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« Feb. 22, 1851.] «&* &*&***» 16g
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THE GREAT KB VENUE TRIAL. This important...
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NATIONAL R K F O It M. A crowded public ...
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THE HOUSE TAX BUDGET. The proposal to ch...
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REPEAL OF THE TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE. The ge...
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Till-: COUNTY JtEPltlfiSENTATION. The re...
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.
Industrial Disturbances. The Suffolk Kto...
took place , many most urgent applications were made at the office of one of the local journals then publishing , for an account of what had taken place , to be forwarded * by parcel , ' the post being too slow , to London , where Mr . Disraeli ' s motion was coming on for discussion . The paupers seemed to think that the reason why they were driven en masse into the workhouse was in order to produce an effect upon the landlord and the titheowner . ' It appears also that last year the same sudden
crowding of the workhouse took place just previous to the opening of Parliament , and that a riot of a similar kind took place then . The magistrates did not seem to have viewed the riot in a very serious light . Out df fifty-three persons taken into custody , forty were at once discharged with a reprimand from the magistrates . Nine of the rioters , all either habitual inmates of the house or bad characters , have been committed for trial . The Commissioner winds
up by saying : — «• Looking at the facts of the case , the public , I think , will not be disposed to take a different view of it from that which is now prevalent in the locality , and which accuses the Board of Guardians , acting in concert with the farmers , and the magistrates cooperating with the Board , of getting up , for political purposes , a demonstration as ridiculous as it is mischievous , but for which it is satisfactory to think that they will themselves suffer most in the end . " The Ipswich Express , in an article on the same subject , puts the following very awkward-looking
questions : — " 1 . Was there , or was there not , a prevalent report that some of the farmers of the Bosmere and Claydon Union intended to fill the workhouse for the sake of accomplishing private and political ends ? " 2 . As a consequence of the feeling outside , were not acts of insubordination in the union-house fully expected , and were not the paupers as they came in cautioned by the governor against aiding in a riot ? ' 3 . If the guardians were cognizant of this state of things , did they make adequate or reasonable provision for checking riotous conduct at once ? " 4 . Has any guardian ever said , ' We'll fill the unionhouse to overflowing ; that will speak volumes to the Legislature ?'
" 5 . Have any farmers of the hundred been heard to say , ' We wish the paupers would pull the house down ?' " 6 . Did a pauper named Pung ( one of the rioters ) , when charged with a misdemeanor before the magistrates in the board-room a short time since , tell those gentlemen ' that the farmers had told him when he came to the house to kick up a row ?' " 7- Is it a fact that any farmers in this hundred have said , in the hearing of their labourers , ' they wished they would go into the union-house and kick up a row ? ' " 8 . Are the ablebodied paupers principally from the wealthiest parishes and from the wealthiest farmers ? " 9 . Have not a great majority of the applications for relief been made within the past month ?
" 10 . Has a guardian who employed four men discharged three of them on the plea * that he could not get his rent reduced ? ' And did he add , ' As soon as there is an arrangement in my rents I'll send for you ? ' And are not these men still in the union ? " H . Did a pauper , who , on being discharged , said , ' I shall have to go to the union , ' receive this reply from his master , ' I wish you'd all go ; we want to swell the rates so as to make the landlords and parsons come down in their rents and tithes ?' " 12 . Did a guardian ever say , ' I wish you'd fill the house so full that the paupers had to be hung out of the windows ? ' "
A rather serious disturbance occurred in the workhouse at Yarmouth , on Monday , in consequence of the riotous behaviour of several of the able-bodied young men , who had conspired together to commit a breach of the peace , with the intent , as it has since come out , of ultimately getting possession of the stores and provisions ; but this design was frustrated by the timel y interference of a detachment of police . The rioters smashed a great number of windows , benches , frames , & c , doing £ G or £ 7 of damage . Six of the ringleaders , consisting of young men , of from sixteen years of age to twenty ( three of whom had onl y been released from gaol a week ) , were brought up , charged with the above offence . They gave no rea son for their act of insubordination , and the bench deliberated some time as to whether they ought not to be sent for trial ; but they decided upon committing them for two mouths each to the treadmill .
Ihe strike of the sailors against the obnoxious provisions in the Mercantile Marine Act 8 till continues . Iwo or three vessels have managed , by dint of great exertion on the part of the masters , to Hail from Sunderliuul ; but , in general , the men have stuck to each other . Two men who were about to go on board a vessel nt Shields , on Sunday , were tarred nnd feathered by a mob of women , and several persons have been apprehended on < i charge of having taken part m the riot . Some of the London traders have been lying laden in the Tyno for more than a fortnight , * ' » r want of hands . At Liverpool the strike Htill continues . Tho Bailors have been perumbulatiiiK the Btrcete with flags and mu . sie .
« Feb. 22, 1851.] «&* &*&***» 16g
« Feb . 22 , 1851 . ] «&* &*&***» 16 g
The Great Kb Venue Trial. This Important...
THE GREAT KB VENUE TRIAL . This important trial wus brought to a termination on iuesduy . Tho examination of witnesses for tho aetenco was finished on Monday , after which the Soiwitor-General replied on behalf of tlio Crown , It
was impossible to deny that the evidence had been of a very contradictory nature , and that , on the one -side or the other , the most gross and deliberate perjury must have been committed . He disclaimed any charge against the Directors of the London Docks , of having , as a body , acted dishonestly or dishonourably , or that their superior officers had acted either fraudulently or dishonestly . But going into the evidence , however , he took the opportunity of giving Sir Fitzroy Kelly a Rowland for his Oliver : —
" His learned friend had said that he would not have undertaken the defence of this cause had he not been fully convinced of the perfect honour and integrity of his clients , the London Docks Company , and also of the base character of the attack which had been made upon those gentlemen . Now , with regard to this , he would call it , unparalleled declaration , he could only say , that as his learned friend had made it , he was obliged to believe the truth of the assertion ; but he must be allowed to say that had the declaration fallen from any other member of the bar—had any other member of the lar told him that he had looked at the ' inside' of his brief , and from its contents ' alone' had drawn his conclusion
as to the perfeet innocence of his clients , and that there had been no reference to the indorsement on the outside' of his brief { laughter ) he should not have been able to have refrained from laughing at the assertion . But when the assertion had been offered by so distinguished a member of the profession as Sir Fitzroy Kelly , he was bound to place explicit reliance in it . " He then entered into a minute examination and comparison of the statements made by the various witnesses , and read a paper from which it appeared that the " wet drainings" of sugar in the London Docks were seven times greater than in the West India Docks , although the quantity of sugar imported into
the latter was more than double what was imported into the former Docks . Again , as regards cocoa , the " sweepings" in the London Docks amounted to 8000 lb . in three years ; while in the West India Docks , into which a larger quantity of cocoa was imported , there had been only 158 lb . of " sweepings " in ten years . In the face of such facts as these , the defendants ought to be rather more cautious in imputing improper motives to those who felt it to be their duty to institute an inquiry into such extraordinary transactions . The Board of Customs had a public duty to perform , and it had only been in that light that they had felt themselves called upon to institute the present proceedings .
The Lord-Chief Baron summed up the evidence on Tuesday . It was satisfactory to think that , as the case stood , no charge was made on the personal honour , character , or conduct , of any of the directors . It would have been a national misfortune if anything like a system of plunder had been carried on , in which the directors generally , or any one of them had been implicated . The evidence on the part of the Crown , especially regarding ' * Davies ' s-corner , " had been full of exaggeration . One witness had spoken of having seen tens of tons taken there and converted into
' wet drainings . " The whole statement regarding that affair had been so pointedly proved by respectable witnesses of unimpeached character , that there was no use in saying more about it . The only question for the jury to decide was whether the Customs had been justified in seizing certain parts of the sugar and cocoa contained in the information . He thought the only portions liable to forfeiture were some six or seven packages of cocoa , of which no proper account had been given , and two boxes of Havanna sugar .
The verdict given by the jury was " for the Crown on the seventh arid eighth counts , which state that the two boxes of sugar were clandestinely and illegally removed from one place to another ; as to the remaining twenty-seven casks of sugar , and as to all the fifty-seven packages of cocoa , for the defendants ; at the same time we couple with the verdict a recommendation that greater strictness should be observed by the company towards their subordinate servants , in order to prevent irregularities which have occurred . " His lordship then asked the jury whether they did not find that the two boxes had been fraudulently concealed within the 9 th and 10 th counts ? Tho Foreman : Yes ; but we find no intention to defraud the revenue .
National R K F O It M. A Crowded Public ...
NATIONAL R K F O It M . A crowded public meeting was held in the Luncasturiau Institute , St . Mary '« Cray , Kent , on Wednesduy evening , for the purpose of promoting the principles of the National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association . The meeting was addressed by Sir Joshua Walmesley , Mr . Milner Gibson , Mr . Kennedy , Mr . Slack , and Mr . Joynson . Sir Joshua Walmesley suid : — " The association they were asked to support had been in existence about two yearn and u half , and its progress had been almost unparalleled . 11 commenced under great , difficulties , hh almost , every political association did . Its great object wus to obtain for their fellow men justice , by placing in their hands tin ; privilege , as some culled it , but the right , as they termed it , of the fiuni : hine . lie was himself perfectly convinced of tho integrity , the uprightness , and the intelligence of the industrious clauses of this country , and if thoy had the franchise , could it for a moment be supposed that the House of Comment ) would
National R K F O It M. A Crowded Public ...
now be wasting ite time in discussing as to which of the religious bodies should have the greatest share of the loaves and fishes ? or debating the question of free trade ? The noble lord at the head of the Government , when asked the other day if he would extend the franchise , replied that he had no such intention during the present session ; and when asked i f he would bring in a bill to amend the deficiencies of the Reform Act , he said he would do « o when the time arrived . { Laughter . ) This association thought the time had arrived long since when the franchise ought to have been extended and placed upon a proper basis . He came there to ask _ them to support the principles on which the association was founded , and to assist in placing them in a position in which they could tell Lord John Russell that the proper time had now arrived . They would never rest till they had a fair and free representation of the people of this country . " Mr . Gibson , in the course of his address , said it seemed as if the great virtue of our constitution was its exclusiveness , there being only one out of every seven adult males who possessed the franchise : — " Now , with regard to this voting for members of Parliament , what were they afraid of ? They admitted a man to marry a wife , and they let him have children—{ a laugh )—and they allowed him to educate those children as he best could , and they let him turn those children loose upon society ; and they let him be at large and employ the various talents with which God had blessed him . Now , he said that in the discharge of all these functions , a man might exercise a much greater influence upon society , either for good or for bad , than by being one of a vast number who voted for members of Parliament . It appeared to him that if there was such a thing as a right which a man was entitled to exercise , it was the right of voting for those who were to make the laws which he was called upon to obey . " At the conclusion of the meeting , 100 members were enrolled , and £ 100 subscribed to the funds of the association , including a cheque for £ 50 from Mr . Joynson , of St . Mary ' s Cray .
The House Tax Budget. The Proposal To Ch...
THE HOUSE TAX BUDGET . The proposal to change the window tax into a most obnoxious house tax finds favour in no quarter . A special meeting of the delegates of the various metropolitan parishes was held at the Court-house , Marylebone , on Wednesday , for the purpose of deciding upon what course to take . The budget was denounced as " a complete swindle . " The chairman , Mr . J . A . Nicholay said "he had often heard of thimble-rigging , but the Chancellor of the Exchequer ought to be appointed Thimble-rigger Extraordinary to her Majesty . " He added , however , that the metropolis had only to speak out and Ministers would have to give way . Ail the speakers condemned the house tax in the most indignant terms . Mr . George , one of the delegates , said : —
" The speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer would make more moral force Chartism than had ever existed before , fir it would cause Reformers to go to the root of the matter , and seek the reform of the House of Commons . { Loud cheers . ) The measure was a miserable subterfuge , for , let them observe , the swindle would actually produce more than the other window tax . { Loud cheers . ) He concluded by moving a resolution , declaring the proposed house tax to be unequal , unjust , obnoxious , and unnecessary ; pledging the meeting never to remain satisfied until the window duty was unconditionally repealed ; and calling upon the metropolitan members , in case the measure were persisted in , to offer such obstruction to the Government as should show that .
it no longer possessed the confidence of the people . { Loud cheers . )" Mr . Wakley approved of the tone of the meeting , which was one of indignation at an unparalleled insult . " As a coroner , he had looked on witli a kind of practical interest , while the Chancellor of the Exchequer was committing Buicide . { Lauyhter . ) Politically speaking , that official was dead already ; and if there were any revivifying power , unless it operated very soon , what was called the ' vital spark ' would be extinct . { More lauyhter . )"
Repeal Of The Taxes On Knowledge. The Ge...
REPEAL OF THE TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE . The general committee of the Association for Promoting the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge met ut their office , 1 / 5 , Essex-street , on Friday lust , to agree to adopt the policy of the Newspaper Stump Abolition Committee , and to incorporate that body in the new association . On Wednesday a deputation from the Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee waited upon Mr . Hume at his house in Bryunstone-Hquare , and presented him with nu address . On tin ; same evening the committee met for the last time , and handed over their books and papers to the now uHHOciation . A public meeting will be held in St . Martin ' H-hull , on Wednesday week , March 6 . The chair will be taken by Professor Key , of University College ; and Messrs . Cobdcn , Gibson , Seholcfield , CusBell , and other gentlemen will speak . Ah it is nut impossible that Mr . Milner Gibson ' s motion may come on early in tho He « nion , petitions ought to bo signed without delay .
Till-: County Jtepltlfisentation. The Re...
Till-: COUNTY JtEPltlfiSENTATION . The return of Mr . Burrow , the farmers * candidutc , for Soutii Notts , by a mujority of 11 ovor Lord NVwark , i » a . symptom which the lundownors would
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 22, 1851, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22021851/page/5/
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