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    Untitled Article

    - JBufc * he last argument is the best -f ^ The alteration would , after 'a ll , Only increase the desecration of the 'Sabbath . Hitherto , the custom has been- for drovers to bring their beasts "wkhin an < easy stage of London by Saturday night , in order that they might rest on the "Sunday , and with the aid of a good feed upon -the layers which bound the suburbs of the metropolis on the north , get up a saleable appearance for next day ' s market .

    Sunday has , therefore , been hitherto a day of rest to the drovers up to about ten o ' clock at night , when it was necessary to bring the beasts through the streets into Smithfield before Monday ' s da ^ vn . What will be the consequence if Tuesday is the market-day ? JVhy that the drotlffrs will travel on Sunday and make Monday their day of rest .

    Here , then , is a plain proof that the Bishop OF London and his sixteen thousand memorialists are attempting , with the best and purest intentions possible , to do that which will tend to destroy the utility of a great public work upon which nearly half a million of public money has-been spent ; to subvert and revolutionise one of the largest ^ departments of the internal trade of the kingdom ; and , finally , to increase the desecration of that Sabbath for

    which they feel a legitimate veneration . Their views are limited by the circle of their own experience , and they have not weighed the consequences of that which they are attempting to effect . They know nothing of the innumerable ramifications of trade ; nothing of the delicate and intricate manner in which the parts of the great machine-are adjusted , so that the derangement of one' is the stoppage of the svhole ; they have not even taken the trouble to inquire into the facts with which they

    profess to deal , or they would have learnt what nothing but the sheerest obstinacy can 3 eny , that the Sabbath would he more desecrated by their system than it was before . Those who have given any attention to the mbject know full well that the customs of trade are the most sensitive and capricious institutions possible , and much more . so when they rest upon the customs of a nation . The removal of a great market for literally a few yards ( we refer to Farringdon Market ) concerted- it from a . property , into a waste . Similar instances might be quoted ad

    infinitum . A conqueror has found it far easier to subjugate a nation than to change the fashion jf its dress , and the Bishop of London will discover that he can more readily convert the Thirty-nine Articles into elastic bands than force the London butchers to buy and kill their meat on a Tuesday . One thing he may do ( if the Home Secretary yields to the pressure ) , and that is , wantonly destroy a valuable property and a public , good ; but this , we are persuaded , he is both too sensible and too Christian a man to do . Would that these qualities were always as compatible as they are in Dr . Blomfibld !

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    THE LATE CASE OF SHOPLIFTING . A . N exceedingly distressing case has been brought before the police-court . It is that jf a lady who was detected in appropriating irticles exposed for sale in a lmenaraper ' s shop . She is the wife of a physician who is respected in his profession and in society . We know that the occurrence has created pain amongBt thoso who had even a slight

    and distant acquaintance of the family , not only because their personal sympathies were aroused , but because tho very nature of the case ia in itself lamentable . It is one , for which our . law and social customs appear to provide . no proper treatment ; and it is amongst the class of troubles , —like the taint of illegitimacy cast upon the children of a widower who has married his sister-in-law , —

    against which , common Hsease < iand common feeling equally xebel ^ fchoftt-sufficient ¦ 'will to grapple with the difficuityand set it right . It is to be presumed that the lady has been under the usual influences of education . She is , of course , surrounded by circumstances that render her act quite unnecessary . It is well known that misdeeds of the kind are committed by persons who are removed from the ordinary impulses of necessity ^ as it is usually understood . If ; is remarkable that the propensity does not belong to any

    particular class ; and it is by no means limited to a low order either of understanding or of moral feelings on other subjects . It is necessary to bear this in mind . 'We could point out , by name , several people in really respectable , if not distinguished positions , who have been convicted of stealing ; have in one way or other been punished for it ; 'have confessed it ; have undergone serious trouble in consequence ; but who still remain in respectable and distinguished positions . XJikder < 9 ome circumstances , however , when the act is

    -positively noticed , there appear to be only certain modes of "treating it : the niisdoer may . be subjected to a medical inquiry , perhaps conveyed to a . prison exclusively employed " for the custody of persons who are not in their right senses . Or , if evidence of insanity fails , the niisdoer may be conveyed before a police-court , and subjected to < the usual criminal proceedings . It often happens , however , ' that neither mode of treatment applies . The offender is not insane in the ordinary sense of the word , but only labours under « n

    incorrigible silliness on the particular point . -Nor is the offender criminal in the orainary sense of the word , but morally irresponsible . The only recourse to which an-intelligent and merciful view of the subject can lead is , " to let him off . " But here arise questions of justice to other offenders , who may be equally irresponsible , but who happen to be necessitous , and whose moral foible , therefore , is disguised under the obvious motives of poverty ; considerations which suggest a difficulty in extending indulgence to one which is refused to another .

    The case points to a glaring defect m our law . ' With the object of extending equal justice to all , and of securing exactitude in legal proceedings , wenavei omitted to proyide for cases in which , a lenient , not to say a tender , treatment is the best on every ground of scientific accuracy , of expediency , of moral justice , and of humanity , to say nothing of Christianity . For Christian motives are the

    last * which the English people admit in practical matters . Evidently a provision is required in our statutory system , enabling magistrates and judges to treat certain cases wifeh an absolute and generous compassion , under check , probably , of making a public report on such case to some high authority , such as to the Lord Chancellor , to the Minister of Justice , if we had one , or to the Queen in Council .

    Untitled Article

    THE NEW NEWSPAPER STAMP ACT . FACTS AND PROBABLE RESULTS . Sir , —Considerable misapprehension appears to prevail respecting tho probable results of the new act to amend tho laws relating to the stamp duties on newspapers , and this misapprehension extends not only to certain suppositious facilities extended to the more rapid transfer of news , but also to certain influences detrimental to tho London Press , which the measure i 9 supposed greatly to encourage . These ideas , howevor , appear tome to bo founded in a great degree either upon fallacious nnd illogical bases or upon a too rapid generalisation , not unfrequontly attendant upon-new * nd startling propositions ., This generalisation embraces' several assertions made both by tho opponents : and the'advocates of tho measure . "The accusations levelled against tho bill stand aomewlMit as- follows ;—

    1 . Th ^ tthe-chaTWefer ' ofthe ^ towered . -2 . That its circulation , ' 6 specfeMy * its'doT « it ( y « rculation , -will be most Wate * iaHy « toju * dd . 3 . That Undue afdv « ntages ¦ ¦ . ¦ will "be eWnfei * e& > t > y legislative ' enactment upon ^ the * Ootiutry ; P * e 68 ,- » H relation to the London' Press , lettd this jMtrtly'retWftting from the regulation of postal transmission . 4 . That the London Press''trill 1 bei * &irther- subject to the misappropriation of its cohimns , 'and'to ^ tfie loss of circulation consequent | f upan such- ini 8 a |* propriation both in London and in the-Provinces .

    5 . That a vast mass of raw and tmeaucaterl jtfttrnalism will poison the minds of the people , and 'lower the national taste and reasoning faculty by > J ttngovernable and telling , because vulgar arid suitable , appeals to the passions . 6 . Tha > the Leading Journal will ¦ be notably a great sufferer in all these respects ,-andthat it- will , in addition , be exposed to a peculiar , unjust , ' and special impost .

    7 . Lastly , there is an idea fldating aijout that ' lhe Government feel that the influence of' the Leading Journal " has increased , is increasing , and ought to be diminished . " Three separate heads 'concentrated upon one point , which would 6 f them selves fcave acted so seductively upon Mr . Gladstone "as almost to suffice for the" production of the'bill to question . In my illustration of the practical influences- which go far to neutralise the sdflnraMy concocted injustices of the Stamp Act , I shallselecfr the IHtrtes , ¦ partly because it is thebest standard / of thepffcsent power of the metropolitan press , and partly because special paragraphs of the Act certainly do appear upon the face of them , cfoite too distinctly- levelled , and quite too partially framed .

    We may , I think , consider-as established , the"ft * st proposition upon which my arguments will betoased , viz ., ; that , should the Times suffer but a sUght p Or possibly no diminution in circulation , its influence , 'power , and character will remain intact , and < s 4 dvertisers will still seek to find publicity where they now seek to find it . At present everything depends upon proving this . proposition , since in . proving- < it , our case is dearly made out . - _ ' The circulation of the London press in the metropolis and the provinces would be materially affected by the following causes , viz ., difficulty of transmission , and the establishment of a cheap and equally excellent journalism consequent upon undue facilities being afforded in town and country , to the detriment

    of the metropolitan-press . As respects the first point , a very general opinion is entertainedthat -there- will be . greater obstructions opposed to the postal circulation of newspapers than is at present the case . The postal service for the press , however , will be in no respect subject to greater limitation than at present . A stamp will still frank a newspaper into the country , and will still cover its retransmission through the post from place to -place . The only alteration made in this respect indeed will bo the making it optional with the London Press either to stamp its impressions

    and enjoy its present privileges , or to issue them unstamped and frank it for one transmission by a ¦ penny stamp . Under the above conditions , however , the Country Press would bo enabled to circulate -ia country towns at an advantage , since , being published in tho towns , it requires no stamp for distribution there , while tho ZYmes must issue its stamped impression for iihe country . But < railways and theagency of a great metropolitan house dffer at onco a solution of tho apparent difficulty . There is scarcely a town of any importance in the country wherenewspaper agencies at the stations of tho railways

    are not established , and thero is certainly no country Tillngo without its bookseller , who acts thero In ' tho place of such an agent . Tiro Times at this moment , although stamped , is sent to nearly every town ia the kingdom-and certainly to all those wherecountry pnpera are published—by tho early morning train ; and on the passing of tho new act the- rnno system will continue , with this single important modification , that whereas tho Times has now to undergo tho unnecessary expense of a stamped impression , it will , notwithstanding mochanloal difficulties - nd Stamped and unstamped imptesalonftluticertaititfteB , dispense with ithe stamp , and -will' touch the town oft

    Untitled Article

    Ab » h , ^ 1855 . ] T H M IjjEiA BE R . ^ 0 S 7

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1855, page 327, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2085/page/15/