New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-07
LONDON POLICE METHODS.
WITH MINOR MORALS FROM THE coll
LAPSE OF THE IVORY TRIAL AND
FROM SPEECHES IN THE
COMMONS.

London. January Is.
The Irish members are making effective use OF
,,. co,,.nss of the prosecution in the Ivory case
rh.v hoy. reopened their agitation for the re-
,.e.e ~ the political prisoners who are SUN
under sentence and they are attempting 10 VI"
credit the evidence upon which the o!hai'''
criminals were convicted thirteen years ago anu
to excite sympathy for them as victims Oh pV".e
Vaccinations. Since the secret PONCE WIZ" =,
service Of spies. has failed to secure '"e g.
ton Of rvnan. Kearney and Haines. and the d.
Ncitor-C General has abruptly suspended inc 81
cution OF Ivory and allowed him to REGAIN ms
erty after four months imprisonment ."'
members choose to infer that Sco'iahu law
h.nr Numbering and Intriguing from the outset.
and that all the political prisoners acouS"
avnan,ite crime have been innocent. ms Is al
.. ,,o,,od NJ making out a case for general
,c,roe,y No, only of the dynamite suspects pu'
o,so NJ all criminals now under sentence Ill '"e
Ouaen,s Year The Irish members DO not GARY
,be,r argument to this length, but they are q"
titled TO do So il their premises are Na'
general tail delivery would he brought aoo"' "
alleged police incompetence
, THO, tbere has been an amazing fasco IN the
nroaccution of Ivory is not to be denied IL Is nC
by any means clear however, 'ha' 'ie
Tho solc;tor-G General found missing Ink IN 'he
chain Of evidence: but there are grounos 'oI 'ne
belief that he did not make any strenuous e'or's
.obavo u supplied The police had done Its WORK
&, oxnosna the plot and arrcsing the four men
oreins, whom there was pvima facie evidence
1vorv was held for trial after preliminary III
o,,,yv in which the informer save his test1iiiohS'
The work of the police had ended II WAS '"'
dirty Of the law officers Of the Crown I" prepare
,bo case against the prisoner and 10 avail them-
selves Of the assistance of the police II they were
in need Of it, They seem 10 have managed 'ileil
work very badly for it was not until the sec"i"
day Of the trial that they discovered tha' 'ne
delivery of the explosives at the Antwerp mouse
occurred after Ivory had lef: the city IhlS GER
,ainly was an important detail. if he were to be
,,nnIcated in this criminal transaction; but it is
=. lcast singular that the law officers OF 'he
1,rov.n should not have known until the iast
moment that they had a fatally defective case
They do not appear to have solicited the he'p
of the police officials to have been anxious
r. proceed energeticay with the trial lheE
Gladly awaited themselves Of technicah'y' as
,,,rocd an attitude Of judicial fairness ana WITH
dew from The case.
lNEXpIICABLE N1ISMANAGEMENT.
am not seeking to convict an Irish-Ameri-
can. who has been acquitted by an Enghsh
co,,r. and Is now entitled to consider his vindi-
e. ion complete. ar merely laying stress
,cn The inexplicabe acknowledgements or 'he
prosecution in allowing the case to go to tflal
without asccrtaining that there was missing
link IN the evidence and calling upon the Secret
Service to supply proof that the prisoner WAS
implicated in ordering the explosives or other
Wise The natural inference to he drawn from
the singular lack Of preparation on the part OF
the officials of the Crown is that they were
looking for a pretoxt for abandoning the prose-
cution and saddng the responsibility upon the
no,ice There has been a remarkable play or
cross PURPOSES at every stage Of the legal pro-
ceedinss both for eXtraditiCn and at the oo
Bailey The police officials have not been ade-
ouately and theoretically supported Their
prestige was impaired when the arrests were
qua. nder the assumption that the Car was
prestig.r from the vaporngs Of pothouse con-
made rs: and they were censured and ridicuied
in the urid newspaper reports OF the new
sramite campaign were shown to be grossly
Y ,rerated. The Solicitor General has now
led the case out of court. and the Irish mem
,,srs are fiercely demanding investigation
of Dr. Anderson and all his methods of secret
espionage. Scotland Yard IS arraigned for In
= competence by several leading journals, and Is
nopularlv supposed 10 have msmanaged the
case from beginning to end. 1t may have done
en- hut II has certainly just cause for complaint
of lack Of cooperation and support from the
law officers Of the Crown.
There are several explanations which may be
offered for this breakdown Of the prosecution.
One is the natural desire Of the Government 10
meet the reiterated charges Of injustice In con-
yicting the dynamite criminals previously SEN
fenced by characteristic exhibition or Eng
Itch love Of fair play Tie Solictor-General ad-
mtted that the evidence against Bell. while
circumstantial. was not conclusive, and he gave
the prisoner the benefit Of the doubt That
seemed magnanimous. and 1t served to silence
the oft-repeated accusation that an 1rishman
could not expect Justice in an English court
when tried for political offence.
PAVING THE WAY FOR AMNESTY
Moreover. II helped TO break the force OF re-
cent disclosures that three or four OF the poltl-
cal offenders imprisoned at Portland had be-
como insane and II opened the way for the
exercise OF cleinency In releasing the five prls-
oncrs who still remain in convicts' cells a1ter
thirteen years OF confinement There can he no
reasonable doubt that these men were falrE
tried and Justly punished for monstrous crimes
against civilization: but IT Is also evident that
the penalty paid has been adequate ana tha'
their release will be gracious act Of amnesty
,or the Queens Year 1t will be more con-
genial privilege lor the NlO"H " O'uN' w
clearance Of The prisons OF all political Offenders
than TO press the conviction Of another suspect
with a weak chain Of circumstantial evidence
Another reason FOR the collapse Of the ill-pre-
nared prosecution is also to be mentioned al
though with due circumspection. The conviction
Of Ivory could only have been secured, II al all
upon the testimony Of the second Major lie
Caron. and II would have excited bitter resent
n1ent among Irish sympathizers and rendered
necessary extraordinary police precautions for
q long period Irish members have already stat
cd in the Commons that evidence would have
haf