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Leader (1850-1860), 25th July 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14, THE MYSTERY OF THE PARIS PLOT. The tone ...

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      710 The Lead Eb, [2sto. 383, July 25, 18...

      710 THE LEAD EB , [ 2 STO . 383 , July 25 , 1857 .

      Delusive Evidence.—The Talbot Case. Iff ...

      DELUSIVE EVIDENCE . —THE TALBOT CASE . Iff our last number , we noticed several caBes of final conviction upon evidence which , afterwards turned out to have "been false . We made no allusion to some cases which have recently been under discussion , and in ¦ which we believe that the recorded decisions are against the historical evidence . By a curious coincidence , our ' Open Council * supplied one of these omissions . A letter from Mr . Thomas Teetius Paget gave a

      curious explanation of the manner in which the most striking of the new evidence brought before the House of Lords in the Taxbot divorce case had accrued . The Reverend Abeam Sabgent , Vicar of Derrygarth and Prebendary of Oashel , stated on . his oath that he had actually witnessed the misconduct of Mrs . Taxboi , in broad

      daylight , in one of the tinder rooms of the house as he was approaching it . Now there were several doubts suggested by the evidence at the time . In the first place it was known that Mr . Sabgent was near-sighted , so that it would have been difficult for him to identify any person . Moreover , he had permitted Ms family to visit the house after the occurrence which he described . How could he

      trust his own eyes ? How could he permit the ladies of his household to visit a place in which such occurrences happened ? Mr . Paget ' s letter explains both these problems . Mr . Sabgent has since been handed to Ms friends as an insane man , for giving himself up to a magistrate at Clbnmel on the

      spontaneous , andj we presume , erroneous self-accusation of forgery . If he is not mad , he is a forger ; if he is not a forger , he is insane . The evidence before the previous tribunal had been entirely discredited . It was this evidence that dressed up the case for the Lords , and we now know the character of the witness .

      It so happens that in this Ta : lbot case , a part of the obstruction to the truth lay in the difficulty of collecting and sifting all the evidence within a given time . We have witnessed another case of condemnation prematurely , and we suspect that with that case also we have not yet done . We allude to the charge against Ebenezeb Davis , preferred before the London Mission Society by certain underlings in its employment . It will be remembered that Mr . Davis was accused of

      writing an infamous letter to his wife . The charge was vitiated from the first . It was understood that some persons had taken offence at the conduct of Mr . Davis . The accusation against him rested upon a letter which a servant of the society professed to have picked up from the ground , to have read , oopied , and handed to Mrs . Davisso that the charge avowedly originated in a breach of confidence . Even if the letter had

      been written , it ought nevet to have heen brought into court . If a gentleman had picked it up , he would not have read it ; or , if by any inconceivable accident , he had actually read it , he would have forgotten its contents . Yet a grave religious society adopted an act of espionage as the foundation of a charge against one of its own missionaries . All the proceedings were published except the

      passage which formed the gist of the whole accusation ; but any one who has seen that passage must be at once convinced that the whole story was a fabrication ; and there are several circumstances which point to tUo authorship of the forgery . The passage itself was traced to an infamous publication . The fabricated letter prpved to be wholly and entirely dissimilar to all the letters Mr . Davis had addressed to his wife . Yet one accident alone saved that unhappy man from "being crushed under -what would havo heen

      considered a mass of overwhelming circumstantial evidence . It was a case in which the very infamy of the accusation tended to alarm defenders . Any one who stood up for a proper judgment of the accused appeared to be identifying himself wifch a Faublas in a missionary ' s gown . Yet there was found a man who had the moral courage to defend

      tbe innocent , even when thus cowardly accused . The innocent man has been actually rescued : for the mass of circumstantial evidence ultimately collected on the other side , the proofs accounting for every hour of the man ' s time at the period of his alleged offences , the evidence as to the origin of the fabricated letter , - — have satisfied those on whom Mr . Davis really depended . The

      attempts to crush him by cross actions , cross charges , claims for costs , have been met at a considerable sacrifice ; thousands have been expended in that manner ; but after all the injured man was sustained in his own chapel , and he has not become an outcast . Yet if it had not been for one generous and chivalrous member of the society which lent itself to these mean proceedings , poor Ebenezeb Davis would have been consigned to beggary , and his name would have become an epithet of reproach .

      The Mystery Of The Paris Plot. The Tone ...

      THE MYSTERY OF THE PARIS PLOT . The tone taken by a considerable portion of the English press with reference to the Italian insurrection and its ramifications , has been anything but dignified . In the first , place , there has been an almost general admission of the truth of the most desperate reports , such as are always circulated by the agents of frightened and vindictive Govern - ments which have just passed through a crisis that threatened their existence . All idea , of waiting for evidence seeiris to be scouted .

      An accusation has only to be enormous to ensure belief ; and if a statement be incredible it is received without examination . Correspondents of the lowest class , who reflect the opinions of the editor they serve , not the facts that talce place around them—who now abuse Louis Napoleon" , now discover that he is a great man , according to suggestions from Londou-r-are busyiu indoctrinating the public mind with the most culpable prejudices , in order to prepare it to receive , without indignation , the basest concessions . of the

      " We will mention one specimen assertions indulged in . " The attempt at insurrection in Genoa was approved of only by the mob , which gains its living by riot and disorder . " The gullible reader lifts up his hands in horror , and is led almost at once , by a singular process of reasoning , to acquiesce in the propriety of handing over M . tmnnu Roixin to the tender mercies of the JYench Government , But is there a mob at Genoa which finds riot and disorder a lucrative trade ? And , if so , what a singular government the Piedmontese Government must be .

      Bide by side with these absurdities we have copies of placards and circulars said to have been seized , containing murderous threats against individuals , whose names and addresses arc wisely left in blank ; and rabid declamations copied from the conversations of industrious police-officers and official leading articles . But nothing is related worthy

      of the slightest notice beyond the simple facts that , in various places in . Italy , insurrectionary attempts wore made ; that those attempts failed ; that many of the insurgents were killed ; and that otliera were taken prisoners . The object , however , of the larger portion of the press to which we allude seems nob to be to elucidate truth or to describe actual occurrences , but to find cxcuBoa for humiliating acquiescence to virulent demands about to be made on us by certain great

      foreign powers . The time for this demand if certainly well chosen . By unparalleled incompetence and rashness we nave had th < greater portion of our empire put in peril and it is conceived that we shall submit tc any degradation in Europe whilst we arc fighting for our existence in . Asia . As to the alleged Paris conspiracy , we confess to feeling considerable doubts as to its existence . It has all the appearance , if we can judge from the statements in the Moniteur , of being a conspiracy after the fact . Three unknown Italians allow themselves to

      be arrested ; and in the depth of the policecourts ' confess their crimes , ' admit they intended to assassinate the Emperor , and accuse just the very people the French Government dislikes of being their accomplices ! From conspirators who can . have harboured such terrible intentions , we are accustomed to expect more resolution than this . Pianori was made of sterner stuff . Who are these three pliant and communicative gentlemen ? We should like to have a little information

      on the subject , but we decline to receive it from France . With every desire to be credulous , how can we believe any statements in the Moniteur ? Every one knows that , except with reference to some portentous potato or monstrous cabbage , all discussion is forbjdden in the French press . What security have we that any event , not witnessed accidentally by an Englishman , is correctly reported ? Was there any intention of taking Plombieres ?

      up the rails on the railroad to Who will be bold enough to say that he believes this on the statement of the Moniteur 2 Is the wor . Lotjis " Napoleon sufficiently sacred to cover all his subordinates ? Will that potentate , indeed , venture to comp lain personally of any attempt to assassinate him , as long as he admits the legitimacy of such political means by continuing the pension of the wretch Cantilxon for attempting the life of the Duke of WELiisraTON ?

      But there is to be a trial . A trial ! A mockery ! We all know how political offenders are dealfc with in France . The proceedings are carried on for months in secrecy .. ; hut meanwhile the most horrible rumours are supplied , not only to the French press but to English correspondents , who never scruple to publish the most painful calumnies against Liberals who have not been successful . Then

      the appointed day comes on . The court is packed by people admitted only with tickets ; the indictment is read ; the well-trained witnesses appear ; evidence is given with beautiful uniformity 5 if the prisoner attempts to cross-examine he is badgered and insulted by the judge , who , sometimes , as in the recent case of Vebgeb , calls him an assassin , insults and squabbles with him ; no witnesses are allowed for the defence ; the verdict is hurried on : the sentence is pronounced ; the is

      report of the proceedings in the papers mangled ; correspondents are furnished with , lies ; . the scaffold is raised with disgraceful precipitation ; the condemned is told at eight o ' clock in the morning that he is to die iu a quarter of an hour ; he is dragged under the knife ; his remonstrances ar © stifled ; and , fis the French reporters phrase it , ' human justice is satisfied . ' Wo shall probably not sec immediately ft

      repetion of these disgraceful scenes . Messrs . Tibaldi , BAttTOiiOTTi , and Gbillt , are probably too valuable auxiliaries ; and it would , at any rate , be impossible to put them to death without some cry of disappointed cup idity reaching the public . We assume—thoug h we have only the word of the Monitour— - that the persons we have named have played the infamous part of in formers . Even M « DiflLANai / H might object to sentenco a prisoner with a gag in his mouth .. But the real

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 25, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25071857/page/14/