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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 14th August 1869, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, No. 119.] , . * EONDON, AUGUST 14, 1869....

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    • THE CURSE OF SCOTLAND YARD.
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      The Tomahawk. A Saturday Journal Of Sati...

      THE TOMAHAWK . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . " ... . - fy | L | CMtet ) tip frxtfyuT S'lSecfcett * " INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 119.] , . * Eondon, August 14, 1869....

      No . 119 . ] , . * EONDON , AUGUST 14 , 1869 . [ Price Twopence .

      The Curse Of Scotland Yard.

      THE CURSE OF SCOTLAND YARD .

      If Anything Were Wanted T6 Bring The, St...

      If anything were wanted t 6 bring the , state of popular feeling to a crisis on the subject of the Police , " Mr . Bruce has supplied it in his answer to Mr . Eykyn , on Tuesday night . Mr . Bruce has distinguished himself during his short tenure of office as Home Secretary by something greater than incapacity : he has exhibited a callous ignorance of his duties ,. a inischievpus perversion of trust , and a misapprehension of truth , of which any old Whig or Tory official , in the most corrupt and degraded era of Parliamentary government , might have been proud . Let us examine his speech of Tuesday last , in order to justify our laudation of the right honourable gentleman . We quote the official reply in its entirety : — as " there Mr . existed Secretary no Bruce correspondence was unable whatever to accede upon to the the motion subject , inasmuch . The hon House . member any case was in perfectl which he ght thou irt ^ ght bring the ing police under had the been notice guilty of the of but improper was simp cond ly uct there . He to listen ( Mr . Bruce to statements ) was not there regarding to defend them the , and police see , was that j to ustice undertake ^ as done the . " prosecution What in this of case certain he was policemen asked to , do whose , however guilt , hon after . friend the most had oareful nimself examination looked at the he very much in doubted connection ( hear with ) . His the sioner case and of had the read police the ; and result having of the done inquiries papers so he made candidly by the asked chief commis his hon - . himself very friend clear whether carefull as was he gener looked believed ally into tried the case to be against t made terand out these he . policemen hesitated He ( Mr . Bruce not to to be ) had so tations that very thrown grave upon y doubts these -exis men ted in . his And mind yet , , as having to the that truth doubt of the upon impii , say his - mind The whole , he was of the asked case to institute open a to prosecution very grave for susp perjury icion . against Some yoving them . were of men the on cabs Haymar their way ket the home in search stand to Piml of at Trafal ico cab found , although it necessary it was . One proved to go of to that the the there most top trusted and upon truthful inspectors in the force gar Square stated that passing by the the the Haymarket young crowd men increased he sa in w question a he considerable turned . He back passed disturbance and found on his , the altho way police u , h in he findin conflict did not g with that see S the ince yo the ung case men had , who been had tried their before umbrellas the police raised magistrate over their a good heads deal . he of additional declined evidence to take the had co be urse en obtained suggested , and by under the hon the . circumsta member nces for "Windsor . The remedy which the young men had was a simple and an against easy one . police They , were but not had called merely on to to prefer throu an gh , indictment the simple for and perjury inexbe pensive next to process nothing of , summoning and if the yo the ung ponce men for wer assaul e succ t . essful The it cost would would fall upon the police . Under these circumstances he declined to interfere . " Now we venture to assert that for cool insolence and utter disregard both of truth and justice this reply cannot be matched . Mr . Bruce begins by a paltry equivocation . He continues with

      a delicious piece of impudence . He ( Mr . Bruce ) very much doubts the guilt of the Police—that is to say , he sets himself above the decision of the magistrate who tried the case , above the almost unanimous conclusion of every person who read or heard the case , that the young men were perfectly innocent . He sets himself above all law , truth , and justice , and because he " doubts the guilt of the policemen " on ex-parte statements , the truth of which had never been examined into , he declines to produce the papers which caused his doubts , or to take any step to prove the innocence of those whose guilt he doubted . Mr . Bruce next insolently demands of Mr . Eykyn , to whom he had shown these very " papers , if they did not operate as much in favour of the Police on his mind as they had on that of Mr . Bruce . As if Mr . ^ E ykyn would have brought forward his motion in the terms he did had they done so , ' Tlien this great official goes on to imply that it is a very suspicious circumstance to walk a few yards in search of a cab , instead of selecting one from the nearest stand . Now comes a wonderful piece of evidence confirmatory of Mr . Bruce ' s views . "A most trusted and truthful inspector of police passing by , saw a considerable disturbance , but did not see the young men in question . " This paragon of policemen turned back and found the police in conflict with the young men , who had their umbrellas raised over their heads ! I I This is truly satisfactory . If the young men were the attacking , and not the defending , party , why did not this spotless inspector come to the help of his subordinates ? Why was not he called at the inquiry before Mr . Knox ? If his evidence was so important as to be able to convince the colossal intellect of Mr . Bruce , surely it might have had some effect on the ordinary intelligence of Mr . Knox . " A good deal of additional evidence has been obtained since the inquiry before the magistrate . " Why not give it ? This is the reason which Mr . Bruce gives later in the evening : " He could not publish these papers without gross injustice to these young men . " Now , is it possible to conceive any conduct more utterly base and dishonest on the part of a Minister of the House than to declare , in his official capacity , that he is in possession of evidence which is sufficient to reverse the decision of a magistrate of great acumen and experience , given after a long and careful inquiry , —a decision which acquitted of a most grave charge three young men of respectable position , whose bread depended on their characters , —and to refuse to produce this evidence on the implied grounds that it would irretrievably damage the characters of those young men ? We declare , without the slightest scruple , . that Mr . Bruce deserves to be severely punished for the basest form of libel j and that ,

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), Aug. 14, 1869, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_14081869/page/3/