The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-17 00:00:00

FENIAN PRISONERS AT PORTLAND. —The Irish-
man publishes what it affirms is an extract from a diary
kept by one of the Fenian prisoners eonfined at Portland,
but which, until it is oorroborated, no one will believe to
be a true statement. It describes, in a word, their treat-
ment as being savagely cruel—as more nearly realising the
sort of life that political prisoners must have led finder
Austrian rule in its worst day, than wilting that could
possibly take place in the nineteenth century in England.
On the day that they arrived at Portland they stood for
"an hour naked," awaiting the inspection of the doctor,
and when one of them attempted to make a statement
concerning his health he was " told rudely to hold his
tongue." Rinuitree was suffering at the time from bleed-
ing piles, and Kickham from scrofula, caused by the diet
and bail air at Portland, and yet both of them were kept
working in the quarries. At last Roantree, around whom
the ground where he laboured used to be " saturated with
blood," was put into the hospital ; but only to be pro-
nounced incurable. Some of the prisoners, too, were made
to wash the linen from the infirmary. Kickham, cured of
his complaint, was turned out into the quarries to break
stones. His extreme short sightedness, however, and his
weak state, caused him to be slow at his work, " and on
this account the officers shoved him about in • most brutal
manner." Seized again by illness, he bad to be removed to
Woking along with seven or eight other convicts; but here
he was likewise subject to the harshest usage ; he, "a man
of refinement and genius, was linked to a monster inhuman
form, and the sufferings he endured are too shocking to
tell." When the prisoners were sent out on the works at
Portland the blocks of stone at which they worked were
about two yards apart that being the distance at which
ordinary convict. are kept from each other. For about
three weeks after their arrival they were permitted to
speak while working, then the governor suddenly gave
an order that they should speak loud enough for the
warders to hear them. In a few days after he changed his
mind, and gave an order that they should speak low. On
the lath July he gave an order that they should not speak
at all. Punishment then commenced for all who at-
tempted to speak. The heat was so intense that the skin
peeled off their faces, and their hands swelled to that ex-
tent they could hardly hold the picks. Some of the tools
were so hail the men were repeatedly injuring their hands.
Martin Carey broke two of his fingers in that way. Be-
fore they got well he was sent out on the works to break
atones with his left hand. The coarsest language was
constantly used to them by the officers. The governor
has been heard to tell the warders to bring up four or five
of those fellows—meaning the Fenian/ prisoners—for
punishment. Some have got seven days' bread and water
and dark cells, including Luby and O'Leary. Luby was
informed • letter had arrived from his wife, but, as ad-
ditional punishment for him, he was told this letter
would be forfeited, the consequence of which was he was
threatened with brain fever. O'Donovan Rosa& was almost
in constant punishment. An authoritative denial ought,
most assuredly, to be ten by some competent person
to these gross charges o cruelty and tyranny.—Aferning
Poet.

THE EMPLOYER AND THE JOCILEY.—The renewal
of relations between the Earl of Glasgow and Aldcroft I
am glad to see re-established, for the sake of both the em-
ployer and the employed, and the circumstances which led
to it are so curious and creditable to both parties that they
deserve to be recapitulated. It seems that Mrs. Alderoft,
in looking over her husband's clothes, found an old cheque
of Lord Glasgow's in his favour of 1901. wrapped up in a
tenser, and which had been put away for 11 years and
forgotten by the recipient. This will show how
right I have been when I have contended that jockeys
in the present day get their money in • very easy
way—far more so than barristers or physicians, soldiers,
sailors, or clergymen. But let this pass. When the dis-
covery was made, which even Miss Braddon could hardly
have imagined, Lord Glasgow was communicated with, and
his lordship, who, in spite of his lasting hostility to "Angus,"
is a kind-hearted and honourable man, at once sent Ald-
croft a fresh cheque, and told him if he could get down to
the proper weight he would re-engage him. This, by
placing himself in a regular trainer's hands, as if he was
to be prepared for a fight or • walking match, Aldcroft
had been enabled to do, and so pleased was his lordship
with the manner in which he rode his horse a&nst The
Peer, that lie wrote him a cheque for a very handsome
sum. So that the eeieeie cord ink may be said to
be completely restored, and I hope will only be
terminated by the death of one of the parties.
That Lord Glasgow has acted judiciously in re-engaging
Alderoft, I am quite assured, for no employer could have
been better served ; and if the latter on one or two occa-
sions rode contrary to orders—especially as regards General
Peel in the Derby —I am convinced that the severe wasting
he had undergone affected his head, which had previously
displayed symptoms of having felt the two severe falls he
experienced at Middleham, and which at one time lad to
doubts of his recovery by his friends. He has now only to
stick to business, and business will stick to him, for at the
present time we cannot spare jockeys of his stamp. One
result, however, of Mrs. Aldcroft's discovery of the hidden
treasure is, that every other jockey's wife or sister have
been actively employed ever since in going over their left-
off clothes, without having as yet made a similar amount
of prize money.—" Argus" of the Post.
Flux AT MANCHESTER. —An extensive cotton-
waste store, five stories high, in Primrose-street, Man-
chester, belonging to Mr. `Halley, was discovered to be
on fire yesterday morning. The fire broke out in the
third story, and before the fire brigade could extinguish
it, that and the flours shove were destroyed. The stock
altogether was valued at nearly .1,0001., and the damage is
estimated at 1,5001.