Impertinence to a Magistrate in Court is, no doubt, an
offence, but to make it a crime heavier than larceny is surely an oppres- sion. On Thursday, John Kelly, a young thief, was brought before Mr. Ingham, the sitting magistrate at Hammersmith, on a charge of stealing a pair of trousers. Mr. Ingham said he would try the effect of a flogging, and sentenced him to three days' imprisonment and eight strokes of a birch rod. The boy, with the" cheekiness" on which the class pride themselves, called out, " Hurrah ! I shall have some Christmas pudding now," upon which the magistrate called him back, said he had made a mistake, and increased the imprisonment to three months and the flogging, just thirty times the original sentence. Three days more for contempt of Court might have been fair enough, but what is the impression produced on thieves by a sentence like this ? That there is no law except the Magistrate's will.
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