The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 23, 1858. Other important gatherings have been held during the past week at Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, and Arbroath. The Earl of CARLISLE pre sided at the first, the occasion of which was the presentation of certificates of merit, awarded by the Council of the Society of Arts, to ten of the stu dents in the Manchester Mechanics' Institution. What his Lordship would say on an occasion of this kind can be readily imagined by our r eaders, and calls for no particular comment. At Leeds and Bradford religious meetings were presided over by Lord SHAFTESBURY. In the Noble Lord's speech to the Bible Society at Leeds we observe nothing that we do not remember to have heard from him on former occasions ; but at Bradford he made a remark which, if not misreported, strikes us as rather extraordinary. His Lordship is represented to have described the famous maxim of his ancestor, that ridicule is the test of truth, as " a fiendish proposition." We protest we cannot see from what point of view his Lordship sees it in this light. Ile cannot surely have taken ridicule in the sense of ridiculousness. In any other sense, all that is meant by the o b se rvation is this, that opinions which can survive ridicule need not be very much afraid of graver arguments. It is only the well-known Hora tian maxim in another shape. And though, perhaps, we do not entirely agree with it, yet we certainly see no reason whatever for designating it as " fiendish." The meeting held at Arbroath was for the purpose of giving Mr. BAXTER, M.P. for the Montrose Burghs, an opportunity of addressing his constituents. The lion. Member, in a spirited and caustic speech, assigned his reasons for turning Lord PALMERSTON out 'if office and for supporting Lord DERBY, and expressed his conviction that in the next session the " Independent Liberals" would be found more powerful and better organized than before. He declared himself an uncompromising financial reformer, and said he believed that as much as six or eight millions might be saved in our expenditure, if we did not permit ourselves to be frightened by the bugbear of invasion. We cannot say we think Mr. BAXTER'S theory is likely to be a popular one at the present moment. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in obedience to the Cacoethea Loquendi which just now seems to prevail among a certain set of noblemen and gentlemen, delivered an address on Thursday evening at the Manchester Athenaeum. His Lordship gave a pat on the back to the British Constitution—told his audience that he had no objection to their reading novels—recom mended them to set a good example to Europe, and sat down, of course, amid loud cheering. Between tragedy and comedy the limits sometimes seem to be as narrow as between the sublime and the ridiculous. But the other day the world was horrified by the intelligence that twenty French "officers and gentlemen " had, like the three kings, " sworn a solemn oath " that a sarcastic Journalist should die. What was almost accomplished in the case of M. PENE was quite effected in this country within the memory of the present generation, when an offending editor received such severe chastisement from his victim as to have ultimately expired from the effects of it. During the past week we have been regaled with the tidings of an editorial quarrel, which according to the worst version of the story was within a hair's breadth of murder, and according to another was an aggravated case of intimidation. We allude, of course, to the recent outrage upon the Editor of the Northern Daily Express at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The French Consul at that seaport is the Count DE MARICOURT, with whom resides his son the Viscount Inc MAiticoirr, a French Dragoon officer and "Crimean hero " twenty-two years of age. A report, it seems, had been circulated in the town to the effect that the elder MARICOURT had been interfering improperly in some of the borough elections ; and a letter appeared in the columns of the journal in question openly charging him with the offence. On the following day a leading article appeared upon the subject, adopting the offensive imputation, and commenting with severity on the foreign gentleman's behaviour. The result of this publica tion was that the young DE MARICOURT, after one or two ineffectual attempts to find the editor at his office, presented himself at his private residence armed with a loaded pistol, which he presented at his head, and under that compulsion carried him away in a cab to his father's house. What followed is of little consequence. The editor made apologies and promises, and seems to have been glad enough to get off with a whole skin. And the young gentleman when brought up before the Mayor was fined five pounds for the assault. We should add that evidence was adduced to show that' the pistol was harmle s s, th o ugh the fact that M. DE MARICOURT and kis brother who accompanied him were both armed with thick sticks in addition, to some extent invalidates the hypothesis that the whole affair was in tended as a practical joke. Such are briefly the facts of this curious case. We do not justify Mr. MANsos, the editor, who was certainly too precipitate in endorsing the statement of his correspondent, and indulged, moreover, in invectives and illustrations which were unnecessary and indecent. But the fact that Mr. MANSON did go too far by no means proves that M. DE Alanicouier did not. The father we believe to be a gentleman generally respected, an undoubted member of the old French aristocracy, and by no means celebrated for warm Napoleonic sympathies. Yet such, at the same tune, is his known ability and character, that not only has he kept his pre sent position during all the changes that have taken place in his native land, but is even now, we believe, employed by the present French Government in the collection of agricultural statistics in this country. Air. MANSON'S language, therefore, was as ungrounded as improper. But as far as th e ou t rage on hi m was concerne d, it m att e r s little whether the pistol was loaded or not. As long as that gentleman supposed !!., to be so, the i n ti m id a ti on, an d consequent l y th e v i o l ence , was th e same . I hat the weapon was unfit for use proves only that M. AlAincouicr did not contemplat e mur d er. I t b y no means proves t h at h e h as not b een gu il ty () a very gross offence, and one that has been very lightly expiated by a tine of five pounds. The bankruptcy of Mr. CAREW, of which the details appeared in the beginning of the past week, contains a moral on which it is painful tough necessary t o d we ll. Th e b an k rupt was t h e s t e p son o f th e f amo us olonel W AUClR—member of an illustrious west country family—an officer in a cavalry regiment, and, though apparently of no independent means, pos, 1029 sessing a large fortune in reversion. Barring the first unfortunate event, this young man seems to have begun life with everything necessary to bring him a happy and respectable fortune—ancient lineage, an honourable pro fession, and, if not wealth, a competency. In an evil hour for him his mother formed a matrimonial alliance with the great speculator aforesaid, who commenced making his stepson an allowance of '2,000/. a year. Grateful for this liberality, and never questioning its continuance, Mr. CAREW placed little restriction either on his own pleasures, Or his confi dence in the openhanded Colonel. Yachts, carriages, horses, dogs, and guns, were all at his command, and for a time he quaffed the cup of plea sure uninterruptedly; the only return that was asked of him being the occasional " loan of his acceptance "—one of the most dangerous phrases current. This, of course, was given unsuspiciously, till, as it now turns out, his obligations reached to the amount of 58,0001. Then came the crash. Colonel WAUGH, that "source of all his joy and all his woe," decamped. The 2,000/. a year vanished as suddenly as it had arisen, and Mr. CAREW was left to depend upon his wits. Under the circumstances, he does not seem to have acted as judiciously as might have been expected. Not being possessed of literary qualifications, and his antecedents, perhaps, militating against the adoption of a clerical career, he resolved to invest the equine experiences ofa cavalry regiment in the business of a cab proprietor. Ile was arrested on some of his old debts, and hence his appearance before Mr. Commissioner FONBLANQLE. But the disagreeable truth that forces itself upon us when we meditate on such cases as these is this—Who in the world is a man to trust if be so constantly sees people duped by their friends and connections ? What a lesson for the rising generation of this country is to be learned in the careers of Sir JOHN PAUL, Mr. Itmopsni, and Colonel Wm:GIL ! Mr. CAREW, as we happen to know, is not the only victim to this natural confidence in his elders. Other young men have been in the receipt of handsome allowances, paid out of receipts as ill gotten as the Colonel's, in the full enjoyment of pleasure and respects. bility, only to wake up some morning, finding themselves beggars, and the patrons or relatives they had loved and honoured convicted swindlers, This is very sad. It is, of course, hard to draw the line between credulity and premature worldliness. And, certainly, no more unwelcome task can devolve upon us than to preach the duty of suspicion towards parents and guardians. But there is no danger of such a fault becoming too common. And we may safely point out to young men beginning life under a wide range of differing circumstances that it would be well for them sometimes to ponder on the munificence of indulgent relatives, and to remember that it may sometimes be more in their power than they imagine to check a career of extravagance, and save themselves much subsequent humiliation. Mr. CARDEN has again been making himself conspicuous by the per tinacity of his attachment to Miss ARBUTILNOT. Ile now, however, zealously proclaims his determination to refrain from " molesting" her, and seems much annoyed and surprised that the fact of his following her all about the country should be construed into that case. If the young lady is taking a walk after luncheon, Mr. CARDEN cannot help it if she happen to take the same road he does. Nor does Miss ARBUTHNOT'S presence at any particular church lay him, as he thinks, under the obligation of staying away from it. Legally, we presume, if he kept within these limits, the law would find it difficult to touch him. But, then, if he pursues this system of worrying espionage with impunity, he cannot be surprised if Miss ARBUTHNOT and her friends seize the first opportunity which the latter presents to them of obtaining redress. When a person is perpetually annoying us by petty molestations, and boasting how near he can go to the law without touching, we naturally lie in wait for an opportunity to catch him. This, after all, seems to be the full extent of the hardship whereof Mr. CARDEN makes complaint. lie certainly seems to have been endeavouring to obtain a surreptitious interview in a manner that might be considered calculated to lead to a breach of the peace. He has, accord ingly, been bound over in the sum of 5,0001. not to " do so any more," and he now walks in terror lest Miss ARBUTHNOT'S relatives should be per petually endeavouring to put a criminal colour on his actions. So the affair stands at present. Mr. PORTER suggested rather shrewdly that cer tain interested persons were playing their own game with the unfortunate gentleman, by persuading him that Miss ARBUTHNOT was really in love with him, bnt was forcibly restrained by her friends from accepting his addresses. If such a belief once began to ferment in the brain of an ardent Irish gentleman, no results ought to astonish us. But the ill-suc cess of his last open attempt, and the cold clutches of the law which close upon him whenever his feelings get the better of him, ought to have sug gested the hopelessness as well as the absurdity of his present conduct. One of those sad disasters which tell so widely of the difference be tween rich and poor has recently occurred in Monmouthshire. A family of five persons have been suffocated by an escape of gas. The calamity occurred in a suburb of the town of Newport, in one of a row of cottages contiguous to some sewerage excavations. An abominable smell had been endured by all the inmates of the row for more than six months. On one occasion the father of a family on looking at his children before going to bed found them with " their tongues hanging out," and life all but extinct. By the use of proper means they were restored. But the family in ques tion were all found dead except the mother, of whose recovery slight hopes are entertained. But the worst feature in the case is that notice of the escape of gas had been sent to the gas company some months before, and they had taken no notice of it. We quite agree with the Coroner in thinking that the inquiry of last Saturday should be considered as merely preliminary ; and we trust that if on further inquiry it should turn out that the gas company is to blame for this accident, some steps will be taken to bring them to a sense of their duties for the future. The way in which poor householders are treated by these companies is notoriously shameful. Had arich man in Newport but held up his little finger, with what alacrity would their servants have attended his behests. But a pack of grumbling labourers, who could be put out of his way for them ? Five human lives have now been sacrificed to this spirit, and a strong expression of feeling p n the paw of the rlblie is desirable.