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Leader (1850-1860), 12th June 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 567, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      situated in the very worst part of the city , surrounded by large , old houses , forming close and narrow streets , all crowded with people of the worst class , poor , dirty ,, and dissipated ; it was built for a large warehouse for linen . Had any pains ever been taken to make it fit for a place to live in , it might easily have been made habitable ; "but there it stands : where bales of linen were stowed , now you . find men and - officers—that is the only difference . With the exception of two or three large , low rooms , a large proportion of the men and all the officers are placed in cells opening by a door

      into a long passage and at the other end having a window strongr / barred to the top ; no fireplaces , but a stove with a pipe passing out at the window , which vomits alternately fire , sulphureous fumes , and smoke . The window , being so completely barred , can never be cleanedwithout-great difficulty ; tmt as it only looks into the prison-yard , this is of no great moment , though it completes the depressing effect of the cell . The men ' cells have no doors , and a very small window . Nothing can be imagined much worse than these recesses ; so little current of air is there , that if the place were wetted as soldiers usually do to clean it , the floor

      would be wet for days . As there are no fireplaces , the stoves are dotted at intervals through the large rooms and in the passages connected with the cellrooms ; instead of warming the rooms and affording the ventilation of a fireplace , these stoves , being always out of repair , fill the whole atmosphere with noxious fumes . But not only this , for as they are constantly made red-hot , there is great danger from fire—in fact , the roof of the principal barrack-room was once found to be on fire , but fortunately in the day-time , and , thanks to the active exertions of the men , resulted in damage to the building Only . As our information is derived from a medical officer

      who was stationed in charge of 600 men in this barrack in the winter of ' 55 , it is important to be able to add such testimony to the effects of bad ventilation in " confirmation" of the result given by the Commissioners . It appears that 10 per cent , of the men were always in hospital , and that there were some most severe pulmonary and rheumatic cases ; of these two died within a month from the former cause , and some were rendered unfit for active service . / Measles and mumps also prevailed . The smell ia the large rooms at night is described as something loathsome and sickening , and in some of

      the cell-rooms would be found one or two married couples with children , literally seething in a hot , damp atmosphere , flavoured with cabbage-leaves , potato parings , and soap-suds , with other accumulation of a young soldier family . The whole thing was duly reported , and a sort of pro forma inspection by the Engineers ordered ; but the only answer was , that it had always been so , and had been reported over and over again , but that the Engineer department did not fhid it uninhabitable for troops . Such a preposterous result only shows the necessity for taking up the recommendation of the Commission with a high hand , and making the opinion and the orders

      of the Principal Medical Officer supreme in matters concerning the sanitary state of barracks . * The Barrack Department and the Engineers see nothing of the fatal effects , and , as the evidence shows repeatedly , after any number of reports from medical officers , nothing is done . The Quartermaster-General of the Army says : " In case of any objection to a "barrack iu any way , either the want of ventilation , or drainage , or ' any insalubrity , he can only forward that with the backing of the Commanderiu-Chief to the Minister for War . " The President

      asks , " Are you . satisfied with that arrangement ? Do you get all that you want for housing the troops ? Certainly not . It is the old storymoney . Everything is stopped for the want of means . " But Sir Iticb&rd Aircy complains of the tardiness of the process , even when the money will be granted : — " Everything comes up through a variety of channels until it gets up to the decidingpoiat . First to some junior officer , from that to one above him , and so on , I believe , until it gcta to the top . bo that , while all this marvellous machinery ot the bureau is being- worked , good men and true are being sacrificed .

      Untitled Article

      DISCHARGED PRISONERS . Who would not bo a discharged prisoner P He obtains excollcnt advice gratis ; lie gets donations lrorn rich societies ; chaplains instruct him ; the watchful cyo of benevolence follows him as lie leaves the gaol sees about getting him employment , protects linn , from scaudal-mongcrs , and secures him a plnce . Great noblemen , like Lord John

      Russell , make speeches for Mm , Lord Shaftesbury prays forhim , the limes prints statistical biographies about him , and Parliamentary Committees sit in gilded saloons consulting for his good . Equity and kindness are excellent things , and there is equity in recognizing that the prisoner may have been _ the victim of circumstances , and there is kindness in forgiving him if repentant . But the misfortune is that discharged prisoners are the only class in this country who receive systematic aid in obtaining employment . As Carlyle says , nothing in this world is more sad than a man seeking work and mot getting it . This sad sight is seen daily , yet

      no kuid-hearted gentlemen organize themselves to obtain employment for him . They wait until he commits a crime , gets into prison , and gets discharged . _ ' If there were many societies for aiding the working classes in getting / work , we might then understand and applaud a society going still further , and affording aid even to working men who had unfortunately committed crime . But that the criminal classes should be selected from , the mass of the unemployed as the only objects of compassion , is to our minds a disgraceful and demoralizing fact . It is not unaccountable , for the real motives at the

      bottom of all this particular philanthropy are economy and fear . The criminal population are expensive and dangerous ; therefore let us pet them , in gaol and help them when they get out of it . The unconvicted poor may die quietly in their lanes , or they may _ timidly parade the streets ; so long as they refrain from burglary or violence we let them alone . We advocate iio socialism ; we plead no right of the poor to charity ; we think that benevolence should be free as air—free to seek , its own paths ; but when the honourable task of assisting poor working nien to employment is taken up bva

      Society , we consider it most demoralizing and injurious that its action should be expressly confined to the relief of discharged . prisoners . . The secretary of the Surrey Discharged Prisoners Aid Society , says : — - ce Every year upwards of 132 , 000 men , women , and children are discharged from prison ; and with regard to the vast majority of these , they may be considered as having- neither friends , home , money , nor character , and have nothing left to them but to starve , to beg , or to steal . " Are there riot throughout the country many other thousand men and women who have neither friends nor money , but who may have an . humble

      home and a good character , and who , through want of employment and want of aid societies , hare " nothing left to them but to starve , to beg , or to steal ? " These men are left neglected and starve for want of work , but , according to Sir B . Leighton ( Chairman of the Shropshire Quarter Sessions ) , " discharged prisoners find no difficulty in getting work . " This curious statement is explained by the words of two chaplains—one of whom , Mr . Hatch , says , that " probably the mean s given to the prisoners of obtaining a shelter and the means of living upon their discharge had sometbinsr to do with the readiness

      with which they obtained employment . " The information and shelter thus given to the criminal are withheld from the honest poor , who therefore enter into the great labour market under disadvantages unknown to the convicted competitor . M > . Burt , another chaplain , accounting for Sir B . Leighton ' s startling statement , says : — "Small grants of money for the purchase of clo thes or tools , or payment of lodgings , had been found efficacious . " llow many an humble , honest labourer might he saved from misery and prison if such kindness had been shown him trom time to time !

      Untitled Article

      PUBLIC AND PRESS PRIVILEGES . L \ st week , the four judges of the Court of Queen's Bench concurred in a decision of the utmost i importance to the public and the press . The question which arose was , in point of fact , new to the Court , for none of the precedents quoted could be adduced as involving a precisely identical principle . It had been distinctly laid down some years previously , that to publish a full , true , and particular account of proceedings in courts of justice upon a trial , is not libellous , unless " containing matter defamatory of a person who is neither party to the suit , nor present at the time of the inquiry . " It had boon held , however , an indictable offence to publish any account of cx-parte proceedings before a magistrate ; and some law hooks contain the opinion that the publication of proceedings before a coroner ' s inquest , or a preliminary inquiry before a magistrate , howevor correct the statement , if it contain matter libellous of another ,

      is actionable . This , then , was the problem brought into the Court of Queen's Bench for solution . ; and , although Lord Campbell declined to lay down the law broadly upon all the points involved , the result was of a very satisfactory character , both to "the defendants in the case , and to the press and public generally . The Daily Telegraph . had reported certain proceedings at the Guildhall , arising ' outof a charge of perjury ; and upon an action for libel brought against the proprietors , a jury had found the reports to have been fair and impartial . Then , however , the question arose , Are such reports legal at all , however impartial they may be ? It is needless to say what effect a decision in the negative must have had

      . It would have closed our policecourts against the supervision of that active censor , the general reader , and would have destroyed a very important principle of utility belonging to the daily newspajper . Therefore the metropolitan press has not exaggerated the importance of Lord Campbell ' s judgment ; nor does the Daily Telegraph arrogate too much for itself when it claims the merit of having fought a useful battle in its own interest and that of its contemporaries . The first organ—as is well known—of the cheap daily press , with an unparalleled circulation among all classes of readers , and justifying by its ability and success the expectations of those who abolished the stamp duty , the Daily Telegraph certainly merits a word of congratulation , upon its spirited assertion of journalistic privileges in the Courts of Law .

      Untitled Article

      THE LIMITS OF PUBLICITYIn our news department this week a conspicuous omission may be misinterpreted . We owe it to our readers to declare that it is a deliberate omission , justified by the principle to which we have always , steadily adhered , that affairs strictl y private ought never to be brought before the public . The public is , b y several ^ circumstances , disqualified from discussing them . On a vast number of questions that originate and terminate within the private circle , the public has : so' little , made up its mind that it cannot adjudicate with any fixity of principle , or clearness of conclusion . Of all courts , " the public " is that which possesses the least power of collecting evidence , still less of sifting it . The judge is at the mercy of gossip , and has not the slightest authorit y * if it had machinery , to make an inquisition . It is , therefore , a judge before whom obtrusiveness may always carry the day ; before whom , injured innocence may suffer judgment to go by default ; or worse 3 may be betrayed into making a half-defence , which , on reflection , it cannot complete ; and it may thus seem to be convicted on the pleadings . Eor ohserve , irnnany cases the true explanation is one that cannot be brought forward . Instances may happen in which it is necessary to invoke the aid of the law to restrain positive crime , or to aid iu preventing mischief ; and publicity is so essential as a check upon the oppressive tendencies of the Executive , that we must submit to it . Yet how intolerable it is ! What grievous injustice is often done by public opinion to the weak and the defenceless ! Even in affairs where the law onl y steps in to aid in a _ friendly interference , the public often injures simply in knotting . Look at a case now before a public court , in which a most estimable and engaging young lady becomes , most unjustly , a subject of notice , comment , conjecture , and impertinent defence . And this wrong is done where the public has all the aid of a legal machinery to marshal , sift , and control the evidence . But when there is no such appeal to an established tribunal , an appeal to the public can scarcely ever be anything but unfortunate . The whole case can never be known . Instances in proof of this will occur to every reader . In most cases , \\\ almost all , where domestic differences of a sacredly intimate nature arc thrust upon public notice , theone to suffer from publicity is the woman ; and no > explanations can retrieve the wrong too often inflicted upon her by making her the subject of anypublic discussion . It is on these grounds that to purely private and personal affairs , not presented before any authorized tribunal , we would absolutely refuso publicity , although we would secure the fullest publicity to check the abuses of the legal executive , and would promote the freest possible discussion on the general principles by which such cases ought to be guided . Two principles sit least arc applicable to every case—to assume nothing that wo do not know , and to put generous constructions upon what we do . know .

      Untitled Article

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1858, page 567, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2246/page/15/