The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-15 00:00:00

(FROM THE MORNIN( CHRONICLE.)

The Papers of Thursday are filled with the trial
and sentence of M. Beranger and his bookseller.—
' He is condemned to nine months' imprisonment,
and a fine of 10,000 francs ; the latter suffers an im-
prisonment of six months, and a fine of 500 francs.
It was said by a distinguished individual, " Let me
have the making of the ballads of a nation, and I do
not care who has the making of the laws." If ever
there was a country in which ballads were influen-
tial, it was France before the Revolution ; but still,
in spite of Vaudevilles, Kings and Ministers and
their Mistresses went on their old way. Surely, if
a vicious Government in every sense of the word
could stand the incessant attacks of the Vaudevilles,
the present Government of France, on which public
ellittion exercises considerable influence, may afford
to disregard them. The song, which no doubt led
to the prosecution, is the Coronation (Satre) of
Charles the Simpl_le and woven very well conceive
that Charles the ~Wenth.ifalt yary uneasy under this
salt composition. But,..unifuestionably the wiser
policy would have beeceto have taken no public no-,
t ice of them. The Construction put upon a couplet of
the song, called the Guardian Angel recommending !
the drawing lots to know the place of final des-
tination, Heaven or Hell, seems exceedingly forced.
The Poet could hardly mean to question a future
life ; but must hive had in view the uncertainty
which Theologians have introduced into this subject
—no uncertainty which has often led individuals of
the purest lives to conceive themselves in a state of
reprobatiot:, and under the influence of that impres-
sion to destroy themselves. It was, no doubt,
thought that it *Quid have a better appearance to
exhibit the Poet also ..^.s an infidel, than to prosecute
him solely for his bitter rLtlicule of Charles X. - M.
Berville, the Advocate of M, de Beranger, alluded
to England as a country where caricatures and sa-
tires are disregarded, and he quoted it dialogue be-
tween Blucher and the Prince Regent in the Morn-
ing Chronicle of 1814. M. de Berville is mistaken,
however, if he think the practice uniform in this
country. It .is, no doubt, true that the satires of
Peter Pindar on the late King were not made the
subject of prosecution ; but it is also true that
Mr. John Hunt suffered, not many years ago, a long
imprisonment for the Maio?: of Judgment affair,
though the temptation afforded by Dr. Southey to
Lord Byron was almost irresistible. The very
first libel ease after the establishment of our
glorious Revolution was for a Ballad. For some
time past, indeed, the Government of this country
has very wisely abandoned prosecutions for libel—
a course from which men in power have been the
greatest gainers. Persecution has the effect of making
the object of it dear to the multitude. The suffering
atones for all sins and imperfection 4. The sympathy
of the public with a writer under prosecution for a
Government libel has always multiplied the claimants
of the honours of martyrdom. All Churches have
thriven under persecution ; and all have suffered
from prosperity. Burns has even made the Devil an
object of sympathy.
I'm was to think upon you Dan,
Even for you sake."
_ _

M. de Beranger has gained much more than the
Government from this severe sentence. The
couplets will be read and repeated with increased
relish; and the Catholic Church, which is net over
and above popular in France, will not rise in general
regard by this prosecution. It is altogether a foolish
affair, and men in power will find that out, to their
cost, ere lopig, or we are much mistaken. An article
in 'the Constitutionnel, on the subject of mendicity,

paints to an evil of great magnitude in France.
The number of poor in France, and indeed in every
country of Europe, is very great; and France is,
we believe, the Only country, pretending to civi-
lization, without a regular provision for its poor.
Mendicancy is the most expensive mode of relief,
while it is also the most demoralising.
(FROM THE MORNING POST.)
COOPER V. WAKELY.—Few instances have oc-
curred in which more general interest was excited.
It is seldom that we remark on the result of judicial
proceedings between
private indiyiduala ; and it for
once we transgress our rule, it is because we cchsi_
der the professional character of an eminent medical
practitioner as an object of the highest public im-
portance. The plaintiff in this action seems to have
become the object of envy, and there is 'nothing
easier to accomplish than the purposes of those who
are led by unworthy motives to vilify the Charader
and detract from the professional skill of their supe-
riors. The first unsuccessful operation is waited for,
and reported with an thdelicacy, a coarseness, and a

vulgar affectation of wit, truly disgusting, accom-
panied with aspersions on the character of the ope-

rator, imputinito him incapacity and total unfitness
for die office which he se ably filled. The answer
to this case produced one of the most noble and
most elevating spectacles that was ever witnessed
in a Court of Justice : the whole profession rushed
forward to vindicate the surgical abilities of
a successful competitor, and placed Mr. Bransby
Cooper's professional character in that brilliant light
in which every man of competent science has always
viewed it. The facts established on the trial, by
men of acknowledged talent, reputation, and honour,
were—first; that the length of time occupied in an
operation was no criterion of the. skill of an operator,
far that-although Sir Ascley Cooper bad often per-
formed for the same malady in one minute, yet had
lie had them occupy him an hour, depending, as it
did; upon the natural obstacles which there may have
been to overcome ; while Mr. Bransby Cooper, the
plaintiff; who was fifty minutes over the case report.
ed in the Lancet, had performed the operation even
since that time in one minute; secondly, that the
case reported in the Lancet was one of extreme dif.
Utility, performed on a fat unhealthy. man; and
lastly, that Mr. Branshy Cooper was a skilful sur•
geon, and highly qualified, from years of experience,
abroad and at home, an apprenticeship under Sir
Asiley, and an extensive practice, for the situation
he holds in the. Hospital. It seems, too, that under
these operations • one patient in five used to sink;
that still one •in fifteen is calculated to suffer : so

that if the system of reporting the unsuccessful cases

only is adopted, the more extensive the practice, the
more liable is a surgeon (who is favour)- tro
be denounced. as incompetent, and be visited with
the libellous imputation of incapacity. Lord Ten-
terden charged the Jury to decide on the simple
question—whether the operation had been-perform-
ed skilfully or otherwise. They found that the ope-
ration was skilfully performed.; and feeling that this
result would fully establish Mr. Cooper's reputation,
which such slanderers as those of the Lancet could
never seriously injure, they gave temperate damages,
thus marking rather their sense of the utter false-
' hood of the libel than measuring punishment by the
indignation which they must naturally have felt to-
wards the libeller. In thus confining their decision
to the naked fact, they have effected Mr. Cooper's
object much more completely than if they had
suffered extraneous considerations to aggravate the
damages.