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Leader (1850-1860), 19th January 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 52, Untitled Article

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      liberally with other Powers in compensating her for any advantages which commerce shall hereafter derive from expenditures made by her for the improvement and safety of the navigation of the Sound or l > elts . " The disagreements with France , Spain , and Greece , have \> een satisfactorily settled . In connexion with Cuba , the President writes : — " I do not abandon the hope of concluding with Spain some general arrangement , which , if it do not -wholly preveutthe reeiirrence of difficulties in Cuba , will render them less frequent , and , whenever they shall occur , facilitate their more speedy settlement . "

      Mexican affairs are described as being in suoh a state of disruption that the United States Government haa been unable to negotiate for the removal of grievances . The President has felt it incumbent on him to appeal to the good faith of American citizens to absrbain from xinlawful intervention in the affairs of Nicaragua . He has also adopted preventive measures . Of financial matters , vre read : — " It appears from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury that the receipts during the last fiscal year ending June 30

      1855 , from all sources , -were 65 , 003 , 930 dollars ; and that the public expenditures for tie same period , exclusive of payments on account of the public debt , amounted to 56 , 365 , 393 dollars . The amount of the public debt at the commencement of the present fiscal year was 40 , 583 , 631 dollars , and , deduction being made of subsequent payments , the whole public debt of the Federal Government remaining at this time is less than 40 , 000 , 000 dollars . " A departure from the principles of the present tariff on imports is not anticipated .

      The question of the " Constitutional relations of Slavery"" occupies considerable space . The allegation of the Northern States that the Sowfchern States have persistently asserted claims , and . obtained advantages in the practical administration of the general government , to the prejudice of the North , is denied . * ' It is mere delusion and prejudice , " says the Mlessage , "to speak of Louisiana as acquisition in the special interest of the South . " The acquisitions of Florida and Texas are pointed to as evidencing the desire of sectional agitators to exclude new States from the Union , for mere party purposes . [ We have discussed , in a separate paper in our leading columns , this portion of the President ' s Message . ] The probable results and general character of the anti-slavery movement are thus indicated by the President towards the close of his official document ¦ —

      "It is either disunion and civil war , or it is mere angry , idle , aimless disturbance of public peace and tranquillity . Disunion for what ? If the passionate rage of fanaticism and partisan spirit did not force the fact upon our attention , it would be difficult to believe that any considerable portion of tte people of this enlightened country could , have so surrendered thfemselves to a fanatical devotion to the supposed interests of the relatively few Africans in the United States , as totally to abandon and disregard the interests of the 25 ,-000 , 000 of Americans—to trample under foot the injunctions of moral and constitutional obligation—and to engage in plans of vindictive hostility against those who are associated with them in the employment of the common heritage of our national institutions . "

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      grammatical sorrows of the survivors are already half obliterated by time ' s " effacing flngers , " -while two noble arches , clad with ivy , tell by their very ruins how earnest ¦ were the men of afore time when they sought to glorify their Creator . On the opposite side of the road now stands a more modern church , fitted for a numerous congregation , and not displeasing to the eye . Here , too , a rapidly filling enclosure proves that the bills of mortality fall due even in the cheerful valley of the Trent : is not the medical profession largely represented in Rugoley ? Behind this edifice our imaginary traveller would behold a tomb , in . front of which tho gravel had been recently disturbed . Had he stood there a few days since , he would have seen the spade and tho pick-axe busil } ' at work , a curious crowd standing around , and the

      glazed hats of the police conspicuous above all . These were not mourners Their countenances , where capable of other expression than vacancy , denoted indignation rather than grief . There was one face , indeed , which might well have reflected both feelings , but our stranger would have traced only a heartless indifference , or a superhuman resolution , as he observed it looking through the window of that comfortable house , whence a widow could behold the spot where they bad laid her lord , and whence they were now once more bringing into tho light of day the " mouldering remains of her daughter-in-law and her son . Beneath that tomb was deposited the master of the comfortable house . He had entered upon the

      surgery was one of tartarised antimony . So fond , indeed was he of fatal drugs , that he once owned a horse named Strychnine . The most fatal poison of all to himself was his love of hor&es—his p ission for the turf . Accustomed from his earliest infancy to live among horses , and horselike rnen—for Rugeley * fair is famous throughout the Midland Counties—he acquired the expensive habits and unscrupulous practices of the latter . Not that any one would blamo him for his good old English tastes . la not the turf the ke 3-stone of the British Constitution ? it is the last Conservative element in the land . Who nrra fond of the noblo sport than the mutual friend of W . B . and W . P . ( William Palmer ) , the great Frail of Shrewsbury ? Let it not be imputed to the accused as a fault that he sought to tread in the step 3 of those tine old Tory gentlemen ¦ whoso wisdom and virtues are equally

      conspicuous in tho liberal administration of public aitairs , and in the honour and purity' of their happy homes . Suffice it to say that William Palmer became an owner and breeder of race-horses , that he betted freely and largely , and that he won rarely and to a small extent . The ready money that came to him at his father ' s death— a few thousand ? , it is said—was soon dissipated . Tradesmen may be put off , tut debts of honour must be paid . Mouey must be had ; if at sixty per cent , well ; if not by bills , by pills : mono } ' , anyhow . Hebrews rot without guile , and that class of attorneys who form the " peculiar people" of modern civilisation , took much paper in exchange for a little gold . The crisis was growing desperate ; tho inoit step would plunge him into the slou-h of despond . There was still one hope , one plank between him and perdition . Ilia mother-in-law might afford

      some aid . From her fears , though not from her love , lie extracted some £ 20—a syringe playing on a world in flames . The maternal instinct ? , however , were stronger than that of self-preservation . Mrs . Thornton became alarmed on her daughter's account . She left . Staftbnlaiul became an inmate in Palmer ' s house . Four days afterwards she was a corpse- Her property descended to Mrs . William , whose husband , of course , thus enjoyed a larger income . But as at her decease this source would fail , it was necessary to adopt some counter measure- . These were readily suggested by certain institutions devised by the commercial spirit of this sensible nation to assuage their grief for departed friends by entering , per contra , a certain sum of monev . In other words , William Palmer

      could iind his remedy by effecting a Life Insurance on Iris beloved Aune . Medical men gladly certified that her health was good , as indeed it was , and predicted length of life and the payment of many a premium . It was true that the lady was pregnant—dnd the medical science of a refined civilisation deems pregnancy a disease—but this only accounted the . more naturally for the husband's anxiety to prepare an elixir of gold against possible woe Three offices engaged to pay the collective sum of i-M 3 , 00 u , whenever Anne ' Palmer should be gathered to her fathers . The baby w . ia born on the 24 th of January , 1851—appa- . rently a delicate , perhaps an untimely child—and was baptised on the same clay . On the 25 th , the mother came downstairs ; the baby doing so well that its father was able to go " to Stafford about insurance , * ' a 3 we read in liii diary . The next night , however , he sat up with baby . On the 27 th baby was worse , and Dr . Uamford , one of the antiquities of the place , was called in , and prescribe ! " a mixture "—no matter what , " Babv died at 10 p . m . "

      To occupy the nine months that elapse before tliw diary again becomes worthy of note , it may be worth while to notice an incident that occurred some five years ngo . In those <\ nys there live '' a Mr . Bladen , a collector for Charington ' s brewery , who dabbled sufficiently in turf transactions to make liim a defaulter to his employers . It would seem , if public rumour be ever worthy of credit , that Willi im Palmer had borrowed £ 400 from the sporting Bagman , and it is probable , that the hope of recovering this sum induced the unfortunate man to become the

      guest of hia debtor . However this may be , he had no chance of taking it out in board and lodging . Ho fell desperately fick , and after William Puhner and his assistant , one Xhirlby—whoso windows are novr recognisable by a ^ reat display of rupture bandages and one large jiir full of broken poppy-heads—had exhausted their skill , thnt dear old Dr . iiamford was called ^ in to " prescribe a mixture . ' Nevertheless , tho pntient died . Ilia wife arrived when he was already insensible , but in a few minutes was hurried out of tine room and never ngain allowed to behold him—because decomposition had » tt in ho rnpiUIy . She wna also diasuuded from carrying tho corpse to London , tho expense of which William Palmer greatly exaggerated . Rumour goes on to aay that tho hitter handed tho widow a cheque for . £ ( 50 , and some lonso « aah

      which ho liad found in tho pockets of tho deceased , vlioin ho represented as being in his debt to tho amount of 4 . 07 . Tliia claim tho widow laughed to scorn , mid on Mrs . William ' s earnest entreaty it waa never repeated . 1 ' oor Bladen rests in tho same vault with Mrs . Thornton , W « Hcr Palmer , ami Mr . ? . Williams . In the month ot tfoptember , 1854 , Mrs . Williams mid her siater-in-lnw , Mlsa Surah Palmer , were present at a concert in St . Georgci ' rt Iln " . at Liverpool . Here tho former lndy , perhaps , caug ht c old , and on her return to Ru ^ oluy noxt day bImi appeared to bo very unwell . The following morning her hiirtbimd to <; l < up to her room a cup of toa with mignr in it , but ihi mil '; . commenced

      and Homo dry toast . Soon afterward * vomiting . Whatever substance hIio received , ton , griml , mid w' >* 'p l little nrrowroot , wan prepared by tho aorvant girl ^'' Tharni , hut Administered only by Mr . Palmer or Aim TJradHlmw , n deaf old nurso wubseqiieiUly ciiINmI ii > . <>¦' Sunday Dr . Dninford was sent Cor , and being tfivrn t " understand thntthecoso wn » onuof Kngllsh cholurii , tln >» lV l tho patient waa then mutt ' oring from confui |> alioii , bo l ' !' scribed eomo pilla containing calomel and colocynlh and « 'J opening draught . On Tuesday evening lie again culled , aim found that only ouo pill had boon taken tinil that tho bowel " woro Htill unmoved . This w « b tho last timo ho huw hor , but at her huabanoVu request hunt oncoflhrnod a icrtillcut 0

      stage of life under many disadvantages , but his merits or demerits liad prospered his undertakings , and the successful sawyer left behind him a handsome fortune , if not a single friend . He died in his chair nigh twenty years ago . He died , and was buried in the vault which now they aro re-opening . It has been opened four times since then . Thst timber merchant ' s son , and the wife of another son , and the mother-in-la-w of that other son , and the guest of that other son , have all been laid in that vault within a short period of each other . The bodies of his son and lis daughter-in-law are now -wanted to bear evidence which shall hang the brother of the one , the husband of tho other . "

      Our traveller , astonished and alarmed , asks what means all this commotion by the banks of the cheerful Trent . A dear friend of the accused hastens to answer him in this

      : — Iu that substantial red-bride house dwells the widow of a timber merchant and , , sawyer , who amassed very considerable wealth 5 n a space of time so brief as seemed to reflect on the judgment or industry , of his less fortunate neighbours . An apoplectic attack placed him , at last , beyond the envy of his townsmen , and Mr 3 . Palmer—such was his . widow ' s name—reigned h | , his stead . Both sons and daughters had been born'to this prosperous coupleprosperous in . all .-points * save this . ' One son wds a lawyer ,

      another a clergyman , a third a surgeon , a fourth a cornfactor , a fifth a timber merchant . There were likewise two daughters ; one still unmarried and living with her mother , but otherwise very respectable , and kindly spoken of by the poor ; the other married and died , having shortened her life , 5 t is said , by a too assiduous devotion to " the rosy god : " for the sanguine temperament of parents is visited upon , at least , the first generation . Though passing rich , this family was involved in the obscurity that enfolded their native town . If it were lawful to parody an epitaph , it might be

      said—Rugeley , and Kugeley ' 3 boors , lay liid in night ; God said , " Lot murder be ! " and Rugeley came to light . The man ,, destined in the fulness of time to dispel this darkness was William Palmer , a surgeon , whoso practice was fortunately confined to his own family and a few intimate friends . His personal appearance , if not heroic , was by no means disagreeable . Hia stout , compact form , light complexion , florid hue , and easy smile , bespoke the genuine English yeoman , healthy and good-humoured . To the poor he ¦ was kind and considerate . Among the humble fry of clerlia , apprentices , inn-keepers , and small dealers , ho waa extremely popular , for he could always guide them in laying their bets upon horses , and freely imparted any certain knowledge he possessed . There ia not a chambermaid or waitress within thirty miles , who

      THE KTJGELEY POISONINGS . ( From our Special Correspondent . ^ Rugoley j January 16 , 1856 . Let us imagine a sensible and intelligent Parisian , weary of the eternal chatter and the saunter along the Boulevards , forming tho sage resolution of setting up his household gods in the right little , tight little island , famous throughout the world as the peculiar shrine of tho domestic affections , of solid comfort and genuine worth . Let him cast his eyes over the length and breadth , of tho land . . Let him survey it 3 bold mountains and smiling valley ? , its populous towns and sweet rural villages . Much would lie behold worthy of admiration as a traveller and a cosjnopolitc , but little pause would ho mako ore taking ; up Jris nbodo in tho pleasant valo watered by the winding

      Trent . This would- bo his harbour of refuge from tho vanities and vexations of a frivolous or malicious world . This would bo to him tho promised land—aland flowing with milk and honey . Here , if anywhero , ho might hope to cxhumo the simple virtues hitherto buried ' in tho dull dribblings of pastoral rhapsodies . Here ho would expect to find a true manly race , Boftencd by tho gcntlo influences of homo , and equally free from tho brutal impulses of a barbarous and tho calculating selflahncsa of a too refined fctata of society . Alighting nt the Kugoloy station ho would walk with a buoyant nt « p between well-kopt hedges , fencing in " meadows trim , with daisies pied , " until , halting for a moment

      © n a bridge that spans a brond canal , hifl eye would uliglit upon a auXstaniial rcd-bridk house with its bow-windows looking out upon a lawn nlopfng down to tho wator , A amaU court , illled with Portugal Inurchi , evincing tho goiluino Dutch tauto for regular forms , sopiiratcs tho houso from tho road . At tho back may bo seen -what wns once a timber-yard of aomo " pretensions , where still a few rows of planks nttoat the preoenco of a saw-pit , ami whore a whce-sy-looking cm «« enjoys t ! i « repose duo to a long uiid faithful servitude . Adjoining these grounds n HpactouH hut dcnatly-jpeopiod churchyard contains whole generations of men who , after slumbering through life , now alcop in death- Tho pious doggrela commemorating the

      undoes not speak of him as " a nice , pleasant sort of gentleman , " and ho ia known to have given pledges to fortune , that prove his loves were neither p latonic nor those of tho angels . His illegitimate offspring died very , very young . He has been almost equally unfortunate with hia children born in lawful wedlock 5 four have died in infancy ; a little hoy of seven alono survives , to whom will descend his mother's property . The wife of William Palmer was tho illegitimate child of Lieutenant-Colonel Brookes , a retired East India officer , residing in Stafford , whose brains wcro blown out , but by whom was never discovered . His mistress , Mrs . Thornton , was a woman subject to wild ( its of passion . That waa previous to his daughter ' s mnrriago . The Colonel , nt his death , left tho usufruct of hia property to his mistress ; tho capital , however , being settled on hia daughter and hor heirs .

      1 his daughter , afterwards Mra . William Palmor , -was an universal favourite , and the poor of Rugcloy still deploro tholoss of a most sympathising boncfoctrosp . "With such a wife one -would have thought that William Palmer would have lived in contented obscurity in hia snug two-Btoried cottage , Htanding a . little off tho street , with its three square windows above , and one on cither side of tho door . And as lie stood at , his door , or at tho little goto in front , his eyes must havo often alighted on tho legend bonouth tho Talbot Arms , tho swinging and creaking Hign of tho liDStolry ovsr agninat him : —JIumani Niiui . Ai . iH . MJM . Unhnppily ho Iind othor guides . Ills political morulity ho borrowed fioin his dally paper , tho 7 'imea ; for nocial morality ho betook himself to Uulwor'a " Lncroliaj" his medical studios appoar , by tho wollthumbed pntfe" of a worlc upon polsone , to havo boon chiefly directed to tho properties of pruanio acid , otrychnia , and deadly nnrcotlcfl : wliilo tho bout-flUod bottlo in hia

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      52 THE LEADER . [ No . 304 , Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 19, 1856, page 52, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2124/page/4/