The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

town TALK:. ST OTJB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. Ow Tenders will understand thai we do not hold ourselves rtipon. sible for our able Correspondent's opinions. TEAT London is out of town is the cry of all Lon- don correspondents just now. The blinds are down in Belgravia; no carriages, to speak of, are to be seen in Regent-street; and the hoof-marks in Rotten-row are hard.* Sic transit gloria mundi— that is, Rotten-row is nowhere at present. Those who, a few months since, made it a scene of so much life and gaiety are away, scattered over the Continent, seeing men and cities, or repairing their health and beauty at some of our own water- ing places, idle along "the rippled Bands," or bathe in the grateful brine. But how about that London that never goes out of town ? whose life is one dull round of ceaseless and meagrely requited toil, to which there comes no holidav-time-no periods of sweet fruition; which does not know the taste of a sea-breeze, and has never seen ef that blue element" with all its variety of forms, alternating between calm and storm—now caress- ing the beaeh, and anon rising in its anger, and breaking in thunder and hissing spray on the affrighted shore! There are places in London, back streets, narrow lanes, alleys that shrink from observation—places where dirt and poverty dwell all the year round; the majority of whose in- habitants never go. out of town until they leave this world altogether. It was in a place of this class that Esther Lack resided and murdered her three children. Skin- market-place is one of about a dozen alleys, and lies immediately behind Park. street Chapel, where the celebrated Mr. Spurgeon began his career. The houses are poor enough, some of the windows being patched up with paper, as you see in Irish cabins. I went to see the place the day after the murder. A large number of women and girls had come there out of idle curiosity, and stood in groups around the door while one of the neighbours-a woman, of course, with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and her hand wet from the washing tub-held forth. I joined one of these groups, and learned that Esther Lack, before her sight failed, was always "reading them novels;" "them novels" representing, as I found on inquiry, those works of genius whose inspiration is derived from the New- gate Calendar. I further learned that she kep" a rushlight burning all that night. What a lurid scene that piece of information suggests. That old woman lying awake in the feeble and gloomy I light, her perverted reasonings at war with that tenderness which had before responded to the "mammy" of the infant; and at last, having, as she says, "thought a great deal," and thinking it would be better, getting up and cruelly killing, to use her own words, "her own flesh and blood! It is a natural feeling, of which the poets in all ages have largely availed themselves, that great crimes ought to suspend and shock, tc some extent, the orderly operation of social and even material laws. Like many other feelings, it won't bear ex- amination, and no more striking instance of its fallaciousness need be wished for than Skin- market-place and its adjoining alleys would have supplied on the day after the deplorable tragedy had taken place. In that house, with the door closed, and the dirty little blind half down, lie three children murdered by a mother; and here boys play at marbles, and dispute and laugh, and, I regret to think, swear; and there the coster calls out his fruit, and jests with the girls that crowd around his barrow. In fact, as a well-known French writer, having detailed the disastrous fate of hero and heroine, finishes his book-H Et le monde iino. ci cXler COTTMTIG 1:Z allaH." -The world wags on just the same. The case of Esther Lack excites more interest than any of those crimes which at present occupy and have recently occupied the public mind. In the case of Pritchard, Forward, Eli Sykes,Currie,&c., we can see the bad passions of the human heart at work. But this woman avows as her motive-and it is hard to conceive of any other as influencing her-the desire of doing what was best for her children. She has, in consequence, excited none of that indignation which is felt towards Forward and others. People, while shuddering at her crimes, regard herself with pity. Whether she is sane or insane is a question that is much discussed, there being a fair numbei of either opinion. Her neighbours believed her to be sane, while her husband and son naturally take the opposite view. I have not met a single lawyer who does not believe her insane. I know it to be the opinion of men of eminent standing at the bar. On the other hand, men of intelligence and education asseverate their conviction that she is not insane. They dwell upon the method there is in her account. They say it is her working out of the sum of life. The murder of the children is the legitimate quotient she finds. And they add thatsuch evils arethenatural outgrowthof the social condition of many of the lower orders; and that there are hundreds of working people in London not as well fed as they would be in the prison or the workhouse. It is, however, the "universal opinion that she won't be hanged. Constance Kent's confession giving the par- ticulars of her murder, has once more brought an old question on the tapis. Such a confession is the only thing that would convince some persons of her guilt. There is an idea abroad that the law is relaxing its grasp upon this criminal, and that she will suffer but a very mitigated penalty; this is looked on as great weakness by some, and there cannot be much doubt that the uncertainty that has of late crept into the execution of our criminal code is likely to be attended, if, indeed, it has not been already attended, with unfortunate results. A great many Londoners have gone to Ports- mouth. We have not given and shall not give our French guests anything like what they gave us on board the Ville de Lyon. The garden on the poop, and the ball were essentially French; but we have given them a warm Englishreception, norhasitbeen unworthy of a great nation. Some have been in- ] dined to regard these friendly meetings of the two navies as a sham;" but the general opinion seems to be that they are an evidence of a real ] friendly feeling to which they are calculated to i give strength and permanency. j i Saturday being the anniversary of the birthday j I of his Royal Highness the late Prince Consort, the I Boy a] Horticultural-gardens, at Kensington, were ij c by order of her Majesty thrown open gratuitously to the public. I, of course, went there, as in duty bound. The gardenajaresented a striking contrast to their appearance at other times when I have visited them. On these occasions the visitors were generally made up of a few old ladies, one or two boarding-schools, or "caterpillars" as they are called, a pair or two of lovers, and a stray old gentle- man who had at Islington or Holloway a garden about six feet by three, and who had come to gather hints for its better cultivation. But on Saturday the gardens might almost be said to have been hidden by the people. As the morning wore away, the day shone out beautifully, and every place was full of life and colour. Along the terraces and down the walks you saw a moving sea of hats and parasols and bonnets. Through the poplar hedges glanced and shone many a new shawl and many a bright muslin. Fathers and mothers moved about, their babies in their arms. Little boys fed the fish, and shook the lilies in the tanks, and leaped the rows of box, and shouted. The policeman warned light-hearted young girls not to run down the slopes, and light-hearted young girls pouted, I must say, very prettily at the policeman; and I must add, in justice to that functionary, that he regarded such dangerous manifestations with that stolidity and becoming indifference which we should look for in the repre- sentative of law. The fountain, and the cascade, and the bands played, and dainty little feet beat time on the green turf. In some places, especially near the refreshment-room, the crush was con- siderable. The tariff was lowered, and though they had "The heavy wet of every kind, from brandy to brown stout," I rejoice to be able to say that I did not see a single person the worse for liquor." The flowers, too, did their best, and sent a grateful perfume on the delighted sense. The people were happy. They were mostly tradespeople and clerks. There could not be a more beautiful sight for one who loves to see the kindly human face," and hear the kindly human voice." And down on all looked, like the genius of the place and scene, the statue of Albert the Good." Z.

The Backside Murders. London is now aghast at the slaughter of three poor children by their own mother. The wife of a man employed on a coal-merchant's wharf at Bankside gets up before the day has well dawned and cuts the throat of each of her three children. The husband comes home soon after, and his wife coolly tells him she has "killed them at last," a statement which, to his terror and' astonishment, he finds to be true. The woman, of course, is speedily taken off to the station- u 86' charge is entered, and she is removed to a cell, where she may soon be seen lying on the bench, quietly and calmly sleeping." According to her Own statement she did her horrid work with a razor. The weapon was found all red with blood on the mantle-shelf, and two more razors were afterwards discovered in her pocket, strangely mingled with several religious tracts." Insanity may, perhaps, be made to account for this hideous tragedy, and we trust it may. At present we can only comment on the prominent facts of the case. The plea that the chil- dren were in danger of starvation appears to be un- founded, though it is true that certain duplicates were found in the woman's pocket, along with the tracts a»& razors. It is not i,o be' supposed, however, that j! society will tolerate the slaughter of children merely because there is an apprehended difficulty about feed- ing them. The process might tend to reduce the bulk of pauperism, but its morality is only fit for the model community which the philosophical Southey has in view. let this homicidal mania come from whence it may, its prevalence at the present time is a melan- choly fact, particularly in the special form which it now assumes-the unblenching acknowledgment and the monstrous attempt at justification.—Morning Star.

Visit of the Emperor of the French to the Queen of Spain. Oar readers have seen that we were rightly informed respecting the visit of the Emperor and Empress of the French to our Queen. This visit was arranged in April last, and it would have taken place at Madrid on the return of Napoleon III. from Algeria, had it not been for the political agitation which was then going on in Spain, and the fear that to this visit, which had nothing to do with politics, might be attributed the turn afterwards taken in the Italian question. Now the loss in our royal family is a fresh reason for the act of courtesy on the part of the Emperor, but it will perhaps prevent the King and Queen afterwards going to the Villa Eugenie. The Emperor and the Empress will pass one day im Zarrauz, and the. same even- ing they will return to Biarritz. On account of the mourning there will be no fStes of any kind, and the visit will be quite a private one. Our august Queen, who knows the intentions of their Imperial Majesties, has given them a special invitation. All that we wish, for our part, is that Spain may not be an exception in the world, and that when all the princes of the reigning families are visiting each other, without that in the least influencing the independence of peoples, we may not cultivate antagonisms, which will not fail to be taken advantage of by the enemies of the dynasty or public peace.-La Epoca.

Meeting of German Sovereigns. There is a rumour current in the diplomatic world that before the present understanding between Austria and Prussia, and at the time when a conflict between the two Governments seemed probable, M. von Beust, the Saxon Minister, sounded M. von Mensdorff on the project of declaring war against Prussia, and of redu- cing that Power to the limits to which it was confined before the Seven Years' War. He promised Austria, it is alleged, the military help not only of Saxony but of several other middle States, which would all have put their armies under the command of Austria. Two reasons, it is said, prevented the latter Power from accepting this offer first, the fear that a struggle' between Austria and Prussia would lead to a Euro- pean war; and secondly, the refusal of Bavaria to form part of a league against Prussia. According to our Vienna correspondent, M. von Bismarck knew of the diplomatic intrigues of M. von Benst, thanks to certain indirect and very clever indiscretions of some Austrian statesmen. M. von Bismarck, it is stated, then advised the King to be reconciled with Austria, to prevent this coalition of the rest of Germany. M. von Beust, who went to Vienna with the idea that Saxony might reconquer the Saxon Provinces which the King of Prussia seized on the fall of Napoleon I., has returned to Dresden, convinced that M. von Bismarck will never forget what has happened.T,International (London French paper).

Gladstonian Wines versus Humble Folk's Beer. No man knows better how to work upon his audience —no man is more capable of enveloping his subject in a cloud of words and a canopy of images than Mr. Gladstone, and when he has once determined upon the course to be taken, no man is more resolutely bent upon supporting his case by every possible means, drawn from every conceivable source. We may, after this lapse of time, pass by, almost without comment, Mr. Gladstone's laboured but ineffectual attempt to support the now notorious "per centage" theory of the President of the Board of Trade. It is simply im- possible that so shrewd a calculator as Mr. Gladstone should not have been fully aware that in estimating' the per centage of the malt-tax upon beer instead of upon barley, he was evading the real point at issue; whilst his implied defence of the tax on the ground that it was only a farthing" in the cost of a pot of porter was neither more nor lesa than one of the old stock argnmoutiB of bim in the days of the Corn-law agitation. We were wieu cola inau the repeal of the Corn Laws would be inoperative in affecting the price of bread, or that it would make a difference of only a farthing in the quartern loaf. In those days, however, the Corn-law repealers showed the fallacy of all such calculations, and based their advocacy of the removal of restrictions upon the admission of corn into this country not upon the fact whether the loaf of bread would be sold at a farthing more or less in price, but upon the broader ground that the trade in corn would be set free. No man living is more thoroughly cognisant than Mr. Gladstone that a mere question of a fractional differ- ence in the selling price of an article forms no consideration in a measure directed to setting free the trade in any given commodity. The grand point—indeed the point-is to remove impediments and clear away restrictions. The cost and the selling price are matters rightly left to find their own level, and no statesman now-a-days can be so utterly lost to the lessons of the last twenty years as to attempt to measure the operation of a tax or estimate the mischief it entails, by a reference to its fractional incidence in retail transactions. If the malt-tax is to be repealed, the consideration of the subject must be approached from a very different point of view, than the mere infinitesimal saving to be effected in a pint of beer. And this Mr. Gladstone knows full well. The right honourable gentleman, however, when bringing forward his budget, was desirous of marshalling in serried'array all the argu- ments he could adduce to deprecate the proposal for dealing with the malt-tax, and question of reduction in price to the consumers of beer was by no means the only fallacy to which he oondeRlJAnded with a view to attain his objeat;Anti.Malt-ax Circular.

GREAT FIRE IN BERMONDSEY. At about ten o'clock on Sunday night a serious fire broke out on the premises of Mr. Burke, currier and leather dresser, situated in Black Swan-yard, Bermond- sey-street, and was attended by a great destruction of property. The fire is said to have originated in the stabling of Mr. Burke, and was first discovered by the night watchman of a wool warehouse now in course of erection, immediately in the rear of the stables. He at once gave the alarm, but before any assistance could be rendered the whole of the stabling and premises of Mr. Burke were one mass of fire. The flames then extended themselves to the extensive tannery and leather dressing warehouses of Messrs. Cundell and Co., which, in the same manner, were totally destroyed. The large flour mills of Mr. Braden next caught, and were soon enveloped in flames. By this time the firemen had got the engines in full play, and torrents of water were poured over and into the burning premises, but it was fully two hours before the immense body of fire was perceptibly diminished. During the progress of the conflagration a number of old wooden tenements, inhabited by poor working people, and immediately abutting on the burning warehouses, also caught fire, and were speedily consumed, without giving time for the removal of any ef the scanty furniture of the occupants. Men, women, and children were running about the narrow courts and alleys intersecting the locality in the greatest excitement, little beeding the drenching rain which was pouring down at the time. At least twenty poor families were burnt out, losing every- thing they possessed but the clothes they were wearing and they were humanely sheltered by their neighbours' as poor as themselves. The fire was more destructive in its cllaracterfrom tbepremises destroyed being situated in the rear of the houses in Bermond soy-street, and sur- rounded on all sides by huge wooden sheds and blocks of old houses, rendering it extremely difficult to get at the locality of the fire. Owing to the great confa- sion that prevailed, and the incivility of a body of the M division of police, who block ed up the only entrance stJhi6 oo^wy ? fi/e from White's-ground (Con- stable 295 M particularly distinguishing himself by his coarse, violent, and uncivil conduct, and his refusal to allow any reporter to pass, it was impossible to get any decisive particulars that could be depended upon but the whole of the premises above mentioned ( jQife and several other new houses much +a* Whe owners of which could not be aacer- j l&iOOOO l0SS iS estimated at from £ 20,00° to i

y Choice Dishes for the Dinner- j re,celPts with eaeh packet of the PEARL Q^iri UC^„ prized for Invalids, Children, and Infants, j byGmwrs, .&c. J- Fisosr, IPSWICH, MANUFACTTOBE, >

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. » AMERICA, m, „ NEW YORK, AUGUST 12. The New XorTc Herald states that an animated dis- cussion has taken place in the cabinet upon President Johnson's re-construction policy. Mr. Johnson ex- pressed his determination to adhere to it regardless of opposition. The Maine Republican Convention has passed reso- lutions favourable to negro suffrage, opposing the admission of the Southern States to congressional representation, until they prohibit slavery by State constitutional amendment, and urging the immediate trial and punishment of Mr. Davis. Mosby has been arrested at Alexandria. ke Navy Department has received information that the Shenandoah, before leaving Melbourne, took on board 12,000 tons of coal, that her present first lieutenant joined her there, and that he resigned the command of an English steamer for that purpose. A defalcation of more than a ouarter of a million dollars has been discovered in the Phcenix Bank at Newlork. The steamer Pewabeo has been sunk by a collision in Lake Huron. One hundred lives were lost. Wealthy leaders of the late rebellion in North Carolina, who expect to ccntrol the coming state con- vention, have been feting returned rebel soldiers. A public dinner, which was proposed to be given in Raleigh by the former to the latter, has been forbidden by the authorities. T, NEW YORK, AUGUST 17. It is semi-omcially reported that President Jhonson has determined that Mr. Davis shall be tried by jury in a civil court for high treason, and habeas corpus is to be restored, and military courts abolished. It is denied that any difference exists between Pre- sident Johnson and his cabinet upon the subject of reconstruction. It is ascertained that E. B. Ketchum, of the banking nrm of Ketchum, Son, and (Jo., has forged gold cheques, estimated to amount to upwards of 2,000 000 dols. He has also fraudulently abstracted 2,'500'000 dols. worth of securities from the safe of his firm. The total alleged swindling by himself and other parties implicated is estimated at 5,000 000 dols. The Im- porters and Traders' Bank, Fourth National Bank, and several private firms lose heavily. P. R. Mumford, a stock gold operator, has been arrested, charged with fraud. The excitement in Wall-street to. day was in- tense. A magazine in Richmond containing 2,000 rounds of shell and other ammunition, exploded on Tuesday destroying property valued at 100,000 dols. Only two lives reported lost. The Times Washington dispatch says Statistics show that during the rebellion the Federal armies captured over 300,00.0 prisoners, besides patrolling about 160,000 more of the final surrender." A frightful collision occurred yesterday on the Hou- sitonac Railroad, near Bridgeport, Connecticut, by which six ladies, one man, and two boys were killed, and fifteen severely wounded.

REPORTED CAPTURE OP PEKIN BY THE REBELS, „ SHANGHAI, JULY 12. The Nigenfel rebels are encamped in the neigh- bourhood of Pekin. It is rumoured that they have taken the city and the report is generally be- lieved. Nienfei is encamped in the neighbourhood of Pekin. It is reported that he has taken the city. Burgevine is still in custody. The American Minister has again demanded his release, with an intimation that refusal will be considered a casus belli. The Taeping rebellion appears to be extinguished.

PROBABLE SUBMISSTON OF THE MAORI KING. MELBOURNE, JULY 26. The Maori King has agreed to the arrangement made by William Thompson, and desires to meet Mr. Graham, who obtained the latter's submission.

DISORDERS AT SANDHURST. U glv TOjlianOTU. +.ho to. v o iOOCiitl V come across the wood and water that girdle the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. It has been rumoured that the youths training there for the status of "officers and gentlemen" have manifested so little preliminary possession of the latter qualification as to provoke from the outspoken Commander-in-Chief a declaration that they were a set of snobs;" and that they have glaringJy shown their unfitness to com- mand, by displaying an obstinate unwillingness to obey. This is not pleasant news. No doubt, there has been more smoke than fire; still there must have been a very serious amount of fact to justify the storioslthat have been flying about. At starting, how- ever, we must say that the ill-odour in which Sand- hurst at present stands cannot be used as an argument against the attempts that have been made of late years to offieer our army with a more highly educated set of men than those who previously used to get com- missions. The worst rioters at Sandhurst, it seems, are the least clever or industrious of the cadets, who only care to make sure of the minimum amount of marks at the final examination. Such turbulent spirits would have got into the army before by purchase, as at present, and would have played pranks in barracks instead of college. It is not because a lad has to pass an examination before be can enter the college, and another before he can obtain his commis- sion, that he becomes unfit to be an officer. Those examinations have <?one one good thing-they have made him acquire a certain amount of professional and general knowledge, some of which, at least, must stick to him. The mischief seems to be that, having crammed, he can take things, intellectually, easy; whilst morally be receives no guidance, and is subject to very little restraint-unless when he becomes abso- lutely outrageous, and the Duke of Cambridge has to come down and scold in his Royal Highness's charac- teristicallyemphatic manner, put back, and keep for life out of the army. When young men at the close of their college career axe punished in the last way, the Sandhurst authorities can scarcely have easy consciences. ——————*—————'

A Glut of Copper Coinage. new copper or bronze coinage, says the Greenock Advertiser, has now become so plentiful that there is great difficulty in having it changed for silver, gold, or paper money. As an instanoe ot this we may mention that a. local VI fishmonger's agent in Glasgow, after receiving a con- siderable sum in coppers from the hawkers, was un- able to get it converted into other currency, and was obliged to send it to Greenock in bags; and it has been found that the difficulty of conversion here is as great as in Glasgow. We understand that on a Satur- day night a few weeks ago a pawnbroker in town had nearly £ 90 of copper in his possession. Singular Accident. sad mischance has occur- red at Southam, an agricultural township in Warwick- shire. A number of persons were out gleaning, when II. thunderstorm came on, and they went into a rickyard to seek for shelter. Some sat under a hedge, whilst others took refuge beneath a rick raised sufficiently high on its supporting frame to allow twenty or thirty to sit down comfortably under it. All at once the ten stone pillars upon which the wooden frame was sup- ported gave way, and the rick came down bodily with i. crush. E very effort was made to rescue the buried persons, and all were at last got out. A boy named Robinson was, however, found to be dead, and some iime elapsed before the others could be brought ■ound.

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