The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-29 00:00:00

The Murder in Shropshire.

CLEOBURY MORTIMER, Jan. 27.
Mr. John Meredith, the uncle of the deceased
young man, Edward Edwards, is now in the
lock-up in this town, charged on suspicion with
being the murderer of his nephew. There was a
desire on the part of the Shropshire police to
arrest Mr. Meredith a week ago, but the magis-
tracy, through the chief constable having sent to Sir
Richard Mayne for a detective, determined to post-
pone this step till such an officer had been upon the
spot. The evidence upon which the arrest has taken
place, and upon which the accused will be examined,
is such as to make it far otherwise than certain
that it can be shown that Mr. Meredith is the mur-
derer. It was shown at the inquest that Mr. Mere-
dith had made complaints of the deceased's neglect
of his duty at the mill even on the Friday before the
Sunday on which the murder was perpetrated, and
that that complaint led to a dispute between them
on that afternoon. And Mr. Meredith, in his evi-
dence at the first sitting of the coroner's jury, de-
posed that the day-book which the deceased kept at
the mill was not made up as it ought to have been
to the close of the week preceding the murder, and
that he put in one, or more omitted entries himself
on the day after the murder. Mr. Meredith shows
that he was at the mill on the morning of the mur-
der ; and blood, it was also shown at the inquest,
was found upon his trousers and upon an overcoat
belonging to him. Whilst the officer was examin-
ing the overcoat, the evidence is that Mr. Meredith
said, " You surely can't detect blood after being
washed." This coat, it was added, appeared to have
been sponged. At one time it was stated that Mr.
Meredith wore this coat when he went to the mill in
the morning ; but this is not now stated. The blood
upon the trousers is conspicuous, and the opinion of
the surgeon given at the last sitting of the jury was
that it was not likely that blood could have fallen
from the body as it was being taken upstairs, upon
which occasion Mr. Meredith assisted by holding
one corner of the sheet upon which the deceased
was being moved. The garments are still in the
possession of Dr. Taylor, the eminint chemist of
London. Dr. Taylor has not yet completed his ex-
amination of the clothes in respect to the quantity
of the blood upon them, but the examination has
proceeded sufficiently far to enable him to say that
there is human blood upon the sleeve of the over-
coat and upon the trousers. Against the sup-
position that Mr. Meredith is guilty of the fearful
crime upon which he has been arrested is the fact,
which is well known in the district in which he lives,
that he is of a kind, hospitable, and charitable dis-
position ; ever ready in purse and person to prove a
good Samaritan to his needy neighbours. He was,
it is said, extremely fond of the deceased, and had
cherished him from the age of six, since which time
he had been to him as his son ; and we are assured
that, in the spirit of that affection, Mr. Meredith,
who is a man of considerable property, has in his
will left to his nephew the mill in which he was so
cruelly murdered.

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE NEW PAR-
LIA3IENT.—The House of Commons which will meet
for the first time on Thursday includes, as might
have been expected after a Parliament of unusual
duration, a large proportion of new members.
About one-fourth has yet to acquire Parliamentary
experience, and the entire assembly meets under
new conditions. The outside world—or the laity,
as non-professional persons are called by the
initiated—almost always undervalues the force of
special influences on those who are associated by a
common vocation. The honour of the army, the
etiquette of lawyers and doctors, the manners and
customs of exclusive and refined society, command
a respect and obedience which are less uniformly
accorded to public opinion. In the House of Com-
mons, as in other organised bodies, one of the most
cherished traditions prescribes habitual deference to
old members, and more especially to recognised
heads of parties. Political observers and theorists
are often as competent as practical statesmen to ap-
preciate the balance of national interests, and to
discern the general tendency of public affairs; but
as long as Government is controlled by a delibera-
tive assembly, the characters of Parliamentary
leaders will possess great importance. Veteran
members probably overrate the qualities which
enable a Minister to control the House of Com-
mons ; but the opposite error of believing in the
supremacy of rhetoric and argument is more gene-
rally prevalent. Mr. Disraeli said, in his " Life of
Lord George Bentinck," that although there had
been greater statesmen and greater orators, Sir
Robert Peel was, of all men who had lived in Eng-
land, the greatest member of Parliament. His tact,
hisvigilance,and his sympathy with themotives which
sway the House of Commons enabled him to exer-
cise commanding influence even at periods when his
person and his policy were unpopular in the country
at large. Lord Palmerston, whose speeches were
barely grammatical, also approached to greatness as
a member of Parliament. The flock which he guided
is, for the present, scattered abroad, in uncertain
expectation of a tolerably competent shepherd.
Strong political excitement may for a time secure
the discipline which is the necessary condition of
vigorous action ; but inexperienced members find,
with some surprise, that in ordinary Sessions the
intentions of half a dozen of their colleagues are
more curiously scrutinised than the patriotic inspira-
tions of their constituencies. Like every club and
corporation of Englishmen, the House of Commons
is a hierarchyin which the pretensions of new-comers
are not readily accepted. Many successful candi-
dates who have lately announced their intentions of
supporting moderate or sweeping reforms will find
that their choice will be confined to two or three
political alternatives, on which they will not have
been themselves consulted. There will, indeed, be
no difficulty in following the trail of the Liberal
party, if it acts together; but that the leader will not
command a ready obedience has yet to be discovered.
The distinct character which may be observed in
almost every separate Parliament depends largely
on the continuance or interruption of personal asso-
ciations. If new members find it necessary to select
a leader, they may have the consolation of knowing
that the dependence is reciprocal. The general can-
not rely as confidently on raw recruits as on his
comrades in former campaigns. The effects of a
general election on the internal discipline of the
House of Commons were remarkably illustrated
after the dissolution of 1852. From the date of
Lord Althorp's retirement in 1834, Lord John
Russell had retained, during three Parliaments,
undisputed supremacy in his party. As the leader
of a feeble Opposition, from 1841 to 1846, and as
Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852, he had not to add
to other failures and disappointments the vexation of
giving way to a rival. His imprudent rupture with
Lord Palmerston, in the winter of 1851, first
drove the Whig party from power, and then pro-
vided it with a more acceptable chief. It was re-
marked that the new members of 1852 knew nothing
of Lord John Russell, and that they willingly ten-
dered their allegiance to his genial competitor. It
is true that, on the formation of Lord Aberdeen's Go-
vernment, the former Prime Minister assumed the
lead of the House of Commons, but in 1855 Lord
John Russell wag forced to take office under Lord
Palmerston, and he never succeeded in re-establish-
ing their former relation. In 1857, when the un-
placed Liberals had coalesced with Mr. Disraeli and
Mr. Cobden against the Government, Lord Pal-
merston obtained, by a dissolution, an irresistible
majority which was pledged only to support his
personal claims to power. The Parliament of 1859,
though it was elected on a different issue, was
even more steadily loyal to the Minister whom its
earliest vote recalled to power. Mr. Gladstone,
who, after Lord John Russell's promotion to the
peerage, was Lord Palmerston's only competitor,
was entirely unable to secure a personal following,
even when the prosperity of his financial admini-
stration was most generally acknowledged. Towards
the end of his life Lord Palmerston was more often
outvoted in the Cabinet than in the House of Com-
mons. If he had met the present Parliament, still
retaining the vigour of his faculties, he would pro-
bably have succeeded in extending over the new
generation the influence which would been once
more acknowledged by the political survivors of the
dissolution. Future calculations are complicated
by the utter dissimilarity of the designated successor
to the statesman whose vacant place he occupies.
Lord Russell in his elevated seat is a mere name,
which to the majority of the House of Commons
conveys no impressive meaning. All politicians
are waiting in anxious expectation to ascertain
whether Mr. Gladstone has the gift of leading a
party, and where lie intends to take his followers.
A great orator who advocates popular opinions
may nevertheless fail as a party chief if he
is deficient in knowledge of human nature and of
the nature of the house of Commons. Mr. Bright,
who is equal to Mr. Gladstone in eloquence and
perhaps in general ability, will for the first time find
himself the acknowledged leader of a not inconsi-
derable section. Experience will show whether the
extreme Liberals have acquired additional strength
by the unity of command which has been caused by
the death of Mr. Cobden. Mr. Bright is a more
powerful orator than his friend and colleague, and
he is a more resolute and uncompromising partisan.
On certain occasions, vigour and concentration of
purpose are essential to success ; .but a small mino-
rity has a better chance of holding the balance when
it is inclined to compromise and conciliation. Mr.
Cobden was, as compared with his coadjutor, mode-
rate, dispassionate, and loyal to the institutions of
his country. There is no reason to suppose that he
preferred ArneriJa to England ; and it happened
that, notwithstanding a constant political alliance,
he disliked the sectarian peculiarities of Dissenters.
If Lord John Russell had been bold enough to
admit Mr. Cobden to the
Cabinet in 1846, he would
probably have converted him into a thoroughly Eng-
lish statesman. Had the same experiment been
tried upon Mr. Bright,
.its success would have been
far more doubtful. It is yet uncertain whether the

Radical party will have a second or rival leader in
Mr. Mill. No new member will have a claim to
equal authority if the tendency to dogmatism and
the propensity to crochets, which may be traced in
his writings, are suppressed in the House of Com-
mons. Mr. Mill is said to be a forcible and per-
spicuous speaker, and he will from the first com-
mand the attention which ordinary aspirants must
earn. If the reconstruction of the Cabinet had been

postponed for two or three sessions, Mr. Mill might
possibly have occupied one of the seats which have

been filled with so unaccountable a degree of
difficulty ; but some time must, in any event,
elapse before his character and influence will
become an element of political calculation. Mr.
Bright is unusually active and prominent, regard-
ing perhaps with excusable indifference the desire of
his Liberal friends that he should efface or conceal
for a time the power which he undoubtedly exercises.
Lord Russell would be deeply disappointed by the
failure of a Reform Bill which is to bring, as he
hopes, the close of his political life in harmony with
his earlier career ; but Mr. Bright would find much
comfort in the agitation which might perhaps be
kindled by a Parliamentary defeat. Weakness of
parties, confusion of opinions, and frequent changes
of Ministry would be eminently favourable to re-
volutionary designs. The doctrines which attribute
great importance to the action of individual persons

ire countenanced by the Present state of political
affairs. If Lord Russell had not thought it his

business to be a Reformer, there would now
be no impending Reform Bill ; while, on the
other hand, if Lord Palmerston had died

three or four years sooner, the question would
have been earlier mooted. It is by a mere
accident that Mr. Gladstone is not at this moment
the Conservative leader ; and Mr. Bright consti-
tutes almost alone, both the strength and weak-
ness of the extreme Reformers. Unless Mr.
Goschen's advance in Parliamentary influence cor-
responds to his rapid official promotion, no mem-
ber of the Cabinet except Mr. Gladstone will pos-
sess any considerable power over the opinions of
the House of Commons. The rising members of
the last Parliament will profit by the addition to the
new house of a considerable audience whichis at the
same time familiar with their reputation, and indif-
ferent to its recent origin. Lord Cranborne will
possess with his party the authority which belongs
to an established position, as well as the influence
which follows the exhibition of great ability, joined
to indefatigable industry and untiring vigour. Mr.
Hardy's solidity will perhaps supersede, in Con-
servative estimation, the more antiquated solem-
nity of Sir John Pakington. On the other side of
the House, unsophisticated new-comers may perhaps
show a surprising appreciation of Mr. Lowe's almost
unparliamentary tendency to express independent