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Leader (1850-1860), 19th May 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8, THE CASE OP TILE BEV. HENUY JOHN HATCH. ...

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      Fleets And Navies.* The Extreme Sensitiv...

      extent far greater than has as yet been done . Among other suggestions of importance , Captain Ham ley recommends the institution of marine barracks * and a consideration of the feelings of the men when a ship returns home , and they naturally desire to see their friends—a thing impracticable if the ships are sent to ports remote from where they reside . Tie " also-shows-the necessity of reforming the whole system of punishment , and taking away its capricious and arbitrary character . The . House of Commons fails in its duty in this as in other matters , and obstinately withholds the names of the captains in the flogging returns / All punishments should not only be registered , but published , with the names of the officers in command , and then we should soon find who was fit for the work ; for no fact is more certain than the connection between incompetent officers and an

      insubordinate crew . Our power of reproducing vessels would be a most important element in any struggle ; and it appears that the Government dockyards could turn out forty-six thousand tons of shipping a-¦ vear ' and that private yards could supply half-a-dozen very large corvettes a mouth . This calculation , of course , supposes that we could ensure the safety of these building-yards , which is a matte- of extreme doubt , as not one of them , except Milforcl Haven , is naturally protected against long-range shells . "We r equire ,, in addition to a fighting and movable iieet , a channel fleet , that ought on no account ever to leave our shores , except at the moment in which it was replaced by a similar force .

      We ought also to have a numerous body of volunteer artillery , ¦ mth-AiursTRONG and Whit worth guns , capable of-transport to any point of the coast .. . Large fixed fortifications will be of little use , because they would , absorb our men , and leave other spots equally important ' exposed to attack . Some fixed batteries may be essential , but men should be trained to throw up earthworks , employ sand bags , & c , and able to construct batteries in n few Ikmws whenever they might be needed . If the working

      class were paid moderately for a few days' volunteering to learn this sort of work , and the manageir . cht of guns , we should easily have an important force that would render landing almost impossible , and ' ep ^ opwate admirably with regular troops and rifle volunteers . Hitherto the Govennnent has practically confined the volunteer movement-to the ' . wenlthy _ elasses , which is a grievous mistake , for we can only compete with the conscription of our neighbours lw popularizing a knowledge of manoeuvres and arms . _ sudden disasters

      If we can only be secured against severe , our great wealth aud ' inamifneturing power will ensure our triumph-, for as war grows more costly the advantage will be on the side of the richest people that havo \ iot lost the military or naval spirit . It is remarkable to notice the progress of expenditure from £ 3 , 349 , 02 lSs ., which was the sum voted for the navy in 1756 , ~ when--w ^ -w & r ^ a ^ v ^ r ^ viU for ,.. 1855-G , when we were at war with Russia : What our forefathers got for their money in . 1750 is not clear , as the Admiralty return says , " No accounts can be found for this period "—from 175 G to 17 . 02 . The .. total wealth of the country lias enormously increased between the periods specified . It lias been

      estimated that the real and personal property of Great . Britain in 1701 was only £ 015 , 000 , 000 , and that in 1857 it had reached . € 6 , 000 , 000 , 000 . The earlier figures are perhaps little better than guesses , but in comparing the two periods we must remember that population increased as well ns capital , and that the national debt , which was only £ 15 , 000 , 000 in 1700 , was £ 800 , 000 , 000 in 185 S , That we can afford to spend more than in former times may be certain , but the average earnings of our working classes , compared with the cost of living , leads to the conviction that a few years of costly warfare would inevitably bo followed by political " and social changes of no small extent .

      468 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Ma...

      468 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ May 19 , 1 S 60 ,

      The Case Op Tile Bev. Henuy John Hatch. ...

      THE CASE OP TILE BEV . HENUY JOHN HATCH . W E have Just seen the conclusion of a trial almost unparalleled in tho history of jurisprudence . In whatever ve > pcct it bo regavded—whether oh to tho character and position of tho parties , tho nature of tho accusation , or tho treatment of tho case—tho I rial ol the Itov . Henky John Hatch will ever claim n sud pro-eminence of interest among transactions of its class . In tho year 1850 this gentleman occupied Uio position of chaplain to Wandsworth , Gaol . Ho was in tlip furly-fn-wt or forty-second year of his ftgentid lvo wns ¦ vapidly attaining n -posit ion- of

      -promi-, nence ns nn earnest and judicious philanthropist On nil points connected with prison dinuiplino and criminal reform , liia opinions were looked to with growing respect , and ho seonicd marked out for spocdv , and probably valuable , pnjfornuiiit , when tho . worlu was eoized with horror , as well ns natonislnhont , to hear of his apprehension , on a criminal olmrgo of tho foulest diameter , It transpired that liu was not without enures of anxiety and distress . His pecuniary position was ono of considerable embarrassment , lie had engraved in newspaper speculations , and for some time past claims Irnd been inado upon him , which he wjw altogether unable to meet .

      He had had recourse to various means of relieving himself from this precarious condition . He had taken boarders into Ins house ; he had laid hia friends under contribution ; and , at last , he had decided on receiving one or more little girls to educate with an orphan whom lie had adopted . The fact of this adoption—for the child was the daughter of an officer who had fallen in the Crimea—oug ht not to be lost sight of throughout the extraordinary proceedings which followed . . ' , An advertisement , inserted by Mr . Hatch in the morning papers , produced first si letter , and subsequently a visit , from a couple named Plttmmer , residing at Holcroft House , in Wiltshire , ^ lney plnccd one daughter , Maky Eugenie Filummeb , aged then eleven , with Mr . and Mrs . Hatchand agreed to place a younger child ..

      , Stephanie Plummer , aged eight , with them very speedily—an acreement which , in fact , they carried into effect a fortnight afterwards . When they again visited Wandsworth for that purpose , Eugenie brought charges of so frightful a character against Mr . Hatch , that the elder child was removed , and tho younger not permitted to remain longer than one day . On the return of the Plummers to Holcroffc House , the . Bishop of Winchester was written to , arid the matter was placed in the hands of the police . Mr . Hatch was apprehended , and , after a short delay , was tiitd , found guilty , ; ind sentenced to four years' penal servitude . The world was greatly divided in opinion as to the justice of the verdict . On the one hand , ib was contended that the charges , themselves were too monstrously improbable to be believed , and that they implied

      a complicity in a series of atrocious assaults , the very nature of which precludes description , on the pnrt of a lady against whose character' as a virtuous and Christian woman mid a most devoted wife not a syllable could be breathed . It was known that the'children , or at least one of them , had been -removed from a great number of schools ( ten or ' twelve ) , and had never remained more than a few weeks , frequently not more than -a few days , hi the same establishment . It was proved that the Plummers were people whose eccentricities were , to pay the least , notorious , ami not of the most respectable character ; .. and : that Ex-genie herself declared- " that she did not like the Hatches , and wanted to get away , " On tl * e other hand , there was the unvarying- testimony of the child herself , delivered with a coolness and self-possession which

      would have , been extraordinary in any person oFiiny age under similar circumstances ; testimony " which all Miv Serjeant Bali , antiite ' s powers in cross-examining failed ; to shake . There was the sirio-u . iar fact that though witnesses for the defence were known to be in attendance , none were called ; that Mrs . IIatctt had written a letter to Mrs . Pltjm . aiek imploring pardon for her husband ; and that the Litter had resigned his situation-with a-view of avoidingexposure , and had inquired what was the punishment for the offence with which lie was charged . With these facts in sight , it will be clear that the question was at ' least an open one fur the jury . Mr . Baron Bramwell , who tried the case , summed up fairly , but not favourably to the prisoner , and the verdict was one of guilty . As soon , however , as the fact became realized , and tho question no investitionThe

      longer in doubt , the subject received a new ga . ' friends of Mr . Hatch were satisfied as to his innocence ; they memorialised the Home Secretary , soliciting ft free pardon , ™\ j ? xhi" bithig evidence winch proved the justice ofTheir case . But to tins the Home Secretary very properly refused to listen . It was not for him - to weigh evidence which might have been produced on tho trial , and was so unaccountably withheld . A jury alone could decide on this ; and the only mode of proceeding now open was to indict tho accusers for perjury . Had the evidence on which reliance was now placed been unattainable at tlio trial , tho granting of a free pardon might perhaps have been advisable ; but in the present case it was wholly inadmissible . This i . s indeed one of the most remarkable featured in tho whole transaction , and one which ought , for the sake of justiceto receive further elucidation . Mr . Hatch ' s choice

      , of an advocate snems to have been determined by the simple fact Hint as Mr . Serjeant Bamjantink was a great man at the Old Bailey ; and could " get off" a prisoner who wns guilty with greater skill than perhaps any man at tho bar , 'therefore he was the right person to demonstrate the innoence of an accused person who was not guilty—a conclusion which , in this-instance , had a very unfortunate ro . siilt . It . has been said that a communication wns made privately to tho learned serjeimfc from tho prosecution that they had in their hands a confession of guilt from Mr . Hatch , and that , fearing to encounter this , tho counsel for the defence contented themselves with showing 1 tho improbability of the charge , and

      pleading * the character of tho accused . Tins is a matter winch ought not to drop j tho honour of tho Bar requires a searching investigation on such a topic . Another remarkable circumstance took place . Tho jury who hnd convicted tho prisoner added their efforts to undo their own decision . All , with ono exception , signed a memorial to Sir d . C . Lewis , declaring that hnd they at tho timo of the trial boon in possession of thoso fiicts ' , which had since eonio to their knowledge , thoy .. sho . uU < L .. not have . couyiptcd , .. the accused , and . tlioy bogged therefore that their decision might be reversed ; but it \ vm clear that tho same objections lay against granting 1 the prayer of thin petition Hfl had lain against yielding 1 to the entreaties of Mr . Hatch ' s personal friends .

      Failing" In their application for a pardon , tlioy followed tho only remaining course open to them , and Eugenie Pmjmmbk . was accordingly phtcod at tho bar of the Old Bailey , Ib was now proved that some- of tho accusations wero unquestionably false—positive evidence of tho most incontrovortiblo character substantiated this point—and the others wero shown to bo unworthy of boli . •( ' by such an array of testimony , that no fair mind , scarcely oven the niosbproju-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19051860/page/8/