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

sessing a large fortune in reversion. Barring the first unfortunate event, this
young man seems to have begun life with everything necessary to bring
him a happy and respectable fortune—ancient lineage, an honourable pro-
fession, and, if not wealth, a competency. In an evil hour for him his
mother formed a matrimonial alliance with the great speculator aforesaid,
who commenced making his stepson an allowance of '2,000/. a year.
Grateful for this liberality, and never questioning its continuance, Mr.
CAREW placed little restriction either on his own pleasures, Or his confi-
dence in the openhanded Colonel. Yachts, carriages, horses, dogs, and
guns, were all at his command, and for a time he quaffed the cup of plea-
sure uninterruptedly; the only return that was asked of him being the
occasional " loan of his acceptance "—one of the most dangerous phrases
current. This, of course, was given unsuspiciously, till, as it now turns
out, his obligations reached to the amount of 58,0001. Then came the
crash. Colonel WAUGH, that "source of all his joy and all his woe,"
decamped. The 2,000/. a year vanished as suddenly as it had arisen, and
Mr. CAREW was left to depend upon his wits. Under the circumstances,
he does not seem to have acted as judiciously as might have been expected.
Not being possessed of literary qualifications, and his antecedents, perhaps,
militating against the adoption of a clerical career, he resolved to invest
the equine experiences ofa cavalry regiment in the business of a cab proprietor.
Ile was arrested on some of his old debts, and hence his appearance before Mr.
Commissioner FONBLANQLE. But the disagreeable truth that forces itself
upon us when we meditate on such cases as these is this—Who in
the world is a man to trust if be so constantly sees people duped by their
friends and connections ? What a lesson for the rising generation of this
country is to be learned in the careers of Sir JOHN PAUL, Mr. Itmopsni,
and Colonel Wm:GIL ! Mr. CAREW, as we happen to know, is not the only
victim to this natural confidence in his elders. Other young men have
been in the receipt of handsome allowances, paid out of receipts as ill-
gotten as the Colonel's, in the full enjoyment of pleasure and respects.
bility, only to wake up some morning, finding themselves beggars, and the
patrons or relatives they had loved and honoured convicted swindlers,
This is very sad. It is, of course, hard to draw the line between credulity
and premature worldliness. And, certainly, no more unwelcome task can
devolve upon us than to preach the duty of suspicion towards parents and
guardians. But there is no danger of such a fault becoming too common.
And we may safely point out to young men beginning life under a wide
range of differing circumstances that it would be well for them sometimes to
ponder on the munificence of indulgent relatives, and to remember that it
may sometimes be more in their power than they imagine to check a career
of extravagance, and save themselves much subsequent humiliation.

Mr. CARDEN has again been making himself conspicuous by the per-
tinacity of his attachment to Miss ARBUTILNOT. Ile now, however,
zealously proclaims his determination to refrain from " molesting" her, and
seems much annoyed and surprised that the fact of his following her all
about the country should be construed into that case. If the young lady
is taking a walk after luncheon, Mr. CARDEN cannot help it if she happen
to take the same road he does. Nor does Miss ARBUTHNOT'S presence at
any particular church lay him, as he thinks, under the obligation of staying
away from it. Legally, we presume, if he kept within these limits, the
law would find it difficult to touch him. But, then, if he pursues this
system of worrying espionage with impunity, he cannot be surprised if
Miss ARBUTHNOT and her friends seize the first opportunity which the
latter presents to them of obtaining redress. When a person is perpetually
annoying us by petty molestations, and boasting how near he can go to
the law without touching, we naturally lie in wait for an opportunity to
catch him. This, after all, seems to be the full extent of the hardship
whereof Mr. CARDEN makes complaint. lie certainly seems to have been
endeavouring to obtain a surreptitious interview in a manner that might
be considered calculated to lead to a breach of the peace. He has, accord-
ingly, been bound over in the sum of 5,0001. not to " do so any more," and
he now walks in terror lest Miss ARBUTHNOT'S relatives should be per-
petually endeavouring to put a criminal colour on his actions. So the
affair stands at present. Mr. PORTER suggested rather shrewdly that cer-
tain interested persons were playing their own game with the unfortunate
gentleman, by persuading him that Miss ARBUTHNOT was really in love
with him, bnt was forcibly restrained by her friends from accepting his
addresses. If such a belief once began to ferment in the brain of an
ardent Irish gentleman, no results ought to astonish us. But the ill-suc-
cess of his last open attempt, and the cold clutches of the law which close
upon him whenever his feelings get the better of him, ought to have sug-
gested the hopelessness as well as the absurdity of his present conduct.
One of those sad disasters which tell so widely of the difference be-
tween rich and poor has recently occurred in Monmouthshire. A family
of five persons have been suffocated by an escape of gas. The calamity
occurred in a suburb of the town of Newport, in one of a row of cottages
contiguous to some sewerage excavations. An abominable smell had been
endured by all the inmates of the row for more than six months. On one
occasion the father of a family on looking at his children before going to
bed found them with " their tongues hanging out," and life all but extinct.
By the use of proper means they were restored. But the family in ques-
tion were all found dead except the mother, of whose recovery slight
hopes are entertained. But the worst feature in the case is that notice of
the escape of gas had been sent to the gas company some months before,
and they had taken no notice of it. We quite agree with the Coroner in
thinking that the inquiry of last Saturday should be considered as merely
preliminary ; and we trust that if on further inquiry it should turn out
that the gas company is to blame for this accident, some steps will be taken
to bring them to a sense of their duties for the future. The way in which
poor householders are treated by these companies is notoriously shameful.
Had arich man in Newport but held up his little finger, with what alacrity
would their servants have attended his behests. But a pack of grumbling
labourers, who could be put out of his way for them ? Five human lives
have now been sacrificed to this spirit, and a strong expression of feeling
pn the paw of the rlblie is desirable.