The Press. — London, England, 1858-12-25 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 25, 1858. melodrama rave or sneer according to his idiosyncrasy with unflagging success; may the amiable yeoman, who, in consequence of being robbed by his nephew, cannot pay his rent, be as pathetic as ever; may the pantomime be as glorious to the juveniles, and the ballet as delightful to their seniors. What more can we ask ? Another newspaper quarrel has this week been made public, though the circumstances are rather such as are common to all business occupations than to the press alone ; and we merely allude to it for the purpose of expressing our strong disapprobation of this system of societies." and the attempt on the part of workmen to dictate to their employers. The attempt involves a theory which is impossible to be realized, and must in the long run prove suicidal to its authors. But the conduct of the workmen on this occasion is blameless compared with that of the defendant, the editor of a rival psper. The workmen whom Mr. HARRISON, the plaintiff, had discharged, owing to their connection with " a society,' placarded the town of Sheffield with bills, one of which the editor of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph per mitted to appear in his columns as an advertisement. For this offence the plaintiff brought an action, and obtained 5001. damages from the jury. We can only say we wish it had been double, as we can never be too careful to preserve the courtesies of journalism, nor too ready to express our disappro bation of such practices as those in question. The Westminster Play has this week been honoured by the presence of Royalty, in the shape of II R li. the PRINCE CONSORT and II R.H. his eldest son. The compliment paid to these illustrious guests reminds us of the good old days of congratulatory verses, and we trust the Royal visitors fully appreciated their classic beauty. The wit of the epilogue is, if anything, a little below the average, though there are some good jokes on crinoline, and a fair hit at the " inuscular Christianity" folks. A letter has appeared this week in a morning journal, relating to the condition of newly arrived emigrants in Australia, the purport of which certainly does not surprise us. the demand for professional services, more especially such as those of tutors and governesses, if extensive, denotes a growth of intelligence and refinement in the colony which will naturally create the supply required for itself—if limited, this demand can of course afford very few persons a livelihood, whether emigrants or natives. But it is to be considered that society in Australia is composed mainly of two classes—the wealthy people who are not remarkable for intellectual tastes, and the intellectual people who are not remarkable for wealth. It will require another generation or two for the growth of a rich and leisurely class, who are the natural patrons of the class of people we refer to. There is a good deal of employment and constantly increasing employment, to be found in London for " persons engaged in tuition." The rate of remuneration is disgracefully low, we admit. But an income may be made,—which is more than can be said of the same occupation in the colonies. The cat did it. That is the only conclusion we can arrive at with regard to the Bradford poisonings. Mr. HopusoN didn't do it, and the apprentice didn't do it. Such, at least, is the external aspect of the ease. It appears that the crime of manslaughter is so evenly divided between them, that neither can be saddled with the whole. In a strictly legal sense, how ever, GonpAnn probably came further within shot, so to speak, than his master. He had been a pupil-teacher five years, and must, therefore, be something like nineteen or twenty years of age. He might, accordingly, be considered by his employer as possessed of sufficient intelligence to com prehend the instructions given to him, and the responsibility of deviating front them in the slightest particular. He was aware that arsenic was in the same room, and the tub containing it had been pointed out to him. Altogether, 31r. Hoix;soN was, perhaps, entitled to believe that the risk he was running was not greater than is often of necessity incurred in his business. The assistant, however, notwithstanding the fact that neither the material he served out nor the tub which held it corresponded exactly to his master's description of the " daff," was careless enough to disregard the difference, and hence the catastrophe that ensued. There can be no doubt that the culpability of GoDnAito was extreme. Whether his act comes within the legal definition of manslaughter is perhaps doubtful ; but it was probably felt that a pro secution directed against him would have worn too much the appearance of shifting the masters guilt on to the servant, and have enlisted the sympathy of the jury in his behalf. But, though we have no doubt that Hopt;soN was rightfully acquitted, we cannot exonerate him from all responsibility. We cannot consider that to have permitted the possi bility of a mistake of this kind was not a grave fault. The very neces sity of cautioning the boy so frequently, proved that all was not as right as it should be. Allowance is, no doubt, to be made for the state of mind produced by illness, the impatience of his customers' importunity, and the carelessness which springs from lassitude ; but when all deductions have been made, the residuum of moral guilt is considerable,—and we envy neither himself nor his apprentice their state of mind at the present moment. How singularly illogical is the Irish mind, and from what odd points of view do they look at things! The main point upon which Mr. REA, the solicitor for the detected and arrested members of the Phanix Associa tion, intends to rely, is the fact that they are no worse than their neigh bours, and that there are plenty more at large—a reason almost as exqui site as that given by Sir Andrew Aguecheek in his challenge to Cesario, and as logical as the argument of the Irish boatman, who, on being ob jurgated for not pulling in time, answered—`• Oh, now, how unrasonable, ver Honor is. Sure, if we both pulled at onst there'd be a time when the poor boat, good luck to her, would be left all to herself on the wide eater." the amount of 70,0001., they only discounted for Mr. COLE bills to the amount of 7,0001. But having passed the warrants, when they subse quently found them to be fictitious they did not at once call them in, and, having found out Mr. GOLF'S true character, they did not at once refuse to have anything more to do with him. On the contrary, they not only discounted his bills, thereby giving him the benefit of their connection, but they condescended to use him as a tool. They forced him, as we under stand Mr. CHAPMAN'S statement, to buy spelter when the price was at 20/. a ton, for which they gave him 131. if this is not condonation of fraud, it is an uncommonly good imitation of it ; and yet the se arc th e m en of whom it is said the British I louse of Commons has not enough ! The Directors of the Poor at St. Pancras have refused to reinstate the Rev. THOMAS PUOR in his office of chaplain at the workhouse, notwith standing the approbation of the Bishop, the Vicar of the parish, and the Archdeacon of Middlesex. They allege that the Reverend Gentleman pre varicated in the first instance in such a way as to render him unfit for the discharge of such important duties. This, of course, is a charge to be proved by evidence. The modus operandi adopted by Mr. Pmai must be admitted a fair subject of discussion; but that the object was itself a legitimate one, from the - religious point of view, we can hardly doubt. A clergyman is not a detective ; and it is the confidence reposed in clergy men by their poorer parishioners which alone enables them to effect the slightest good in the haunts of vice and crime into which their duty leads them. If an idea once got abroad that the clergyman was liable to be cross-questioned on their habits and pursuits, there would be an end of all his influence at once. We assign this as a reason why the authorities should deal very tenderly with Mr. PUGH'S scruples. Of course, when the law of the land and " a case of conscience" come into collision, the law should prevail. We make no secret of our opinion so far. But great forbearance should be displayed on such occasions by all who sincerely desire the spread of religious earnestness and a missionary energy among the clergy of our large towns. The Board have evidently missed the only point in their favour, and have taken their stand upon a ground absolutely untenable. The only question in doubt is, whether Mr. Peon was justified in going in the first instance on his own responsibility. The law, or rather the interpretation of the law, as applied to cases in which crime is alleged to be the result of insanity, or of a tendency to insanity, continues to be in a most unsatisfactory and dangerous condition. The result of the trial of JAMES ATKINSON fbr the murder of ANN &AWE, supplies us with a new instance of this, and of the extreme risk of accepting pure and simple the opinions upon this subject of Medical Men who have confined their minds in the circle within which this question of sanity, its degree, its limitations, and its separation from irresponsible madness, is to be found, till from perpetually refining upon differences they have become incapable of seeing distinctions. In the present case we are forced to discard their evidence altogether, so distorted are their views by morbid crotchets, and we are compelled to form our judgment by the light of common sense. Now what are the circumstances ? This .I.4mEs ATKINSON, who is considered sane enough to be at large, sane enough togo through the ordinary functions of life, sane enough to keep com pany with the poor girl whom he murdered in a fit of passion, sane enough to be married, is. acquitted of the crime of murder, and relieved from the consequences of the act which he had committed, on the ground that his intellect was stunted and had stopped growing at ten years of age. Arrived at man's estate physically, a man in passion and in brutal instincts, he remained mentally a child of ten years old. The mind had not advanced pari passu with the body, and he had a violent temper which lie never attempted to control, and which his parents had always been afraid to deal with. On that ground he was acquitted. Now, somebody is clearly very wrong, and somebody is unquestionably responsible for the commission of this horrible crime. Is it Society, or is it JAMES ATKINSON ? Is it Society, whose laws, and whose administration of its laws, permit such creatures as ArKissoN to be at large, supposing his imbecility to be as absolute as assumed by the jury, or is it JAMES ATKINSON himself? As the law and its administration now exist, we consider the jury to have been wrong, for it is quite evident from the description of his every-day life that no medical men would have authorized ATKINSON'S confinement in a lunatic asylum; and a man who is pronounced fit to be at large, and without supervision, must surely be considered as a being responsible for his acts. But the jury may have been right morally in their view, although mistaken legally. They may be right in thinking that a man whose intellect has confessedly not attained full development, and in whose family there is hereditary insanity, ought not to be held criminally responsible for outbursts of violence, whatever their consequence; but let us say that if that be so, it should be made the duty of somebody to look after him and to shut him up, before in his violence and madness he endangers or destroys the lives of others. Law and practice are both very unsatisfactory with regard both to beings of the class of this miserable JAMES ATKINSON, born with deficient capacity, and to those wretched men who from perpetual drinking become victims of delirium tremens, and periodically as mad and as dangerous as the veriest and most confirmed lunatic in llanwell. Who that remembers the old Adelphi Theatre, with its suffocating pit, its boxes that tortured like the stocks, and its atmosphere sacred to mephitis, but will rejoice to learn that we are at length to have a theatre in which the peculiarities of Messrs. WRIGHT and BEnFoni: can be enjoyed without offence to lungs, limbs, or nostrils. An Adelphi Theatse, more comfortable and less expensive, with all its old company, is something to look forward to in these days ; and we heartily wish Mr. - WEBSTER as long a career of popularity in his new theatre as he deservedly enjoyed in his old one. May the unctuousness of Mr.Wnrowr . never be drier—the :qualow of Mr, r. ilEviroltu never be less ; may the heavy tyrant of the 1261