A just Judge

but was nurse of the convalescent ward. The the name of WILDE. It was argued, deceased was placed under his care, and every in exception against the bill of inthing calculated to nourish and strengthen him was given, but without effect. The de- dictment preferred against her, that the ceased was perfectly rational, and told him children died a natural death; that she (witness) that he was a ship painter, and 28 did not kill them; that they died by the years of age, but, being unable to get little or visitation of God, as this poor man is nothing to do at his business, he was in a said to have done. state of starvation, and had been so for three months. That he had applied to the parish officers of St. George-in-the-East, he having lived in Lower Chapmau-street, in that parish, for relief, but they refused him; and, in order to prevent his perishing in the streets, he intentionally broke a square of glass, that he might be sent to prison.-This being the whole of the evidence, the Coroner summed up; and the Jury returned a verdict-"That the deceased died a natural death by the visitation of God, brought on by extreme waut, in consequence of having been refused relief by the parish of St. George-in-the-East, in the county of Middlesex."

scouted the miserable quibble; he said that the children were committed to her care by the law; that that law required her to give them a sufficiency of food; that she had withheld that food from them; that, therefore, they died in consequence of this unlawful act on her part, and that, therefore, she was a murderer. She was tried upon that indictment, as a murderer; was hanged as a murderer, and dissected as a murderer. The body of her who had reduced two poor children to skeletons either was made a skeleton itself, or was flung abroad to be devoured by the fowls of the air.

This jury was, I dare say, composed of men of justice and humanity; and I dare say that they thought that there was sufficient reason for them to refrain from finding a verdict of murder against Of all the things which our forefathers the parish officers. But let us see how provided against one was the unjust dethis would fit in other cases. If a man struction of human life. To look at the run another through the body, the man ancient laws of the country, one would dies a death which is the natural effect think that no small part of the whole of the wound, and God wills that he time of the Legislature was taken up should die from this cause; but if he with providing the means of security die in consequence of the wound, is not for human life. A horror of unjust the man who inflicted the wound a mur- killing seems to have been the ruling derer? If a man be poisoned by ano-inherent feeling of the whole nation. ther, it is according to God's laws that The laws and regulations relating the poisoned man should die; but if he to the coroner and his juries seem die in consequence of poison adminis- to have made a very considerable tered by another, that other is a mur-part of the whole of the national derer. What was Mother BROWNRIGG code. If a man was killed by a mill, hanged for? For murdering two chil- by a well, by a wagon, by a horse, dren; and how did she murder them? by a dog, or by any-thing constituting By not giving them food wherewith to the property of another, the law prokeep themselves alive. The whole na-vided, in certain cases, for a forfeiture tion with one acclaim called her a of the property, or for a fine to be insavage murderer: her name has come flicted instead, though the party owning down with traditionary execration upon it, accompanied with that of JONATHAN WILDE; and the name has not been sweetened in either case by the bright star of valour, General BROWNRIGG, the great favourite of the Duke of YORK; nor has that of WILDE yet been obliterated from the execration handed down to us by our grandfathers, by the purity and humanity, however exeinplary, of any other man that we know of

the property might be perfectly innocent of the act, and might lament it as deeply as any of his neighbours. It is curious, that, while the laws for the preservation of property have, of late years, been constantly growing stricter and stricter, those intended for the preservation of human life have been constantly growing more and more lax. Still, however, the coroner and his juries remain; and to be seen they are, and

never were, in no other country but mistresses: the question we are discusthis and the United States of America. sing is, whether parish officers shall, in But their mere existence is nothing, un-violation of their duty; in violation of less they produce their intended effects. the law of the land and of every precept The main object of them was, and is, of holy writ, cause Englishmen to die that no human being shall come to his of starvation and escape with imend without the cause of his death being punity: we are discussing the question, scrupulously and exactly ascertained, if in short, whether man's life may be possible; and if he come by his death taken for resisting a gamekeeper, when in consequence of the illegal act of ano- that man is in pursuit of a hare; whether, that that other shall be duly ther the life of a hare is to be protected punished. by putting the life of a man in jeopardy, and whether the life of a man is to have, if he be indigent, no law at all to protect it-now for this WALKER's advice and the answer.

step towards a better administration of the poor-laws. The end I aim at is the encouragement of habits of self-dependence.

I will say no more upon this subject, because the verdict of the Jury in this case may lead to further proceedings with the parish officers; but these principles I have thought it my duty to state; and To the Guardians of the Poor of the different in future inquests on persons starved to Parishes and Hamlets within the District of the Lambeth-street Police-Office. death through the refusal of parish relief, I hope that these principles will be GENTLEMEN,-It is now three years since borne in mind. I shall now insert the been limited in their appeals to the bench to the paupers of the parish of Whitechapel have aforementioned advice given byWALKER, two days in each week, between the hours of the police magistrate, to these and other one and three, and for fifteen months the same parish officers. The Sunday Times ob-regulation has been extended to the whole of serves, that the man owed his death to riod the business of attending to the paupers this populous district. During the latter pethe suggestions of this WALKER. This has been committed by my colleagues excluis no justification of the parish officers, sively to me. My uniform practice has been to be sure; but it is proper for us to to give each applicant a patient hearing, but read this address, as we here have a most in reality to leave every case to your discretion; and since much advantage without any awful instance of the effects of its prin- inconvenience has been the result, I think the ciples. When I have inserted this ad-time is arrived when we may advance another dress, I shall insert an answer to it from the churchwarden of Mile-end, who appears to be a very excellent man, , and You will observe that by the Act of Parliawhose answer I recommend to the very ment passed in the 43rd year of the reign of particular attention of my readers, re- Queen Elizabeth, to which Act all later laws serving to myself the occasion of adding respecting pauperism have reference, no power whatever was given to magistrates to a few observations of my own. WALKER order relief-and so the law and the practice published his address in the Times, remained for ninety years. During that pewhich called for the Special Commis- riod the power of granting relief was vested sions. Mr. SINGLE published his answer solely in the overseers; but on account of their frequent extravagance an Act was passed in the Morning Advertiser, of a few days in the 3rd and 4th years of the reign of William later date. We are not talking here, and Mary, taking the power from the overto be sure, of Bank charters and East seers and placing it in the vestry; at the same India charters; we are not talking time allowing the overseers, in cases of emerof grand dinners or grand balls; wegency, to apply to a magistrate, residing in are not talking of whether the soldiers shall wear whiskers or not; but we are talking of something of ten thousand times more importance. We are not talking about projects for putting an end to the slavery of the blacks; we are not talking about whether their well-fed bodies shall be protected from the capricious anger of their masters and

or near the parish, for authority to grant relief till the next meeting of the vestry. This was the origin of the interference of magistrates in granting relief-not for the purpose of protecting the poor from oppression, of which there was no complaint, but for the purpose of protecting parishes from extravagance. This interference, it appears, however, was in time perverted by the magis trates, and extravagance now proceeded from a new source; consequently, thirty years af terwards, in the 9th year of George the First,

I shall always be ready to second your efforts, and I have only to add, that should you meet with any interference from without the district, I desire you will instantly apply to me. I am, Gentlemen, Your faithful servant

and sincere well-wisher,

THOMAS Walker.

Police-office, Lambeth-street,
12th July, 1831.

ANSWER.

SIR, Having read in the newspaper your address to us, whom you denominate the Guardians of the Poor, I beg, through the same channel, to convey to you my thanks for your advice and attention, and at the same time to point out where I think there are some defects in your system, which I hope you will see, and will remedy.

a law was passed imposing restrictions on the magistrates; but, by a strange inattention to the purport of the Act of William and Mary, its language was changed and its intention defeated. Instead of the justice, as before, authorizing the overseers to grant relief, by the Act of George the First he ordered them, and thus the spirit of the law was for the first time abandoned. In the year 1796, during the French revolutionary war, when sound principles of legislation were made to give way to the extraordinary exigencies of the times, the power of ordering relief by magistrates was greatly extended; but in 1819, after the re-establishment of peace, and when the evils of the system had become but too apparent, Mr. Sturges Bourne's Select Vestry Act made a considerable advance towards the restoration of the original principle of the law, which is, that those who raise the fund shall, You state," Much advantage has been the by their own officers or by themselves, have result of your system." Now, Sir, I should the sole control of it. It is for you, now, to like to know what you mean by advantage? put that principle completely in practice. By In our hamlet, which has a population of your local Acts you are well organized for the 34,000, we have an increase of pauperism, purpose. I know your intelligence, respecta- have paid to our out-door poor 7007. more this bility, and practical knowledge. From seve-year than last. Do you call that an advanral of your parishes there is already seldom an applicant at the office; and in no case can 1 call to mind that my interference has ever been really necessary; indeed, all that I have done has been only to uphold and assist you. You will, I am sure, henceforth act with still more effect when you feel that you have the whole responsibility upon yourselves, and it will be better for the poor that they should know that they have only you to look to. It will be the surest means of repressing those unsettled pauper habits, which are inevitably productive of vice and misery, and which habits it was the especial object of the Act of Elizabeth effectually to cure.

tage?

If the other hamlets and parishes in your district have decreased in pauperism by your system, why is it that ours has not? I will tell you why it is. In these other places I find that the inhabitants select their own overseers; but in our place, you, the magistrates, select and appoint those whom we do not approve of; and here you may find the reason why pauperism increases. Do you call this an advantage? Surely you will see that such interference is injurious to our interest, and destroys your own system. For you next tell us, "That the law is, that those who raise the fund shall, by their own officers or by themselves, have the sole control of it. And it is for us now to put that principle completely in practice." How can we put this principle completely in practice, when you, in conjunction with another or two, prevent us from choosing our own officers? You tell us the "law says we shall," and you break the law; you recommend the principle, but you prevent the practice!

From the 1st of August, then, no application for relief will be received at the office under any pretence whatever. From you there will be no appeal. You will therefore be prepared (if you think any further preparation necessary), to give adequate attention to every case-at the same time fearlessly keeping in view a steady enforcement of those habits of self-dependence, which are essential Again, you say, "from the 1st of August to the well-being of every individual, as well no application for relief will be received at the as to that of the community at large. I have office under any pretence whatever. From only one thing to recommend to you, and that the overseers there will be no appeal." This is, that you constantly impress upon your sub- is giving arbitrary power over the poor, leav ordinate officers, both by precept and example, ing them without any means of redress of the vast importance of temper and forbearance. wrongs. A distressed man, or a distressed The poorest, you know, are generally the woman, may give some offence to an overseer proudest and most wayward, and aggravating-may be what is called saucy, or some dislike language, as it is called, or unnecessary force, may arise from various causes; besides, the have peculiarly bad effects upon paupers, who overseer may be passionate, one who will are rendered far more clamorous and perse- not hear reason-he may be obstinate, vering from spite than by their wants. It has haughty, or unfeeling; and from such a been by due attention to this consideration | character (and there are many such) there is that all the predictions of unpleasant conse- to be no appeal-then what justice or what quences from my undeviating strictness have relief could a poor creature get? proved utterly untrue, and if you pursue the same course you cannot fail to go on smoothly and beneficially.

Nay, I don't even think you are right in your first practice; that is, "in limiting their appeals to two days in each week." You will

bear in mind this is not like settling any disputed right of property, or any other matter where two or three days' waiting is of no consequence, not fatal. This is a matter of sub

people of the county, and the people of the whole country, and the Whig Ministry also I will place in their true light. sistence, therefore it requires in many cases an Hitherto it has been rather the private immediate attention and prompt relief. Who affair of Mr. and Mrs. Deacle. It is could go two days without food?-and if none now become the affair of the whole na-could-be got from the overseer, and no appeal tion. And the whole nation will see to the magistrates only once in three days, by the necessity of pouring in petitions what fair means could a person get any-thing to live on for that time? To beg-the law upon petitions, repeated over and over would commit them to the House of Correc- again from the same places, and, from tion ; to steal-it would send them to prison; large places, two or three petitions at a yet they must do one or the other-so that your system might lessen paupers, but it

time, until we obtain security for our would increase thieves! persons against Acts such as have been Yours, &c., alleged against these Hampshire magistrates, whom I have well known for Churchwarden of Mile-end. five and twenty years, and who shall

THE

THOS. SINGLE,

BARINGS

AND

now know me, as I always told them they should. Read, I pray you, Mr. HARVEY'S speech, with the greatest attention. He has hit the right nail upon the head. He sees what ought to be the subject of inquiry; and let those who are interested in preventing that inquiry hug themselves in the hope of smothering it as long as they please all the combined powers of hell itself will not be able to prevent that inquiry.

MR. AND MRS. DEACLE. Mr. PAULETT MILDMAY said he had a petition to present upon this subject, signed by a number of the most respectable persons in Winchester and its neighbourhood. The petitioners were not bound to Mr. Bingham Baring by any political ties, nor were they at all uuder his influence, many of them having been opposed to him at the last election. The petitioners prayed for an investigation into the circumstances of this case, and they declared their belief that Mr. Bingham Baring was guiltless of the things that had been laid to the course of 48 hours (Sunday intervening) his charge. The petition had been signed, in by no less than 360 persons, who expressed their gratitude to the Magistrates, whose decision of conduct had last winter relieved them from the continuance of those dreadful disorders

MR. AND MRS. DEACLE. WELL, then, the Committee, after all the pretended wish to have it, has been refused. The subject was brought before the House of Commons on Tuesday night last. I shall here insert, from the Morning Chronicle, the report of what took place. But the reader will observe that this is not a quarter part, nor a tenth part, of what took place; that the debate lasted for four hours and a half. The reporters have put in just what part they pleased. Almost the 'whole of what Mr. O'CONNELL said and of what Mr. HARVEY said is suppressed; but there is enough of both left to stick to the parties for the rest of their lives. When I have inserted the report, I shall make some observations upon it, always considering it as a mere publication, and not as any thing which has been said by any Member of the House of Commons. I beg the reader to go through every part of it with great at- that were at that time committed. They extention; I shall not have time to add pressed their earnest wish that one of these much to it in the way of remark at pre-Magistrates should be cleared from those unsent ; but about the same time that this founded calumnies that had been directed Register will be published, the Two- against him. People were now ready enough to forget the feelings with which they had penny Trash, for October, will be pub- once been agitated, and he knew that it was lished, and in that I shall, in an address not very flattering to their pride to remind to the people of Hampshire in particu-them of those feelings and of the fears that Jar, enter into a complete analysis of then agitated them; but he felt it his duty to remind them of these things. He called on this affair. I will there place the them to remember the taunts that were then BARINGS in their true light before the directed against the Magistracy for supine

ness-to remember that his Majesty had called | other Magistrates of this county, to whose on them to display energy, decision, and re-active, judicious, and unwearied exertions, solution-and that his Majesty's Ministers your petitioners conceive they are, in a great had appealed to them to perform their duty, measure, indebted for the restoration of the and threatened them, that if they did not, public peace in November last, a period when they must expect to incur his Majesty's dis- this county was in a state of unparalleled expleasure. The Magistrates had done their citement and too well-grounded alarm, and duty. They had interfered effectually, but when, it should be remembered, it was in altheir services were now forgotten. The Judges most every instance found impracticable to who went on the Special Commission praised procure the due execution of the Magistrates'. them for their conduct. Even prayers were warrants without the aid of military. offered up, thanking providence for the interference which had saved the people at that time. He presented this petition because he was anxious, with the petitioners, to relieve a sensitive and manly mind from that state of suspense which every honourable man must feel to be most painful.

"That several of your petitioners were present at the trial which took place in this city at the last Assizes, and witnessed with unfeigned regret the situation in which the Messrs. Baring were unavoidably placed, in consequence of the only individuals of whose testimony they could have availed themselves having been made co-defendants, obviously, as appeared to your petitioners, for the sole purpose of excluding their evidence, and exposing the Messrs. Baring to the overcharged state. ments of the two individuals, on whose evidence a verdict was returned against Mr Bingham Baring alone.

large.

"And your petitioners will ever pray."

The petition was then read. The following is a copy :"To the honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled; "The humble petition of the undersigned inhabitant householders of the city and suburbs of Winchester, and of the "That should your honourable House see gentry, clergy, and yeomanry resid-fit to order an investigation into the facts of ing in the immediate neighbourhood the case, your petitioners would hail with thereof, satisfaction a proceeding so well calculated to "Showeth,-That your petitioners have elicit the truth, and to place the characters of read with feelings of indignation the allega- the several parties in their proper light. And tions which are contained in the petition your petitioners desire further to express their presented to your honourable House on the conviction, that a full exposure of the real cir22d of August last by Thomas and Caroliue cumstances of the case would render the same Deacle, of Marweil Farm, in the vicinity of feelings which exist in this city and its vicinity, this city. as to the conduct of the Messrs. Baring, ge"That the statements made in the said pe-nerally prevalent throughout the country at tition appear to your petitioners to contain such gross misrepresentations, as to render it necessary for your petitioners to express to your honourable House the opinion which is entertained in this city and neighbourhood relative to the conduct of the individuals against whom such injurious statements have been thus artfully and maliciously sent forth. "That your petitioners have noticed with deep regret the petitions which have recently been presented to your honourable House from distant parts of the country on behalf of the said Thomas and Caroline Deacle; not on account of the inquiry which is sought by such petitions, but because your petitioners feel convinced that they have been sent up to your honourable House under the erroneous impressions which the statements contained in the petitions of the said Thomas and Caroline Deacle were evidently intended to produce in remote parts of the country, where the real facts of the case are unknown, and where the characters of the several parties are not duly appreciated.

Colonel EVANS said he had to present a Petition with the same prayer; but declaring a very different opinion on the subject. He would only now observe, that as indulgence was asked to be shown to the conduct of the magistrates, on account of the excitement that existed in November last, he thought an equal degree of indulgence ought to be shown to the poor people who had engaged in these riots, on account of the severe distress that drove them to commit these offences.

Mr. HUME only wished to say that he seemed to have been guilty of some injustice to the persons whose petition he had presented when he did not have that read, and yet, when he suffered the petition just now presented to be read to the House, he must say, that that reading, and the statement of its contents, were against the understanding that there should be no discussion previous to that upon the appointment of a Committee. He would only add, that the petition he presented was signed by 246 persons in six hours.

"That your petitioners take the earliest opportunity of recording their opinion, and expressing to your houourable House the very Mr. P. MILDMAY denied that he had made strong feelings which prevail in this city and a statement of the case on this occasion. neighbourhood as to the calumnies which have Mr. BARING admitted that it had been been thus industriously propagated against agreed there should be no discussion, but Messrs. Francis and Bingham Baring, and there was no agreement that the petitions