The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

OCTOBER 20, 1855. say that any peace, to be secure, must rest rather upon your own convictions of your own power to resist Russia than on any imcgery and foolish treaty that you can possibly make. But I say this—if the war is to be continued, we must be prepared to make greater sacrifices than we have yet made. England is too great to afford to wage a little war. We cannot afford to send merely some thirty, forty, or fifty thousand men to the Crimea; we must send an army that can hold its own, and will be equal to that of the French. The speech was received with much applause, but subsequently Mr. Chewler stated that the farmers did not wish for extreme high prices, but were con vinced of the justice of the present war. MR. SIDNEY HERBERT AND THE REV. S. G. OSBORNE AT WILTON. A TEA-1'4.111Y, at which five hundred persons were present, was held at Wilton last week. Mr. S. Her bert, and the Rev. S. G. Osborne, with nearly all the leading families in Wilton and its vicinity, attended. The speeches of Mr. Herbert and Mr. Osborne con tained some points of interest. The former gentle man dwelt on the deeds of our army and the justice of the war, but said nothing on the present state of affairs He felt proud of the courage and conduct so nobly dis played by our army during the war in the Crimea. He confessed he was not one of those who were disposed to find fault or to depreciate the efforts made by the English army during the late siege. He thought, upon looking back upon the history of British wars, they would hardly find an instance iu which, in so short a time, such eminent and decisive successes had been gained as those lately achieved by our army in the Crimea. (Cheers.) When did they ever see in so brief a period such victories as were commemorated by the names of Alma, Balaklava, and In kerman—nauies which would ever be household words in England? . . . He thought that there never was a more justifiable war than the present one. (Cheers.) He would say that even those who thought no war justifiable could not but feel sympathy with the merits of such sol- diers as those of England. He also extolled the merits of Miss Nightingale and Mrs. Bracebridge, the latter of whom was present, and then introduced to the meeting the Rev. S. G. Osborne, who spoke with great moderation and good sense on the character and convictions of the Rus sian soldiery : Yes, we might have our opinion on the war—we might deem it our duty to shed blood to drive the Russians to those terms which only, for the safety of Europe, could realise a lasting peace; but the enemy also had their opinion. However bad we might deem the Russian cause, we must admit that, at all events, they fought like men who felt themselves in the right. We could not dispute their bra- very, though we deprecated its direction ; and, however proud we might be of having conquered them, we must own that they are an enemy worthy of our arms. Adverting to what he called the fanaticism of the Russians, Mr. Osborne proceeded to say they were fighting for their Czar, whom they worshipped with a feeling of awe and reverence for his power scarcely less than they felt towards God himself. That monarch whom they had so blindly reverenced had been taken from them. We, as a Christian nation, had felt it our bounden duty to make the cause of liberty our cause, to protect the weak against the oppressor, that nothing wrong should be done. He trusted that we felt so on sure and certain grounds. We must not forget., how ever, that the Russians also went to battle for what they felt to be the cause of religion and justice. They had all heard of the great Mass which was celebrated by the Rus sian army before they attacked us at Inkermann. There was real, if mistaken, religion in that observance, and as such we were bound to honour it. The Russians had a strong feeling that they were right, and in that feeling they went to war. He displayed some curious trophies of the war : Upon the bodies of the slain Russians were found charms. Some of them were fastened round the head, and others, composed of small pieces of brass, were round the breast. Mr. Osborne here exhibited one of these charms, being a small pictur e of the Virgin and child, which he stated to have been taken from a Russian officer. That officer was killed by a bayonet thrust, and they would observe that the blow passed just above the charm. The Russians consi dered that if the blow had struck the holy body of the image the wearer would have been safe. The next trophy he had to show them was, as they would see, nothing but a leather bag, used ordinarily to contain tobacco—in fact, what was familiarly called a " baccy-bag." He would, how ever, sooner part with all the relics he had brought from the East than that bag, for it had belonged to one of the bravest of men—a man who had even roused the apathy of the Turks, and excited their admiration;. he meant the gallant Butler, whose energy had saved Silistria, and com pelled the Russians to raise the siege. The next thing he had to show them was a pair of boots, made of Russian leather by M tiller of St. Petersburg, who, he supposed, was the " Hoby "of the Russian capital. They had belonged to no less amen than Prince Menachikoff—they were, in fact, Menschikoffs boots, found in his carriage when it was taken by our troops after the flank march. The way in which they came into his hands was this :—Orders had been issued that there should be no plunder, but it unluckily happened that an English offleer was seen early in the morning with a turkey in his hand, whereupon the soldiers, following the presumed exam)* of the officer, proceeded to plunder also. Among others Major Nasni3th got hold of those boo, which he gave him, with an intimation th a t th e y h a d be' e ' taken from Mensehikoffs baggage. Certainly neither t en prinoe nor his shoemaker would ever have anticipated wh THE PRESS. he first pet them on that they would be produced for the amusement of a tea-party at the Wilton heading-room. In his pleasant speech he highly eulogised the devotion of the lady nurses, and, in conclusion, ex pressed the pleasure he felt in witnessing the spread of such educational institutions as that at Wilton. The tea•party broke up with cheers for the army and navy. THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE delivered a lecture on " Colonies and Emigration," at the Hawarden Institution on the 12th instant. The right hon. gentleman, after examining the various reasons which induce men to emigrate from their mother country, entered upon the question of the value and benefit of colonisation, and stated as his opinion that the idea that a country depended for its greatness upon its colonies was being fast dissipated, and that her greatness depended, nct upon the number or extent of her foreign possessions, but rather upon her own internal resources : England (observed Mr. Gladstone) must look to the industry of her own sons—their intelligence, perseverance, patriotism, and virtue—to maintain and perpetuate her greatness and her glory. Those are the qualities that have secured for her that distinction among the nations of the earth which she at present occupies; and the same powers that have developed her arts, her manufactures, and her commerce ale sufficient for their perpetuation. By colonisation, Mr. Gladstone remarked, we made sure markets for our manufactured goods, in- creased the demand for ships in the transport of those goods, and of course improved the shipping trade ; while its moral benefits, he assured his hearers, arose out of the influence which attaches to the spread of our language and English habits and tastes over the distant parts of the world : To have the scions of our families planting themselves in the colonies, rearing their offspring, and extending the area occupied by the sturdy Anglo-Saxon race, is to increae the moral influence of Old England, and maintain in a natural and legitimate manner the prestige of her name. LORD STANLEY, M.P., on Tuesday evening ad dressed a meeting at the Temperance•hall, Bolton, on the occasion of the opening of the new mechanics• institute at that place. His lordship, referring gene. rally to the condition of operatives and of the advan tages now enjoyed by all classes of the labouring population, stated as his opinion that no town should be without certain public buildings : There were some public works which no well•ordered town ought to be without. Be would indicate what he considered were necessary. No place ought to be without accommodation for public worship. That was obvious, and be passed it by. There ought also to be room in our schools for every child between the ages of five and fifteen, and not only room, but some effort ought to be made by the philanthropist and the wealthy to get the children sent by their parents; and there should be local superintendence to see that the teaching was good in quality. There, again, there could be no ground of dispute. Thirdly, it was wrong that 30,000, or even 100,000 as in some places, should be cooped up, without something in the nature of parka or public grounds, where working men and their families could take the benefit of air in the day. Practical Manchester had set a good example in that respect. Liver pool intended to follow it up, and Preston had already made up its mind not to be left far behind. Fourthly, they required a free public library in a good central posi- tion, with means of selection commensurate with the wants of the town in which it was situate. On that point the people of Bolton had displayed a largo amount of pub lic spirit. Fifthly, public baths and washhouses. Upon that he would not dilate, for they were already established in that town, and he earnestly hoped they might be suo cessful. Sixthly, they required places of amusement and recreation for working men—a kind of poor man's club, where he could find those comforts which be now unfor tunately sought at the publichouse, which would be cheaper, and where he would not be exposed to those temptations to which he was now subjected. Such places of entertainment bad been established in various parts of the country, both urban and rural. That would be an effectual plan to rival what he was afraid was our national vice—intemperance. Lastly, no urban community could be complete whiih did not contain some institution for the promotion of education amongst adults, such as that institution the opening of which they had met to celebrate. Xabl anb V olkt. JEWISH MODE OF KILLING CATTLE. AT the Mansion-house on Tuesday the case for the prosecution of two Jewish butchers by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was heard before the Lord Mayor and Sir Peter Laurie. The court was crowded, and many Jewish gentlemen of influence, among them Sir Moses Montefiore, were present. The case was stated by Mr. Bodkin, and defended by Mr. Ballantine. The evidence was di rected to show, that whereas by the method of the Jewish butchers, the tax beiug first tied in a peculiar manner and having its throat cut, it took from ten to fifteen minutes to kill the animal; by the ordinary manner of striking the beast on the head with a pole • axe, and then touching the brain with a cline, it took only about five minutes. As to the degree of pain suffered by the animal, the opinion of the common slaughter men was that sensibility was almost instantly de the mot 999 stroyed by the blow of the pole-axe and by touching the brain, while the death-struggles of the creature lasted some minutes when its throat was severed. The medical evidence was not very conclusive. Dr. Pavey, lecturer at tiuy's Hospital, stated that the cutting of the bullock's threat was succeeded by syncope, but that "after that there was another flow and violent convulsions, during which the animal ap peared to attempt to recover its sensibility." Dr. Edward Lloyd, senior physician to the ltgyal Dis pensary, stated that " utter the blow with the pole - axe, he believed death took place imme diately the cane touched the spinal cord; the body was convulsed after that,operation, but there was no pain." Mr. Ballantine, who represented the Jewish Society for the defence, characterised the present charge as one evincing a lamentable want of discretion upon the part of the Society fur the Pre vention of Cruelty to Animals, and appealed to the magistrates for a judgment which should put a final stop to such absurd prosecutions for the future. SIR PETER LAURLR I after consultation with the Chief Clerk, delivered the following judgment : The question before me is, whether the mode of slaugh tering cattle for food, as described in the evidence given, is cruelty within the meaning of the section of the statute, which enacts, " that if any person shall cruelly beat, ill treat, over-drive, abuse, or torture, or cause or procure to be cruelly beaten, ilkreated, over-driven, abused, or tor tured, any animal, every such offender shall fur every such offence forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding M." The Jewish mods of slaughtering, founded ou their religious abhorrence of blood and the prohibition against blood in the Mosaic law, has existed above three thousand years. And while I admit that no religious obligation will justify any legal cruelty to animals, I am of opinion that no cruelty has been proved to be inflicted, either in fact or within the meaning of the act, which was passed to prevent wanton cruelty and the infliction of pain to animals without a lawful and justifiable object, The Jewish male of slaugh tering oxen is that adopted by every Christian butcher in slaughtering calves, sheep, and pigs ; and were 1 to hold their mode to involve the offence of cruelty, no botcher, whether Christian or Jewish, could carry on his trade. I should be interfering with the ordinary and usual business of life, and, above all, meddling with matters of faith and religious opinion on the subject of ceremonial observances, which we are all bound to respect so long as they do not involve any breach of the common law. WOMANBEATING. WILLIAM MICHAEL Vi'ALsiuw, described as a brick layer, was charged at Westminster, on Monday, with assaulting Ann Burrows, at 30, Pond-place, Chel sea : The complainant, a respectable-looking young woman, stated that on Saturday evening the defendant came to her house at about eight o'clock, and said he wanted her hus band to go out and have a glass of ale with him. She told him that her husband had not yet returned from his em ployment, and the defendant went away, but returned be• tween eleven and twelve o'clock with his wife. Cow plainant's husband fell asleep in his chair, and, considering it was time to go to rest, she said so, and went upstairs to put her infant to bed, supposing that dining ber absence defendant and his wife, who were opposite neighbours, would leave. She had scarcely got the infant out of her arms when, to her surprise, defendant entered ber bed room, and upon her inquiring what business he had there, he said, " Hush," and still udvanced. She endeavoured to get rid of him and escape from the room, when he shuck her a blow on the head, and when she got upon the stairs he kicked her. She fell down in her struggles and cut her head, but did not charge defendant with being the im mediate cause of the injury. She apprehended improper liberties from him, as he had made overtures to her a short time previously. The prisoner was fined 41. or biz weeks' imprisonment, and bound over to keep the peace for six months. • In reference to tl•e subject of woman-beating, Mr. Jardine made some remarks at Bow-street on Tuesday. A powerful woman, Caroline Gilder, was brought before him for smashing the windows of a lodging house, and being sentenced to pay the damage suddenly rushed on the complainant like a tiger, clawing her face, knocking out one of her teeth, and swearing, with awful imprecations, that she would take her life. When torn from her prey the magistrate said A great deal of public indignation was frequently, and not unnaturally, excited by the published details of smelts eommitted by men on women, It would be only right, however, if the other side of the question could be mos atonally exhibited, in order that those who sympathised exclusively with the weaker sex, might learn something o the provocation to which the men in too many instance were compelled to submit. Here, this very dm y, out s nineteen charges before him, there were no fewer than fif teen against women, fur drunken and disorderly conduct, and this was by no means an exceptional case—it was a thing of almost daily occurrence. He often wished that people had an opportunity of examining the records of the London polimeourts, and noting therefrom how much more rapedliy these chargers were on the increase against women than against men. He ordered the prisoner to find ta►q sureties to, keep - "el in. default committed her to siz THE •ARCHITEOTORAD MUESLI! COM MI TTEE has accepted an offer from the Government Department of Art at Marlborough-house, to contribute the gum of 1001. to their institution for the ensuing year nder certain conditions.