The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.--A murder which must rank among
the most atrocious on record, if the atrocity of
crimes be measured either by the wickedness which
they betray or by the terror which they inspire,
was committed near the Victoria Park on Saturday
night. Mr Briggs, chief clerk in the bank of Messrs
Robarts and Co., of Lombard-street, was picked up,
dying, in the space between the up and down lines
of the North London Railway, on the canal bridge
between Bow and Hackney-wick. Upon examina-
.

tion his skull was found to have been battered in
by a tremendous blow over the left ear; his head
was covered with wounds, and his gold watch and
eyeglass had been torn from their fastenings. He
lingered for more than 24 hours, but was wholly
insensible, and unable to utter a syllable which
might lead to the identification of his murderers.
All that is known is that he left Peckham by omni-
bus at half-past 8 in the evening, intending to call
in the City, and that he took a first class ticket by
a train at 045 from Fenchurch-street. The train
in which he travelled quitted the Bow station at
two minutes past 10, and was duo at the Victoria
Park station, Hackney-wick, four or five minutes
later. In this interval the murder must have been
committed, and the body thrown out of the rail•
way carriage. Unfortunately, it was not suspected
when the train reached Hackney-wick, where it
may be presumed that the murderers got out. It
was not until it arrived at Hackney some minutes
afterwards that a passenger, opening the door of
the same compartment, found the cushions soaked
with blood, and the evidences of a deadly struggle
on the floor, sides, and windows of the carriage. An
alarm was instantly given, and a walking stick and
leathern bag, as well as a hat, were soon discovered.
The two former were recognised as the property of
the deceased by his son, but the latter, happily
for the purposes of justice, proves to be that of
a stranger. It bears the name of the maker,
Mr 'Walker, of Crawford-street, Marylebone,
and is stained with blood. It is believed

that the assassins got in at Fenehurch-street,
having followed their victim to the platform, but
as two other stations—Stepney and Bow—inter-
vene between the terminus and the scene of the
murder, it may be difficult to ascertain this fact be-
yond a doubt. Such are the main circumstances of
this fearful outrage, which is all the more calculated

to alarm the public because its apparent motive is so
simple and its execution must have been so rapid.
The disappearance of the watch would seem to prove
that plunder was the object of the murderers, of
whom we thus speak in the plural because it is
hardly credible that one person can have over-
powered a " tall and hale" man, such as Mr. Briggs
is described, and pitched him through the carriage
doorway in so short a time. On the other hand, it
is remarkable, and reveals the haste with which the
deed was compleeed, that .£1 10s. in money and a
silver snuffbox should have been left in the pockets
of the deceased. It is also strange that some ladies
occupying the next compartment should have found
their dresses besprinkled with blood, doubtless
thrown off from the falling body as the train flew
by, without having heard a noise, or seen anything
through the window. It has been suggested that it
may nave been intended to fling Mr. Briggs into the
canal, to which the other or left side of the carriage
was much nearer, but it should be remembered that
this was the side on which the door would be opened
at Hackney-wick, and on which, therefore, marks
of blood might have been observed at once. Every-
thing shows that the infamous plot was cleverly laid
and boldly carried out, and its success reminds us
that our personal safety during an ordinary journey
depends only on the consequences which the law
attaches to robbery and murder. The enormity of
the injury inflicted on society by such an act as this
can hardly be overstated, and it is right it should be
carefully weighed at a time when a commission has
just been appointed to inquire into the operation of
capital punishment. There is no ground for sup-
posing that personal enmity or revenge had anything
to do with the murder of Mr. Briggs, or that any
other elderly gentleman with a gold watch-
chain might not have been singled out
for the same fate. This is a very seri-
oas aggravation of a murder, considered in its
effect on public security. There are few of us who
are conscious that others have special reasons to
wish for our death, but all of us are liable to find
ourselves in positions where we might easily be
murdered for the sake of a purse or a gold watch. A
railway carriage is a place where we are cut off for
a time from all chance of assistance, and this feeling
of helplessness in case of emergency has been a
bugbear to many nervous travellers, male as well as
female. Without the means of communicating with
the guard we are almost at the mercy of fire, colli-
sions, and fellow-passengers. This last danger is to
most minds by far the most intolerable of the three,
The idea of being shut up with a madman has
frightened sane persons into posting, and that of
being shut up with a murderer is still more intoler-
able. Highwaymen were bad enough, but they
rushed out at you from behind a hedge, instead of
quietly taking their tickets and seating themselves
beside you in the same carriage. When they had
robbed you they thought of nothing but making off,
having less to gain by taking life than by sparing
it. It would be idle to deny that these considera-
tions justify, in some degree, the sensation and
alarm which crimes like this never fail to create,
and for some months to come travellers by night
trains will probably scan their companions narrowly
before entering a railway carriage. The best anti-
dote to any such panio would be the speedy appre-
hension of the criminals, and this we trust we may
very shortly have to report. The police have a
clue to their detection in the hat left behind in
mistake, and if they have disposed of the watch
end guard-chain there ought to be a good prospeot
of tracking them. In the meantime it may be
well to point out that the daring required for a
murder of this type is of a very rare order, and that
the temptation to commit it can hardly ever be as
strong as the risk of discovery is great. If the re-
sistance of the deceased had been protracted but two
minutes longer, or if his cries had reacheil. the next
compartment, or if any one had happened to get in
at Hackney-wick, the guilt of these miscreants would
have been brought home to them then and there.
Railway murders, however suggestive of terror
when they do occur, are not likely to multiply. It is
dreadful to think there are human beings about us
so careless of life, so abandoned to fiendish thoughts
or brutal passions, that they are capable of conceiv-
ing a murderous design, but to this fact we cannot
shut our eyes. Oar comfort and safeguard is that
such miscreants are seldom gifted with the combi-
nation of skill and resolution, or furnished with the
opportunities, which could alone enable them to
brave the penalty of a shameful death or make them
the formidable monsters they would otherwise be-
come.

HERALD.—The debates of last week have taught
the King of Denmark that under no circumstances
has he anything to hope from England. Copenhagen
may be threatened with bombardment, King Chris-
tian himself may be in imminent danger of impri-
sonment or death, not a soldier or sailor in English
pay will be sent to save either city or King. The
English Parliament and the English people will
continue to prate about their sympathy with Den-
mark ; they will still mock that gracious lady who
has learned so soon how hollow are all their shouts
and promises, with a parade of Danish colours, and
mighty cheers for Denmark, but they will not back
their opinions by the outlay of a penny, and they
will see with the same contented complacency with
which they have looked on at their own humilia-
tion the complete extinction of the Danish mo-
narchy. All the more dreadful that the atrocities
which usher in that destruction may be all the more
fervidly will the British Parliament congratulate
itself that England is out of the difficulty. King
Christian IX. finds that the nation and the dinis-
ter who placed him upon the throne will see him
driven from it with the utmost equanimity, and that
he has been trusting to a people who, if not pol-
troons themselves, have poltroons for their leaders.
So he has turned to his arch enemy Prussia, and
asked for terms of peace. Well would it have been
for him and for Denmark if, instead of trusting to
England to make good her promises of help, he
had in the first instance offered Herr von Bits-
mark all he wanted, and accepted the patronage
of that unscrupulous Minister who has proved that
he is the cleverest statesman of Europe. It is cur-
rently reported in well-informed quarters that the
propositions of the King are of a nature to more
than satisfy Germany. Prince John of Glucksburg,
the youngest brother of the King, is now inßerlin,
asking Germany not to be content with Schleswig,
but to receive the whole of Denmark in the German
Confederation. King Christian thus bat antici-
pates what Germany declares to be the clearly
written decree of fate. jutlandlfirst must succumb
to the German invasion which has already over-
whelmed Schleswig, the isles will follow, and
Fatherland will be thus compensated in the north
for what it has lost, and has yet to lose, in the west.
The great difficulty in the way of the adoption of
such an arrangement is the obstinate attachment of
the Danes to the maintenance of an independence
which they have enjoyed for so many centuries, and
to those liberal institutions which Conservatives
forbear to criticise in this moment Of a nation's
death-struggle, but to which the organs of the
Radical party in this country eagerly ascribe all the
s r k willen decline l i nue n
calamities which have befallen Denmark. Herr von
BtleossaChCeepptrothmeispersotpo get rid ofosals of the
iimrig a
of Denmark
his Constitution, and thus qualify himself to be the
"good brother of William 1," King Christian has
taken the first step to this consummation. He has
got rid of a Ministry which could not have con-
sented to any such terms, and replaced them by men
who him no Affection for the existing institutions

of Denmark, and no objection, unless they are very
much belied, to see Denmark again, as in the last
two centuries, eee
g erred entirely by Germans. Will
the Danes submit to be thus disposed of, assuming
Germany willing to charge herself with her future ?
Assuredly not. But in that case their wishes will
count for nothing, The Confederation would take
care to maintain the King on his throne, the people
having nothing to do but submit, and little reason
to complain, inasmuch as the bulk of them would
be quite ready to get rid of King Christian and
unite themselves to a Scandinavian kingdom. The
matter therefore rests with Herr Von Bismark.
The Austrian Government is no longer of any ac-
count. A few years ago indeed no mamber of the
German Confederation would have dared to take
any practical steps to increase its territory. The
Confederation existed by virtue of a European act,
which defined its limits, and any alteration, increase,
or diminution needed the approval, and would hardly
have received it, of England, France, and Russia.
When the National Parliament, in 1818, pretended
to incorporate the non-German provirces of Prussia
in the Confederation, the Great Powers said "No,"
and their " No" was heeded. But now they have
nothing to say. The English Ministry and the
English Parliament have succumbed to the influ-
ences which, if they had possessed a spark of honour
or patriotism, they would have spurned indignantly
and, having lost all power in Europe, have resolved
that it is inexpedient to try to-exercise any. Rus-
sia, which still has some influence, would be only
too much delighted at a consummation which would
dispose for ever of the idea of a Scandinavian kings
dom, and make the Baltic her own lske. France ?
Well, France has power and influence; but France
has deliberately adopted the policy :hat Denmark,
her old ally, shall be sacrificed as tae penalty for
trusting to England instead of to her; and, Ger-
many anticipating destiny in the north, may anti+
cipate it in the west also, and blind France to the
aggrandisement in the north by cessions upon the
Rhine. It will be fitting that this catastrophe
should be worked out, if come it must, during the
Administration of Lord Palmerston. The noble
lord commenced his career as an advocate for the
spoliation of Denmark, some fifty-six years ago,
and it is but right that he should be in
at the death in which he has had so
large a hand. It will be a fitting close too to a
career which posterity, uninfluenced by the social
qualifications and empty " Buncumbe" which have
given the noble lord his popularity, will pronounce
to have been one of unmixed mischief. Examine
all the great European transactions with which the
noble lord's name is closely associated, and you will
find that each one has been a sacrifice of English
honour and a betrayal of English interests. The
noble lord's career will be worthily closed, there-
fore, if under his Administration England is a party
to the destruction of the independence of Denmark
by her absorption into Germany, and the Radical
party will have been but consistent with its acts,
although false, as usual, to its professions, in keep-
ing the noble lord in office to assist at and in the
overthrow of the only real democratic constitution
of Europe.