The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-06 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

My own darling precious beloved pet little Sue,—. . . .
Now, my dearest darling pet, pray that I may not be dis.
appointed in this affair, for I have had quite enough of
that sort of work already. Dearest one, don't be impa-
tient ; all will yet, I trust, be settled to our comfort, and
our little house of happiness will yet, 1 trust, be estab-
lished near mamma. My hearty ! you were very cross
yesterday when I told you that I had not had an opportu-
nity of speaking to my father, and I sin rather glad, now,
that I did not get to speak with him yesterday, for perhaps
it would only irritate him, as the thing now stands, and it
is quite evident to me that he is arranging the thing for
me as fast as ever he can ; so, my beauty, you must have
patience, and mind, do not say a single word to our folks
at home about it. I cannot write more just now, as lam
very busy to-day, having a great many orders to enter. I
hope, my darling one, that your cough is better today,
and that you feel very jolly indeed. Do not say anything
to anybody about this until I tell you more about it. I
think I am sure of it this time, at all events, and I hope it
will not be long before I receive permission from my father
to give these gentlemen here the slip. Ido not care how
soon—to.morrow,if my fatherlikes, I am willing tocut. . . .
I will be with you as soon as I possibly can, and spend
another happy evening with my little darling pet Sue.
Only three more hours, and then I shall see you. My pet
and precious one, how I love and doat upon you. Time
will not allow Lie to say more, therefore with most affec-
tionate and truly everlasting love,
Believe me ever, my own darling pet,
Your truly, devoted, affectionate, and loving,

FRANK.
The next letter is tinged with a religious sense of
the responsibility of marriage extremely touching:—
May 11, 1855.
My own most precious and always dearest and darling
Sue, I hope, my own darling pet, that
the time is not now far distant when, joined together by
the holy bands of matrimony, we shall live happily and
comfortably together until death do us part, according to
God's holy will and ordinance. My beauty, Ido hope that
you will not fidget because we are separated, as it were,
for a season. You shall hear from me every day, you little
darling, and I will always send you as long a letter as I
can find time to write

Believe me ever, my own darling Sue,
Your ever affectionate and truly loving,
FRANK.
In the next Mr. Farebrother attributes much to
Providence :

War, Sperm, and Oil Works, Stockwell,
June 29, 1855.
My own darling Pet,— My own darling
little Sue, you do not wish more to see me than I to see
you. We certainly were made for each other, and God in
His infinite mercy has brought our wishes to pass, and I
shall only be happy when the day arrives that 1 can call
you my own loving wife
Believe me. ever, my own darling pet,
Your truly, loving, attached, and affectionate,

Early in this year the defendant was made senior
partner in the family waxworks, and appears
forthwith to have quarrelled with his father, and, to
use a professional phrase, to have become at
"sixes " and "sevens " with everybody else. He
" split " with his fellow-partners, ill-used his brother
George, and mismanaged the alderman. Soon after-
wards he evinced towards the young lady symptoms
unmistakeable in their tendency. fie forgot all
about Providence and the "holy bonds," on some oc-
casions wrote short and hasty replies to letters, and
none at all upon others. The promised " little house of
happiness near mamma" was as heartlessly put oft' as
if the" devoted Frank " had recently attended a repre-
sentation of the farce of My Wife's Mother, and ap•
plied the moral to his own future. Difficulties and
troubles pricked him on all sides. He got into his
father's debt and out of his good graces. The wheels
of the waxworks became hopelessly clogged, and a
dissolution of partnership nearly ensued. In the
midst of all this the " devoted " writes to his "pre-
cious pet," she must really excuse a long letter ;" he
hopes she will buy "a nice dress" and a "pretty
parasol ;" he has not yet succeeded in obtaining
" the pot of lilies," but "with fondest, deepest love "
he is " ever the devoted and affectionate Frank " of
his " beloved Sue." A few days afterwards, on the
22nd of April, the young lady replies with the fol•
lowing sensible letter, which, by the way, betrays no
very high opinion of her " devoted Frank," or of his
respected papa, and shadows out the coming crisis.
Frank is "no longer what he used to be." We all
know what usually follows this change :
A few lines I will wr.te this evening in reply to your
letter just received. I am glad to think you thought it
worth your while at last to write to me. You are very
different, Frank, to what you used to be; all here are not
a little surprised and annoyed at your proceedings at
Stockwell. I think, without exception, it is one of the
most ridimilous, thoughtless affairs I ever heard of. You
may think it all the better for you, but I will not believe
it, and papa and mamma are quite upset about your en-
gaging George (who consequently gave up his situation),
and then allowing your father, who had nothing in the
world to do with the business, to put him out. Now lie
may be .nonths out of a situation. Of course you are
answerable for his salary until he obtains one ; at that,
of course, you will not scruple. What are you thinking of
to dissolve partnership as soon as you have entered it?
Why, every one will laugh at you, and just because your
father heel threats and makes promises, neither of which,

SATURDAY,

I dare say, he will either keep or perform. I think you
must be as mad as he is ; it has quite upset me and made
me as wretched as is in your power to make me, and
mamma will, I expect, be laid up through it. 1 will not
say any more. I dare say you will not read half what I
have already written, and will not answer it for a week;
for that I do not mind, as I am quite miserable, and shall
be so for a long long time, unless the business be settled
as before. Good bye. Yours, as ever, Sum
No answer was sent to this note. " Susy " wrote
again, but no longer as " Slimy," or even " Yours as
ever." That dreadful "Mr." was put in force, and
the Christian name signed in full :
Monday, May 5.
Perhaps you will be kind enough, Mr. Farebrother, to
send me word whether you intend writing to tee again, or
whether it is your wish to break off our correspondence
altogether; if so, let it be settled at once. Rhoda will call
for your answer in the afternoon. I beg you will have one
ready, as it is not only my wish (which is considered
nothing by you), but it is mamma's particular desire to be
satisfied on this point. Yours. itc., SUSAN.
The inevitable result of such a note was to bring
matte's to the crisis the young lady did not desire.
The "devoted Frank" the next day replied as
follows:

Moat-house, May tl. 1858.1
Mr. Frank B. Farehrother agrees with Miss Crippen in
thinking that all further correspondence between them had
better cease, agreeably to her note of yesterday. Mr. F.
will tomorrow send down Miss Crippen's presents and
letters, and will feel obliged to her to return his through
the same channel.

The presents and letters were accordingly returned
by both parties by means of a carman, and the
plaintiff sent the following note, which closed the
correspondence :
Miss Crippen begs to inform Mr. Farebrother that it
was quite unnecessary taking the trouble to send a list of
his presents, as he need not fear she would keep one. If
any are forgotten, perhaps he will send word. The salver
will be forwarded to Mr. Etberedge.
The defence set up was, that the young lady in
this case was the real aggressor, and that her letter
of the sth of May virtually released the plaintiff from
the engagement. '• Not so," said the Chief Justice
in summing up. The letters of the young lady
either amounted to a mutual release—in which case
the verdict should be for the defendant ; or else they
were written in anger and from a wish to bring her
lover back to a state of submission, with a desire at
last to know his intentions. In such case they could
not possibly amount to a release, though their tenor
ought to mitigate the amount of damages.
The jury considered for a few minutes and returned
a verdict for the plaintiff—damages 4001.

The obvious inference to be drawn from this result
is, that a young gentleman cannot be permitted to
accept trifling changes in the feminine temper as a
release from a solemn engagement. The point is
worthy of notice and recollection.

AN ACTION FOR LIBEL against the proprietors of
the Daily News, brought by the Earl of Lucan, was
tried at the Court of Exchequer on Wednesday, be-
fore the Chief Baron. Sir Frederic Thesiger ap-
peared for the Earl of Lucan ; Mr. Edwin James
for the defendants. The libel complained of ap-
peared in a leading article in the Daily News, of the
26th of July last. The article in question was upon
the report of the Chelsea Commission, and stated
that Lords Lucan and Cardigan, not having found in
Lord Raglan " a firm, vigorous commander, whose
will they respected and feared," had given full play
to their natural and acquired vices and defects, and
had introduced into the military history of their
country an episode of the most discreditable descrip-
tion, which was not to be shuffled out of :

No (continued the article), the Lucan-Cardigan scandal
still remains undiminished in real gravity, at once a warn-
ing and an instruction to the Duke of Cambridge as to the
heavy responsibility he has assumed at the Horse Guards.
His first, his imperative duty, will be to throw himself upon
the young and energetic officers of the army; to seek out
and elevate to places of trust true ability and zeal ; to in-
troduce into the service a deeper sense of responsibility, a
more earnest sense of duty, than the truculent insubordina-
tion of the two whitewashed peers and the frivolous tone
of the repot t upon which we have been commenting proves
to prevail among the senior members of the profession.

Sir FREDERIC THESIGER in opening the case al-
luded to the unrestrained liberty of the press in this
country:—

There was no power to check its progress and to say,
" Thus far shah thou go and no further." There was no
public censor, and the only way by which it could be
checked was by an appeal to the law for protection, and
that law will punish the press when it exceeds the license
which it has of commenting fairly on public men. There
was a danger, indeed, to winch the press was exposed, but
it was one found within itself. if the press exerted its
power and freedom tyrannically, the time would come
when such a state of things would raise a cry which the
press could not withstand, and the consequence would be
the introduction of a censorship.

The learned gentleman then read and briefly ad-
verted to the libel complained of. The Earl of
Lucan was then examined by Mr. Lush, and cress•

DECEMBER 6, 1856.

examined by Mr. E. James. In the course of this
cross-examination Lord Lucan said :
- -

---
I was recalled by her Majesty from the East. Lord
Raglan intimated that to me on the 13th of February.
Lord Cardigan was the Brigadier• General. The reasons
given in the correspondence for my recal, I think, were a
letter I thought it proper to write to Lord Raglan in refer-
ence to his report as to the action at Balaklava, and that it
was most desirable that there should be not the slightest
difference between the commander•in•chief and myself.
It was not for insubordination. I was not called upon to
withdraw the letter. Brigadier-General Airey never sug-
gested to me the withdrawal of that letter. He never
asked me to do so, nor did I say, " Why, it is half way to
England now." I brought the matter before the House of
Loris. Lord Raglan in his report had stated I had mis-
conceived his order at Balaklava. I commanded the
cavalry, and Lord Cardigan the light brigade. I never
had any personal quarrel with him in the East. My
correspondence is in that book (his lordship's publication.)
We were not on bad terms ; on the contrary, quite good.
We may have had a different opinion. There was none at
Scutari. He wrote to complain of my subordinate officer.
I did not write a letter to Lord Raglan about Lord Car-
digan, which I withdrew at Lord de Ros's suggestion.
Our differences were not known to me to exist till after the
battle of the Alma. Lord Cardigan then wrote a letter
complaining of my conduct. I did my duty by forwarding
it to Lord Raglan. He complained of me to Lord Raglan.
I complained to Lord Raglan that I had been separated as
much as possible from my division, while Lord Cardigan
had been intrusted with the command. I thought I had
been kept too long at Varna. I don't recollect writing
another leaer. I said there that he (Lord Cardigan)
began by repudiating my authority. He began that within
a week after his arrival at Devna. It was the fact that it
was the subject of remark in the army that I was not in the
command of the cavalry. Lord Cardigan had declined to
recognise me as his superior. In his letter to Lord Raglan
to which I allude, Lord Cardigan complained that he could
not act under my command. I forwarded that letter, with
comments, explaining what he complained of, which was
the despatch of an order by Lord F. Panlet. I cannot
recollect the precise words I used, or that I complained of
Lord Cardigan's conduct as highly improper; but there is
the letter. Lord Cardigan did complain of my unceasing
interference. It was not notorious in the army that our
differences paralysed the operations. If there was such a
rumour it was a decided untruth. I never complained of
Lord Cardigan, but merely forwarded his complaint of me,
with a statement. I can't say when our differences
ceased. I don't now remember any difference after that
correspondence. Lord Cardigan had declined to report to
me as his superior, on the ground that he was on detached
service; and Lord Raglan said he was quite wrong. I
may have complained of that to General Estcourt as in-
subordination. I wrote the letter to Lord Raglan, which
led to my meal, in consequence of his lordship's report, in
which he stated that I had misconceived his order. I was
not called on to resign because it was felt that the public
service might be prejudiced by a difference between Lord
Raglan and myself, bat because it was felt that my letter
might occasion a difference, and it was desirable to avoid
the slightest difference between us. That was what the
Government stated in effect. I was on the best possible
terms with Lord Raglan, and never had any difference
whatever with his lordship.

Sir FREDERIC THESIGER and Mr. EDWIN JAMES
then severally addressed the jury for the plaint and
defence. The Chief Baron, in summing np, said :

The questions now raised were—fast, whether the de-
fendants were guilty of publishing matter which detracted
from Lord Lucan's character, and, if so, were their com-
ments free from malice, boni•fide and fair. If they were
the latter the jury would probably think they were not
malicious, and then defendants would be entitled to a
verdict on the second plea; but if they were not fair and
bona-fide comments the plaintiff would be entitled to the
verdict, with damages, the amount of which ought to be
regulated by the fact whether they were malicious or not.
His lordship then read the whole article to the jury,
whom he dismissed to consider their verdict with the
article in their hands. The jury, after an absence of
some half-hour or so, returned into co urt with a
verdict for the defendant.

Ma. COMMISSIONER EVANS gave judgment this
week on the question whether a certain sum of
money now in the hands of the assignees of Strahan,
Paul, and Bates, should be considered to belong to
the separate estate of Strahan, or to the joint estate.
lie thought the assignees were bound to use the
partnership securities previous to taking any part of
the separate property, and that, consequently, the
sum in question must go to the separate estate.
MR. BERSFORD AUGUSTUS CHRISTMAS, charged last
week with stealing certain valuable books from
Lady Olivia Sparrow, admitted his guilt when
brought up on remand before Mr. Beadon, at Marl-
borough-street, on Tuesday, and was sentenced to
six months' imprisonment and hard labour. Mr.
Beadon, in delivering judgment, made the following
tem arkable observation :
I have been very much pressed to deal with the case
summarily, and when I look at the large powers which the
act gives me, the punishment will not be altogether in-
commensurate to the offence, for it will crush your pro-
spects for life, and deservedly so. I know not what may be
the nature of the punishment of hard labour, and I am not
quite satisfied that your offence does not deserve even a
harder punishment than that. I have seen a letter written
by you to Lady Olivia Sparrow just when you were engaged
in stealing the books, in which you write that you took

THE PRESS.

two volumes of sermons by mistake, and begged to be
allowed to read them before senciiug them back—thus
adding dissimulation and the hypocrisy of the cloak of re-
ligion to your guilt. The sentence upon you is that you
be imprisoned for six months, and kept to hard labour.

THERE CASES OF GAROTTING were tried on Wed-
nesday at Stafford, before Mr. Baron Watson. In one
case an acquittal took place, in the other two the
prisoners were convicted, and severally sentenced to
eight and six years' penal servitude.
REDPATH AND KENT were examined at the Clerken-
well Police-court on Wednesday. The cases of
alteration in the register in a transfer of 5,0001. Con-
solidated A Stock was gone into, and the prisoners
were remanded till Friday, when fresh charges of
forgery were brought against them, and they were
spin remanded.
THE THREE ITALIANS, Legava, Barbalano' and
Pettrich, charged with piracy and murder on board
the British barque Globe in the Black Sea on the.sth
of July last, were tried before Mr. Justice Coleridge
at Winchester on Thursday. The circumstances of
the case have already been before the public. The
prisoners conspired together to murder the crew of
the Globe while en voyage from Constantinople to
Balaklava. Circumstances prevented their carrying
this horrible design into full effect, but they suc-
ceeded, on the morning of the sth of July last, in
cutting the throat of one seaman, and stabbing, with
intent to murder, two others. The prisoners then
escaped in a boat, landing on the coast of Asia Minor,
where they were afterwards captured. The jury re-
turned a verdict of " Guilty." Mr. Justice Cresswell
then passed sentence of death, without hope of mercy.
MR. SNELL, the late chief and confidential clerk in the
accountants' department of the Great Northern Rail-,
way, was on Thursday fully committed for trial by
Mr. Tyrwhitt on two charges of stealing cheques and
embezzling monies belonging to the company.
Mr. WILSON OVEREND, the Chairman of the West
Riding Quarter Sessions, in addressing the grand
jury on Tuesday, detailed the system of tickets of
leave as followed out by the Government, and pointed
out as a gross defect the fact that just previous to
coming out of prison the men were allowed freely to
associate together, though when out on leave if
caught associating together they were sent back to
prison :

When men, therefore, saw that in effect there was no
difference between the punishment for merely associating
with thieves and actually committing fresh acts of felony,
they preferred their former course of lite, with the chance
of escape from detection. The system was therefore, in
that sense, a direct temptation to crime. But it was said
that men were not turned loose upon society with tickets
of leave until they had been trained and improved. But
what were the facts? Why, since the act passed there
had been no less than 160 ticket-of-leave men committed
to the West Riding House of Correction at Wakefield for
fresh crimes. That test showed whether the system was
a good one or not.
MABLEY, immediately after the sentence of death
was passed last week, was removed into the interior
of Newgate, and the whole of his clothing was taken
from him, and subjected to a most rigorous search.
in order to ascertain that he had nothing concealed
by which he could commit self-destruction. During
this process, the nonchalance and coolness he had
evinced during his trial seemed gradually to forsake
him, and on being subsequently conducted to the
condemned cell, his courage completely failed, and
the brutal murderer flung himself down overwhelmed
with despair. Two turnkeys were placed in his cell,
and till the time arrives for his execution he will
never be left alone day or night.