This fresh violation of the act of the 1st of Victoria, and the notice taken of it in the House of Lords, drew, from the Editor of the Times journal, the following powerful remarks:—
“The ‘practical establishment’ of the doctrine, that to fight a duel is not to commit a felony, which certain of our contemporaries have discovered in the acquittal of the Earl of Cardigan, upon a point of form, by the House of Lords, seems to be bearing early fruits. It is in vain to expect that magistrates will do their duty in these cases, if they get nothing but ridicule for their pains, and meet with no co-operation from the law-officers of the Crown. We call upon the noble Secretary of State for the Home Department, therefore, as the chief of the police magistracy, to take care that an inquiry be instituted without delay into the truth or falsehood of this shameless advertisement of felony; and if these persons, named Paterson and Marsden, really have committed the crime imputed to them, to put the machinery of justice in motion for their conviction and punishment.
“No more disgraceful or demoralising spectacle can possibly be exhibited before the eyes of a people than the accommodation of the laws, or the submission of their administrators, to the popular crimes of the higher classes. Let the Attorney-General say what he will, a crime is not divested of its inherent moral turpitude by the frequency or the impunity with which it is committed; nor does felony cease to be a crime when the felon is countenanced, or even stimulated to the act, by the class-opinion of the circle which forms ‘his world.’ Every class has in it an aggressive self-centring principle, which aspires to ride rough-shod over society, and chafes under the restraint of law. It is the very object of law to bind together all these discordant interests, by restraining the eccentricities of each, and compelling each to submit its own opinion to the central intelligence, which consults for the common good.
“What the effect upon society in general must be, of letting it be understood, that there is a crime which must not, or cannot, be restrained or punished, because peers and ‘gentlemen’ think proper to commit it, while the law declares it to be felony, we leave those to judge who know the power of example, and the aptness of the lower orders to learn evil from their betters. We are firmly convinced, that no more pernicious or anarchical principle than that of the defenders of duelling was ever broached by Chartism or even Socialism itself. ‘Strict legal formality,’ says a contemporary, ‘brought Lord Cardigan to the bar of the House of Peers under an accusation of felony; and strict legal formality has given him an unanimous, and, in our opinion, honourable acquittal.’ All felons, we have no doubt, think the laws under which they are brought to justice are ‘strict legal formalities;’ and we doubt not that they will cheerfully accept the doctrine, which renders the law ‘Thou shalt do no murder,’ to be as mere a ‘formality,’ as that which requires every one of three Christian names to be proved, in order to sustain an indictment. Lord Cardigan’s acquittal is ‘honourable,’ no doubt, in the eyes of those who would have thought it equally honourable to be convicted, and of those alone.
“We beg to direct the attention of our readers to the important conversation which took place upon this subject yesterday evening in the House of Lords. Something, we trust, will be done to remedy the evil consequences of the late trial, ere it be yet too late.”
February 23.
Lord Wharncliffe stated, in the House of Lords, that it was his intention, if no Law-Lord took up the subject, to bring in a bill to settle the point with reference to the right of a peer to plead privilege in case of a felony; as he happened to know that, in the case of the recent trial, if a conviction had taken place, that point would have been raised.
March 3.
TRIAL OF CAPTAIN DOUGLAS.
This day, the trial of Captain Douglas, second to the Earl of Cardigan in the recent duel, took place in the New Court, before Mr. Justice Williams and the Common sergeant. Mr. Thesiger informed the Court that the Captain now desired to surrender to take his trial. He then entered the dock, accompanied by three friends; and, the clerk of the Court having read the indictment, he pleaded “Not guilty.” On Mr. Justice Williams inquiring whether any one appeared for the prosecution, the clerk answered in the negative. Mr. Hobler, who originally had the case in hand, was in court, but had not been empowered to instruct counsel. He said he had taken measures to secure the attendance of the witnesses, when he received an intimation from the police commissioners to stay all proceedings. Mr. Justice Williams directed the trial to proceed; and the witness Dann, the miller, his wife and son, and also Busain the inspector of police, were examined, and repeated the statements made by them in the House of Lords on the trial of the Earl of Cardigan. Sir James Anderson, who attended the duellists professionally, declined, as before, to answer any questions, lest he should implicate himself. None of the Dann family could identify Captain Douglas, and Mrs. Dann pointed him out as the wounded man. After which,