Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-15 00:00:00

inspire confidence and command obedience.
They cannot long hold their ground, then, unless
the insurrection should spread far more widely
than there is reason to apprehend at present.
Happily, the mutiny is still purely military, and
has not invaded the general population. A
panic is said to have seized the mutineers at
Delhi, and 500 horsemen had made their escape
from the city. The Bombay and Madras armies
have, without a single exception, remained faith-
ful ; and in the Bengal native army there are
several very encouraging instances of unshaken
loyalty to the British colours. The poor puppet
King of Delhi, descendant of the Great Mogul,
who of course has acted under constraint, and
will be too glad to lay down his little brief
authority, is wishing to throw himself on the
mercy of the British crown.

That brave and chivalrous officer, Sir COLIN
CAMPBELL, has been appointed to the supreme
command in India; and within a few hours, he
was ready to leave England for the field of his
duty. • We can offer no opinion on this appoint-
ment. A worthier soldier does not wear the
British uniform. But we trust that the great
local knowledge and Indian experience of Sir
PATRICK GRANT, who has succeeded General
ANSON, will not be lost to India or to England.
Sir PATRICK GRANT appears himself to be not
unworthy to be Commander-in-Chief; and, with
two such men as Sir COLIN and Sir PATRICK, we
trust to hear at length a good account of the
Indian insurrection.

WE need offer no apology for again referring
to the trial of MADELINE SMITH, just concluded
at the High Court of Justiciary, in Edinburgh,
which is almost unprecedented in Scotland. It
has been considered the PALMER case of Scotland,
where a young lady is the heroine. The compari-
son is unfair, and the cases are little parallel.
PALMER'S chief victim, COOK, was innocent ;
the betrayer of Miss SMITH was a villain. His
victims were many ; hers, at the worst, only one.
By a long course of lying and treachery he com-
passed his murders; the unfortunate young lady
openly purchased the arsenic, for cosmetic
purposes, she says, and boldly subscribed her
name in the chemist's book. Though we are far
from wishing to palliate a crime, yet it cannot
be denied that Miss SMITH had great provoca-
tion, and must almost have been maddened by
the fate that seemed impending over her, in the
threat of L'ANGELIER to "disclose all." She has
been liberated by a jury of her countrymen.
The case of the Scottish young lady is, except
in interest and the length of the trial, not at all
parallel to that of the English poisoner.
The verdict just delivered at Edinburgh
coincides with public opinion, and to our think-
ing was the only one possible in the presence
of the evidence. An essential link was wanting
to connect the young woman with administering
poison on the last fatal occasion, and the period
bot,-Qc. F hruresf Do ....a M 4L,.ia zr, LIIC uate of
the poisoning, was not satisfactorily bridged
over. " Nat Proven," was then the only decision
that a conscientious jury could arrive at. And
now the young woman returns to her family,
liberated, but not acquitted, with a tarnished
name, and a tainted mind.

We deeply sympathise with the injured family
—the parents, sisters, and brothers of Miss
SMITH, who must feel themselves dishonoured
by the unworthy conduct of one of the
cumbers. And towards the unhappy young
lady herself, our feeling of moral reprobation is
tempered by compassion. There is no effectual
retrieval of such mistakes in life. Repentance
and amendment for the future may restore peace
and even hope, but cannot give back innocence.
She can never be as she was before. She can
never be the unfallen woman, though she may
become the Magdalen, out of whom demons
have been cast. By a useful and virtuous life
hereafter, she may cause her former frailty to be
forgotten ; and her deep experience of the whiles
of sin, and the sting that follows it, may impart
to her more sympathy for her erring fellow-
creatures, while she watches over her own weak
heart. What a lesson is this to all young persons
to guard against the besetting sin, and the first
approaches of evil. Here is an accomplished,
clever, instructed young lady, who probably
had no serious intention at first of yielding to
the temptation. She parlies with it, practises
concealment from her parents, and at length
lands herself in a position where she is publicly
accused of a crime of the deepest die. It is
important and wholesome for all young people
to know that there are some sins and faults that
society never forgives, and that repentance only
half effaces.

This young woman will require to be treated
with the greatest care and discretion by her
relations and those around her. Any unwise
treatment might drive her to despair, and per-
manently send her to evil courses. She had
fallen a victim to one who seems to have lived a
villain, and subjected her to the most torturing
oppression that one human being can exercise
over another. He held her by the most tender
part. He knew her secret, and he basely threa-
tened to divulge it. She would have escaped
into legitimate wedlock, where she might in some
small measure have atoned for her faults, and he
would not let her. Ile wished to retain her in
his own hand—a blighted flower—the victim of
his artifices—the feeder of his vindictive
selfishness, whom he could terrify every hour
by the threat of exposure. However weak,
and however guilty she may have been,
nothing call exceed hik, meanness, crueltyt