The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-26 00:00:00

Eke Court.

BA LM ORAL CASTLE, 51%1
The Queen drove out in the morning, iork !Idea
by the Duchess of Athol° ; aLd her Majesty Ir, :Nye
out in the afternoon, accompanied by Princess Lou:,
The Prince of W.lei and l'.inci Arthur wt./.
fishing, attended by Major Teesdale.

The Crown Prince of Denmark, attended by t Apt,j4
Lund, arrived at Marlborough-house yettercLy 4tr!,,,c0,
on a visit to the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The Princess of Wales, acc,,itip.tnied
Prince of Di nmark, afterwards drove out.

A deputation, consisting of Mr. Janux Puma,
M'Laurie, 31r. J. Bounontl, Mr. A. F. Styling, 3'r,
Clerk, and Mr. J. W. Richardson. had an into rvirw aith
the Earl of Devon, at the office of the Poor-law I:L.ra,
Whitehall, yesterday.

The Prince and Princess Christian, and his ~, :ono
Highness nine,: and ha Royal Highness Print MI C-ry of
Trek, honoured the Lord President oft e t solaced d tie
Duchess of Maihorough by their pr ~ence bta .fitst
yesterday, on the cot:cam:on of the Lady Cornelia Iluithille
marriage with Sir Ivor Guest, Bart.

Last night the Lord Mayor and Lady 31.1%, ress
entertained her Majesty's. judges to a gravel ut in
the Egyptian-Lel! of the Mansion-house.

DR. LITTLEDALE AND THE REFuRMI-.1..

TO THE EDITOR OP THE EYPRF>a.

SIR,—I hare just read with interest %.,:r re-
marks upon my views of the character of the lt. r. • .
My positirn in the matter is that the common 1.:i•
give a perfectly untruthful account of them, .1.1 ::
neglected documents cont.in the facts. I ass to
republish my lecture with notes, proving all I ha‘r
Meanwhile I may po'nt out in proof of the very 11.1••:•Kt
knowledge posressed by even educated persona coi.,,ra-
Mg the Tudor era that in your own criticism of u.r sou
say that it is itsttling to read " that Henry the }.:11t13
sent an old and barren wife to the block, in order ti he
might marry a young and comely girl solely for the pur-
pose of serving his country."
I agree with you it is startling to read it. list no ,•se
ever read it anywhere except in the Exprrso of .M. ,y
if Gil.

The two wives whom Hoary beheaded were young
women, whom he thought only too likely to be mothers
by others than he. His one aged wife, the excellent
Katharine of Aragon, lived and died honoured and es-
teemed, even by him, at Kinibolton Castle.
Now, may you not be as much astray about Latimer as
about Henry :'—l am, &c., R. F. LITTLEDALE.
10, Beredord•terrace, W., May 25.
(If Dr. Littledale reads history with as little care .1 be
maul the article iu the Express, from which lie quotes. ne
wonder he has come to regard the Reformers as :cis.
creants." The them), affecting Henry VIII. was pat ea
the same level with Nero's tenderheartedness, Tile
chastity, and Dr. Littledale'a estimate of the Reform. is.—
' Ediwr of Express.]

LEOTARD'S FALL.

EXECUTION

BARRETT.
(THIS DAY.)

Fenian convict Mishael Barrett was hanged
= morning in front of Newgate gaol. His de-
l...Amur was unaltered to the last, and those who
la .0a his speech from the dock saw another
t4:11. nig illustration of the coolness, resolution, and
toittude he then displayed. Those moat con-
„r-ant with executions declared that no convict
oer met his doom with more signal courage
than the unhappy man who suffered this morn-
ing ; and the " Good bye, Barrett," " God bless
cord Barrett," yelled from all portions of the crowd,
showed that the popular sympathies were roused
Nor was there ought of bravado in Barrett's man-
ner. Dressed in the worn claret coloured short east
and the shabby iron-grey trousers he wore during
the trial, from the time he appeared on the drop—
preceded by the old hangman Calcraft, and accent-
allied by a Roman catholic priest— to the final mo-
ment, he was self-contained, calm, and, if the phrase
way be applied to a condemned murderer, dignified.
The composed command of feature for which he
aas remarkable at the Old Bailey never deserted
him, and after a hasty glance towards Giltspur-
street, where, from the position cf the converging
timrouglifares the largest mass of people was assem-
Wed, he deliberately turned his back as if to shut
. ;it the sea of hungry, eager faces before him. He
wadi no other sign. The proceelings on the
di.. p were unusually brief, and is bile Cal-
craft fastened the strap round Barrett's
t, et. drew the white cap over his head and face,
mid adjusted the halter round his neck and to
dm iron hook-chains in the beam above, the
iiihmed man stood firm and erect, moving
bediently to instructions so as to stand in the
~.i,tre of the false floor. Once Calcraft, with
.tr.titgely repulsive solicitude, whispered in his ear,
~ if asking if the halter hurt him, and immediately
. ;:. rwards loosened it somewhat, and the capped
I and shrouded face moved dumbly to and fro
if to aid in readjustment. Meanwhile the only

. •hcr person on the drop was the Romish priest
seemed is press the crucifix upon the bound
.14 and the yet living lips, while exhorting and
•.0 ing to the very last. Barrett appeared to
Ain with grave courtesy, but neither bowed nor
k.a. Mr. Jonas, the governor of Newgate ;
Mr. Humphries, the under.governor ; two
• al, visaged, determined, stalwart warders, and a
%%ell-dressed, clean-shirted, privileged citizens
ri ...Lined in the doorway leading to the drop ; and
close to it, and closely watching the proceed-
,: remained invisible to the crowd. Calcraft,
slirig disagreeably, and looking, in black skull

p. and good black broad-cloth surtout and suit,
re repulsive than if he had worn the insignia of
I.:, dreadful office, smirked and fawned on these
he passed down the stairs and slouched
then to pull the fatal bolt. He
I.:01 Ix en greeted by a terrific storm of hisses
.0,.1 yells while in view of the people, and
un d nervously anxious to hurry out of their
- .1,1 Though growing old, and with bleached
- and a snow-white beard, he is a powerfully

I • It muscular man, whose callous matter-of-fact
of the ropes, straps, and paraphernalia of
• .1, at death cannot be seen without a shudder.
1I,•• moment after his disappearance underneath
t'..• falhe tloor he pulls the bolt, the drop falls, and
i'•• 1,, wit.tl and blindfolded figure swings to and fro
•,, the bright morning air a corpse. Barrett's
I."%k•rf,il will and enormous self-control seemed

pi.os,intiit even in the death agony.

The

.a unary death twitchings and spasmodically con-

iilSitt• Struggles of hands and feet were

oolie of theraio be seen, and as he hung stiff and
I,4id, and with protruding tongue and swollen,
distorted features discernible under their thin
a bite cotton covering, as if they were part of some
i.ideous masquerading, his broad shoulders and
thick-set muscular frame seemed to part with life
without a single throw or heave. Calcraft
remained below, placing his hands on the
ing ra.in's feet as if to steady the
singing body; but without employing the
pull or jerk with which he is said to occasionally
-,tp!lement the dreadful fall. In death the legs
sere drawn partly up, and turned outwardly at
t!... knees as if in involuntary aid of determine-
!. n ; and with the bow-shape Sir Walter Scott
:Att. Rob Roy's in token of his vast personal
coth. The criminal this morning either had
Li- neck broken in the first fall or kept unmoved
•i pursuance of a set purpose, but it is certain that
'a+ 'tread spirit departed without betraying the
sympathies of an unnatural and violent death.
['be mob saw but few of the details we have de
allied. The short black cloth curtain which has
-1 late years been placed round the shabby
gallows, partially hides those standing
•at it, and makes only head and shoulders visible
sitcr the drop has fallen and the criminal is
Itsuged. But ;Caleraft and Barrett each had a
I,•trribly noisy reception directly they appeared.
The persistent burst of groaning which greeted the
th of metropolitan pollee joining the
city constables in the inclosed space before the
;allows became appalling when the hangman
at as recognised. " Let's put him there instead !"
• ' tame ;" "Down with him" "Bah, bah, murderer,
bah," are but a few of the articulate sounds heard
intim the windows of the Old Bailey and ringing in
the doomed man's ears at the supreme moment.
But even these were lost in the excited
and congratulatory cheers for Barrett. The mur-
derous outrage for which he died seemed to be
lttrgotten. The maimed women, the crippled
Ctildren, the countless agonies inflicted upon the
st;tttl, the helpless, and the weak ; the honest
is'eadwinners reduced to a life of cheerless painful
i.superism, all faded out of eight ; and hand-
t!spping " Bravo, Barrett," " Good-bye, Barrett,"
Never mind 'em, d--n them!" were mixed
with cheers as hearty as ever followed hero to
o,e battle-field. But the Irish accent was notably
•dtsent, though these demonstrations seemed to
'ute both from the regular Old Bailey frequenters
the more respectable people with which they
"..te plentifully interspersed. Nor were more
"dim.: evidences of sympathy wanting. Hang-

''er the barrier immediately opposite the
• and supported on either side by a female
• stood the half-fainting figure of a young
• of some four or five and twenty. Her
~et demeanour and modest air won
111)011 the brutal natures round her, and a
' of genuine London roughs kept back their
...wades by entreaties, and when neoeseary by
Whatever her relationship, or knowledge
'1 Barrett may have been, there could
no doubt of the genuineness of her

this morning. Deadly white, with
I.llched lips, and hands which clung to the
4,..den barrier before her with the tenacity of a
`lrcsvning man, she succeeded in controlling her-
mtil the drop actually fell. When Barrett

appeared on the scaffold the women sup-'
porting her re-doubled their consolatory
efforts ; and her blenched face and wistful
air became intensified in their expression.
But when his face was covered, she gave way,
and at the fatal moment fell prostrate, and lay in
a passion of hysterical grief, deaf to the noises and
blind to the sights nearer him, and conscious
only of the gallows and its doubtful mission,
Concurrently with this painful scene is a stir
among the policemen guarding the enclosure in
front. One of their number, a tall, powerful,
good-looking young man, has given way, and
Barrett's death is the signal for his falling down in
a fit. His clenched teeth, white face, up-turned
eyeballs, and cataleptic figure, as his head falls
back over the arms raised to succour him lend addi-
tional horror to the proceedings. But his brother
officers loosen his neckcloth, and pale, haggard, and
with some ugly marks as if of blood about the mouth
he is led away by a couple of colleagues with
stronger nerves than his own, who half guide and
half help him to Newgate door, taking him as they
do so close by the gallows tree, and the rigid figure
now moving idly, but with a sort of pendulum
motion from north to south.

The horrors and brutality of an execution crowd
have been so often described that an enumeration
of some of the features absent this morning will
give the reader a more accurate understanding of
the scene than any attempt at elaborate detail.
There were comparatively few women, little violence,
few fights, and no robbery to speak of. Up to 6 o'clock
the assemblage was so scattered and sparse that the
course of the heavy batriers—put up by the City
authorities to break the expected rushing., and
looking like massive sheepfolds—could be easily
traced. At 7 the people standing did not
cover Newgate-street, and it was not until
nearly 8 that the more distant approaches
were filled. But even then large bare patches of
vacancy could be detected from the roof-ways
near. The ragged element was, moreover, far less
common than is usual. Take away the little tatter-
demalions of five years old and upwards who gam-
bolled up and down, over and under the barriers,
and mocked and gibed at the windows,
and in the face of death, and it was
not, by comparison, a disreputably dressed crowd.
But its sympathies were essentially cruel. They
hated the hangman more than his victim, and
yelled him down accordingly ; but h►d a respite
arrived we have no sort of doubt that the tide
of Barrett's popularity would have summarily
ebbed. They had come there for the excitement of
seeing life taken, and their sodden, savage visages
wore a significantly hungry look, when at the cry,
"Hats off," all heads were bare, and a moving
mass of fierce and restless humanity was seen.
From the house tope opposite the gallows, the up-
turned faces looked like a turbulent flesh-coloured
sea ; and while, from the efficiency of the police ar-
rangements, fights and robberies were rare, the
horse-play and brutal jestings, the'coer.e blasphemy
with which sympathy for Barrett was environed,
the shouts levelled at him while dying—all testi-
fied to the hardening and demoralising character
of the spectacle. Much disappointment was
expressed by the tavern-keepers and win-
dow-letters at the smallness of the crowd
and the slackness of the demand through the
night ; and the preachers who energetically fore-
told the wrath to come in unbroken succes-
sion and with unfailing lungs from the north-
east corner of the Old Bailey at an
early hour ; the detectives in plain clothes
who—made up as British yeomen, roughs,
fighting men, graziers, and nondescript blackguards
—hung about and mixed with the mob ; the City
policemen in [uniform who were planted behind
gables and in strange angles of the house-
roofs, as if to guard against such at-
tempt as those with which Calcraft was
threatened at Manchester ; were at least as
prominent features this morning as Lord Tom- 1
noddies, and quasi-aristocratic-sight-seers have I
been at former executions. But the last
public hanging in England found abundant
testimony, were any needed, of the expediency
of the recent change in the law. An in-
carnation of evil passions and perverted
sympathies, it showed neither real pity for
the criminal not horror of his crime. The bastard
pride in his animal courage and the brutal delight
that: be died game made the law and its ministers
seem to them the real murderers and Barrett to be
a martyred man.

WIATHIR REPORT.-(THIS DAY.)

TUsDAT MAT 24, • LL

),I Mime. Bea,
B. IY. ro W. W. R. Ito
12 lf. P. u.
-——
Nairn as3/55 11W. 2 8.3. W. e 0.02 1
Aberdeen asst 151 51 S. 2 6 Nr . rh 0.03 5
Leith
Shields
Scarhoro i 9.911169 51 S.W. 3 6 B.W. cb - 3
Yarmouth . 30.09,66!56 S.W. 2 6 8. cb - 2
Helder - S.W. 6 - - - - 3
Cuxhaven - I-1- _
Skudesnae 39.76 8.0 W. I 2 B.IW. c -
vomits 91.64/4622 8. 9 6 W.IW. cr 0.07 8
Cape Clear 113.6ur 66'53 W.S.W. 9 9 W.&W. c -
Nacho's ..0.72r 63':4 K.W. 8 8 IW. 0 0 I
Holyhead 19.77r 67 8.8. W. 7 9 & c- -
Liverpool 2S.B9r 50 fo S. 2 8. c 1
A ntrouin w7t366 61 IW. 8 7 &W. c 0.52 7
Greencastle .119.16r11651 IW. 4 6 S.W. re mg -
Penzance I A 9401555 IW. II 7 B.W. be - 6
Plymouth - 6
Weymouth 30.061154156 &&W, 4 7 B.W. c
Portsmouth :31.05r57 531 W.S.W. 3 8 W S.W, c- 2
London 110.04C57 53 W.S.W. 3 6 S.W. rbc 901 -
Brest - 57155 &W. 5 3 &W. b - 2
Lurlent - 6756 W.S.W. 1 1 W.S.W o -
Rochefort - 1
Biarritz - 5
Comma - N.W. 6 - o - 8
Bruasels 30 OD 50; - E. I - - b -
Parts - N. PL. 2 - - u - -
Strasbourg - .3- S.W. 1 - - c - -
Lyons - S. P - - b - -
Toulon - 1
Heart's C 00.19 utr St 33 N.& 1 1 . N.K. be 0.15. 3

Barometer corrected and reduced to i 2 deg. at sea level. The
totters r 'rising . f • (steady), Molest' direction of mo-
tion of the mercury within last 14 hours. Thermometer ex-
mood in shade. Extreme force, with its direction during last
24 hours. 7..—ealm. Weather : sky : g—clouds (de-
WOW ; f.—fog ; b.—hall : I.—lightning ; m —misty (hazy) ;
o.—orevesst ,dull : r.—rain a.—snow ; I.—thunder. Bala.
fall, I.lBoll' or hail ,melted:, during last 24 hours. Bea dis-
turbance.