We hope Mr. Cross is not bent on earning the
unenviable -reputation of intervening without adequate reason in the usual -course of the law. We referred last week to the remission of half the sentence on a young man convicted before a London magistrate of cruelty to a cat. But besides this, a pardon has been granted by the Crown, on Mr. Cross's advice, about which he was questioned in Parliament, when his answer appeared to us to be- satisfactory. It was the case of a lady calling herself Comtesse de Civry, who had been convicted before Mr. Commissioner Kerr of obtaining goods on false pretences, but whose sentence was deferred for 'further inquiries. Mr. Cross said that on all but one of the -counts of the indictment Mr. Commissioner Kerr saw no evi- -deuce to convict, and that on the remaining count he wanted more information, and that having got it, there appeared no further justification for detaining the prisoner. It is, how- ever, now alleged that an understanding had been entered into that the case should stand over till the next Ses- sions, for further evidence to be procured on both sides ; and that the prisoner was set free before the evidence which the solicitors for the prosecution had been carefully col- lecting, both here and abroad, had been sent in and considered. If this be so, Mr. Cross's reply on the subject was very inadequate, and the liberation of the prisoner clearly premature ; and, at all events, the case needs further explanation. Mr. Cross is hardly aware how greatly his moral influence depends on a reputation for firmness and judicial imperturbability of mind in administering the law. A hasty and vacillating Home Secretary is as much out of place as a magnetic needle by way of substitute for an anchor.
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