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of 630 THE LEAD E R. [No. 324, Saturday ...
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Health of London.—In the first week of M...
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¥ Cessation Of Diplomatic Intercourse Wi...
previous to going into Committee of Supply , stimulated Lord Palmerston to let off a much more startling missile in the same direction . Mr . M'Gregor called attention to the anarchy that now desolates the Haito * te # rffcsul % i ^ 'expressed his Tvish that the monarch should _* e compelled to reform , or , as a fifed of milder ft * i £ native , if the first were impos « fle , that the " *** King should be ngtfa . re < h * iS to the pe ^^
erinan Prince . To this , Lord Yalmebston—one of the founders of modern Greece — replied by charging King Otho and his Government with evasion , corruption , and underhand treachery against the constitution , and by hinting that it would be impossible to anticipate the future policy of England and France . So that Greece is placed side by side with Naples under the shadow of an implied threat .
. The Scotch Parochial School Bill—a step towards the secularization of schools north of the Tweed by doing away with any relig ious test for the toasters—has passed the second reading in the Commons ; and the Lords have been sitting in committee on the bill for " reformUg" the appellate jurisdiction of that House , by authorizing the Queen to appoint two Deputy Speakers , at 60 G 0 J . a year each , to assist the Lords in their judicial duties ; by allowing the House of Lords ,
as a legal court , to sit during the vacation or at any time of year ; by imposing on the country a large additional expense in salaries and pensions ; and by hinting at a limitation of the prerogative of the Crown by declaring that the monarch may make four life peers , which is equivalent to saying that no greater number shall be created . The country will hardly be satisfied with this attempt to stave ^> ffsome reform which shall really prevent the last resort of justice being something very
like a solemn sham ; but , in the meanwhile , the House seemed satisfied , and would not agree with Lord Aberdeen's protest , rising out of the depths of his nationality , against hearing Scotch appeals in a court where the majority of the auditors is composed of Englishmen ignorant of the Scotch law . His Lordship proposed a court of final appeal in Scotland ; but the feeling of the House was against him—Lord St . Leonards declaring that English lawyers are by no means ignorant of
Scotch law , and even the Duke of Argyll and Lord C ampbell , despite their Caledonian birth and blood , disagreeing with the suggestion . One of the most noticeable features of the discussion , however , was that put forward by Earl Fitzwilliam , who reminded the Peers , parenthetically , that they are not a " House , " but an Apartment : the Constitution , he said , supposes their Lordships to ait in an apartment of the Queen's palace , and , therefore , they have no right to touch the
prerogative I ] yir . George Moore , by 88 votes to 59 , and without verbal opposition on the part of any member , has carried his Irish Tenant Right Bill through the second reading . The bill proposes to secure to tenants the proper benefit of their expenditure , either in labour or capital , and to place restraints upon the landlords * powers of eviction . While our representatives are making and unmaking , amending and augmenting , the laws which govern us , the co-ordinate process of defying all such decrees , ns well as those of higher
origin , goea on as usual ; and the law-brcakcra attract more attention than tho law-makers . The ground swell consequent on tho gi'and Palmer tempest of tho two preceding weeks exhibits itselv % ]\ h week in tho last desperate efforts of the convict t » escape the penalty awarded him . Mr . _ „_ J °# P-fi , ^ yff > » Palmer ' s solicitor , has put forth a ••^ " ^ mohffa * We condemned , on tho ground that Dr . ^ S / t ^ feJra RilS > ' ? rK ^^ P ^ llC 8 ' ° ^ comploto nbsorption ol y ^^^ fl lw » M ^ n ^ ap iltTO the system after it has done he (^^ jx ^^^ gg ^^ ft ^^ jgqovided there be np more than in WM /^^ ffiTOWlll aS / 11 ? is " w ftnd hypothetical ; " and HHrlVr |> , / w \ -I
he therefore asks for a Government commission to test the accuracy of Dr . Taylor ' s assertions—Palmer' * -sentence , in the meanwhile , to stand in abeyant * . The chain of evidence was otofessedly impetfect , inasmuch 49 Strychnine vdfcTiO * found in < 3 ooKE ' sibody ; but ^ he weig ht of the otkttr testiml » jy wa »« O great fliat wB-may grant the partici ^ fcr weakness in goestiofe , and yet vftttftin in possession of an <* erwhetai ! ng case ajpiihst the condemned man . Lord Campbell instructed the jury that it was not necessary , in point of law ,
that the poison should have been discovered in order that the accused should be found guilty ; and assuredly , as a matter of moral conviction , the case does not rest merely on the grounds of scientific dogma . Still , we cannot refuse to any human being , under such circumstances , a fair consideration of all doubtful points . It must be admitted , also , that a strong feeling is getting abroad in favour of a commutation of the capital sentence . The convict is besieged in his prison by importunate letter-writers , who express their
commiseration in prose and verse , and generally conclude' their communications with the polite intimation— " an answer will oblige ; " the object of course being mainly to get an autograph of the wonderful man of Rugeley . Petitions in favour of transportation instead of hanging are now lying for signature ; and , upon the whole , it seems as if the exciting bets of " Palmer against Calcraft " mig ht be renewed . Altogether , a singular specimen of our nineteenth century virtue is here presented for the jibes of scoffers and the edification of the thoughtful .
The police courts do not present us -with much of interest ; but in the Bankruptcy Court the affairs of the sempiternal Mark Boyd have again appeared , with their revelations of gigantic and multiform commercial vice , and the Sadleir disclosures continue . Side by side with those revelations , we have the fact of an extension of clemency
to Mr . Bates , who , as the sham partner in the house of Strahan , Paul , and Bates , is considered , and not unreasonably , to have shared only in a minor degree in the guilt of the two veritable partners . But what are we to think of that state of the trading world in which such assumptions of a position not warranted by fact are of common occurrence ?
Guilt , however , has not had it all to itself in this bright young summer weather . The week just concluded has been in many respects a week of charity . Not a day has passed without celebrating the anniversaries of several benevolent associations . Benevolence has mated with pantomine at the Lyceum . The Strangers' Homo for natives of the Orient and of Africa was inaugurated by Prince Albert last Saturday ; and on Monday the Queen laid the first stone of the Wellington College , an institution the object of which will be
to take care of the orphans of soldiers . The ceremony took place under beautiful and touching circumstances . The sun shone out with midsummer brightness and heat ; the wind came softly and balmily from the west ; and there , on the woody knoll selected for tho building , and glancing over heathy soil and dark , rough moorland to the far metropolis and the wealthy viilley of the
Thames , the scene was rendered doubly gladsome by the bright flutter of ladies' dresses and the dare of military scarlet . But there was a pathos in tho thought of the many soldiers' orphans which the late war had created ; and tho ^ ui : ion ' s voice faltered n » she connected the name of her son AiiTiiiin with tho groat soldier whoso title had boon givon to the building then commenced . And so tho criminal side of human nature fiudu
its balance in active sympathy , and regard for tho necessities of others . The constitution of the army came before tho notice of tho House on Thursday , on tho occasion of a speech by Mr . . Sidney Hkkmkut in
# avotlr ^* ltetter organization the raw energies kerf our tftoops , and of an improved education ° for officers - « nd men . In a speech which won the attentie * 'of members , and drew forth courteous expressions ftom Lord Palmerston , Mr . Herbert exhibited the deficiency of our brave soldiers in a knowledge of those practical acquirements which fopaif § SBt < Qf the active potency of an army in the tiriifl , and in that capability of self-reliance which ig % alf the battle in prolonged operations . He also showed—what the newspapers , ourselves included have shown before him—that our officers , relying too much on " the guinea stamp , " have neglected a theoretical knowledge of their art ; and he ventured to suggest to the House various plans for remedying these defects from which we have already grievously suffered . Ministers of course would not commit themselves—they never commit themselves except to a blunder ; but they stated that the subject is under their consideration , and that no efforts shall be spared for future improvement .
Of 630 The Lead E R. [No. 324, Saturday ...
of 630 THE LEAD E R . [ No . 324 , Saturday ,
Health Of London.—In The First Week Of M...
Health of London . —In the first week of May , the deaths registered in London rose to 1154 ; during the following weeks , they have shown a constant dec rease and In the last week of the month , which ended last Saturday , they were 1027 . In the week preceding that on which the mortality rose the mean weekl y temperature had fallen to 41-3 deg . ; in three subsequent weeks , it rose to 44-3 deg ., 61 * 2 deg ., and 53 * 1 deg . ; and last week it was 53 * 3 deg . In the corresponding weeks of the last ten years , 1846-55 , the average number of deaths was 952 , which , if raised in proportion to increase of population , becomes 1047 . The number , as shown by the present returns , is therefore less than , but not materially different from , the estimated amount . The number of births registered in the week was 1578 ; and there was an excess of 551 in the number of persons born as compared with those who died . The oldest person recorded in the returns of deaths is a ¦ widow who lived in Battersea , and had attained the age of ninetyfour years . A man died from " typhoid fever and melancholia" in the Shoreditch workhouse . Seven days before his death , the police had brought him and his wife to the house from Wellington-street , Kingslandroad , both in a very emaciated state . It appears that he had gone to the docks on the morning of the 21 st ult . in quest of employment , but arrived too late to obtain it , and on returning home had attempted to destroy himself by strangulation . —From the Registrar-GeneraTs Weekly Return . Mr . Layakd , M . P ., arrived at Constantinople on the 20 th ult ., and has been entertained by Lord Stratford du Redcliffe . Mr . Henry Mayhew , through his friend Mr . Rushton , has published a long correspondence between himself and Dr . Taylor , from whom he demanded an explanation with respect to the assertions on the trial of Palmer in connexion with Mr . Mayhew . I > r . Taylor refuses to explain , but refers Mr . Mayhew to his solicitors . The di .-jpute , therefore , remains to be settled by law . Masonic Di ' jeitner at Oxford . —A masonic dejeuner , in honour of Mr . Beach , M . A ., of Christ Church . one of the masters of the body ( to whom a testimonial was presented ) , was given in Worcester Gardens , Oxford , on Monday . The Vice-Chancellor and the Karl of Carnarvon were among the guests . u From Oxh-okd to Komb . "—The Weekly Jletjistcr and Catholic Standard of Saturday announces that two Protestant clergymen have been received into the liomiin Catholic Church . The one is the Kov , F . Temple , M . A ., Fellow of Balliol College , Oxford , and l ( Ue principal of the Government Training College at Knellur-hall ; and the other is a son of the cerebrated Kev . Dr . Arnold , ol Rugby . The New Bishop of Carlisle and tiik local Cemjstkky . —The new Bishop of Carlisle , Inking an opposite course to his predecessor , hus consented , « ays tho Carlisle Journal , to consecrate the cemetery without requiring the erection of a stone fence or any invidious barrier between the portion of tho ground appropriated to tho members of tho Church of England and that dovoted to persons who are not members of that body . I ' ' 8 perfectly satisfied with boundary atones . Madame Konconi . —A gentleman , accompanied by « lady who was stated to bo the wife of fciignor Kone . oni , tho singer at tho Italian Opcru , applied at Marlbiirouglistrcet for tho advice of Mr . Binghani . Madame Ihhiconi had been t-eparated from Hignor lioncoiii tor aoim ' time , her allowance from her husband being ^ 1 , 000 ) - a year . A report having boon spread abroad that Alnditmo Itonconi wan dead , tho allowance wan nt <>| 'il ( ' ( 1 > ""' the lady had in consequence boon reduced to f-, ' - diHtroHH . SUu hail oomo to this country to aMHorl . «< j claims ; but her husband refused to do anything lowing her support , on the unfounded p lea of adultery in ""'•)' . and sbo was now in great distress . Mr . Biiigham s »» the applicant could either consult i \ ( solicitor or "" n " apply to tho authorities of the pariwh hi which fche wiir < at present living .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 7, 1856, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07061856/page/2/
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