The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-10-15 00:00:00

OUR LOVE OF ATROCITIES.

During the last few years we have become unfamiliar
with the word" atrocity," that we have even done It
the honour of giving it a prominent place in our along
vocabulary. By the golden youth who throng the
music "16: and who Pay constant worship to the
beauties behind the bar of the refreshment-room 111.
now customary to speak of everyth:ng that excites
their disapproval or contempt as an' atrocity." A
plain girl is an " atrocity ," a had tankard of their
favourite " Atfiell" is an "atrocity' their restarted
"guynor" who employs them is an 'atrocity" likes
"r• But yet, although the use of the word as a
fashionable piece of slang (for it is to be heard from
the fair lips of the beauties of Burlingham and Prince's
as often as from thee of the humble Arry) is some-
what of a novelty, we English moat have been
tolerably well acquainted with it. real meaning for
several centuries past. in fact, unpatriotic salt may
be to say so. we have, perhaps, a. genuine • relish for
atrocities as any other people of the civilised won l I.
One of the most noticeable features of Hogarth's
honest work—and truer pictures of England
and the English there could not be—is the
constant intrduction, either in the fore or the
background, of subjects of what we should now call
the "atrocity" type. Not only in the "Progreso of
Cruelty" are these to be seen. In "Gin Lane," where
the child is left to fall down the steer stone steps; in
the "Actresses in a barn," where the two old bags are
to be seen busily engaged in cutting off the cat's tail
with a pair of sciences; in the Rake's, and his lady
exemplar's, progresses, there Is &bray, some incident
to suggest something of our innate sympathy with
the horrible. Think again, too, what was the most
popular book, blending amusement with instruction,
with our children of the mid of the last and the
beginning of the present century. The smallest
library that could be got together could always at
least lay clnim to one volume of standard morality
and entertainment. No book, not even excepting
"Robinson Crusoe," was ever more popular with the
English 'school boy and 'school girl than the old
Illustrated editions of "Fox's Book of Martyrs."
They were given to children to inculcate into
their youthful minds a proper Protestant '
belief of papacy and the Inquisition • but, '
as Bunyan.' " P tlgrim's Prognms" is more often read ,
for the sake of the narrative than the allegory, so warn
the chief attraction of the " Book of Martyrs" found
to lie in the minute details and illustrations of the
' disgusting tortures and atrocities, rather than in the
laboriously argued sermons against the iniquities of
Rome, and in favour of the nerds* of England and
the Protestant religion. Parents who would have
very properly flogged a boy soundly for cruelty to an
initial or insect, yet looked on in bland approval
when their hopeful progeny was gloating over •
delicioua picture of racking, or flaying, or disembowel-
ing. Then, In the present day, although the remark
may perhaps raise an unneoessasy laugh amongst
those who may not have given the matter a second
thought, what are the most popular amusements of
the rising generation? It takes but little time to
answer—the Pantomime first, and next in place of
honour" Mr. Punch." And in the Christmas Panto.
mime what is it that Is the chief attraction to the
juvenile audience? Certainly not the scenery, the
music, the glancing, the comic songs. What never
fails to make the boys and girls to shriek with delight
is when some act Is committed whose only claim to
fun and frolic consists in its being of the atrocity
order. When the clown throws the baby into the
washing machine, when the pantaloon worries the
poor grocer with the red hot poker, when the police-
man ha. his legs pulled gun the whole length of the-
awe the juke, respectable only on account of its
extreme old age, never fails to bring the house down
with tumultuous applause. And, as to "Mr. Punch,"
whose popularity IA never on the wane, what is his
chief claim to attraction. He murder+ his wife; he
nearly brains the beadle, he hangs the hangman and
puts him in the coffin prepared for himself: and then,
111 a last wind up, finishes off the king of all evil with
an extra strong thwack upon the skull. "Hurrah I
the devil's dead," sings Mr. Punch, and as the little
maanikin has c-mmitted more atrocities than are
sin the average laid to the charge of the Don Cossack,
the children clap their bands with delight, and the
performance finishes with all icissf.
But the common-penis every-day Englishman may
choose to smile at all this. An ignorant Turk might
be inclined to say. "You dogs of Christians must,
indeed, have some good in you. You train no your
children to be cruel, yet they grow to be kind. In.
@rentable are the ways ot Allah. We train our I
children to be kind, yet they grow to be cruel." And
then, supposing we come to a more advanced age.
Take the t me of life of the country cousin who comes
to, to town thirsting for sight-seeing of every sort,
what, again, Is the greeted attraction? Still the
"atrocity" is the favourite. The perhaps most
universally approved stock eight of the rural and
provincial visitor is Madame Tuesaud's "Chamber of
Horrors." There memo to be almost • morbid
twined in about the place. A real country cousin
would Isomer even mis seeing the Tower or the
Crystal Palace than be done out of the "Horrors"
To watch the honest f: :11r.s gaging at the wax effigies of
the most notorious murderers and morals who have
ever disgraced the name of humsniry, to hear them
II cu-sing the question as to whether the morierers
are ciao' in the "real" clothes they wore at the time
they committed their crimes, to li•ten to the lonadrawn
sighs of admiration when Messrs. Palmer and Mullen'
are seen for the first time, to wonder whether all these
grinning and staring people have really at heart a
certain sympathy with the most atrocious crimes, or
else why they should be so intensely amused : all this
might afford abundant opportunity for reflection, even
to the most unobservant social philowspher. Un-
doubtedly. despite the outry against Turkish, Bulgarian
and Russian afro dices, we all of us must °onto:B46st
there is a piquant relish about a good startling murder
which is at times extremely attractive. .

Even, too, stout the mere neighbourhood of •
popular murder there seems ti he • sort of hideous,
though unaccountable !amino-ion. Some years ago,
lush. woods on the banks of the western Avon, a
most horrible murder was committed, the circum-
stances of which were so revolting that one
would not have been surprised if the omntrj
folk round about the unhallowed spot b
been alfected by some superstitious awe that
could have induced them to mold as much as
possible the lonely scene of the dreadful crime. But,
on the contrary, if any simple rustic was at one time
at all scared by a belief In the presence of ghosta sad
spectres, he was soon charmed back by the intense
appreciation of anything in connection with an
atrocity. No one cared a farthing about the place
being haunted, and, In lees than a year or no after the
date of the murder, it grew into a popular spot for
summer picnics. Sitting on the exact spot where an
unfortunate girl was murdered seemed to give a sort of
relish to the tea and bread and butter that neither
shrimps, bloater-pieta, nor marmalade oould in any
way equal. Then, for another similar Instance. At
• plea, on the Yorkshire moors, called Bill o' Jack's,
a place as lonely and unattractive as could well be
conceived, a house of entertainment has for years pmt
been doing • thriving trade merely because a cruel
murder was committed near by. The folks from Old.
ham and Rochdale flock in hundreds to this charming
spot--the old men smoke their pipes, the old women
Elp and drink their tea, the lovers stray hand in
hand in the moonlight, and all are happy; for has not
the place been sanctified to enjoyment by the comple-
mentary sacrifice of an awful murder?
And, even within the last few years, bow strongly
has the popular I .ve of atrocities been shown up?
The first Sunday after the discovery of the Ethan
murder, hundreds and thousands of happy London
citisens Socked down to the scene of the crime. In
the lane where the body was discovered, the hedges
were literally torn into fragments, for every one was
determined to have a souvenir of the pleasing event.
Never before, perhaps, did the presence of murder
seem to throw aroun d a brighterlow of genial
Influence, Hiss-inethe-ring was played in the fields;
ginger beer was sold in large quantities; Aunt Sallies
were set up and 000011 nuts knocked down. The
distinguished foreigner whom steps might have by
accident taken him to the spot would, perchance,
have fancied that the happy throng were celebrating
some time-honoured festival handed down by tradition
from the good old days of "merrie England." As to
the sad catastrophe which has recently taken place In
the Thames, it cannot he said to come under the
category of atrocities Yet it was so horrible and
fearful In all It. details, that a certain amount of the
"atrocity" feeling set in, and hundreds of idle sight-
seers hired boats, and went out on the river to watch
a work so dreadful that record of it is sickening. A
story Is now going the rounds of the thigned-out
smoking rooms of a few clubs -a story which, whether
true are not, at any rata give. • sadly true idea of the
morbid craving for "atrocity" which is one of the
most revolting characteristics of the untutored OLOWIOI.
When the wreck of the Princess Atka had not yet
been cleared away, a boatful of young comennongers
paid the river a visit They looked long and intently
at all that waa going on before they left. At last, one
young rester ritheM himself in the boat, and, turning
round to his companions, said with an air of mincers
regret. "It's a' moat as good aid they'd all been
murdered I" Hie antipathy for the unfeirtutude was
tatcrly lust in the contemplation of what might have
been a glorious "atrocity.
Yet, to pander to such degraded baseness as this,
to insult every sense of decency, to assail the sanctity
of the dead, and to wound the feelings of those who
mourn for them, the atrocity-loving holiday-makers
were alicieed to crowd round the wreck and to gloat
over every horror. We hear so much about the
ambits) nemseity for thorough religious training that
It is a wonder that the religious trainers have never
thought of teaching the poor and ignorant • few of
the fit* and simplest lessons of humanity—to
reverence the dead, and to find no pleasure whatever
In What is wicked or horrible. However, if our love
of "atrocities" cannot to moms extent be banished by
teaching termusion, WO Gin only hope that it may be
y phydeal force. When atrocities and
catastrophes occur let the pollee on all occasions be
ready to prevent the assembly of any crowds of
gloating sight men. The relish for atrocities must
be 'somehow stopped in its unwholesome growth, or It
may at a me future time IWO,* a source of danger to
the safety of society, and to an extent that has been
little foreseen.

T. Med ical Peofeesion us now ordering Cadbury's
'Amos FA*Ol2OO in thousands of caws, because it COfl.
tains more nutritious and dub forming elements than
57 oiler bey , and tacireferaide to the thick
staidly Cocoa When you ask for
Cadbury's Coons Eseerce be sure that you gut IC IS
"oldrnoPers ofrialsbbe.knbeeleus fur the sake ci
%AN/ 94.06 .P.O. Dig"

EARL GREY ON THE SITUATION.
Earl Grey writes • letter in to-day's Tina, from
which we extract the following the excellent
letter addressed to you by Lord Lawrence and in
your own articles on the present relations of the
Indian Government with the Amcor of Cabal, two
important questions are raised—first, has Shere All,
by forcibly stopping the Mission sent to him by the
Viceroy, given just gr =de for war with him? and,
secondly, supposing the right to be established, is
there any each advantage to be gained by war as to
make it expedient to undertake it? On these ques-
tions you have come to conclusions directly opposed
to thaws arrived at by Lord Lawrence, which appear
to me to be so erroneous and to be calculated to lead
to such calamitous reetilts if they should be adopted
by the Government and the nation, that I venture to
oak you to allow me to explain in your column. my
reasons for dissenting from them. With regard to
the first question, I am not aware that in all that has
been mid and written on the subject, any attempt has
been made to explain upon what grounds it can be
maintained, (as those who take the warlike side in
the diecturdon seem to arrume) that Share All, though
the ruler of an independent State, had not • right to '
decline to reoeive the Mission which the Governor-
General of India proposed to send to him. I believe
the right of every independent nation to refuse to
I receive an Envoy hum another has never been
questioned. Nor is the GOO altered by what is
called the insulting manner in which the Mission was
storped, or by the fact that the Ameer has thought fit ,
to receive an Envoy from Russia while he rejected ours. '
Nor does the fact that • Russian Envoy had been
received at cabal give any just ground of quarrel to
the Indian Government against the Ameer. It is
asserted that the Russian Mission was not sent to
Cabal in any spirit of hostility to us. and we cannot
disprove the assertion, though I am not more disposed
to give credit to it than yourself. But even if the
object of the Mission were not a mere matter of
suspicion, and if it had been avowedly sent as •
measure of precaution against the extendon of British
power in Asia, it would have been quite within the
clear right of both Russia and Afghanistan to enter
into communication with each other for this purpose.
I trust that this view of the subject may on calm
reflection be adopted by the British Government and
nation, and that the project of Invading Afghanistan
(If it is really entertained by the yien Geyer..
mast) will consequently be Overruled; but it is dash,
able also to consider the second quedion raised by Lord
Lawrence—Has this county anything to gain by going
to war with the Ameer if it can be made out that we
have just groan& of quarrel with him? The main
object of going to war (if I rightly understand what
has been urged in favour of that course) would be to
increase the security of our Indian Empire by prevent-
ing Russian infitllnCO from being so established in
Afghanistan that at some future time an attack might
be made upon India by the Russia' ns combined with
the Afghans. A sufficient force under British
officers would, no doubt, be able to force its way
through the perm sod to capture Cabul and the
other Afghan cities and fortresses, killing in
theme operations many of the Afghans, and of necessity
laying waste much of their territory and destroying •
great deal of their property. But certainly this would
not tend to make the Ameer and his followers more
friendly to us than they now are' on the contrary, it
could only make their hostility far more bitter than
It is. Those who are so much alarmed at the lose of
prated they think we should incur by submitting to
the insult we are supposed to have received would do
well to consider, before they insist upon having •
' force sent in to Afghanistan, how much more serious
this lossof prestige will be if that force should ulti-
mately be compelled to retire. The effect of this
would, indeed, be most alarming. Through the whole
continent of Asia, and especially in our own domin-
ions, the fact of our having for the first time been
foiled in an enterprise we had undertaken by an
Asiatic Power backed up by Russia would produce a
deep impression and encourage every plot and hostile
design which may be entertained against us. The
belief, too, in the power of Russia would be increased
as mach as that in our own would be shaken. It is
difficult to exaggerate the danger to which our Indian
Empire would thus be exposed, and I moat venture
to arert that the rashness of incurring this danger to
get out of the difficulty by which we are now ember-
roomed would, in my opinion be inexcusable. At the
same time, I am far from denying that we shall
sustain real damage to our reputation if, after all that
has been said and done, the rejection of our Envoy
should be passed over without resenting it But I
contend that this damage would be • trifle in com-
parison with the evil of waging an unjust war, and
with that which would result from its possible ulti-
mate failure. It would be far better to submit to the
intuit we have brought upon ourselves by the mis-
taken policy we have of late pursued with regard to
Afghanistan than that we should make another step
In the same unwise coarse with the vain hope of
regaining what we have loot by the errors we have
committed.