Punch (12.1847)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

PUNCH'S CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENT.

No one will deny the right of Punch to have a voice, property upon the pretence that by her husband's conviction it has
and a pretty loud one, too, in the choice of mem he. > become forfeited to the crown ! They affirm that this monstrous act
for the ensuing Parliament. We have therefore to c«ll of cruelty was perpetrated by a commission of "escheat," held at

Hertford on the evening of Thursday, the 17th instant. The Times
informs us that—

upon the electors throughout the kingdom to send to
i Parliament such persons, who, if they cannot be
r ji j either useful or ornamental, may at least be found
amusing, by their being adapted to caricaturing pur-

_____j poses. An emptiness of head may be accompanied by

a fulness of cheek, or a shortness of intellect by a
length of face, th t may prove in the highest degree
acceptable to the public, through the representations
of our artists. Those who cmnot serve their
country as politicians, may at least have the merit
of diverting her as grotesques ; and we hope that
^, this will not be forgotten in those places where the
m candidates are on an equality of intellectual insigni-
^» ficance, while one can boast a large majority of
("*!S§flHF moustache or some feature entitling him to decided
pr'-"( '"iiK'nce. An enormous imperial would enable
i^^SSsh t'ie supporters of such a man as Cochrane, for
{$-<-%f% p instance, to ^et up a cry of ••Cochrane and Tip !"
*/r^3 a cry wn>cri the electors of Westminster would, we
J^Lsl^P^ trust, never disgrace themselves by attending n..
d'--/'~~^S^ however effectual it might bs in some half-starved.

sneaking little borough, to which we recommend the
Wandering Minstrel to transfer the offer of his services. One of our
artists has supplied us with a few sketches representing the sort of

" The proceedings did not commence until 3 o'clock, and so secret had the matter
been kept, that, with the exception of the commissioners, jury, and legal gentlemen and
witnesses connected with the inquiry, no persons except reporters were present. "

Well might the authors of such iniquitous proceedings have kept
them secret. But this is not all. The newspapers further relate that
the commissioners proceeded to institute an inquiry as to the amount
of the property left by Tawell, which was estimated at nearly £8000 ;
and that, in order to determine the question, they had actually the
barbarity to summon before them Mrs. Tawell herself

" Mrs. Tawell wept bitterly, and appeared to suffer great distress of mind."

Why, surely all our contemporaries must have been the dupes of some
wicked incendiary. This case of legal atrocity may perhaps be founded
on fact. Such a transaction may have occurred in the dark ages, in
the times of hanging, drawing, quartering, and burning alive -, or, a long
while ago, it may have taken place in Turkey, where it was customary
to rase a criminal's dwelling-place, and to sell his poor innocent widow
and children for slaves ; but at this day, no one, even in the East,
except a Bederhan-Bey, would think of punishing a widow for
the crime of her husband.

What an inconceivable refinement of cruelty, too, to drag the wife
into court to beggar herself by her own evidence ! We will venture to

S!?gw?£™°Uld * & US?ff/0r fthe department of iW say that so shocking a piece bf inhumanity never disgraced even the

and v.e recommend candidates jrt once-if theywish for our support j g/ar ChambeJ, As%0(£. should we dream of seeing the penal statutes

enforced, as the obsolete law which avenges itself on an offender's
relatives. No : the whole story must have been a malignant fabrica-
tion, designed, by imputing to the Crown and the Government a
deed revolting to humanity, to bring the constituted authorities into

contempt.

—to get themselves regularly " made up " after some of the accom-
panying patterns.

INCREDIBLE ATROCITY.

A statement, which really appears incredible, appeared on Friday,
last week, in the columns of several of our contemporaries. It will
be recollected that John Tawell, a Quaker, was executed in March.
1845, for murder ; and that the wretched man left behind him a
widow, and a large amount of property. Now, our contemporaries
concur in asserting that this poor woman has been deprived of that

A Hint to cruel "Governors."—Sons are like jellies ; as they are
moulded so thev will turn out.

Printed by William Bradbury, of No. 6, York Place, Stoke Newinsrton, and Frederick Mu>lett t^ans,
of No. 7, Church Row, Stoke Newington, both in the County of Middlesex, Printers, at their Office,
in Lombard Street, in the Precinct of Whitefriars, in the City of London, and published by tnem,
it N*o S.S. Fleet Street in the Pirish of St B-ide'a ;n the C*tv o' London.—Situbdat. InaE 2(Hh. 1S4T.