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248 ^ THE LEADEB, LSATUgpAg,
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THE LITERARY FUND. Ax the annual general...
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THE ELECTIONS. Tub Montrose Boroughs.—On...
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LORD DUNDONALD AND HIS SECRET. Lord Ddnd...
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OUR CIVILISATION. Elizabeth Lowktd, a se...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
State Oe Trade, Labour, And The Poor. Th...
flions should avoid all allusions to the peculiar currency doctrines , known as those of " the Birmingham school ; " but it was ultimately decided to leave the question an open one . ^ # The hosiery trade of Nottingham has improved ; bnt that of Leicester still experiences great depression . In the neighbourhood of the latter city , the operatives are suffering great privations ; and the number of those who have applied for relief at the Hmckley workhouse , is nearly treble that of the same period of last year . The Leicester wool-market ,
however , is firm ; while at Tweeds and Bristol it is unusually dull . At I < eeds , the cloth-markets have experienced a change for the better ; but in the flax trade , and the machinery-making trade , no alteration has taken place . The stock of most descriptions of leather is but small ; and the large government demand for boots and shoes for the army and navy has caused prices to advance . From Bristol we learn that light hides have been taken at extravagant rates for the army ; and the market has in consequence been strengthened .
The unusually hard frost of February has had a very great effect upon the coal trade of London . During that month the importation of coal into London by sea , amounted to 244 , 226 tons , being a decrease upon the month , as compared with the game period last year , of no less than 205 , 664 tons . The supply by rail and canal was 132 , 872 tons 13 cwt . ; same period in 1854 , 154 , 902 tons 15 cwt ., showing a decrease of 22 , 036 tons 17 cwt . The City article in the Times of Monday has the following with reference to the state of trade in Australia : — ¦ .
" From Sydney the latest dates were to the 25 th of November , at which period the depression in the import markets continued to be increased by constant arrivals . From Adelaide , South Australia , the accounts were to the 29 th of November , when the stocks of goods were still considerably in excess of the demand , not only from the pressure of direct arrivals , but also frOm receipts from Melbourne , where the markets were in a still worse position . The colony , however , was generally prosperous , in consequence of a good trade having been carried on . in the shipment of breadstuff's , hay , & c , to Melbourne , and an improvement in the labour-market , which gave a good prospect for the ^ progress of the copper production At" the Burra Burra and other mines . The facilities
afforded by the navigation of the Murray for the transmission of wool from the interior had likewise operated r ' : ¦ £ * ¦¦ - " — - - ¦* —~* Mu » k . however , had been exfavoarabiy . ouuic ^>» ,.. — , perienced from a rather deficient harvest , in consequence of drought . " The guardians of the Newton Abbot Union in Devonshire have tried the experiment of renting land for the employment of the youthful and adult paupers . The balance-sheet for the last year has just been published : we have given the statistics contained in it in another column .
The Hebrides and the West Highlands are in a state of terrible destitution . We see by an advertisement in the daily papers that a subscription is being set on foot for _ the ^ succour of the people of those d istricts . ~ The advertisemeut ~ states * that ; " owing to a more extensive failure last autumn of the potato than in any previous year , and a wet and bad harvest of the scanty cereal crops grown by the poor inhabitants of parts of the West Highlands , and of the Hebrides , including Skye , Mull , and Islay , not merely want and hunger , but destitution of an alarming character , afflicts numbers of the population . By the existing Poor Law of Scotland ; no ablebodied person , however destitute of the means of subsistence , possesses a claim , as in England and in Ireland , to workhouse or out-door relief , as a refuge from starvation . "
248 ^ The Leadeb, Lsatugpag,
248 ^ THE LEADEB , LSATUgpAg ,
The Literary Fund. Ax The Annual General...
THE LITERARY FUND . Ax the annual general meeting of the Literary Fund , held on Wednesday last , Mr . Dilke made some singular revelations with regard to the management of the body . He said , that owing to the great expenses of the Association , with respect to house-rent , secretaryship , clerks , & c , every draught drawn for the benefit of applicants for the Society ' s aid cost III . 17 s . in addition to the sum voted by the committee for their relief . He therefore moved the following resolution : — " That whereas during the ten years from 1844 to
1858 , both inclusive , the cost of assisting 420 applicants to the Literary Fund amounted to 5094 / . Oa . Id ., exclusive of collector's poundage , advertisements , and expenses attending tho anniversary dinner ; and whereas the cost of assisting 559 applicants to tho Artist's General Benevolent Fund within tho same ton years , amounted to 904 / . 17 s . Id . ( also exclusive of collector's poundage , advertisements , and expenses attending the anniversary dinnor ) , this meeting ia of opinion that tho expenses of managing tho Literary Fund are unreasonable and enormous , and that a groat change must be made in the administration of its affairs . " The motion , however , was lost by n majority of four . —Mr . Dickens , in an admirable speech , wittily
pointed out the absurd nature of the so-called " Council , " which never meets , and has no duties or functions whatever . He said : — " He had had the honour to be elected some years ago upon the council , and he had hoped that by study and fasting ( a laugh ) he might . be fit to discharge the high duties which he supposed devolved upon that august body . For months he never left home without leaving word where he might be found in the event of the Literary Fund wishing to take his counsel . QA laug / i . ) The Literary Fund , however , seemed to get on in its own manner , without requiring his aid ; bat when the council metand where it met , and what it did he never
, could learn . The fact was that it never could meet , never did meet , had no place of meeting , and nothing to do—that it was , in short , the only thing in creation that had no purpose , end , or object in existence . ( A laugh . ') What would the public say of a board of directors that did not direct , of a bench of judges who did not judge , of a jury that did not deliberate or find a verdict , of a physician appointed never to prescribe , of a surgeon directed never to set a bone , of a fireman enjoined never to go within fifty miles of a fire , or of picked officers of the Humane Society being tied up not to approach the water ? { Much laughter . ) That was the case of the council at this moment . "
Ultimately it was resolved that a committee should be appointed to apply for a new charter , or an act of Parliament .
The Elections. Tub Montrose Boroughs.—On...
THE ELECTIONS . Tub Montrose Boroughs . —On Friday week the sheriff of these boroughs announced that Mr . Baxter had been elected in place of the late Mr . Hume . Dudley . —Sir Stafford Northcote was returned on the same day ffir Dudley . Barnstaple . — -Mr . Buck ( Conservative , but in favour of the Sebastopol committee ) was elected last Saturday for Barnstaple . . Fohfarshire . —Lord Duncan , having accepted office under the present Government , as one of the Lords of the Treasury , presented himself again to the electors of Forfarshire last Saturday , and was returned without opposition . Portsmouth . —Lord Monck has been re-electecl for tins borough by a majority over Mr . Serjeant Gaseleeof 1005 .
Tamworth . —Sir Robert Peel , who lias accepted office as one of the Lords of the Admiralty , was on Weonesiinj- ^; 2 lCi ; ieu i xamworm WJUalOltw ^ t , t ^ . sit ion . Speaking of our present policy , lie said : — " We must . no longer be either paralysedor humbugged by Austria ; neither must Prussia , under the cloak of neutrality , be permitted to be the Kussian ally . ( Cheers . ) Let Moldavia and Wallachia be set up as an independent kingdom , as a check upon Eussia and Prussia , as Belgium was a quarter of a century ago . ( jCheers . ) Let Poland be restored to its place amongst nations—another efficient bulwark against the aggressions of Russia . AH this we had the power to do , without sending an armament to the Crimea , and proclaiming that England was not a military power ; her strength'lay inanbther direction , - and she might use it with effect . " * He added that he thought there was now a fair prospect of peace , as the death of every Russian Emperor caused a change in the policy of Russia .
Lord Dundonald And His Secret. Lord Ddnd...
LORD DUNDONALD AND HIS SECRET . Lord Ddndonald has sent to the daily papers a copy of a petition presented by him to the House of Commons , having reference to a plan by which he undertakes to destroy Sebastopol and Cronstadt in a day each . In his letter to the Times , he says : •—" The means I contemplate are simple , cheap , and safe in execution . They would spare thousands of lives , millions of monej ' , great havoc , and uncertainty of results . Their consequences might , and probably would , effect the emancipation of Poland and givo freedom to the usurped territories of Sweden . "
The petition sots forth that tho petitioner discovered in the year 1811 a new and more effective instrument of destruction ; that a commission , appointed the following year , made a very favourable report ; that tho plan has been subsequently approved on more than one occasion ; nnd that tho petitioner prays that he may be allowed to put his plan in oxecution , " reserving tho encased batteries und steam gun-boats entire , and ready for the brief and easy task of destroying the hostile fleet . " Foreseeing the usual objections made to new plans by all officials , Lord Dundonnld gives tho said obstructives a capital anticipatory rub : —
" Your petitioner bfiga that , should these premises and tho praj'er hereunto annexed seem to your hon . House exaggerated or unreasonable , you will bo pleased to take into your consideration that , had electric communication and photographic delineation been privately known and publicly announced , those incontestable realities would have been received as an insult to $ ho understanding . "
Our Civilisation. Elizabeth Lowktd, A Se...
OUR CIVILISATION . Elizabeth Lowktd , a servant , aged eighteen has been tried before Mr . Justice Coleridge , for the murder of her illegitimate child . The prisoner had been delivered at the workhouse on the 24 th of last August , and exhibited a great disinclination to suckle the infant . She was heard to say , she wished God would take it , as she had no home to go to ; and on September the 1 st she buried it alive . Being questioned with regard to it , she gave several contradictory accounts , and seemed to be in a state of great agitation and excitement . Ultimately slie confessed the truth , was taken into custod y , and , being found guilty of manslaughter , was sentenc ed to transportation for fifteen years .
At the Westminster Police Court , on Saturd ay last , a ruffianly-looking man , named Walter Buckley , was charged with having committed various assaults on " the occasion of his mother's funeral . The prisoner , who was intoxicated , had entered th e ro om where the mourners were being dressed , and , having picked a quarrel with his sister , on the ground of his wife not being invited to the funeral , he kicked her twice in the abdomen , and cut her eye severely . Upon a policeman being sent for , he assaulted him , and succeeded , together with his wife , in forcing his way into the mourning coach . Hj 8 conduct at the funeral was very indecent and disorderly ; and he afterwards returned to the house , and broke some of the windows . For the assault on his sister he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour ; and for that on the policeman to one month .
It will be recollected that the case of the two Irishmen who had obstructed the performance of a funeral in a Protestant burial-ground , which ye recorded last week , was adjourned , in order that the Bishop of London might be consulted with referenc e to dispensing with the P rotestant ceremony in the case of Romanists . The Bishop has since given his judgment , which is emphatically against the omission asked for . We may , therefore , expect further scenes of the same kind , since it is declared ex cathedra that decency and toleration shall be sacrificed to sectarian punctilio .
John Msnley , a boot a shoe maker living at Kingsland , was charged at Worship-street with cruelty to a parish boy , his apprentice . The statement of the lad , who is . fourteen years of age , was made with a very pathetic simplicity . He said : — < ' ¦»¦ —_„ n ^ -rk-rontinoiii ninA mnnflu arm tf \ tTi »« l « fi »*» ''" 7 ; * J . MrtOHt-j ^ v , , —— * o-, ~~~ - "I ., who has been in the constant habit since of beating me severely with the strap produced ( a stout strap , tied in two large knots at one of the ends ) . TheJast time was on Wednesday afternoon , when , while at work , without either waistcoat or coat on , he beat me in that manner severely for about five minutes ; then pulled my hair out of my head ; then beat me again for five minutes because
more ; and after that a third time beat me , I could not tie up my work fast enough . He has beaten me in this manner every week since I have been apprenticed to him . I have often had but one meal a day , and one day , about a month ago , I had no food - at all till 6 o ' clock in the evening , - and then -I had only some tea and bread and butter , though I had worked all day . For a week together I have had nothing but bread and cheese and butter twice a day , with only sometimes something to drink ; and this has happened for several weeks . I have been very ill for the last month , with a very bad cough , so that my master was obliged to take me to a chemist ' s for medicine . I sleep in tho workshopon strawand did have two sheets , a blanket , and
, , rug , but have had no sheets lately for some time , and have latterly been very cold . I was a strong healthy boy when I went to my master , but am not so now ; and the doctor told me yesterday that I was so altered he should not have known me . I was too weak to do tho work that was set me . My master had four meals a-day , while I had but two for three times a-week , and for weeks together . Three times a-week I had no tea or coffee , only water , and had to work from 8 in tho morning till 10 , 11 , and 12 o ' clock at night ; this was on two meals a day . A fortnight ago I worked from 8 in the morning till 12 at night for two days running ,
and one night that week I worked till 1 in tho morning following . I had no breakfast two of those days , bread and butter for dinner , and tho same in tho evening ; one day no coffee , but bread and cheese for dinner , and the same with some tea , when I went to bed . My master told mo I might go away if 1 liked , but I thought they might not take me back into tho union , ami that I should bo obliged to thiovo , and therefore stopped . 11 A had loft to tell tho pariah officers how I was used ho would have known where I had gone to , nnd perhaps treated me worse While upon trial with him he lu < l mo better than X was fed in tho workhouse , but never
sinco . " These statements having been supported by the evidence of tho pnrish-boudlo nnd others , and by tic certificate of tho medical man who examined tlio boy ' s person , and who said ho perceived indications of consumption arising from bad treatment , the prisoner was remanded for n week , in order time ho verbal evidenco of tho surgeon might bo taken .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17031855/page/8/
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