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by degrees and beautifully less" are the chances of marriage for a lady as she passes thirty . But for the encouragement of that section of the sex—a small , very small section , of course— -we may note , that 2318 women past thirty became brides , in 1851 , that 1453 of the same successful class were over thirty-five , that 814 were over forty , that 437 were over forty-five , that 219 were over fifty , that 89 were over fifty-five , ' that 22 (" few , but fearless" ) were over sixty , that the successful ladies over sixty-five actually numbered 70 , ( showing that as age advances so does tact and courage , ) that 5 heroine brides conquered the slight difficulty of being over seventy , and that 3 old women , ( for even politeness allows us the adjective , in this case , ) whose ages were over seventy-five , became brides at that age .
The statistics of the cradle show that 314 , 968 males , and 300 , 897 females were born in England , in the year 1851 . The continual majority , however , of males in the population , indicates that the deaths among male children are greater , in proportion , to the deaths among females . The quarter ending June shows a superiority in births to any other quarter of the year—the least prolific being the quarter ending September . The deaths were 9000 less than in the June quarter . The number of illegitimate children was 42 , 000 , about onefifteenth of the whole .
Death took away 200 , 454 men , and 195 , 720 women the quarter ending March being the most deadly , and the quarter ending September being the most favourable to life .
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CURIOSITIES OF JUSTICE . A road runs along the boundaries of Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire . A carter was upset on this road and killed , the accident being caused by a heap of stones left by a colliery agent . The inquest on the body was held by a Gloucester coroner at a little inn on the Monmoutlisliire side of the road , and a verdict of manslaughter was found against the agent . He was arrested and imprisoned without bail . But the inquisition was quashed in the Queen ' s Bench on the ground of being held at the wrong side of the road , and the coroner ( in a subsequent action ) has been compelled to pay 25 Z . damages , and the costs of all the law proceedings . " . '" ¦ - .- . '
Our jury system was criticised by Judge Coleridge at Gloucester . He blamed the country gentlemen for not coming forward to serve on special juries . There is no excuse , as they are paid a guinea for every cause . "I am satisfied , " said his lordship , " that it would be of immense advantage to the community if the gentry would do their fair part in the administration of justice , by serving on the Crown side as well as on the civil . To improve the composition of the jury panels is one thing essential to the improvement of the administration of justice . If we had
a few of the special jury class upon the common juries , it would bo a great improvement , nnd we should also get through the business in half the time ; for in place of long and laborious summings up , as at present , we should bo able to stato the case in a few words , and not go through the evidence in detail . And this I may also say , that a county gentleman who may wish to qualify to act as a magistrate would learn more of the common law by serving one weok on the Crown jury than by a whole year ' s reading of Jilatfcstone , or any other text-book . "
A . Gloucester man , who took a house near the railway station , soon got for a neighbour a risiDg smith of most uncommon industry . The smith set up a steam-engine , and laboured in his vocation night and day , keeping up an astounding 1 clatter , to the annoyance of Mr . Brown . Even Sunday was not kept quiet in this unceasing smithy : the scream of tho engino being added to the other sounds and noises . But tho counsel for tho defence laughed at the idea of annoyance . After Sydney Smith he compared the engine-whistle to tho scream of an attorney when first inc engme-wnisue io r . no scream or an attorney wncn nrsc
tho devil catches hold of him ; and dwelt with force on tho laudable industry of the energetic smith . The above remarks on juries ivre pointed by tho concluding proceedings in this case . The jury deliberated , and then turning round , tho foreman Raid , in a timid voice , " Wo find for tho plaintiff . " Associate : " What damages do you find , gontlomcn P" The Foreman : " No damages . " Tho Judge Haid they must find some damages , though they wcro not asked for substantial damages , and that a shilling would do . They at onco agreed to tho shilling damages . Tho Judge refused to certify for costs , and thus each party will bo left to pay bin own costs .
A gentleman thrown from a coach heavily laden , and thereby permanently injured in the arm , has obtained ' l ( K ) l . damages against tho conch proprietor , on tho grounds that tho coach was overladen , although a number of wifcikwhoh proved that the conch was duly examined , and that evory caro was taken to prevent accident . At Manchester tho railway authorities left the rails so " sloppy" at . a placo whore fish is daily unloaded , that ono of tho trains moved on with unusual rapidity , and crushed a poor man to death . Tho willy jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death , " recommending that tho rails should be lcept in better order , ho an to prevent tho oecurroneo of niinUnr " nrciilent-H in future . " Tho next " curiosity" in verdicts will bo on a proved pielcpoekot—Accidental Larceny — " recommending that the prisoner should keep his hands in bettor order , ko n « to prevent th « occurrence of similar accidents in future . "
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C R I M 1 N A L It K C O U I . ) . Mif / unii IOkotiiimih , a Spaniard , has murdorod a boy gamokeopor near llal . fiold . Tho murderer wan wcured by a flog , who held him fast until tho other gamekeeper came up . Tho Spaniard is botwoon thirty and forty years of age , and
is a native of Aragon . He has been a " tramp" for some time . Doctor John Stokes , a physician , formerly of Dublin , and late of Herne Bay , got into pecuniary difficulties . He took tea with some friends at the Temple , and while doing so , took from his pocket a phial , and while conversing with them , mixed it with a glass of sherry . He leaned back and died . He had swallowed poison . ¦ , William Dean returned " home" on Sunday eveningJ his wife and daughter being in the house . He asked for his dinner , but as it was not supplied to him immediately , he seized the poker , and demolished the various articles in the place . He then attacked his wife , and using the poker ,
beat her most unmercifully , by which she was injured on her back , ribs , and arms . Her daughter came to her assistance , when Dean made a desperate attack upon her also , and jammed her violently between the street-door and side-post , by which her arm was severely bruised . He was repeating his violence , when their cries of " murder , " &c , brought some neighbours and the police to their assistance , who took Dean to the station-house and locked him up . The wife was dangerously injured by the blows ; she was not able to walk ; her whole body was discoloured , and her eyes blackened . Dean has been in the habit of thus using his wife . He got a month ' s imprisonment some time ago for a similar assault . He has now been sentenced to three
months m gaol . One of the worst cases of this kind is recorded in Thursday ' s daily papers . John Welch , an Irish labourer , was charged with having beaten his wife . The wife was brought into court ; and placed on a chair in the witness- box . A more horrible sight it was impossible to conceive than the woman presented , her face haying been beaten and kicked into one mass of wounds and bruises . She said , speaking with great difficulty : " The prisoner is my husband . I have been married six years , and have three children , one a baby . About three o ' clock to day I went out to sell some fruit in the street , to get food for my family . When I came in my husband was in the parlour . He asked me where I had been . I said I had been getting some fruit to sell to a customer . He said quietly , ' Come in . ' I went into
the room , when he locked the door , and without saying another word he knocked me down by a blow on theeye . While I was down he kicked me with his nailed shoes all over my body and face . He then twisted his hand in my hair , and hammered my head against the floor . -I cried for mercy . I had my ' baby in my arms . I said , ' Show mercy to my poor baby . ' He said he would show no mercy to me nor to my baby ; he had only one life . to lose- ;¦ he had got six months before for me , and he would now have -my . life before he left the place / I put the baby down , fearing what might happen . My husband laid hold of a pail of water , and threw the water over me . He then seized an iron crow-bar , and beat me all round my body . I caught up the baby , and managed to get out of the room . He ran after me and threw a second pail of water over me , and then he rushed at me and knocked me down . A man
came by at that moment and knocked my husband down . My husband got up , ran into the room , and locked the door . " The landlady of the house said that the prisoner was constantly in the habit of beating his wife . The prisoner did not allow the wifo anything for her support , but made her work like a horse to get money to keep herself and children . The wife said it was true that she received nothing out of her husband ' s wages . The same remedy ns in the former conviction of tho same man was again adopted : ho has been sent to gaol " for six months . "
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THE WORKING CLASSES . The Kidderminster carpet weavers are still " out ;" but new mechanical inventions are coming to the aid of the masters . A new carpet factory at Bromsgrovo is also announced as a rival to Kidderminster , and available channel for new capital . Tho strike of the Manchester dyers , dressers , and finishers lias checked the production of corduroys , fustians , &c . The pitmen of Northumberland and Durham demand higher wages and proper inspection of the pits . ( Lord Palmerston had intended to legislate on the latter grievance , but " the lato period of the session" frustrated his good intentions . ) The smiths in Devonport dockyard complain with justice of a now arrangement . They are paid by piece-work , but their remuneration is not allowed to extend abovo a certain standard , although it is reduced below tho standard whenever their work
is small . The workers in the London building trade demand Gd . a tlay in addition to their present rate of G . y . The dock labourer's strike ban ended without any advantage to tho men , their riotous conduct deserving tho failure . Tho city police demand hi gher pay , and their icqucst in tinder consideration . Tho Paisley pattern drawoi-H and print cutters make doinandH that appear unreasonable . They wish to limit tho apprentices , and to insist on gotting in the slack season an equal film re of work with that given to journeymen . The Edinburgh cabmen ask 13 , y . and 15 a-. a week instead of lO . v . and l . 'J . v . Wo have but one " succors" to record this weok . Tho Leeds joiners have been partly successful in getting an additional hour of leisure on Saturday .
Facts showing general prosperity continue to turn \ ip . Tho poor-ruto for Hinningbum for tho current Michaelmas half year will bo 5000 / . less than it was last year . Tho Leeds Co-oporativo T'lour Society is doing a business of 50 , 000 / . yearly , and making 2000 / . profit . Tlw improvement of trade in tho north of Ireland itf very roiuarkublo , even when compared with English progress . Tho demand for linens is arood ,
and the supply steady , both masters and men working well together . A new cotton mill will soon be at work in Belfast , but the present local demand for yarns would absorb the produce of half-a-dozen cotton mills , Domestic servants—a class of our working people — -are generally estimated as incompetent . A lady writingsin the Times makes a . suggestion towards a reform . She advises that the workhouses should become training schools for domestic servants , where each might be taught a branch of duty . "At present a young girl goes from a slatternly mother to act as
helper or nurse in the house of a small farmer or tradesman , and after a year or two goes to a tradesman or farmer of higher degree . She then hires herself as servant to a gentleman ' s family in the capacity she thinks herself most fitted for . Now comes the tug of war—she has not been brought up as housemaid , laundress , cook , or anything , but she has a little smattering of all—always in her work because she has no method , wasteful because she has not been early taught the admirable economy of nature , where not an atom is lost , disrespectful through ignorance , dishonest in principle . "
We print the following explanation of a very important wages movement among the London compositors : — On the 1 st of October last , the whole of the hands then engaged on the Sun were discharged , after having received the legal fortnight ' s notice , in order to have their places supplied by men who undertook to Work on an entirely new system in the London daily paper trade . There was no complaint made by the employer with respect to the old hands , his reason for dismissing them , according to his own account , being simply that he might get his work done at a cheaper rate ; and , as the terms he had to offer were at variance with the recognised mode of payment , he had not thought it worth while to come to any arrangement with his old hands before engaging new ones . He did , indeed , inquire whether the men then engaged
belonged to the London Society of Compositors ; and , on being told that they did , expressed his intention of getting persons who were non-society men . The London Society being naturally desirous , of doing all in its power to preserve a , scale ~ of payment which has been mutually acted upon by employer and employed for the last forty years , immediately issued addresses to the trades and the public of the metropolis , stating the facts of the case , and requesting their assistance to induce a return to the old system . The means suggested for bringing about this object were , the systematic discouragement of the circulation of the Sun , and a resolution not to deal with any establishment in which , the Sun was taken in . The appeals made by the compositors to the public , backed by the energetic co-operation of some of tho principal trades of the metropolis , have been so far successful , that a reduction of between 800 and 1000 has been effected in the
circulation of the paper . Tho above is a short summary of this strike—a strike , if so it can bo called , not of the journeymen , but of the employer . And now , Sir , perhaps you will allow me a few words of explanation as to what constitutes the difference between the fair rate of payment and tho " system" thus introduced . Under the old plan , ( that is , tho mode pursued at all the fair daily paper offices in London , ) a fixed amount of labour was given for a fixed sum of money , and any quantity done over that amount was paid for extra . By tho " now system" introduced by those who supplanted their follow workmen , no definite quantity of work is done for a week's wages , but each
individual does as much as his ability will allow him to produce . Tho natural consequence of such a mode of working ns this , is , of course , to confine tho chanco of obtaining employment to the younger and quicker hands in tho business ; for , as it is to tho interest of tho employer to get as much work out of each man as possible , ho would most assuredly only engago those who were able to do a largo quantity . Instead of , as now , every man being upon an equality , according to his montal and physical ability , the aged and loss efficient would bo punished with loss of work for an infirmity over which they have no control .
But this portion of tho " new system , there is some con-Rolation in thinking , will no doubt bo made the moans of punishing those who have introduced it , for they may rest assured , that as soon as thoir employer finds that they are , through ago or any other cause , unablo to perform what ho may conceive to be an adequate quantity of work , thoy will bo unhesitatingly discharged to mako room for thoso who can . That ho will have no compunction for them on tho score of tho number of years they may liavo worked for him , in proved by tho fact , thatfiomoof tho compositors lately dismissed had been thirty years in tho office
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MISC E LLANEOUS . Queen Victorta haa been nctivo among her soldiers nnd sailors . On Saturday sho went to the camp with Prince Albert ; nnd on Thursday bIio ' whh present at tho grand naval display at Spithcad . On Monday sho held a Court , and received tho Duchess of Leuchtcnberg , and , gave audiences to Lord Aberdeen , Lord Grauvillo , and Sir James Graham .
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778 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Ministers dino to day , on whitebait , at tho Trafalgar , Greenwich . Tho Opposition opposo bribery I Mr . Walpole ' o Bill to consolidate and amend tho lawn relating' to bribery , corrupt treating , and intimidation nt olootioiiH , lias been printed . Ifc in proposed that it . shall eomo into operation on tho lafc of November . Besides tho namo of Mr . Wnlpolo ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1853, page 778, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1999/page/10/
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