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AMATEUR LA17 AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMA1J ^" ^ w f™ ouiNOiii.juamj^d.
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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.
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Untitled Article
ilxorOugEFares ' across the water , deman 3 a long circuit . Should the project be carried out of con--structinga thoroughfare strai g ht from Piccadilly tliKJUgoXiincoln ' s Inn-fields to Newgate-street , this portion of the crowding would be much mitigated . * Che widening of Ifleet-street and of Temple-bar ¦ would assist in . the same object . Another suggestion , urged : with great ability by practical men—the opening of a * bridge at Gharing-cross—lias been set aside , otherwise much of the traffic which now goes through the City might have been carried to the south bank of the Thames . As it is , the traffic has Increased more rapidly than the opening of ways , and thus the growth of the crowding ^ is greater than the amount of relief . The scene in . Cheapside grows annually -worse .
winch raises rents to its own injury , aiid" engenders disease to its own destruction ; a great proportion of the working classes no doubt seeking residences in the suburbs , or beyond , where a pretty trade would soon arise in building up the industrial villages . The actual sum needed to make up the railway capital is not more than 300 , 000 / . ; and it docs seem scarcely possible that the magnates of the City , with Lord John Russell upon their side aud many railway directors in the . alliance , can let the matter drop for a sum which is really so small . "We fully expect , therefore , that the committee which was appointed at the meeting will terminate the business by raising the necessary funds . ,
Tar more searching schemes have been prosounded . It is long since Sir Frederick Trench , before him Sir John Martin , and even yet earlier the artist Mr . Allom , proposed the embankment of the Thames with a carriage way or a railway from ihe western part of Westminster to London Bridge , or evem to the docks . This would afford immense relief ; but it would still render the carriage journey through London the slowest part of the route for any traveller who passes through the metropolis from one railway to another . At present it takes scarcely more time to come from Brighton to
London than from the Brighton station to one of the London suburbs . In the most recent days , thereFore , plans have been developed for connecting all the railways which have their termini in the metropolis , either by cross lines through the heart of * 'the wen , " or bj . a belt round about the great district of houses , or .-by both combined . Mr . Yeattnan has laid a scheme before the public for connecting the southern and western termini by means of a leading line \ sith a railway bridge across the Thames and a central terminus in Lincoln ' s Inn-nelds . Another scheme , of which we have not heard for
some time , proceeded in an opposite direction , and contemplated a railway from Hyde Park through the City underground . The favourite plan is that brought forward by Mr . Charles' Pearson , and adopted at a public meet-Ing this week . If we rightly understand the statements which have been put forward from time to lime , tJie railway terminus would be somewhere contiguous to Eaningdbn-street , the leading branch 'would , come under New Farringdon-street , and by dint of the Metropolitan Railway it would connect . all the northern termini , the latest description of
the affair including even , the termini to the south of the Thames , which would , of course , necessitate , ¦ as in Mr . Yeaf man ' s plan , a railway bridge across the river . All these schemes appear to us to be to a certain extent imperfect , inasmuch as they either contemplate a single line of railway through the petropolis , or the simple joining of the great diverging lines ; whereas the belt , which ought to bring the several parts of the metropolis together , should ho drawn closer around what may be called the metropolitan cab district , with trunk lines crossing in both directions . Mr . Charles Pearson ' s scheme , however , has the advantage of being s up * ported by the City of London , by Lord John
Kusseil and a number of influential gentlemen , by the South-Eastern Railway Company , probably the Eastern Counties Company , and most certainly the Metropolitan Railway Company ; the last having a subscribed capital of 450 , 000 / . available for the scheme , which would require about twice as much . The object of Mr . Pearson ' s plan is principally to afford the means of transit for all classep ia the through traffic of the metropolis , with the , same facility for the conveyance of goods ; to provide means by which the working classes could live out of town , and be brought daily to their work . The advantages would be manifold . In the first place , a great part of the omnibus traffic , which so conspicuously obstructs the streets , would
toe superseded , though some omnibusea and innumerable cabs would be necessary for short journeys , frranoli journeys , and tri ps in various directions not exactly coincident with the railway line . It is most likely , therefore , that while the plan would relieve a very cumbersome portion of the street traffic , it would enlarge the more distributed , traffic of the streets . Again , it is most likely that under suoh < 5 iroumatance 6 a very large proportion of thq heavy goods traffic would cease to be conveyed by waggon , through , the streets . Here , again , suoh conveyance would be limited to short journeys , and vrh * t may be called branch' journeys . A third effect would be to relieve crowded and unhealthy neighbourhoods from tho population
Amateur La17 And Constitutional Ama1j ^" ^ W F™ Ouinoiii.Juamj^D.
fully commit a prisoner to Newcate to <* l-o f trial . The phrase sounds full and ° authuritath aud he is rather loud of hearing himself pronoun * fc Mr . ltespectable Commonplace ' s solicitor luaks his case a rather delicate one , and advises- him tn sav very little , for fear of exposing his fcS S defence to the prosecutor . The AlderWn-atnatear magistrate sees nothing in the . prisoner ' s facc " W dahlias , bad debts , gout , and viUany of all kinds and he stoutly refuses to accept bail , " fullvcom nuts him to JSewgatv : to take his trial . M * r fie "
spectacle Commonplace again consults his solicitor ' and that gentleman thinks it would not be prudent to ^ make an application for admission to bail bv affidavit before a judg-p , because the law allows the prosecutor to prefer lrcsh indictments without previous notice , even upon the morning of trial sucli indictments being often guided hy the informa tion gleaned from the bail affidavits or examination UclVnee . Air . Respectable Commonplace takes his seat in . the prison van , and in half an hour he is a prisoner iii Newgate .
AMATEUR LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL JUDGES . A country that expends three millions ^ and upwards every year upon - Justice * ought certainly to obtain a first-rate article for its money . The British taxpayers , who see that sum on the right-hand side of the national balaucc-shect , ought not to . hear in one week of the un-Sotomon-like outburst of ah Alderman Salomons , or in the next of trials at the Old Bailey taking place in a coal-cellar or a kitchen . The first ' is . unconstitutional , the second is undignified . Strip Justice of its venerable aspect , its
solemn trappings , and its Brahma-like composure , aud it loses all its moral force . What becomes of that shadowy crime—contempt of court—when the court is an undergaoler ' s wash-house , with a copper , a water-butt , a shivering judge , and a dust-bin ? Equitable decisions can only spring from calm deliberation , and calm deliberation can only be expected in a magistrate whose mind has been properly trained for his duties , and whose body reels the beneficial influence of comfort aud fresh
air . Little sympathy need be thrown away in these days upon professional thieves ; but every man who has the misfortune to oe taken into custody is not of necessity a mcinber of the dangerous classes , and what is luxury-and sentimental humanity to them , is hardship and cruel injustice to him . It is in the process of criminal sifting , the sessional delays , the preliminary investigations , the prison regulations , and above all , in the option given to an ignorant , amateur magistracy of granting or refusing the favour of bail , that the much-vaunted liberty of the subject is most seriously tampered with . We will pass by the country and the squirejudges , aud devote our attention to what goes on every day in our own City of London , under our
own eyos . Mr . Respectable Commonplace has been a punctual tax-payer , and a spotless member of society for many years , when a combination of circumstances place him suddenly in the position of a suspected thief . He is taken into custody in the course of the afternoon , and is confined for the night , with thieves and drunken pot-wallopers , in the commonest of all common station-houses .
He has heard that the law considers him innocent until proved guilty by a jury of his countrymen , and he wonders why ho is not allowed to sec his family . His lawyer claims ; the right of passing to and fro , but wives and children are not suoh privileged individuals . His arrest having been effected in the Uity , he is taken in the morning before Alderman Morecommonplace , the sitting amateur magistrate . The Alderman is never in a very proper judicial statp of mind , and this morning ho has come to town in a highly conibustiblo temper . The choicest of all choice dahlias with which ho Jiad determined to gain the prize at tlic next horticultural fete lias been destroyed duriusr the niffht in a battle of
unruly cats , to say nothing of glass , aud some minor botanical rarities . On going to his office at Bankside , where ho carries on the lucrative , but somewhat unsavoury trade of a guano importer , he finds a note from his chief clerk , excusing his attendance on account of the gout , and a letter announcing an unexpected bad debt of many hundreds sterling . Flushed and exoitcd , cursing cats , clerks , and insolent debtors , he finds his way to the City magisterial bench some time about the middlo of the day , and the first case that comes before him is Mr . Respectable Commonplace ' s . The Alderman is nothing but a pompous official automaton , worked by the sole depositary of legal lore in the court , the humble , but learned Lord Mayor ' s clerk . This he feels , and resents ; and he is only sustained in his empty position by the knowledge that , without consultation and 'without responsibility , ho oun
Though innocent , at present , recording ' to the theory of the law , he finds himself herded \ vith the dangerous classes . He is still denied access to his family , exce p t at long intervals through iron bars , ilud he is only allowed writing materials once a day ' and that for a very short period , lie takes a short diurnal walk in the prison-yard with men who have been already convicted , and within hearing of the howling , murderer who will be hanged on the following . Monday . . His cell and promenade are enjoved
upon certain conditions : he must scrub anil wash the one , he must , take his turn in sweeping the other . Tlic privilege is allowed him ( upon payment ) - of having a moderate allowance of food-, other than the prison diet , sent to him from one authorised cook-shop in the Old-. Bailey . "When the sessions arrive lie is taken up and con lined with tlic cursing , howling , fighting , common gang of thieves and . burglars in the dismal wolls under tlic Court-house . If tlie Grand Jury throw out the bill- against him , and he is at last ' released , it is after he has
undergone one fortnight ot ' u . felon ' s life , and more-than , a felon ' s punishment . If the Grand Jury find a true bill against him , he has to wait , day after day , for his trial ; to pass his time with felons in the wells ; to be taken back to the prison at night , and to be-brought back to the Court-house in the morning . At last , when his case is called , he maybe hurried with judge and jury , counsel and solicitors , from garret to cellar , or from cellar to garret , in search of a corner wherein to try him . Public decency forbids their before
adjourning to the favoured cook-shop mentioned , or to flny of the numerous tap-rooms in which the neighbourhood abounds , ami they are obliged to put up with far inferior accommodation iu a back kitchen belonging to the Court-house . Crime is overflowing tlic regular Courts , and oozing out of the doors and windows , and they must sink all pride and formality , and do the best thoy can . A rude rostrum , a bench , and a bur arc constructed with tlic mouldv , substantial furniture , not hull so legally correct " in ' Appearance ; as the trappings or the Jinl . ro and Jurv Society held ut iheUcau
Nash public-house , in Sloggor ' s-lanc , AMutechapel . The day is drawing to a close , und tnc sessions end that night ; tho jury aro anxious to bo released , as there is only room for livo ol them to sit upon the dresser ; the counsel have hud tlieu fees , and they do not sec much capital to ho waue by the notoriety of the case ; tho solicitors mki others interested can scarcely squeeze in at " door with their papers , their hats , and their « m brcllasj the judge is cold and uncom ortublc , ana conscious of something undigiulicU iu ln * I } 06 ' 1 , * ' and as Mr . llosnoclaMo Commonplace did not era bozzlotho moneyafter all , ho is let oil ux ft I « "iy . with four years' penal acrvitudc . , These things arc not so rare as inany pojpW suppose . " Scarcely a day pnssos ( said All . >*»« dinglon in our hearing , and in tho pwaonoo ol . njj uncontiudictcd by , the Kight Hon . bponoor YW pole ) , that tl > o Iiomo-ofilco docs not hear ol sown
case of falso conviction . , . r 0-While this scene is being enacted , or be nffjuu pared for at tho Old Bailey , Mr . Aldermi Moic commonplace has recovered His torn per , im l nc ^ now most liberal iu accepting bail for mug ou » u scoundrola , who aro only too glad to espupo a i »» at a price so oxtroinoly moderate . , f m There is only ono conclusion to bo doiivt . aw this state of thing * . Tho City C ° i ? ™ fIoS ) City Prison ( notwithstanding tho recent a tu ftuowy should bo at onoo abolibhed ) au untrained umiiiw *
Untitled Article
IM 2 THE LEA'DEB , [ No ..-454 , December 4 , 1858 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 4, 1858, page 1322, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2271/page/18/
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