The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-18 00:00:00

THE BOOK OF THE BASTMES,
TO THE EDITOR 01,', THE SUIV:

Sin,—l trust that you will be ,so courteous as to
allow me space in your paper to mak,' a few 'observa-
tions upon the review of my "Book rsi. the 13 astiles,"
which appeared in The Sun of Monday even; ing last.
There are some misrepresentations and misconcep-
tions in that review, friendly 'as I admit it to be,
which I wish to rectify and explain ; and which, if
permitted, unnoticed by me, to pass current in ao po-
pular and extensively circulated a newspaper, as I
understand The Sun to be, would be calculated to ao
my character, and that of my work, much injustice—
whuld give both, to use a hackneyed quotation, a
" heavy blow and great discouragement."
'ln the first place, you have made it appear to the
public, that I am a very dangerous and discreditable
subject, and that the principal tendency of my Anti-
New-Poor-law writings is, to '
" Whisper low
Unhallow'd vows to guilt, the child of woe,"
and incite the populace to r cts of insurrectionary and
predatory violence against the friends and favourers
of the New Poor-law, and, more especially, against
the Poor-law Commissioners, and Mr. Edwin Chad-
Witk-,their Secretary. ,
Your objectionable words are " Here. Mr. Baxter
encourages young blackguards oftwenty-two, or there.-
abouts, to commit burglaries in Somerset-house, and,
perhaps murder both the Poor-law Commissioners,.
and their poor Secretary, at one fell swoop." Really,
Sir, no passage in my4' book of the Bastiles" ctsn justify
such a construction being put upon it, and certainly
not the passage to which you have annexed the above
scholium. If you will take the trouble to turn to
page 53 of my work. you will perceive that the article
from which the extract, which caused your inappro-
priate remark, is taken, is not addressed to the Poor-
law Commissioners at all ; but is entitled " What will
he the End of it ? or A Few Words addressed to the
British Nation, deprecating their Extreme Apathy in
the Affairs of the New Poor-law Amendment Act."
And its tenour is to warn, not to threaten—not to ex-
cite violent feelings, but to point out, in vivid sooth-
saying, to the upper and middle classes, the moral,
social, and national evils which will assuredly occur,
if the administration of the Malthus se: be continued.
I dare say these words of yours, against the use of
which I am now entering my protest, were ps:inted by
you without any malice prepftse, 'and merely- as a
pleasant joke. It may be so; but,Jo use a prevalent
Oxonianism, " jours non est jours ;" and I should noit
in the least be surprised if this said joke of your s sub-
jected me to legal proceedings ; and that the Poor-law
Commissioners, not contented with the cowardly and
malignant manner in which they have persecuted me,
ever since I commenced " coloneliing" against their
abominable enactment, will now add a Crown pro-
secation to their previous pitiful proceedings ; and, in
the end (for there is little, justice to be had in
England in these latter days,) immure me in a gaol
for libel, or sedition, or for some such ridiculous pre-
tence, as they will procure a ready verdict-made
jury to call it.
To that passage from my " Book of the Bastiles,"
in which I hold up my voice in indignation, " that
paupers' limbs should be tied up or mannacled, if at
any time, in the bastile prisons, they happened to
converse with their wretched friends and relatives ;
and that the bodies of paupers should, without the
decent ceremonial of book, bell, and pall, be
trundled into an unconsecrated bole," &c., you have
united the following :—" We have always under-
stood that those who died in workhouses were buried
according to the rites of the Church of England; and
and we never heard that manacles were used to re-
strain the inmates, like desperate malefactors."
Now, nothing, I beg to say, could possibly be more
annoying to my feelings than -to be suspected of
publishing unfounded charges against the New Poor-
law—an enactment which has 'supplied an over-
abundance of cases of barbarity, without its requiring
the manufacture of artificial grievances to create ab-
horrance of its cruel workings. ~
But to substantiate the fact that those who die in
union workhouses are-not always buried according to
the rites of the Church of England :
" House of Lords, April 25th, 1842.—Earl Stan-
hope presented a petition from Mr. William Roberts.
The petitioner stated, .that he has traced the inter-
ment of about 354 dissected pauper bodies, between
October, 1839, and July, 1841, to have been buried
in an unconsecrated ground, called Globe-fields, and
that an undertaker's man has represented a Church
of England clergyman by reading the established
Church Burial Service over the shells interred."
With regard to the manacling of paupers' limbs in
the union workhouse, and to show. that such treat-
ment his really occurred :
"Amongst the cruelties exercised on the inmates
of the Wisney union is the silent system. It appors
that husband and wife, and that children are sepa-
rated, and never see each other, extept at meals, and
then they are not allowed to speak to ei:ch other, on
pain of being tied up, viz., by having one leg tied up,
and being obliged to rest on the ether for half fill,
hour."—Oxford Chronicle, Jan. 1, 1839.
Here, I think, I have well substantiated the ewer-
tions which I have made in the pages of the "Book of
the Pastiles," that the bodies of the poor who die irr
the Bastiles are frequently (for 1 could bring forward
much farther proof to corroborate the statement than
Mr. Wil tam Roberts has adduced) " trundled into
an unconsecrated hole, like deceased dogs, cats, rats,
and stots ;" and that, in many a union workhouse, as
a torture, the limbs of the pauper inmates have been
(and still are) "tied up and manacled."—l have the
honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
G. R. WYTHEN BAXTER,
Hereford, May 12, 1842.
[We are still sceptical respecting the mode of
burial and the ropes and manacles, notwithstanding
the authority quoted by Lord Stanhope and the
Oxford Chronicle The author did not mention the
Commissioners certainly, when he described persons
as being driven to desperate deeds by the severity of
the Poor-law, but Mr. Baxter must know that a per-
son may be pointed out without his name being given.]

FINE ARTS.
ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.
We resume our notice of a few more of the pic-
tureS in this year's Exhibition, which has been delayed
till now from want of space :—No. 10, An English
Landscape, by Callcott, is a beautiful composition,
true to nature, and finished off with great care in
its details. No. 71, Ophelia, is by Redgrave, and
chastely and skilfully embodies our conception of the
character. This artist has also three other pictures
in the Exhibition, one of which, No. 244, represents
that famous heroine .1 the nursery tale, Cinderella,
when about to try on the glass slipper.
The. grouping :of this production is good;
but we should have been glad to have seen a
little more characteristic expression thrown into the
countenance of the fair cinder-sifter. The malice de-
picted in the faces of the step-sisters, greatly assists
the effect of the piece. No. 72, The Tired Soldier
resti.nglot the Road-side Well, bears no indistinct re-
* semlgance to some of Wilkie's earlier efforts. No.
104, A Family about to lean le Home imploring
Divine Protection, is from the pencil of Collins, who
here shows himself possessed' of the quick sen-
sibility of the poet, as well as the skill and
judgment of the painter. He has several
other paintings in the Exhibition, but none,
we think, that are so efficient as this. No. 126,V
Landscape with Cattle, by Iteinagle, is something in
Ruysdael's manner, and in saying this, we know not
that we can give it higher praise. No. 128, Isola
Bella, Logo Magiore, is anexquisite Italian landscape
that has been often painted, but we know not that it
has ever had more complete justice done it, than in
the psesent instance by Stanfield,
.who has brought
out, in his most expressive, con amore style, all the
characteristic features of a landscape which delighted
the eye of Rosseau, and is perhaps the most eminently
beautiful in Italy. No. 288, Highland Scenery, a
Snow-storm passing off, is true to nature, and full of
picturesque effect. Any one who is in the slightest
,degree acquainted with the peculiarities of a Highland
landscape, will see at a glance that_ they are repre-
sented with the most scruptlous fidelity. The artist
to whom we are indebted for this clever picture, is
Lea, who is already favourably known to the
public by his masterly sketches of English
sylvan scenery. No. 294, Aaron staying the Plague,
is but an indifferent conception, and is feebly worked
out. No. 352, Market-Girl, eonthins some good
points, but it bears evident marks of haste and
negligence, especially as regards the drapery, which
is slovenly handled. No. 360, Viiginia discovered by
the Old Man and Domingo, is taken, as the title im-
ports, from one of the most affecting incidents
in the well-known scene of " Paul and Virginia."
The mournful expression of the old man's face is
very effectively pourtrayed.• No. 379, Il Voto, or
the Convalescent, is a carefully-finished production,
by Williams. N" o. 485, The . Covenanter's Mar-
riage. is too much of an imitation of a clever
painting, entitled the " Covenanter's Wedding," by
M'lan, which appeared in the last year's Exhibition.
Mr. Johnstone should have trusted' more to his own
resources, which are by no means of an inferior order.
His sketch shows marks of a free and ready pencil.
No. 410, Two Children, representing an old man and
a child blowing bubbles, is an ingenious idea cleverly
executed. Nc. 1,250 Harold, the Dauntless, is the
poems, and exhibits coins natural and forcible
representation of a striking incident in Sir Walter
Scott's
coloUring• There are Numerous other able pictures
in the Exhibition, but we must reserve -a notice of
them for some more leisure dny.

From the 30th ultimo till the 10th instant, inclu-
sive (eleven days), no fewer than 721 vessels passed the
Sound.

A Captain of a Lancer Regiment in Ireland, is•
obliged to be put in a state of restraint. lie has writ.
ten several .insane letters to the Queen, particularly re-
monstrathlg against the appointment of Prince Georg,
to qua coma of ayegiment.