The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-12 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS,

of the locked up, darkened, chamber ;
though the picture of two aged paupers
fumbling over a match surreptitiously procured,
while the life of the third ebbe slowly away, is one
suggesting a world of hidden tragedy. We simply
ask whether the forms demanded by the law have
been observed at Bethnal-green ; and if not, who
is responsible 7 It too commonly happens when
a case of this wretched nature comes to light, that
through some loophole, some hitch in the chain of
evidence, some doubt as to the legal responsibility
of particular officials, the inevitable public
inquiry ends without practical result. Here at
least the facts seem sufficiently damnatory and
clear. If regular attendance was given by the
medical officer, what has that gentleman to say to
the treatment of his patient? If a committee or
paid visitors have certified that invalid paupers
were properly tended at this workhouse, let them
now justify their certificate. If the nurses have been
declared efficient, it is for those vouching for them to
furnish reasons for their confidence. There appears
no escape from the dilemma. If the workhouse
has been practically unvisited, if no one had the
" overlooking of the warding of the sick," the law
points with sufficient clearness to those guilty of ,
neglect of duty. If, on the other hand, the proper
forms have been complied with, the gentlemen visit-
ing must be held responsible. Vague censure and
picturesque denunciation are out of place in a case
of this gravity. What we all require is not merely
sentimental pity for the wretched circumstances
of poor Frixowits' death—that it is impos-
sible to withhold—but a substantial guarantee
that other men in his position will not be sacrificed
in similar fashion. The public voice calls for
common justice to the Rick pauper, and we warn
all concerned that neither perfect "regulations"
nor theoretical efficiency will be held to justify
such deaths as the one we record to-day.

A HEAVY fall of snow, such as that which
changed the face of nature yesterday, instantly
discovers the faulty joints in our out-door
arrangements. It was curious to see yesterday
the wires which the day before, stretched across
the streets, had been conveying messages of busi-
ness or pleasure, broken down and dangling
from the house tops, or wound round the
nearest lamp post. It was inconvenient to
find that, from the same cause, the trains
on railways managed by telegraphic signals had
been thrown into complete disorder. But
nothing was half so vexations yesterday
as the state of the streets. Not at the
Cariboo diggings, or any other place on
the outskirts of civilization, could a fall of snow
have made travelling more wretched to the way-
farer than it was in the very heart of London. All
night long the snow had fallen and drifted, and by
morning its depth was to be measured by feet.
Locomotion was at once rendered difficult, and
almost impossible. The omnibuses " ran " like
snails ; cabmen declared they were " going home,"
but were willing to relent for a sufficient consi-
deration. A Page amount of additional traffic
was thrown upon the Underground Railway, and
at the intermediate stations numbers of persona
were left behind for want of room. Hour after
hour the quantity of snow in the streets was
increasing, and being worked up by the churning of
innumerable wheels into a detestable slush, which
was most abundant and most watery at the points
of crossing and at .the intersections of streets.
During all this while not a hand was put forth to
help the tax and rate paying public. Policemen,
street keepers, and beadles walked up and down,
observing with curiosity the extraordinary manner
in which the unliveried public took the floods and
swamps of the overland route from Temple-bar to
the Bank. The snow was inclined to thaw, and a
man with a spade and besom could have kept
the gutters open for half • mile, and set free
the imprisoned waters that were soaking through
the strongest of boots. But there was neither
board, nor vestry, nor alderman, nor church.
warden, nor respected parishioner to set such
an one in motion. A more disgraceful state of
things was never seen in London ; and for the
honour of constitutional government we hope
there were no Parisians, or at any rate no Im-
perialists, in the City yesterday, to make compari-
sons unfavourable to our priceless free institutions.
It might have been thought that in these days,
when nothing is too ancient or too august to be
put upon its trial, that the friends of our minor
local organizations would h►ve been careful to
show that they were good for something, and that
it is not absolutely necessary to invoke that all-
embracing, all-devouring Power which the prophet
BEAL has seen in rapt vision, raising itself above
the ruins of civic thrones, and governing this great
metropolis contemptuous of all considerations ex-
cept the public convenience. But the instinct of
self-preservation has been as powerless as public
spirit to stir our somnolent and self-coniplacent
authorities to action. The streets are still full of
snow. The frost of last night has petrified the enor-
mous plastic mass which all day yesterday was
changing form under the wheels of carriages and
the hoofs of horses ; and Fleet-street and the
Strand are in a state which would discredit the
management of a country lane.