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Leader (1850-1860), 27th January 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, J) i NON MI RICOKDO. (To the Editor of t...

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      « A Stranger," In 3parliament. [Our Read...

      ¦ p . ?¦ '•'•""• , """ :. " : : , ... ., ¦ ¦ fi ^ nee it done ; Mr . I , ayard , with Jnow gome 150 Sembers ( half-past nine o'clock ) to hear him , was wearisomely ^ indfctive in supererogotory details against the Generals Sand the FeeliteB ; aildhe spoiled even the details by a continuance in the sloppy ,, ifarry-come-up sty le * of speech which answers at the Cosmopolitan Club , and never will answer in the Westminster Club . But Mr . Iiayard did refer to the motion ; and announced that he could not vote for so absurd a thing as a select committee on a war , but that he would vote for the motion as a vtftot-of confidence motion . This gave some intelligibility to the debate ;/ and the turn took the

      proceedings somewhat out of the region of aimless grumbling / Tefc as to the crisis—and whom he would follow to possible office- ^ Mr . Layard , astute irr all his Gallic declamation , said nothing . This disappointed the House , which , as he was closing , had thickened into fulness . ' 'Sir ' tieprge Grey was put up to answer , and to fasten on that point of the debate , and , like a true Whig , to taunt the Opposition that they were going to ; vote a want of confidence on a motion which techriically wai ^ iner ely ¦ ' a'inotidn for a committee . Why had not they the manhood , & c ., & c ? Sir George was frightfully -fluent , as usual , and got into a scrape as

      Usual—quoting from Sir Win . Napier - about the British soldier , and plunging into the celebrated «* cold shade of aristocracy " passage quite unawares —ah escapade which made his colleagues shiver , and delighted the Radicals . Yet Sir George showed some symptoms of the irrepressible tendency of the English Government to get out of red-tapery ; and his honest condemnation of his old chief , Iiord John Bussell , must ever be remembered by the Peelite 3 to their Colonial Secretary ' s honour , if only as being the last touch heeded to illustrate the abject blunder made by Iiord John . Sir George , on the whole , made a " dashing " speechas is his wont ; but he

      , left the House as he found it—puzzled , sceptical , uncertain , and resolute not to be forced to a . division until parties could ascertain the practical effect of their vote—and whether the Government had not made sure 6 f a - majority in so valiantly defying the vote .. Mr . Walpote , speaking as if after an Opposition Cabinet-council , only added to the hopeless confusion by his indirect admission that his side had no chance in the crisis—an admission made in his suspiciously-impartial advice to the Governtnent toreconstructthemselves . Mr . Vernon Smith was the very voice of - the universal confusion . He he to

      < HJI not know v ^ hat was vote for , or what would follow , or whether or not there was to be a Government , or was a Government ; and , therefore —his logic astonished few oh his side of the Houselie would hot vote for the motion . After that , from a ' man who ought to have been behind the scenes , it was out of the question that any decision could then be taken : —the House , adjourning what was facetiously called the debate , took till Monday to consider . And I have always noticed that Ministries are seldom turned out on adjourned debates . At iny rate ~ th ~ e re ^^ .. . Saturday Morning . The " Stranger . "

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      Rih This Dkpabtmmct, As Aix Ofimows, Iio...

      riH THIS DKPABTMMCT , AS AIX OFIMOWS , IIOWBVBB BXTJIBMB , ABB AU . OWBD AW BXrBBSSIOir , TUB EDITOR NECESSARILY HOLDS 1 IJM-< KLrBuronMuiroi hodi . ]

      There Is No Learned Man But Will Confess...

      There is no learned man but will confess he bath ¦ much'profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and hia judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for rum to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Milton

      J) I Non Mi Ricokdo. (To The Editor Of T...

      J ) i NON MI RICOKDO . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ') Sib , —Her Majesty ' s 46 th Regiment of Infantry have behaved so gallantly before . Sebastopol , that it seems more than ungracious to recal the proceedings of the Windsor Court Martial . I hasten , to assure you that my sole object in doing 00 now , is to invite your attention to an allusion in a characteristically-timid and " never-good-at-need" clerical contemporary . Here it is in a leading article on the " Clevedon Inquiry" in the Guardian of the 17 th inst . : —

      " WeTfcannot help thinking that very few persons brought up with the common ideas of Englishmen nowa-days , of whatever party or opinion they may be , can have . read .. the proceedings . of : the Tribunal hold at Wason ' s'Hotel , Clevedon , without at least a secret smile . We are quite are that if the persons and the opinions arraigned before it had not chanced to lie under a » trong temporary prejudice , the wit and sarcasm . wflloh were lavished in « nch abundance on the Windsor Covrt Martial would have revelled for many days on ¦ toon a ilngalary tempting subject ., " jln your own article on the " Ditcher-Denison Case , ' you dealt broadly and generously with the rger questions , and touched lightly the details of

      — " ' ' - . ¦ ~_ _ ^ i B ^ — ^ — IBlMS ^ SjpSSSM ^ MM ^ M ^^ B ^ B ^ " ^ " ^ " ^^ " ^^ ^^^^^^^™ . the case . It may , however , be interesting to some of your readers to appreciate the full meaning of your clerical and cautious contemporary . I subjoin an extract from the printedtreport of the ^ examination taken before the Commissioners at Wason s Hotel , Clevedon . It speaks for itself : — " The Ven . Archdeacon , Law , examined by Dr . Phillimore . . .-or " Have you taken any part in this prosecution t—I cannot allow that I have . . _ "Do you know Mr . Everetti grocer , of Wellsi—I know him well . . ' " Did you request him to give evidence in this case /—I did not . o " Did you go to his shop in the early part of last year t

      —I did . " And speak to him on the subject of the Archdeacon s sermons?—/ did . "Did Mr . Everett say anything to you about other persons having heard the sermon?—I will not say he did not ; but I Have no recollection that lie did . " Mr . Everett has sworn that he said to you that there were clergymen present , and that he thought they would be the propel- persons to give the evidence you were seeking . Is that true?—/ don't recollect ; if he did so , it made no impression on my mind . " Can't you recollect so remarkable a statement coming from a grocer to whom' you went for evidence to convict your brother Archdeacon of heresy ?—I have no recollection of any such observation having been made , or anything like it .

      " Did you ask the grocer whether he knew anybody wlio heard the sermon besides himself ? - —I have no recollection of so doing . "It would have been a rational question , would it not ?—It would ; but I have no recollection of so doing . " Did you communicate with . Mr . Ditcher , the prosecutor , on the subject of that sermon?—I have had frequent communications with him upon the subject . " Did you send the sermon to Mr . Ditcher when Mr . Everett sent it to you ?^— -f did not . " The grocer has sworn that he asked you whether you had the sermon , and you answered that Mr . Ditcher had it ; is that correct ?—It is perfectly correct . " How did Mr . Ditcher get that sermon?—On the occasion of his calling on me at Weston-super-Mare I put that sermon into his hands .

      " Was that before you went to the grocer's shop?—Yes . " Then when you said that you had not sent the sermon to Mr . Ditcher , you meant that you had given it into Ms hands , but not sent it ?—Yes ; I did give it into Mr . Ditcher ' s hands . I did not send it . '' Mr . Ditcher is your official , is he not ? : —He is one of my surrogates . " You are in constant intercourse with him , are you not?—Most constant . " Did Mr . Ditcher ask you for the sermon , or did you volunteer to give it to him?—To the best of my recollection he asked me whether I could lend it to him . " Did you mention Mr . Ditcher ' s name to the grocer on the occasion of your visit to him ?—Mr- Ditcher ' s name " would" doubtlesff be mentioned- when -I- told him that I had lent the sermon . '

      " Did you ask the grocer to send the sermon to you originally?—He sent it to me of his own accord ; I knew nothing of the sermon till he sent it to me . " How did he send it?—By post . " Was it accompanied by any letter?—I make no doubt it was , but I have no recollection of its contents . " Did any conversation pass between you and Mr . Ditcher upon the subject of the sermon at the time you gave it him?—Doubtless . " Will you be good enough to state the purport of that conversation ?—I have had so many conversations with him that / do not recollect . " Examination resumed : —Did you ask any person besides the grocer , if they had heard the sermon preached by Archdeacon Denison ?—I do not believe I did . " You know of course that it must have been hoard by some of the Chapter of Wells ?—Not by several , but by some . The Canon Residentiary at that time was deaf , and therefore it would have been idle to put the question to him . " Was that the reason you did not ask the Canon?—It wot not . " I am , Sir , your obedient servant , A Seeker of " The Tjiuth . "

      Capital Punishment. (To The Editor Of Th...

      CAPITAL PUNISHMENT . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —I have protested in many languages , lands , and journals , against the punishment of death . I venture to ask of you the permission to do so once more in your estimable journal . My conscience cries aloud that what one man has not the right to do—not even a thousand nor a hundred thousand men have the right to do—and that is , to kill a man ! To kill judicially is to kill ! I say to society what was Aaid to the murderer : " Cruel man !"— " Cruel society ! " Will it never understand that nothing is gained by capital executions ? The public that rushes to gaze on the courage of the culprit , and the

      adroitness of the executioner , to see a head fall , or a body swing in the air , seeks sensations , and not mora lessons—assists at a spectacle more or less rare , and always gratis . Have the thousands of executions that preceded that of Barthelemy arrested his arm ? Will his execution prevent one crime ? It is even on evidence , that executions are often followed , if not accompanied , by fresh crimes . There are men who have a mania for being talked about , for making an exhibition of themselves for good or for evil . There are others so tired of life , as to prefer to die by the hands of an executioner than by their own . If we may believe the words spoken by Barthelemy in his last moments , he was one of these men .

      I approve the verdict of f he jury ; I attack only the executive act , which took no account of the recommendation to commute the punishment . I repudiate the supposition of any concession to the French Government , but I think mercy cannot be too often exercised in the reign of a gracious Queen . A disciple of Germany , I will take the liberty to propose a question to the learned Eng lish Bar . If a prisoner , instead of allowing himself to be hanged , kills the hangman , should he be killed for that act alone ? For if the hangman was discharging his duty , the prisoner was ' obey ing the natural law of self-preservation . I say , then , that a man who , rather than be arrested , kills the arrester , commits homicide , not

      assassination . The State ought not to take what it has not given , and cannot restore—Life ! How is it , when an innocent man is executed by , mistake ? In Spain the victim's coffin was brought into court , the judges lifted up the winding-sheet , and uncovered their heads to the dead . In France , the memory of the punished is " rehabilitated , " but tardily , and with difficulty . In Russia , the punishment of death is abolished , and life is not less secure for all that . Perhaps this is the only law that does honour to . the Empress who decreed it . Other States have no Siberia , but they have a Botany Bay . They have no knout , but the rope , or the knife which they employ , to intimidate , or , as it has been said : "A stick to frighten the dog . "—I am , Sir , Your obedient servant , Ivan Golovin .

      Statistics Oi" Tobacco. Some Of Our Read...

      STATISTICS OI" TOBACCO . Some of our readers may not be prepared for the fact that tobacco , though not food for man or beast , is the most extensively used of all vegetable productions , and next to salt the most generally consumed of all productions whatever—animal , vegetable , or mineral—on the face of the globe . In one form or other , but most commonly in that of fume or smoke , it is partaken "by saint , by savage , and by sage ; " there is no climate , from the equator to the pole , in which it is not used ; there is no nation that has declined adopting it . Europeans , except in the extreme East , are allowed to be the most moderate consumers , in consequence of its being with-them"generally ^ an article of-import and of

      heavy taxation ; while their form of civilisation agrees to refuse the luxury to the gentler sex . And among Europeans our own nation figures as one of the lowest in proportion to the population ; yet the official returns prove that the annual consumption here is on an average 16 * 86 ounces , or considerably more than a pound weight to every man , woman , and child throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Moreover , this consumption is greatly on the increase . Between the years 1821 and 1831 the increase was at the rate of about one ounce » per head ; during the next ten years it was somewhat less than an ounce ; but from 1841 to 1851 it was three ounces ; making an increase of nearly 44 per cent , in proportion to the population within the last 30 years . In Denmark , exclusive of the Duchies , the average consumption in 1851 was

      nearly 70 ounces per head . But this is nothing to what is used in warm countries , where tobacco Is grown with facility and free from taxation . If the population of the earth be taken at 1000 millions , and the consumption reckoned as equal to that of the kingdom of Denmark , or 70 ounces per head , the produce of the whole world will amount to nearly two millions of tons ( 1 , 958 , 125 ) a year . Seventy ounces a head , of course , far exceeds the average consumption of Europe , in most of the countries of which tobacco , as before stated , is heavily taxed . It is certain , however , on the other hand , that it falls far short of the consumption of Asia , containing the majority of mankind , where women and children smoke as well as men , and where the article is moreover untaxed . The value of the quantity thus reckoned , at 2 d . a pound , amounts to above 36 , 000 , 000 / . sterling .

      EDUCATION IN THB MIDLAND DISTRICTS . Mr . Bowyor , inspector of . schools , thus describes a " Midland" teacher : — " At my first visit the school was vacant . At my second I found a new mistress , whose ignorance surpassed anything within my experience . To the question , ' What remarkable evbnt occurred when our Saviour waa twelve years old ? ' ehe replied " I beliove ho was put in tho bulrushes . "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 27, 1855, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27011855/page/16/