The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-31 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 31, 1857.

sensitive than sagacious, has the rashness to remonstrate, he runs the

risk of being locked up all night, and placed in the dock nest morning
alongside of some abandoned woman, as if they were oid acquaint-
ances. This alone is sufficiently trying to any respectable man.
But the magistrate almost invariably adopts the statement
of the police, fines " the male prisoner," and dismisses him
with some curt admonition as to the consequences of a profligate life.
To these indignities are men of the purest morals and most respect-
able lives subjected by the irresponsible tyranny of the street con-
stables and the misplaced confidence of the police magistrate. We
intrust a most delicate duty, demanding keen intelligence for its
proper discharge, to a class of men that cannot be expected invariably
to possess these qualities. And then the magistrate, instead of making;
up for the deficiency by examining their statements in the. light of
his own superior judgment, flings himself blindly into their arms, and,
to save himself trouble, perpetually repeats the hackneyed platitude,
that " the police must be supported."

The accuracy of our remarks last week on the probable effect of
the American cr;sis upon our Money Market has been so far satisfac-
torily established. All apprehension of a drain of specie from this
country to America has ceased. In fact, the tenor of the last intelli-
gence (17th of October) from America, demonstrates how unfavour-
able a result will crown even the small shipments of specie which
were made to New York on the receipt of tke first intelligence of the
crisis. Sufficient time has scarcely elapsed to test to the full extent
the mischief done by this crisis to our mercantile community, and it
would be rash to assert that the evils of a too-extended trade with our
Transatlantic cousins will not yet be felt, and perhaps with some seve_
rity, by the American houses here. Should such disasters occur, they will
be the more to be regretted, as the crisis was more or less beyond ordi
nary foresight, and had its origin, not in an undue extension of ordinary
trade, but rather in wild speculations fostered by the unscrupulous con-
duct of bankers, who, when the consequences of their recklessness became
evident, exhibited a want of tact that only aggravated the severity of
the crisis they had themselves brought about. The main danger to
our merchants will be that of their correspondents in the United
States being either unable to make their remittances, or too anxious
to avail themselves of the crisis as a pretext for postponing the pay-
ment of their debts. But the very fact of the sudden recovery of the
exchanges at New York tends to show that there is no want of ability
or desire to remit to this country. The suspension of one bank at
Liverpool, and the circumstance that one of the Scotch banks
has only obtained assistance to enable it to carry on its business
under the condition of an immediate liquidation, by no means proves
the severity of the effects of the crisis. We have no doubt that the
investigation and results will show simply that the business of the
banks in question has not been carried on in accordance with ccrrect
principles, and will prove the soundness of the discretion exercised
by the Bank of England in withholding aid in the one case, and
appending a condition to it in the other. There have been rumours
of some further difficulties of a similar nature, which happily up to the
present time have not assumed a tangible form. We are, of course,
not prepared to say that they may not occur, but we feel confident
that if they do, their cause will be found in faults of management,
of which the public have lately had but too many specimens, and not
fr om the effect of the American panic.

In a statement last week referring to the recent trials of the mon-
ster mortar at Woolwich we unwittingly did an injustice to an eminent
mathematician, Dr. HART, of Trinity College, Dublin, by stating that
the mortar was the sole invention of Captain BLAKELY, of the Royal
Artillery. A correspondent this week informs us that the principle
upon which these mortars are constructed was simultaneously dis-
covered by Captain BLAKELY, R A., and Dr. HART. There appears also
to be a curious history attached to the practical application of the
discovery. The novelty is that every portion of the gun is made to
take more nearly an equal amount of strain than in a cast-iron gun, in
which the outer portions scarcely help at all, the inner part always
splitting first. This is effected by making the gun of concentric cylin-
ders one over the other, the outer ones being put on hot and allowed to
shrink. Mr. MALLET, celebrated for his metallurgical knowledge,
having obtained his information from Dr. HART, brought the matter
before Lord PALMERSTON ; and Lord PALMERSTON, overruling all the
objections of the War Department and the Select Committee, ordered
Mr. MALLETS to be attended to; and that gentleman, we believe,
obtained no less than 15,0001. from Government to make two mortars.
Nosy, itj is only fair to Captain BLAKELY to state that meanwhile, at
his own expense, he had made several guns, but, not enjoying the
material assistance accorded in other quarters, was unable to
obtain the notice of the Government, although one of his guns tried
against guns of like size now in the service showed an immense
superiority. One of the first iron-manufacturers in England offered
to the Government to supply, at 8001. a gun, 10 inch guns on Captain
BLAKELY'S plan, which should throw shot weighing a quarter of a ton
each. This was during the siege of Sebastopol. It is due to the
Whig Government of the day to state that this proposition has not
been kept " under consideration," but was pooh-poohed at once.
Consistency could not be sacrificed by such a vigorous measure, and
after two years 15,0001. have been spent iu the production of two
mortars on the same principle.

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