The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 23, 1858.

Other important gatherings have been held during the past week at
Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, and Arbroath. The Earl of CARLISLE pre-
sided at the first, the occasion of which was the presentation of certificates
of merit, awarded by the Council of the Society of Arts, to ten of the stu-
dents in the Manchester Mechanics' Institution. What his Lordship
would say on an occasion of this kind can be readily imagined by our
readers, and calls for no particular comment. At Leeds and Bradford
religious meetings were presided over by Lord SHAFTESBURY. In the
Noble Lord's speech to the Bible Society at Leeds we observe nothing
that we do not remember to have heard from him on former occasions ;
but at Bradford he made a remark which, if not misreported, strikes us as
rather extraordinary. His Lordship is represented to have described the
famous maxim of his ancestor, that ridicule is the test of truth, as " a
fiendish proposition." We protest we cannot see from what point of view
his Lordship sees it in this light. Ile cannot surely have taken ridicule in
the sense of ridiculousness. In any other sense, all that is meant by the
observation is this, that opinions which can survive ridicule need not be
very much afraid of graver arguments. It is only the well-known Hora-
tian maxim in another shape. And though, perhaps, we do not entirely
agree with it, yet we certainly see no reason whatever for designating it as
" fiendish." The meeting held at Arbroath was for the purpose of giving
Mr. BAXTER, M.P. for the Montrose Burghs, an opportunity of addressing
his constituents. The lion. Member, in a spirited and caustic speech,
assigned his reasons for turning Lord PALMERSTON out 'if office and for
supporting Lord DERBY, and expressed his conviction that in the next
session the " Independent Liberals" would be found more powerful and
better organized than before. He declared himself an uncompromising
financial reformer, and said he believed that as much as six or eight
millions might be saved in our expenditure, if we did not permit ourselves
to be frightened by the bugbear of invasion. We cannot say we think
Mr. BAXTER'S theory is likely to be a popular one at the present moment.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in obedience to the Cacoethea Loquendi which just
now seems to prevail among a certain set of noblemen and gentlemen,
delivered an address on Thursday evening at the Manchester Athenaeum.
His Lordship gave a pat on the back to the British Constitution—told
his audience that he had no objection to their reading novels—recom-
mended them to set a good example to Europe, and sat down, of course,
amid loud cheering.

Between tragedy and comedy the limits sometimes seem to be as
narrow as between the sublime and the ridiculous. But the other day the
world was horrified by the intelligence that twenty French "officers and
gentlemen " had, like the three kings, " sworn a solemn oath " that a sarcastic
Journalist should die. What was almost accomplished in the case of M.
PENE was quite effected in this country within the memory of the present
generation, when an offending editor received such severe chastisement
from his victim as to have ultimately expired from the effects of it. During
the past week we have been regaled with the tidings of an editorial
quarrel, which according to the worst version of the story was within a
hair's breadth of murder, and according to another was an aggravated case
of intimidation. We allude, of course, to the recent outrage upon the
Editor of the Northern Daily Express at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The
French Consul at that seaport is the Count DE MARICOURT, with whom
resides his son the Viscount Inc MAiticoirr, a French Dragoon officer
and "Crimean hero " twenty-two years of age. A report, it seems, had been
circulated in the town to the effect that the elder MARICOURT had been
interfering improperly in some of the borough elections ; and a letter
appeared in the columns of the journal in question openly charging him
with the offence. On the following day a leading article appeared upon
the subject, adopting the offensive imputation, and commenting with
severity on the foreign gentleman's behaviour. The result of this publica-
tion was that the young DE MARICOURT, after one or two ineffectual
attempts to find the editor at his office, presented himself at his private
residence armed with a loaded pistol, which he presented at his head, and
under that compulsion carried him away in a cab to his father's house.
What followed is of little consequence. The editor made apologies and
promises, and seems to have been glad enough to get off with a whole skin.
And the young gentleman when brought up before the Mayor was fined five
pounds for the assault. We should add that evidence was adduced to show
that' the pistol was harmless, though the fact that M. DE MARICOURT and
kis brother who accompanied him were both armed with thick sticks in
addition, to some extent invalidates the hypothesis that the whole affair was in-
tended as a practical joke. Such are briefly the facts of this curious case. We
do not justify Mr. MANsos, the editor, who was certainly too precipitate in
endorsing the statement of his correspondent, and indulged, moreover, in
invectives and illustrations which were unnecessary and indecent. But the
fact that Mr. MANSON did go too far by no means proves that M. DE
Alanicouier did not. The father we believe to be a gentleman generally
respected, an undoubted member of the old French aristocracy, and by no
means celebrated for warm Napoleonic sympathies. Yet such, at the same
tune, is his known ability and character, that not only has he kept his pre-
sent position during all the changes that have taken place in his native
land, but is even now, we believe, employed by the present French
Government in the collection of agricultural statistics in this country.
Air. MANSON'S language, therefore, was as ungrounded as improper.
But as far as the outrage on him was concerned, it matters little whether
the pistol was loaded or not. As long as that gentleman supposed
!!., to be so, the intimidation, and consequently the violence, was the same.
I hat the weapon was unfit for use proves only that M. AlAincouicr did not
contemplate murder. It by no means proves that he has not been guilty
()
a very gross offence, and one that has been very lightly expiated by a
tine of five pounds.

The bankruptcy of Mr. CAREW, of which the details appeared in the
beginning of the past week, contains a moral on which it is painful
tough necessary to dwell. The bankrupt was the stepson of the famous
olonel WAUClR—member of an illustrious west country family—an officer
in a cavalry regiment, and, though apparently of no independent means, pos,