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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd January 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 6, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      Count Vilain XIV ., conferred a similar honour upon tliat tody . The . committee was oomposed of representatives from the provinces of Verviers , of Ghent , of Liege , . and of Charleroi . They sought to impress upon the ministerial mind the fact that discontent was spreading amongst the working classes in oonsequence of the incessant agitation cff a body of Badicals -who were hostile to the principles of their whole commercial regime , and in whose proceedings the truth was too often concealed . After stating various arguments in favour of their views , they left , with the conviction , according to one of their organs , that the ministry , collectively , had < not up to the present time adopted any decided resolution as to the reform of the Customs tariff— that all was still a matter for consideration and inquiry—that they would pursue their inquiries with redoubled care , and that the legitimate claims of industry would he admitted and attended to with the utmost solicitude . Both sides are agitating with great vigour ; but the Free-traders are said to have the advantage in the chief towns .

      ITALYA aoldler has heea arrested at Naples near the great magazine of powder , under circumstances which lead to the supposition that he intended to fire it . Had he succeeded , the explosion would probably have been far more awful tfian . that which occurred two days previously . The Grand Vake of Tuscany has lately published a decree completing the organization of the Technical

      Institute , founded At Florence about three years ago , for the study of sciences applicable to the arts , manufactures , and pubHc works } also another , having for object to favour the-sending of the agricultural productions of the grand duchy to the Universal Cattle Show in Paris , in May , 1857 . Aln « xhibition will take place a little before at the grand ducal palace of Cascine , near Florence , « nd a . commission will b * appointed to select such of the productions as seem likely to do most credit to the grand duchy Ht the Paris exhibition .

      The illustrious family of the Foscans is just extinct . Two old ladies of the name resided until recently in a ssull room in tbfe family palaoe ; and , not long ago , the last nude descendant of the house died as an inferior member of a travelling dramatic company . The Papal Government has granted a concession to construct a railroad from Rome to Bologna , by way of Ancona . The hoase of Casavaldes and Co . is at the head of the company , and the Dake of Bianzares is one of the administrative'council .

      .- . . BUSSIA . The Word , of Brussels , announces that the differences with Russia have been arranged by a compromise to Which , all the contracting parties in the Treaty of Paris Bave assented . Bolgrad is to be ceded to Moldavia ; Serpents Island and the delta of the Danube are to belong to Turkey ; and Russia is to receive , as an official compensation for the surrender of Bolgrad , a territory of one hundred and fbrty square miles , which will advance her frontier from the first to the second Yalpuck , and ¦ which -will easily permit her to establish there the centre of hex Bulgarian Government .

      TURKEY . Ferukh-Khan was to leave Constantinople on the 20 th ult . for Paris . His negotiations with Lord Stratford de Redcliffe relative to the Persian disputes have failed . Redschid Pacha is said to recommend Turkey to yield to England . According to the Nord , of Brussels , the French Government , on the arrival of JFerukh-Khan , the Persian Ambassador , in Paris , will intercede between . Great Britain and Persia , and undertake the arrangement of their differences . The Government has contracted a loan for 35 , 000 , 000 piastres .

      Untitled Article

      THE NORFOLK RABBIT CASE . Two more men ( as ire briefly mentioned last week ) have been charged at the Holt Potty Sessions , Norfolk , with taking rabbits on the common . The valorous and nrecating Lord Hastings was in the chair , and the othtjr magistrates wsre Mr . W . H . Pomberton and Mr . W . IT . Cozens Hardy . Mr . MacEnteer appeared for one of the pmonw ^ and ^ x . J . H . Tillett , of Norwich , for the otnor . Before . entering Into the case , Mr . MacEnteer requested Lord Hastings to leave the beach , as he ( Mr . M » cEttteor ) had an application to make personal to his ¦ Lrftttotup . In th « midst of much interruption from the " 2 ^ 2 " * . ° * * M « « hairmar , , the learned gentlsman ptowwdodto that

      «* y he was about to require that Lord SUS * !/**;!? . enter tat 0 Borot *« s to keep the peace towards Mr . TiUett , -who is the editor of the Norjblk JViuw , the . ympn which severely handled Lord Hastings m connexion witn th « former rabbit ease . His Lordfllup , with much warmth , declared that ho would not iSFVJH ^ ' r Whnt ls lt y ° ™ " «« ked . Mr . Meteor replied that tho nature of his application was ttiis : — " I SnaU tender tostiinony that your Lordship has inado use of violent threats , which you sent SrrWl * Pf'T ^^ ° ' ° Y ** *™ trocted to carry them to Mr . Tillott ; and that aftorwarda , in tho house of Mr . YiHett , which you entered in a most uZSKL " *«« "n tog manner , you made use of f ™ i ^ Fh ^ r ?* " ? ™ nd abuai ™ nam « 9 , accompanied by foul *» Uw ~ - [ Xord Hwtingo : ' Yefl . ' 1-land tureatoftoa

      to blow hi 3 brains out . " His Lordship met these statements by a great many fragmentary exclamations , and by a good deal of laug hter , which would seem to have been forced . On Mr . MacEnteer saying that Lord Hastings liad done -everything he could to provoke Mr . Tillett to % ht , the noble judge in his own case ejaculated , "Fight ! 'Why , he ' s got no fight in him ! " He added thaf Mr . Tillett had threatened to hand him over to the police ; and , ia that case , of course he could not call Sir . Tillett out . They " managed those things in Ireland much easier . " He had demanded aii explanation of Mr . Tillett , and Mr . Tillett had said , in a domineering way , that he would give none . After this relation of things heard and seen , his Lordship had the benignity to say that he was " not going to make any threat to Mr . Tillett-in any way whatever . " He added that " no scurrilous paper should prevent him from doing

      his duty . " Mr . MacEnteer submitted that blowing out Mr . Tillett ' s brains -was not an ac 4 of magisterial duty . At this , there was much laughter in the body of the court . Lord Hastings deuied tbat he had made any such threat . Mr . MacEnteer said that , in the case of a gentleman who has not got his temper under control , the party threatened is fully justified in making an application that he should be put under restraint . " My temper is not carried away , " retorted the noble chairman . "I hope , my Lord , " said Mr . MacEnteer , " it is not an every-day exhibition of your temper to send to a person a deliberate threat of violence , and then to follow it up by a forcible entrance into the house , there to repeat the threat" His Lordship here gave some further particulars of his visit to Mr . Tillett , and said that that gentleman " threw out his long arms like a great orang-outang . "

      Finally , as Lord Hastings would hot give any promise to quit the bench i Mr . MacEnteer said that an application would be made to the Court of Queen ' s Bench , and that his Lordship -would be indicted at the coming Assizes of the county . The noble chairman , whose manner evinced considerable uneasiness , remained on the bench a short time after this , and then left . The magistrates convicted the two men , and fined them Is . each , with costs , or fourteen days' imprisonment . „

      Untitled Article

      THE TICKET-OF-LEA . VE SY « STEM , A remA-bkable letter , signed " A . Ticket-6 f-Leave Holder , " appears in the Times of Tuesday . The writer comments on the great social question of the day , illustrating his opinions by his own personal experiences . He says he conceives great good is derived from the Model Prison ; but , as soon as criminals are sent to the public works , such as those at Gibraltar , they are quickly debauched by indiscriminately mixing with the hardened and unteaohable . "What is wanted , " says the writer , " is a well-defined system of classification , " which would separate the good fr-om the bad . He confirms what has been often related of the canting hypocrisy of many convicts , who thus contrive to impose on the chaplains ; and he says that he has known many take the sacrament in the hope of getting " good drink

      of the wine ! " With respect to tickets of leave , he says : " The present indiscriminate mode of granting licenses to all well-conducted convicts , after they have served a certain period of their sentence , I consider highly objectionable . It is palpably absurd to enlarge the townbred thief and hardened criminal , and send him to his former locality . H-e never did , a . nd he never will , work in this country , and indeed , if desirous , could not get employment . " The writer proposes that public works should be opened in this country for the benefit of the penal servitude men ; he asks what could be "better than the reclamation of waste land ( a suggestion already mado in these columns ); but he again says that he thinks it advisable to return to the old system of transportation . Some further statements which lie makes

      must be given entire : — " I have seen various statements as to the percentage of tickct-of-leave holders who relapse into crimo- my conviction is tbat fifty per cent , of the men so liberated find means , by plunder or otherwise , to emigrate ; that ten per cent , gnin a livelihood in this country by honest industry ; and the remaining forty per cent , subsist by crime and rapine . In conclusion , to prove the impossibility of a . ticket-of-leavo holder obtaining a situation in this country , where a character is required , I may Btato my owtv case . I was sentenced to ten years' transportation for uttering a forged bill of exchange , being then a respectable shopkeeper ; some time after my conviction my prosecutor satisfied himself that

      I had not intended to defraud him ; petition after petition was sent to the Secretary of State in my behalf , but without avail , and In duo course I was released with a license . When I returned , my prosecutor mado mo a pecuninry present , wished me to refer to him as to character , and oflfiored to become security for ray honesty . I made © very effort to obtain a . situation , but without success , and I might have had to ask charity or starve had I not borrowed & small sum to trado with on my own account . Thus , with advantages superior to moat of my follows , I am without hope of obtaining a situation , and -with far too littlo capital to do any good with on my own account . How aad is my position , and how gloomy my prospects I "

      Mr . M . D . Hill , Q . C ., the Recorder of Birmingham , in his delivering his charge to the jury at the opening of the Birmingham Quarter Sessions , again alluded to the subject of the best mode of managing our convicts . He urged the propriety of setting them to work on matters of utility at home , and suggested that they mi ght be employed in making harbours of refuge on the coasts , the paucity of which led to some thousand shipwrecks last year , involving the loss of many lives . Several of our convicts ore now employed in making such a haven at the isle of--Portland ; and he thought we should employ more at similar-works in other localities . "And , as I am now on a question of pecuniary advantage , let me not forget to assure you tbat whoever favours

      transportation lby reason of its alleged economy Las fallen into a grie-vous delusion . Let two items of expenditure on this head be laid before you . 1 find them in the Appendix to a Report of a Committee on Transportation appointed during the last session by the House of Lotos . It appears that althougii transportation to Tasmania , or Van Dieinen ' s Land , as it was formerly called , has ceased for years , yet 40 00 convicts still remain , at an annual cost of 142 , 236 ? ., -which is 35 L per man . In Western . Australia , soon to be closed against us , we have 2000 convicts , at an annual cost of 82 , 000 ? ., or 41 / . per man . But , -waiving all objections to the revival of transportation , pray , gentlemen , let it be remembered that to plant a colon ;/ is to plant a tree ; and that years of growth will be required before it arrives at maturity . What it will then bear remains to be seen—whether

      sound fruit or the apples of bouom filled with dust and ashes . At the best , we are contemplating a somewhat distant future , instead of endeavouring to meet an existing evil with a prompt remedy . Let us look round us for a moment , and we shall find that , with a few exceptions too unimportant to be mentioned , ours is . the only country in the world which resorts to transportation for the disposal of its criminals ; and yet all who have "travelled know many countries in Europe , and many States of the Great Republic of oSTorth America , where life' and'property are secure from robbers and murderers . " Mr . Hill concluded by proposing that , as the law alieady ' provides , the ticket of leave should be immediately revoked on the holder returning to his former companions , or on its appearing ' -that , he haa no honest means of livelihood .

      Untitled Article

      OLD BAILEY EXECUTIONS . Under , this head Mr . George Augustus Sala , who has recently been making for himself a name in connexion with " Household Words , " writes a letter to the Times on the subject of capital punishment . He commences by saying : — "A correspondent of the Times , who belies "himself under the unsavoury signature of A . London Scoundrel ' ( for , unless I am very much misled by internal evidence , an lionester and pleasanter gentleman does not exist in London *) , addressed to you the day following

      the execution of Marley a letter to which you—I am sure he did not—attached the prefix : of ' A Plea for the Gallows . ' The writer of this plea appeared to be divided between a fervid admiration for the gallows as a national institution , such as beef , beer , wife-beating , and the Derby-day , and a spasmodic terror of those burglariously inclined / or-fate litres who , aware of tlie vast piles of moidores , pillar dollaTS , ducats , imperials , and gold mohurs stored in the upper chambers of the ' London Scoundrel ' s' house , have long since regarded his mansion as one of the best ' cracks' in London , nnd havo attempted from time to time to ? crack' it accordingly .

      " I have waited for some time , in hopes that some one whoso voice would carry some authority with it would' notice tho singular epistlo I have alluded to in your columns . With the exception , however , of somo gentleman signing himself—and , I think , this time with more truth—' Cashbos , ' or ' Cashier , ' and who was even more timorous about ticket-of-lcave men , and moro jubilant ahout tho gibbet than the ' London Scoundrel ' himself , tlie ' Scoundrel' hus Had it all his own way , and has walked over the course , or , to use moro appropriate and Nowgato language , traversed the-cart .

      "I havo no wish now to dissect , tho letter of the ' London Scoundrel . ' Tho cruel indecency to which a Christian man can abandon himself when ho speaks of an awful expiation as though it wera a capital joke —• when ho describes the drop , tho beam , the upright , and the miserable thing in tho white cap dangling by tho rope as * the hangman's working diagram '—when he talks of the horrible gallows ' roaring its honest head 'this indoconcy must be patent and palpable-to all , and to himself . ' *

      Mr . Sala ' s object in writing-is to proposo that ire should execute our criminals in some large open spaco in the neighbourhood of [ London ; that they should bo tnkcu thoTe in a closi * carriage , ' without any procession , ami tliat the whole- thing should bo done swiftly , nnd as secretly as possible . iA > r this suggestion ho gives those reasons : — " No newspaper report of ft LonJon execution ever appears without a horror-struck description of thorn-* Tho writer in question ia supposed to bo Mr . Albert Smith .

      Untitled Article

      6 THE XrEAPEB . : [ Nq , _ 364 Lgjjrugg ^ :

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1857, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2174/page/6/