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[ mated to him that it about THE LEADER....
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THE COUf tT BULLY IN PARLIAMENT. Whetheb...
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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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The Story Of Madeline Sxiith. Emile L'An...
he was very ill—again with all the symptoms of poisoning by arsenic . Af ter these illnesses , I / Angelieb tell 8 Miss I * ebky , a confidante , that Madeline had g iven him coffee and chocolate , and that it was < very strange iie should he ill after getting it from lier . This , however , appeared to be but a passing suspicion in his mind , for be still loved her passionately . There is no trace of a further interview . She is about to go off to the Bridge of Allan with her family for a fortniht butbefore she goes , she openly
purg ; , chases on the 6 th of March an ounce oi arsenic at the family druggist ' s . ( It is remarkable that on this , as on the two other occasions , she does not pay for it , but it is entered to her father ' s account ; and thoug h in her declaration she states that she wished to conceal from her family that she U 3 ed arsenic , yet she deliberately buys it in such a way that it must finally come to their knowledge . The motive for this ostentatious openness in purchasing it on the family account , though the
cost was only sixpence , is not exp lained , and can only be guessed . ) She goes to the Bridge of Allan , has frequent walks with her betrothed husband , but continues to correspond with L'Angeliee in letters not having the heat and abandon of her former letters , but crowded with epithets of endearment . It is noteworthy that at this time she urges L'Angeiiee to go to the Isle of Wight for the benefit of his health , and he expresses suspicion at being entreated to go ' five
hundred miles away from her . ' She cannot get him out of the way by these fair means . She returns to town . On the 18 th of March she purchases an ounce of arsenic , and on the same day writes to her lover , appointing to meet him on the next day , Thursday . This letter is lost , but we know that it did not reach her lover till Friday morning , so that , as he says in a letter to the confidante , ' both were disappointed . ' Another letter was written either on Friday evening or Saturday morning . It made an appointment
for ' to-morrow , ' — ' same hour , same arrangement . ' It reached L'Angelieb ' s lodgings on Saturday afternoon , and followed him to the Bridge of Allan , where he received it on Sunday morning . She says that the appointment was for Saturday evening . But he returns to his Glasgow lodgings on Sunday evening , says to his landlady , * The letter you sent brought me home' ( the letter from Miss Smith , anviting him to come and * clasp her to his heart , ' — ' same hour and same arrangement' ) , asks for the latch-key , and goes out .
We now come—this Sunday evening—to the point of the story . We have Miss Smith in Blythswood-square . This girl , determined to marry Minnqch , but terribly afraid of L'Angelieb , has written to the latter , saying : — " Oh , come , aweet love , my own dear love of a sweetheart . Come , beloved , and clasp me to your heart ; come , and we shall be happy . "
He did not come on the Saturday ; but Sunday was a usual night for their meetings , and she expected him , as she intimates in her declaration that she did not hear his signal on Sunday evening . ( " There was no tapping at my window ' on Saturday night or on the Sunday evening . " ) On that evening L'Ange-UBit leaves his lodgings in health and spirits , having returned to town to meet the ladof
y his love : ' his bosom ' s lord sits lightly on its throne ; ' the quarrel between them has been made up . She has sent him two letters in . succession—letters full of loving warmth — -appointing an interview . Some time before that she had positively denied all engagement with Minwooh , and referred gladly to her intended marriage with L'Angelieb . At this very coming interview they were to arrange their union . He was very fond of the
girl ; he always seemed anxious to marry her . He was , no doubt , as light of heart and step that evening going towards her residence ( for he was seen not far from it and walking towards it ) as any happy bridegroom going to meet his bride . While she—she was thinking , no doubt , hovr she could manage to marry Mtnnoch and at the same time to silence L'Angelieb .
Here is the blank which no evidence has filled up . From half-past nine on Sunday evening to two o ' clock on Monday mornipg L'Angelieb ' s movements are not traced . All the known facts tend to indicate that he visited Madeline Smith , as she arranged and as he intended ; and against these facts we have simply her denial . He returned home at two o ' clock very ill ; he allowed a doctor to be sent for ; he said " I never felt like this before ; " he got worse ; he sent for Miss Pebby , the confidante : before she came he was dead .
The supposition that L'Angelieb committed suicide is disproved by the facts ^ of the case . Poverty and disappointment in love had driven him to ' talk' about suicide some years before , but he was now in a comparatively comfortable situation , and was valued by his employers . The little fellow was also ' in luck ; ' a very pretty girl , of superior station , loved him to devotion , and had granted him the highest favour a woman can bestow . Take him as a frivolous libertine , or a male
flirt , he wa 3 at the height of his ambition ; suppose him anxious to marry the girl , he was equally glad , for he was coming at her invitation to talk about their marriage . The quarrel between them was over ; she had ceased to ask back her letters—she panted once more to ' embrace her beloved . ' The supposition of suicide is also disproved by his remarks during the fatal illness . He comes
home , he allows a doctor to be sent for , he is auxious for the doctor ; he says , " I never felt like this before—I do not think it is bile . " He sends for Miss Pebry , the confidante , then says , " I think I should be better if I go t a little sleep" ( an impossible speech for a man who had knowingly taken an enormous dose of arsenic ) , and , sinking into sleep , dies in a few minutes .
The other person accused of giving the arsenic is Madeline Smith . On Monday afternoon the friend of L'Anoeliee comes to the house . Miss Smith meets her in the hall , and asks ,. " Is there anything wrong ? " Miss Pebby replied that she wished to see Miss Smith ' s mother , whom she did not know . Madeline asked to be told the object of Miss Pebby ' s visit , but that lady declined . And so the conversation ended . Miss Smith had
written two letters to 1 / Ang ^ lieb appointing a meeting ; the second said anxiously , " beloved , are you ill P" Two days elapse ; she sees his special friend and confidante—her confidante also—come to the house , and , what she never did before , ask to see her mamma . ( Indeed thero is no record that Miss Pebby ever visited the house ) . She asks at once , " Is there anything wrong ? " She is curious to know the object of Miss Pebbt ' b visit , but she never says , " How is L'Angelieb ? " " Is he ill ? " or , " Have you seen him ? " although
she had been for weeks without seeing the * beloved of her heart , ' and although , as she says , he had failed to answer two letters and to keep two appointments . She heard of L'Ang elieb ' s death on Monday ; on Thursday she secretly and by night ( she was not missed till morning ) left her father ' s house unheard by her jsister who slept with -her , unheard by every one in the house ; she was found on board one of the river steamers , and her betrothed husband asked her why she had left ; ' she made no reply / She afterwards
intiwas some gentleman with whom she had had a correspondence and she volunteered a statement that L'Angelieb was said to have been poisoned and that she had used arsenic as a cosmetic . She never expressed a regret at L'Angelieb ' s death ; never showed any grief at the death of her lover . There is no doubt that she rejoiced at his death ; it released her from one who in all legal likelihood was her husband ( for Scotch law is peculiar ) , and her demeanour to Minnooh shows that even after L'Angelieb ' s death , and with exposure impending , she still hoped to retain him as her future husband .
Emile L'Angelieb was killed by arsenic . If he had bought arsenic , if he had deliberately administered to himself twice before coffee and chocolate which made him ill as if he had been poisoned by arsenic , if the same opportunity of taking coffee and chocolate again presented itself , and if he had a great motive for killing Emile L'Angelieh , we should convict him of self-murder . All these things are , however , unproved or controverted . But if another person had bought arsenic , had
administered twice before coffee and chocolate after which L'An gel ieb was ill as if poisoned by arsenic , had a great motive for killing Emile L'Angeliee , was hot in passion , but cool , courageous , and unprincipled , and had in all likelihood the opportunity of giving the arsenic , that other person still cannot be convicted of murder , because the ' opportunity' ( that is , the appointed interview ^ ) was not actually proved . The words in italics show the want of positive evidence to complete the case for the prosecution .
To the legal and virtual verdict of the Edinburgh jury we unreservedly adhere . They could not have come to any other decision .
[ Mated To Him That It About The Leader....
[ mated to him that it about THE LEADER . No . 381 , Jto y 11 , 1857 . 660 _ . . • -
The Couf Tt Bully In Parliament. Whetheb...
THE COUf tT BULLY IN PARLIAMENT . Whetheb Lord John Hussell ' s accession to the Government party encourages the Premier in insolence , or whether he has imbibed a morbid desire to insult the House of Commons , it is impossible to say , but from all sides we hear complaints that Lord Palmebston maintains only one character , that of a Bully—a Bully backed up by some one stronger than himself . Having exhausted bis faculties as a jester , he has furnished himself with a new
apparatus—a scowl , a fling of the head , a shout , and an overbearing swagger , before which , he has made up his mind , the Commons of England shall crouch like animals . A great number of them , Heaven knows , are ready enough to crouch ; but there are others whose countenance he may be sorry to lose , who are beginning to feel something more than disgust when they see a Premier in the attitude of a bravo , thinking he can quell the House by gladiatorial hustling . Did the din of Man * Chester deprive Lord Paxmebston of hia senses ? or has he discovered that
Parliament , unsusceptible of cajolery , must now be put down by a loud voice and an audacious demeanour ? It was not many evenings ago that he entered the House , and , after listening to half a speech , started up like Ajax , throwing down a challenge , ana literally hit out after the fashion of those who split the skulls of bulls in Grecian days , while ho flung about him a series of reckless yet intentional insults . He had no knowledgo
whatever of the subject under consideration ; his observations betrayed the grossest practical ignorance ; and yet ho had the effrontery to inveigh against several honourable gentlemen for ' haggling and boggling' over an item in the estimates of the * utmost importance . "Wo hope he had hie swing . If lie w to continue Prime Minister , it is as well
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 11, 1857, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11071857/page/12/
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