The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-08-03 00:00:00

decline as a commercial nation must ensue. We
may then, when it is too late, deplore the policy
which has driven our best customers and the in-
dustry and enterprise of the country from its shores ;
and he enabled from sad experience to estimate the
value of a prosperous agricultural interest.

THE CASE OF THE BARONESS VON BECK.

ENGLISHMEN are so fond of fair play, and are so
accustomed to the impartial and effectual adminis-
tration of justice by the tribunals of their native
land, that they naturally feel indignant, and arouse
the sympathetic indignation of their countrymen,
when they meet in their travels abroad with any
evidence of a reckless interference with the liberty
of the subject, or of partiality or inefficiency in the
officers of the law. Suppose the following tale to
be a true one,—and we shall leave it to our readers
to say what feelings it would excite in those who
should peruse it, from John O'Groat's to Land's-
end :

"An accomplished young Englishman, aged 31,
son of a nobleman of high hereditary rank, and
who has recently left the army after ten years' ser-
vice, being attracted by the announcement of an
exhibition of the utmost interest, repaired some
time since to the banks of the Danube. On his
journey thither he heard of the great sensation
which had been created by the appearance of a
work published by one of his countrywomen, and
containing personal anecdotes relative to the writer
herself, and to some of the most distinguished of
her contemporary compatriotes and he was re-
quested by a fair friend to secure an autograph of
the authoress, if he should be fortunate enough to
meet her in the course of his travels. Arrived at
his destination, the young gentleman discoved that
the writer of the work in question was residing in
the same town. Not forgetful of his commission,
he took steps to procure an introduction, which
would enable him to gratify the curiosity of the
lady. The authoress, a woman far advanced in
years, flattered by this attention, entered at large
into conversation with her young countryman, and
excited his interest and compassion. She declared
herself to be the widow of an officer who had died
in the service of their country, and related many
circumstances which proved her to be thoroughly
acquainted with persons and events of the most
remarkable and interesting character. Finding that
this lady was struggling against poverty, the young
man promptly assisted her with a loan suited to his
means, and set actively to work, from motives of
the purest charity, to assist her in the effectual
publication of another work, by the disposal of
which she might honestly provide for the neces-
sities of life. The lady was advised, in order to
insure a profitable sale for her work, to pay a visit
to a great provincial town ; an] by the earnestness
of her entreaties, and her appeals to her young
friend's companion, she persuaded him to accom-
pany her on her journey.
" Arrived at the town in question, the English.
woman and her kind-hearted fellow-traveller became
the " Lions" of the day, and were feted and courted
accordingly; and numerous subscriptions were
obtained for the forthcoming book. Symptoms of
genuine hospitality were evinced, when, on the
lady's becoming an invalid, she was received into a
private house, to enjoy the soothing appliances of a
comfortable domestic establishment. By the kind
attentions of her host, she partially recovered her
health, after much suffering. By this time, the
young gentleman had become an inmate of the
same house, and all went merrily, till late one even-
ing, as he was engaged in amusing the family of his
host by his musical performances, he was beckoned
(by his host out of the room, and was immediately
seized with violence by two agents of the police,
and dragged to prison. Inquiring the meaning of
this most extraordinary proceeding, he was insult-
ingly told that he was 'an imposter, and a thief.'
He was then taken to a place where other myrmi-
dions of the police were carousing, and there he was
exposed to the indignity of having his person pub-
licly searched like a common malefactor. Left in
a solitary cell, to muse over the strange and incom-
prehensible adventure, and to ponder upon the
character of the institutions which tolerated so cruel
an outrage on personal iiberty, our hero passed the
watches of the night in listening to the moanings of
another victim, in a separate cell, whom he dis-
covered to be his unhappy countrywoman. In the
morning the young man was dragged into a court
of justice, seeing on his way his wretched com-
panion, who, apparently in a dying state, was
bemoaning, in her native language. the cruel fate
which condemned her to such ignominy and
suffering.

" The young man was brought before the Court.
He was accused, along with his companion, of
being an imposter. Who his accusers were, never
appeared, as the strange formalities of the tribunals
guarded them from exposure. True, the host of
the former day, and three others who had pre-
viously patronised the strangers, gave evidence
against them. The proceedings of the Court were
abruptly terminated by the shocking announcement
that the lady who was the principal subject of them
had just expired within its precincts. Not satisfied
with this catastrophe, as a conclusion of the scene,
the Judge proceeded with the examination of the
young man, but was soon constrained, from the
total absence of all evidence of guilt, to order him
to be discharged. The sufferings and indignation
of the young Englishman were naturally commen-
surate with the depth of the disgrace, and the wan-
tonness of the injury which had been inflicted upon
him. Resolved to vindicate his character, and to
rescue from dishonour the memory of the unhappy
woman who had been summoned to the bar of her
Creator, the young man proceeded to consult the
lawyers of the country, and to take steps for the
public assertion of his innocence and honour.
" A public trial took place; the complete blame-
lesness of
_our hero was made clear as noon-day ;
the probable innocence of his companion estab-
lished ; but he found, to his utter amazement, not-
withstanding this, that the law afforded him no
practical redress whatever for the gross injuries
which he had suffered, and that he was, in fact,
most heavily punished, in the shape of costs, for
haying had the hardihood to institute legal pro-
ceedings for his justification."
What, we ask our readers, would have been
thought by them of a tale like this, if they had not
heard of an exact parallel in the records of passing
events at home ?

The Hungarian CONSTANT DERRA DE ME-
RODA is the real hero, the BARONESS VON BECK
his fated companion, and BIRMINGHAM the pro-
vincial town where such violation of hospitality and
justice occurred.
The report of the trial, last week, at WARWICK,
must sound strange in the ears of foreigners, espe-
cially when they remember how Englishmen boast
of the pure, calm, and certain administration of their
laws ; and although the Judge did not hesitate to
stamp the conduct of the magistrates, through whose
negligence so great a failure of justice took place, as
disgraceful and irregular, the apology will hardly
suffice to save our tribunals from opprobrium in
foreign countries.

SERIOUS FIRES AND LOSS OF LIFE.—On Sunday
morning, shortly after five o'clock. a fire occurred in the
Premises of Mr. J. Worsley, hairdresser, and Mr. Lawrence,
bookseller, 75, New-cut, Lambeth. The lower premises
were nearly consumed, and those of Mr. Lawrence ex-
tensively damaged by
.fire and water. Police-constable
Ireland, 119 of the L division, was seriously injured, and
at present remains in a very precarious state.—Another
fire took place in the premises of Mr. George Tilbury,
green-grocer, No. 11, James-street, Kensington. George
Hardiman, 13 years of age, employed by Mr, Tilbury to
assist him in his business, and who slept in the basicet-
room, wag burnt to death.