New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-04-05
ANGLO-AMERICAN AFFAIRS.
MR.. DANAS NOMINATION.

TIE SENATE CONDEMNED ABROAD-hCANDhio IN
BRITISH socIETY-cIvIc HoNoRs CONFERRED on
CHEF-JUsTICE COCKBURN-THE NEW IMPERIAL
uTLE-UNPoPULARITY OF THE scHEME-IIE
LATE col. CHEsNEY.
IRON THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRfBUSEl
LONDON, March 22.-We hear by cable that the
Senate Committee, considering Mr.. Danas letter an
insult have resolved to report adversely on his NOM
nation. suppose nothing will make an impression
on such men, but it is the less right to state
the fact that their conduct in this matter has done
q good deal to bring the Senate into contempt
abroad. If it were believed-which as yet people
refuse to believe-that the Senate would follow the
lead of ts Committee, and reject Mr. Dana, the feel
ing would be still stronger 1t will be general, not
to say universal, should astonishing piece OF
folly be actually perpetrated. Mr.. Dana's letter
has excited here nothing but admiration for its
dignity and manliness. There few men, hope,
who would not rather be the writer of that letter
than be Minister to England by not writing it,
An English lady, kind hearted and friendly 10 us,
and distressed by the comments the Washington ex
posurcs have provoked. says: suppose such things
ought to be found out but would have them found
ont privately" And that, indeed, is the way they
often manage things here. London has rung lately
with social scandal--the elopement of a Mar
chioness with a Dukes son and heir. Everybody
knows who the persons concerned are, their names
are on every lip, the probable result of the af-
fair is discussed at every dinner table,. But
not word of it all in the papers; or,
at most vailed alusion TO it, Ineligible
TO those who know the facts already, and
TO no one else. doubt whether the names have
been printed even IN the most gossping of provin-
cial papers. This, to be sure, is not the case
81 public officer Bnt suppose Belknap instead Of
taking brides, had been discovered cheating at
cardsi That is precisely what happened to public
officer in England not long since. lie was permitted
10 resign: his family made him allowance sufii-
cient To keep him from starving abroad lie leil the
country; everybody knew the facts and no paper
printed them. Other cases have occurred within
year, not dissimilar in principle. Take different
one. There are certain facts about the private
life of the eminent parsonage whom | have
mentioned elsewhere in this letter the Lord Chief
Justice of England facts of ',screditable KIND,
and notorious still they do not get into print, or at
most, they get into print in obscure papers. They
do not touch his judicial life, hence they are sup
pressed In fact almost anything may be said OF
man, in matter what position and 1t is ten to one
flat the press will be dumb about the scandal unless
il comes ont in the shape of court rports as in the
Mordaunt business Who ever learned anything
from leading English paper of the talk which goes on
in society about the Prince of Wales or the Duke Of
Edinburgh, or Of the domestic arrangements of the
Duke of CambridgcY Should we have been any
better if we had Is there not n point where pub
licity is moro mischcyous than helpful And
is il absolutely certain that the American practice Of
printing everything ia better than the English
practice OF supprcssmg almost everything !
For | suppose We must not expect perfection
on either side. We must judge not by
particular instances but by the effect Of the
general practice. and 20 decide whether tendency
10 printing too much is less harmful than tendency
to printing ut times, too little. In no one OF the IN
stances referred TO do mean 10 express an opinion
tina. The G.o.s ought ought not to have been pub
lshcd. In recent scandals, unhappily' there
can be no two opinions-not even my amiable En-
glish friend would go so far to be silent about
BelInap and schcn:k.
The usual speech b. my Lord Chief Justice Cock
burn was made last week on Saturday at the Man
sion House Where it will be made this week have
not yet heard Week before last il was nc the Child
| hall, when the Corporation Of London made him a
citizen of that far from mean city. In truth, the
passion of the Lord Chief Justice for popularity, or
even for Botorety, is most conspicuous trait Of his
character. fear 1t must be said to be that ruling
passion which, the late Mr. Pope told us, q" con
qucrs reason still" Sir Alexander Cockburn is the
most "scnsatoual' of judges. SAFEGUARDING
! comes rs naturally TO him rs swearing came
/ 10 JcureyS, ana ne uOtS IL tlIib N'i'
whether on or off the bench. He is fond Of great
! cases "a Wainwright murder great action for
libel against The fines or great company swndle
all are fish for his net He has published history
| of the Tichbone trial in two big volumes, and it Is
! with this literary baggage-to use the phrase by
which the French describe the titles of n candidate
! for admission 10 the Acadcmy-that he marches
! down to posterty and makes good hls claim to n
| place among the mmOrtals HIS new civic distinc-
tons are pressed into the service. And his new
speeches like his old of recent years, ring the
! same changes on the same theme: the honor indie
| pcndcnce honesty, and ability of the Bench in
general, and in particular, of the Judge who is at
! the head Of 1t.
! Something too much of this people begin to cry.
The Times itself unawed by the majesty of judicial
ermne, read the Lord Chief Justice lecture on it
! the other day. Judge who socits the applause OF
the public subjects himself equally to its censure,
ms the actor who seeks to be capped has no right to
complain if he il Kissed. But warning can check
! this rrepressiblc old man. Ii is the fashion to
! humor him. He has been very popular SINCE the
| Geneva ArbitTatiOn-p0pular with the general pub
lie who believe vaguely that he somehow vlndlcated
| the honor of England on that OCCASION The Judi
cions know that tits who ought To be grateful 70
him for the extra million ortwo of damages we owe to
| him, and which we might not have got had not Sir
! Alexander Cockburn made himself so offensive to
| his colleagues that his arguments came to be re-
garded M those not of an arbitrator but of bitter
partisan But his most mischeyious work has been
the invention and application of new doctrine of
contempt of court. That doctrine is certain to be
oyerthrown some day, and it will leave au evil fame
| TO the Judge who was its author.
The usual toast to the Queen ut this dinner pro-
yoked a very unusual manifestation. The Lord