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THE CASE OF THE HEY. HENRY .TOHKT HATCH.
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extent far greater than lias as yet been done . Among other suggestions of importance , Gaptain Hamley recommends the institution of marine barracks , and a consideration of the feelings of the men when a ship returns'hofrtie , 'and they-natuvally desire to see their friends—a thing impracticable it' the ships arc sent to ports remote from where they reside . He also shows the necessity of reforming the whole " system of punishment , and taking away" its capricious and arbitrary character . The House of Commons fails in its duty in this as in other matters , and obstinately withholds the names of the captains in the Hogging returns . All punishments should , not only be registered , but published , with the names of the officers in command , and then we is
should soon find who was fit for the work ; for no fact more certain than the connection between incompetent officers and an insubordinate crew . Our power of reproducing vessels woiilcl be a most important element in any struggle ; and it appears that the Government dockyards could turn out forty-six thousand tons of shipping avear , " that private yards could supply half-a-dozen very large corvettes a month . This calculation , of course , supposes that we could ensure the safety of these building-yards , which is a matter of extreme doubt , as not one of them , except Milford Haven , is naturally protected against long-range shells . We require , in addition to a fighting and movable fleet , a channel fleet , that ought on no account ever to leave our shores , except at the moment in which it was replaced by a similar force .
We ought also to have a numerous body of volunteer artillery , with Armstrong- and Whitwortii guns capable of transport to any point of the coast . Large fixed fortifications will be of little use , because they would absorb our men , and leave other spots equally important exposed to attack . Some fixed batteries may be essential , but men should be trained to throw up earthworks , employ sandbags , &c , and able to construct batteries in a few hours whenever they might be needed . If—the working class were paid moderately for a few days' volunteering to learn this sort of work , arid the management of guns , we shbuld ^ easily have an important force that would render landing almost impossible , arid co-operate admirably with regular troops and rifle volunteers . Hitherto the Government has practically con fined the volunteer movement to-the wealthy classes , which , is a _ grievous mistake , for we can only compete with the conscriptionof ' our neighbours Iw popularizing a knowledge of manoeuvres and arm ? .
TS" 5 TPG , when- we were at warwitlrBussitt : VftffiFlsmrfiTFfFfathers got for their money in 175 G is not cleai * , as the Admiralty return says , "No accounts can bo found for'this period "—from 175 G to 1702 . The total wealth'of the country has enormously increased between the periods specified . It lias been estimated that the real and personal -property of Great Britain in 1701 was only . £ 615 , 000 , 000 , and that in 1-85 7 it had reached £ 6 , 000 , 000 , 000 . The earlier figures are perhaps little better than guesses , but in comparing the two periods we must remember that population increased as well as capital , and that the national debt , which was only £ 15 , 000 , 000 in 1700 , was .- £ 800 , 000 , 000 in 1 S 53 . That we can afford to spend more than in former . 'times may be certain , but the average earnings of . our working classes , ' compared with the cost of living , loads to the conviction that a few years of costly warfare , would inevitably be followed by political and social changes of no small extent .
1 If we can only be . secured against severe sudden disasters , our great wealth and ' mamifacluring power will ensure our triumph , for us war grows more costly the advantage'wiU . be on the side of the richest people that have " not lost the military or naval spirit , It is remarkable ' to . notice the progress of expenditure from ¦ £ 3 , 349 , 021 3 s ., which was the sum voted for the navy in 1756 , when '' we were at war with France , to £ 19 . 590 , 833 3 s . 4 d . for
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W E have just seen the conclusion of a trial almost unparalleled in tho history of jurisprudence . In whatever respect it bo regarded—whether oh to tho character ami position of tho parlies , ( he nature oft . hu accusation , ov tho treatment of tho case—tho Iriul of the Rev . If icnky John Hatch will ever claim a sad pro-oininem'o of interest among transaction ?) of its class . In tho year 1850 this gentleman occupied ( lie position of chaplain to Wandswovth Gaol , lie was in the forty-unit or forty-sr >(» ond year of hia age , and he wns •¦ -vapidly attaining a position of prrmiiik'iicg us an , oavjjowt ami judicious philanthropist-. On nil j . nint . s connected with prison ditu-ipliuo ana criminal reform , 1 uh opinions were- looked to with growing respect , and ho seemed marked out for speedy , and probably valuable , preferment , when tho world was seized with horror , an well as astonishment , to hoar of bin iipprehcn-. sioii on a criminal charge of tho foulest diameter . It transpired that be wns not without causes of anxiety and distress . . 1 : 1 is pecuniary position wan one of considerable embarrassment , lie bad engraved in newspaper speculations , and for nomu time past ebiiins liad been made upon him , which ho was altogether unablo to meet .
He had had recourse to various means of relieving- himself from this precarious condition . He had taken boarders into his house ; he bad laid his friends under contribution ; and , at last , he had decided on receiving- one . or more little girls to educate with an orphan whom be liad adopted . The fact of this adoption—for the child was the daughter of an officer who had fallen in the Crimea—ought not to be lost sight of throughout the extraordinary proceedings which followed , . . Aii advertisement , inserted by Mr . Hatch ™ the morning papers , produced first a letter , and subsequently a visit , from a couple named Pwjmmer , residing at Holcroft House , in Wiltshire , luey placed one daughter , Maky Eugenie Pltjmmek , aged then eleven , with' Mr . and Mrs . Hatch , and agreed to place a younger child , Stephanie Plujimeb , a ^ ed eight , with them very speedily—an ht after
agreement which , in fact , they carried into effect a fortnig - wards . When they again visited Wandsworth for that purpose , Eugenie brought charges of so frightful a character against Mr . Hatch , thai'the elder child was removed , and the younger not permitted to remain longer than one day . On the return of the Pltjmiiees to-Holcnlft House , the Bishop of Winchestek was written to , and the matter was placed in the hands of the police . Mr . Hatch was apprehended , and , after a short delay , was tried , found guilty , and sentenced to four years' penal servitude . The world was greatly divided in opinion as to the justice of the verdict . On the one hand , it was contended that the charges themselves were too monstrously improbable to be believed , and that they implied a complicity in a series of atrocious assaults , the very nature of which precludes description , on the part of a lady against whose character as a virtuous and Christian woman and a most
devoted wife not a syllable could be breathed . It was known that the children , or at least one of them , had been removed from a great number of schools ( ten or twelve ) , and had never remained more than a few weeks , frequently not more than a few days , in the same establishment . It was proved that the Plummeks were people whose eccentricities were , to say ' the least ,-notorious-,- and not of the most respectable character ; and that Eugenie herself declared "that she did not like the Hatches , and wanted to get away . " On the other hand , there was the unvarying . testimony ..-of the child'herself , delivered with-a -coolness and self-possession which would have been extraordinary in any person of any age tinder similar circumstances ; testimony which all Mr . Serjeant BALliAlf-TiKE ' s-powers in cross-examining ; failed to shake . There was the singular fact that though ' witnesses for the defence were known to that Hatch had written
be in attendance , none were called j Mrs . a letter to Mrs . Fbummek imploring pardon for her husband ; and that the latter had resigned his situation with a view of avoidingexposure , and had inquired what was the punishment for the offencewith which he was charged . With these facts in sight , it will be clear ' that the question was ai least an open one for the jury . Mr . Baron Bbahwisll , who tried the ease , summed up fairly , but not favourably to the . prisoner , and the verdict was one of guilty . As soon , however , as the fact became realized , and the question no longer in doubt , the subject received a new investigatiow . The friends of Mr . Hatch were satisfied as to bis innocence ; they memorialised the Home Secretary , soliciting a free pardon , mid cxhil > jtiHg ^ vi 4 « ne «* w 4 ti « h-pi ; ovWl ^ hti ^^ a * t-i « e-oilt-hoir- ^ use . —But-io-ihis tbe Home Secretary very properly refused to listen . It was not for him to weigh evidence wliie ' u iuig-hfc have been produced on the trial , and was so unaccountably withheld . A jury alone could
decide on this ; and the only mode oi' proceeding now open was to indict the accusers tor perjury .. Had the evidence on which reliance was now placed been unattainable at the trial , the granting of a free pardon nright . 2 w 7 tap $ have been advisable ; but in the present case it was wh- 'liy inadmissible This U indeed one of the most remarkable features'in the Whole transaction , and one which ought , for the sake of justice , to receive further elucidation . Mr . Hatch's choice of an advocate seems to have been determined by the simple fact that as Mr . Serjeant Bali . antine was a great man at the Old Bailey , and could . " get off" n prisoner who was guilty with greater skill than perhaps any man at tho bar , therefore he wns the right person to demonstrate the innce . wco of an accused person who was not guilty—a conclusion which , in this instance , had a very
unfortunate result . It ban been said that a . . communication was . made privately , to the learned serjeant from the prosecution that they had in their hands a confession of guilt from Mr . Hatch , and that , fearing to encounter this , tho counsel for the defence contented themselves with showing t . ho improbability of tho charge , and pleading the character of the accused . This is a matter which ought ilot to drop ; the honour of tho Bar requires a searching investigation on such n topic . Another remarkable circumstance took place . Tho jury who bad convietod tho prisoner added their efforts to undo their own decision . All , with ono exception , signed a memorial to Sir G . C . Lewis , declaring that had they at tlio time of tho trial been in possession oftho . su fucts " whicli had since oorae to
their knowledge , thoy should not have convicted tho -accused , nna they begged therefore that their decision might bo reversed ; but it was clear that the same objections lav against granting Iho-pniyer of tin ' s petition as had lain aigitinst yielding to tho onlroaties of Mr . Hatch ' s personal friencjs . Failing in their application , for a pardon , thoy followed tho only remaining course Open to them , and Eugenie PriUMMiui was accordingly placed nt tho bar of tho Old Bailey . It wiih now proved that Homo of tho accusations were unquestionably fulno—positive evidence of tho most incontrovertible character substantiated'this point—and tho others wore shown to bo unworthy of bolh I' by such mi array of testimony , that no fair mind , scarcely even the mo&fc preju-
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468 The Leader and Saturday Anahjst . [ May 19 , I 860 .
The Case Of The Hey. Henry .Tohkt Hatch.
THE CASE OF THE HEY . HENilY . TOHKT HATCH .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 468, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2348/page/8/
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