The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-03 00:00:00

~.....,.
. 7 01414......
Woman-beating
3ea(Frtinotasraineglttayhto.riiluhe
asi:teslibge,odreentingdecuChyroheenidee;rl)e
the
pave - el qitti
. AEA,
lar amusement of the day. Drunkenness itself is,
-
it seems, but an imperfect state of enjoyment un-
til the ferocity of our brutes has been heartily and,
thoroughly expended in kicks and cuffs on the first
person whose sex, instead of protecting, marks 'het"
out as fair game for every Species of cruelt34--- It
is but two or three days ago that we had to an-
nounce a case in which a series of such outrages
had been terminated with murder. Nevertheless,
the police reports continue to furnish daily records
of assaults on women; and the London journals
are compelled, day after day, to reveal to the world
that revolting habits, which would disgrace the
most degraded race, prevail among gangs of wretches
in this metropolis.
fortunately
arrested would ask the working men of London—not
by whom, but among whom, these scandalous scenes
are daily enacted—what opinion do they expect that
a foreigner, or even a fellow-countrymen who resides
at a distance, will form of their conduct and of
their feelings, from the police reports which have
appeared iu our journal even within the last two
or three days ? Let us briefly recapitulate some of
the horrors which they disclose. In our Wednes-
day's papers, we find that at Marylebone an Irish
bricklayer, named Michael Carroll, was charged
with assaulting his wife, the mother of five children.
With no greater provocation than an entreaty to
withdraw from some quarrel into which the drunken
wretch had fallen, he struck her violently, and
knocked her down. This was all the poor woman
recollected, for the blows had happily stunned.
her ; and she was too insensible to feel, at the mo-
ment, the cruelty which followed. But another
witness saw "the prisoner having hold of his wife's
hair, and beating her head against the window-
sill and wall. He then pulled her from the win-
dow into the room, and, throwing her on the floor,
commenced kicking her on the body. He also
struck at his little son, who was calling out, ' Oh,
don't, father, don't!' The woman was all covered
f quitetheury.saillsm“eeslishceoibuwalrte.,"s fos
osawlivhvaeegnse'he interposed, and she would
terference.
The magistrate had no sooner disposed of this
the
hnb
euhseer,
bed mafnoordt ht
thene.'
wretch by sending him to the House of Correction
have been murdered but for his in-
for six months, than a miserable animal of the
name of Oswald, a shoemaker in Market-street,
with blood, and wassm.
charge. This ruffian's fury seems to have been ex-
cited by the whispering of his child, a mere infant,
fHiLrniwaaoneeirmiswrgedrtseuhhlh struckbnitabic dreadfullyieu-sthldgroatgdwhl ha
sire''eh'e' ewpr'
grasp,
swi
nthaes the
caughtl)l a ee
eyialdetaii,
eet2natijtdlaal eute:tnhn jumped
and held aeepashvu 'unhappy
ri
herel nsldohhdguuapfipph unmercifullyrr
aropeonyrtefat
ne proceeded
t‘wods‘hdibor sworn
el.
g
had at last given her strength thn to t
during the whole of the time when
herself
earh
dersteh
door, hurled her on the sofa, and re
with fresh vigour. At last, the screams recommenced
thee
child attracted the police, and the ruffian was -
ried off to answer for his conduct. The magistrate
was horrified at the brutality of the fellow, but
sentenced him to only three months' imprisonment,
because the assault had not been quite as mur-
derous as in the first case. Upon reflection, how-
ever, Mr. Broughton might think, with the Greek
legislator, that, if the slightest offence merits a
certain amount of punishment, that amount ought
not to be •reduced merely because the law assigns
no severer retribution to a graver crime. At the
Southwark Police Court, another shoemaker, a
young scoundrel only nineteen years of age was
found guilty of knocking down and kicking a poor
young creature of sixteen, who had been silly
enough, one short month since, to become his wife.
At his early age, at least, it might have been ex-
pected that some little tenderness would have still
lingered for the gentler sex. But the precocious
young villain showed that he had already attained
the lowest depth of degradation. He had forfeited
all claim to the title of man before the beard had
fully grown upon his face.
We pass over such filthy creatures as Mr. John
Neaves, a master plumber, of 27, Cole's-terrace,
Islington, and his ally the bricklayer Gooding, and •
the even more disgusting Ryan ; for indecent as-
saults on women, however strongly indicative of
the bestial nature of the perpetrators, fall under a
totally distinct category from the offences now
under consideration. Of these our columns of
yesterday furnished- two more cases, and others,
equally gross and disgusting, will be found in our
police report of to-day. At the Westminster Po-
lice Court, a tailor, named Edrept, was sent to the -
treadmill 'for six Months for beating liis wife, with-
out provocation, in the most unmerciful manner.
The unfortunate woman was covered with blood
when the policeman rescued her from her tyrant,
and her face was disfigured with contusions. In
another case, the wife could not be induced to give
evidence against her husband. Her cries of murder
had attracted a policeman's attention ; but she had
escaped from the clutches of her persecutor, before
the officer arrived. Fortunately, however, the
fellow did not get away scot free. He had resisted
the policeman, and the Lord Mayor availed himself
of this piece of insubordination to send him to gaol
for a month.

The daily recurrence of these outrages shows that
a term of imprisonment, even extending over six'
months, and made irksome by hard labour, is
utterly inadequate to cope with the evil. Parlia-
ment must, therefore, try whether the infliction of
sharp bodily pain will not secure respect for those
whom all men worthy of the name deem it their
duty and their right to protect. Let us only have
three or four of these rascals dragged at the cart's
tail from Charing Cross to St. Paul's, and London
will hear no more of women being torn to pieces by
wild beasts. The terror of the lash—or, if not,
the memory of its smart—will effectually arrest
the uplifted hand for ever. When the female sex
have an official ally, prompt to retaliate with
interest every assault which is committed on them,
the dastard woman-beater will not dare to vent his
infernal temper on them in blows. Not a finger
will be raised against them when the executioner is
at hand, with the cart and the cat-o'-nine-tails, to
avenge the injury. The fear of the thong damped
the ardour of those who might have been in-
clined to follow Oxford's example, and it would
have a salutary operation on behalf of the humblest'
woman in the community. Shameful and degrad-
ing as the punishment unquestionably is, it is bet-
ter to adopt it than to suffer the present state of
things to continue. A parcel of villians must not.
be allowed to lead their wives and mothers a life
country. We commend their backs to the tender..
of terror and agony, and to bring disgrace on their
mtioenreoiefsthoef bestthe graeosiillert,s. with the
female
.aslterosnogyeesrteaignn.ticeil.
can-
not
andsession,
w e trust
give
all who forget the re-
ihnogt
exemplarybetter
vengeancelus lustre to hoenr r reign than by inflict-
ing
herthe ensuingsex ;
her the opportunity of pronouncing a hearty je le
tspbaecttpaanrdhadmeveonttiownill. d,ueint
veux over such a measure. Such we are that, un-
til the cat-o'-nine tails has lacerated the hides of a
few of these miscreants, the women of our humbler
classes must continue to live in fear and trembling..
theyht °a
are e athe fustianprey
jacket,They
forst they crouch
must or flyfeaetl
tthhaet
of the animal it covers.

THE LATE Sin CHARLES JAMES The
NAPIER. death
of this illustrious man is more than usually interesting
in Nottingham, in a local
point
Iscafiiaanvhivdeainrinttgtihhsietant bnumeten entrusted with the ofco command n
n the
d ofi the
his
troops to quell the Chartist riots in 1839. It '
d
i Se
nosi
fb,ro
rbhCmyehe
wadsr
otl
treuhasl
dt,e
amogfinerti
enh a; thisti
an nut
dono
Iceis
3huas
esi
tiohnNneg,
di
tr
rwhd
oi
seo
wrpakecler
stdii
aithe
the word, he deliberately issued to the soldiery the
commands, "Make ready," "Present"—he never ut%
tered the word "Fire ?" and never had any occasion.
The presence of Sir Chas. Napier amidst the Notting-
ham Chartists in Narrow Marsh seems to have had a
similar effect to what it had upon the Sikhs, who uni•
versally pronounced him "the Devil's brother 1"---"
one Chartist rioter having been heard of in Nottingham
from that day to this ; and as for Narrow Marsh, .ofr_
that occasion its contents mysteriously evaporated_if
less time even than Sir Charles himself had &soigne".
We have also heard a characteristic incident of the gal.
lant commander related in connection with the prisoners
captured by the military on the above occasion. Before
consigning them to the civil power he ordered the poor
fellows a good dinner, on the ground that they were
going upon prison allowance. Sir Chas. Napier lodged,
we understand, at Mr. Whatton's, in Wheeler-gate ; .
his brother, Sir Wm. Napier, who accompanied him,
occupying a parlour now forming part of the premises
connected with the Guardian offices.—Notts Guardian.
THE ARCTIC REGIONEL—There was yesterday pub-
li,hed in a Parliamentary paper a copy of the instruc-
tions and sailing orders to Commander Inglefield, of her
Majesty's ship Phmnix, employed in the Arctic Region 4
He was to proceed to Beechey Island, -in Lancaster
Sound, to communicate with Sir E. Belcher, or the ships
under his command. Strict injunctions were laid on
him not to risk the ships being frozen in for the winter.
" You are (the orders declare) distinctly to understand
that the principal and chief object of your orders is to
communicate with Beechey Island, for the purpose of
landing stores and obtaining information, and thence to
return direct to England. But, should the season prove
an open one, and on your return from Beechey Island
you should have an opportunity of examining the coast
, in the vicinity of Cape Walsingham, we do not object to
your doing so, but on no account are you to risk the
safety of the ship or your being detained, as you must
I positively return to England this season." -.