The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-12 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1870,

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THE extreme sentence of the law has been carried
out upon MARGARET WATERS. In spite of Chief
Baron KELLY'S tears and the London doctors' memo-
rial, the "baby-farmer" has been "put out of the
way.' No technical quibble has been raised in her
behalf as was raised in behalf of her prototype,
CHARLOTTE WINSOR. She has been hanged
by the neck, and has by this death paid
the penalty of the far more cruel deaths
which she inflicted. 'Few persons, except the three
or four London doctors aforesaid, will question the
justice of this doom. It was a bad case. It was
one of a class becoming fearfully common, yet par-
ticularly difficult to bring home to the criminal. The
murderess had violated those ordinary instincts of her
sex which make a woman cherish helpless infancy.
She had murdered her victim for gain ; she had
had, there is too much reason to suppose,
many victims. She had committed her crime in a
manner especially dangerous to the community by
reason of its very facility. To have spared this
woman would have been a direct incentive to the
easiest and cruellest of all forms of murder—in-
fanticide.

Yet, while we approve Mr. BRUCE'S firmness in
this case, while we are satisfied that MARGARET
WATERS has suffered death, what are we to
say about her aocomplices ? What shall we say
of the "chancery barrister," of the "gentleman in
another profession," of the " gentleman whose name
was recently very much before the public in another
matter?" Each of these "gentlemen " probably
knew what MARGARET WATERS'S business was,
knew what baby-farming signified. When they
gave her their illegitimate children she understood
very well that " taking care of " them meant
that the fathers were never to hear anything
more about them; and these fathers know that she
so understood it. Deliberately they gave up thei r
own offspring whom they—the parents—would not
support, to a stranger, whose interest lay in their
death, and whose fearful occupation they must have
divined. Yet these " gentlemen" escape all
punishment ; escape not only the hangman's
rope, but even public censure. They may, for
aught we know, be living and moving among us
at this very time, may be the ornaments of society.
This is cruelly unequal justice, and the Brixton
murderess would have done one good deed in her
life if she had revealed the names of her fellow-
murderers. If they have any conscience left which
has not yet been wholly seared, we do not envy them
the feelings with which they will read the brief
report of the execution of MARGARET WATERS.

THE announcement made in the Western Morning
News that the condition of our ironclad navy will in
all probability be investigated by a Royal Commis-
sion, or a committee of naval officers, will be received
with general satisfaction. The loss of the Captain
has greatly shaken the confidence of the public,
and still more of the service, in the safety of
our ships:of war. The revelations at the Ports-
mouth Court Martial shew that it is quite possible
for a vessel known as unsafe, to be exposed to a
test which may be fatal to her. The risk run with
the Captain was incurred by the favourers of the
turret system in order to conceal a failure. What
guarantee have we that the favourers of the broad-
side system may not be running a similar risk for
a similar purpose It is true that the
Captain was (fortunately) a unique ship, and that
her detects were in large measure peculiar to herself

Yet it must be remembered that broadsides have
been running a race with turrets, and that one of
the prizes for which they have been contending is the
carrying of the greatest possible weight of guns on or
above the upper deck. The it evitable effect
has been to render both turrets and broadsides
top-heavy. It is only natural that this fact should
havebeen forced upon the attention of the Admiralty
by the recent catastrophe. If the result of their
inquiry has not been altogether satisfactory, if the
recently constructed broadsides have been found to
fail in stability, then Mr. REED 15 to be congratu-
lated upon the fact that the discovery has come be-
fore it was too late to rectify it, and that if he is no
more infallible than his rival proved to be, he is.
at least not paying the penalty of his blunder at the
bottom of the sea.

It is no secret that the turret system was adopted
by Mr. CHILDEItS, contrary to the opinions and the
advice of many of the most experienced naval men•
He hoped to commemorate his rule at Whitehall by
a fresh reconstruction of the navy. He, too, no less
than Captain COLES, had the courage of his convic-
tions, and he gave a proof of his sincerity in enter-
ing his son on the books of the ill-fated Captain.
But Mr. CHILDERS, however sincere, is not a practical
man, so far as regards naval architecture. He may
be well qualified to check the estimates and keep the
accounts, and. exercise a general control over that
vast business called the Navy. But turrets, broadsides,
guns, displacement, stability, all these are points which
no man who is neither naval officer nor ship-builder
can grasp, even though he has hoisted his flag in the
Channel Squadron. These are points which ought
to be referred to men who have been studying them
all their lives, and who are not like'y to be, influenced
by " the pressure of public opinion," however strong.
Nor is the stability of our ships the only question
which should be investigated by the contemplated
Royal Commission. By the introduction of Captain
SCOTT'S gun carriage and gear into the navy our
ships are able to carry guns of a weight and power
not dreamt of ten years ago. At the same time guns
whose weight is to be reckoned in tons by the score
are not to be fired with the same impunity
as the old sixty-eight-pounders. The recent
trial of the Hotspur was a very costly experi-
ment indeed. We know now, though the matter
was kept quiet at the time, that the damage done to
the deck of that vessel when her heavy gun was
discharged was tremendous, and that if the vessel
had been in action, the results must have been most
lamentable. In this case the mischief arose from
the want of practical knowledge of gunnery on the
part of the constructor of the ship. The Royal
Commission would be very incomplete if it did not
include naval artillerists as well as naval architects.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

POLITICAL PROPHECIES,

The Globe notices the claim of Cavour to be consi-
dered a true prophet. He foresaw the establishment of
an Italian kingdom, the downfall of the Temporal
Power, and the restoration of Rome as the capital of
Italy, in days when all such dreams seemed hopeless
chimeras. French and Austrians vied with each
other for the privilege of defending the Pontiff
against domestic and foreign foes, and France had
withdrawn her ambassador from Turin in displeasure
at the extension of the Sardinian Monarchy, yet
Cavour's words were, " The Eternal City around
which twenty-five centuries have accumulated all
the glories of the world, must be the capital of
Italy." Those words we now see realised. Cavour's
foresight with respect to Germany was not less accu-
rate, though not altogether at fault. During his last
illness he declared the Germanic Confederation to
be an anomaly which must be dissolved,
when a Germanic Union would be substi-
tuted for it. So far Cavour was right,
but in his estimate of the future of Austria and
Prussia he was not so correct. " The House of
Elapsburg," he said, " will never change." But since
Cavour's death the Austrian Empire has undergone
wonderful changes. The Concordat has been
abolished ; an Hungarian Parliament has been estab-
lished ; Bohemia is in a fair way to self government.
Meanwhile, the Prussians, of whom the great Italian
statesman said, "They are so slow in making up
their minds ; it will take them fifty mars to do what
we have done in three," have marched within sight
of Vienna and of Paris in the short space of four
years. Cavour, it is true, did not foresee Bismarck,
and Bismarck has been the mainspring of these
changes.
MURDER OF CHILDREN.

The bodies of two newly-born children have been
found in Hyde Park under circumstances which seem
to point to the conclusion that two murders have
been committed. ln the one case a police-constable
found the body of a female child under a tree on
Friday morning, wrapped in a coloured shirt. Dr.
Buck, who examined the corpse, gave it as his
opinion that the child was born alive, but had been
suffocated ; and he was inclined to the belief that it
had been crushed between two flat surfaces. Of
course, in the absence of definitive testimony on
the latter point, the jury had to give a
verdict to the effect that the infant had
been suffocated, but in what manner the evi-
dence did not shew. In the second case a corporal
in the Guards discovered the body of a female child
on Sunday morning. It was in a complete state of
nudity, and a piece of tape was tied tightly round the
neck so tightly that the medical evidence proved that
strangulation had been produced thereby. A. private
in the Grenadiers whilst mounting guard saw a
woman playing with a dog on the spot where the
child was found, and he observed her drop a parcel
which it was subsequently ascertained had contained
the body. Witness could not of course leave
his post, although his suspicion was aroused, and he
gave expression to it as soon as his corporal
arrived. In this case a verdict of wilful murder
against some person or persons unknown, was re-
turned. If the police display as much zeal, activity,
and penetration as they did in the case of Mrs.
Waters, it is possitdeithat the author or authors of
the two murders, as unquestionably they are, may
be traced and brought to that punishment they so
richly merit. A. stricter espionage of baby farmers
and women of their kind would indubitably check
the growth of infanticide in the metropolis.