The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-16 00:00:00

Obierting. 41111;

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 16 1849.

A more important investigation has seldom taken
place in an English court of justice than that which
terminated on Saturday by the immediate acquittal
of Mr. BARTHOLOMEW PETER DROUET 011 the charge
of manslaughter, for neglecting to supply the
wretched children confided to his care with proper
food, clothing, and lodging, and thereby, in fact,
- occasioning the untimely deaths of an
the inquiry was
my of their
number. Nominallyrestricted to
the case of one or those little unfortunates,
fortunates, named
JAMES ANDREWS, an infant aged six
and substantially the entire system j'eeabrist,d but really
as carried on at Mr. DRoures estaWiihm farmingi
Surrey ILIII, Tooting, formed the subject-matter
at
et
the investigation, by which not merely one, but
nearly two hundred helpless children had their suf-
ferings brought to a premature termination, from the
st,ite'to::Vhi.ch their constitutions had been previously
reduced by the inadequate diet and clothing, and by
the overcrowding and ill-ventilation of the dormito-
ries and day-r,urns in which the unhappy victims were
confined.

one of first principles, for
The cme was mainly
happily a British jury has seldom, if ever, been called
upon to pron Ounce all opinion upon a similar pro-
ceeding. Never, perhaps, has an instance of such
gross negligence and habitual inhumanity been
brought under the cognizance of a criminal tribunal,
and never, we regret to say, has a more narrow or
one-sided view of a case been taken than that
which Mr. Baron PLATT placed before the jury is his

charge. Had the Learned Baron been specially re-
tained on bekalf of the prisoner, he could not have
evinced greater partiality or a stronger bias in his
favour. This prejudice was apparent, not only .11
his speech when summing up the evidence
_that bad
been adduced, but in his conduct and demeanour
throughout the entire trial, to the eminent
counsel who so ably and temperately conducted
the prosecution, and to the various witnesses, more
especially the medical men, produced in support of
the charge. It was manifested in the peremptory
and overbearing manner in which he cut short the
arguments of a gentleman whose skill and experience,
whose talents, acquirements, and urbanity eminently
entitle him to the high position to which he has been
called (with the entire approbation of his professional
brethren) as one of her Majesty's Counsel. It was
no less painfully conspicuous in the sneering manner
in which he rebuked the medical gentleman who
spoke of the "tumid abdomens" of the unfortunate
children, flippantly remarking that "tumid abdomen
is a very learned phrase for a very simple indication,"
and the levity with which he inquired whether the
witness "Shad ever heard of cholera being caused by
the itch ;" and finally it was exhibited in a charge to
the jury which left no alternative but the instant ac-
quittal of the party accused.
It is a well-known principle of law that a party
who takes upon himself the duty of maintaining
persons of tender years, unable to provide for them-
selves, is bound to afford them a sufficiency of all
necessaries suitable to their condition, and that if,
through any negligence, harsh treatment, or want of
care on his part, the death of these helpless beings
should be either directly occasioned, or even
accelerated, he is criminally responsible, and
guilty either of murder or manslaughter,
according to the nature of his conduct. '
In the present instance the minor offence only was
charged, and abundance of evidence was produced to
show that the treatment they received was such as to
debilitate the constitution, and render them peculiarly
liable to any disease which might be prevalent at the
time. The ventilation was defective and bad ; the
sleeping apartments overcrowded, three of the children
being systematically sent to rest in the same bed ;
the clothing was scanty, and inadequate
to maintain a healthy warmth ; while the
dietary was bad in quality, and insufficient in quan-
tity. The natural result followed—the wretched
children on their removal were found to exhibit all
the syniptoms that would be occasioned by such a
system. Pale complexions—pot-bellies—wasted limbs
and soft flesh were the characteristics of all, while
about two-thirds of the number were afflicted with
itch, sore heads, sore feet, or other cutaneous diseases.
The direct, and positive testimony, was no less con-
clusive as to the manner in which they had been
provided for, than was the evidence of the scientific
witnesses as to subsequent appearances. It was shown
that a small loaf—a half-quartern—was cut
into sixteen or twenty pieces, one of these parts
being the allotted allowance for a meal ; while the
potatoes supplied on meat-days were generally so
bad and rotten that the famishing children
could not swallow the putrifying esculent,
and were compelled to leave that which constituted
so important a portion of their food wholly untouched.
Mr. WILMA lel WINCH, one of the guardians of the
Holborn Union, who inspected the establishment in
May last, could not find a single good potato out of
more than two hundred. He also proved that " the new
sleeping apartments were badly constructed and
badly ventilated." Mr. REDING, who accompanied him,
asked the boys if they had anything to complain of,'
and desired those who had to hold up their hands,
which was immediately responded to by more
than thirty of the number, for which they
were at the moment abused by DROUET, and
subsequently beaten for daring to speak the
truth. The very presence of the guardians who
made the inquiry was insufficient to make the child-
farmer control his temper when his malpractices
were exposed, and yet this was the man whom some
of the witnesses spoke of as " humane and kind-
hearted."

It is manifest that the case cannot rest in its pre-
sent position. If the law laid down by
Baron PLATT be correct, there is a virtual immunity
for all such offenders, and it will be utterly useless to
bring them to trial for any neglect or bad treatment
they may exhibit towards the children under
their charge. It must, therefore, be ascertained
whether the opinion of the Learned Baron be sup-
ported by his judicial brethren; and if so, a Legislative
remedy must be provided for the deplorable insuffi-
ciency of the law, that so palpable a failure of justice
be not rendered probable, or even possible, on another
occasion.

" Oh! that mine enemy would write a book," ex-
claims the Psalmist. Let therefore Mr. Suoms re-
joice, the Bishop of EXETER hath written a letter, and
never in the annals of cool—we mean "modest
assurance," hath such an instance of the exercise of
that most useful quality been chronicled, as is this in-
stance of the Prelatical epistle re SWORE, addressed to
the Archbishop of CANTERBURY. The Bishop would
fain make it appear that he is the persecuted, .and
Mr. SHORE the persecutor, and with a self-pity and
a self-laudation, marvellous to contemplate, "regards
it as one of those trials to which all who attempt to
do their duty in administering the discipline of the
Church are in these days necessarily exposed." On
reading this passage we naturally inquired, what is
this trial which, with Shylock-like meekness, the
suffering Prelate hath borne with a " patient shrug
And our mind reverted to the Assize Hall of Durhair,
and the case of the QUEEN V. WILLIAMS, and to the
Assize Hall of Exeter and the case of
the QUEEN V. LATIMER ; but it is evi-
dent from the context that neither of these is
the trial to which the Bishop alludes, and referring
back to his own account of the transactions between
Mr. Snows and himself, it appears that it (the trial)
occurred after i.he manner following. According to
the Bishop's own showing, Mr. Suous had, by the
refusal of the renewal of his licence (and no cause
was assigned, save the mere " sic vole sic juieo "
of the old Bishop and the new rector) been placed in
"a fearful strait." "I have no doubt," says the Bishop
in his letter of 25th November, 1843, " that every
clergyman in this diocese would feel in a fearful strait
under such circumstances." Having thus placed Mr.
SHORE in a " fearful strait," rendering it impossible
for him to officiate in the Church, the Bishop, on Mr.
SHORE'S attempting to quit the Church, instituted
legal proceedings, and having succeeded at length in
incarcerating him in the gaol of St. Thomas, Exeter,
our Prelatical STIGGINS at once " gives himself out
as a persecuted individual," because his victim has
ventured to complain.
In the Bishop's letter to Mr. SHORE of the 25th of
November (quoted in this letter to the Archbishop),
we find a passage, which when compared with the
Bishop's own statement of what had previously
passed between himself and Mr. Coszzga, the new
Rector of Berry Pomeroy, throws a remarkable light
upon the Phillpottian tactics in this case. In address-
ing Mr. SHORE he says—

" You may state to Mr. Cosens what I authorised
you to state to him in my letter of the 13th instant ;
it was to this effect, that I have no personal feelinv
whatever in the case ; that if, after making what he
shall think due inquiry, he shall consider you a fit
person to whom he may intrust the spiritual instruc-
tion of a large and important part of the people, the
care of whose souls was committed to him at his insti-
tution,' I shall receive his nomination with full confi-
dence that he has conscientiously given it, and shall
then proceed to make more particular inquiries than I
have yet thought it necessary to make into your conduct
and doctrine.
Now, seeing that in 1832 the Bishop had licensed
Mr. Suous upon the nomination of Mr. EDWARDS,
it would appear either that the Bishop on that occa-
sion had grossly neglected his duty by granting a
licence without instituting the necessary inquiries, or
that during the interval a change had taken place in
the
heresy that
own doctrines; thst in 1843 he regarded
easydthatht
awthicHhßiNnitylBpinLp
32hLecooTnTsisd, lereikde HEsy
ortho-
doxy'asic
be
n
TUDOR, was not content to
must blown
ei vagaries.
passageg aries . Butom
about by
every
Kind of doctrine himself but force other
f r
person to follow him in his theoi(s
let that pass. Having read thegabov
the Bishop' dated
Bishops letter to Mr. SHORE,November,
143, let us turn to the Right -Reverend
narrative of his interview with Jr. COSENS rank(raelat'
e
Puseyitd) in the month of August preceding. The
Bishop of EXETER, in his letter to the Archbishop,
thus describes this interview with Mr. Commis :
"In our conversation (as he recently informed me