Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-09-06

proceedings conducted with the usual respect
to form and fairness As ii is, with the IA
grant disregard of appearances; with the ad-
mission Of gentlemen to testify known TO De IN
the interest of the company, and who were DOT
present at the scene Of disaster, and could
therefore testify, not to facts but to their own
private opinions only; with persons serving on
the Jury confessedly members of the company;
with others serving on the jury confessedly in
the pay of the company, by holding free tick.
cts over the roads; with the obvious effort Ct
the State prosecutor to share the blame be-
tween the subordinates of the train and the
driver of the unfortunate carriage-the whole
proceedings must be regarded as cool impos-
ture, in no wise designed to evolve the truth.
1t is the Spetswood jury over again.
"lndeed, no where In the whole system Of
laws, as administered on the other side Of the
river, do We see a chance for the exercise Of
those measures Of punishment to which the
company has most justly exposed itself. Laws
exist to enable both the friends of the dead
and injured survivors to obtain damages; but
at every step of the suit the prosecutor has
difficulties to encounter. It has been the
practice Of the managers to place annual re-
tainers in the hands of all the first legal talent
of the State, thereby CHASING them as counsel
of the company, and enabling them to run
about gratis on the road.
"The first difficulty of the applicant for
justice is, therefore, to procure counsel at all
equal in ability to that likely to be opposed to
him. His case must go into the circuit or SUI
pIene court, a majority of the justices of which
have VIGOROUSLY been placed there by the mo-
nopoly, acting upon corrupt Legislature, and
filing the place of gentlemen whose incor-
ruptible integrity had given offence to the CON-
pany. As these magistrates, previously act
ing as counsel for the corporation, were elected
with pointed reference to the obstinate honesty
of their predecessors, we may readily conceive
how likely the court is to be free from all bias
where the monopoly is party in litigation.
And for the Jury, il is hardly practicable to
find a dozen men, one, at least, of whom will
not be directly or Indirectly interested to sus-
tain the Company in the face of evidence and
law. 1t is so in civil cases. Those who have
had the misfortune to have lost goods or suf-
fered pecuniary damage of any sort at the
hands Of the Railroad officials, have discovered
that to get verdict, whatever the facts, is
next to an impossibility. One or more under
lings of the Company-some holder of a free
ticket, some owner of share or two Of stock,
some subordinate, or some friend, Or some rel
alive Of a subordinate, some one hopeful of q
pecuniary or political reward for his petty per-
jury, or some one directly iDtruded for the
purpose-has been Of the twelve; and has de-
feated the ends of justice by his corrupt obsti-
macy. And that it will be so in case where
dictiye, we cannot doubt in the view of indi-
cations presented by this inquest at Burling-
ton"
Rach el.-Most Of the New York city new;
papers are already ''run mad" after Rachel,
on the strength of her debut in Camille. The
Tribune leads off in that way. Its philoso-
pliers cotton to everything French in the way
of literature, the arts, religion, government,
philosophy, &C., which may account for its
rhapsody over Rachel's debut, as follows:
"Rachel achieved last night triumph.
When the enthusiasm which greeted her en-
trance had died away into silence, we thought
VIC had never seen her look to such adyan-
tage, or wear such classic air, as when amid
the stiffness she advanced in her Roman robe,
full o. dignity yet Of grace, with that plastic
beauty which belongs to her and her alone.
The memory Of Norma passed ct once over cur
mind, so much was there of the Druid pricstess
In her appearance, and yet so much of chaste
elegance. When uttering her first words to
Sabina, what Immediately struck US was the
extraordinary expression Of her mouth, al
ways as itwere threatening to break into some
fierce burst of expression; but surrounded
with an Incompatible grace when the feelings
she represents are of joyous character. The
deep, sonorous voice, deep, cultural almost
by the strength of its intensity and yehe-
mence, next rivets the attention. But the
paramount power she yields is that from the
moment she enters on the stage we cannot let
our eyes leave her for an instant. It is an in
describable fascination. We feel that every
movement, every gesture, even her very
breathing, is replete with some thought, which
we fear to lose if she passes from US In her
first words to Sabina her countenance assumes
of hale bond - l,,IP L.
idea that her sister should suppose her less af
fected by domestic and public troubles than
she is. To pass in review every emotion which
convulses her during the description of her
love for Curiatius, her sorrow Cor the war; and
her JOY at receiving satisfactory promise from
the oracle, and again the sadness which weighs
upon her heart in consequence Of her dream,
would be to present tableeuz of the most beau
tiful paintings Of the highest masters in the
delineation of the feelings of the human heart.
Her conception of every one of Corneille's
words is so sublimely spiritual and her power
in making every attitude speak in harmony
with the conception, is so wondrous that we
follow her almost with bewilderment as she
grasps, with the spell Of her genius, every
lurking thought, and makes it glow with in
tellectual vitality"
Our Present Relations with Eexico.-The
journal Of Commerce, always well posted
with reference TO Mexi can affairs has been dis
cussing Minister Gadsden's position in Mexico,
his relations with the retiring Government,
the prospect under the new auspices for an
ameliOraticn of the regulations under which
American commerce with that country so Ian
guishes, &C.; saying, in the course of its rec
marks:
SIN commercial point Of view, the speedy
reconstruction of the Mexican Government on
liberal basis, is q matter Of great moment to
the United States 1t has been long an object
with the United States Minister to Mexico, to
secure a commercial treaty with that country,
which should open its markets to the free in
PRODUCTION Of our domestic products, and
through the mutually profitable operations of
trade, establish with il relations of common
interest and cordial amity. Mr.. Gadsden's
labor's to that end have been constantly en-
barrassed and thwarted hitherto, by the pow.
erful influences of the various parties who
| have profited by the system Of restrictions and
prohibition, which Santa Anna used as the in
strument at once Of gratifying his own insa-
q 81 loCL ~