The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-23 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 23, 1846.

and until lately (that large portion of them, at '
least, plying along the New-road), of the King's-
cross George the Fourth. With all these advan-
tages, they may fairly claim much weight for their
opinions. The contest to be decided, therefore, lies
between the omnibus drivers, and the painters, sculp-
tors, architects, collectors, connoisseurs, professional
critics, members of parliament, and journalists of
the day. All we want is a bureau for the registra-
tion of opinions. We would suggest Sir FREDERICK
TRENCH as a fit person to superintend it. He might
learn some useful lessons.

TIIE testimony of the paupers in the workhouse of
the Itisbridge Union to the misconduct of SLATER,
the acting nurse, may be true or false; but enough
was proved on the inquest to show that there has
been gross abuse and neglect of duty in the manage-
ment of the workhouse. Blame attaches somewhere.

An ugly consciousness to this effect is evinced by
the mean evasion of responsiLility witnessed in so
muny officials. SLATER, the Geeing nurse, it seems,
was never regularly appointed, and cannot be pro-
ceeded against under the new Poor Act. ARNUP,
the late master of the workhouse, and his wife, have
resigned; not at all on accou'it of this or any other
inquiry, but because they have come to an inheritance
and are above their old business; therefore, say the
Poz,r Law Commissioners, we cannot inquire into
their conduct. As to the Board of Guardians, they
will not prosecute SLATER either, because, as Mr.
SMOOTHY at first asserted, they have neither chair-
man nor vice-chairman; or, as he afterwards qualified

his statement, these dignitaries will not act. There
is nobody to lay hold, and nobody to be laid hold of,
in the Risbridge Union ; and such a state of affairs,
any schoolmaster in the kingdom can tell, affords
strong presumption of complicity in misbehaviour.
No wonder all parties are ashamed of the concern
and wish to wash their hands of it. When Sir JOHN
AVALSHAM adjourned his inquiry to the workhouse,
in order to take the evidence of the paupers who were
too old and feeble to be removed, great part of the
inmates appeared to be in their dotage or verging
towards that stage of e, istenee. Three at least
were, from mental imbecility, incapable of giving
intelligible evidence. The lately deceased pauper,
WEBB, out of the revelations at whose inquest
the investigation has Aileen, appears, from the
evidence of the medical officer, to have been in the
same condition. Other late inmates were described
as equally infirm in mind and body. Some of the
still surviving paupers have been eight or nine years
in the workhouse. What provision was made by the
Board of Guardians for taking care of this mass of
dotage and debility ? There were no regular proper
nurses appointed, either to the men's or women's
wards. One of the gum dians has stated that, to his
knowledge, the appointment of a paid nurse was never
even brought before the board as a question for dis-
cussion. Two female paupers, to one of whom "he
thought something extra was given," acted as nurses
in the female ward ; and SLATER acted as nurse in the
male ward.

The responsibility of appointing SLATER is denied
by and for everybody. He was known to act in the
capacity of nurse before the present master". came
into office ; before the late master came into office ;
—but there is no entry of his instalment in the
books; nobody knows how he came to officiate as
nurse ; though everybody knew that he did so offi-
ciate. SLATER'S qualifications must have been at least
negative. 'When asked by the Assistant Commis-
sioner whether the man, from his previous station in
life, had any acquirements peculiarly fitting him to
act as nurse, Mr. E ksvcorr, the medical officer,
promptly replied, "Not in the least." Yet none of
the Guardians or officers knew anything wrong about
SLATER. The medical officer never saw him do any-
thing harsh ; the chaplain never heard him use im-
proper language ; rather than prosecute him, the
clerical Chairman of the Board of Guardians has
either resigned or refused to act.
Yet though Guardians and their officers never heard
any imputations against St trEn, it does not appear
to have been from want of suspicious circumstances.
_ .

We pass over the accusations of the inmates of the
workhouse: let it be assumed for the present that
they are parties, and have conspired against SLATER.
But there is an incidental statement made by one of
them, and not contradicted by any Guardian, that
cannot be thus passed over. THOMAS BRETT stated
that " SLATER went out of the Union for some time ;
he (witness) believed for bad behaviour." After
this SLATER certainly ought not to have been allowed
to officiate as nurse. And others could see circum-
stances which the Board of Guardians could not. At
the inquest on WEBB, JOHN FOREST CURTER de-
posed that his house overlooked the Riabridge Union
house ; that for three months he had heard SL tTER
use much bad language; that he had heard SLATER
immediately after reading prayers swear grossly and
disgustingly at some one ; that he had seen SLATER
strike the deceased on the face. At the investigation
by Sir JOHN WALSRAM, JOSEPH los deposed, that
last June, while working in a stack-yard, he had seen
some one in the infirmary strike another twice or
thrice very hard. THOMAS BOREHAM, who was
working along with los, corroborated his evidence.
When incidents like these were noised abroad, the
Guardians and their upper officers must have closed
their ears very hard not to hear of them.
From what transpired during the investigation into
the conduct of the Andover Union, and from the more
partial revelations as yet elicited at Risbridge, there
is reason to fear that the temper which leads guar-
dians and workhouse officers to make common cause
against paupers as a common enemy, is but too pre-
valent throughout the kingdom. This is not the
fault of the new Poor-law : it existed in and has been
inherited from the administration of the old law. It

was not merely profuse expenditure, and injudicious
management of the funds of national charity, that a
central board of management was instituted to check.

The Poor-law

were also intended to

control the petty spirit of local partisanship, which
often made the power of administering or withholding'
relief the means of gratifying malignity or voluptuous
propensities. There were M‘DorGaLs and SL %TEAS
is plenty under the old Poor-law ; and there were
vestries who countenanced and supported their
minions when suspected, or even known to be guilty
of brutality, just as there arc Union Boards. The
local dispensers of the new Poor-law and their
electors, are the same classes who discharged these
functions under the old. The new Poor-law is
economical in its spirit, but not harsh or cruel. The
pedantic manner in which rations have been propor-
tioned
even to drachms and scruples, and some other
minutim of the ultra-formalists who had a large hand
in coneocting the law and bringing it into ope ration,
have impressed many with a false estimate of it.
There is nothing in the new Poor-law to warrant
oppression, wanton cruelty, or even lack of sym-
pathy for destitution and decrepitude. The abuses,
the too prevalent abuses, to which we are now
inviting attention, existed under the old Poor-law;
and that they survive under the new Poor-law,
is partly owing to the ill-judged parsimony which cat
down the number of assistant commissioners and
heaped incompatible duties upon them, partly to the
unaccountable conduct and temper of the Poor-law
Commissioners. These gentlemen—it was proved
before the Andover Union Committee—have left the
law to work as it best might in the provinces, while
they have been compiling specious dissertations on the
abstract idea of a poor-law, which they called reports ;
angrily defending themselves against every imputa-
tion their neglect of their real duties drew down upon
them; whispering confidentially in the ears of Home
Secretaries; and occasionally making of some luckless
aseistant•commissioner, what Moses made of the
scape-goat—a beast of burden, on the back of which
was tied all the sins of the congregation, that it
might carry them away out into the wilderness.

The questions which now engross public attention
in France, and the part assumed by the organs of the
court upon them, indicate the tendency which at the
present moment the policy of the monarchy of July
assumes. The massacres of Galicia found an apolo-
gist in the tribune in the person of the minister of
Louis Philippe, who, to spare M. de Metternich the
responsibility of these horrors, denied their truth,
opposing, says the Sleek," to the evidence of facts
the effrontery of his own naked assertion, and
apostrophising the party of the Left in these words :
'lt is revolutionists alone that do things of that
kind.'" In a like spirit, the journals of the Château
denounce the popular movement in Switzerland ; and,
again, the recent coup.d'etat in Portugal receives their
undisguised approbation. There is no mistaking all
these symptoms.
Alluding to the reproach attempted to be cast on
the Opposition of the Left, on the occasion of the
massacres of Galicia, Le Sleek, which, as is well
known, is not identified with extreme doctrines, says:

The recollections of July are an answer to the calumnies
of this ungrateful son of a revolution. The movement of
Geneva has again falsified his words. We accept the parallel
which he has challenged. Compare what passes in Switzer-
land with the recent history of Poland, of which every cou-
rier brings us a bloody page. To whom, we ask, belongs the
hon )ur of organising carnage, enlisting. assassins, putting •
market-price on murder, and systematising anarchy, for the
purpose of perpetuating vengeance ? What hand has distri-
buted gold to the soldiers, and crosses to the leaders of this
monarchical Jacquerie, as the price of blood ? What voice
was raised to propitiate by favours the infernal genius which
inspired these atrocities, to offer homage to the Galician
peasants, whom a hateful Machiaveli:m holds in brutal sub-
lie.itZen. in order to hire more easily their savage fury ?
hypocritical and sanguinary coups es'tat are not in the
spirit of our politics ; but the world knows, and history will
record, that in this 19th century the minister of an absolute
government gloried in this system of political murder, and
that a conservative minister of France demanded for it of a
French assembly the amnesty of Silence ! Yes, we retort
your words, " it is not revolutionists, but you and such a- you,
who do or say such things." Let your hired journals, circulate
outrages against the Genevese insurrection. Let them be in-
dulgent fur the bloody restoration of the old regime in Ittly,
in Poland, at Lucerne. Show yourselves pitiless towards
Genevese liberalism, which triumphantly defends itself; and
after victory extends the hand of peace to the conquered.
Encourage by your co-operation and countenance the efforts
of foreign diplomacy to estrange France from her natural
allies. Bless the Jesuits of Friburg in condemning the
liberals of Berne. Preserve carefully in your archives the
precious compliments which Roses addresses to you. lie-
pulse the wishes of those people who, in spite of you, believe
still in that France which you vainly try to hide from them.
Supplicate the pardon of the absolute governments. Above
all, check the liberal dispositions of the new Pontiff, ,n order
to merit from Prince Metternich those little familiar notes
which you read at the tribune with all the pride of a cour-
tier. Behold your part—be faithful to it. Observe faith-
fulfy the unity of that drama which for seven years back
you have played for the profit of the enemies of France.
The incident of Madrid will make no change in its d.'nouc-
Inent. Some god in the machinery will be able to remove
your temporary difficulties, and turn to burlesque
a scene, the serious issue of which is above
your strength. Persevere in the ways of reaction.
Declare to all what you are, and let the country know as
certainly as foreign cabinets already do, that with men like
you everything may be attempted against the revolution and
nothing for it.

Such is the language of the organ of that party in
France of which Odillon Barrot is the type, and which
has been lately reproached with leanings towards.the
court party.
The flagrant infamy of the coup d'etat played off
at Lisbon has roused the indignation of the public in
Paris, expressed with one accordant voice by the
whole press, with the single exception of that part of
it which speaks the sentiments of the court and the
government. Some of the more liberal and demo-
cratic papers could not at first bring themselves to
credit the real character of the reported proceedings,
owing more particularly to the connexion of the
name of the Marquis Saldanha with them. It was
impossible to imagine that one who had been so
intimately. connected, as well in his public as
in his private relations, with the republican and
democratic party in Paris, a friend of Armand
Carrel, and the associate, if not the collaboratcur of
the editor of the National, could ever have allowed
himself to be made the instrument by which the
lioerties of his country should he assailed. No doubt,
however, now remains, and his former friends of the
National assail him as a base renegade, who has
submitted to be the accomplice of the Queen in her
nocturnal attack on the liberties of her people.

Imagine, says the National, a popular government be
guilty of such treachery ; the head of a democratic state to
have summoned at midnight his ministers, his public func-
tionaries and his military commander, upon the pretence
of urgent business; that thereon this chief, having gently
explained the situation of affairs, expressed fear as to the in-
sufficiency of his cabinet, exalted the liberal qualities of the
persons selected to form a new one ; imagine that, to satisfy
the scruples of the minister hesitating to sign the ordon-
nance, this chief had said, " Every thing shall be preserved ;
there shall be no counter-revolution; a change of ministry
alone is contemplated ; the results of the last insurrection
will be maintained ;"—and that the moment the minister
was thus persuaded to sign, he found biros. if a prisoner ! If
all these wretched schemes had been employed, not to over-
turn a minister, but to destroy the effects of a revolution, to
betray the manifest wish of the country by the aid of the
army seduced—to cover a whole city with snldiers and put it
in a state of siege, with the proclamation of a dictatorship
supported by bayonets;—if all this, we say, had passed in a
country calling itself censtitetional, and had been effected
by the caprice of a queen and by the help of foreign money,
with what decent name would it be possible to qualify an in-
famy
so atrocious? Such is, nevertheless, the history of this
last exploit of Donna Maria. She has put herself at the
head of a conspiracy against her ministers ; she spread a
snare for them ; she has enticed them to the palace by
baiting a trap for them ; there she induced the military com-
mander, by perfidious representation, to sign an order to the
troops to surround the palace at the break of days; and when
she had accomplished this, she imprisoned the minister and
, the general in the very palace to which she had seduced
1 them ; she destroyed the national guard; suspended the
constitution and created an absolute despotism. She had
not even the decency to wait until her new functionary
Saldanha could change the commanders of regiments; she
did so herself without troubling her ministers ; she fixed the
sign-manual to the brevet of the former officers of Cabral,
she replaced on her owu irresponsible authority all the civil
and military functionaries ; and that done, she sent her
janissaries to arrest thoseof her former employe/a who had not
been enticed to the palace. What may be the denouement of
this drama we know not, but we emphatically record those
facts, to bespeak upon them the sentiments of European
opinion, and if, as we fervently hope, this audacious outrage
to an entire people is followed by a striking and exemplary
chastisement, we ask what political party will dare to deny
its justice?
"Nations, to-day, can everywhere see at what game
monarchies are playing, and what respect they profess for
popular manifestations; there, where force to impotent,
corruption supplies its place; there, where open war on the
people dare not show itself, power works by stratagem, false-
hood,
and perfidy. Governments perhaps think thus to
bring insurrections into disrepute—they are deceived—they
prepare them on the contrary, render them inevitable, and
make victorious people unlearn that moderation which they
have recently practised. This lesson will some day cost
those who have given it dear, and it will then be too late to
repent."
• • •

•
In our former correspondence we mentioned the
summary measures taken against the Spanish papers
which would not insert puffing paragraphs of the nup-
tial festivities. The following report of the proceed-
ings against members of the bar in Murcia will show
the extent to which this system is practised:
" The palitical chief has issued an order of banishment
against the avocets who declared that they could not support
the expenses of the files, in consequence of the weight
of the taxes which pressed upon them. Four avocets
having been arbitrarily banished, the judges of the Court of
First Instance, the dean of the Chamber of Avocats, and the
vice-president of the Provincial Council presented themselves
to the political chief, and induced him to revoke the decree of
banishment, but on the express condition that the Chamber
should recall its former decision, and should declare that the
marriage of the Infanta was agreeable to it. The Chamber
of Avocets was consequently assembled again, and a volun-
tary subscription was opened to defray the expenses, under
pain of banishment."
The address of the Prosresistas of Murcia to the
Queen, against the marriage of the Duke of Montpen-
sier, having been referred to the tribunal for prosecu-
tion, Monier Mier, the fiscal, did not see that there
was any ground of prosecution. He was consequently
dismissed. It is thus attempted to intimidate the
judges. Monsieur Guerrero supported the accusation,
I and maintained that the document was not simply an
address, but an incendiary proclamation. The Avocat
of the Progressistas having spoken on the other side,
the Court pronounced the acquittal of the accused.
We axe assured, says Le Commerce, that

There is little doubt that in the reactionary movement
in Lisbon, the French Embassy has taken a part against the
Constitutional party. We think it is very well for France to
oppose England on the Peninsula ; but could not that be
accomplished without placing our country in odious hostility
to all the principles of order and liberty ? We leave to Eng-
land the popular part of ranking herself on the side of the
oppressed . The strength of France consists in being the
true representative of the ideas of 1789 and 1830. The policy
of M. Guizot tends to deprive us of this strength, and pro-
cures for us victories which are as disastrous as defeats. If
this is the way he sustains our influence in Europe, we
would prefer his inertia to his activity."
The Gazette de France and La Riforme directly
charge Queen Christina with employing the soldiers
and the fleets of Spain to place one of her sons by
Munoz upon a transatlantic throne, usurped from one
of the young republics of the West.

Such an expedition has been already mentioned as
contemplated, but the news has now acquired such
consistency that it is difficult to call it in question. It is
said that General Flores, under the orders of Christina,
has already collected a fleet of ten vessels and a body
of four thousand men at Santander. The officers and
soldiers composing this corps have been drafted from
the Spanish army, with their arms and baggage com-
plete. They are enrolled, not by General k lures, but
by the government of Madrid.
Reports are in circulation that Bide-Campagne is
preparing an armed attack on Bide-Ville. The Free
Corps are also in motion, and it is said that the
League of the Seven Cantons is preparing for resis-
tance. The Council of State of Fribourg is making
extensive military preparations. Three companies
of infantry, and a company of artillery, are ordered
into the city, a review of the Landwehr and the
Landsturm is ordered, the force of these bodies to be
augmented by volunteers. Meanwhile, however, all
continues tranquil at Geneva, where men of opposite
parties combine in maintaining order; and in the
guard-houses individuals are seen lying down, side
by side, who a few days ago were firing upon each
other. The same spirit will probably prevail in the
approaching elections. In the country the inhabi-
tants of the Catholic communes are in a large
majority. They will vote with the radicals, whose
cause they have espoused.
The following announcement is given in the Diario
di Roma of the loth :
" His Holiness, still occupied with political improvements
and desirous to render the measure of his predecessors con-
sistent with the actual wants of the public, has createda
Junta, under the presidency of the Cardinal Secretary of
State for the preparation of a prs,j. et: 1. Upon a better divi-
sion of business among the bureaus of the public adminis-
tration. 2. Upon the appointment of a council of mini.ters
to discuss all questions worthy of being taken into considera-
tion in each branch of the administration, and to submit its
advice to his Holiness. The Auditor-General of tho Aposto-
lic Chamber, the Governor of Rome, the Treasurer, the
President of the Army, the Secretary of the Sacra Consults,
the two prelates, Under Secretaries of State, form part of
this Junta. Mons. Rusconi will be the Secretary.