The Press.
London, England, 1856-07-12 00:00:00

VrOrincial.

THE MANCHESTER ART EXHIBITION of 1857 is ex-
citing much interest. His Royal Highness Prince
Albert lately addressed the following letter to the
Earl of Ellesmere, pointing out some important ends
which the exhibition might be made to serve :
My dear Lord Ellesmere--I was very sorry not to see
you with the deputation from Manchester that came to me
yesterday upon the subject of the exhibition of art treasures
which it is proposed to open in that cit) in May, 1857.
Lord Overstone, however, as well as the other members of
the deputation, left nothing to desire in explaining the
objects which they have in view. I could not fail to admire
the public spirit which has prompted the people of
Manchester to enter upon so large and magnificent an
undertaking.
We had a good deal of discussion upon its general
principles, upon the soundness and fitness of which much
of its future success must necessarily depend.
Manchester enters upon this undertaking at a certain
disadvantage. It has been preceded by the Exhibition of
18-51, that of Dublin in 1853, and that at Paris during the
last year. That a mere repetition of what has thus gone
before would fail to attract sufficient notice and public
support, appears to have been felt by the committee ; and
they most wisely gave a distinctive character to their
scheme, by making it an exhibition of what may emphati-
cally be called the art treasures of this country. How to
succeed in collecting such treasures, fondly cherished as
they are by their owners, who are justly jealous of their
safety, is the problem to be solved.
In my opinion the solution will be found in the satisfac-
tory proof of the usefulness of the undertaking. The mere
gratification of public curiosity, and the giving an intellec-
tual entertainment to the dense population of a particular
locality, would be praiseworthy in itself, but hardly suffi-
cient to convince the owners of works of art that it is their
duty, at a certain risk and inconvenience, to send their
choicest treasures to Manchester for exhibition.

That national usefulness might, however, be found in
the educational direction which may be given to the whole
scheme. No country invests a larger amount of capital in
works of art of all kinds than England; and in none,

almost, is so little done for

If the collee:

tion you propose to form were made to illustrate the
history of art, in a chronological and systematic arrange.
ment, it would speak powerfully to the public mind, and
enable, in a practical way, the most uneducated eye to
gather the lessons which ages of thought and scientific re-
search have attempted to abstract ; and would present to
the world, for the first time, a gallery such as no other
country could produce, but for which, I feel convinced, the
materials exist abundantly in private hands amongst us.
As far as painting is concerned, I inclose a catalogue
exhibiting all the different schools, with the masters who
illustrate them, which able hands have compiled for me,
and which was communicated to the National Gallery
committee of 18,53. and printed by them with the evidence.
If such a catalogue, for instance, were filled up with the
specimens of the best paintings by the different masters
enumerated in it, which exist in this country, I feel certain
that the committee would come with very different powers
of persuasion and a very different claim to attention to their
owners, than when the demand for the loan of certain of
their pictures were apparently dependent upon mere acci-
dent or caprice. A person who would not otherwise be
inclined to part with a picture would probably shrink from
refusing it if he knew that his doing so tended to mar the
realisation of a great national object.
The same principle might be adopted with regard to the
other branches of art, extending even into the field of ma-
nufacturing industry.
Whatever may be the decision of the committee, I assure
you that it will give me the greatest pleasure to give you
any feeble assistance in support which I may be enabled
to render. And I may at the same time repeat to you the
assurance of the Queen's best wishes for the success of
your labours.—Ever yours truly, ALBERT.
Buckingham Palace, July 3, 18513.

SOME VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS for the prevention
of crime were thrown out by Mr. Recorder Hill on
opening the Birmingham Quarter Sessions on Mon-
day. Mr. Hill, in the course of an address to the grand
jury, observed that he saw no amelioration in our treat-
ment of criminals so far as adapting it to reform
them :

There are ninety-five prisoners for trial (continued the
Recorder), and with regard to more than one-half of the
number, they are persons who have previous convictions
recorded against them, and who consequently have notbeen
deterred by the fear of encountering punishment from
repeating their offences, or reformed by the discipline to
which they were subjected. Now, gentlemen, the main
reason why the latter object is not attained is this, that
they are not under the control of the prison authorities
for a sufficient length of time. How can you expect a
person, old or young, to undergo any decided change of
character during a confinement of a fortnight, a month,
two months, or three months ?—and until public opinion,
instead of complaining of harshness when prisoners are
committed for long periods, is led to perceive that it is a
kindness even to the offenders, to place them under Mr-

SATURDAY,

cumstances by which their character may be reformed,
and that it is a false notion of kindness to desire that
they should be speedily liberated—l am afraid that until
this conviction forces itself upon the public mind, the
duties of the grand jurors will year by year become more
onerous. I believe that commitments for short periods

are a sort of education in crime. A prisoner discovers
that imprisonment can be better borne than he imagined,
and finding, when he cornea out of prison, that the dif-
ficulties of maintaining himself by holiest means are greatly
increased, having lost his dread, of the gaol, and, what
is worse than all, having lost his friends in the lowest
classes of society, and acquired them among those who
looked favorably upon him in proportion as he became
more unprincipled, sinks still lower into the depths of
iniquity. Sentences must be passed in accordance with
public opinion, and it is often impracticable to resort to
such as would be very humane and sanctioned by law,
because the principle on which they would he based is
not generally recognised, and its partial operation would
engender the feeling that offences were punished not ac-
cording to their magnitude, but to the distinction with
they were committed. Every year, the public are becoming
more and more sensitive on this subject, and punishments
are becoming lighter and lighter. lam now an old man,
and have been engaged in the duties of my profession
nearly forty years, and when I contrast the state of punish-
ments, as I first knew them, with what they now are, the
change is enormous. In many respects the change has
been for the better, but I think that we are now running into
a dangerous extreme of an opposite kind, and that, if the
system of light punishments is to be persevered in, we had
better have no punishments at all. They neither deter
nor reform, whereas they have the bad effect of bringing
poor creatures into contact with those who are worse
than themselves, and teaching them to pursue a life of
crime.

A Cotrims between two Liverpool steamers
occurred on Sunday night, just off the mouth of the
Mersey, the Excelsior steamer, en route to Belfast,
running stem into the Mail, coming in from Dublin.
The Excelsior struck the Mail on the port bow near
the bowsprit, and tore her way through the spar-
deck as far as the foremast. In the forepart of the
Mail, under the spar-deck, lay a number of deck
passengers, Irish labourers, coming over for the
harvest. They lay asleep, with their heads close up
to the bows of the ship. Six were killed as they lay,
and nine others were dreadfully mangled, one of
them dying soon after the collision. The scene under
the spar-deck was of course heartrending. The
mangled bodies of the dead and dying covered with
bloo I, the wounded crying loudly for help, some of
them being jammed up against the windlass, and
unable to extricate themselves, while one poor fellow
(named Martin Howes) lay across the windlass,
pinned by the bowsprit of the Excelsior. His
screams were fearful, but it was impossible to free
him, and he writhed and struggled for a full
quarter of an hour till he fell dead on the
windlass. Fortunately, the bulkheads of the Mail
remained firm, and the vessel, though thus cut
down to the water's edge, kept afloat. The stem
of the Excelsior was so firmly imbedded in the
wreck that it took upwards of an hour to get her
free, and then not until the Excelsior left her anchor
and nearly all ber chain-cable entangled among the
debris of the Mail. The affair was partially inves-
tigated on Thursday at an inquest in Liverpool on
the bodies of the sufferers. Joseph Bailey, master
of the Mail, deposed that their lights were all right,
that as they rounded the Rock Light a steamer was
seen coming down at full speed on their port bow,
and at about a mile distance. The Mail immediately
ported her helm, thus giving the vessel more room
to pass on the port side. The chief officer then re-
ported a ship at anchor right ahead, and witness had
the helm steadied. After clearing this vessel they
ported their helm again, and witness lost sight of the
red light of the approaching steamer, by which he
knew that she had starboarded her helm. He at
once called out to the engineer to stop, and heard
his chief officer hail the other vessel to port her
helm. In about a minute the collision took place.
AN EXPLOSION OF FIRE DAMP occurred last week
at the Deep Coalpit, in the Blania Valley, Wales, by
which eleven men were killed. An investigation is
being held into the circumstances of this deplorable
case. It is asserted that the men descended the pit
with a naked light in hand.
THE GALE OF MONDAY NIGHT was very severely
felt on all parts of the coast. Off the Mersey and
the Welsh coast and Northumberland and Hull it
blew very heavily all night ; several vessels were
driven on shore, and some severe losses sustained.
Many coasters and fishing boats are believed to have
been lost. How is it that such things as "barome•
ters " are not supplied to the fishing towns ? Would
it not be worthy of the Royal Humane or Lifeboat
Societies to devote some portion of their funds to
supplying a good barometer to every fishing village
on the coast?

SUNDAY MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE has lost its cause
with the Salford Town Council, a large majority of
whom, on Wednesday last, voted for the expulsion of
bands of music from the Peel park on Sundays in
future, and ordered public notices to that effect to be
issued. The committee having the management of

JuLY 12, 1856.

the people's parka in Manchester, under the corpo-
ration, have declined to expel Sunday bands ; the
subject is to be brought before the next meeting of
the town council with a view to coercing the com-
mittee.
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF SCIENCE bold their annual country meeting this
year in the week commencing Wednesday, the 2nd
of August, at Cheltenham. Prince Lucien Buona-
parte will be one of the visitors.

ptlanb.

THE MASTER OF TILE Rom.s, in adjudicating in
the case of the English shareholders of the Tippe-
rary Bank, last Monday, referred in strong terms to
the case of Mr. James Sadleir and the observations
made on the subject by the Irish Attorney-General
in the House of Commons. He said :
May I now inquire, on the part of the public, whether
informations have been sworn in respect of the facts dis-
closed in this case? If so, have any effectual or bona-
fide steps been taken to make any of the parties implicated
amenable ? Is it intended to prefer a bill of indictment at
the next Clonmel Assizes, where some of the overt acts
were committed? May I further inquire what is the duty
of a Privy Councillor ? In " lilackstone's Commentariee,"
vol. i., page 230, he says--" The duty of a Privy Coun-
cillor appears, from the oath of office, which consists of
seven articles-Ist. To advise the King according to the
best of his cunning and discretion. 2nd. To advise for
the King's honour and the good of the public, without par-
tiality, through affection, love, need, doubt, or dread. 3rd.
To keep the King's counsel secret. 4th. To avoid cor-
ruption. sth. To help and strengthen the execution of
what shall be there resolved. Oth. To withstand all
persons who would attempt the contrary. Arid lastly, in
general, 7thly. To observe, keep, and do all that a good and
true councillor ought to do to his sovereign lord." Is there
anything in the duty, .as thus stated, requiring a Privy
Councillor to obtrude his advice, secretly and unasked.
where the responsible advisers of the Government remain
passive, and where the general facts were matter of pub-
lic notoriety, and the details established by affidavits and
documents as much open to the responsible advisers of
the Government as they were to me? I have reason to
believe that not a copy of an affidavit or of any document
was obtained by the direction of the law advisers of the
Government from the Master's office, or from the official
manager, until on or after the 20th of June, the day I gave
judgment in this case, although long prior to that date I
had called attention to the fact that the Government had
made no sign, notwithstanding the notoriety of the frauds
of the Tipperary Joint-stock Bank. If the Irish Governs
ment were ignorant of all the details, it was their own
fault. If the Crown Solicitor had been directed to com-
municate with me, before or after I had given judgment, I
should have referred him to the several affidavits and
documents, and given him the dates and particulars of
each. I did not obtrude advice or information privately :
first, because it was no part of my duty ; and, secondly,
because I believed then, and believe now, that it would have
received no attention whatever from the Government, for
reasons which the public well know. I shall only add
that, if no bona fide proceeding be taken at the next Clon-
mel Assizes, the result will be that the duty of a Privy
Councillor and the nature and meaning of the oath will
possibly meet with more discussion than the Irish Govern-
ment may be aware of. There is one other matter which
I omitted to advert to in giving judgment—and that is the
examination of Mr. James Sadleir, by the Master, in his
private chamber, no other person, as I understand, having
been present, except the official manager and his counsel
and solicitor, That proceeding has been much disapproved
of, and I am satisfied that the Master would now concur
with me that it is to be regretted it took place. It can
scarcely be considered to have been a purely voluntary
examination, unless Mr. James Sadleir was very strictly
cautioned that it might be given in evidence against him ;
and if not, the examination should not, according to the
principles of our law, be used directly or indirectly to his
prejudice. lam entirely ignorant of the contents of that
examination, and, as it has not been brought under my
notice during the argument, I have thought it better not to
call for it, but to decide the question of fraud upon the
affidavits and documents entered on the order. Every fact
stated by me on giving judgment is established by reference
to those affidavits and documents. I have derived no aid
or assistance from such private examination, being alto-
gether ignorant of the nature and particulars of it. If the
examination explained away the facts detailed in my judg-
ment, counsel for the official manager would, I presume,
have brought it under the consideration of the court. The
Master, not having entered the examination on his order,
did not, of course, form his opinion upon the contents of
such examination, being aware that there would be an
appeal. The affidavits and documents on which he decided
are entered on his order. The appeal in this case against
my order may, if the Lord Chancellor thinks fit, be dis-
posed of during the present sitting.
The Master of the Rolls, on Wednesday, further
observed :
That he considered it necessary, in vindication of him-
self, to notice some observations lately made and reiterated
by the Attorney-General in his place in the House of Com-
mons relative to Mr. James Sadleir; and for that purpose
he would forward to London a statement of facts by that
night's post. That statement he would make public at
the sitting of the Court on Friday. He (the Master of
the Rolla) could not allow th.: allegations put forward to
go uncontradicted. No amount of mystification should
or could now get rid of the matter, owing to the character
it had assumed, as he (the Master of the Rolls) would

THE PRESS.

show beyond all doubt, for he would not state a single
fact which he would not be prepared to prove. The charge
made by the Attorney-General was of a most serious nature,
involving character, and he was determined that no amount

of liopimitry or in)stitication should get rid of it. Upon
Friday he would state the facts at length at the sitting of
the court.

The Lord Lieutenant is at present on a visit to
Limerick.

Mr. Smith O'Brien returned to Dublin on Monday
afternoon.

THE TIPPERARY MILITIA, stationed at Nenagh,
broke out into open mutiny on Monday last, on
being refused payment of their bounty money,
and on being ordered to give up their clothing,
upon disembodiment. On Monday morning, during
parade, a man who refused to give back his
clothing was sent off to the guardhouse at the
Summerhill Barracks. The five companies on
parade hearing this, at once dashed at the
guard, rescued the prisoner, and gutted the
guardhouse. After some time and trouble tho men
were got back into line and expostulated with by their
colonel and chaplain, but they refused to give
up their arms until the bounty money was paid, and
were finally marched off to their barracks in Pound-

street, where they appear to have remained quietly
till about ten p.m., when, seized with one of those
unaccountable Tipperary furors, the whole body of
men broke out of barracks, rushed through the
streets, attacked and demolished the different
police-stations, tried to stop the mail starting for
Limerick, broke open the gaol and committed other
acts of riot, forced the Summerhill Barracks,
ransacked the magazine for powder and ball—
all of which since the morning had very wisely
been removed and secreted by the o cers—
and then, with peculiar Irish humour, brought out
the band of the regiment, and to some lively airs,
firing and shouting, paraded the streets of Nenagh
for the rest of the night. During Tuesday the town
continued in a great state of excitement; the men re-
fused to give up their arms or return to duty, or to
disband without their bounty money or clothing.
Meanwhile intelligence of the state of affairs
having been quickly despatched to Major-General
Sir James Chatterton, at Limerick, detachments of
the 30th, 41st, 47th, and 55th Regiments, in all 520
men, under command of Colonel Hart, arrived from
Templemore, and, having loaded their pieces,
marched up to the Summerhill Barracks. Contrary
to expectation, the gate was thrown open; the
troops marched in and formed into line in the
barrack-square. The small body of militia in bar-
racks having formed opposite, were then asked by
Colonel Hart to give up their arms ; they refused,
the Riot Act was read, the square cleared of all
civilians, and both parties stood opposite one another.
At length, after some little trouble, the militia were
disarmed. Meantime a body of militia straggling
about the town commenced firing outside the bar-
rack-gata. Ono man fired a shot through the
keyhole of the wicket, and killed a soldier inside.
Another body went round the walls, and fired several
shots at the troops, three of whom were severely
wounded. A part of the troops were immediately
detached in chase, and drove off the rebels. General
Chatterton, with a squadron of the 17th Lancers,
and two hundred infantry, arrived at eight o'clock
to reinforce the troops from Templemore, when
some street fighting and a regular melee took place.
The militia attempted to hold a position in the
Market-place, but were quickly driven out, and taking
to the fields kept up a lively skirmish for some time ;
at length their amunition failed, and by half-past
nine they were hunted down, surrounded, disarmed, and
marched off to prison. Two militiamen were killed, and
six wounded, while a pensioner was shot in the streets,
one soldier (a Crimean man) killed, and eight or ten
severely wounded. An inquest was held on the
bodies on Wednesday, and a verdict returned accord-
ingly, except in the case of the pensioner, whose death
was Aargau' by the jury to "a wantof discretion shown
by the troops, whose firing into a respectable house
was unjustifiable." The rebels it is believed will be
tried by the civil power.