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Leader (1850-1860), 13th April 1850, Edition 1 of 1, Page 52

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      Untitled Article

      Journal says , that the guardians are exceedingly anxious that such an inquiry should be instituted , in order that they may have an opportunity of showing the abuses connected with the out-door relief system . One gentleman states that many apparently pauper tenants , who owed heavy arrears , and whom he considered unable to keep their holdings , came . to him when they understood they were about to be dispossessed , and paid down in gold , not only all the old arrears , but the rent up to the present month , that they might be allowed to retain their holdings .

      The Irish papers are filled with notices of the sale and transfer of encumbered estates . One journal contains no less than sixty-five official advertisements upon this subject , and twenty-six actual sales are set down for this month . The promptitude with which the sales are conducted in the Encumbered Estates Court is very satisfactory , and contrasts forcibly with the law ' s delay under the old system . On Tuesday an amusing instance of this occurred in the sale of two small farms : — -

      " Ballycurrane , containing thirty-five statute acres ; and Cahirbane , a piece of land about the same dimensions : both in the county of Clare . Two of the bidders for this lot , which was put up in two separate divisions , were tenant-farmers . One of them , the occupying tenant , an intelligent-looking young man , named Michael Behan , dressed in a frieze coat , started , to the amusement of the court , with an offer of £ 20 for the lands of Ballycurrane , but was finally declared the purchaser for both lots , at the respective prices of £ 150 and £ 1 GO . " When asked if he would be ready with his deposit of £ 50 , he said he was prepared with a check on the Bank of Ireland for the amount—{ Laughter ) .

      • " Baron Richards : ' We are not so sharp altogether as to require your money on th&spot ;• but if you arc in such a hurry as youappear to be , come in the course of the day , and you may pay your deposit , take your deed of transfer , and we shall conclude the transaction at once . " " A Dublin paper remarks that there is a very remarkable decrease in the amount of civil bills for the recovery of small debts , at the quarter sessions . This looks as if the peasantry were beginning to lose their love of litigation . If so it is a good symptom .

      Untitled Article

      AGRICULTURAL STRIKES AND INCENDIARY FIRES . The spirit of insubordination among the agricultural labourers appears to be spreading . On Monday week the labourers at Stisted and Pattiswick , whose ¦ wages had been reduced a shilling a week , went round the neighbourhood in a riotous manner , obliging all those whom they found at work to join them . One farmer , who had made himself very unpopular , narrowly escaped a ducking ; and when the Keverend Mr . Forster endeavoured to convince the rioters that they were in the wrong they tore his coat off his back . On Tuesday they assembled again , but the country constabulary having been mustered against them the rioters were dispersed , and many of them promised to return to their work .

      In tiie parish of Cotgrave the agricultural labourers struck work on account of an attempted reduction of wages eight or nine weeks ago . The farmers offer i ) s , a week , and the labourers refuse to resume work unless they receive 10 s . We have not seen it mentioned that any reduction of rent has taken place in the parish of Cotgrave . The farmers probably think it easier to reduce wages than to obtain a reasonable reduction of rent . With such causes of popular exasperation as are thus produced it will not surprise any one to lenrn that the crime of incendiarism continues to ix ¦¦ •! f n i , hc rural districts .

      A most destructive incendiary fire broke out on the evening of the 4 th , atCottenhatn , near Cambridge , which liiid waste nearly forty farms and cottages . It commenced soon after eight o ' clock , in a barn , and as a strong breeze was blowing from the west , the flames spread rapidly . SiwjIi assistance as the village could render was given immediately , but it was eleven o ' clock before an express readied Cambridge for the engines . The people worked manfully while any chance remained , but at last stood and looked on in despair . Farm after farm , cottage alter collage , fell before the devouring element , till , by

      three o'clock in the morning , it seemed as if half the village was consumed . The fire , however , had been capricious in its course , for here and there was to bo seen a house almost uninjured in the very midst of the smoking ruins . A vast quantity of poultry and pigs was destroyed , but fortunately no human lives were lost ; the horses and neat stock were also saved . Of course many poor families are rendered homeless , and several have lost all their little store of furniture . Eighteen funns , besides cottages , three public houses , ami a Methodist chapel , are destroyed . The property is nearly all insured .

      At William , in Essex , a very destructive fire broke out , on Tuesday night week , on a part , of the Wiekhnmh . tll estate , by which forty sheen , seventeen bullocks , mid fifty quarters of corn were burnt . The Chchnsford Chronicle says , •• it has not hern ascertained how the lire originated ; but there is reason to fear that it . was the work of an incendiary , as the buildings appear t- > have been fired at a corner most favourable lor tlic wind to ensure certain destruction . " At Kingsthorpe , near Noithanipton , a hayrick v / as wilfully set . on lire , on Wednesday evening , by two youths , in a destitute condition , in order , as they stated , , hut . they might be taken into custody . They were icuordingly committed to the county gaol , where they

      will , no doubt , be kept , at the expense of the ratepayers , on better fare than the hard-working labourer can obtain . A haystack , containing about four tons , belonging to Mr . Sanders , at Coxheath , was destroyed by fire on Sunday morning . Two young men named Sears have been apprehended on suspicion of their having set fire to it . . Two destructive fires at Crediton , on Friday , are reported in the Western Luminary . One of them , which burned down six cottages , is said to have been the work of an incendiary , as there was no fire in the house where it originated , and the flame was first discovered under the eaves . _

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      THE LIVERPOOL ROSCOE CLUB . A soiree and ball in aid of the funds of the Roscoe Ragged Schools were given by the members and friends of the Iloscoe Club , in the Liverpool Townhall , on the evening of Tuesday week . Among the guests were Mr . Gardwell , M . P ., Mr . Roebuck , M . P ., Lord and Lady Sefton , Mr . Charles Maekay , LL . D ., Mr . Frederic Hill , Inspector of Prisons , Sir Thomas Birch , M . P ., and a number of the leading gentlemen of the town . Before the ball a pleasing and interesting account of the Ragged School and its origin was given by Mr . A . C . Stewart . Mr . Hill and Mr . Cardwell also addressed the assembly on the importance of education as the most powerful means of preventing crime .

      A Liverpool correspondent gives us an account of the club , which will be read with interest by all who wish to see the benefits of association becoming more rapidly diffused throughout the community : — " The Roscoe Club is a similar institution to the Whittington Club in London , and was a consequence of the formation of the Whittington . Its organization is decidedly communistic , and combines a greater number of physical , intellectual , and moral comforts , and means for ^ mental improvement than were enjoyed by the best of " our late social institutions ; with the exceptions that females are not received as members or allowed to attend

      the club . Dancing is not allowed , and religious doctrines and party politics are not to be discussed there . Refreshments of every kind are provided and sold to the members as in London at the Whittington . Gymnastics , cricket , billiards , chess , drafts , music , singing , &c , are allowed and practised . There is a library , news-room , and reading-room , well provided with papers and publications edited by all parties . There is a weekly meeting for discussion , at which Communism and the formation of character have been freely debated among many other interesting subjects . There is a fortnightly conversazione also , at which a short lecture is delivered , which is afterwards criticized by the audience ; and the remainder of the evening is devoted to music and singing . There are various language and scientific classes , who hold their meetings in the rooms appropriated to these purposes at the Club-house in Clayton-square .

      " The Ragged Schools were begun by voluntary subscriptions among the members and others , and are taught by some of the young members gratuitously . They have about sixty pupils , outcasts of society ; and the brill was got up for the purpose of assisting their funds ; the tickets were sold at 10 s . each , for ball and refreshments . "

      Untitled Article

      THE CAPE AND THE COLONIAL-OFFICE . The Anti-Convict Association has triumphed . On the 14 th of February it was officially announced , that , in Cape Town , the destination of the convicts on board the Neptune had been changed from the ( Jape to Van Diemcn ' s Land ; and that the Queen had been advised to revoke the order in Council by which the sending of convicts to the Capo was rendered legal . In his despatches Lord Grey reviews the proceeding * which have taken place , and explains the grounds upon which Government had acted : —

      " I need hardly remind you , " he say ? , " that in the circular despatch which I addressed to the Governors of different colonies to which it appeared to me that convicts , when they became entitled to tickets of leave , might be sent with advantage , I did not contemplate that this measure should be adopted with respect to colonies which had not originally been established as penal co ' onics , and in which it should appear that the inhabitants were opposed to it . But about the time when this circular was written a very serious difficulty arose as to the disposal of certain Irish convicts who had been transported to Bermuda , for offences committed during

      the pressure of the famine in Ireland , occasioned by the failure of the potatoes . It was of urgent importance to remove some of these men from Bermuda , as it was found that they were entirely unsuitcd to undergo the discipline and labour which are there enforced . It was necessary , therefore , that they should be removed . But at that time the state of things was such in Van Dicnien ' s Land , from the very large number of convicts who had been sent there in the years preceding 181 ( 5 , that there was no prospect that , if sent to that colony with tickets of leave , they would have boon able to find employment , and to maintain themselves by their labour . "

      It was also desirable- that these Irish convicts should not be placed with ordinary criminals , as they were in general " peasants , who , under the pressure of extreme want , hail committed depredations , which , tlio'igh tliry could not In * pussrd over without punishment , yet implied comparatively little moral degradation . " This was also a reason why there should be no objection to their being received in colonies where convicts are not usually sent : —

      was the feeling which existed at the Cape on this subject , I should not have advised the measure which was adopted ; but I confess I fell into the error of supposing that , whatever might be the objection felt to receiving convicts as an ordinary practice ( an objection which I readily admit to be founded on feelings that are entitled to respect ) , there would still be amongst the inhabitants of the Cape so much regard for the general interest of the British nation , to which they had just been indebted for such truly generous assistance , and also so much of common humanity towards the unfortunate men as to whom the difficulty had arisen , that it might safely be calculated that they at least would be received without opposition . This is an error which I acknowledge , and which I greatly lament . "

      " Under this impression I recommended that the convicts in question ( to whom were afterwards added some others , specially recommended for indulgence on account of their peculiar good conduct or length of detentio n without committing any fault ) should be removed to the Cape without waiting till your answer to my circular despatch could be received , believing that in doing so I was not departing in any degree from the spirit of that circular which referred to the adoption of a perma nent system . The letter , indeed , in which I informed you of the special intended measure to meet the immediate emergency bears the same date as the circular , and was forwarded by the same opportunity . With the information now before me , I greatly lament that this step should have been taken . Had I been aware how strong * f TT J A *_ 4 . T . ? - •?* - » * % •*• Annvnn T VAAATVim « T 1 f \ £ > A 4-V » r \ 4 > 4-1 * -. _ _

      In the meantime , after the order for the removal of the convicts from Bermuda , Lord Grey received from Sir Harry Smith his first intimation of the strong feeling among the Cape colonists . Then no time was lost by Government in announcing that no more convicts should be sent out . This , it was presumed , would content the colonists : — " Your despatch of the 29 th of June , which was received in this office on the 14 th of September , contained the first intimation which reached me of the violence of the opposition which was likely to be made to the reception of even the convicts sent in the Neptune ; and this

      despatch showed that at its date you still contemplated receiving these convicts on shore , and providing for their reception until further instructions could be received , apparently without anticipating any difficulty in doing so . Three days later ( that is , on the 17 th of September ) your despatch of the 24 th of July No . 123 ) was received , from which I learnt to what a height excitement had risen ; and that , in consequence of the extraordinary proceedings which had taken place , you had , most unadvisedly as I think , publicly announced your determination not to permit the landing of the convicts hourly expected by the Neptune . "

      This despatch the Colonial Secretary did not immediately answer , because he waited for further intelligence , and because he thought the difficulty must be disposed of before his answer could be received : — " It did not ever occur to me as possible that you could take the course of detaining these people on board the Neptune until you could receive further instructions , since this would involve the probability of their being so detained for nearly four months , the shortest time in

      which you could calculate on an answer to yourdespatch . I felt the more confident that in one way or another the question as to how these persons were in the first instance to be disposed of must have been determined long before you could hear from me , because I could not believe that , however strong might be the feeling of the colonists against the Government for the measures which had been adopted , they would visit those measures on the heads of these unfortunate men , whose lives might be endangered by such protracted confinement . "

      After this review the despatch orders the removal of the convicts to Van Diemen ' s Land , announces the revocation of the unpopular order in Council , and concludes thus : — " I forbear to express my opinion either on the extraordinary proceedings of the inhabitants of the Cape or upon your own conduct ; on the former because I am unwilling to use the terms which would alone adequately describe what I think of their proceedings—on your own conduct , because I have not yet received your explanation ot the grounds upon which you acted , and because I should be unwilling to pass any judgment , prematurely , upon your course , in circumstances of undoubtedly great and unprecedented difficulty . " The Anti-Convict Association met on the 14 th , to

      congratulate the colonists on the stainless triumph achieved by their zeal , courage , firmness , and selfcontrol . Resolutions were passed for the resumption of intercourse with the Government , and the discontinuance of " the signs of mourning " in the shops ; recommending an illumination and other rejoicings ; proposing subscriptions to indemnify those individuals who had " nobly abandoned their contracts with convict-supporting departments , " and to provide some comforts for the convicts on board the Neptune ; and thanking Mr . Adderley for his defence of the colonists . Another resolution ran thus : —

      " That this meeting docs not think it necessary to offer any remarks on the offensive expressions used in reference to their proceedings by Earl Grey , in his last despatches , a . s they feel that they are wholly undeserved ; and as they are fully prepared and resolved to follow the same course , should his lordship , or any of his successors in office , ever threaten them with a similar insult or wrong . " A later despatch from Lord Grey makes some

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      52 © i ) £ ZLeaiiet . [ Saturday , _ . _ . —_________—_———————¦———— '

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 13, 1850, page 52, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1840/page/4/