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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd January 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 6, THE NORFOLK RABBIT CASE. Two more men (a...

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      Continental Notes. . France. The Members...

      Count Vilain X 1 Y ., conferred a similar honour upoa that tody . The committee was composed of representatives Jfroia the provinces of Verviors , of Ghent , of Liege , and of Charleroi . -They sought to impress upon the ministerial mind tbe fact that discontent was spreading imbngst-the working classes inconsequence of the incessant agitation of a body of Radicals who were hostile to the principles of their whole commercial regime , and in whose proceedings the truth was too of tea concealed . After stating various arguments in favour of their views , thei

      they left , with the conviction , according to one of r organs , that the ministry , collectively , had not up to the . present time adopted any decided resolution as to the reform of the Customs tariff—that all was still a matter for consideration and inquiry—that they would pursue their inquiries -with redoubled care , and that the legitimate claims of industry -would be admitted and attended to -with the utmost solicitude . Both sides are agitating with great vigour ; but the Free-traders are said to have the advantage in the chief towns .

      ITAL . Y . A soldier has been arrested at Naples near the great magazine of powder , under circumstances which lead to the supposition that he intended to fire it . Had he succeeded , the explosion -would probably have been far more awful than that -which occurred two days previously . The Grand Puke of Tuscany has lately published a decree completing the organization of the Technical

      Institute , founded at Florence about three years ago , for the study of sciences applicable to the arts , manufactures , and . public -works ; also another , having for object to favour the sending of the agricultural productions of the grand duchy to the Universal Cattle Show in Paris , in May , 1857 . An exhibition -will . taka place a little before at the grand ducal palace of Cascine , near Florenee , and a commission will be appointed to select such of the productions as seem likely to do most credit to the grand duchy at the Paris exhibition .

      The . illustrious family of the Foscaris is just extinct . Two old ladies of the name resided until recently in a small zoom in the-family palace ; and , not long ago , the last- male descendant of the house died as an inferior member of a travelling dramatic company . Tha Papal Government has granted a concession to construct a railroad from itome to Bologna , by / way of Ancona . The house of Casavaldes and Co . is at the head of the company , and the Duke of Rianzares is one of the administrative council .

      nrjssiA . The NorS , of Brussels , announces that the differences with Russia have been arranged by a compromise to which all the contracting parties in the Treaty of Paris have assented . Bolgrad is - to be ceded to Moldavia ; Serpents Island and the delta of the Danube are to belong to Turkey ; and Russia is to receive , as an . official compensation for the surrender of Bolgrad , a territory of one hundred and forty square miles , -which will advance her frontier from the first to the second Yalpuck , and which will easily permit hei to establish there the centre of lier Bulgarian . Government .

      . , d TURKEY . I ? erukh-Khan -was to leave Constantinople on the 20 th ult . for Paris . His negotiations with Lord Stratford de Bedcliffe relative . to the Persian disputes have failed . Kedschid Pacha is said to rocommend Turkey to yield to England . According to the Nord , of Brussels , the French Government , on the arrival of Ferukh-Khan , tke > Persian Ambassador , in Paris , will intercede between Great Britain and Persia , and undertake the arrangement of their differences . The Government has contracted a loan for 35 , 000 , 000 piastres .

      6 The Leadeg. {No.Jj^Jatitbjday ,

      6 THE lEADEg . { No . Jj ^ Jatitbjday ,

      The Norfolk Rabbit Case. Two More Men (A...

      THE NORFOLK RABBIT CASE . Two more men ( as we briefly mentioned last week ) iiave been charged at the Holt Petty Sessions , Norfolk , -with taking rabbits on . tbe common . The valorous and fireeating Lord Hastings was in the chair , and the other magistrates mro Mr . W . K . Pemberton and Mr . W . H . Cozens Hardy . Mr . MacEnteer appeared for one of the pnaoners , and M * . J . H . Tillett , of Norwich , for the ot & or . Before entering into the case , Mr . MacEnteer requested Lord Hastings to leave the bench , as he ( Mr . MacEnteer ) h » d an application to make personal to his Laidahip . In the midst of much interruption from the noble and excitable -chairman , the learned gentleman proceeded to say that he was about to require that Lord itaatmga should enter

      into surotiea to keep the peace ' towards ^ Mr . riUett , who fe the editor of the Norfolk fvauw , the'paper which severely handled Lord Hastings in connexion-with the former rabbit case . His Lordship , with much warmth , declared' that ho would not T ™ J > eneh - " What is it you *™*? " he asked . Mr . MacEnteer replied that the naturo of his application was Una : — "Isb . aH tender testimony that your Lordalup hms made « so of violent threats , which you sent through a person in this town , whom you instructed to carry them to Mr . Tillett ; and that afterwards , in the house , of Mr . Tillett , which you entered in a most i ™? M ^ becoming manner , you ma . Se ns « of maaltto g expressions and abusive names , accompanied by fonl « atli «~[ Xord H « wtii » g « : Yea . ' ]—an * threatened

      to blow his brains out . " His lordship met these statements by a great many fragmentary exclamations , and by a good deal of laughter , which would seem to have been forced . On Mr . MacEnteer saying that Lord Hastings had done everything he could to provoke Mr . Tillett to fig ht , the noble judge in his own case ejaculated , " Fight J Why , he's got no fight in Mm ! " He added that Mr . Till « tt had threatened to hand him over to the police ; and , in that case , of course he could not call Mr . Tillett oat- . They " managed those things in Ireland much easier . " He had demanded an explanation of Mr . Tillett , and Mr . Tillett had said , in a domineering way , that he would give none . After this relation of things heard and seen , his Lordship had the benignity to say that he was " not going to make any threat to Mr . 'Tillett in any way whatever . " He added that " no scurrilous paper should prevent him from doing

      his duty . " Mr . MacEnteer submitted that blowing out Mr . Tillett ' s brains was not an act of magisterial duty . At this , there was much laughter in the body of the court . Lord Hastings denied that he had made any such threat . Mr . MacEnteer said that , in the case of a gentlenian who has not got his temper under control , the party threatened is fully justified in making an application that he should be put under restraint . " My temper is not carried away , " retorted the noble chairman . " I hope , my Lord , " said Mr . MacEnteer , "it is not an every-day exhibition of your temper to send to a person a deliberate threat of violence , and then to follow it up by a forcible entrance into the house , there to repeat the threat . " His Lordship here gave some further particulars of his visit to Mr . Tillett , and said that that gentleman " threw out his long arms like a great orang-outang . "

      Finally , as Lord Hastings would not give any promise to quit the bench , Jlr . MacEnteer said that an application - would bs made to the Court of Queen's Bench , and that hia Lordship would be indicted at the coining Assizes of the county . The noble chairman , whose manner evinced considerable uneasiness , remained on the bench a short time after this , and then left . The magistrates convicted the two men , and fined themes , each , with costs , or fourteea days' imprisonment .

      The Ticket-Of-Leave System. A Remarkable...

      THE TICKET-OF-LEAVE SYSTEM . A remarkable letter , signed "A Ticket-of-Leave Holder , " appears in the Times of Tuesday . The writer comments on the great social question of the day , illustrating his opinions by his o-m personal experiences . He says he conceives great good is derived from the Model Prison ; but ) as soon as criminals are- sent to the public works , such , as those at Gibraltar , they are qnickly debauched by indiscriminately mixing with the hardened and un teachable . " What is wanted , " says the writer , " is a-well-defined system of classification , " which would separate the good from the bad . He confirms what has been often related of the canting hypocrisy of many convicts , who thus contrive to impose on the chaplains ; and he says that he has known many take the sacrament in the hope of getting " a . good drink

      of the -wine ! " With respect to tickets of leave , he says : " The present indiscriminate mode of granting licenses to all -well-conducted convicts , after they have served a certain period of their sentence , I consider highly objectionable . It is palpably absurd to enlarge the townbred thief and hardened criminal , and send him to his former locality . lie never did , and he nevei will , work in this country , and indeed , if desirous , could not get employment . " The writer proposes that public works should be opened in this country for the benefit of the penal servitude men ; he asks what could be better than tho reclamation of waste land ( a suggestion already made In . these columns ); but he again says that he thinks it advisable to return to the old system of transportation . Some further statements which ho makes must be given entire : —•

      " I have seen various statements as to the percentage of ticket-of-leavo holders who relapse into crime ; my conviction is that fifty per cent , of the men so liberated find means , by plunder or otherwise , to emigrate ; that ten per cent , gain a livelihood in this country by honest industry ; and the remaining forty per cent , subsist l > y crime and rapine . In conclusion , to prove the impossibility of a ticket-of-leavo holder obtaining a situation in this country , whero a character is required , I may stato my own case . I was sentenced to ten years' transportation for uttering a forged bill of exchange , being then a , respeotable shopkeeper ; some time after my oonviction my prosecutor satisfied himself that

      I had not intended to defraud him ; petition after petition was sent to th « Secretary of Stato in my behalf , but -without avail , and in due course 1 waa released with a lioense * . When I returned , my prosecutor made me a pecuniary present , wished mo to refer to him aa to character , and offered to become security for my honesty . I made every effort to obtain a situation , but without success , and I might have hud to a « k charity or starve had I mot borrowed a email sum to trade with on my own account . Thus , with advantages suporior to most ot my follows , I am without hope of obtaining a situutlon , and with fa * too little capital to do any good with on my own account . How mid is my position , and how gloomy my prospects ! " j >• >

      Mr , M . D . Hill , -Q . C ., the Recorder of Birmingham in his delivering his charge to the jury at the opening of the Birmingham Quarter Sessions , again alluded to the subject of the b « st mode of managing our convicts He urged the propriety of setting them to work on mafc ^ ters of utility at home , and suggested that they nugQt be employed in mafciug harbours of refuge on the coasts the paucity of which led to some thousand shipwrecks last year , involving the loss of mauy lives . Several of our convicts are now employed in making such a haven at the isle of Portland ; and he thought we should employ more at similar works in other localities . "And as I am now on a question of pecuniary advantage let roc not forget to assure you that whoever favours transportation by reason of its alleged economy lias fallen Let two

      intd ^ i grievous delusion . item ' s of expenditure on this head be laid before you . I find them in the Appendix to a Report of a Committee on Transportation appointed during the last session by the House of Loi & s . It appears that although transportation to Tasmania , or Van Diemen ' s Land , as it was formerly called , has ceased for years , yet 4000 convicts still remain , at an annual cost of 142 , 236 ? ., winch is 351 . per man . In Western Australia , soon to be closed against us , we have 200 0 convicts , at an annual cost of S 2 , 000 £ , or 41 / . per man . But , waiving all objections to the revival of transportation , pray , gentlemen , let it be remembered that to plant a colony is to plant a tree ; and that years of growth will be required before it arrives at maturity . What it will then bear remains to be seen—Avhether

      sound fruit or the apples of Sodom filled with dust and ashes . At the best , we are contemplating a somewhat distant future , instead , of endeavouring to meet an existing evil with a prompt remedy . Let us look round us for a'moment ' ; and * we shall find that , with a few exceptions too unimportant to be mentioned , ours is the only country in the world which resorts to transportation for the disposal of its criminals ; and yet all -who have travelled know many countries in Europe , and many States of tbe Great Republic of North America , where life and property are secure from robbers and murderers . " Mr . Hill concluded by proposing that , as the law already provides , the ticket of leave should be immediately revoked on the holder returning to his former companions , or on its appearing that he has uo honest means of livelihood .

      Old Bailey Executions. Under This Head M...

      OLD BAILEY EXECUTIONS . Under this head Mr . George Augustus Sala , who has recently been making for himself a name in connexion with " Household Words , " writes a letter to the Times on the subject of capital punishment . He commences by saying : — " A correspondent of the Times , who belies himself under the unsavoury signature of ' A London Scoundrel ' ( for , " unless I am very much misled by internal evidence , an honester and pleasanter gentleman doe 3 not exist in London *) , addressed to you the day following

      the execution of llarley a letter to which you—I am sure he did not—attached the prefix of 'A Plea for the Gallows . ' The writer of this plea appeared to be divided between a fervid admiration for the gallows as a national institution , such as beef , beer , wife-beating , and the Derby-day , and a spasmodic terror of those burglariously inclined forgcits liberes who , aware of the vast piles of moidorea , pillar dollars , ducats , imperials , and gold mohurs stored in the upper chambers of tho ' London Scoundrel ' s' house , have long since regarded his mansion as one of the best ' cracks' in London , and have attempted from time to time to ' crack' it accordingly .

      " I have waited for some time , in hopes that . some one whose voice would carry some authority with it would notice tho singular epistle I have alluded to in your columns . With the exception , however , of somo gentleman signing himself—and , I think , this time -with more truth—• Cashbox , ' or ' Cashier , ' and who was oven more timorous about tioket-of-leave men , and more jubilant about tho gibbet than the ' London Scoundrel ' himself , -the ' Scoundrel' has had it all his own way , and has walked over the course , or , to use more appropriate and Newgate language , traversed the cart .

      " I have no wish now to dissect the letter of tho ' London Scoundrel . ' Tho cruol indecency to which a Christian man can abandon himself when ho speaks of an awful expiation as though it wero a capital jokewhen he describes the drop , the beam , the upright , and the miserable thing in tho -white cap dangling by the rope as ' the hangman's working diagram '—when ho talks of the horrible gallows ' roaring its honest head 1 — this indecency must be patent and palpnble to all , and to himself . " Mr . Salii ' s object in writing is to propose that we should execute criminals in luitro ? uuuiu iuiu criminals i

      our some -oncn u . v «; uur n some liirge open spaco in the neighbourhood of London ; tli-. it they should bo taken there in a close carriage , without ; any procession , and that the whole thing should bo done " swiftly , and as secretly as possible . For tliis suggestion ho givos these reasons : — . " No newspaper report or a London execution over appears without a horror-struck description of the in—* The writer in question is supposed to be Mr . Albert Smith .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1857, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03011857/page/6/