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    , . . . . — . _ ^^^^^^^^^ V ^ V ^ i ^ P ^ i ^ l ^ mH ^ HPH ^ BHI ^ HIBVB ^^ V ^^ V ^ I ^^^^^^^^^ : me I They waste time , strength , and opportunity ; they compromise their principles , and , if their exertions were not merely local and ridiculous -would restore the popularity of toryism . And the " grand re-organisation , " ¦ what will it be 1 We have something to say on that subject , for the movement is gainingimpetus , and its leaders are corning into the lio-hfc .

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    his body secured to one , and one of his legs raised to the greatest possible height ; by a rope attached to the other tree : in this position , standing upon one leg , he is left for hours , until he confesses , or faints , or produces the all-persuasive gift . It may appear strange that false confessions

    tioned , that in the presidency of Madras alone in the course of two years , 1 , 696 persons retracted before the Sessions Court what they had previously avowed , sind of this number 890 were set at liberty . And it has of late years been wisely ruled by the supreme criminal court , that an uncorroborated confession before a police officer shall be held as worthless . Sir Erskine Perky , in his Bird ' s Eye View of India , gives an amusing instance of the value of such confessions . A native having disappeared , suspicions were rife that he had met

    with foul play . - The police , jealous of their reputation , and dreading dismissal , instituted the most careful inquiries , but all la yain . They therefore induced two men to avow themselves the murderers of the missing individual and even to indicate the spot where they had laid his body . The ground being turned up , a quantity of bones were found , and produced in court . But the police had not reckoned on the caution and sagacity of Europeans . The

    bones were examined by a medical gentleman , who at once declared that they belonged to several different persons . At this moment the murdered man himself entered the court . An accident had detained him for nearly six months from his native village , and on his return tlie first tiling he heard was , that the judge was examining the bones of his corpse . It wjls altogether a curious scene , and singularly illustrative of the state of society among the lower class of natives .

    Such is a brief view of the police of India . At present they are worse than useless , nor is it likely that they will be materially improved until the number of magistrates be increased , and the best men chosen for the judicial rather than for the revenue department .

    of heinous offences should be obtainable by any other means than ill-treatment , or intense apprehension ; but there are many instances of persons being induced to confess , through promise of a reward , or through assurances that no evil will befall them . A case of this ldnd was published in . the Calcutta Review not many years ago . The superintendent of police having reported to the magistrate that a murder Lad taken place , but that he was unable to find any clue to the murderers , he was told that unless he discovered the guilty person within ten daj ^ s , he would be dismissed the service . Having honestly exerted himself to no purpose , he lost his appointment , which was promised to a subordinate officer in the magistrate ' s court if he succeeded in bringing about a conviction . This fellow coolly offered a reward of £ 10 to any one who would coafess the crime . Two candidates came forward , and the reward was divided between them . A story was then , artfully concocted , and the confessions being taken down in due form , were repeated by the supposed delinquents before the magistrate . They were accordingly committed for trial . But before the sessions court they took fright , and retracted their former statements . The witnesses , however , whom they cited to prove their innocence , had been gained over by the applicant for office , and they were actually convicted and sentenced to death . Fortunately it was discovered in time that they had chanced to be confined in . the civil gaol on the day when the murder was perpetrated . Had it not been for this singular alibi , they would certainly have been hanged . At one period a particular district was terribly infested with robbers , who first rendered

    THE POLICE IN INDIA . That the application of torture on the part of tax-gatherexs in India is a practice of frequent occurrence , no man can reasonably doubt who has cast the most cursory glance at the Commissioners' Report . Unfortunately , it is not confined to the fiscal department of government . It is employed in the detection of crime , and in the extortion of false confessions . A gentleman who has lived for many years in the interior of the country stigmatises the police as " little better than a delusion . It is a terror to

    welldisposed and peaceable people , none whatever to thieves and rogues . " By another it is condemned wi-th still greater severity . " The police establishment , "says Mr . Saalfei / t , " has become the bane and- pest of society , the terror of the community , and the origin of half the misery and discontent that exist among the subjects of Government . Corruption and bribery reign paramount throughout the whole establishment ; violence , torture , and cruelty are their chief instruments for detecting crime , implicating innocence , or extorting money . Robberies are daily and nightly committed , and not unfrequenily with * their

    connivance ; certain suspicious characters are taken up and conveyed to some secluded spot far out of the reach of witnesses ; every species of cruelty is exercised upon them if guilty the crime is invariably confessed , an-d stolen property discovered ; but a tempting bribe soon releases them from custody . Should they persist in avowing their innocence , relie f from suffering is promised b y criminating some wealthy individual , and in tne agony of despair he is pointed to as the receiver of stolen goods . In his turn he is compelled to part with his hard-earned coin to avert the impending danger . " ^

    The " coercion" employed by the police is no mere trifling discomfort . Does a man hesitate to criminate himself , he is lifted up by the moustache , which is sometimes torn off in the process . Does he scruple to utter a false accusation against his neighbour , his arms are tied behind his back , and the rope passed over the bough of a tree ; and , while he thus hangs suspended between heaven and earth , he is ruthlessly whipped with tamarind twigs till the blood flows in profusion . I > oes he cling to his vile pelf , and refuse to tender a bribe to hitormentors

    s tormentors , he is seared with W , irnna ™ jus , he is seared with hofc irons , or a rope is wound tightly round a leg or an ar m till the circulation is completely stopped , or the burrowing beetle is attached to ^ his navel and other sensitive parts . Nor aro ° * theso the only modes of torture known to the guardians of life and property in India . Sometimes the wretched victim is buried up to the chin in mud , or fastened to the end of a long pole , and repeatedly dipped into a well . At other times

    he is deprived of sleep , or red cnillios arc rubbed into his eyes . Occasionally the most delicate parts of his porson are squeezed between two pieces of wood or a split bamboo . And not unfroqnently , the flesh is nipt with pincers , or burnt with a lighted choroofc . In flome places a man is compelled to " support another , exposed to the heat of tho sun , in the position of horso and rider , for a few hours , whentlio ndor dismounts and is ridden by tho n Jw . Iu ° J * len K of time . " And in others , * he sufferer ia placed betwoon two trees ,

    their victims insensible , and then proceeded to plunder them . Their mode of proceeding may be thus illustrated : —A party of poor wanderers , seated one day by the side of a well , beneath the grateful shade of a peepul-tree , were about to enjoy their frugal meal of parched grain , when some more wealthy travellers , who were reposing beneath the same tree , kindly offered them some prepared oatmeal . This welcome addition to their humble repast was accepted with a profusion of thanks , but no sooner had they devoured the meal than they were seized with stupor . On recovering their senses they discovered that they had been robbed of their silver bangles , armlets , and other property . Of course they lost no time in acquainting the magistrate with their loss , who immediately charged the head of the police to bring the offenders before him within a given time , on pain of dismissal . This officer accordingly sends one of his subordinates to the house of a

    notorious receiver of stolon goods , who presents a few pounds to the police , and , giving up some broken bits of silver , declares that he bought thorn of such a woman . Tho accused naturally denies all knowledge of the robbery , "but , on having a bag of dried and decayed chillies thrust over her head , names two of her neighbours as accomplices . These at first prove

    equally intraotablo , but boing exposed for hours to a vertical sun , while standing in putrid ordure up to their knees , and then treated to the ohilly bag , they , too , confess their guilt , and are committed for trial . In this case , also , tho truth transpired by an accident , and the innocent esca ped tho punishmont due only to the guilty . In . proof of tho littlo regard to be paid to oonfegsions boforo the police , it may bo men-

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    a ¦ 350 THE LEADEE . No . 316 , Saturday ,

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    Mb . Bazalgette ' s Drainage Plan . —A report from Mr . Bazalgette ia 3 been read before tlie Metropolitan Board of Works , with reference to the drainage of the Surrey side of London . The estimate of expenses is £ 830 , 000 , and the sewers are to be constructed on the assumption of a much more dense population than at present exists . There is to be a , high level sewer and a low level sewer . The former is to be constructed for diverting the sewage and rainfall of a district containing nearly fifteen square miles : it is to commence at Claphatn , and to be connected with Brixton , Camberwell , Peckbam , and New Cross , by a branch from Dulwich . Into Deptfoi'd Creek , the high level sewer will discharge its storm-waters during heavy rains ; and here it will be joined by the low level sewer , which will commence at Putney , intercept all the main sewers near the river , and proceed to Deptford ( a distance of nine miles and a half ) , where being about twenty feet below the high level sewer , its contents Avill be pumped into the latter . Tho united stream will then cross Plumstead Marshes to

    a point opposite Barking Creek . At Plumsteacl , a large covered reservoir will be made , capable of containing four million < nibio feet , together with powerful engines to pump up the sewage : altogether , this will occupy / bout fifteen acres . Tho sewage will finally bo d ^ oharged into the river within from two to four horn ' s of high water . Lord Clarendon . —We believe ( saya the Momiwj Post ) that Lord Clarendon will roturuto England about the « nd of next week , as by that tlmo it is proliublo that the affairs which require bis presence at tho Congress will have boon despatched . Although the principal Plenipotentiaries may quit Paris , it in oxpuotoil that the Congress will sit for some time to ooino , ouch Poworboing represented by its second Plenipotentiary , who , in most cases , is its resident Minister .

    Whittington Cum . —Tho members of tliis institution celebrated their eighth anniversary at Iho Freemasons' Hall on Thursday lust . Tho ooiujmny fully attostod tho interest attached to tho buocomh of tho Club . The auaoxmoomont that tho next anniversary would be hold under their own roof gave general satisfaction . Smuious Illness op Mr . Buoic , M . P . —Thin pfontloman , about ton days ago , had a piirnlylio Hfcroko at

    tho platform of tho Exeter Itaihvay station . 11 <>| » . wo entertained of his rooovory , but ; it in thought Unit , ho will not return to public lifo . In that oivmo , tlioro will bo a vuoancy in tho roproHonlution of . North Dovou . Mr . Buck is in hi « sovonty-flftli your . IPumaLA . —Tho Persians havo taken poii . so- 'tiion "' ' ^ Island of Kuril to , in tho Persian Cuff . Tho Miniitoi at War of tho Shah is dead . Tho Khan of Utuubohiui has boon arrontod .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 350, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2136/page/14/