The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-14 00:00:00

"All7l Vning b*:)4111-a4

LONDON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1845.

There is no prcfession, no business, no trade, no
calling, we sincerely believe, so much exposed as that
which it is our misfortune to follow, to misrepresenta
, den of motives, and misconception of opinions and prin-
ciples, in all cases where these happen to be adverse to
the pretensions or the interests—as in many cases they
necessarily must be—of some one class or other, whose,
sensitiveness is so extreme that the mere force of con-
sciousness often makes them cry out, before, even, they
are so much as, intentionally, hinted at But journalism
is also the most devoted of vocations. They whose
property- is embarked in it are marked out for the prey
of those whose honest efforts are directed to extracting e
furtive property out of it. The state of the law is at
anomalous, on all that regards the press, that it drops
almost all the favorite presumptions in dealing with an)
charges that are preferred against newspapers, which it
would recognize in dealing with charges against at.)
(lass of her MAJESTY'S subjects, not connected with
them. The rule being, as to all other persons, to put
the most favourable construction on motives, the ex
ception is taken against owners, editors, and writers in
the public papers. The absence of all equity in this
invidious distinction may be illustrated by the considera-
tion that if an editor do not display all vigilanc(
in announcing, as they occur, new cases of misde-
meanour, fraud, or other offences, of which it is necessary,
either for Vie protection of their interests or the gratifi
cation of their curiosity, that the public should be in.
fertned; and the most uncompromising boldness in de-
nouncing such dellnquencie s and holding up the parties
who are proved guilty of them to the reprobation of the
virtuous and the honest ;—that editor is rendered con-
tenuptiblr, not to say infamous, in the eyes of his coun-
try men by his moral pusillanimity, If, on the other
hand, he fearh ssly discharge his most responsible and
important task, and, either in the hurry of' composition,
or the interruptions and distractions of bis business, he
happen, out of a great variety of facts proved on the
trial to assume or.e, by mistake, as proved, which was
only implied, no proof upon it having been gone into,
he is liable to an action for such oversight, although, in
the first place, the mistake may not in the slightest
degree affect the merits of the case against the party so
proceeding against him, and although, in the second, the
infer: enee may be irresistible that the fact is precisely
identical with the assumption. One of the most sin-
gul tr and vexatious liabilities to which an editor may
subj et a newspaper, in the total absence of all design
to give offence, and in the discharge of his habitual
duty, has just been afforded by an action brought against
a respectable and well-known provincial journal, under
the following circumstances:—Two parties, a Mr. DEW
(an t state agent in the Strand), and another it dividual re-
siding at Bay swater, were stated, in an account given by
the Times newspaper, to have been brought up before
the magistrate, at the Marlborough-street police-office,
charged with being concerned in an illegal negotiation
for the sale of an East India cadetship, in violation of
the 40th Geo. 111., which makes such a proceeding a
misdemeanour. The Times report, in describing the
history of the transaction (which it is not necessary here
to go into), affirmed that the gentleman by whose in-
influence and credit it was represented, to a Mr. Con-
PARD, that the cadetship could be obtained was a Mr.
SHANK, who had once been a Director of the East India
Company ; and that on the production of a certain do-
cument, "purporting to be signed by that gentleman,"
Air. COPPARD paid down 1,0501. in the nature of "con-
sideration money." Evidence was calledto disprove this '
signature. The Brighton Guardian, in transferring an

abstract of this report into its columns, described this
result thus :—that the pretended signature of SHANK
was " proved to be a forgery." Now, if the affirmative
Lc: of a signature being genuine is disproved, it seems
to us the most legitimate of all conclusions that can be
jumped to, that the negative fact is thereby established.
If that which purports to be the signature of A. B. is
proved not to be such, the signature of A. 13., by all
necessary in'erence, must have been forged. But
the Mr. DEW, who was brought up before
the Marlborough-street police magistrate, and ad-
mitt< d to bail, subsequently brings an action be-
fore a sheriff's jury, to assess damages against the
publisher of the Brighton Guardian for a libel, inasmuch
as this mode of stating the facts amounted to an imputa-
tion of forgery, which had had the effect of seriously
damaging him in his business. Accordingly, Mr. Ds:w's
book-keeper was called, who &posed that his master's
business connexion lay chiefly in Sussex, and that, since
the 17th of June, the day on which the libellous mis-
statement was published in the Brighton Guardian, Mr.
Dew's business had marvellously fallen off. The busi-
Less Lad, prior to that time, been worth from 1,500/. to
1,600/. a-y car. "For a fortnight no letter came from
Sussex." On his cross-examination by Mr. JANES, this
witness admitted that DEW had been three times before
the police magistrate, and that, after the report in the
imes got down into Sussex, they had no more letters.
Ile said that the business generally had fallen off—that
in Sussex in particular—and that himself and Mr.
DEW'S too other clerks had now not much to do
except to be looked at. We fully concur in the
opinien expressed by the Learned Counsel for the
Briglt9n Guardian, "that the falling off of the plain-
tiff's business must have been owing, not to the pub-
lication of the paragraph complained of by him, in the
Susiex papers, but to the charge of being concerned, in
theillegal sale of the cadetship, for which he was
taken three times before a police magistrate," and the de-
tails of which had been previously published in the Times.
Now, is it not scandalous that editors of newspapers,
in the honest discharge of their business, should be left,
by the present preposterous condition of the law of
libel, like trial targets, to be shot at (under ridicul-
ous pretences which no man is compelled to believe, and
few or none will believe) by parties, whose " business
is falling off," whether for their amusement or their
profit. The law which admits of such vexatious pro-
ceedings on grounds so trumpery as those which were
solemnly valued by a jury, empanelled upon oath, at
" one-eigl.6 of a penny"—(the amount assessed in com-
pensation for the ravages alleged to have been committed
by the mistake of the Brighton Guardian on a business
estimated at 1,500/. or 1,600/. a-year) ; such a law
must surely have been devised by, and can only be
retained for the benefit of such plaintiffs and attorneys
as are sometimes heard of—as derive a subsistence from
invoking its latent capacities for the infliction of the
most annoying and intolerable exactions on the purses
of more respectable and honest individuals than
themselves. Mr. COHEN may reasonably consider the
dan.ages against him as a verdict of honourable at-
quittsl ; but why should the law subject him to lam: r
Ix asy costs in defending himself against such an acti, n,
brou,;ht under such circumstances ?

We wish to draw the particular attention of our
readers to a letter of Mr. fluME's, which appears in
another part of our paper, and also to the letter from
the Dean of DURHAM to that gentleman, on the subject
of opening the cathedrals to the public without fee. All
admirers of our monumental and cathedral antiquities—
all lovers of the fine arts—all religious members of the
Church of England, are under the greatest obligation fo
Mr. IJUME, who, through evil report and good re-
port, has, for years past, unceasingly lab.nired to
obtain fur the public free access to these historical mo-
numents of the glory of bygone ages, and to rescue our
ecele:•iattical dignitaries from the degradation of being
the keepers of a penny show shop. All honour to the
Dean and Chapter of Norwich, and the Dean and Chap
ter of Durham, who have so ably seconded him. All
honour, too, to Sir ROBERT PEEL, through whose persua-
sion the Dean and Chapter of Westminster have at
length been brought to take a common sense view of
this question. May the other Deans and Chapters of
the other Cathedrals soon follow such excellent examples.

Swiss papers of Late dates have been received.

In the sitting of the Diet, on the Bth instant, Berne,
Argau, Bask country, and Soleure, paid to Lucerne be-
tween 500,000 E and 600,000 f. for the ransom of the
,nemberi of their free corps, taken prisoners. These
were applied in indemnifying the citizens of Lu-
c Tile for the losses they had sustained from the expedi-
tion. Lucerne then demanded indemnification for the
expenses of the war. This demand was supported by the
four sma:l Catholic cantons who would each be bene-
fited by it, and they further demanded that the expenses
should be, borne by the offending parties ; this latter
lemand was resisted by the Radical Cantons, and it
was ultimately arranged that the indemnity should be
limited] to 130,000 francs, that Lucerne should, before
cccAving it, prove that so much at least had been ex-
?,'idea, and that it should be paid out of the Federal
treasury.

A letter from Soleure states that M. LOETZC MI, a
.;unmaker of that town, has invented a new musket of
such power that, although no larger nor heavier than an
)rdinary musket, and requiring no greater charge, will
-arry a ball through an oak plank four inc.,ltes Ohl-, at.
•.he distan!e of 500 feet. Another ball, fired at a dis-
i.unco of 2,000 feet, pierced a board two inches thick,
struck a rock behind it, and rebounded a considerable
thstance. M. LOETZC HU keeps his invention a secret,
an i affirms that he is able to make guns of the same
size having a much greater range.

Madrid papers to the 6th have arrived. The publi-
cation of the pontifical rescripts, nominating bishops to
the vacant sees in Spain, is the subject of severe animad-
vorsi,n in most of them. They blame the Cabinet ex-
c :edingly for authorising this publication, which the
Tiernpo deeply deplores as a concession to the exactions
o' Rome.

According to the Espectlclor, General ALCALA has
been sent to S.)govia, Brigadier MONTERO to Guada-
lax ira. C< mmandant SARMIENTO to Alcarzas de San
Juan, and Captain SARAISIA to Almaden.

El Heraldo, the Ministerial organ, states that a number
of the inhabitants of Malaga, known to entertain revo-
lutionary opinions, have been arrested, and that arms
and ammunition have been found in their houses.
The same journal confirms the statement that M. Co-
LUDT and M. CALvo, the 'editors of the Clamor Publico,
had been released from their imprisonment in the Fort
St. Catherine at Cadiz. The brigade sent to Cuenca
has received orders to march into Navarre, to be reviewed
with the other troops by the Due DE NEmouns at Pam-
peluna.
It was reported in Madrid that as 200 convicts were
being conducted from Carthagena to the Canal of Castile,
they race upon the troops 'escorting them, massacred
them all, hanged the commanding officer on a tree, and
escaped in different directions.
MADRID BOURSE.—Three per Cents., for Cash, 311 ;
for Account, 31 9-IG. Five per Cents., fur Account, 22.

The Paris Papers of Tuesday have arrived.

The Constitutionneland the/Vational indulge in " songs
of triumph" on the result of the election of a Deputy
for the Haute Soane. M. THIERRY, the personal friend
of M. GuizoT, was the Ministerial candidate, and he
polled only 106 votes, while his. opponent, the Due DE
umamt, polled 134.

AU the plpers indulge in long comments on the speech
of Queen VICTORIA at the close of the session of Par-
lisinent. These comments are, if possible, even more
uninteresting than the speech itself.
On the subject of the suppression of the Jesuits the
Constitutionnel has the following :

" Although since the arrival of the orders from Rome the
members of the Society of Jesuits residing in France are be-
coming dispersed, the houses which they inhabited are not to
be sold, because the fee-simple belongs to laics who do not
form part of this celebrated society. The late holders of these
houses were on the point of coming to some understanding
with other orders recognised in France, but they could not
arrive at any definitive conclusion, as they wanted simply to
let, and not to sell, their interest in them. These circum-
stances prove that the members of the Society of Jesus, and
their adherents, regard their present position as provisional,
and hope ft, better days."
A letter from Caleis, datel the 10th, states that, in
consequence of a te!egraphic dispatch received the day
before, a courier liLd set out immediately for Ramsgate,
from whence it was expected the Queen of ENGLAND
would embark for Antwerp, and that it was conjectured
he was the bearer of a letter from King Louis Pia-.
LIPPE to Queen VICTORIA.

A Toulon journal says " It is reported that General
DELARCE, who at the date of the last news was waiting
for the return of M. LEON ROCHE from Paris, is again to
repair to Tangiers, to enter on other negotiations. For
some time ABD-EL-KADER has not been spoken of. It
is evident that the authorities themselves are ignorant
f the direction which the chief has taken in quitting the
Tell, where he appears to have remained upwards of a
month. The columns of the Oran division are still in
the field. They cross the country in all directions, and
maintain in their duty the tribes which might be inclined
to again take up arms for the Emir. Some persons
affirm that ABD-EL-KADER has regained the Moorish
territory, whilst others affirm that he has gone towards
Algeria, to place himself at the head of the Kabyles.
The Muniteur Alyerien of the sth gives detailed ac-
counts of the operations of the army of Marshal Bo-
GEALTD against the Arabs. It says that several Arab

tribes have come into the French camp and made their
submission.

On Saturday morning several commissaries of the
police of Paris and the banlieue, attended by officers,
made another search at the houses of the Mares des
Compagnons Charpentiars at La Villette and Mont-
rouge. They interrogated many of the journeymen car-
penters who still hold out, and six of them, on whom
were found convicting papers, were arrested and con-
ducted to the Prefecture.

The Bourse was again animated on Tuesday. For
the first time the shares of the Orleans and Bordeaux
Railroad Company were sold on the Parquet by the
official brokers. An immense rise in those securities
immediately took place.
The Three per Cents. closed on the Paris Bourse on
Tuesday at 84f. 55c. ; the Five per Cents. at 122 f. 15c. ;
Orleans Railroad Shares 1,287 f. 50c. ; Rouen, 1,060 f. ;
Vierzon, 785 f. ; Havre, 900 f. ; Avignon, 1,067 f. 50e. ;
Basle, 282 f. 50c ; Spanish Actives, 36% ; Spanish Three
per Cents, 3814 ; ditto Passives, 7.
The following are the quotations of the new lines :
Orleans and Bordeaux, 2271. 25c. premium ; Boulogne, 136 f.
25c. premium ' ' ditto, Troyes and Montereau, 57f. 50c. • Paris
and Lyons, (L affitte), 321. 50c. ; ditto (Calon), 5 ; ditte(Gan-
neron), 121. 50c.; Northern Line (Lailitte). 50f. ; ditto(Rosa-
mel), 241. ; ditto Pepin Lehalleur, 17f. ; Decan, 10f ;
Tours and Nantes (Mackenzie), 12f. 50c. ; ditto (Drouil-
lard), par ; ditto (O'Neill), 51. ; ditto (Jacques Le-
fevre), par ; Lyons and Avignon (Lecointe), 171. 50c.;
ditto (Talabot), 401. 50c. ; ditto (Compagnie Meridionale),
7f. 50c. ; Bordeaux and Toulouse (Mackenzie), par ; ditto
and Cette (Espeleta), 516 f. 25c. ; Creil and St. Quentin
(Kysens), par; ditto (Carette), 51. ; ditto (Colbert), If. 50c. ;
I'aris and Strasbourg (Ganneron), 12f. 50c.; Dijon and
Mulhausen, par; Dieppe, 25f.
MARSEILLES, Auo. 8.-Marseilles and Avignon, 1,050 f.;
Boulogne 632 f. 50c. ; Orleans and Bordeaux, 680 f. ; Vier-
zon, 7801.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, AUG. 13.
Boulogne and Amiens.. 103/4 Orleans and Bordeaux 10%
Bordeaux &Medi t erran ;Over Yssel ... 0%
Bordeaux and Toulouse Paris & Lyons (Lafitte) 3%
Do. and Cette 241 Ditto (Ganneron's). 2%
Dutch Rhenish ...
Dendre Valley
Dieppe & Paris JuncL Paris and Rouen . 4lljq
Dijon and Mulhouse
East Indian
Grt Northern of France Do. (Compte de L'Est)
(Laffitte's)
Ditto (Rosamel's)
Great Paris and Lyons Royal North of Spain. 21/2
Jamaica Junction 5% iSambre and Meuse .... 6
Do. South Mdlnd June — 'Strasbourg and Basle .
Louvain and Jemeppe 4l/2 Tours and Nantes
Lyons and Avignon 2% (11‘Kenzie's) 2%
Luxembourgh.. 2% Do. (Lefebvre's)
Namur and Liege 43/4 Verona and Ancona.... 31/2
Orleans and Vierzon

SUNDERLAND ELECTION.
FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

Hustings, High-street, Sunderland, Aug. 13.

While I now write there is such a disturbance as has
seldom been witnessed. Mr. Hudson's party approached the
hustings for the purpose of dividing Colonel Thompson's
forces, and of interrupting the Colonel's proposer, while
addressing the multitude. The splendid banner they car-
ried was thrown to the ground in a moment, and in a
short space of time torn to ribbands, the poles were broken,
and laid over the shoulders of the bearers of them. Mr.
Hudson's party, the first thing at the hustings to•day, com-
menced the battle of the arm, and they have surely been
worsted. One or two of Hudson's bullies have been taken
into custody.
The crowd assembled before the hustings is numerous.
From the Bridge Hotel down to the George (the space of
nearly a quarter of a mile) is one dense mass.
Cotton balls are now flying about in the crowd. The
cotton balls are emblematical of an affair of honour that
took place between two distinguished gentlemen on Whit-
bourne Sands.

Joshua Wilson, Esq., proposed Colonel Thompson, and
-John Hills, Esq., seconded the nomination. So strong is
popular feeling in favour of. the Colonel, that by no possible
means can Mr. Hudson's hired friends (and he has a good
number of them) maintain their place in front of the
hustings.
J. WRIGHT, Esq., is now addressing the people, but not
one word, I am sure, can be heard at three paces distance.
Richard Spoor, Esq., now attempts the same impossi-
bility.

I firmly believe popular feeling has never been so strongly
evinced in favour of any man living as it has been in favour
of Colonel Thompson at this election.
Colonel THOBITSON now rose, and said : " Electors,—You
have used the popular candidate very ill ; but it is no fault of
mine. He might have waited a little longer, and seen how
popular feeling was. There has been a thousand pounds
offered to one of my leading committee-men to let us be in a
minority for the first two hours—not by the Tories, but by
railway speculators. Is this not for the purpose of robbing
the purchasers of railway shares ?" The Colonel spoke only
a few minutes, and was attentively listened to.
Mr. HUDSON attempted to speak, but not a word could be
heard.

The show of hands has been taken, and is in the propor-
tion of a hundred to one in favour of the Colonel. More than
a hundred hands were not held up for Hudson, while many
thousands were held up for the Colonel.

OPENING OF THE CATHEDRALS

TO THE PUBLIC.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE• SUN.

Bryanstone• square, August 11, 1845.

consider' the opening of the Abbey at West-
minster to the public free for some hours dady an object
of importance, and I am anxious to give puhhcity to the
following letter from the Very Rev, the Dean of Dur-
ham, which may satisfy the Deans and Chapters of other
Cathedrals that they may follow the example set by the
dignitaries of that diocese, with safety to the monuments
in their Cathedrals, and with great advantage to the
people of this country, who, by th,ir exemplary colt-
duct on all occasions where they h Lye been admitted t
public buildings, have prov.d themselves wordly of
being trusted. During the trials that have been uoing
on for fourteen or fifteen years, no inA,tice has occur.
red in any museum or public collection, where the
people have acted improperly ; on the contrary, their
conduct has invariably been exemplary and deserving
of praise and of increased confidence.:
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) JOSEPH HUME.
N.B.—The Dean and Chapter cf Norwich have also
admitted the public free to the Cathedral for some hours
daily.

"'The Dean of Durham presents his compliments to
Ur. Hume, and begs to inform him that the cathedral of
Durham has been open to the public for several hours
a day for the last four years, without pa) went being re-
quired from any one ; and the Dean is happy to add.
that not one instance of misconduct on the part of any
one of the numerous visitors has come to his knowledge.
"The Dean is led to give Mr. Hume this information
by observing that, in the late debates on the subject, Sir
Robert Peel expressed a hope that the example of West-
minster, which is not yet set, would be followed by other
cathedrals.
" Deanery, Durham, Aug. 7, 1845."