The South Wales Daily Post

NOTES AND COMMENTS. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1910. The case on Thursday at the Glamorgan Assizes in which the young woman, Beatrice Moore, was acquitted from the charge of killing her illegitimate child at Swansea in Au/nist last, directs attention once more to the noed of a modification in British criminal law to bring it into harmony with the in- stinctive, sense of justice. Had the unhappy girl been found guilty of "wilful murder" the learned judge would have been called upon to go through the grim process of pronouncing the sentenoe of death, even though it is com- mon. knowledge that such a sentence has not for many veal's beeji enforced in a case of infanticide. The trut-h is that the public conscience no longer, if ever it did, sanctions 'I the extreme penalty being inflicted, having regard to the circumstiuices which usually lead up to a crime of this description. Con- sequently where the guilt has been brought home the pronouncement of a sentence prac- tically certain to be altered has rendered the most solemn of all the aots of the judges a. ghasilv and Auel ceremonial which has 'lost a its true s:gr|.canee. -The law of the land does not admit of any distinction between the deliberate killing in cold blood of a matured human being by a person in full possession of lias senses, as, foT instance, in the Crippen casü, and the kill- ing of a newly-born child by a mother phy- ically prostrated and half distraught with fear and shame. There may,be.. on strictly mora! grounds, justification for this view, bat the latter fails to command that sanction of the average human mind, as evidenced by the extreme reluctance of jurors to giye ver- dicts carrying the extreme penalty, and by the now invariable practice of granting a. reprieve when the evidence prac- tically yields no other alternative. The fact is that popular sentiment, which is generally in advance of the Legislature—as witnessed in the retention of capital punishment for offenoes like theft long after the growth of humani tarianism had caused a, penalty so out of proportion to the offence to be regarded as barbaric—discriminates between this and other forms of killing, and takes into merci- ful account the mental state of the slayer and the temptations apt to assail her when con- fronted with the fruits of a joint sin in which mo.ro often than not she is less a partner than a victim. Two of the most powerful, and searching intellects finding expression in the form of romance during the Victorian era have been drawn to this, the most pitiable class of mur. d«rs. George Eliot, iu 'Adam Bede," and Hardy, in "Toss of the D'urberville?," have disclosed the tragic sadness of the antecedent circumstances of infanticide and the gross inequality cf the burdens CJiSt upon the mother of the child born cut of wedlock. In this the two great writers have not only secured a. hearing for a plea convincingly drafted, but also focussed public attention upon a palpable defect in law, which, after all, is meant to embody in an intelligible form the reasoned out conclusions of human- ity in regard to the adjustment of penalties to the crime, taking into account the moral and other consequences. I^aw, when in conflict with the general conception of what is just and right, is obviously in need of amendment. Even the sense of the sanctity of human life, which renders ordinary in- fanticide horrible, pleads for the repeal of even the pretence of sending the miserable offender to the gal lows. i t

The last twenty-four hours have cleared up the political situation very materially. up the political situation very materially. Posterity must wait for knowledge 0f what transpired at the Cabinet Councils of Tnes- day and Wednesday, and at the audiences with the King; but the conviction is gain- ing ground that the first intention of the I (Jovernment was to dissolve with the utmost j vapidity jettisoning the Parliament Bill and the Budget for Ae current year in its haste. No worda Co## be sufficiently strong to condemn such a desperate policy, which vio- lates the traditions alike of the politician and of the gentleman such tactics as were freely recommended to the Cabinet would mark the nadir to which extreme partisanship has degraded British politics. But when the Home of Lords demanded the production of the Parliament Bill, and were met with the intimation that they would be graciously permitted to reach the stare, of the second reading, but that it must (the phraseology is that of a Russian ukase) be accepted or re- jected bodily, it was clear fcfeat earlier coun- sels had been considerably modified. For, in the meantime, the House of Commons is to be allowed space in which the Sudget— foredoomed on its merits to certain defeat, saved only by an unworthy compact—us to be rushed through into law. So a few of the more ordinary decencies are to be ob- served. But the revision t his not modi- r li fied the arrogance of the Government's bone; I the Lords are addressed and threatened with the abruptness and harshness of some mar- tinet drill sergeant hectoring a squad of re- cruits. The imperious tone of the communi- cation which Lord Crowe transmitted ex- hibits a haughtiness of temper, a resolve to j have unflinching and instant obedience, II which reveals the Cabinet as an oligarchy smitten with every symptom of the tyrant— the refusal to brook the least delay in obe- dience to the behests that have been issned, the infallibility, the resolution to exact the promptest and most slavish acquiescence. The Premier's tone and that of the whole Government strikes notes that are wholly new to British politics. It is the more in- comprehensible when we reflect that a fur- ious campaign against the Lords but twelve I months ago, in which Ministers whipped themselves into a frenzy of denunciation,. lost over a hundred seats and brought the Liberal party to the edge of ruin; and that, as many Liberal writers confessed in the brief calm which succeeded the campaign, in many constituencies it was absolutely im- possible to obtain a hearing for the consti- tutional issue, so intent upon and absorbed were the electorate in the tariff issue. The House of Lords has replied with calmness and dignity and is expediting its adoption of resolutions which lay down clear and reasonable principles upon which modernisation is to take place. Mr. Balfour I foreshadows a House of 300 to 400 mem- bers partly chosen by the peers—who would have little difficulty in assembling a body of the allotted dimensions, which for bril- liance of endowment and achievement would be unequalled in the world—partly nomin- ated from the outside, partly ex-officio by- reason of the tenure of great offices of State. Brief as the time has been, it is plain the j country will be asked to pass judgment upon two proposals—the Liberals vague to the point of unintelligibility, but plainly expos- ing the country to all the excesses and perils of Single Chamber Government, a revolu- tion of the most real and ominous charac- ter; and Reform, lucid, simple, honest and reasonable, such as will yield justice to all, whilst, preserving to the country a Second Chamber whose standing in the eyes of the neutral foreigner is unmatched.

The decision of the King to hold the Coronation durbar in India in January, 1912, in person, amidst the resplendent sur- roundings, the gorgeous ceremonies, and the brilliantly coloured pageants, which will render it the most vividly picturesque of all contemporary functions, marks an event in Indian history which is from many as- pects the most momentous since the Mutiny. To the myriads of our vast Asiatic dependency the person of the Em- peror in their midst wiU command the reverential homage that is the due almost of a deity in the flesh. To all save a few thousands of schemers Parliament and poli- ticians are nothing, conceptions and insti- tutions as strange as they are aloof; but the Crown remains proudly enthroned in the supremacy to which it has been elevated by ages of tradition. The Orient still clings in f tho main, in India at the least, to the most ancient principle of statecraft—the rule of the individual, absolute and alone, that principle which ail our democratic institu- tion and experiments have not wholly undermined. And the Crown and Emperor embody for the Orient the might and the majesty of the British dominion in a manner unapproachable by any other conceivable institution. Royalty to our Empire is a vital necessity, judging it by the most materialistic and purely political of stand- points. A series of Royal progresses through the dominions beyond the seas will doubtless follow, and the effect in the Colonies of the actual presence of the Sovereign, who is almost the only Imperial symbol that ap- peals to the hearts and the imagination of all Colonials, will grave as deep an impress as in India, albeit in a widely different fashion. Distance to-day has been annihil- ated for practical purposes, and there is no physical obstacle in the path of such jour- neys as arc contemplated. Canada is but a week away, and South Africa three weeks; India is a matter of a little beyond a month, for speedier vessels are available for the King's transport than the slow liners which serve our remoter outposts. Much depends, however, upon tho inter- national situation and it is not to be dis- guised that the latter has changed appre- ciably for the worse. There should be no better judges of that than the French, and the French, smitten as they are with the chill consciousness of weakness that socrn.< the political manifestation of the depretised vitality that expresses itself in a death-rate that has overtaken and fre- quently exceeds the birth rate, regard with feelings bordering upon consternation the eiifecblement of Britain by distracting internal turmoiL Those Imperial tours will, if they are carried out with the permission of happy circumstance, reveal once again how great a position i3 that of the Sovereign who reigns but does not rule, and how essential j a part of our machinery of State it is. Deprived almost absolutely of real power, ho yet gathers to himself through the medium of his exalted station an influence and prestige which arc of tho widest ser- I vice to the State in providing it with an ideal for which men can still die, an oasis j upon which they can refresh eyes, aching and we;ixied with bitter political conflict, something icftier and nobler than party, a very picture of the country and the mother- land itself. Upon the whole the status, and functions and opportunities of our Sovereign approach the ideal for that sphere. It may be argued that they would, on the other hand, rivet actual bonds upon; the energies of a Sovereign of genius but for every average and probable necessity I they are ample, and the role of the Sovereign in the constitution has been demarcated with such accuracy and properness that alone of all the varying pieces of mechanism l which compose the State, the sovereignty may be held to approach tie most closely to the ideal. j

The Hussar Brigade at Waterloo was led by Sir Huesey Vivian, uncle of the first Lord Swansea. In Paris the Seine is still rising. In Wales the other sort have been."—"London Opinion." Tom Jones, the Welsh and Swansea come- dian, is making a big hit this week at Car- diff, and has scored many encores. I Tradesmen were well represented on the special jury in the Metropolitan Bank case at the Swansea Assize Civil Court. There are still fifty members of the Swansea Police Force on duty among the scenes of the disturbed coaJ are4 in the Rhondda. "You will be fined seven days, or in de- fault five shilimgs," said the chairman of the Swansea Bench of magistraiee to an offender the other morning. The Metropolitan Bank action was re- garded locally as by far the most interesting ci vil case at Swansea Assizes for many years. The costs run to about £ 6G0. It is at lea-st suggestive that the display- ing of Mr. C. B. Stanton's portrait in one Swansea picture hall produced stony sdlenca, and in another booing and hissing. On last Saturday afternoon's tide alone there were parsed through the King's Dock lock vessels totalling 25,276 tonnage. Doesn't look much like a "white elephant" that I "Have you been to the theatre lately?" inquired the chairman of a Swansea Relief Committee of an applicant for poor relief. No, sir, not since the last time," was the reply. For the appointment of a nurse at Pon- tardawe Workhouse an application was re- ceived from a young woman stating that she was "25 years of age, single, with no children." The Winnipeg Liberal Association has niv animously adopted a. resolution denouncing any reduction in the Canadian tariff. How does this square with Sir Alfred Mond's as- sertions'/ "A man's religion ought to sanctify his politi<s; but he should not make politics ESa religion. Let us remember tliat during De- cember."—(Rev. G. C. Niven at Oxford- street Schools.) The Coronation should haiVe a great chance of success, now that the date has been wisely fixed for June, thus avoiding any clashing with the Cup-tie and League Champion- ships.—("London Opinion.") The steamer Magdalena Blumenthal en tered the South Dock Basin. Swansea, last evening. A "runner"' cleared his chest to hail her, but when he meditated upon the number of syllables he rushed off and had 2i drink first. Mr. E. T. Reed, the genial "Punch" caricaturist, in last night's lecture at" Swansea, professed to share the modesty of "those distinguished hermits." Hall Caine, Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, and the German Emperor. The defective priIlLing of one of our pagles on a couple of occasions i1.illS been due to the difficulties arising from the oomcidence that the tragic disappearance of one stereatvper was foil owed bv an accident which tempor- arily disabled another. +- After the adjournment in the Swansea murder trial on Thursday the doors of the Guildhall were positively besieged, and those who sought to ascend by the spiral staircase- from the town clerk's department found an officer in blue waiting at the bot- tom. -+- A Brighton correspondent asks, "What would the rev. gentlemen say if they knew that their god, Mr. Lloyd George, plays golf on Sundavs here at Brigtiton Golf Links?" They would probably say that our right. hon. friend is spiritually bunkered.—("John Bull.") It is a matter for congratulation that the ferment in the Welsh coalfield has left the Western district fairly well alone. A miners' leader, to whom this fact was men- tioned yesterday, replied, "\es, but it only requires a spark to produce a dare," May we never see that "vital" spark. "A nation which tries to confer on a few men the sole right to supply its market is decreeing a servitude to the vast body of its citizens ID defiance of their just claims to equal laws and equal protection."—(Sir. A. M. Mond.) Who said "Nickel?" Who said "We bar shipments to these countries, but refer you to Messrs. —— — t "I have never done anyone any harm, sir, and I have not lost a day's work in my life until the boss tokl me he had no further ur,e for me last week," was the pitiful wail of a British workman (aged 68 years) when applying for out-relief to the Swansea Guardians. The Guardians took pity on him and gave him an old-age pension of 10b. a week. A Tilansamlet reader has been iound good enough to inform us that the eclipse of the moon was clearly observed at his city on Wednesday night. Inquiries at Morristoo, CXvm, Gorseinon, Pontardulais, Pontardawe, Mumbles, etc., etc.. leave no shadow of doubt that- it was also seen at these centres of life. In fact, it would seem that the eclipse was not peculiar to Llansamlet. So there: Quite a crowd of LlaneiJy people visil Swansea on Tuesday afternoons, and one ts sometimes tindecided as to whether he is in Swansea or L; a nelly through meeting so m?«ny Llanelly young !adios who have oomo up on shopping expeditions. A great deal of Llanelly money gees into the pockets of Swansea- shopkeepers on Tuesdays, and Llanelly girls are evidently under the im- pression that the fashions are smarter ai Abertawe than Llanelly. -A.ør In the Avon Valley, near Nantybar; it situated a public-house known as the "Waf Office." Some of the workmen of the Dui- fryn Cdlliery going to work on Saturday evening met. two policemen, on tho railway near the colliery. Asked "where is tbe nearest pub?" the men answered, "there two in Cymmer about a mile higher up- "Are things quiet there?" "Oh, yaj, but there is one the other side of the river, th^ 'War Office.' "Hang it all," said one p» the policemen, "is it so bad as tLati"