Pill were in force, justice, observes the
Standard, would have been rendered sooner and more
amply. It is true that only three clays have been
occupied in the inquiry, but the election took place
so far back as July last. Under the new system
the question might have been tried some seven or
eight months back at the very scene of the scandal. It
would have been competent for the committee to order
that the agents of corruption should be criminally prose.
cuted, and to confer the seat at once upon Mr. Ferraud,
instead of forcing him to go through the labour and
expense of a second election. The story of Coventry reads
tamely beside the grander episodes of Totnes and Lan-
caster, Reigate and Yarmouth. One contemplates with
something like respect the knave who has sold his honour
and his vote dearly for from fifty to ten pounds, as at
Totnes or Lancaster; but your Coventry Liberal, who
knocks himself down to the first bidder at ten shillings
and a breakfast, is an object of disgust and contempt.
The Telegraph reminds us that by the death of Lady
Tichborne, which took place last week, a new element of
doubt is introduced into the contest now pending for
the title and estates of the Tichborne family. The Unex-
pected appearance, some time ago, of a person who claimed
to he the rightful heir attracted an amount of interest very
much greater than that excited by ordinary cases of dis-
putecl succession, not merely because the new competitor's
previous history had been romantic, but because the lady
hoe., deceased received him as her son, and thus put a stamp

of validity on his claims. The gentleman who, after an
absence of many yeas in Atutralia, was so recognised, has
now lost the most valuable witness that could be produced
in his favour, the one whose positive and direct evidence
would naturally outweigh ail merely negative proofs that
could be offered on the other side. To what extent his
position will be affected remains to be seen ; but it ie
scarcely surprising that, where so much depended on the
lady's life, her sudden demise should have awakened his
suspicion, and that a formal inquiry should have been mad 6
into the causes of her death.

THE RATEPAYING CLAUSES.—A meeting in the
Town-hall of Hackney has been called, upon a numerously
signed requisition, on the 25th inst.

ROMAN AFFAIRS.

From the Roman Correspondent of the Westminster Grazeite)

ROME, March 7.
Before this is published, namely on the
13th inst., the Consistory will have been held,
in which will be created the cardinals to whose

elevation to the purple I have already ad-

verted.

On the day above named the Pope will be
borne in state in the sedia gestatoria, to the

aula consistorialis, where he will take his seat

on the throne, surrounded by the dignitaries
of his household, whence he will announce, in
a Latin allocution, his intention of conferring
the cardinalitial dignity on the first of those to
be created, who on this occasion will be his

Imperial Highness Mgr. Lucien Bonaparte.
According to prescription, he will then address
to the assembled cardinals this question, " Quid
robis videtur?" and the cardinals having one by
one given their adhesion, he will pronounce the
formula for the creation in these words :

Auctoritate nostra et beatorum Apostolorum
Petri et Pauli creamus et publicarnus cardi-

nalem presbyterum Sanetae Ecclesiaeßomanae,
N.N. cum omnibus clusulis et derogationibus
opportuniis et necessariis."
After a pause the Pope then proceeds to
announce the names of the other prelates he
intends to make cardinal priests; who will be
Mgr. Moreno, Archbishop of Valladolid; Mgr.
Gonella, Bishop of Viterbo; Mgr. Ferrieri,
Archbishop of Syda, in partibus, now Nuncio
at Lisbon ; Mgr. Barili, Archbishop of Thya-
nia, in partibus, Nuncio at Madrid; Mgr. Ber-
ardi, Archbishop of Niccea, in partibus, now
Under-Secretary of State ; and Mgr. Monaco-
la-Valletta, assessor of the S. Congregation of
the Holy Office. Also of those to be made car-
dinal deacons, who will be Mgr. Borromeo-
Arese, Majordomo of the Pope; and Mgr.
Capalti, Secretary of the S. Congregation of the
Propaganda.
The cardinalitial berretta, mozzetta, and
zuchetta, are conferred by the Pope's own
hand on those new cardinals who are present
in Rome. To those who are absent, it is sent
by the hands of a prelate bearing the title
of ablegate, accompanied by a guardia nobile.
In this case it is customary for the new car-
dinal to make a handsome present to the ab-

legate and the guardia notille, and that the
latter should receive a decoration from the
sovereign of the country.
The three who will be absent from Rome on
this occasion, will be Mgr. Moreno, Mgr. Fer-
rieri, and Mgr. Barili.
On the evening of the 13th, the new cardi-
nals will hold their first ricevimento, that is to
say, they open their rooms to receive the com-
plimentary visits of the members of the corps
r 1 iplo»lati rine, the nobility and prelature, minis-
ters and public functionaries. The exterior of
the palace is brilliantly illuminated, tar barrels
full of blazing shavings light up the surround-
ing piazza, and military bands lend their aid to

the festivity.
Mgr. Bonaparte will give his ricevimento at
the French Embassy ; Mgr. Monaco, at the
Holy Office ; Mgr. Berardi, and Mgr. Borro-
meo, at the Quirinal ; Mgr. Gonella and Mgr.
Capalti, at the Propaganda ; and the Spanish
Ambassador will give one at the .Palazzo di
Spagna, in the name of Mgr. Moreno.
A second and less formal ricevimento will be
given on the morning of the 16th, the day of
the Consistory, in which the hat and ring and
cardinalitial title are conferred. The new car-
dinals will be presented to their places in it,
after taking the customary oath. To be in-
vested with the hat they kneel before the Pope,
who places it on their head, saying : Accipe
galerum rubrum, &c. He then places on their
finger the cardinalitial ring, and assigns to each
a title of one of the churches of Rome.

The hat, which is red, with gold tassels, is
carried home to each cardinal's residence the
same evening by the eamerieri swell, with con-
siderable ceremony.
The title of Mgr. Bonaparte will be from
Sta. Maria della Pace ; Mgr. Gonella's, Sta.
Maria sopra Minerva ; Mgr. Berardi's, SS.
Pietro e Marcellino; Mgr. Monaco's, Sta. Croce
lit Geilisalemme ; Mgr. Borromeo's, SS. Vito e
Modesto ; and Mgr. Capalti's, Sta. Maria in
Aquiro. I have not been able to learn as yet
what titles will be assigned to the three absent
cardinals.

Mgr. Borromeo will be succeeded in his
post of majordomo by Mgr. Pacca, who cedes
his of maestro di camera to Mgr. Ricci.
Franchi, Archbishop of Thessalonica,
and formerly nuncio at Florence, will replace
Mgr. Barili at Madrid, and Mgr. Oreglea di
San Stefano will succeed Mgr. Ferrieri at
Lisbon.

While the Holy See is thus steadily fulfilling
the routine of its functions, grave complications
are forming all around it. There seems little
room left for doubting that, without conclud-
ing a new Convention, which would have
created too much noise, France and Italy have
agreed to add certain clauses to that of Sep-
tember, 1864, amounting in substance to this
—" Italy recognizes the temporal power of the
Pope within its present limits, not only as a fact
but in principle. She undertakes that she will
not attack it nor permit armed bands to attack
it. On the other hand France confirms the
principle of the Unity of Italy, and pledges
herself that it shall be respected. In presence
of the above formal declaration of Italy she
engages to withdraw her troops from the Papal
State, while Italy undertakes no responsibility
as to any complications which may arise within
the Pontifical frontier, but reserves to herself
full liberty of action in any such case."
A new pretext of invasion is thus ingeni-
ously created.
These mutual engagements were hardly
signed (on the 21st February) when the Flo-
rence Government set itself to put in motion
the " complications within the Pontifical fron-
tier which it had so sagaciously provided for.
On the 23d, but two days later, orders were
given to the so-called Roman emigrants to
assemble on the frontier, at Terni, Rieti, Orvieto,
and hold themselves in readiness to show them-
selves on the stage whenever the strings are
pulled. About the same time came the attempt
I told you of last week to make the search after
brigands a pretext for crossing the frontier at
Acquapendente and Montefiascone, and vari-
ous messages to the authorities to negotiate
for the restoration of the arrangements en-
tered into last year between the Pontifical and
Italian officers for the suppression of brigand..
age, which it is needless to say received no
countenance, for they took in no one.
We have good information here that numer-
ous enrolments are going on in Italy, and that
the sect is working in the shade. Only a day
or two ago a quantity of muskets and ammu-
nition were found hidden in an island of the
Tiber, near Acqua-Acetosa, a little way outside
Rome.

It is very generally thought that everything
is being thus got into a state of due preparation
against the French troops evacuate Civita Vec-
chia. But at the same time the question re-
mains for consideration, why such quantities
of war materiel were accumulated at Civita
Vecchia, that at least boded a longer stay.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that tactics
of the same nature as those with which last
year's campaign began are being resorted to by
the sect. Thus, a band of " brigands " made
a raid at Frosinone, and kidnapped two chil-
dren, demanding an enormous ransom. At
another place they entered the church, and
scattering everything right and left, forcibly.
carried off the priest. Two companies of
Zouaves were sent to Frosinone on Monday,
which will sufficee
for
the frontier
thefro
n tier protectionis straggling of
neighbourhood.
But
_difficult
a
of is
and in its nature the most
tto have to defend against bri-
gandpossible
essibler
fraternity. Nature h
with such perfect cover in the epino
the ground, woods and brushwood
,elidueadlitie themsof
rocks and
caves, that troops who, from the nature of their
antecedents, are less practised ,in the art of
climbing, and hiding, and lurking, have fear-
ful odds against them. Still they have ever
shown themselves shy of encountering the
Zonal-es, and when these are assisted by the