The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-24 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY. DECEWB ER 24, 1850.

It is one of the proudest boasts of E nglhhrnen, that

the British law knows no distinet4;on of personr—
thlt its protection is afforded to all vii bout exception,
to the needy and humble as well af4, to the wealthy
and exalted. Such is undoubtedly th,‘ constitut!ocal
theory, which proclaims that none cara be injured or
ill-treated with impunity, and tbal the rights and
privileges of the meanest citizen ere as vigilantly
watched and energetically vindicated as those of the
SOVEREIGN herself. But, unfoetunaely, the practice
is very different indeed. Wo to the unfortunate
'Night. who, being grievously inju red in person or
property, claims redress through the criminal tribu-
nals of his country, without being posressed of means
su itieknt to defray the expenses of the prs isecution, or at
least to satisfy the fees which public officials, ap-
pointed by public authorities and paid out of the
public funds, are permitted to charge, a nd without the
payment of which insurmountable in ipediments and
obstacles are interplEed at the very tt resholds of our
courts of justice. The fee system is 'sufficiently bad
in civil. cases ; it can hardly be deft ded or justitiLd
under any possible circumstances, but it is infamous
in criminal cases, and a great and o ibined exertion
should be made to get rid of the incubus. Is it to
be tolerated, that cases of great apparel t atrocity, im-
peratively demanding the most steir gent inquiry,
should remain wholly without investigation, because

the injured party is unable to meet the claims
of the clerks of the indictments, or to pay
charges which should never be sanctioned
cr recognized—that a person, accusicd of the most
b_utal and disgusting conduct to a helpless child,
ilould be discharged without a tria.;l, because there
w,”; no party willing to become respomsible for the
expenses attending the prosecution ?
The propriety of appointing a puiblic prosecutor
has long been admitted; but the iireperative neces-
sity of adopting such a course has ue ver been more
painfully apparent than in the case of a man calling
himself the Count ADOLPHE DE WERIYINSIII, who had
been committed for trial from the Police-court, Bow-
street, for a long-continued series of cruelties to-
wards a young girl, under sixteen yes of age, who
had resided with him under his Pole care from
an early age, but who had been discibarged by pro-
clamation last week, no bill having hieen sent before
the Grand Jury.

In this melancholy case there was ;no public body
on whom the unfortunate victim had any claim for
assistance, so as to afford an opportunilty to the com-
mitting magistrate to press upon its usrwilling accept-
ance the duty of conducting end marrying on the
prosecution. Although wholly without resources
except those obtained from the alleged assailant, she
had never been chargeable to any parish or relieved
in any union workhouse. • humane and charitable
lady had provided a home for the wretched girl from
the time she left her persecutor, and therefore nothing
would be done by those who should, un ler other circum-
stances, have assumed the responsibility. Mrs. FLEW.
ING had incurred much expense and trouble in conse-
quence of her benevolent and praisewonlay conduct. it
would indeed have been unreasonable to expect that
she could undertake any further cut3ey. She had
brought the case before the magistrate. The neces-
sary witnesses were all in attendance, but the clerks
of the indictments were not propitiated. These
gentlemen were anxious to know " who were the
persons to whom they were to look for their fees
The answer was not satisfactory. The police-consta-
ble who had Vie management of the case (! ! ) replied
that the nominal prosecutrix (the unfortunate chill,
MARY ANN RICHARDS) was wholly destitute, end
that there was no other person who could be looked
ta. This was an offence that could not he sufli•
ciently punished. An example was to be made
that would convince all similar offenders, however
grievous their poverty, of the necessity of providing
sops for the official Cerberus. The indictment was
framed with a single count for a ccmmon assault, in
the stereotyped form ; that was palpably inade-
quate. It was returned by the Deputy Clerk of the
Pa.cp+, with a request that the Clerk of the Indict-
ments would consider whether additional counts were
not required. None were, however, prepared, and it
was openly stated that the nen-payment of the fees
was the cause of this extraordinary occurrence. The
case, such as it is, requires a searching scrutiny.
We commend it to the notice of Sir GEORGE
Gear, in order, partly, that he may indict
c. sure, if censure he really deserved, but still
more so, that he may introduce such regulations as
may prevent the possibility of such a palpable failure
of justice again occurring, and the majesty of the
law from being brought into similar contempt and
disrepute.

It is to be hoped that the engine-drivers and fire-
men of the London and North Western Railway
may, while there is yet time, consider calmly and dis-
passionately the probable results of the illegal and
unjustifiable demands which they hare put forward,
and with which it is utterly impossible that the direc-
tors can comply. The consequences of " the strike'
on the Eastern Counties line last summer, and the
ruin and misery in which it involved the unfortunate
and misguided men who endeavoured to coerce their
employers, should not be lost sight of. On that
occasion the malcontents fell into three grievous
mistakes, which rendered all their calculations erro-
neous. Ist, They believed that the directors could
not possibly obtain competent substitutes, and conse-
quently could not carry on the business of the
company without their aid and co-operation. 2dly,
That the shareholders, trembling for their dividends,
and alarmed at the pecuniary losses that must almost
inevitably arise, would compel the directors to suc-
cumb, and accede to the demands, however unreason-
able or ui justifiatle ; and ally, That the public,
influerced by the raw-head-and-bloody-bones reports
of accidents, which h2d no fiundation save in
the fertile imaginations of the narrators, would have
taken an active part with the combinatory, and that
the " pressure from Vi itVout" would have proved
effectual. It is scarcely necessary to say how com-
pletely the parties to the strike were deceived on each
and every of there points, and l'ew fatal to their own
prospects was the mischievous course into which
theyvs, may,hal solemnly,
bar ni :Ifl y iub,
leer a tteol y enterel
these mis-
takes under present circumstances, and we sincerely
trust that it may b 3 received as a salutary warning
by those who may perchance fall into similar errors,
and who, most probably, afforded pecuniary assistance

to the defeated combinators in the misery and desti-
tution which they brought upon themselves in the
rash attempt to change their relationship with their
employers, and make the former become their very
humble and obedient servants, who should not ven-
ture to express or even to entertain an independent
opinion. _ . .

To their great surprise and astonishment, however,
the directors stood firm ; they felt that it was not a
matter in which they could, consistently with their
own reputation, yield, or even give way in any de-
gree. It was a question in which every board through-
out the entire kingdom, every employer of labour,
was deeply interested. If they had struck their
colours, or even hesitated for a moment, it would be
impossible to say where the matter would terminate,
or to what lengths the victorious conspirators
or their synapathisers on other lines might
proceed. The situation was one of great difficulty
and enormous responsibility ; but the directors
showed themselves fully equal to the emergency,
and their conduct on that trying occasion reflected
the highest credit on themselves, and entitled them to
the marked thanks of the community in general, and
more especially of all persons in any degree interested
in railway property. While they evinced every dis-
position to conciliate and to refrain from availing
themselves of the advantage which the :reckless
and intemperate. conduct of their employes placed
in their hands, they also showed the utmost firmness
and a thorough and unflinching determination not to
bate a hair's breadth on any matter of principle. They
held out the olive-branch by offering to accept the
submission of the men, to forgive their past insubor- '
dination, and permit them to withdraw their notices ;
but that which was done in mercy and charity
to the unfortunate victims of their own folly
was all that would be done. They would not
sacrifice an able and efficient officer, who had done
nothing worthy of censure, but whose management
had given thelaighest satisfaction to his employers, to
gratify the unwarrantable caprice of their subordinates.
The result proved how justly they had calculated.
They were enabled to fill up the vacancies occa-
sioned by the secession with competent and duly
qualified men ; they had to make but a few
ti ifling changes in the number of trains
for a few dais, and before a single week,
matters bad resumed their former appearance.
The appeals to the shareholders, and to the public
generally, were equally unavailing. The half-yearly
general meeting of the company took place during
the height of the contest, and printed add resies were cir-
culated, detailing the imaginary wrongs of the seceders.
The simple and straightforward, clear and manly,
statement of the Chairman, however, placed the mat-
ter in its true light, and carried with it the feelings
of the entire assembly. There
.was no differ-
ence of opinion ; never, perhaps, wes greater
unanimity exhibited at any numerously at-
tended meeting, and some shareholders, who de-
clared that they would rather sacrifice their entire
dividend than 3 ield to the unreasonable demands,
were greeted with enthusiastic and rapturous ap-
plause, which showed that they only gave expression
, to the sentiments of their brethren.

The public were equally unanimous. Occasionally
some testy gentleman wrote a letter complaining
of a trifling delay that might have taken place
under the most perfect system, but the
exception proved the rule, and the general
feeling was, that any degree of inconvenience would
he willingly encountered rather than that the direc-
tors should be prevented from obtaining a complete
victory over the insurgents. That victory was
achieved without a single circumstance that could
cast a gloom over the picture, and none but the mis-
guided men themselves, and their miserable and un-
fortunate families, had reason to deplore the strike of
the engine-drivers and firemen on the Eastern Colin.
ties Railway.
Let those who arc now entering on a similar con-
test be warned while there is yet time, and reflect on
the more than probable consequences of their acts,
Let them be well assured that the directors of the
London- and North-Western Company will exhibit
similar determination to that which gained for the
Eastern Counties Boarelgolden opinions, and that they,
likewise, will be supported by the shareholders and
the public generally in any contest that may arise.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,

We have received the Paris journals of ycsterdsy.
Galignani's Messenger (which is published at two
o'clock) gives the following account of the proceedings
at the office of the Finance Minister yesterday morn-
ing, for the adjudication of the new French recite:—
" This being the day appointed to receive tenders for
the two millions of rents which the French Government
had decided to dispose of, a considerable number of
persons assembled at the Hotel of the Minister of
Finance, in the Rue de Rivoli, as early as eleven o'clock,
ancl, in half-an-hour afterwards, the room thrown open
to the public was filled. It was generally understood
beforehand that only two parties had lodged the re-
quired deposit, namely, the firm cf Rothschild, and the
Barque ci'Escompte. Several of the receivers-general
had united with the latter, whilst the houses of Hottin-
guer and Co. of Paris, and of :Baring Brothers, of Lon-
don, had, it was said, come to an understanding with M.
Rothschild. It was also said that in consequence of the
heavy ethictiou in which M. Rothschild and his family
were plunged by the recent death of his grandson, that
gentleman would refrain from bidding. At five minutes
past twelve o'clock, M. Fould, the Minister of Finance
entered the room, and directed a secretary to read the
decree of the President of the Republic, authorising
the sale of wife, and the conditions of the adjudica-
tion. From them it appeared that the amount of the
ret te to be sold was 1,5,13,647 f. in Five per Cent. Steele,
with the dividend of the 22d September, 1850; and
493.217 f. el Three per Cent. Stock, with the dividend
of 221 December, 1850; the price cf the adjudication
was to be at least equal to a minimum price fixed by
the Minister. The payments of the sum agreed to be
accepted for the above amount of recite were to be
elf eted es follows:-20 per cent. on the 25th January,
1851; and 20 per cent. on the 25th of February, March,
and April, respectively. The tenders were, as usual, to
be sealed, and when once given in could not be
withdrawn.

" After the conditions had been read, the Minister
placed on the table two sealed packets, containing the
minimum price ho would receive for the two kinds of
rente to be offered for, and then announced that he
was ready to receive tenders.
" A sealed packet was handed in by M. Biests, the
director of the Banque d'Ebconnpte, and no other tender
being forthcoming, the Minister said that he would
wait a few minutes, to see if any other offer wag to
be made.

" After a delay of about twenty minutes the Minister
again inquired if any other desired to tender, and no
answer having been given, he said that he would now
open the tender presented.
" The tender was then opened, and declared to be from
Receivers-general and the Banque d'acompte, offering
for the Five per Cent. Rente 921. 40c.—(Murmurs.)
" The Minister rose and said that the minimum price
which he had fixed being 93'. 50c„ there was no adju-
cation.—(Bravo! bravo!)
" The secretary then read the offer for the 3 per cent.,
which was 64f. 60c.

"The Minister said that his minimum price being' 56r.
25c., there was no adjudication.—(Bravo 1 bravo!)
" The crowd then separated."
The Constitutionnel has the following on the gold
currency question :
"It has been said that the Ministry was about to sus-
pend the coining of gold which was flowing into the
Mint, and a report has been even in circulation that it
had given orders, if not to stop, at least to restrict it.
There is no clause in the laws relative to this subject
which can authorise the Government to interdict or
limit the coinage of gold. The decree of 28 Thermi-
dor, year 111, stipulates that Every one who shall carry
gold or silver to the Mint shall receive the value of it in
gold or silver coin.' We find in the law of 8 Frimaire,
year IV, that Every citizen who may wish to convert
gold or silver into coin, may carry it to the Mint.'
If, moreover, it be considered that the coinage
is placed exclusively in the heeds of the Government,
we shall be naturally led to conclude that it could never
enter into the intention of legislators to allow it a power
of suspending or diminishing it at its pleasure. The
cause of the report that the Ministry had given orders
to limit the coinage is this—lt is in presence of the in-
flux of gold into the Mint, that the Government took the
measures call. d for by the limits of the means of coinage
at present existing. Thence arose an order, which was
issued by the Minister cf Finance on the 16th instant
on the proposition of the Committee of Coins and Medals.
It was stated that henceforth the maturity of the Mint
orders delivered in payment of gold taken to the Mint
shall be calculated in suck a manner that the director
should only have to pay each day the sum of one mil-
lion, in rotation as the gold should have been
dep,sited. There is in thing in this order like
a fresh limitation. The Minister c f Finaece
has only fixed the deliveries at one million a day
because the means of coining will not allow a larger
amount to be made. The limitation of the delivery is
only made
.equal to
.the means of predstetion. There
hza alto been an exaggeration in the account of the
quantity of gold lately coired in the Mint. It has doubt-
less been considerable, but not equal to what has been
etated,particularly during the lest mon:h. We are( nableri
to state the exact amount. The coinage of gold, which
vas only seven millions in 1647, rose to 38 millions in
1848 ; it again fell in 1849 to 27 millions, and rose to
sb.ut 70 millions in the first eleven months of 1850.
But what more particularly deserves attention, is the
manner in which that 70 millions is divided between the