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710 THE LEAD EB, [2STO. 383, July 25, 18...
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DELUSIVE EVIDENCE.—THE TALBOT CASE. Iff ...
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THE MYSTERY OF THE PARIS PLOT. The tone ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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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
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Citation
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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/
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