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Government has hitherto falsified or retreated from every assurance , you , sir , are too painfully aware ; that it has not acted with as much energy as its antagonists , is disgracefully patent to the world ; and that its opinions and interests are likely ' to be but little regarded in the East , is also but too true . The " peaceful policy" and , the " moderation" doctrine , have met with their reward , and a few words will suffice to place their entire results before us . Throughout this dispute there has been , as I before asserted , one great principle involvedwhether . Russia had only to make certain unconscionable demands upon any power , and to
support that demand by force of military display , in order to succeed in frightening Europe and m obtaining what she desired . In the present instance the public law of Europe has been foullybroken , a country has been invaded , its authorities disregarded , its revenues appropriated , its administration seized , armies have been quartered upon the people , and , to render the cup more bitter , the grossest insults showered upon the aggrieved sovereign arid upon his ministers . The only atonements that would
suffice to compensate for such outrages would be the immediate withdrawal of the JJussian forces , the payment of a large sum as a reimbursement to Turkey for the ills she has suffered , an apology to entire Europe for the mischief caused by so glaring an exhibition of irresponsibility , and an offer of guarantees against the future repetition of such proceedings . At present , not one valuable stipulation has been made , for if even [ Russia evacuate the Principalities , she will have loaded Turkey with debt ,
have excited the religious feelings of her population , disorganized her provinces , and exhibited herself as mistress of the world whom all Europe humbly waits upon with files of civil ambassadors and civil compliments , and for whom Europe has permitted the peace , commerce , and prosperity of England and the European Continent to be stayed and imperilled . And Europe indeed has not only allowed this , but appears to be now concluding a disgraceful negotiation without haying inserted any stipulation for the future 1
The peaceful policy Lord John , asserted in painfully feeble reiterations , secured Austria , previously not at all a certain ally . For heaven ' s sake , sir , what is the use of securing faithless allies only to make our own failure the more apparent P If with the four Powers cordially united , iust nothing has been done , the victory of Nicholas is the more brilliant ; he has taken us at our strongest , and won the battle . I would infinitely have preferred that both Austria and Prussia had remained doubtful , than that , with their
assistance , with such an overpowering and enormous preponderance of physical force on our side , we should have permitted the Czar to assume the victory in the eyes of all the races of the East , and before disgusted and humiliated Europe . The success of this movement has been so decided , that it will be strange indeed if the omnipotent Emperor should not repeat it at intervals . In tho meantime , it would bo just as well to remember that wo aro losing our political influence abroad , and that along with it our
maritime power will decay ; that if Russia gain tho ascendant , restrictive tariffs will exclude our commerce , and diminish our sea-board and our allies . The longer wo postpone a vigorous course of action the less fitted we become for it , and the stronger grow our enemies ; but concession is tho order of the day at present . We waste immense quantities of powder in shows which
prove nothing , except that , possessing tho largest naval power , wo aro afraid to appeal to it ; wo rnnko a ridiculous exhibition of our obedient and Hiumt Parliament , who go out playing at battles "no schoolboys , led by respectable old gentlemen who ought to know hotter . Wo are told how " iKhtoncd Nicholas would have been if ho could OI » y have Heen ¦¦ and , ' heard tho great Review : while Nicholas , undismayed , is girdling Europe and Asia with red tape . Alpha .
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rillJLIC KILLING IN SCOTLAND . GlnHROW , Thursday Morning , AuguHfe 11 , 1 B 5 I ) . 'n-i Trongnto i » nearly impassable . At every anglo Pouring mol )« <> f dirty men and tattered women rush 1 > iih ( , yoU ) ] ji lo an uvai , mci 10 of orauro . Ifc j 8 tho carnival d * y of acimpa and sluttwiw . lUw Smith Maciarl ftn ©
and Helen Blackwood are put in Jail Square , and the operation of strangling them is commencing . The Salt Market is wedged full of raw depravity . You can take the'dimensions of villany by the square inch . The cubicmeasure of jscoundrelism may be ascertained in Glasgow thw morning . You reach the river side , and the human beasts of the wynds
come in full packs upon you . Waddling bags of fafe and filth hustle against you . It is only the motion of the rags that make you suspect the hobbling effigies are alive . Heavy breasts , wallowing in front , tell you they are women . Blear-eyed , sodden , and debauched , they pant along . A minute wore , and their reward is complete . They feed and batten on the struggles of the wretches suspended in the air .
If the earth was suddenly smitten with corruption , or some modern Mose * had waved his wand over this northern Egypt , you might account for the slimy and creeping things of crime and abjectness that crawl up from the river side , and appear to rise even out of the ground . The dark and foetid streams roll on . It is fhefSte of scum . The Provost has high enjoyment for it this morning . The mob is tired of melodrama . Bombast >
blue lights , and Penny Tragedies have palled on whiskyblistered stomachs . Rows and bloodshed have kept up the criminal spirits for a time . They now want a real murder- ^ -safe as cowardice can make it , and as public as ferocity can wish it ; and it is all prepared by " lawful authority . " Vice has its bloody conditions of growth and development ; and the Government takes care they are not wanting this morning .
A fog hangs over the city , and you can only discern the edge of the mob on Glasgow Green , like a deadly exhalation . Its thick , invisible murmur resounds like that of the coming of the cholera cloud over a doomed city , said to be heard by its first victims . Retreating down the Bromielaw to avoid making one of the loathsome multitude , you flee the vast span of tho last bridge , adjoining Jail-square , covered with human heads , gilded by beams from the bursting sun . All beyond and before that living arch is an nndefined sea of life . From this point of sight the scene
resembles a triumph . The huge city appears to have lined its walls to welcome home some national hero . The heart for a moment swells . The majesty of a civilized race is being revealed as the grand beams of the sun fall down upon the multitude . Alas ! tho spectacle is a disgusting Aceldama . The beastly head of Barbarism glares before tho opening heavens . The country welcomes no victor : it regales its villaiiu . The wild beasts of Assault , Burglary , and Murder , are brought out to learn tho taste of blood ; and then to be dismissed to their lairs to wait for their prey .
Among the crowd are sensitive and beautiful women , tremulous gir l * , graceful young men and boys with the first blush of innocence on their cheeks , and wondering girls aro pulling their mothers by tho hand , to " gang awa' and pee the sight . " These aro drawn into the stream by tho force of example , and for the first time they look on Murder surrounded with tho bastard halo of vulgar glory . Tho scoundrel thrives—for a freo killing is the condiment of his life—the innocent aro depraved , for this ia a spectacle upon which no man or woman over looks without being the worse for it .
Other menibora of tho dome « tic circle havo profited by this civic morning lesson . The factories havo disgorged thoir ruder hands ; and perspiring and swearing , with toddy-nwolled lips nnd bloodshot eyes , tho mechanic has for a fow moments stuck his cutty pipe , half extinguished , into his pocket , and has got in at tho last moment—just in time to see tho last struggle of tho girl Blaek . wood , who happened to live longer than her inisorablo companion . Tho late arrival makes no secret
of his satisfaction , an you hear by his rottirning comments . ' Ilia flullenncfls will next turn to savogoncss . Ho has fronted liifl dulled eyes on deliberato strangulation ; ho 1 ms advanced a fitop in ferocity . Next time ho strikes his wife ho will add torture to brutality . Tho infection of violonco and recklessness spreads , The tliiof has boon , since lost night , familiarized with a deeper crimo , and lifo is loss safe in Glasgow to-dayboth by tho fljrosido and in tho ptreot . But tho Lord Provo » t has discharged his appointed duty—tho
Government has favoured the public with another moralizing public execution . The policeman and the gaoler profit—and thus civilization goes on ! ¦ V . ' ¦ ¦ ¦ : - ¦ '¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . ¦"••' •• ¦ ' ¦ las .
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THE « . ACCIDENT" AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE . AS one of the many so deeply interested in the complete success of the Crystal Palace scheme , may I be allowed the help of your widely read journal in suggesting some points for consideration in reference to the late fatal accident at Sydenham . Our public has become so vain of its vast engineering undertakings , the gigantic achievements of this branch of applied science , that people have been contented with the notion that a certain amount of human
life is as necessary to be buried in the construction as so much concrete ; and the great engineers , those men of algebra and geometry , and the great contractors , those leviathans of labour , foster this idea—the one set going in for " name" the other for " money . " I would be the very last to oppose the practical application of abstract science , but , at the same time , it must be admitted that the practical application is by far the most important , inasmuch as it is the test of principles ; frequently points out the worthlessness of theories , and exhibits weak points that were never dreamt of on
papen With regard to the fall of the scaffolding in question , I have no hesitation in starting at once , upon this ground- —viz ., that it might have been prevented—that its fall might have been foreseen—that it fell to pieces from errors of construction , and not from fault of the materials or the workmen . It is only in dealing with the elements that accidents are at all admissible in undertakings of this kind ; a storm may demolish the noblest ship at Spithead like a gossamer , or a flooded river may sweep away blocks of stone of tons
weight like bits of cork— -a spark may blow up half Woolwich like so much _ puff-ball—these are real acci - dents that we do not expect our engineers to calculate upon ; but when a roof is to be made , we have a right to depend upon a thorough provision against its fall , upon every atom of weight to be sustained being known and taken into account , and that every member contributing to support it is able to bear its share , and cannot bear more than its share , of strain ; if this could not be done , then there would be an end to tubular bridges , and all such glorious triumphs of skill over inert matter .
At the Crystal Palace , it is designed to form an arched transept of 384 feet long by 120 wide ; this space being , however , diminished by the galleries , which run all round the building , and occupy 24 feet at each end of the transept , the whole building being in this way tied together by the longitudinal girders and flooring , of which , at the ends of the transept , there are five tiers or stories ( an important point in the explanation of the fall of the scaffolding ) .
How to erect these arched ribs was the question . To have built up an old-fashioned scaffold from the ground for the support of the centring of the ribs would have been so easy as to be scarcely worth the notico of " great engineers ; " something more daring and wonderful must bo done . As the writer in the Times sapiently remarks , this scaffolding 1 , with a skill little inferior to that clever insect's , was to be hung , " like tho spider ' s web , in tho moat impossible situation ; " pity that if ; was not quite so light as a cobwob . Well , the first thing to bo done is to stretch across the opening two ribands of wrought iron , each about seven inches broad
and five-eighths thick ; these were fixed at each end and placed edgeways , just bo far apart as to admit of tho end of one of tlie upright trusses being bolted in between them ; tho first ti'uss was pushed out by means of outriggors and guide ropes , and being so fixed at one end , its companion followed and was also fixed at its Jower end , and then tho two upper ends were inclined togothcr and bolted , ho tliat with tho lino of ticbar they formed a triangle . In this way a series of four pairs of trusses ran across tho transept space ; but iu addition , between tho upper angles of each pair there wok fixed another truss of tho samo kind , ho forming a series ' of inverted triangles , which may bo explained by
comparing them jbo tho letters W piled one on the other . These heavy trusses , each about Vi cwt ., were retained upright bypieccsof "diesqnaro" timber lashed and bolted to thoin . ' Over tho first tier of trusses wan built another of throe pairs , with two intermediate ones inverted , and this reached the required height for fixing tho iron rib . It was at first intended thav al'tor a few lines of thejto trusses wore sot up a rib should bo placed , and tho who ) o scaffold moved on by means of rollers , to servo the name purpose for another rib , and so on along f he transept ; but after tho fall of tho first scaffolding ( fortunately for the " great engineers , " during a very high wind , and when tho men woro at dinnor ) it wan decided
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. Aff < HW * § 0 , 1853 . ] ffHjB j , pAjPPft > 8 Q 9
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 20, 1853, page 809, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2000/page/17/
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