The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVE.NING, AUGUST 19, 1864.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.---Aug. 18,

(Before Mr Justice Byles.)
Edward Pope, 22, a well-dressed young man, whose ap-
pearance indicated that he was of unsound mind, was
charged with feloniously and maliciously sending a letter
to William Chapman Bexley, threatening to kill him, and
also to kill Sir G. Grey.
When the prisoner was called upon to plead he replied,
" I wrote that letter."
Mr Gifford, who with Mr Besley was instructed to prose-
cute, said that he did not propose to go into the specific
charge against the prisoner, but should ask the jury, upon
the evidence he should lay before them, whether he was in
a condition of mind to plead to the indictment.
Dr Gibson, the surgeon of Newgate, was then sworn, and
he stated that he had seen the prisoner every day since he
had been in Newgate, which was the 22d of July, and he
was of opinion that he was decidedly of unsound mind and
that he was incompetent to understand what was going on,
or the nature of the evidence that would be produced against
him.

Dr Bexley, one of the physicians of Hanwell Lunatic
Asylum, gave similar evidence to that of Dr Gibson. He
said that he had seen the prisoner in Newgate, and had had
full opportunity of arriving at this conclusion.
In answer to questions put by the learned judge,
Dr Bexley said that the prisoner was under his care at
Hanwell from July, 1863, to May, 1°64, when he was dis-
charged, cured. While he was under his charge he con-
sidered him a dangerous lunatic. He was under nervous
delusions, one of which was that he was the real Prince of
Wales. The witness added that the letter that was the
subject of the indictment was addressed to himself.
The learned judge then briefly explained to the jury the
nature of the inquiry, and they at once returned a verdict
that the prisoner was of unsound mind and unfit to plead.
His lordship then gave directions that the prisoner should
be detained during her Majesty's pleasure.
The prisoner, who, during the proceedings, had gazed
wildly round the court, and who appeared quite unconscious
of what was going on, was then removed from the bar.
Mary Blake, 30, a miserable looking creature, was charged
with the manslaughter of her child, Sarah Blake.
Mr Beeley prosecuted. The prisoner was defended by
Mr Cooper.
This was a case of a very distressing character, there
being a second indictment against her for causing the death
of another of her children, by, as was alleged, gross inhu-
manity and neglect. It appeared that the prisoner was a
married woman, but her husband was convicted of some
offence at the lerkenwell Sessions in April last, and sen-
tenced to penal servitude, and the prisoner had since taken
up with another man. She went into St. James's work-
house, Cleckenwell, on the 26th of April, being at the time
in the family way, and she was delivered of the child in
question about a fortnight afterwards, she having at this
time five other children of various ages, the eldest being 12
years, all dependent upon her, in consequence of the posi-
tion of her husband. She discharged herself from the
workhouse on the 20th of May, taking with her the whole
of her children, the evidence being that she herself was in
good health, and with a full breast of milk at this time, and
that the le thy, whose death was the subject of the inquiry,
and the other children were also healthy. It seemed that
she then went to several miserable lodgings in St. Luke's,
and at length, on the 22d of June, took up her abode wi h
her six children in a room in Peartree-court, at which place
the neglect was said to have occurred which resulted in the
death of the child. According to the evidence the prisoner
left the unhappy children almost entirely alone for three
days and nights, and when the persons living in the house,
who were attracted by the cries of the children, went into
the room they diecovered them in the .float wretched condi-
tion, and there was nothing in the room but some bread and
water; the wretched infant had a piece of dirty rag in its
mouth, in which was wrapped up a small quantity of sugar.
The whole family were removed to the workhouse, where
every attention was paid them, but two of them died shortly
afterwards, and under these circumstances the present
charge was preferred against the prisoner, it being alleged
that it was owing to her having left the deceased child and
passed the night with her paramour that its death was
oocasioned. In the course of the case it was stated that
during the period the prisoner was in the workhouse she
behaved very kindly to her infant, and appeared very fond
of it. Mr Harris, the medical officer of the parish, who
made a post mortem examination of the deceased, stated
that in his opinion death was occasioned by want of
proper nourishment, but at the same time said that the in-
fant was suffering from mesentric disease, and that distress
and misery were very likely to ha.ve effected the prisoner's
supply of milk, and have rendered her unable to nourish
the infant.
Mr Cooper made a very feeling appeal to the jury on be-
half of the prisoner, and he argued that the unhappy event
was more to be attributed to the state of misery and desti-
tution in which the prisoner was placed than to any cul-
pable neglect on her part.
The learned judge having summed up, the jury, after a
short deliberation, found the prisoner guilty, but strongly
recommended her to mercy on account of the painful cir-
cumstances in which she was placed.
The prisoner was sentenced t 3 nine months' hard labour,
his lordship observing that the sentence would have been
much severer but for the recommendation of the jury.
Vincent Marone, 29, an Italian, was charged with at.
tempting to murder John Smith.
Mr Bexley prosecuted; Mr Best was counsel for the
defence.
It appeared that the prisoner and the prosecutor were
both seamen on board a vessel called the Danube, which at
the time the occurrence took place was lying in the St.
Katherine's dock. It seemed that a quarrel had taken
place between the prisoner and the prosecutor, and the
former got hold of a carving knife and made a rush at the
prosecutor with the knife. It happened, however, fortu-
nately, that Mc Fowler, a custom-house officer, who was
on board in his public capacity, saw what was going on and
he tripped the prisoner up and got the knife away from
him, and the learned judge complimented this gentleman
very much for his conduct. The prosecutor, it appeared,
had gone to sea, and there was, therefore, no evidence as to
the origin of the quarrel, or under what circumstances the
prisoner had been induced to act in the manner described.
The jury, six of whom were foreigners, under these cir.
cumstances returned a verdict of not guilty.
The prisoner was then charged upon a second indictment
with a common assault upon the same prosecutor, and of
this offence he was convicted, and sentenced to twelve
months' hard labour.
William Leach, 48, was charged with feloniously shoot-
ing at Ann Leach, with intent to murder her. In other
counts the intent of the prisoner was laid to be to do the
prosecutrix grievous bodily harm.
Mr W. Williams prosecuted. The prisoner was defended
by Mr Sharp.

The prosecutrix, who gave her evidence with vary great
reluctance, it appeared was the wife of the prisoner, and
they had been =trued for eighteen years. The prisoner, it
seemed, had for some time been a teetotaller, but on the day
in question, the 30th of July, he appeared to have drank
/rev), freely of brandy, and he went home about three
o'clock in a very excited state, and shortly afterwards went
to bed. While the prisoner was supposed to be asleep one
of his sons seemed to have called out, " Where is the pistol P"
and the moment be did so the prisoner jump( d out of bed,
went to a drawer and took out a pistol,
aimed it at his
wife and discharged it. The weapon appeared to have been
loaded with shot, some of which lodged in the wall of the
room, but the prosecutrix did not receive any injury, and
the prisoner at first seemed to have endeavoured to explain
his conduct by saying that what he had done was only in a
lark. When the police were called upon to take him into
custody the prisoner appeared to have been very violent,
and he threatened to blow out the brains of anyone who
touched him, and when he was before the magistrate he
said that he had been aggravated to do what he had done
in consequence of his wife having pawned his clothes,
and his having discovered a large quantity of duplicates re-
lating to property which she had made away with, and upon
being told he was charged with shooting at his wife, he re-
plied, " Never mind ; I dare say she won't appear against
me to prosecute me." It also appeared the prisoner had
said to one of the witnesses that when he came out he meant
to have his wife's life.

The jury, after a short consultation, found the prisoner
guilty, upon the second count, of bhooting at his wife with
intent to do her grievous bodily harm.
Mr Justice Byles said that if the prisoner had been con-
victed upon the first count of the indictment, he should have
felt it his duty to sentence him to penal servitude for life,
and he would have been in the condition of a slave for the
remainder of his days. The offence of which the jury had
convicted him was, however, one of a very serious character,
and the sentence he must pass upon him was that he be
kept in penal servitude for ten years.
_ _

(Before Thomas Chambers, Esq,, Q.C., Common Sergeant,)
Rosa M'Dermott, 21, spinster, a morose-lc oking woman,
of the clads designated unfortunate, was indicted to felo-
niously wmnding Mary Ann Hays, with intent to do her
grievous bodily harm

The prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to seven
years' penal servitude.

John Verender, a middle-aged man of decent appearance,
was indicted for having unlawfully, wickedly, and mali-
ciously published a scandalous libel of and concerning ono
Henry Nathan.

Mr Metcalfe conducted the prosecution ; and Mr Harry
Palmer appeared on behalf of the defendant.
Mr Metcalfe, in opening the case to the jury, stated that
the prosecutor was of the Jewish persuasion, carrying on,
in partnership with his sons, au extensive business as
drapers, in Whitechapel, and defendant carried on the busi-
ness of a chandler's shop next door but one to the prosecu-
tor's warehouses in Great Garden-street, Whitechapel.
The defendant had been summoned before the magistrates
of the police-court of the district for obstructing the foot
pavement by the exposure of his goods, and the defendant
seemed to imagine that these summonses had been issued
at the instance of the prosecutor, whereas they had, in fact
been issued on the application of the police. On a second
summons for the same offence, the defendant refused to pay
the small penalty of four or five shillings inflicted upon
him, and, instead of paying, went to prison for an equiva-
lent number of days, Ile no sooner came out of prison than
the defendant placarded the front of his house and premises
with the libel complained of, and to which he (Mr Met-
calfe) would now call the attention of the jury, The firet ,

ran in these terms, "Notice! Owing to the envy and malice
of the Jew draper, who bribed the Peelers to interfere and
false swear, I beg to announce to the public that I shall
carry on my business as usual." The next placard was to
this effect—" Snake, .the inspector, the fat on his bones
being rank poison, did say at the police court that it was
the Jew draper that employed and bribed him to false swear
for the sake of the women that come to his father's tally
shop, as they wear such large hoops that they cannot get
by my premises." The third libel was—" Where is the
low-bred, ignorant Jews? No, Bobby, Ido not want to
have anything to do with the cut• throat Jew, or any of his
family. In defiance of the Jew draper and his Bobby Peeler,
my business will be conducted as usual.

" He that will a Bobby feed
Can in the street do as he pleased.
It's kn.wn that half a pint of beer
Will buy a Bobby anywhere."
(Loud laughter.) Though the doggrel and rigmarole might
cause a laugh, the placards attracted large mobs of people
to the front of the defendant's premises, and occasioned not
only a great annoyance but a considerable hindrance to his
business. The defendant bad been frequently expostulated
and remonstrated with, but he refused to displace the offen-
sive placards until he had been committed for trial on this
charge. The prosecutor of this indictment had no desire but
to protect himself and remain in peace and quietness, and
with that view the defendant had been communicated with
by Mr Mitchell for the prosecution, but without effect, and
hence the prosecutor had been compelled to eorue to this
court for protection and redress. Even now he would accept
a plea of guilty on the defendant entering into sureties not
to repeat his offensive conduct.
The facts thus stated in the opening speech of counsel
were fully proved by the prosecutor, Mr Nathan, a venerable
gentleman, who proved that he had lived on the spot for the
last 40 years, by Mr Mitchell, his solicitor, and by Police-
sergeant Moriarty, 20 I, who had in vain expostulated with
the defendant.

Mr Harry Palmer addressed the jury on behalf of the
defendant, contending that his client had no malicious
motive, but had merely put up the placard by way of joke.
lif the prosecutor had sought satisfaction his course ought
to have been to bring his action for damages, and not put
the machinery of a criminal court into motion. If he had
taken the former course the defendant could himself have
been examined on oath, bat here the law closed his lips. In
a civil court the prosecutor might have obtained a farthing
damages, and he (Mr Palmer) trusted the jury would deal
with the prosecution at the lowest estimate.

The jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict
guilty.

Mr Metcalfe intimated to the court that there were two
other similar indictments against the defendant for libelling
the two sons of the prosecutor in the last case, but still they
were willing to take an apology, with securities that the
annoyance should not be repeated.
_ _

Mr H. Palmer held a conference with his client (the
defendant), but he obstinately persisted in not making any

concession.

The Common Sergeant, in passing sentence, said he could
not but regard this as a most serious offence. The defendant
stood convicted of a most cowardly assault upon the cha-
racter of a very respectable man, and to the last moment he
has persisted in it. At first conciliatory arrangements were
offered to him, and he had been allowed to go at large on
bail. This session and the last he had failed to surrender,
and at last his appearance to-day has only been secured by
the estreatment of his recognisances, and the issue yesterday
of a warrant for his apprehension. These slanders were
worse than if the defendant had knocked the prosecutor
down and personally injured him ; and this slander was cal-
culated to inflict serious injury to him in the estimation of
the prosecutor's friends and neighbours. Under all the
circumstances the sentence was that for this offence the de-
fendant be imprisoned for the space of six months, and that
at the expiration of that term he enter into recognisances,
himself in £lOO, and two sureties in £5O each, to keep the
peace towards the prosecutor and all the rest of her Majesty's
subjects.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—The talent for organisation and for logi-
cally deduced and clearly defined ideas is the forte,
but is also the foible of the French. The doctor will
explain to you your complaint with such clearness
and minuteness that you experience almost a feel-
ing of pleasure at finding that nature has gone
wrong in so scientific a manner. The lawyer can.
not speak for five minutes without showing that he
refers to first principles with a knowledge and a skill
unknown to his English compeer. It is, therefore,
by no means surprising that the art of war, which
engages so large a part of the genius of Conti-
nental nations, should be brought to a theoretical
perfection among our neighbours and those nations
whom they influence. Belgium and Switzerland
are in some respects more French than France.
The ideas which are restraint d by the firm hand of
political power, or discouraged by the indifference
and vanity of Paris, often find their first expression
in these two States, which look up to the great
nation with awe, and offer it the sincere flattery of
imitation. Brussels is the traditional city of hu-
manitarian congresses ; and Geneva, scarcely less
French, and even more free, vibrates to every mood
of the master mind. The latter city is about to give
the world some new doctrine of the laws of war
which we may easily trace to the teachings of a
French school of reformers. An " International
Congress"—that is, an assembly of gentlemen, in-
clueing, probably, every body who chooses to come—
is sitting for the purpose of ameliorating the prac-
tices of war, and a most amiable series of resolutions
has been put forth to be the basis of their delibera-
tions. The delegates of the human race who meet
on the shores of Lake Leman have discovered that
war is a very inhuman proceeding. When two
nations quarrel they send out certain thousands of
men dressed in gaily-coloured cloth and armed
with deadly weapons, and these people inflict on
each other severe wounds, of which some instantly
die, and others linger in pain and confinement for
weeks and months. There are in use for this cruel
purpose large tubs of iron called cannon, and also
smaller ones called rifles and pistols, besides sharp
instruments for cutting and stabbing which go by
many different names. When two bands of the
madmen who carry these machines meet together,
and use them it is called a battle, and the conse-
quences always is that several hundreds or thou-
hands of the timber are stretched helpless or
maimed, gashed or shot through, in certain illcon-
trived receptacles called military hospitals. From
time immemorial the horrors of these adjuncti to
a campaign have been described. The sufferings
of wounded men after a battle have pointed the
moral against war for generations, and the coldest
and most callous generals are reported to have been
moved with pity at the sight of their followers lying
in fever and misery long after the day of victory has
gone by. The dreadful accompaniments of war ap-
pear to'have had such an effect on the leaders of this
Congress that they now propose to lessen them by
regulations of a novel kin& They are sorry to find
that not only do the armies fire at one another and
inflict hurts by lead and steel. but that the victors
actually advance, capture the wounded who are lying
on the field, take possession of the enemy's hospitals,
use them for their own purposes, make prisoners of
all whom they find in thew, and, in short, postpone
the consideration of curing their adversaries to
that of advancing their own interests and making
the best cf whatever victory they may have gained.
It the Congress adopt the regulations offered to
it, it will demand that every ambulance and every
military hospital shall " be regarded as neutral" and
respected by the belligerents as long as it shall eon-
tein any sick or wounded. Not only this, but " the
whole sanitary staff, including doctors, surgeons,
apothecaries, attendants, &c., are to be regarded as
neutrals." Ail such persons are to be allowed to
fulfil their duties so long as their services are neces-
sary, and " will then be allowed to leave without the
s:ighrest hindrance or molestation" in order to give
their help to other parts of their own army. Fur-
thermore, soldiers severely wounded are not to be
made prisoners, but shall-be allowed to return to
their homes on the condition that they shall not bear
arms during the campaign. They shall receive a
tree piss, and, " if necessary, means for their jour-
ney when well enough to leave their place of treat-
ment." Tne army in possession, too, snail provide
articles for the sick and for the persons in
attendance, the cost to be repaid by the army
to which the sick and wounded persons and doctors
belong. Such is the scht me for making war truly
humane and polite. To wound men in order to
send them home ; to support doctors on credit, and
when their work is done send them back to doctor
others of the enemy ; to supply whatever is wanted
by the enemy's hospitals, and to keep a book of the
expenses with the intention of sending in the bill
at the end of the campaign,—these are the measures
recommended by the philanthropists of the day for
making the killing of human beings a more gentle
and civilised practice. With the utmost respect for
these gentlemen and a full belief that they are ami-
able and sincere, we must declare our conviction that
little moral good comes from attempts to make artifi
cial rules for the conduct of war, and, as they would
phrase in to humanise international strife. Humane
war is "hot ice and wondrous seething snow,"
and for men to take the practice of international
destruction as inevitable, and give their naiuds to
the elaboration of expedients for preventing it from
being what it must always be, is a perversion of
talents and a waste of labour. Undoubtedly great
and gifted men have written of the laws of war, and
have influenced Christendom so much that certain
practices arc praised as honourable, and others con-
demned as ferocious and cowardly. But beyond
the cusiom of not butchering prisoners in cold blood
there is hardly one of these rules which has not
been continually violated by contending armies,
and in the latest hostilities which have cursed the
globe the departure from the chivalrous principles
of .war-making has been most marked. The
Americans, both Federals and Confederates, have
made war more like the wild Indians who possessed
the country before them than men who have in-
herited all the maxims and practices of 'Jhristian
Europe. The Federals began the outrages, and
their adversaries seem likely to better the instruc-
tion. The notion of making elaborate rules for the
conduct of war, stipulating for the repayment of
what each side advances, for the perfect freedom of
every one connected with the medical staff of either
army, and the sacredness of every building in which
there shall he sick and wounded, is the mere
pedantry of organisation. Can any one believe that
in such a campeign as General Grant has been car-
rying on in Virginia, where each commander's whole
faculties have been concentrated on the weakening
and outwitting of his adversary, any such rules of
courtesy would be observed ? Would the two
armies struggling in the depths of Georgia, would
the fierce partisans of the Western States, allow
any building or set of men to be considered neutral,
and to set up an independent authority in territory
held by them P Such artificial regulations would
never survive the first shock of real warfare between
embittered nations; and it is for such contests that
rules of war must be made, if they are made at all.
Fighting is likely to be less frequent than in past
ages, but sharper and fiercer, and with less of
formal chivalry. The laws of the duel/•, the spirit
of which these Geneveme huttranitariaea seem in-
clined to rival, are not calculated for the earnest
purpose of men in the present age, who when they
fight will use every effort to destroy their enemy,
and fancy they are most humane wean they do this
most quickly and effectually. If there were no
other reason against these proposals, it would be
enough that in a campaign they would be almost
certainly nugatory. But they have a peeitisee hurt-
fulness, since they tend to encourage the notion that
war can be made less a scourge of mankind by the
adoption of a certain artificial procedure. It wars
are to be waged at all, it is for the benefit of the
world that they should be as short as possible. The
sooner the victorious army disperses and ruins the
army It has beaten, the sooner is the final arbitra-
ment given and the dispute brought to an end. It
is better, therefore, to heaver war with as few re-
gulations as possible, and to give no encouragement
to any practice which would allow the worsted
party the means of delaying the necessary conse-
quences of its defeat. After all, the only safeguard
for the wounded or the prisoner is the humanity of
the conqueror; to that trust must be given, and
we hope and believe that in no recent war has the
plain duty of succouring wounded enemies been
forgotten. It is better to confide in unenforced
humanity than to set up pretended laws which
would be continnelly and inevitably set aside.
rppears from a statement made by
Mr. Lindsay, in addressing his constituents on
Monday, that sines the commencement of
called
American war the Federal Go:::::,,,,D;thyattv.heogicti,assaL,lnnedd
nut two million three hundred
Men, in addition to four hundred and .fifty h
militia ,and have contracted liabilities to the .7mouri.s:
of eight hundred millions sterling. As a matter e.
fact, it is known that the armies these numbers
represent, and the vast sum of money that has been
expended in bringing them into the field, have
eff-ctrAl literati; nothing. There is not, as Mr.
Linay says, any appearance even of the Union
being restored. It is fair, however, to admit at
onc.; that if the -zar had succeeded, if the South

had bean subjugated, if the Union had been re-
stored, and if slavery had been abolished, all eivi-
lizEd nations would still have insisted, as they do

now insist, and as history will omphatically declare,
that the full attainment of these objects could not
possibly be hod lc/ justify this frightful sacrifice of
human life. Great :lbjects do undoubtedly eome.
rimes eill for greit, 81'"ifiCeS'
~ recently, in tlae resist as, for example,
and in tho liberation 4".
R2ssian aggression,
fy for in both those
inetatiees-a plin • .1
a" IL -^st imPorLanc3 was
nine of t-h
Ceo
u of, t4f