The Sun. — 1840-06-29 (London, England)

CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF  FRANCE.  The Keeper of the Seals presented lately his compte rendu to the King on the administration of criminal justice in France, for the year 1838, carefully and elaborately drawn up, which presents some curious results, perhaps not uninteresting to the English public at the present moment, when crimes of a dark and atrocious nature are being perpetrated, and more particularly from some curious coincidences betwixt the capitals of the two countries in the increase of the crime of assassination. In the year above mentioned the courts of assize had to judge of 5,844 accusations, of which 4,232 were crimes against property, and 1,612 against the person. Of the latter there were no less than 239 assassinations, which is the greatest number which has been known in any one year since 1825. In the Court of • Assize of the Seine alone there were 22 cases of assassination, being 16 above the mean number, and four more than in Corsica, that island of individual revenge and cold-blooded murders, the mean fur which is 21 annually. Of the above 5,844 accusations, 2,800 (48 per cent.) were admitted without modification ; 1,629 (28 per cent.) were rejected ; 1,425 modified by extenuating circumstances ; and 893 were crimes of a venial nature. These accusations or charges were instituted against 8,014 individuals, of which 6,554 were males, -and 1,460 were females, giving one accused in every 4,185 of the whole population, or, taking the sexes into consideration, one female in 11,699, and one male in Q,512. There is a great disparity in the state of crime in the different departments, the highest being that of the Seine, where one accused is found in 1,218 of the inhabitants, the lowest that of the Cher, where it is only one in 17,303. The Lozere and Pyrenees Orientales rank next in depth of criminal shade to the Seine. The Creuse is next to that .of the Cher in the paucity of delinquents. It is a curious fact that in adjoining departments there aro often found very great differences. Of the females accused (1,460)383, or 23 per cent. had been living in a state of concubinage, or had had natural' children. Of 5,123 who were condemned, 44 were adjudged to suffer death, and 198 to hard labour for life. Of the former, 10 were pardoned bythe king, and 34 were executed. In the case of 2,775 individuals found guilty, the Juries delivered their verdicts with the declaration of extenuating circumstances. Of these the Judges exercised their discretion In lowering the penalty two degrees in 935 ; whilst on 1,840 they only lowered it one degree, a duty which the law imposed upon in 1,312 cases out of the 1,840 ; but clearly showing that they did not coincide in many cases with the implied recommendation of the juries. There were 34 males acquitted out of 100, whilst of females there were 42. There were 78 individuals brought before the tribunals for crimes connected with the press, of whom 59 were acquitted, 15 condemned to imprisonment, and four fined.  The authorities had also brought before them 8,478 cases of deaths ; of which 872 were from natural causes, 5,020 were from accidental causes, and no less than 2,586 were suicides. Of the latter, the Department of the Seine alone contained 483, or about a filth of the total number. The suicides embraced all ages from under le to above 80 yeers, and they were more frequent in the spring and summer than in autumn or winter. The tables are classed according to the professions or occupations of the individuals ; and it is singular that cultivators of the soil and literary men should stand the highest in the list. To close the melancholy list of deaths out of the common course of nature, it must not he forgotten to mention, though with feelings painful to human nature, that :238 deaths of the above number are put down in the tables as having been caused by hunger, cold, and exhaustion, but no remarks are made or explanations offered;  We have heard that Mr. Charles Kean is in treaty for Drury-latie Theatre ! Mr. Butler, it is said, is also a candidate.