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Leader (1850-1860), 27th December 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1238, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      fleet on the inconveniences and privations they ¦ would still have ^ been forced to undergo had not able and enthusiastic men , at various times , undergone still greater in the pursuit of remedial inventions . Sic vos non vobis should be the motto of the British Patent-office . There cannot be a stronger case in point than that of Mr . Henry Cort . The saving he has effected . to the country during the last sixty years is computed at upwards of five hundred millions . Either our fathers and ourselves , therefore ^ would have been paying a considerably higher rate of

      family—that is , the son and the two daughters—are now- unfortunately in a position to make any relief acceptable . But the country must not bo content with merely relieving their necessities . It must make them equitable compensation for the wrong sustained by their father . It must not regard them only as deserving objects of charity , but as rightful claimants of property unjustly withheld from them . This is the true spirit in which to regard Mr . Cort ' s petition , and we most sincerely hope that no niggardly parsimony will be allowed to influence the arrangements made for complying with it .

      taxes during the whole of the period aforesaid , or we and our children should have been burdened by an addition of rather more than one-half of the National Debt , had it not been for the genius and energy of this unfortunate gentleman . Let the grumblers against the Income-tax consider how they would feel towards the man who should suddenly relieve them of the whole of it , and they will attain a suitable idea of the gratitude it behoves them to display towards him who on the eve of our great Continental war enabled us to dispense with the purchase of foreign iron .

      v The facts of this case are shortj though , unhappily , not simple . They are , on the contrary , remarkably mysterious . But the injustice is sufficiently broad and obvious without any explanation of the adroit piece of jugglery by Svhich Mr . Cort was ruined . Briefly then , prior to Sir . Cost ' s invention , England was dependent upon Sweden and Norway for her supply of wrought iron , and the sum we paid for that commodity annually , before 1790 ' was about a million and a

      half . The process by which we were enabled to manufacture our own iron need not be explained here ; suffice it to say that its immense value was immediately acknowledged by the trade , who contracted to pay Mr . Goet ten shillings per ton on all which they manufactured by its aid . Here at once was an opulent fortune secured to him . Having , however , spent all his private means in perfecting the discovery , and being in want of money at the earlier stage of the proceedings , he entered into partnership with Mr . Adam Jeijltcoe , of the ^ jSTayy Pay-office , London , and deposited with him his two patent-deeds and his contracts . Mr . Jemjcoe became a defaulter to the extent of

      27 , 000 / ., and the Government seized Mr . Cort ' s securities to cover his partner ' s defalcations . His contracts were at this period bringing in a revenue of from 15 , 000 / . to 20 , 000 / . per annum . The Government kept them till the term for which they had been entered on had expired , namely , eleven years , and never accounted to Mr . Cort for a single farthing . But this is not all . Although they were in possession of assets capable of paying Mr . Jelmcoe ' s debt more than ten times over , they positively levied on Mr . Cort's goods for 25 , 000 / ., sold up his entire stock , and reduced him to beggary . That this atrocity could have been p erpetrated within the memory of men now living ,

      is a most melancholy satire upon the force of public opinion and the liberty of the subject , and affords a most cogent argument for stimulating public alacrity in redressing it . The honesty of public men has not increased since the days of Dundas , and the helplessness of private individuals does not seem to have diminished . Baron de BonjE was unable to obtain redress to the day nf his death , and had Sadlbir been a step or two higher on the political ladder he might still have escaped detection . Who knows what is going on behind the thick curtains of official life , or what new victims may even now be falling within the toils of privileged cupidity ?

      All the compensation which Mr . Cort and his family have ever obtained was a pension of 200 / . a year to the former , granted by Mr . Pitt , and pensions of tiocnty pounds each to his two unmarried daughters . His sole surviving son has also within the last six months received from . Lord Palmerston a grant of fifty pounds a year . For a loss of 240 , 00 OZ ., incurred in saving to this country 500 , 000 , 000 / ., Mr . Cort and his family have been compensated with something between three and four thousand pounds , while those who w . * at the same time the authors of this spoliation and embezzlers of public funds have been rewarded by titles and largo estates .

      Xo say after this that a petition is being prepared , sounds almost like a mockery . As , howover , it is the regular and constitutional method ot proceeding in such cases , wo most heartily recommend all our readers to exert whatever amount of influence they may individually or collectively own to forward its success . The

      Untitled Article

      There is no learned man b . ut will confess he hath much , prptited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and . his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him . to read , why should it not , at least , "be tolerabLefor his adversary to write 7—Miiton .

      Untitled Article

      EEMEDIES FOR CRIME . ( To the Editor of theLeader . ' ) Sib , —The current history of the last few months must have startled even the most indifferent into the conviction of the rottenness of the system that lias produced such fruits . The religion of forms and ceremonies of worldly show and profession has been on its trial and found lamentably wanting , both as a means of saving the , sinners or enlightening their dupes ; and there is great danger in the reaction that the real and true will get confounded with the false and spurious ; that , indignant at crime , we shall go back to severity and harshness as its cure , instead of going deeper to its cause—the want of true religious

      integrity and capability of resistance to temntaH ™ absolutely impossible , and who thus bask ff 8 ? £ ? ti ^ FT ^ ^ lessnesg , and ease , WlS the price of human souls ; these , surelV arc > flS criminals- Let masters remember thST ' is L ^ thing higher than the mere safety of their monev SS the success of their schemes ; let all who sufferivr ™ * think before they venture to call . the law to pSSSf of the consequences to the sinner , and rememlS tW niercy is thei first requirement of God ' s laws _; S then how different would be the result . How S $ but -how-awful , would be the statistics of F ? st Offences ! What a history of youthful folly , ignorarS and imprudence in the criminal , and of what mature hardness , harshness , and want of mercy in tho r >™ secutors ! It would read us a good lesson . In how many thousands of cases would the simple obedience to Christ ' s directions , Forgive as you would be for given , have saved from misery and crime

      / What have we of hope in the decrease of crime when by our want of Christian forbearance with the young we are constantly adding a heavy crop to the already large harvest of our middle classes , ready tobe the leaders and employers of the lower , less educated criminals ? Our reformatories have proved that for the young , even when most depraved , there is still hope by mercy and kindness ; is there no mercy and kindness , no patience , except for the very worst ? It is for those wh o first fall that I would plead , and not with magistrates , but with the public—with men and women . It is the want of faith in goodness , mercy kindness , and forgiveness that is at the root of the

      evil , and yet we are a Christian nation who profess belief in a Saviour that was all mercy and all forgiveness . Mr . Editor , I trust and hope that you will give this subject your influential support , that yoii will raise your voice in favour of mercy to the erring and young ; urge not merely to be i > Kiye < 3 for in our churches , but in our shops , our counting , houses , at our own firesides , and crime will ' have received one great means of cheek at its very source . I entreat you , with your able pen , to take up this subject , or with the impetus given to avarice by late losses we shall be in clanger of an increase of crime and misery little contemplated .

      I must apologize for thus intruding on your valuable space , and shall watch anxiously to see this important subject treated , as you are so well able to treat it , in your valuable paper . One of its constant readers , subscribers , and ad . mirers , ¦ - , . ' : ' : . ¦ ¦ ' - . . ; -,. ' A Friend of the Young .

      principle altogether . Surely , Mr . Editor , nothing but this temporary madness for severity could have led a woman—and a lady— -to such cruelty as the case recently reported in the pai ) ers describes . I refer to the case of Mr . Christmas and Lady Olivia Sparrow . I am no weak admirer of aristocracy , and respect the laws that have no respect of persons : the magistrate could do only what he did do : but what shall we say of the lady who could thus ruin and destroy for ever the prospects and happiness of a young man , and sink in misery parents , sisters , and friends , and for what ?—the value of a few booTcs that she was too rich , to ever know the loss of . I am not

      going to defend crime , and have no sympathy with the criminal merely because he is a gentleman , but I have sympathy with what , ought to weigh with all of us . He is young , anil the destruction of a whole life ' s happiness is an unjustly heavy penalty for one act of folly and wrong . And when such a heavy punishment comes from a friend and a woman , it may well read us a lesson , suggestive of the great and lamentable mistakes that can mislead even those who should know better . What is it but this flying to the law of man , and not " the law of God , that fills pur gaols with the young and rising generation ? If in this case of Mr . Christmas the lady had stopped to consider something higher than

      her own loss and vexation , had wished to save , not ruin , were there not many private ways of correction that would have left hope and peace still possible ? Surely there were , and as surely she would have tried them if the belief in dead forma of religion had not shut out the belief in its real and saving mercy in most men and women ' s minds . This subject , Mr . Editor , is , I believe , deep at the root of the present difficult question of crime , that the simple precepts of mercy applied to the first offences of the young would do more to solve the difficulty than all the reformation schools , good as they arc , that can bo set up . But unless taken up by some one like yourself ,

      able to direct the public mind in the right direction , late events will only increase the evil , throwing us back to harsh , and barbarous severity as its cure , instead of forwards into the wiser , calmer teaching of Christ . You . Mr . Editor , must , know better than I can ( and my heart bleeds daily for the young lost croatures dragged mercilessly before the judgment seat ) of how much crime is caused by this thoughtless loyo of punishment and hasty belief in the law ' s sovereign cure for every ill , that throws so many of our young men and women into gnol , and lays the foundation of the future daring criminal . Only thiB last week—and it is the index to the whole—I Imve

      read , of several young men , clerks in countinghouses , hurled to their ruin for their fiilst offence , trusted , tempted , lost for over before they were oneand-twenty . Are thoro no means of correction hut laws—no reproof , no friend ' s influence , no means of restitution from theirsalaries—nothing but thiscruahing for ever , before ignorant—tempted young thingR hardly know lifu has begun ? Surely the real criminals are those who plsieo young men in places of trust and temptation before they aro capable of resistance ; who pay small salaries , and expect high

      Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      ¦¦ ¦ --. ' . '¦' ' ¦ ¦ ——? . ' ¦ - ¦¦ . ' . - [ I 3 T THIS DErATtTSreXT . AS ALL OPINIONS , HOIVEVER EXTREME , AI ! E ALLOWED AN KXrWCSSlON , THE KU 1 XOK NJiCESSAUiLY HOLDS HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOKSOXL ]

      Untitled Article

      Mr . Sidney Herbert , M . P . ( says the Wilts , rndepeiulent ) , will become the owner of a considerable amount of property in Odessa , and some other parts of Southern Kussia , through the death of Prince Woronzow , whose sister was the mother of the right hon . gentleman . Dr . Waagrx lias transmitted to the Times copies of letters from the Berlin Procureur du Hoi and from Lord Bloomficld , exonerating him from the- charge of being concerned in the recent arrest of Mr . Morris Moore , Another Loss nv tiik Koyal , British Bank . —Mr . Mnyhew , a solicitor , attended at the Worship-street police-office last Saturday , to communicate a case of hardship arising out of the stoppage of the Moyal British Bank . The . fathers of the scholars attending a Sunday school attached to St . Paul ' s Church , Finsbury , had collected through the year , by means of small contributions , a sum of 2 G / . odd , which it was intended to divide among the children this Christmas . The

      money had been deposited in the liritish Bank , and of course was lost . The managers of the school at first thought , considering the smallness of the sum , ami the humble station of those who had collected it , tliat the money would be paid ; but this hope was disappointed , the managers of the bank stating that these particular creditors must take their chance with the rest . When Mr . Hayhew had concluded his statement , Mr . Hammill , the magistrate , . said ho would at once place nl . from the poor-box nt the disposal of the trustees , and he had no doubt that , on the publication of the details in the papers , many bohovolcnt rich people- would contribute . towards placing the little losers in the position they had occupied before the breaking of the bank .

      Wiu . s , ~ The will of Field-Marshal Viscount Hardingc , G . C . B ., has been proved in London under 80 , 000 ? . ; also have been proved the-will * »> f Lieulontuit-Gcneral Sir John liolt , K . C . B ., K . O . ; Sir Kclwinl Sherlock Gooch , M . P . for East Suffolk , 50 , 000 / .-, Mv . U Walker , Seymour-house , Jubilee-place , Chelscn , nndot New-inn , formerly of Old Jewry , 100 , 000 / . This Southampton Ei . kction . —Mr . Andrews o » o ol the candidates for tho borough of Southampton i ha * ve-Hignod tho ollico of Mayor ( which ho is oblitf 1 " *« " ° previous to standing for n place in Tni'limm-nt . ) , i « ud ' » paid tho five KhillinRM line , which is always iin poscil on a person occupying his oilica who resigns in the coiimo o h ? s tor in . q . . Tiik Kki'uhsrnitation oi- CSkkknwkjii . — General bn-William Codnngton lms issued an address to iho . < . ieonwlch electors , offering himself iim a candidate !>* tn < ; apploaching election . IIo is a supporter of tho prcson Ministry .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1856, page 1238, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2173/page/14/