New-York tribune., 1873-06-14
BRITISH TOPICS.
ursTIcFS JtrSTiCE in ENGLAND.

PUBIIC SENTDiKNE -
srRoM THE REGuLAR CORRESPONDENT OF TIE tribune
LONDON. May 27.--It is long since JUSTICES
tnstice passed into bywOrd. II wiu DC ohS' i'' -
England before IL ceases to be- Ihe la'os' n V's
one Of the worst but in these days OF newspaper pun
Reity II has attracted attention, certainly none 'oO
much though t comes somewhat lstes The scene Is 'o
town or village Of Ascot in oXfordshre Inc u''"'S
began with the refusal Of Mr.. Ham0Hdge' i"i"0t "
that place. 70 pay his men the wages they oe""nuO
They gave hlm the required weeks notice ana etS an"
seem TO have left In such circumstances that MT h"l
bridge did find 1t easy to replace them II has hoh
ing 10 do with the case, but cannot help stopping %
remark that the wages demanded by these graspluk
bushandmon amounted G. the enormous sum OF IA sbl
I,prs a week each-about S. &C. One Of the men VINO
,,ttoi work had neglected to give tho weeks notice
Tbe angry farmer summoned him, and the man was
snod ,rb,eh bred bad blood But neither the man
,ri nor his comrades did aRy ything. There Is no COM
Miami that they reseuted the penalty There were
seventeen Of them, bat they contented themselves Win
amply not dong Farmer Bambrdge's work.
Presently Farmer cambridge succeeded IN hlringt"o
1shorers ol another parish, Hodgkins ana Mllian-
The wives OF the men on strike nterPosed As houEAis
and MILAN werc on thoiT way TO work. the women De'
them nc gate They say some OF the women nau s'A'
vere armed" with sticks, according 10 one soue"H"
citsa rcror;er But they did not use them They as
,,,I,o5 4odgkins and MILAN with their tongues only
1osslv tbev threatened to beat them. Certainly they
,s. e Ian riace nearly as hard s. blows Ihey trleu
oaxinq also for it evidence that some u tleh
oaered 10 treat the enemy to beer they would aDan
don their purpose OF going to work in place Of the nus
hands of these women HOdgdns and MILAN were
,r,f however AGAINST the alurements Of drink. They
could not De bribed But they did not feel equal TO
forcing passage into the field. They reueated-ihueeu
they were ouy two men TO seventeen women-h seareh
Of rCuforcements change Of base, as 1t USED 10 DC
called They found the achievements in the person OF
The village constable, at sight Of whom the women
Hn1rlluc and MILAN went 10
their work and did It, let hope, to the satisfaction OF
Farmor Hambrdgc.
But with the women he was not satisfied He applied
for suulnonses against them they were granted the
women arrested and taken before the magistrates As
Ascot not enough of place for holding sessions ol
its OWL tle criminals had 10 be hailed 10 Chipping Nor
ton bigger town miles away, and not far from
oxford They were charged with an ohense when Oe-
came famous some years ago. picketng. Under sIa'-
ute passed If remember in 1871 they were accused OF
watching and bcsetng the place where another person
was al work OF on mis- way work. and with view 70
coerce him and hinder him from working. The facts
came out under the iudicious management Of lawyer
hired by Uambridge, very much narrated above 1t
suuelred iu addition that the women dared and dened
The men TO come IN fact there was apprehend no
doubt that technical violation Of the statute had Deen
committed. The magistrates considered the charge
moved They sentenced sixteen Of the 10 impris
oumeu with hard labor, nine Of them for seven days
seven them for days Needless to say that the
women were without counsel and knew nothing Of the
law-tcy were much too poor for luXures Of that KIND
For the credit Of England let me hasten 10 say that
sentence brutal has shocked everybody The papers
are rlurur with denunclations this morning The two
MAGISTRATES are two clergymen, the Rev. Mr. Harris
md the Rev 1r. Carter knowing probably not much OF
law and knowing certainly nothing OF the admulsta-
ton Of Justice. They have done sort or puehc service
by drawing attention once more 20 the system winch
gives an unpaid magstracy, jurisdiction over such
denses AS these or any Jurisdiction at all The unpaid
magistrates are gentlemen Of certain position in the
county exclusively drawn Of course, from the upper
rlasses and mostly from the landed classes or roIn
,,se who are so connected with landowners that they
have an eve only their interests They are not eX-
ctd 20 have any knowledge OF law. All the law there
the court is in the head Of clerk or OF the atior-
news and counsel Their interests and sympathies
are" SAYS The Pail Mall Gazette, " all with the class
which in cases arising under the Act Is almost inyara-
blv the prosecutor and viii often happen that even the
hest OF them viii be under the influence of feeling which
Sos n a strike AN outburst OF wicked characterization
tbor than legitimate il uuwlse, refusal 20 renew
contract which has come 20 end" From such Jour
nal there can be no danger Of too harsh judgments stu
less perhaps from The Times which VIII also quote
tbopgh The Times in usual fashion comes 70 the de-
fense Of the system, and throws over the particular
e5qr fr the sake Of it, The conduct Of these magls
rraes SAYS The Times deplorabie the dlspropor-
finn of the punishment 70 te ofense Is altogether inde-
feus1e and the Ignorance OF the magistrates il IL De
truc they thOught they were Obhged 20 pass IHe sen
terce was emnenty discreditable to them But IL will
not for this reason surrender the act the Criminal Law
Amendment act eveled avowedy against the tyranny
~ Trades I-pios nor the lay maNstracy. But It admits
readily enough that If al justices were like these OK
fordsbire clergymen would he impossible TO intrust
1her with the functions the statute cou1ers IL THINKS
1be sentences would have been unusthaby severe had
The offenders been the pain ana terror oil tnem
were indefinitely increased when the actual sufferers
were women And 1t calls upon the LORD ChanceAW W
remove them from the Bench
Two of the women thus sent TO prison were mothers
with infants at the breast None Of them were women
NJ had character, against none Of them had criminal
charge ever before been brought When the iaet became
known that such sentences had been passed on such
,uomen public gnatOn soon showed itseii rescue
t,,,,, the tail was planned. The police station was
attacked by sort Of impromptu mob' without oreani-
tir or leaders-iust such body Of people collects
to,, sudden excitement, without ability TO do any
,h,g more than express its feelings by little stone
,hripg They battered the doors Of the police station
and smashed IL the windows. OF course they were
working people. The employers tried to calm them, but
empovers were not IN favor They seem 20 have dis
pered without doing anything further but the authori
t,es were IN panic. Police were teegTaphed for from
oxford and wagon load Of them arrived IN the middle
of the night They could think Of nothing better 70 do
than hurry OF all these prisoners 20 the county jail
nineteen miles away, and 70 jail the sixteen
women we're accordingly transported in early
morning. raw aud cold, one witness, the
Two babies going with their mothers. hope
though lt does not appear that they we're included
IN the sentence and the OXfOrdshire Bench might well
doubt whether the law permitted them De nourished
at public expense Next day the crowds came hocking
IN from the country an about. riot was feared, and
more police were sent for but found nothing to do but
march back again.
one thing always ghappens in such cases. Somebody
NJ