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^&^t#9 x N^^ Si^>^ ^%^v#^ ¦ . -, -v 98 T...
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MEETIFG OF TICKET-OF-LEAVE MEN. A. Qathe...
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Wo have received tho following- letter o...
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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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Rphe Controversy Between Government And ...
unemployed builders ; they are doing less even , than the ticket-of-leave men , who have been assembled by the instrumentality of Lord Carsakvon and Mr . Henry Mayhew , to tell their difficulties . We laugh at the Italians for suffering themselves to be cajoled , by us amongst others . Are we not in . alliance with Austria ? who has ju _ st insulted the liombardo-Venetian Kingdom by an amnesty clogged like others , "with eondftions that frustrate it , —for instance , it excludes tlie refugees .
The death of the Princess de Lievem will not undo that inner circle' of diplomacy which really manages the world ; and we have our domestic inner circle quite as much for the management of our world at home as abroad . If occasionally a gentleman does venture to be outspoken , lie is voted unmannered , and the wellbehaved talk of cutting him . Take the case of Sir Robert Pkejo . The very organs of the Ministry to which he belongs are quoting the Billingsgate of tBe Prince de Ligne , or , as the printer of the Press wittily calls him , the Prince de Linge , in reply to the outspoken account which Sir Robekx Peel gave of his travels on the Continent . The Pjrince calls the Baronet a ragamuffin and a toper .
Ihe Indian Mail brings us some more detailed accounts of the news from Persia and China . Erom Persia the accounts are satisfactory . Tlie Persians made a more gallant resistance at Bushire than we might have expected— -a resistance which implies some stamina in Persia , and therefore a greater advantage in bringing her to her proper place in the Asiatic system . At Canton , bir John Bowring is rather in difficulties , hence his demand fox troops . He is not strong enough for what he has undertaken .
Descending from politics and law to police , we have to note that Lord Camfbeli , has denied the inherent right of an Archbishop of Canoceubury to prevent Archdeacon Denison from having a fair trial on appeal . The Church in this country is not above the law . ^ Our aristocratic class , —that West-end class that sits upon the shoulders of the country , is represented in . the courts by Vane Tempest , late a gallant officer , who lias been buying jewellery and giving it away . The jewellers apply for payment , and he pleads " Infancy . " The plea is characteristic in every sense , as an assertion of privilege .
^&^T#9 X N^^ Si^>^ ^%^V#^ ¦ . -, -V 98 T...
^&^ t # 9 x N ^^ Si ^>^ ^ % ^ v # ^ ¦ . -, -v 98 T HjE L E AXNg ^ . [ No . 358 , Saturday .
Meetifg Of Ticket-Of-Leave Men. A. Qathe...
MEETIFG OF TICKET-OF-LEAVE MEN . A . Qatheking of ticket-of-leave men convened by Mr . Henry Mayhew , at the request of the Earl of Carnarvon , who presided , took place at Farringdon Hall , Snow-hill , on Tuesday evening . Between eighty and ninety attended , and were admitted by simply allowing their ticketa-of-leave at the door . The police were rigorously excluded . The appearance of the men . is described as for the most part resembling that of costermongers ; but here and there were to be seen a few of the flash swell mobsmen . ' Lord Carnarvon was supported l ) y Mr , Henry Mayhew , the Rev . Mr . Portal , Mr . Beach , Mr . Wyld , Dr . Mackay , and a few other gentlemen .
The first person to ascend the platform ( jays the account in the daily papers ) was a tidily-dressed and simple-looking bald old man of about sixty , who prefaced his recital with the words , " Fellow-men and brother sufferers , " and wont on to describe himself as one who had " seen more trouble in his time than any other man this day- in England . " Being the same individual Who told his tale of distress at tho former meeting in tlie National Hall , in the character of a dook labourer , who was constantly harassed by the polico £ u his ondea" v-oura to support himself by honest industry , it is not *»<» eBsary here to repeat the greater part of bis state-DftntThe
« . only addition to his former narrative wa « that in April last ho obtained a situation upon Mr . Mayhew ' s recommendation , and lie thanked God that ho fcadbeenablo to koopit over since . He had to work vctv * W 4 -f w l » s liwg , but he kneyr m » ny like himself who would bo only too glad to change positions with him , and to return to honest pursuits . Mwi y now ran ahou the atreots playing their old games , who would jump at tUo chance of emigrating to Australia ; and he was very sorry for the day that ho had himself come home from tho colonies . After giving some particulars illustrative of the alleged dishonesty and tyranny of tho yohco , tho spoakor sat down .
_ A fat , burly-lookmg young man , in a rough over , jacket and a wido-awnko hat , next claimed to bo hoard Suad began by demanding somewhat bluntly . » Who 5 a Mr . Mayhew V" Having ha . 1 that gentleman pointed cut to him , ho aot hlrasolf very rudely to catechlalnahtai but was soon oompollod to desist by tho fooling of tho Assemblage . Ho then remarked that " ho meant no offence , but ho wiahod to cnution tho men against making tbemaolvcs so publi c , and risking their lives to come tflere . for the solo bwofit of another man , That man
was Mr . Miiyhew . ( Hisses . ) They might niss him if they liked , but Mr . Mayhew convened these meetings , and said upon the cards that he intended to make them and their difficulties known . [ A Voice : ' You take it in a wrong light . ' ] Perhaps lie did , but he was a poor man , « nd could not express himself like Mr . Mayhew . He / wished , however , to speak the truth , ani mot to relate mero fictions . Lord Carnarvon ought-to know that Mr . Mayhew called these meetings , where lie extracted information from the men privately , and then published it in his work , QJmtfusion . ) That gentleman stated the other day in Sunday newspaper that while a ticket-of-leave man could make his bl . a week and keep a pony "by his old practices , it was useless to expect him to become a clerk upon a salaTy of 15 s . a week . A nice man was Mr . Mayhew ! ( Laui / kter and kisses . ) It was nonsense to talk o-f shutting out the police while such a man . was - "
The Chairman at this pomt cut short the speaker s invective , which appeared to be fast reaching its climax , and appealed to the good sense and good feeling of the meeting to support him in confining the discussion to its legitimate scope . Shouts of applause followed this remonstrance , and the indignant orator was compelled to sit down . Tho third speaker was a costermonger , who also spoke last year ; and he stated that he had a wife and child and an aged mother to keep , but he thanked G-od he was
able to do so by honest industry . He only expected the workhouse for his old age , and he got no more than one meal on some days ; " bat that was far preferable to three meals and a pannikin of soup in the Penitentiary . " His ticket was of no use to him , because he ' was not one of the learned ones , but one of the ignorant ones , who had had to " rough it" ever since he was fourteen . In this as in the previous case , a very favourable testimonial to character was produced at the close of his speech .
Two other speakers also received excellent characters from their employers , who were present , and -who had not previously known , though one riad suspected , that these servants of theirs possessed tickets of leave . The sixth speaker , a mason , and a middle-aged man , very well dressed , inveighed with great bitterness against the persecutions of the police . How , he asked , could a ticket-of-leave , without a character , expect to get work , when ' thousands of workmen who had never been in gaol are now starving for want of employment ? He had tried for a year to get employment , and could not , and he wouldn't starve . " The -way in which his kind friends ' lent him a hand'was to-set the police to hunt him down without cause . His married sister had her house lately broken into , and " when the police went to inquire about it , bis niece told them , ' Oh ! I have an uncle who i 3 a housebreaker . ' ( Laughter . ) By this means the
police were set upon him ; he had l ) een dragged about by them from one court to another upon evexy variety of false charge . Once he was accused of stealing the hat ho had on , and it was only by the hatter ' s coming forward to prove his purchase of It that he "was ultimately liberated . He ( trie speaker ) was a ticket-ofleave man himself , and he now lived with a ticket-ofleave woman ; and of course that was sufficient to justify his apprehension for every conceivable depredation committed in his neighbourhood . If a mat was stolen from the next door to his , ten to one but the police would bo down upon him for it . " After denouncing the inconsistent benevolence of the country , which lavished it 3 care upon the foreigner and the negro , and neglected the oppressed and tho destitute at home , the speaker concluded by entreating for himself and his class a chance of returning to the paths of honest industry , and by declaring his conviction that transportation would never stop
mo . Mr . Mayhewsaid * thatlf tho last speaker really wished for employment he should be happy to furnish liim with the name of a gentleman who would give it to him . ( Applause . ') Two or thrco other tickct-of-loave men having addressod tho moetlng in a similar strain , tho Chairman thanked tho porsons present for thoir orderly behaviour , exhorted them to strive to become honest once moro , and called for a show of hands to ascertain whether tho men would prefer to have a ticket of leave in England or one in the colonies . All , without an exception , signified in favour of the lattor , and tho meeting shortly aftorwards broko up .
Wo Have Received Tho Following- Letter O...
Wo have received tho following- letter on tho subject of this singular conferenco from a well-known and esteemed correspondent of the Leader , and wo recommend his communication to tho serious attention of our readers : — THE "MONSIEUR AUX KALMIAS . " ( To the Editor of the Leader . ') Sin , —I belong to thnt clnss of persons whom you Londoner * somewhat contemptuously designate » h yokels ; " in other -words , Iam » country cousin . ' It is , therefore , needless to mention tUat the greatest treat I anticipated in my visit to tho metropolis was tho sight of a real lord . Imagino , then , the sudden thrill that Bliot through me vrlioq a friend offorod mo a ticket to boo ,. ™ -k ftrl - I * ia truo my benefactor m > oUe rather slightingly of tho illustrious young nobleman , as a Mansionr nuic Kahniaa ; adding , in tho niladmircm
tone of ' men about town , ' " I am told he is famous his own county for fat hogs and tall rhododendron ^ My rapture -was certainly damped "by this supercilion , remark , twit rekindled when another acquaintance oh served : "Ah ! bis lordship is a man of considerable promise . He made a very fair-speech on . the address i reply to the Queen ' s Speech , last session ; and vo know , he "was a double-first . " I did not know anythin about it , but of course I assented with a nod ; nor do ? now quite understand how any * man can be more than fi n * , or how he can be a double , except he is beside himself . However , that is not much to the point . This exhibition of a young Earl was to be combined with one of his social antipodes—the much-abused ' tick't-o ' -leaf-m ' n . ' It appears this budding legislator had applied to Mr . Henry Mayhew to commune a meetin order that from
ing of his proteges , their own lins their peculiar grievances might be ascertained , and , perhaps , useful suggestions obtained for remedying the practical defects of the system . With characteristic kindliness of heart that gentleman at once responded to the wishes of the noble aspirant after useful knowledge and exerted himself with so much success that nearly one hundred of the unfortunate outcasts -were persuaded to lay aside their natural suspicions , and to meet in the large and handsome rroom belonging to Salter ' s Coffeehouse , in Victoria-street , Farringdon Market . It was nearly eight o ' clock when I entered the spacious and lofty hall . Even at that hour only a small number of the guests had assembled , though the pavement outside was dotted here and there with small groups of individuals of a vacillating disposition—curiosity and fear struggling for the mastery . My heart beat audibly , and the blood
sang in ray ears , as with quick , faltering step I ap . proached the platform , supporting the noble presence of an Earl , condescendingly seated in a chair of no uncommon pretensions . Timidly raising my eyes , I beheld the folds of an elegant white silk handkerchief proudly , but gracefully , swelling out of the long-descended bosom , reminding one of the pure white berries of the mistletoe pendent at Christmas time from the boughs of a sturdy oak . Not that there was anything oak-like about the philanthrophic lord , -who had abandoned for a time his rhododendrons and azaleas , and relinquished his horticultural pursuits to study the physiology of Botany Bay . Presently I ventured to look yet higher , and with bated breath gazed on those aristocratic features—the mild , slumbering eye , the well-bred nose , the softly-reposing moustaches , the modest , retiring chin . No pigeonfancier in St . Martin ' s-lane would have hesitated fora
moment to give him a certificate of race . Perhaps my allusion is not sufficiently obvious . There is , sir , an aristocratic class of pigeons called Almonds , from their colour . The bills of these birds , by breeding in-and-in , become so very soft that they cannot pick up the peas with which base-born pigeons are usually fed . It at once struck me that the noble lord in the ordinary chair was a ' soft bill , ' and altogether an Almond pigeon of unquestionable descent . On his right sat tlie Levite " who was content to dwell with the ( noble young ) man . " It seems that in exalted circles it is
customary to retain , as a part of the establishment , a private chaplain to transact the great man ' s religious business , in addition to a secretary or amanuonsi 3 for purposes of spelling and grammar , and a butler to drink the old port . Or , as my informant irreverently expressed it , " You r swell can ' t do without his bibleholder , any more than without his ready letter-writer and ' bottle-jack . '" I was glad to observe that the reverend gentleman did not look at all ashamed of his pupil , or unbecomingly oppressed by the tightness of his own immaculate choker . He had evidently wrapped himself up in his virtue and a comfortable top-coat buttoned up to the throat , and was piously resigned to his fate in having fallen among thieves . On his right Iiand ,
again , sat a lay figure . Take this as a bad pun , if you choose , but I am serious in calling it such , though my facetious companion tried to impose it upon me as a young aristocrat , who was being reared to sit in the House of Commons . As far as mere sitting goes , very likely it would be quite as useful as many of tlie animated creatures who arc sent there to lourn how to sleep with their hats on . But this was too palpably o wooden figure to bo mistaken for one of the glorious old gentlemen of England . The face , too , was wretchedly carved . From some accident , tho features had been spoilt , and so others had boon picked up nt random , and glued on anyhow . No , no ; call me yokel , ' if you please , but I know a man when I see one , and I know a lay figure , too , and can tell the difference .
On tho left side of tho noblo chairman sat a soreiielymajeatic boing , whom I at once recognized as Mr . Hunry Maybow , from having had his likeness pointed out to mo in tho picturo of London Notabilities , gratuitously exhibited to tho public , outsi < lo Mr . Vickress ' s wine and spirit establishment , at tho corner of Wellington-street North . Around the platform , but below it , wire congregated several decent , respectable-looking gentlemen , ¦ whom my cicerono represented to bo persons cm mooted with newspapers , and that sort of thing , but 1 suHpcct he was laughing at mo . Why , they wore all well rlothert , and looked tolerably well fed , and there was nothing nt all wild or desperato in thoir appearance . liesidfH , they were all on good terms with one another , and chatted togothor as pleasantly as you and I could do . . Facing them Hilt tho " tiek ' t-of-louf-m ' n , " as they culled them-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 31, 1857, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31011857/page/2/
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