On this page
-
Text (2)
-
1^22 THE LEADER. [Ho. 454, December4, 18...
-
AMATEUR LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL JUDGES. A...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
London Crowds And London Railways. If An...
thoroughfares across the waiter , demand a " long circuit . . Should the project be carried .-put of constructing a thoroughfare straight from Piccadilly through 3 jiiicoln ' s liin-fields to Hevvgate-street , this nprtiou of the crowding would be much mitigated . zEbe widening of Fleet-street and of Templ & -bar would assist in the same object . Another suggestion , urged with great ability by practical men—the opening of a'briqfge at Charing-cross—has been set aside * otherwise much of the traffic "which now goes through the City might have been carried to the soulh bank of the Thames . As it is , the traffic has increased more rapidly than the opening of ways , $ nd thus the growtli of the crowding is greater tlian the amount of relief . The scene in Cheapside grows annually worse .
liar more searching schemes have been propounded . It is long since Sir Frederick Trench , before him Sir John Martin , and even yet earlier £ fce artist Sir . Allom , proposed the . embankment of the Thames with a carriage way or a railway from the western part of "Westminster to I * ondon Bridge , or even 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
liondou . than from the Brighton station to one of ihe Xioadpn suburbs . In the most recent dajvs , therefore , plans hare been developed for connecting all the railways which hare their termini in the metropolis , either by cross lines through the heart of ¦* ¦ ' the irea , " ox by a belt round about the great district of houses , or by both combined- Mr . Teatman has laid a scheme before the public for -connecting the southern and western termini by means of a leading line with a railway bridge across the Thames suxd a central terminus in Lincoln ' s Iun-fields . 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 Gity underground . The favourite plan is that brought forward by Mr . Charles-Pearson , and adopted at a public meeting this week . If we rightly understand the statements which have been put forward from time to time , tke railway terminus would be somewhere -contiguous to Farringdon-street , the leading branch woula come under New JTarringdon-street , and by << iint 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 . Yeatman ' 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 < jontemplate a sing le line of railway through the metropolis , or the simple joining of the great diverging lines j 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 iu both directions . Mr . Charles Pearson ' s
scheme , however , has the advantage of being supported by the Gity of London , by Lora John " Russell and a number of influential gentlemen , by the South-jEJastern Railway Company , probably the Eastern Counties Company , and most ¦ certainty 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 classes jn 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 oe manifold . In the first place , a great part of the omnibus traffic , which so conspicuously obstructs the streets , would tbe superseded , though some omnibuses and innumerable cabs would oe necessary for short journeys , branch 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 ot the street traluo , it would enlarge the more distributed traffic of the streets . Again , it , is moBt likely that under such ¦ circumstances a very large proportion of the heavy / goods traffic would cease to be conveyed by -waggon through the streets . Hero , again , euoli ¦ conveyance would be limited to short journeys , And what may be called branch journeys . A third effect would be to relieve crowded and unkejil % neighbourhoods from the population
which , raises , reuts to its own injury , and engenders disease to its own destruction ; a great proportion of the working classes no doubt seeking residences in tlie suburbs , or beyond , where a pretty trade would soon arise in building up the industrial villagcs-The actual sum needed to make up the railway capital is not more than 300 , 000 / , ; and it does seem scarcely possible that the magnates of the City , with Lord Johu 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 .
1^22 The Leader. [Ho. 454, December4, 18...
1 ^ 22 THE LEADER . [ Ho . 454 , December 4 , 1858 . — ¦ ¦ * ¦ ¦ " ¦ ¦ * * ' — ^ — ——_ _
Amateur Law And Constitutional Judges. A...
AMATEUR LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL JUDGES . A covnthy that expends three millions and upwards every year upon Justice , ought certainly to obtaiu a first-rate article for its money . The British taxpayers , who see that sum on the right-hand side o ( the national balauce-sheet , ought not to hear in one week of the un-Solomon-like outburst of an Alderman Salomons , or in the next of trials at tlic Old Bailey taking place in a coal-cellar or a kitchen . The first is unconstitutional , the second is uudignified . Strip Justice of its venerable aspect , its solemn trappings , and its Brahma-like composure , and it loses all its moral force . What becomes of that shadowy crime—contempt of court—when the court is an under-gaoler ' s wash-house , with a copper , - a water-butt , a shivering judge , aud a dust-l ) in ? 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 Jeels the beneficial influence of comfort aud fresh air . Little sympathy need be thrown a way . these days upon professional thieves ; but every man who has the misfortune to be taken into custody is not
of necessity a member 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 , aud 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 eyes . 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 aud 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 , aud he wonders why he is not allowed to sec his family . '—»¦ * « r- . ¦ • i * % i I f * to and f
His lawyer claims the rig ht of passing ro , but wives and children arc not such privileged individuals . His arrest having been effected in the City , he is taken in the morning before Alderman Morecommonplacc , the sitting amateur magistrate . The Alderman is never in a very proper judicial state of mind , and this morning Jie has come to town in a highly combustible temper . The choicest of all choice dahlias with which lie had determined to gain the prize at the next horticultural fete lias been destroyed during the night in a battle of un ^ ruly cats , to say nothing of glass , and some iniuor botanical rarities . On going to his office at Bunkside , whero he carries on the lucrative , but
sonicwhat unsavoury trad © of a guano importer , ho finds a note from his chief clerk , excusing his attendance on account of tho gout , and a letter announcing an unexpected bad debt of many hundreds sterling . Flushed and excited , cursing cats , dorks , and insolent debtors , ho finds his wov to tho City magisterial bench some time about the middle of the day , and tho first caso that comes boforo mm is Mr . Respectable Commonplace ' s . The Alderman la nothing but a pompous official automaton , worked by the sole depositary of legal lore in tho court , the humble , but learned Lord Mayor's clerk . Tins ho feels , and reseats \ and ho is only sustained iu his empty position by tho knowledge that , without consultation and without responsibility , he can
fully commit a prisoner to Newgate to ¦ takp KT . "trial . The . phrase soundsfull and % thorita t ve ^ he is rather fond of hearing himself pronounce it _ Mr . Respectable -Commonplace ' s- solicitor think * his case a rather delicate one , and advises him f ^ say very little , for fear of exposing his hue 3 defence to tke prosecutor . The Alderman-amateu r magistrate sees . nothing in Hie prisoner ' s face but dahlias , bad debts , . gouty - and v-Ulauy of all kinds and lie stoutly refuses to ac cept bail , aud nillv com ' nuts him . to Newgate to take his trial , tit Re "
spectacle Commonplace again consults his solicitor " aud that gentleman thinks it would not be prudent to make an application for admission to bail bv allidavifbeforu a judge , because the law allows the prosecutor to prefer fresh indictments without prcvious notice , even upon the ' morning of trial , such indictments being ; often guided by the infor mation gleaned from the bail affidavits or examination defence . Mr . Itcspectable Commonplace takes his seat in the--prison van , and in half an hour lie is a prisoner in Newgate .
Ihough innocent , at present , according to the theory of the law , he fiuds himself herded with the dangerous classes . He is still denied access to his family , except at long intervals through iron bars , aud he is only allowed writing materials ouccada v ^ and that for a very short period . He takes a short diurnal walk in I ho 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 enjoyed upon certain conditions : he must scrub and wash .
the one , he must take his turn in sweeping the other . The 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 . vVlieu tlie sessions arrive he is taken up and confined with tlie cursing , howling , fightingi common gang of thieves and burglars in the dismal wells under the Court-iiousc . If the Grand . Jury throw out tbe bill against him , and he is at last released , it is after lie has undergone one fortnig ht of a . ; fclou ' s life , and more than . a felon ' s punishment . If the Grand Jurv fiud 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 nig ht , and to be brought back to the Court-house in the morning . At last , when -his case is called , he may be hurried with judge and jury , counsel aud solicitors , from garret to cellar , or from cellar to garret , in search of & comer wherein to try him . Tublic decency forbids their adjourning to the favoured cook-shop before mentioned , or to any ot " the numerous tan-rooms in ami
which the neighbourhood abounds , uiey « uo obliged to nut up with far inferior accommodation in a back kitchen belonging to the Court-house . Crime is overflowing the regular Courts , and oozuijj out of the doors ami windows ,-aiid they must sinlc all pride and formality , and do the bust they can . A rude rostrum , a bench , and a bar arc constructctt with the mouldy , substantial furniture , not halt so legally correct in appearance as the trappings oi the JutLrc and Jurv - Society held ut il » c -J 3 cwi
Nash imblic-houso , in Sloggor's-lanc , wwwchapel . The day is drawing to a close , auO tno sessions end that night ; the jury arc anxious to be released , as there is only room for live oi tlicro to sit upon tho dresser j the counsel have liiwl twa fees , and they do not see much capital to Iw . nuuw by the notoriety of the case ; the solicitors aaa others interested can scarcely squeeze in a t uw door with their papers , their huts , and then urn brellas ; the judge is cold and uncom orlublo , am conscious of something umlignilied m his J 0 Slll 0 I \' and as Mr . llesj > cotable Comnionp laro did no era bczzlo the mouey after » U , ho is hi oil m a " J ' with four years' penal servitude . ~ nrtnlo These things arc not so rare as many poopw suppose . "Scarcely u day nassos" (™ " 1 yiu f , d dington in our hearing , and iu tho pr osenco ol , anu uncontmdictcd by , tho Rig ht Won . bpencoi vv » pole ) , that tho Ilomo-ofllco does not hear ol bob *
oaao of false oonviction . k . , . . „ . Whilo this scone is being enacted , or he > gF pared for at the Old Bailey , Mr . Ald erman JUow commonplaco has roooveroU his temper , a-iiu j now most Uboral in lioeoptinff bail lor man ) « wi scoundrels , who are only too glad to escape tx tr » a ! , a price so exfcreirtuly inodcruto . , . iv (> c i ftoni There is . only ono conclusion to bo doiiv a »» fa this state of tilings . Tho City C ( ' \ ? , 3 oS ) City Prison ( notwithstanding lUo ^^ , ^ £ 2 should bo at once abolished ; an untromod aiiuw »*
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 4, 1858, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04121858/page/18/
-