The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-19 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

DEIMITION ON A RAILWAY JOURNEY. —A case was beard
in the Newtown County Court, in which Mrs. Grady, a
draper, was the plaintiff, and the Cambrian Railway Com-
pany the defendants. From the evidence it appeared that on
the sth of May the plaintiff took a ticket by the company's
line to Manchester, leaving Newtown at six in the morn-
ing, and, according to the time specified in the company's
Lill, being due in Manchester at half-past ten. On arriving
at Oswestry, however, she found that the train for Man-
chester had gone, and, declining an offer made to her by the
traffic manager to send her on by the special, she took a
ticket for Newtown and returned home. For the defence
it was urged that, in accordance with a notice on the time.
table, the company was not responsible for delays in the
arrival of passengers, and, further, that two offers had been
made to send the plaintiff on—by one train which would
have reached Manchester at 11'45, and by another which
would arrive at one o'clock. Judgment was given for the
plaintiff for the full amount claimed.
A NOBLESIAN SUED BY A RATCATCHEIL—At the Leeds
Assizes an action was brought by a man named Smitb,
a ratcatcher, against Lord Londesborough. The plaintiff
had been engaged by his lordship's agett to exterminate
rats on the estate for £5O per annum. On• applying fox
his wages the agent told him that it would be raised by
a rate on the tenants, which he (plaintiff) would
have to collect. Plaintiff then collected some money and
continued for another year, and at the expiration of that
period he had a claim of £lOO, exclusive of the amount he
had received from the tenants, and which came to £4B.
He applied to Mr. Young, the agent of Lord Londes-
borough, for the money, but was again told that he must
look to the tenants, and a number of letters were sent to
them, urging upon them that they should pay the plaintiff
what he wanted. The plaintiff was not able to get his
money ; hence the present action against his lordship. The
fury gave a verdict for the amount claimed.
" THE LONG FlEH."—Samuel Israel, 36, dealer, an&
William Barnes, 33, baker, who were remanded from

Last sessions of the Central Criminal Court, were

indicted for unlawfully obtaining by false pretences
from William Turton a quantity of hay-seed, with
intent to defraud. tames and another man, named
David Morgan, were also indicted for obtaining by false
pretences from Thomas Dobson 200 bundles of willow
twigs, with intent to defraud. Barnes kept a small shop
in the Borough, and was in the habit of answering
advertisements in the provincial papers, and by doing
so a communication was opened with parties who had
anything to dispose of. By this means potatoes worth
£ll5 and other articles were obtained. The carriage on
the goods was paid by Israel. It was proved that Barnes
was really a respectable man, and had been the dupe of
the others, and he was acquitted. Israel was sentenced to

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.

The anxiety with which not politicians only,
but men engaged in business in every city of
Europe, hang upon the utterances of the Em-
peror Napoleon, has something about it very
painful. It shows more than anything else
that in Europe, under its revolutionary regime,
peace and war do not depend on causes that
can be foreseen or avoided, but upon the in-
scrutable and inevitable decision of one irre-

sponsible man. Whether war is to come in
October or not was uncertain until the Emperor

pronounced at Troyes the words that "Nothing,
to-day, threatens the peace of Europe," and
now men believe that they are safe for to-day,
to pursue their legitimate callings, or their ille •
gitimate speculations; but they also believe that
the absence of a warlike allusion is only a tem-

porary reprieve, and that the conclading words
of the speech, " Have confidence in the
future, and do not forget that God protects
France," forebode that the trial of strength
which people are looking forward to between
France and Prussia is only postponed. Such
anxious speculations, whether they have any
warranty or not, clearly prove that war is not
regarded as an event of terrible necessity, jus-
tifiable only on grounds of public justice, but
as a mere matter of political expediency to ad-

vane() the interests of a dynasty or to avers

political discontent. That political discontent
is coming to a head in France it is vain to
deny. The causes of this growing discontent
are various. Some undoubtedly may be traced
to that fatal revolutionary restlessness which,
since 'B9, like a brain fever, has seized upon
France, and under the impulse of which she
has more than once been driven to suicidal
courses. But other reasons also exist to ac-

count for the increasing discontent. French
men are beginning to feel ashamed of being
treated as unmanageable children or as escaped
lunatics; they fret under the restrictions which
bind them and resent the jealousy with which
they are watched. As long as Napoleon's
policy, however, was successful in Europe their
vanity was gratified and they were willing to
sacrifice liberty to " glory," but no sooner did
reverses fall upon the Emperor, and they are
too well known to need enumerating, than
the critical and sceptical temper of the people
of Paris turned upon the idol of the nation
and laid bare to public mockery the hidden
feet of clay. The state of the public finances
is no small element in the distrust which is
gathering round the closing years of the Em-
peror's reign.
In another direction, the vacillation which
the Emperor manifested on the Roman ques-
tion, his evident desire to conciliate the Re-
volution, until the manifestation of the Catho-
lic feeling of France forced upon him a sudden
change in his policy, have not tended to in-
crease confidence in his rule. The man who
is forced against his inclinations and his na-
tural bent to support a cause in which he has
no heart, may be made use of and protected by
many, but is respected and trusted by none.
Such is the lot of the Emperor Napoleon. He
would go with the Revolution, like his cousin,
if he dared ; as it is, he is compelled to guard
the Papacy. Such a position is scarcely honest,
but honest or not it provokes ridicule. And
nowhere is ridicule more catching and danger-
ous than in France. Napoleon stands in dread
of the sarcasms of the French Opposition. This
sensitiveness accounts for the manner in which
the Lanterns, famous for its sarcasms against
the Government, has been prosecuted, and for
the zeal of the Imperial police in seizing upon
every stray copy, even those in the hands of
readers, that they can lay hold of. The Lan-
terne is not the organ of any political party,
nor does it represent any particular section of
French society ; it simply appeals to the sense
of the ridiculous, and shows no scruple in
launching the most stinging sarcasms against
the Government, the Imperial officials, and
Bonapartists in general. By such means this
small, mean-looking weekly pamphlet has
attained within twelve weeks a weekly circu-
lation of 120,000. Its success in arresting
public attention is a phenomenon, calling for
consideration ; it shows at least that the Pari-
sian mind, after all, is not so dead to politics,
The Temps, commenting on this popular ex-
citement, says :
" Strange return of human things ! Those
people who were thought so devoted to grosser
indulgences do still take an interest in affairs
of State. Where is now our prudent, judici-
ous, and timid Press—timid even in its ex-
cesses—of the last fifteen years ? Where are
your refined allusions, delicate irony, which
people said disturbed the slumbers of the
powerful of the earth ? Where are those
skilful reticences, those highly-polished darts,
the cause of delight to 3,000 Parisians, and of
avertissements to the Minister of the Interior ?
To the hundreds of thousands who are now
waking up a writer must speak out frankly,
strongly, and roughly. It is liberty which
is returning with all its frankness, and, if
you will, with all its excesses."
The Government which justly exposes itself
to ridicule, is in France near its end. Another
indication of popular feeling was the refusal
by the son of General Cavaignac (the Repub-
lican general who was thrown into prison on
the 2d of December) to receive, at the distri-
bution of prizes, his allotted award, at the
hands of the Prince Imperial. This sensa-
tional incident was highly applauded, and
caused a sort of commotion in the streets.
We notice these incidents because they lead
up to one result—war. To escape from ridi-
cule, to recover a waning popularity, to enlarge
the already overgrown debt, without fear of
popular criticism, Napoleon has only to em-
bark in a campaign against Prussia. The
only condition imposed upon him is that it
must be successful. A brief and brilliant cam-
paign is the last card which Napoleon Bona-
parte has to play, and he is not the man, if
his destiny lead him on, to shrink from the
terrible game.—Westminster Gazette.