OUR HOME LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 3838, 12 June 1875, Page 2

OUR HOME LETTER.

[ % A Stite trial of extraordinary interest has ' Just terminated; Your readers are aware I that it is the practice of 1 the Indian Governiment to place an English officer —called the resident—at the courts of the nominally .independent princes of India. Colonel Puayre occupied this position with the Gaikworof Baroda; and the case just concluded aroso ,from a charge against the Prince of attempting to poison our representative; In striet i law, we may be said to have had no jurisdio*' tion over the Calk war; but it is sell-evident L ithat such a crime, if really committed, could not be passed over. An inquiry was' ■ therefore' held before a .mixed commission, consisting partly of Europeans, ,partly jbf natives, ami after long investigation hag. * ended abortively; the members being unable, to agree. The Europeans were generally pinr ,■ dined to convict; whilst the > natives took-- . ; the opposite side. Public opinion here Eh!dorses the view Of the latter, which appears 1 to, have been based on' the utterly untrust* | worthy character of the evidence adduced. | It; was far.too conclusive, and the testimony jof the witnesses too well dovetailed together. . (The general idea here is rather of wonder , jth'at the Court was not unable to agree on an • : acquittal. ! The whole affair places the i yernme.nt of India in a'eomowhat embarrassing position, Had a dec sion of “ not? guilty? bpeu arrived at, it must necessarily have restore.! the Gaik War tb' his poritonjand it wiU almost be compellad to do so now, 1 whilst deprived of the power Of ddirig’it i with a good grpce. I referred, in my last litter, to the election of Mr John Mitthell for Tipperary, and to the decision against its validity. Scarcely had this .been made public when came "the news of Mr Mitchell’s death. He had been in weak health for some time previously, and it had been liopedj though vainly," that the voyage from America, and his native air might restore him to strength. The shock, however, of political exbitement/Wjft too much for liim. His funeral took plaheCt Newry, his family declining 1 bo-'hlioW-it in Dublin; and it may be added,.that, with remarkably good feeling had good taste, they also refused to permit it to.be made the occasion of._ any political demonstration. • His remains were placed in tbs small graveyard belonging to the (Tnitaxians,, of which body his- father was a minister, and* for which ministry it is said that he hints df had been originally intended. The hearse convoying the body was followed by a perfectly orderly crowd of 8,000 ori 10,000 persons, au 4 * deeply affecting address, c mtaiping no political allusions of any importance, was delivered by the Rev. air. elson. It is stated by the ‘ Lublin Evening Mail,’ that Mitchell vas a man of most unselfish disposition, and that notwithstanding his bitterness of feeling to Wards • England fie never gave any real aid to the Fenian'conspirators in America. ThO most Ourionfc problem as regards his mental disposition is, probably, that whilst professing hftntdll-'-a warm friend of liberty on one side of the Atlantic, he should have taken' part as a supporter of slavery on the other; ' I must not omit. to mention a Curious question arising out \ hia .return as member for Tipperary. fie election was Mr Moore, «n4 that gmtlemau now, claims to be the duly elected tative. > Holdinu.irfchat air* MitaheU to W been virtnady the only oandidwe,«: d therefore elected, question fc probably;, ; ;hritce6bnt f | l> but there ‘ Jem c ftW ri JO.s,?%Bß swears A^mihai

goes about “starring” and agitating. A “ demonstration ” took place in Hyde Park on Easter Monday. A procession, composed of the Magna Charts and kindred associations, started from Deptford, and marched through the main thoroughfares to Hyde Park. Music and banners were present in great abundance, and on one of the latter was a representation of the Lord Chief Justice, surrounded with flames. The procession made its way to what is termed the “ reformer’s tree,” where a vast concourse of people, consisting principally of laborers, with a small sprinkling of artisans and tradesmen, was addressed by Mr Onslow and Dr Kenealy. Both speeches Were received with vociferous applause, but the crowd was of such an unruly character that the platform was almost swept away by the pressure, and Mr Onslow had to cling to the tree for support. It was with great difficulty, too, that the speakers were able to escape from the enthusiastic crowd. A few days afterwards Mr Onslow and DrEenealy went to Bristol and addressed a meeting of over 3,000 poisons. The latter referred to the Hyde Park meeting, where, he said, half a million of people had been present “to protest against the foulest crime that had been perpetrated in England for a thousand years.” Subsequently Dr Kenealy visited Reading, where he was met by an< immense crowd who insisted on substituting themselves for the horses in his carriage, and dragged him through the streets amid great cheering and the music of a brass baud. In connection with these demonstrations, &c., it is not without interest that we read of a dinner, given by the Southampton Chamber of Commerce, at which the Lord Chief-Justice was present. In responding to the toast of his health, Sir Alexander Cockburn referred to the gratification he experienced from findingrthat calumny and abuse had not altered the general opinion of him. “ The viper tooth of calumny,” he said, “ w»s sharp, and its poison deadly, but there were things, as the fable told us, upon which the viper tooth was spent in vain. One of these was the confidence—however it might be wanting in deluded ignorant multitudes—which the thinking and educated classes reposed in the integrity of the judicial bench.” “You have toasted to-night,” he continued, “the Sovereign, who is the foundation of all power. You have toasted the Army, Navy, and Volunteers, those gallant fellows who are always ready to risk their lives in the defence of their county; but there is an element in the state of no less importance than these. That is administration of justice, and one of the great safeguards of the Constitution has been the confidence of the people in the purity and integrity of its administration. Voe to those, who by calumny and vituperation of the most detestable kind, seek ter shake the confidence of the people in the administration of justice in this country.” As I write this we have just got accounts of a petition presented to Parliament respecting the TicHJbourne case. After a somewhat protracted discussion it was discharged by 395 to 11, on the ground of being disrespectful and abasing the privileges of pietitioners. For several weeks past the religious world has been in a state of excitement occasioned by the two American revivalists Moody and Sankey. These gentlemen have been visiting our principal towns, and preaching what they term * the Gospel,” It is needless to say that opinoins as to their merits are hopelessly at variance. On the one hand we have accounts of numerous conversions, &c., whilst on the other we find newspapers writing in a strain similar to'the following, extracted from the ‘Saturday Review:’ —“ As for Mr Moody, he is simply a ranter of the most vulgar type, such as a few years ago, before the nuisance was put down by the police, might have been heard any Sunday afternoon bawling from a chair in the street. It is possible that hia low fun and screechy ejaculations may be found stimulating by the ignorant and foolish ; but it is difficult to conceive how any person of the slightest cultivation or refinement can fail.to be pained and shocked by such a grotesque and unseemly travestie of sacred things. Mr Moody’s mission appears to be to degrade religion to the level of a penny-

It. cannot haye escaped observation that month elapses without the account of some instance of clerical bigotry and intolerance. The latest case occurred at Coppenham, a suburb of Crewe. To the intense grief of thote who have relatives lying in the graveyard of the church, it was found that someone, during the night, had destroyed a wooden trellis-work round some of the graves, and torn up eight carved wood tablets. Suspicion fixed upon the rector, but the rumor was at first discredited as too monstrous to be true. At a vestry meeting, however, the clergyman was asked ii he could give any clue to the perpetrator, when, amidst great excitement, he admitted he had acted in the manner described, because the tablets had been erected without his sanction. It Was pointed out that some of these had been in the graveyard for years, and a resolution was unanimously carried which severely censured the rector for his unchristian conduct. A similar resolution was passed at an indignation meeting, and the matter, wears every appearance of blossoming into an agitation of first-class dimensions.