The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-01 00:00:00

anguished. navigator. Those who are interested in
the safety of Sir JOHN Ross, to say nothing of his
well-earned and most honourable fame as an Arctic
explorer; are bound by the common principles of
prudence to pause before embarking in an undertaking
of this character, and to meditate upon the probable
futility of any such enterprise. Our respect for the
abilities of Sir JOHN Ross, and our regard for the
reputation of one of our .most eminent mariners,
impels us to speak thus before the scheme—a scheme,
to our thinking, 'more than usually perilous—shall
'have become further developed. Rather than witness
any futile attempts of a mere supplementary descrip-
tion, we would gladly see the concentration of all the
intelligence, the energy, and the munificence of the
English people upon the bold and competent expedi-
tion of relief, fitted out under the direction of the
Government. Here, as elsewhere, union is of all
things the most desirable, because without union all
endeavours at affording assistance must necessarily
prove ineffectual.

After holding the office of Lord Chief Justice of
England for the long term of eighteen years, Lord
DENMAN this day resigns it, and retires from the pro-
fession of which, for the greater part of .half a century,
he has been a distinguished ornament. It is now fifty
years since Lord DENada' was one of the most assi-
duous and most esteemed of the pupils of Mr.
CHARLES BUTLER, the eminent conveyancer, a learned
and a liberal man, whose friendship (a prize of which
any man might be proud) had been earned by the
assiduity of his pupil, and from whom that pupil
acquired those liberal principles and that knowledge
'and reverence for the EngliSh Constitution which
urged him on every occasion, where great constitutional
prineiples were at stake, to at once rush fOrward,
careless of. consequences, 'to preserve the ark of the
Constitution inviolate.' it 'was this reverence for
constitutional principles that urged him on to under-
take the defence of BRANDRRTH and the other vic-
tims of the' unconstitUtiOnal spy system which SID-
MOUTH (to the eternal disgrace_ of his memory be it
recorded), sought to naturalize in this country ; it
was this reverence
,for' constitutional principles which
urged him on to undertake, in conjunction with one
even more illustrious than himself, the defence
'of Queen CAROLINE, whom 'it was sought to
crush by an unconstitutional Bill' of Pains
and Penalties ; it, was this reverence for
constitutional principles which induced him to de-
nounce, in terms which are now " familiar in our
mouths as household Words," trial by jury as " a
mockery, a delusion, and a snare," if tricks and
tamperings with the jury lists, such as those prac-
tised by the Irish officiali with the Dublin jury list
on the trial of the monster indictment against O'CoN-
NELL could for one moment be tolerated. A Liberal
during the whole course of his career in Par-
liament end' at the bar—it Liberal during the ear-
lier portion of his career on the bench, he seems
during theiatter portion of his career, as Judge, to
have -suffered his mind 4' to be cribbed, cabinned in,
and confined" by the 'mere lawyers, most of the old
high prerogative Tories, who were his colleagues on
the bench, and by some of whom helad latterly Suffered
himself 'to be led. 'His ' conduct in the celebrated
STociniLE and HANSARD case first exhibited the
influence which his high prerogative col-
leagues ' had acquired over him, an influence
Which. afterivards became plainly manifest in
all cases in which the Press was concerned,
which came before him for trial. In the Lord Chief
Justice of 'latter days, who evidently feared while he
hated the press, and who let no opportunity escape
of " feeding fat his ancient' grudge," by stretching to
its utmost extent the law of libel, it was scarcely pos-
sible to recognise the former Liberal Member fOr Not-
tingham. In this respect the career of his suc-
cessor, Lord CAMPBELL, presents a marked and
most favourable 'contrast to that of LOrd
DENMAN. Lord •DiNDILAN, like many other
great Whig laWyers, was fond of talking about
the freedom of the press hi Parliament and of toasting
it at dinner, but neither himself nor his friends ever
made any attempt to secure for the press the freedom,
the possession of whiCh was, according to their own
statements, so necessary. Not so Lord CAMPBELL ;
no sooner was he raised to the peerage than, he intro-
duced and carried the new Libel Law, which may
justly be called the Bill of Rights of the Public
Journalist, which has made the liberty of the press
A reality, instead of, as it was before the passing of the
law, " a mockery, a delusion, and a snare," and which,
conjoined with the libel law of Mr. Fox, may be
considered as the palladium of that liberty. A
better successor for Lord DENMAN than Lord CAMP-
BELL the Ministry could not have nominated—equal
to Lord DENMAN in his reverence for the Consti-
tion, in sound good sense, and in decision of cha-
racter, he is of more liberal principles, and is not
likely to suffer himself to be led • away by the in-
fluence of his colleagues. No man ever left the
bench more respected than Lord DENMAN, no man was
ever raised to it of whom greater expectations were
formed than Lord.CiatruLL. Of eminently judicial
mind, a sound lawyer, a ripe • scholar, " a man of
most upright and just integrity," we feel certain that
JOHN Lord CAMPBELL will more than realise the
most sanguine expectations of his most ardent ad-
mirers.