TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9596, 10 December 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Dr. TKMrLE, who has sue« The New ceedocl the late Dr. Benson Archbishop, as Archbishop of Cantorbury, has had a career of more than usual interest. In his College clays few young men, it is said, had more - influence at Oxford than he had, and a brilliant future was anticipated for him. His past life may be divided into three poriods, embracing his tenure of the head, mastership of Rugby, the See of Exeter, aud that of London. From , a young man he assumed a prominent position in educational matters. He was appointed headmaster of Rugby at the age of thirty-seven) and for eleven years occupied the position with great success, "almost restoring," we are told, "the glories of Arnold's rule. ,. In 1569 Mr Gladstone offered him the Bishopric of Exeter, and the offer was accepted. The excitement provoked by the nomination was something extraordinary, and is, we are assured, diflioult for the present generation to imagined Dr. Temple hart actively supported Gladstone's proposals for the Disestablishment of the Irish Church, but the head and front of his offending was his publication of an essay - on " The Education of the World." Nowa- - - days the statements made in this paper would probably not exoile much at lention, but -, thirty or forty years ago they were regarded in Church cirples,os ftyti heresy.,.and Mr Glad* „" stone was actually threatened with impeach" ment for recommending a man who gave expression to euch views to a Bishopric. "A Committee to protest against the -4 nomination was at once formed in London. ■ - ; and sat daily. The ceremony of consecra-i-' tion in Westminster was delayed for three- ',: quarters of an hour, while protest after pro- [•* test was beiug laid before the Primate's >J. representative, and there was a public pro- ,' test in Bow Church when the new Bishop was proclaimed." Throughout the con- , '~ troversy which raged round him Dr. Temple preserved absolute silence. He governed the diocese of Exeter for fifteen years, An 1 before five of them had gone " those who would previously have burned him were ready to adore him." He worked, as has always been his wont, with tremendous • energy, broke down and lived down all opposition, and left the diocese, on his ap- ■- < poiutment in 1285 as Bishop of London, - amid general regret. In the latter important ' and laborious office he found scope for his love of hard work, and even sought out . fresh avenues of activity. Ik appearance and address the ; Some now Archbishop is described as Personal being very unlike the last, Details, being "as blunt, rugged, and almost uncouth as Dr. Benson ■ ,- was suave, polished, and handsome." In point of ability ho is one of thoforemoßbmen ( in the Church, and he is a conspicuous 1 /' figure in the debates in the House of Lords, v i . accomplishing the feat last seesion, accord*; t ing to a London contemporary, of making- »_>_ £ speech against the Deceased Wife's SisterBill which was not altogether absurd. Wβ have referred to fiis remarkable energy and ability to get through an enormous amount of hard work. A fellow worker has aafd 'v ? that "the feature of all Dr. TempleV^-V. work is that it provokes "work in othewi" *' , Lord Salisbury, who is no idler but probably^,,' . one of the bueiest men in England, is %i reported to have eaid not long was ashamed to talk of hard work in the,;, ,; presence of Dr. Temple. Whatever otKer :f. genius he possesses he certainly has that;' --, which is described as the capacity for taking . infinite pains. But he ie not, strictly speak* .. ing, a popular man. Hβ has a will; of M* '""■ own, and in this respect he is said to have \\ been the real Archbiehop of Canterbury, , throughout Dr. Benson's tenure of th*t 't * position. "He is perhaps more feared by >' his clergy than beloved," says one of hie < , . biographers,. who also reminds him tbftt - "courtesy is a Christian virtue, beeides being*".-; a social accomplishment, and that the official. .Jyj representative of the national Church if.4£ something more than a glorified school. ,7 master." His administration of the diocese -? of London is said to have been > for his fairness to men of 'W~t\% schools of thought, and the schoolboy y verdict upon him in his Rugby days, V that he was "a beast, but a just beast,' , >» v > thus confirmed, so far as his justness w concerned. He has never been a "society'/-' .- Bishop, and will probably never make, the. courtier that the late Archbishop wan. .He has been a devoted advocate of the caute of " temperance, and even of total v'r for many years. From a physical point ot -. »j» view.his appointment is rather anexperiment, for he is now past eevonty-fiw, »tii >" his eyesight is failing fast. It may be noted. [;_ v that Mr Gladstone in appointing Dγ* Benson .\ , r passed over Dr. Harold Brown on account, ; ■ of hie being a septuagenarian, ;' ; Brown is reported to have thought rather -:; incongruous action on the part of a eeptua- '•,- « gonarian Prime Minister. /' \?'\ An extraordinary case ol r^*", A the miscarriage of justice ' Miscarriage has juet been made public,;, .q of Justice, at Amiens, when a wonaiia^-'^^ named Drnaux was acquitteo,'-' , '!; of the oharge of committing two n»tttder#/

for which she has suffered eight years' imprisonment. Rather more than eight years ago she and her husband lived in a town near Rouen. He worked in a factory and she kept a wine shop. It had bsen a love marriage on the husband's part, and he was completely under his wife's thumb. She was said to drink, and her husband also suspecteu lior of infidelity, so that coming upon licr standing at her door flirting with an admin , '* he turned her away, and would only take her luck on her promise that she would give up the wine shop. Three days later he and his yo»*>g brother-in-law were found dead in his house under circumstances which pointed to poisoning. Madame Druaux was arrested on suspicion, as she had been heard to say it would be lucky if her husband died, ami, three medical experts declaring ,thi»t tho decease :1 had been poisoned, she was sentenced to penal servitude for life. Her conviction was in part due to the pronounced bias of the presiding judge against her, although it is said that any jury in England would probably have convicted upon the evidence. Her property was sold to defray the costs of the case, her little daughter was sent to the Foundling Hospital, and the wine chop was let. It seemed, however, as if some evil influence haunted it. " The wife of its next tenant Buffered from fainting fits, andoneofcernoon her corpse was found lying at the foot of the stairs. A doctor who examined it certified an aneurism, but the husband fled in terror from the country. The succeeding tenants were a newly-married pair named Pubanlt. They also had fainting fits, lost their memory, and weve too glad to get away alive from the accursed house, as it w&s called." Another tenant who took it on luasa left it and was sued by the landlord. When the case was taken to Court a medical examination of the building was ordered. It was then found that the wall dividing it from a limekiln was cracked in many places, and whenever lime was made monoxydo of carbon escaped through these cracks. Three doctors who examined the exhumed corpses of those who had died in the house assorted that death had in each case been caused hy the poisonous gae. All had, it eeenis, died while the kiln was in operation. Some lovers of justice raised a fund so that proceedings for tho vindication of the woman Dniaux might be set on foot, and after some delay this was done, with the result that ehe was formally acquitted of the crime for which ehe had been convicted. Dr. Brouardel, Dean of tho Paris Faculty of Medicine, declared that if tho three experts, whose testimony had sent her to prison, had made proper tests they would have discovered the real cause of the death of the two men in ten minutes. The scene in Court was a most painful one. Boside the unfortunate woman stood a handsome girl, herdaughtcr. Madame Druaux conld hardly speak for emotion. "To have lost my husband," she cried, " and all we scraped together, and to find myself now a pauper and forgotten by jny child !" Then turning to the Judge : " See, here, M. le Juge, I went to gaol young. Here lam now an old hag, bent in two from grief, hardship and rheumatism." The verdict of " Not guilty " was received with loud applause. Madame Druaux, through her counsel, then applied for £6000 j damages, to which tho Public Prosecutor demurred, paying that tho fact of her innocence would be in the papers and that ought to console her for her sufferings. The Judge, however, allowed £1600 damages, and ordered that by means of Advertisements and placards the facts of the case should be circulated throughout the district.