The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-25 00:00:00

macaws.

Tae Itrirsiwo, POOR PILLICODDY. Mama Dominick
Murray & Gresham ; Miss Pay Marshall —And TM K STREETS
UP LONDON. Mr. Vining, Meson. H•Leaa, D. Murray, &c.
Mesdames Singer, Barnett, end Addle.

LYCEUM.
Ms Krum, THE MISTRESS OF THE AITLL.—THE
LADY OF LYONS. Mr. redder, Mews. Jord w. Addison,
Callum, Mellon, Dalton, Stuart, and Prances ; Misses 1•14^
worthy and Carlotta Locking, Mrs. Marston.

W
This Evian°, LION LIMB, NA.
OF THE SOUTH SEA
1/4LAND3 —The American Minatreis and Japanese Tommy;
Congener and nice : and a variety of other Eutortalumeuta—
With THE BOLDIBITS MOTTO.

NIGH WAT/Ut AT LONDON BRIDOIL
Ttl. DAT —Montag. Ilk 51ga..— —Afternoon. Oh. On.
To-llohaow—ltornteg. Ob. tlat.......Alternoon, Oh. 50m.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25.

AN inquest which Mr. HEMPHREYB held at Tot-
tenham yesterday morning reminds us of a form
of social danger which, under ordinary circum-
stances, eludes observation. We pride ourselves
on surpassing all former generations in our sense
of the sacredness of human life, and especially on
the protection which we extend to the young and
helpless. Nevertheless, from time to time, some-
thing is happening to make us remember that
every generation has its own perils as well as its
own virtues. This is an age of rapid and easy
intercommunication. Never before was it so
easy for perfect strangers to become ac-
quainted on the ground of common interests.
The newspaper offers in its advertising columns a
medium through which the most distant can ap-
proach each other, and it is sometimes permitted
to be turned to strange uses. Take the advertise-
ment of that mated couple, whe from yeas and
to par's ond " are anxious to adopt a child. A
rr premium required." There are always parties
quite as anxious to get rid of a child as
these good people can be to have the delight of in-
fant society. Children are daily born for whom
human forethought has provided no place. What
relief to the distressed parent or the distressed
parent's friends to know that it is possible by the
aid of a money payment to make ono final provision
for the little one, with the certainty of
hearing no more of it. And yet society might
reasonably doubt the sufficiency of the guarantees
of the child's safety. Who can say what will
ha )pen when this couple, having met with the
chi 1 for which they are so eager, have expended
the premium I Will it still be as dear as on its
first arrival Will it continue to receive maternal
attentions Is it even certain that it will be supplied
with daily food ! These questions would acquire
a terrible significance if it should appear that Cie
worthy couple had already accepted the charge of
numerous children, exacting a premium with each.
The traffic in infants has many aspects, one of
which was exhibited at the inquest yesterday. A
Mrs. JAGGER, residing at Wood-lane-grove, Tot-
tenham, receives children into her house at a
very early age, from their births and even earlier,
for occasionally she advertises " apartments fur-
" niched," and then ladies go to her house to be
confined. During the last three years she has
taken in a great number of children—she is no:,
sure whether as many as sixty—but it may have
been forty. No one would g►ther from her ad-
vertisement, in which "a respectable person wants
" one or two children to nurse," that she con-
ducted her business on so extensive a scale. The
figures given in evidence seem at a fast glance to
imply that her establishment is a large one ; but
she told the Court she had very few children inthe
house, " Six, and two little dears that I will
" never part with." But infants are very
difficult to rear ; and die even in the most com-
fortable of homes. How many of the forty died
at the house in Wood-lane we are not told, but
the Coroner remarked yesterday that he had pre-
viously held inquests on two or three of them, a
statement to which Mrs. JAGGER assented.

The child whose death was yesterday investi-
gated was placed with Mrs. JAOGIR sixteen months
ago. Da mother appears to belong to a wealthy
family at Liverpool, but was unmarried, and
her name was carefully withheld from the jury.
The clerk of a London solicitor, who bad acted
for the family of the mother, stated yesterday
that ho placed the infant at Tottenham, having
become acquainted with Mrs. JAOOZs by means of
an advertisement. The child died in a manner
that may be called sudden, and by order of the
Coroner a post-mortem examination took place.
Mrs. Isimen told the jury that she had nourished
the child with brandy, milk, eggs, and port wine ;
but the evidence of Mr. F. W. Wiasoic,
the surgeon, who performed the post-mortem
examination, did not sustain this statement.
Mr. WATSON deposed that " the body was
" much emaciated : there was no trace of
" fat on the body. The stomach was
" healthy, but nearly empty, and the child must
" have been badly fed." There was also disease
of the mesenteric glands. The witness was in
medical attendance at the house in Wood-lane the
day before the child died, but was not called to
see it. The jury found that the child died from
mesenteric disease, and that Mrs. JAOOBa was
highly censurable for not calling a medical man to
see the deceased.

It is unnecessary to comment on this cue. We
are crlitent to leave to the jury the assignment of
the blame due to Mn. J•oazs. But the case
points to • state of things which may easily
become a source of terrible danger. Between the
familiar and salutary arrangement by which •

town child is placed in a country cottage within
reach of its parents, and subject to their fre-
quent visits, for the benefit of country air,
and this system of farming the children of
perfect strangers, there is only the most
superficial resemblance. In the latter case,
the beat of the guarantees which should
always surround infant life are wholly want-
ing. It can scarcely even be said that the
:nterests of the nurse enjoin the rendering
of that degree of attention which is necessary
to maintain a delicate child in health. If
the reception and maintenance of children
on the scale practised by Mrs. JAGGER is
to become a recognised trade, it may be proper
to place it under regulations analogous to those
we impose on the keepers of retreats for the in-
sane. There is no reason why the helplessness of
children should not be as carefully protected as
that of lunacy.

01111 CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)