The Sun. — 1869-09-27 (London, England)

JEAN TRAUP3IAYS. As yet the ease is full of mystery. It continues up to this moment to be altogether inexplicable. The story, as it is at present told, wants coherence. The unravelling of the tangled thread of it, cannot but be watched with painful solicitude.  TUE almost simultaneous announcement of the suicide of one judge and the appointment of another suggests reflections of a varied character. There is  not only the trite reflection which always occurs when the grave and gay events of life are brought into juxtaposition ; there is a special reflection in the present instance prompted by the characters of the two men. There could not be a greater contrast than that between the late Lord Justice Clerk and the future Lord Justice of Appeal. Mr. PATTON was eminently a universal favourite. He was perhaps the most popular Lord Advocate ever known in Scotland, and when he was raised to the Bench he met with the heartiest congratulations from all sides. He was, moreover, a thoroughly high-minded man, and no one would have ever connected his name with anything that was dishonourable. On the other hand, Lord WESTBURY is one of the best-hated of all our public men. His manner is insufferable. " GOD Almighty speak to a black-beetle " is nothing to Lord WESTBURY'S demeanour to suitors and the Bar. It would be well if this were all that has to be said against him. But " WESTBURY" and "scandals" are two words that have been too recently united for us to forget that this contemner of his fellow-men has fallen very low in their estimation. Were his offences merely private and of the flesh, were he merely a sensualist, the world would perhaps refrain from censuring the appointment of so able a lawyer to the Bench. But his sins have been public and official, and they ought for ever to disqualify him for any public post, especially one involving the administration of justice and equity. Nevertheless, it is the high-minded judge who has died by the most shameful of all deaths except execution ; it is the judge whom Parliament drove from his seat that is now offered new dignity and emoluments. The very mode of Mr. PATTON'S death sheaved how sensitive he was. He had the misfortune to be connected for a few months with  the most corrupt constituency in the kingdom. His party bribed for him, possibly without his knowledge, almost certainly without his co-operation. But the thought that he, a judge, wearing the ermine, which ought to be ever kept spotless, had allowed it to become sullied, was madness to him. We do not know if Lord WEsimunY ever bribed at Aylesbury or Wolverhampton. We are quite certain that if he did the remembrance of his transactions has not cost him a moment's uneasiness. Even men much more scrupulous than he would treat this offence lightly, and no more think it intolerably shameful than they would a white lie. To Mr. PATTON the shame of exposure was too great to be encountered. He would quit life rather than endure it. Perhaps some of us will be inclined to think that after all the green bay-tree flourishing in its strength is not always the type of health. Perhaps some of us will affirm that the despairing suicide is more enviable than the bold ex-Chancellor and Lord Justice elect.  There are two other considerations arising out of this joint event. The first is that we trust Mr. PATTON'S tragical end may at last force the Government to ' take more active steps than it has taken hitherto to put down bribery. The second is, that the Government which has offered promotion to Lord WESTBURY ought to be severely censured. It has been said lately by one of our Liberal contemporaries that the election disclosures have shown that Mr. DISRAELI'S Bribery Act is a failure, as all other Acts of the kind have been. But it need not be a failure. If only it be enforced, it will not be a failure. Other Acts have proved a failure because they were not enforced. It is for the Government to give effect to the present measure by prosecuting the worst offenders, whether they be bricklayers or baronets. The real cause of the bribery at the last election was not the inefficiency of Mr. DISRAELI'S Act, but the neglect of Mr. DISRAELI'S Government to bring the perjurers of Totnes and the guilty brewers of Yarmouth to justice. Because these went free, the sinners of Bridgwater and Beverley, thought that they might disregard the law also, and did disregard it. So it will be again if Mr. GLADSTONE'S Government does not prosecute the bribers and the bribees whose sins are now being made known to all the world. We wish we could see greater activity in this matter than there now seems likely to be. In a very few weeks the time will be gone by during which a prosecution c 3.11 be commenced. Nevertheless the