Mrs. Osborne, the lady who was the centre of the
"Pearl Case," has returned to England, and surrendered to take her trial. She was brought before the Lord Mayor on Friday morning, charged with fraud in obtaining £550 from Messrs. Spink; but after a painful scene caused by her ill-health, the Solicitor to the Treasury, who had kept the Court waiting a full hour, withdrew the charge. Mrs. Osborne was there. fore liberated ; but, at the instance of the Treasury, was rearrested on the charge of perjury, and remanded at Bow Street till next Friday. It is believed that she will plead " Guilty," and in that case the sentence will depend upon the Judge, without the intermediate verdict of a jury. Mrs. Osborne appears to have sur- rendered voluntarily, and her husband, who adheres to her steadily, deserves every sympathy ; but we regret to see that a whole machinery of interviews, stories, and leading articles has been put in motion to create public sympathy on her behalf. She is accused of one of the gravest of crimes, perjury in a serious case, and should be tried like anybody else. If there are any serious reasons, and of course there may be many, why Mrs. Osborne should be exceptionally treated, let them be stated in Court. The Press is no more entitled to act as the counsel for the defence, than as the tribunal which is to pronounce sentence. We are Americanising our ways much too fast.
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