The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-21 00:00:00

THE. PRESS.

among our labouring population, both in town
and country. Mr. CLAY, in his pamphlet,
gives the details of four or five murders com-
mitted in this way, of which the perpetrators
were fortunately brought to justice. And for
one who is detected, how many escape ?
But the actual infliction of death by near
relatives on one another is not the only result
of this unnatural system. There are mealy
who would recoil from actual homicide, who
nevertheless wish to profit by its fruits: they
" would not play false, but yet would wrongly
" win." A little neglect during illness, a refu-
sal to call in the doctor, some precaution,
slight but necessary, disregarded, is enough—
death ensues—and no one is ostensibly to
blame. " The poor," says one official before
the Health of Towns Commission, " seldom
" seek medical assistance for sick children,
" except when they are at the point of death."
We continue in Mr. CLty's words :
Another collector states, " The poor people have often
told me that they were unable to pay at that time; but
when a certain member of the family—generally a child—
died, they would be able to pay." " A lady states that
a young woman whose services she required as wet nurse,
having a child ill, she offered to send her own medical
friend to attend it; the reply of the nurse was, Oh, never
mind, ma'am, it's in two burial clubs.' " It also appears,
on the unimpeachable authority of a burial club official,
that, " hired nurses speculate ou the lives of infants com•
mitted to- their care, by entering them in burial clubs ; "
that "two young women proposed to enter a child into his
club, and to pay the weekly premium alternately. Upon
inquiry as to the relation subsisting between the two young
women and the child, the club officer learned that the
infant was placed at nurse with the mother of one of these
young women." Such examples—even if there were none of a
still worse character—are enough to show the demoralising
tendencies of burial clubs. But further, to quote trom the
same report, " There is no restrictton in any of the
societies as to the admission of illegitimate children. If
the weekly penny or halfpenny is paid by either father or
mother, he or she is entitled, on the demise of the insured,
to all the benefits which the society promises." Now,
,what solicitude can either of the ignorant and profligate
parents of a bastard child have for the preservation of that
child's life ?—a child which is a burden and a reproach to
them; which, living, costa them 3s. or 4s. a week; but
whose death, should it be in the " lists," will profit to the
amount of 5/. to 201.

This is the second class of crimes arising
out of the same inducement. But the evil in
fluence of these societies is not to be measured
exclusively by the actual guilt, in the eye of
the law, which they create. Even where no
murder is committed, either by positive vio-
lence or passive neglect, it is impossible that
demoralisation should not ensue from a sys-
tem which renders the death of children a pro-
fitable speculation to the parents. The natu-
ral feelings are blunted or destroyed—a hard,
calculating, mercenary spirit is fostered—pa-
rental affection is checked—and a correspond-
ing sentiment is produced on the part of the
children, thereby perpetuating the evil, and
entailing it upon the next generation. We
shall resume this subject at an early period.

REMOVAL OF THE COURTS OF LAW.
Irt another part of the paper will be found an account
of an interview between Lord ABERDEEN and a deputa
don from the Incorporated Law Society on this impor-
tant subject. We call it important, because it is a ques-
don in which not only the convenience of those im-
mediately engaged in the administration of justice is
concerned, but every member of the community has
a direct pecuniary interest in its determination. For
a lawsuit is like the measles or scarlet fever, one of
those inevitable evils which at some period of life all
men are doomed to undergo, and the present posi-
don of the courts greatly increases the expense of
that never inexpensive process. Many of the
di•;-
advantages incident to their present site are noticed
in the statement of the Incorporated Law Society,
but others exist on which they did not touch. A
trial at Nisi Prius is to all engaged in it, except the
principals, their counsel, and ocaasionally their
attorneys, a period of festive excitement and profuse
expenditure. The distance of Westminster from the
attorneys' offices gives an excuse for this. The case
is in the list; it may be called on at any moment;
not one person whose presence is desirable at the
trial is allowed to be absent longer than is impe-
ratively necessary. Accordingly thirty or forty wit
nesses, and certainly two attorneys, each with a staff
of clerks, are " attending at Westminster," often
fora week at a time, consulting in rooms which

51

are hired by the hour, and paid for proportionally,
lounging about coffeehouses, eating constantly-
recurring luncheons, and at least one dinner in the
day, or, if they leave the vicinity of the court for
ten minute% they are seen tearing along at head-
long speed in a Hansom cab at fares measured, not
by Mr. Fitzroy's Act, but by the emergency of the
moment.

There are three courts of common law at West-
minster; each has from twenty to thirty cases in the
paper for trial at the same time; from these data a
calculation can easily be made of the enormous ex-
pense annually incurred, for great part of which no
pretence would exist if the courts of law and the offices
of the attorneys were in close proximity. It would
certainly put an end to the cab nuisance in Parlia-
ment-street, down which the cabmen now charge
with a fury more akin to the impetuous onset of
ancient Britons in their war-chariots than the fune-
real pace of dispirited "jarvies " suffering from
melancholia and paid at the rate of sixpence a mile.
To this point Lord ABERDEEN does not need to have
his attention directed. Last year, in this place, from
this cause, he in his own person nearly furnished
another of those instapces in which the premiership
has terminated either in premature or violent death.
The funds requisite to accomplish the removal exist :
the present courts are not only inconvenient in their
internal arrangements and in their situation, but are
a blemish to the group of national edifices that sur-
round them. On what, then, do the opponents of
the removal rest their opposition' A very respect-
able prepossession in favour of a site interesting
from old historical associations. But mere senti-
ment can never be allowed to prevent positive im-
provement; and, in point of fact, the present courts
are of comparatively modern construction, and have
nothing in common with those which witnessed the
trial of CHARLES 1., whilst the trial of STRAFFORD,
the acquittal of SOMERS, and the denunciations of
HAsxxsos, took place in the adjacent hall. The site
to which it is proposed to remove them is, loosely
speaking, between - Lincoln's-inn-fields and the
Strand, where the houses at present existing,
although they have the charm of antiquity, have not
as yet found advocates for their preservation in the
press. Perhaps, also, that vexed question of Tem•
Ple bar that enigma which some speak of as if it
were the beautiful gate of the Temple, while others
consider it the greatest bar to improvement that exists
in the City, might be solved to the satisfaction of all
parties if some nook were found for it in the courts
which it is proposed to erect..
If, as some allege, it is interesting because the
heads of traitors were once stuck on it, there would
be propriety in attaching it to the halls where the

. .
successors of those who doomed them to the block
would sit, like Eastern kings, administering justice
in the gate. Two things, indeed, forbode that the
consummation of the proposed removal may Le re-
mote. One is, that it is promoted by lawyers • the
other, that Lord: ABERDEEN has promised "to take it
into his consideration."

■

I

52

L._

GUANO.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."
Sir,—l very much agree with you in the opinion
you express in the money article of your last impres-
sion, that, " with regard to I'eru, it is a matter of
negotiation depending on the amount of sinking
fund ; for there can be no doubt that the sales of
guano might be increased fourfold, and such a sum
annually appropriated to the purchase of the debt as
would extinguish it in five years." I have for years
been of the opinion that there is no other way of
obtaining a large and cheap supply of good guano for
the use of our farmers but by the purchase of the
debt due by Peru to our bondholders. As long as
that incubus sits on the guano market we shall never
obtain guano that will afford a profit to our farmers.
I was in great hopes that Mr. Disraeli would have
proposed, in his budget, to purchase that debt. It
would not then have, perhaps, cost much money to
have purchased it, on the principle of an annuity,
extending over four years. lam still, as I was then,
of the opinion that had that right honourable gentle-
man proposed such a negotiation with the Peruvian
Government, for the instant and direct benefit of
agriculture, instead of the indirect and distant benefit
by means of the repeal of any fraction of the malt
tax, he would have received such a hearty support
from the agriculturists, in and out of Parliament, as
well as others, as would have ensured his remaining
the Chancellor of the Exchequer to this day. I now
sincerely regret I did not take the liberty of suggesting
such a negotiation, at an early period, to the right
honourable gentleman. Who knows but the hint
was all that was wanting for the adoption of such a
measure ? I have no confidence in the Aberdeen
Coalitionists doing anything for agriculture; and per-
haps the time has passed for prosecuting such a
negotiation to a really successful issue for agriculture.
Be that as it may, it is futile to lead the public mind
astray in search of other deposits of guano than
Peruvian, for no other country but Peru presents the
indispensable pm-requisites for the production of a
guano worth its cost—of a wide expanse of ocean, in
a rainless, sunny climate, which can alone fix the
ammonia, the most valuable ingredient in guano as a
manure. Experience and analysis have now amply
proved the superiority of Peruvian guano over other
kinds in the requirements of our agriculture. Thou-
sands of pounds have already been wasted in the
purchase of worthless guanos by the farmers of the
United Kingdom. It is time that this folly should
cease when a short prodnce in any season causes the
nation to depend on foreign countries for the food it
eats. H. S.
January 17, 1854.

Om contemporary the Morning Herald has the
following appropriate rnorceau for the Clerk of the
Council:—

FROM THE WELCH.
(ireville's freaks invite my song,
Grevule ever in the wrong ;
Ever plotting, ever peddling,
Master of all modes of meddling.
Hasa lady made a slip
In morality, or scrip ;
Is the difrence to be paid up,
tir the quarrel to be made up;
Imes a husband (wicked Wight)
Stay out, sundry times, all night ;
Is a case to he decided
As law never yet provided ;
Does a " Fusion " come in vogue
'Twixt Conut Newdle and Duke Voio.;
Is the Coalition tumbling,
Are the daily papers grumbling;
Is a hint to be convey'd,
Without bustle and parade,
To the Times, the Czar, or Devil—
Fang the bell !—and send for-641reville.

THE QUEEN will open Parliament in person. The
usual preparations for her Majesty's reception are
being made at the House of Lords.
A CABINET COUNCIL is to be held at the Foreign-

office to-day, at one o'clock.
THE MAYOR or WiNnson received a cheque for
1001., forwarded by command of her Majesty and
Prince Albert, with a request that HO/. should be
appropriated for the relief of the poor of Windsor,
and 201. for the poor of Clewer, in food and fuel.
Sot H. 11. Nous has resigned the seat for Oxford
University which he has now occupied for twenty-
ive years, on the plea of increasing age and infirmity.
The vacancy cannot be declared until after the meet-
ing of Parliament. Meanwhile Sir William Heathcote
has coins forward as a candidate, and an Oxford com •
mittee is formed to secure his return. Several
names of possible competitors have been mentioned,
but any positive announcement on this subject, as
we have stated in another column, would be, at the
present moment, premature.
MADRID JOrRNALS of the l-ith"have arrived. The
Queen had so far recovered that it was not consi-
dered neeessaty to issue any further bulletins. The
Ambassador of France, M. Turgot, has become per-
fectly convalescent.

THE PRESS.

THE CITY CORPORATION INQUIRY.

THE commissioners, during the week, have added
considerably to the information elicited from civic
functionaries. On Tuesday Mr. Sergeant Mere •
wether supplied them with a detailed return of the
charters granted to the City by successive Sovereigns,
and the prices paid for them :
" In 1139, in the reign of King Stephen, 100 marks of
silver fur the privilege of choosing sherithi; in 1158, reign
of Henry 11., 1,0431. as a domun ; in 1159, 1,000 marks as
a donum ; in 1170, 000/. 13s. 4d. ; in 1172, ditto ; in 1197,
reign of Richard 1., 1,500 marks ; in 1150, reign of Henry
111., 000 marks ; in MO, 3,000 marks: in 1107, 20,000
marks ; in 1170, 000 marks ; in 1397, Ist of Edward
1,7001.; in 1311, 000 marks ; in 1319, 1,000 marks ;
in 1311,1,000 marks ; in 1339, reign of Edward 111., 20,000
marks ; in 1371, 4,1;01 marks ; in 1383, reign of Richard
11., 4,000 marks ; in 1478, reign► of Edward IV., 7,000!. for
a charter grunting package, carriage, porterage, garbelling,
and gauging, and coroner; another charter respecting snort.
main was also granted in consequence of the City releasing a
debt ; and in 10(0, the 1011 of Charles 1., 4,2001. fur the
porterage charter."
Being examined touching the conservency of the
Thames, Mr. Merewether produced a map of the
sewerage system in the City as connected with the
river; and also an elaborate report, drawn up in 1842
by Mr. Walker, the engineer, and Captain Bullock,
R.N., who examined the state of the river banks and
bed, assisted by the City Water Bailiff and the
engineer of the City Navigation Committee :
" The report was founded on the assumed necessity of
giving as direct a course as possible to the channel of the
river, with a view to obtaining an uniform depth of water.
It was considered that the complete embankment of the
river was impracticable, in consequence of the enormous
cost which such an undertaking would occasion. The
corporation nevertheless thought they might secure the
same object by degrees, by securing a certain amount of
frontage along the banks of the river whenever a favourable
opportunity presented itself. A question arose, however, in
the meantime between the crown and the corporation us
to the bed of the river. The crown asserted the right to
the soil throughout the kingdom between high and low
water marks. That right the corporation denied in respect
to the Thames. This was considered to be an extraordinary
assumption on the part of the crown. If the crown pro-
ceeded by a writ of intrusion the corporation would afford
the crown every. opportunity of trying the question on that
ground. The right of the corporation to the bed of the
river rests on prescription, confirmed by successive and
repeated acts of ownership. The corporation derived no
revenue from the conservancy of the river. They derive a
small income of about 1,1001. a year from the soil of the
river in the shape of rents; but any sum derived in that
way must be expended on the river itself The corporation
so look on the matter. It is rather a question of jurisdic-
tion than of revenue. _ _

"The Chairman ( Mr. Labouchere) : Does it not seem
natural, when persons complain of injury along the banks
of the river, that they should expect the corporation, who
claim to be its conservators, should act with vigour?
" Witness : 1 assure you they do. The corporation have
very onerous and distasteful duties to perform, aml they
perform those duties with en anxious desire to do justice to
all parties. My belief is that, as far as conservancy is con-
cerned, the performance of that duty by the corporation is
satisfactory; but I do not mean to say that some reforms
may not be introduced, and 1 believe the corporation are
themselves prepared to suggest some improvements. Of
course any suggestions of the kind would come from the
corporation as a body. There is no doubt as to the right
of the City to the conservation of the Thames. With
respect to the bridges over the river, the city built Black-
friars and London bridges, and they were in treaty for
Southwark. The only question was as to the amount of
purchase."