The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-20 00:00:00

HIGH WAIIII AT LONDON_ BILIDGI.

DA7=liceikini, O. 9h. 5311.
to-Mosioll—Marsing, 10b. —Aftlenoos, 11h. lm.

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20.

Ota London Police Magistrates so rarely break I
through their habitual reserve to remark on the
policy or effect of the law they administer, that
when they do so we may be sure that it is upon
some strong provocation. Mr. Trawairr, of the
Marlborough-street Police-court, was stirred by the'
case of a poor woman who came before him on Tues-
day last to pronounce an opinion upon our system
of Poor-law relief which certainly has not the merit
of novelty, but which, falling from an impartial
magistrate of large experience, is likely to com-
mand attention. An Irishwoman named MA-
HON"; who had been discharged from an
hospital, complained to the court that her
husband had refused to receive her. Sho had
applied to the pariah of St. Martin's, but the
officials would not assist her, and she was in
danger of starvation. Mr. Trawl:LITT said he
could do nothing for her until the parish autho-
rities moved in the matter, and he added—
" Boards of Guardians are wrongly constituted ;
" they consist mainly of tradesmen who have their
" own purposes to serve, and of others who look to
" get the parish contracts. Until this is altered
" the poor will hardly get proper attention." This
is a very severe judgment to pass upon the guar-
dians of the poor, and all broad assertions respect-
ing large bodies of men must be subject to many
exceptions. Nevertheless, we believe the public is
being gradually educated by experience to agree-
ment with Mr. Trawairr's opinion. If one thing
has contributed more than another to this result,
it is the failure of so many gallant minorities of
upright and public-spirited guardians to effect any
real and lasting reform. Rates are going up, and
the poor are going down, and it seems vain to
expect any remedy from within the system itself.
We cannot go on much longer as we are doing at
present, with paupers literally dying for want of
food on one hand, and ratepayers crushed with the
burden of local taxation on the other. If nothing
better can be done, we may be driven to make
Poor-law administration a function of our Police-
courts, while Mr. TOULMIN SMITH writes the
epitaph of local self-government.

A CURIOUS point arose for determination
yesterday, at the Central Criminal Court, upon
the trial of WES; one of the prisoners charged
with an assault in connexion with the Hammer-
smith murder. After evidence for the prosecu-
tion had been received, Mr. DALY, the prisoner's
counsel, proposed to call Taos'Psow, the man
whom the jury hail just found guilty of murder,
and upon whom Mr. Justice Luau had solemnly
pronounced sentence of death, to give evi-
dence for his client. Upon the Court express-
ing some doubt as to the competency of a
man in THOMPSON'S position as a witness,
Mr. DALY urged that he was not dis-
abled by the statute, and that persons
who bad been convicted and sentenced to penal
servitude were frequently called as witnesses.
The judge held, however, that the cases were en-
tirely different, inasmuch as a man under capital
sentence is already civilly dead ; he would, how-
ever, reserve the point if desired. Aa the prisoner
was acquitted, the question thus raised will not
be carried any further ; but, as affecting the ad-
miatration of justice, it is worth notice. Desirable
as it is to place as much information as possible
before juries, there are certain limitations to the com-
petency of witnesses prescribed by the evidentinterest
of society. If one man under sentence of death
might be called as a witness for his fellow prisoner,
it would not be easy to show why in another case
another man in similar circumstances should
not be called as evidence for the Crown, and
thus a subject might be liable to have his
life sworn away by a person whose own life
was in the hands of the prosecutor. This
would seem very shocking. And yet some-
thing like it is sometimes done, with the acqui-
escence of the public. Occasionally we see a
prisoner who is distinctly marked out for the
gallows by the flagrant and overwhelming evidence
of his guilt, accepted as an approver, and brought
up with a policeman's hand upon his collar, to
make statements which it is hoped will lead to the
conviction and execution of somebody else. In
ordinary cases juries may be induced to take the
testimony of interested witnesses at its just
value ; but in times of intense excitement it
is very difficult to decide simply according to
the dictates of reason. Suppose the bands-
man M'DoNato had been murdered in Holborn
last Saturday instead of long before, and that Mrs.
JANMAN had made her statement against Gaol's
this week—is it certain that it would have been
sifted as closely, and rejected as summarily, as it
was two months ago 1 Perhaps it would, but we
cannot feel sure upon such a matter. The Go-
vernment very properly repudiated the evidence
of Mrs. JASMAN as soon as it appeared that she
was swearing with a single eye to the reward
which had been offered for evidence leading to a
conviction; and doubtless it will be equally jealous
for the honour of justice on occasions which may
yet arise.

At Axminster, in Devonshire, there is now to be
nen a starling's nest, with young ones in it.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)
1

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION.

Lord Clanricarde sends to the Times a copy of
his scheme on the law of landlord and tenant; which was set
aside by a majority of a select committee, but which be in-
tends, it appears, to submit again to parliament. Treging
of the general subject, the Times thinks it must be allowed
on the evidence that, with the exception of certain large
estates, belonging for the most part to wealthy English
owners, the burden of improvement is in Ireland thrown on
the tenant ; and this gives special significance to the other
fact that in Ireland lemon are rare. It is true that in England
leases are rare also, but where the landlord bears the
burden of outlay for permanent improvements it is of
comparatively small importance that the occupier should
be only a yearly tenant. The backward state of Irish
agriculture is universally confessed, and is a sufficient
reason, apart from the question of discontent on the side
of tenants, why the relations between landlord and tenant
should be pressed on the attention of the legislature. Let
it be remembered that we have to deal in Inland—object
to some great and prominent exceptions—with a poor
proprietary clinging to their rights with the same tenacity
with which the peasantry cling to their holdings, unable if
desirous, but commonly as indifferent as unable, to under.
take the coat of any considerable and permanent improve-
ments ; and besides these we have the actual cultivators,
on whom the burden of making improvements is thrown,
and who, strangely enough, do sometimes make them,
though conscious that the property in the improvements
passes to another as soon as made, and that they are liable
to the alternative of immediate eviction or increased rental ;
and the problem to be solved is now to reconcile these con-
flicting interests without introducing a new and, perhaps,
still more dangerous element into the complicated relations
of landlord and tenant.

Observing that the trade murders of Sheffield end other
places are in themselves quite as serious as the Fenian
outrages of Clerkenwell and Manchester, the Daily News
adds that the question they involve is only adjourned.
Mr. Mundella's account of the process by which a good
feeling has been brought about in Nottingham, the
headquarters formerly of the Luddite movement,
will greatly assist in the discussion of this matter.
The board of arbitration there established works so well,
that questions are seldom pushed to a division. Full and
candid explanations usually produce unanimity ; the
grounds of dispute appear. The artisans become better
acquainted with the general laws of trade and the special
conditions imposed by foreign and domestic competition
upon their employers. The employers, on the other hand,
learn by the free interchange of opinion with their opera-
tives the mechanical and material conditions of the manu-
facture in which they are engaged, and the arrangements
which will beet meet the interests and convenience
of the workmen. For seven years this council of
conciliation has averted strikes and lock outs in the
trades which are represented in it, and the good
example baa been followed pretty generally through-
out the counties of Notts, Derby, sad Leicester, and is
likely to be introduced into one of the iron trades of
. .

Sheffield. It is applicable to all branches of industry, and
to every district in the country. Let councils of concilia-
tion be established in the mining district of Cleveland,
and the ironmasters and ironworkers of Staffordshire and
South Wales will be unable to afford the expensive luxury
of lock-outs and strikes.

IS TOPICS.

The Post says there is every reason why the law should
superadd flogging to a term of imprisonment where the
accused is convicted of participation in any crime like that
of the Fenian' at Clerkenwell, for which the punishment
is not death ; and even where it is death, there seems no
good reason why flogging should not still be enforced.
The Star supports Lord Ranelagh in the resolution which
he moved yesterday at the meeting of magistrates in

Clerkenwell, expres;ing dissatisfaction with the conduct
of the Chief Commissioner of Police in regard to the recent
ontrege. It is only common sense to maintain that when
the Chief Commis loner knew of the contemplated attack

on the previous day, it must have been within his power
to prevent it.
The Telegraph supplies some information respecting the
position of special constables. There is a provision that
they shall not be called upon to act for more than three
months. They have all such powers and immunities, and
aro " liable to all such duties and responsibilities, as any
constable, duly appointed, now bag within his constable.
wick by virtue of the common law of this realm, or of any
statute or statutes." Also, under extraordinary stream-
I stances, they may be required to act in a county adjoining
that in which they are serving. It will be seen, therefore,
that the obligations attached to the office are, theoreti-
cally, of a serious kind. The persons sworn in are under
orders, and may be lawfully summoned at any hour like
ordinary policemen.
The Daily New suggests that until science can insure