The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-08 00:00:00

DECEMBER 8, 1855. when he struck her. He then made her put on his shoes, his coat, Sze., which, she said, she did as well as she could, feeling very feint and much frightened. In reply to a question from Mr. Hammill, the corn plainant stated that although her husband had been four times before the court for ill-treatment of her, yet she had trusted to his promises of amendment and never appeared against him. The defendant was then committed to six months' hard labour by Mr. Hammill, and required also to find bail for six months further good behaviour. MR. BATES, THE CONVICT B.A7MILZR, is about to petition her Majesty, by memorial, praying for a pardon, on the ground that though nominally a partner, he was de facto but head clerk, and to a great extent ignorant of the frauds carried on by Strahan and Paul. In the case of Dr. Griffith, Mr. Bates asserts that he was entirely ignorant of, and in uo way privy to, the sale of that rev. gentleman's bonds, and although he was ultimately informed of the transaction, and remained a member of the firm, yet that he did so from a desire to avoid hastening the fate of the house while yet a chance remained to them of retrieving their position. ALICE GREY, THE WOLVERHAMPTON IMPOSTOR, whose trial was anticipated at the Stafford Assizes, on Monday, to the surprise of every one, was ordered to be set at liberty by Mr. Justice Williams, the grand jury having thrown, out the bill. The learned judge himself expressed his astonishment at the bill of indictment being thrown out by the jury, but ad mitted that under the circumstances he saw no reason to detain the prisoner. This conclusion was intimated to the prisoner, who, on being informed that she might remain in the gaol for the night, -accepted the offer. On the succeeding morning, before she had left the prison, the Superintendent of the Birmingham Police having received intelligence of the fact, proceeded at once to Stafford, and ob tained a warrant from a magistrate, and arresting the fair prisoner on a charge of perjury, carried her off to Birmingham for trial. THE INQUEST ON THE BODY OF MR. STERLING was resumed on Tuesday last at Newcastle, and ad journed for want of further evidence until Wednes day fortnight. The two men arrested on what at first appeared strong circumstantial evidence, will probably be shortly liberated, a good case of alibi being sustained by the prisoners. THE CASE OF MARTINSON, THE BANK CASHIER, who embezzled 4,2641., and was lately arrested on board the New York steamer at Southampton at the moment of starting, was tried at Newcastle before Mr. Baron Martin on Tuesday last. An attempt was made to exculpate the prisoner on the plea that the guarantees had, together with the prisoner's own property, made up the entire loss to the bank. Mr. Justice Martin observed that the plea was no mitiga tion of the offence, and that the greater the trust broken the greater should be the punishment. The learned judge then sentenced the prisoner to fourteen years' transportation. THE TRIAL OF THE MAFTEN MURDERERS, which was expected to take place at the present Northern Assizes, was postponed on Monday, by Mr. Justice Willes, as the matter was still under the investigation of the magistrates. Sir,—ln my last I maintained it to he historically p rov ed that g reat wars, once fairly begun, quickly get beyond the control of human reason or foresight, and pursue an irresistible course which statesmen are unable to arrest. I proceed now to show that this is not, as you say, a mere "pagan fatality," but what might naturally be expected as the legitimate consequence of war. 1. The very fact of war implies that the bellige rents have previously tried all other methods of ad justing their differences, and, in particular, that they have found reason altogether insufficient for the purpose, and that they have, therefore, elected to do without it. and to put the issue on the chance of battle. It follows that the same irreconcilable discrepancy of opinion which has brought them into this position will prevent them agreeing to peace, the more especially as the evil passions which a state of war evokes will have embittered their previous mis understanding. So that so long as the belligerents remain each the judge of his own case, there seems no terminus to the conflict till one or both are ex hausted. 2. But it might be expected that the influence and power of neutral nations would bring about an accommodation —and this, indeed, often happens, am' is in itself an instance of the control of the contest being taken out of the hands of the combatants — but it only happens when the neutral States are sufficiently strong to compel the combatants to adopt their award, and in most instances of the kind actual compulsion has been resorted to. Bnt where the belligerent nations, as in the present case, are so powerful that neutrals cannot interfere by compul sion, interference in any other way is of little avail in bringing about an accommodation. The reason of this is simple, and explains the cause why such attempts, however well meant, prove abortive. THE PRESS. 1167 Neutrals are only neutral in the sense of not being i Sir Edward Blakeney is about to be presented by at war; they can never be impartial. They have 1 the Inhabitants of Dublin with a very handsome silo r their own interests to attend to, and, even supposing shield as a mark of respect to the gallant general on these give no sinister direction to their interference, his late resignation of the command of the army in they incline them to propose terms of acc mmoda- Ireland. tion suited to maintain the balance of power. But Sir Colin Campbell had the freedom of the city of such terms must be contrary to the views of which- Glasgow voted to him last week for his gallant ter ever of the rival States is the aggressor—views vices in the Crimea. A award of honour is also about which that State has determined to maintain at all to be presented to the gallant general by the principal hazards. As the contest goes on this interest of the inhabitants of that city. neutrals shifts from one side to the other, according The German Legion, by advises from Constanti to the fortune of war; and if the agg ressor be nople to the 22nd ult., is described as rapidly im proving in health. It had changed its camp, and defeated, a regard for their own safe t y will in stinctively impel them to take his aide, and strive to cholera had ceased. bring about a peace more favorable to him than the The non commissioned officers of Marines lately position of affairs warrant. But to the victors such returned , from the Crimea were entertained at dinner attempts will appear unjust, if not treacher ous, and by the Earl of MountEdgcumbe on Monday last at will certainly be abortive. The contest w ill, there- his winter residence in Stone house, Devonport. fore, continue with additional bitterne4s,—the victors determined to exact more and more, and the van- Admiral Carthew, whose death has just bean re quished emboldened in their defence by the sym- corded, entered the Royal Navy as far back as 1780, pathy of other nations. when he was eleven years old, and served with dis 3. This is the first phase of neutral interference ; tinction at Martinique and other islands in the West we now come to the second. The fortune of the war Indies. as well as in some gallant affairs in the Channel during the last war. continues the same; the power of the one p art y is stil further reduced, and that of the other propor- Major General Blanshard's new escalading ladder tionally aggrandised, until the balance which before was tried on Monday at Chatham, and found to the war existed between them is totally destroyed. answer admirably. The peculiarity of their construe; It now becomes the interest of neutrals for their own tion consists in being fastened together by pins and preservation to abandon their neutrality, and by keys by a man placed to each joint. The experi joining the defeated party attempt to avert a develop - meats made were considered highly satisfactory. ment of power which imperils their own indepen- In use they are perfectly steady, without that play dence. Thus it happens that the most perfect in the description of ladders now in use in justice of cause is no surety for the alliances which siege operations ; they do not require the same may emerge out of a state of war once it is begun. space of ground as the old ones; they can be raised Preservation is the paramount duty of nations; and on a piece of ground about ten feet square; they are neutrals may often be called on to side with that lowered with ease, and as they are brought down each party whose cause they all along have admitted to portion of the ladder folds one upon another, and, be unjust, in order to check the preponderance of the with a pair of wheels, can be moved about as circum conquering State. Thus the war assumes altogether stances may require. a new shape, with still less prospect of rational Captain Charles Eden, C.B. (1841), to has been ap accommodation. It is this entrainment of neutral pointed Comp troller the Coast Guard, in the nations into the vortex which constitute s the fearful • the late Wi • room of W i ll iam H. Henderson. Captain peril of a war between any two of the great European Eden entered the navy in 1821, was made lieutenant powers. You set in motion a stone which gathers in 1832, promoted to commander in 1834, posted in to itself in its descent the debris of the mountain 1841, and appointed in 1853 captain to the London, until it becomes an avalanche. History is replete 90, in the Black Sea, during which time be was pre with illustrations, nor is it difficult to point the moral sent at the bombardment of Fort Constantine. to the present crisis. 4. But besides these leading princ i p les, which The new mortar-raft construct tried last week off Shoeburyner seem to me to account for the historical fact that mortar and dead shell, weighing wars never have been stopped midway by the reason rounds were fired at an average or moderation of the belligerents, there are numerou s 4,000 yards, before any effect i n t er ests growing up in a time of war which a re raft, ex cept the starting of a few inimical to peace, as it would invol v e t heir ruin. And tam Sir Thomas Maitland, C.B. thus while for the reasons above stated the wisdom last at noon. He had under and patriotism of the nation in vain endeavour to men and the gunner of the bring about peace, there are a set of men becomin g 18 , allace ; four rounds were fli i daily more influential as the war c ontinues who un leak was discovered n one of hesitatingly advocate its perpetuity and resist all magazines, and there were thi efforts at accommodation. in a very short time, and in an , 5. I think, then, I have explained on rational magazines there was! one foot . ._ principles what I may now term the " Outlawry of cussion felt on the ra nt is considerab , War," but to me there appears to be something more felt . on board the mortar-vessels . _ . in it than a mere exemption from human control. is fired , . and s her displacement by dip Looking back on history, I think I can discern the perceptible. finger of Providence directing the issues of wars so as to accomplish great changes in the history of the Admiral Sir William Parker has lately been su f f er wor ld—changes of which the human actors had no ing from a severe attack of asthma. The gallant foresight, and which if they had foreseen they would Admiral this week has been enabled to resume his in general have opposed. War is the abjuration of duties. our privileges as rational beings ; and it ought not to excite astonishment that when man repudiates the guidance of that reason with which God has endowed him, He should bring into play a different order of agencies than those under which the normal govern ment of the rational world is conducted. I feel some difficulty in drawing any practical con clusion pertinent to the question in hand from these observations, except so far as they prove that all attempts at peace at present are premature and will be abortive, and that hence we may deduce the lesson that, resigning ourselves to the state of things in which we are, we should bend all our energies to the vigorous performance of our limited part in the tragedy. In other words, let us try to bring about as soon as possible that state of exhaustion on the part of Russia which will enable us to dictate our own terms, and beware lest by wasting our time in futile efforts at peace we postpone the conclusion of the war till the period of our own exhaustion. Beyond this lesson there is no comfort in my philosopby.—l am, sir, your obedient servant, . 1 J. A. G. Id----- THE CHARACTER OF MIRABEAU. Popular leader though he was, Mirahean, no more than Charles Fox and other Men of the People, was in love with the populace. Necker called him an aristocrat by nature, and a tribune by calculation. Even after the decree had been visaed which abolished titles of honour, it appears that he continued to " enjoy " the style of Mon sieur le Comte; arid it was noticed that his " menials " retained livery after every one else, of the genus Jeanie. (l la Francais), had cast aside that badge of all their tribe, M. le Comte's flunkeys still wore their roe, without a dif ference. " No man," says Croly, " hated the rabble mote, yet no man panegyrised them with more lavish adulation. No man cherished every prejudice of noble birth more, yet his whole profession of faith was a strenuous scorn of nobility. If these things, faith and practice, are contrary the one to the other, they are not quite so hard to reconcile as the antinomies of Kant. He became a popular agitator, as the only course open to his ambition, passions, exigencies for the time being. Friend' and foes were all anent, and the bravest held their breath for a whtle, to watch this new Jehu spur the hot•mouthed horse, Instruct the beast to know his native force, To take the bit between his teeth, and fly To the next headlong steep of anarchy. PRYDY.N—The Medea. All France seemed watching, at the tribune, the °my look and gesture of that stormy orator, through whose ' shat beetle brows. and rough _ hewn, scarred. carbuncled NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. Major-General the Earl of Lucan has been gazetted to the Colonelcy of the Sth Hussars, vice General Sir John Brown, deceased. The Globe, in comment ing upon this appointment, regards it as a proof that Lord Lucan's good services in the Crimea are appre • ciated in high quarters. Vice-Admiral Sir George Seymour, K C. 8., G.C.11., the future Commander-in-Chief at Purtsmouth, does not officially take up his appointment before the end of the mmith. - - acted at Sheerness was yness with a 13. inch ing 2001bs. Ninetpsix 'erage range exceeding t on the framing of the 'ew deck planks. Cap- -3., went down on Friday his command, five sea- e Sinbad, Mr. Henry fired by them, when a of the pontoon powder three feet a water in it another of the pontoon oot of water: The con- sideraVy less than that ssels when the mortar ent by dip is scarcely " hhaggy beetle brows. and rotignriewn, MM. ...... face," as carl)le limns it, there looked out " natural ugli- ness, email-pox. incontinence, bankruptcy—and burning tire of genius." Ilis audiences felt, as a countryman of Carlyle's has said, that nett to the power of a great good man, inspired by patriotism, genius. and virtue, was that* of a great bad wan , nverflowing with the furies, avid ad dressfpf Paidemanium in its nip Pandemonian Mitodititt. '.l I t