The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-12 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 1844.

The conduct of the Duke of BORDEAUX in this
country does not tend to raise the BOURBON race
in public estimation. Eyery Englishman at first
welcomed him as an unfortunate exile from
France ; his sad lot, and the sufferings of his
family for three generations, called forth the
sympathy of every generous heart, and all, from
the SOVERIAGN to the peasant, would have been
anxious to pay a due tribute to his reproacliless
life, and his position, as the last remnant of a
Royal Family that had performed a great part
for ages in the affairs of the world. Bnt when he
assumed the character ofa Pretender, when he en-
couraged the relics of the old bigoted and cowardly
triblesse to come in crowds to England, and,
taking advantage of her liberal institutions, to
raise a standard which he could have done in no
other European State (with the exception of
Hanover), he was classed among the incorrigible
despots who would rule divine right, and set
the people at defiance. Louis PHILIPPE was
elected Sovereign of France almost unanimously

—if there were any dissentients they belonged
to the party who had not the courage to express
their sentiments, and who have now come over
in shoals to pay court to the Duke of BOR-
DEAUX as HENRY V. It is unfair to make
England the scene of such an exhibition.
England had done and suffered much for
the BOURBONS ; but on finding them, from
the blind folly of CHARLES X., and the puerile
conduct of his son, utterly irreclaimable, even
the Tory Government of WELLINGTON at once
cast them off. What madness now to make an
attempt to resuscitate the worn-out dynasty, and
at the same time, by glaring indiscretion, to
offend a State that had done more than all
others to restore them to the throne ? Were he
not as blind as any of his family, he would see,
that if a revolution take place in France, it will
not be in favour of the young HENRY.
Young France and Old France, too, are
sick of masses and monks and Catholic
bigotry; the fatal impressions made by the his-
tory of the last hundred years have sealed his
fate, and the revival of the CAPETS is as hopeless
as that of the STU ARTS. True to the character of

the family, he yields when it is too late. He left
Brighton privately—he has remained for some
days in private at Belgrave-square, and he has
made his escape privately to some part of the
country. Even the loyal chronicler of his move-
ments leaves us to guess what is become of him.
The same journal has accurately recorded how
often he attended mass, as if that religious cere-
mony would raise him in the estimation of
Frenchmen.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Friday last,
a fellow named JoNEs was tried for stealing a
horse and cab. The prosecutor stated that the
prisoner had hired them of him, on the Ist of
August last, on the plea that he was going to
Hampton, and should return in the evening;
but when the evening came, he was " reported
missing," and, what was worse, the horse and
cab were missing also, and he had never since
been able to recover them. A witness, who
described himself as a horse-dealer, deposed that
on the 3d of last August JONES offered him the
horse for sale; the price he set upon it was
fifteen pounds, but after a good deal of " hag-
gling," he consented to accept nine pounds,
which the witness accordingly gave him for the
animal. In summing up the case, the Common-
Sergeant—who must be a very common Sergeant
indeed—" told the jury that they must look to
the original intent of the prisoner. The ques-
tion was, did he, when lie hired the horse and
shaise, intend to convert them to his own use;
or, having obtained possession, was he suddenl►/
tempted by the Devil to do it? Should they be
of the latter opinion, the felony was not made
out .' We have often been told that the
Devil interferes much more than is credit-
able or agreeable in mundane affairs; but
this is the first time, we believe, that his

mischievous interference has been formally
recognised in a court oflarr, and a deliberate act
of felony pronounced to be no felony, in conse-
quence of such Satanic intermeddling. We now

have it broadly stated, on the authority of a
grave and important legal functionary, that if a
prisoner be " suddenly tempted by the Devil "
to enact the part of a conveyancer with a gen-
tleman's watch and seals, levant with his horse,
abruptly vanish with his pocket-book, or commit
any other felonious offence, he is not to be con-
sidered guilty, because—and here we have the
convenient Socialist doctrine brought into play—
" lie is the victim of circumstances over which he
had no control." It is not he that is the criminal.
He is the mere involuntary agent of a
superior Power. The Devil is the arch-offender,
and he—and he only—must be held amenable
at law. Pleasant decision this, and one that
cannot fail to be specially agreeable to all the
various candidates for Old Bailey honours !
Imagine, for instance, a clever young "artful
Dodger "—such as DicKEfis has pourtrayed in
" Oliver Twist"—who bids fair to become a

credit to the profession, and;to excite the envy
and admiration of all the " Fagins" about town

—imagine, we say, such a genius tried at the
Central Criminal Court for absconding with an

eldeely gentleman's pocket-handkerchief; and,
when asked what lie has to say in his defence,
urging that the act was purely involuntary on
his part—that, in fact, he could not help himself,
being suddenly tempted by the Devil to "bolt
with the old cove's wipe." He made every
attempt at resistance in his power, but Satan
was too strong for him, and needs must when the
Devil drives. Of course the Common-Sergeant

—should he happen to be on the bench
at the time—would recognise the validity of
this defence, and the young artist would
most likely be let. loose again on society,
to undergo similar temptations whenever
an opportunity of plunder occurred. " Sud-
denly tempted by the Devil !" The
phrase is a most convenient one, every way cal-
culated to bring balm to uneasy consciences, and
reconcile a scoundrel to the commission of any
deed, no matter how atrocious. Should a man,
for instance, feel disposed to walk off with his
neighbour's wife—to forge his name to a bank
bill—to set his house on fire—or commit a
burglary on his goods and chattels—what more
easy fur him than to stifle the stern upbraidings of
remorse, by the accommodating reflection that he
is " suddenly tempted by the Devil." We have
no doubt that GREENACHE was thus "tempted,'
when lie left his mangled victim's trunk in a
field at Camberwell, and carried her head.
wrapped up in a towel, in an omnibus to White-
chapel ; consequently, on the Common• Se-
rgeant's showing, he ought to have been acquitted
of the murder! In the political world this plea of
" sudden temptation" is calculated to be of not
less comfort and convenience than in the law
courts; and accordingly, we strongly recommend
the Whigs and Sir JAMES GRAHAM to plead it
in justification of the marriage clauses in their
Poor-law Bill, for it will relieve them of a load
of inconvenient responsibility, by enabling them
to cheat themselves, and the credulous public,
into a belief that they were not free agents in
the matter.

The late meeting at Oxford to form a public
cemetery in the neighourhood of the city, ex- 1
cites some sad reflections. There is no fairer
way of testing the truth of any set of religious
opinions, than by examining their practical in-
fluence upon the every-day affairs of mankind.
Those principles which when reduced to prac-
tice are found to be inimical to the cummon in-
terests of our species, may rightly enough be con-
sidered bad ; and, on the other hand, when the
real substantial welfare of human beings is pro-
moted, we may be quite certain that there is no-
thing very unsound in the religious system by
means of which this good has been achieved.
Puseyistn claims our homage, and the profes-
sors of the modern creed insist most pragmati-
cally upon the divine origin of what they in-
culcate ; but if we decide upon the merits
of the system by the conduct of those who
preach it, we imagine we shall not be long
in arriving at a very unfavourable opinion
of what is presented to our notice. Oxford
is the quarter whence these dogmas have arisen,
and it is, therefore, well to direct our eyes thi-
ther occasionally for illustrations of the theolo-
gical system. The recentproceedings in reference
to the establishment of a public cemetery at
Oxford, supply us with some means of ascer-
taining
the sentiments of the Tractarian clergy.
when a great public good is under consideration.
The need of such accommodations as public
cemeteries we take to he so evident that
we shall not undertake to demonstrate it to
our readers. The old system o allowing
our dead to be buried in church-yards, placed in
the most densely populated parts of our most
densely populated towns and cities, for a long
time escaped all attention, excited no fears, and,
therefore, met with no opposition. It was not
even suspected that the noxious vapours emitted
from putrid human bodies might exercise an in-
jurious influence upon Le health of those resid-
ing in the neighbourhood of the church-yards
wherein they were deposited. Fevers, malaria