Widnes Examiner. — 1888-09-08 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

TOUCH AND GO." "Works like madness in the brain." There have been two inquests during the past week—one at Derby and one in Kent—on the bodies of young women who have committee suicide through being crossed in love. In both cases the girls had recourse to drowning. "'T is true; 't is pity, and pity 't is 't is true."  Mr. Bradlaugh will not have to retire-from Parliamentary life through inability to, maintain his position; he is altogether too good a member for that. Lord Hobhouse in contributing £25 to the subscription fund which has been opened, says:— "I am glad to hear that others have been moved as I have been. It is a fitting ackrowledgment of gallant service done for mankind." This is plain speaking, and it has the further merit of being true.  The through train to Constantinople is quite horrifying to the "Old Turks;" they have not read of such things in the Koran' and it must not therefore 'be encouraged. But the Turks of the new school welcome the new train as a sign of progress. The Sultan is being pulled at from both sides; but, it is thought that, as Turkish coffers are always empty, and, as railway concessions will help to fill them Abdul Harald will in the end be found on the side of the locomotive.  Mr. H. J. Tollemache, M.P., wont the whole hog, at Frodsham, on Saturday, in defence of ,Mr. Balfour and coercion. "Great complaints," he said, "were made by the Gladstonians about the treatment of political offenders in Irelarrl, but his contention was that it was absolute twaddle, and that he who broke the laws of his country, whether a pure-souled patriot or a poor peasant,' ought to be made to suffer for it, and that men like Mr. O'Brien, if they offended, should be the first to be imprisoned."  • "Absolute twaddle" is a strong phrase; but perhaps Mr. Tollemache thinks he is entitled to speak as a master twaddler. But is there, or is there not, such a thing as a political prisoner? And, admitting that there is, has it, or has it not, been the custom to make a distinction in their treatment ? Ernest Jones, Thomas Cooper, and scores of other Chartists "broke the law," (but it was recognised that they were "political prisoners"—not felons—and they were treated accordingly. It has been left for a Balfour to introduce a new and villainous bad system, and for a Tollemacho to defend it.  It is satisfactory to see that racing by locomotives and steamships is not encouraged by the i public. The rush from London to Edinburgh sat an end—to tha relief alike of travellers who care for their lives and of shareholders who care for their money. As to the so-called race at sea between the Umbria and "the City of New York, the Cunard Company wrote to say "that there was no race at all. The engines, as the log proves, were not driven one fraction over their usual speed during the voyage." And quite right too; speed should always play second fiddle to safety.  The substantial present that was given to the Rev. John Yonge on Thursday evening must have afforded great gratification to the reverend gentleman, not because of its commercial value alone, but because the spirit in which it was offered made it evident that his parishioners thought it a labour of love to do him honour. The , meeting that was held in Wycliffe Hall was a most successful one, and the compliments that were made did not • all go in favour of the pastor; his wife came in fora very well-deserved share. It is the ardent wish of the congregation of Wycliffe, and of many others who are not identified with that place of worship, that Mr. and Mrs. Yonge may long be spared to carry on a work of usefulness in Warring-ton.  Jt is evident from what Alderman Burgess said at the Town Council meeting on Tuesday night that the Warrington Sanitary Committee intend to be equal to the emergency caused by the breaking out of fever and smallpox cases. The healOiy state of the borough is what they intend to secnre, if possible, and in furth,wance of this object they set aside all pettifogging consideration 'as to whether a patient who needs their hospital happens to live a few yards within, or a few yards without, the borough boundary. Hence the cordial approval, expressed by the Chairman of the Committee, of the prompt action of the Medical Officer in taking charge of a smallpox patient who lived just outside the borough, but who, if unisolated, might have been a wide-spreading gouree of infection.  This is alike the most generous and the safest policy, but at the same time the Corporation are abundantly justified in asking the Rural Sanitary Authority to make proper accommodation for the isolation of infected persons in their own district. The request is not an unreasonable one. The rural authority is asked to do nothing that is not easily within its power to do, and certainly within its duty. It is. as Alderman Burgess pointed out, merely a matter of money, and so long as the money is not spent, the rural district—including a pretty large urban population—is left to some extent unprotected, and the borough authorities are seriously handicapped in their struggle against disease.