The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-28 00:00:00

LECTURES B

GE DAWSON.

Fortunately a body of soldiers arrived in time to
drive the would-be assassins away, but not before
Mr. Oliphant, Secretary of the Legation, had re-
ceived some severe wounds, and Mr. Consul G. S.
Morrison was cut in the head. By whom the gang
was raised for effecting these murderous deeds had
yet to be discovered. No doubt but they will be
traced, and on the discovery we may feel sure that
the ramifications of the anti-foreign party at Court
will be laid bare, and great good result. Indeed, it
wanted something of this kind to enable Mr. Alcoek
to carry the matter home, and bring a permanent
and beneficial change in our relations with the
Japanese empire.
The story of the assault is briefly as follows :
A band of about twenty spent the day at a tea-
house in the vicinity of the British Minister's
quarters, and between nine and ten o'clock, when
" all hands" were in the arms of Morpheus, they
drove in the door of the grounds and entered the
house. Two of them, one in armour, then ap-
proached the quarters of Mr. Consul G. S. Morrison,
but being seen by his servant he was warned in
time to get a sword and pistol before the assassins
came up. Mr. Oliphant having heard the noise,
rushed out of his room with a hunting-whip only,
and was immediately assailed by one of the two
spoken of, who gave him a severe gash on the
right shoulder. Hearing Mr. Oliphant cry out,
Mr, Morrison drew aside the screen of his
room, and found himself face to face with
the miscreants, one of whom he shot dead;
the other he fired at, but the ball glanced off
the armour ; the Japanese, in return, cutting Mor-
rison across the head, and again wounding Mr.
Oliphant in the wrist, At this juncture Mr. Wirg-
maia and Mr. Reginald Russell approached, and,
though they were unarmed, their appearance had
the effect, it would seem, of inducing the band to
retreat, bearing with them the body of the Japa-
nese shot by Mr. Morrison, which, however, they
only took into the garden, where they were met by
Japanese soldiers and driven away, five being killed
in the affray, and seven of the Japanese soldiers
wounded.

The day after the affair Mr. Alcock addressed
the following circular letter to the other resident
Ministers :

"Her Majesty's Legation, Yedo, July 6.
" Sir,—Last night, between 11 and 12 o'clock,
,he British Legation was suddenly attacked, and an
entrance effected at several points simultaneously,
by armed bands of Japanese, said by some to be
Loonins, and by others the Prince of Mito's men.
Two of the members of the establishment, Mr.
Oliphant and Mr. Morrison, were met in a passage
and both wounded, the first I am sorry to say very
severely, when a momentary diversion was effected
by a shot from Mr. Morrison's revolver, which ap-
pears to have taken effect. A few minutes later
the same or another division of the assassins sought
to 'effect an entrance to the apartments occupied by
myself, by breaking through and hacking in pieces
some glass doors opening on to another suite, having
mistaken their way. To this alone, under Provi-
dence, we probably owe our lives, for several
minutes was thus lost to them, at the end of which
some of the Yaconins or Damio's guard appear to
have come to the spot, and the assailants were
finally driven out of the house, after having pene-
trated into nearly every room except my own,
leaving traces of their presence by slashing at all
the beds and furniture. Marks of blood were found
in various directions, and a prolonged conflict took
place outside in the avenue and approaches to the
Legation with the officers and men on service.
Such a deed of atrocity, perpetrated in the capital
of a Government to which foreign representatives are
accredited by the Western Po wera needs no comment.
I only feel it a duty to communicate to my col-
leagues the facts for their guidance and informa-
tion, and to acquaint them that, as a temporary
measure, I have ordered up her Majesty's ship
Ringdove, and caused a guard of men to be knded.
What measures it may be expedient to adopt for
the further security of this and the other Legations
in Yedo, and the maintenance of those international
rights and' immunities so grievously attached,
becomes a serious consideration, and one the press-
ing importance of which cannot well be overlooked ;
but on this part of the subject I shall be glad to
enter into further communication with you and the
rest of my colleagues, should you feel disposed to
favour me with your views —I have, &c.,
" RUTHERFORD ALCOCK."

A ROMAN EXECUTION.

The execution at Rome, for the murder of a pon-
ifical gendarme in a fight, of Locatelli, whose inno-
cence is established by the telegram which we pub.
lished yesterday, is described in a letter from Rome
of the 21st :—" Locatelli had all along denied hav-
ing caused the gendarme's death, but the evidence
against him, chiefly that of -French soldiers and
gendarmes, seems to place it beyond doubt that he
stabbed him during the fight, in which he himself
was also severely wounded. He maintained this
point obstinately, and when informed last night
that he was to be executed this morning he merely
replied, Very well; I die an innocent man. I re-
quest that no one may be admitted to disturb me.'
Nor could any of the priests, Passionist monks, or
official confortatori, who exert themselves on such
occasions to induce criminals to confess and receive
the sacrament before submitting to death, prevail
upon Locatelli to accept of the last consolatory
offices of religion. At half-past 7, half an hour's
grace having been ineffectually granted for the
prisoner to repent in, he was led to the scaffold,
the rolling of drums drowning his shouts of
Viva l'ltalia !" Viva Vittorio I manuele !' and
similar political rallying cries. Courageous to the
last, Locatelli firmly ascended the scaffold steps,
whence he would fain have spoken to the'crowd had
he been permitted, resisted the last efforts to con-
vert him made by a Capuchin monk on one side and
a Passionist on the other, averted his head from the
crucifix, and resigned himself calmly to the hands
of the veteran headsman, Mastro Titta, who, assisted
by two stout Adjutants, was so rapid in his office
that the gasping exclamations of the spectators,
I facto seemed rather one of surprise than of horror.
Locatelli was a fine man of 37 years of age, with a
black beard, rendered more conspicuous by his white
dress and cap. His social condition was that of a
railway porter, and he figured somewhat disadvan-
tageously in the police reports. Having got their
fill of horrors, and muttered their curses after the
three executioners, who slenk off, with hats slouched
over their eyes, by the temples of Vesta and Fortuna
Virilis and across the Ponte Rotto to their official
residence on the other side of the Tiber, the crowds
of spectators dispersed quietly, the troops marched
off with drums and trumpets, and the rustics, who
had stopped their ox-carts or buffalo waggons to
gaze astounded on the unexpected scene of blood,
shut their mouths at last, and, striking their goads
into their ponderous teams, resumed their road to
wards the Porta San Sebastiato and the Appian Way.
To do justice to the humane feelings of jhe softer
sex in Rome, it must be observed that women, al-
though sufficiently fierce when passion stirs the
ancestral blood in their veins, are very rarely to be
seen among the lookers-on at such spectacles as I
have described. The vengeance of the Ecclesiastical
Government pursues such criminals as refuse to be
reconciled to the Church even after their deaths, for
their corpses are merely corded up in sacking, and
thrown by night in some remote, unconsecrated spot
outside the city walls, with a barrowful of lime over
them to ensure a rapid decomposition."

..``DEATH OF Mn, WILLIAM FARREN.—This emi-
nent comedian, who died on Tuesday, at his residence in
Brompton-square, was born towards the close of 1786, and
was consequently at the time of his deceased in his 75th
year. While he was playing Old Parr at' the Haymarket
in May, 1845, he was seized with a fit which, through injt.r
dicions treatment, culminated in a severe stroke of paralysis,
and for some time it was thought that he was lost to the
stage for ever. Perhaps it wbuld have been better for his
reputation if he had never reappeared; for his articulation
was rendered so indistinct,' and his physical and mental
powers were so materially impaired by the shock which his
constitution had sustained, that those who saw him only in
the closing epoch of his career could form no idea of the
ability which he di/splayed when in his prime. He remained
for 10 years longer before the public as an actor at the Hay-
market, and as manager and actor at the Strand and the
Owlyurlpie ;
e, on July 16, and his last appearance was at the Haymarket,
he
1855, ho played Lord Ogleby on the
occasion of his farewell benegt '

Two lectures were given in St. Andrew's Hall on
Monday and Tuesday evenings, by Mr. George
Dawson, of Birmingham, to numerous audiences.
The subject on the first evening was " William
Cobbett," whom the lecturer in commencing de-
scribed as a man who was always feared where not
admired, one of the most admirable exposers of
English abuses, and one of the coarsest abusers, that
this country ever supplied—a bundle of strong.pre-
judices, sound judgments, hearty instincts, and vio-
lent dislikes. He was born in 1762 at Farnham; his
father being a small publican and farmer, and the
hay had to turn out very early and work on the land.
On going to Portsmouth for a holiday, he was
seized with a passion for joining a man-of-war, but
this desire was thwarted, and he next made his
way to London and became a lawyer's clerk. Of
course the fusty chambers of a London convey-
ancer were not very congenial to one who had a
passion for fresh air and good English scenery. He
soon made his way to Chatham, was smitten like
many other young men with the "scarlet" fever,
enlisted, and was speedily ordered to New Bruns-
wick. He was rapidly promoted until he became
sergeant-major, and in his admirable book, "Advice
to Young Men," he described this part of his life,
for whenever he wanted to illustrate a virtue he
always turned to himself as an example. He knew
no one so well and admired no one so much—
(lazghter)— he was a glorious egotist, but we might
excuse a man being a little bounceable if he was
energetic in action. Whenever he enforced early
rising, or punctuality, or the pursuit of knowledge,
he always said, "Just look at me." He taught
himself English grammar__a Thing very few even
educated men knew perfectly—when a private sol-
dier at the pay of sixpence a day; a knapsack was
his bookcase, a bit of board on his lap a writing
table, and in winter he had rarely any light but
the fire, while he could only procure pen, ink, and
paper by foregoing some portion of food. The
officers of the regiment soon found that he surpassed
them in writing, and he had added much to his con-
sideration and a little to his pay by doing it for
them. While in New Brunswick he met his future
wife, then a:girl of 13, the daughter of a sergeant
of artillery, and at once determined to get out of
the army as soon as he could and marry her. The
artillery, however, were ordered back to England
four years before the rest of the regiment, but just
before the girl sailed, Cobbett sent her all his
savings-150 guineas—and told her to live and
dress respectably with it, and to make no spare, as he
should no doubt get plenty more before he returned
home. When, however, he landed at Portsmouth
and got his discharge, he found her slaving as a
te work,ha nadt
hi;
Ins abya
ce
ka r
t,
haenldstoh eg
nfii
nr eeta
st h nng.
maid-of all-
tsohuecdhieddw. was to
He (Mr. Dawson) did riot
know which to admire most—Cobbett for trust-
ing her, or she for working hard as a ser-
vant rather than spend the money so gene-
rously confided to her. After relating one or two
instances of his affection for her after their mar-
riage, the lecturer went on to observe that on quit-
ting the army in 1791, Cobbett received a testi-
monial of good conduct, but it was not long before
be brought a charge of peculation against four of
the officers. A court-martial was convened, but—
for some reasons not altogether satisfactory, pro-
bably because he found he had undertaken more
than he could get through—the accuser did not
make his appearance, and went out of the way, to
France, where the revolution was then in its most
violent excesses. Cobbett was no great lover of
France or of revolutions, for he began life as an
ignorant politician, fit mly believing that the British
constitution, if not a part of the solar system, was
equally in the nature of things, and equally to be
believed in and maintained. He soon left for
America, and got a handsome living by teaching
English to French -refugees, for he had the admir-
able faculty of understanding thoroughly all that
he understood at all, and the rare power of making
clear even
to-eaento cob
adunbtt,s
dunce whatever he understood. After
alluding
pamphlet attacking Dr.
Priestly—the success of which determined his voca-
tion as a pamphleteer—and to his afterwards
taking an active part in American politics, Mr.
Dawson described Cobbett's return to England in
1800, and futile attempts of the Government to
purchase his support. In 1802 he started his
Political Register, which he continued for thirty-
three years—in health or in sickness, in prison or
out of it—with the intermission of only eleven
weeks. H 9 was at first an independent supporter
of the Government, but about 1805 there were
signs of his politics beginning to alter, and from a
thorough-going Tory he soon became a zealous
Radical. He (the lecturer) saw no need to apolo-
gise for this, for one' might just as well taunt a
man for not wearing the same coat that he .shore
ten years ago, as for having changed his opinions.
Everyone as he got older got more conservative ;
young men were born to be Radicals, and old men
to tone them down. • Cobbett's change was easily
explained. He was not much of a theoretical poli-
tician ; his great favourites were the country labour-
ers, whom it was the fashion for townspeople to
laugh atas fools and dullards, but whoreally did their
work quite as well and without so much fuss as
city artisans. He saw agricultural labourers work-
ing for only 7s. a week, and when he found the
governing class of that day would do nothing for
them, he saw the necessity for reform. -What
helped him to the change was his exceeding dis-
like of the funding system ; he never could see that
the putting " national" before " debt" made it any
pleasanter. Nowadays some people argued that
though debt was always an evil, put national before
it and it became the anchor of the State, and so
forth ; but to Cobbett debt always meant bondage,
and usually disgrace. In 1804 began a series of
troubles. He was twice fined £5OO for libel, and
was prosecuted and imprisoned for protesting
against some militiamen at Ely being flogged by
Hanoverians. He made his prison, however, very
comfortable, and when he came out commenced
publishing his Twopenny Trash, a term of contempt
which Lord Castlereagh had applied to cheap papers,
and which Cobbett very characteristically adopted.
He went to America for a short time, returned in
1819 and started a daily paper, but suffered great
losses, being reduced at one time to sell his bed.
Governments were then vindictive, conscienceless,
and persecuting, and Cobbett, though fie provoked
them much, never deserved half the inflictions laid
upon him. He was a capital terrier, and there were
plenty of rats for him to pounce upon. In 1820 he
was smitten with the ambition of entering the
House of Commons, but he was defeated at
Coventry and again at Preston. In 1831 he
was prosecuted for an article which was alleged
to stir up the agricultural labourer to vio-
lence ' • he defended himself in a six hours'
speech, and the jury not agreeing, he got off. The
following year he was elected for Oldham. It was the
fashion to say he was a failure in Parliament, but the
truth was it was late in the day for him, and late
hours did not suit the old farmer, who loved fresh air
and home-brewed beer. In 1835 this singular man
died, and the newspaper which had been most con-
stant in abuse of him during his life, described him
as the "last of the Saxons." In truth he was pecu-
liarly Saxon, possessing in perfection all the tradi-
tional virtues and many of the traditional faults of
the race. The key note to most of his likings and
dislikings was his passionate love of that grand
old English word home. He did not -like baker's
bread nor brewers' beer, and in these days he might
have disliked it still, for the abominable wash that
was sold in many of the publichouses of this coun-
try was beyond belief, and as far as he (the
lecturer) was concerned should be beyond
all future experiment. (Laughter.) Exotics of
every kind Cobbett detested. The very fact that
tea only grew in China was proof to him that it
had no business is Hampshire, and he considered
the gossip over it as washy as the fluid. (Laughter.)
He hated wine, and thought it much better for
people to say they could not afford it than to drink
the abominable slop that was called wine. The
a nt
bye rof
vashis
a h
foreign and exotic were his detestation, the homely
hatredsealt healthy
instincte re not
very
and the English his delight. His likes were not
alwaysandenlwigihsete,ne, but
d
about them all. He loved the multitude, and what•
ever professed to be above or superior to them he
always made a face at. He did not like Jews,
because they were a chosen people; he detested
Quakers, because they spoke and dressed peculiarly ;
he hated Unitarians, not that he cared much about
theology, but because they claimed to be the only
enlightened sect. Select people, genteel people,
prigs of all sorts and sizes, this angry man railed

n
es, yellow
lagainst
i art dv
aa cbel sneadt on H,
which he
found plenty, and the Protestant Reformation, of
beaddi sglri ka
me d
mpa—or,
ot of
which he wrote a history which, he was wont to
boast, had had next to the Bible the largest sale of
any book. He did not trouble about doctrine, but
the political thing called the Reformation was his
aversion. He did not like the nobility getting the
church lands; he thought the people were better
off before than afterwards, and once said plainly
he would rather have the Inquisition and well-
filled bellies, ;than civil and religious' liberty and
nothing to eat. (Laughter.) But it was pleasanter
to dwell on the things ho loved. He liked good
food, children, and gardening—the purest and most
lasting.of all man's pleasures. He had a great love
of farming, and did more than any other man to
put an end to the lazy system of sowing the seed
all over the field, instead of drillling it in in fur-
rows. His prejudices were certainly not all wise,
but ha was the most eminent and industrious ex-
poser of abuses that ever lived, and deserved a high
place amongst the self-made men of England. He
was a clear thinker, brave, honest, coarse, preju-
diced, passionate; a hear+y hater of gentility,