Hounslow has been the scene this week of a sort
of mild insur- rection. A practitioner there, Dr. Edwardes, purchased of the local inedical officer, Dr. Whitmarsh, a share of his practice, for 21,800. Dr. Edwardes was not satisfied with the profits, and bad blood had arisen between the men, when a female patient in Hounslow accused Dr. Edwardes—a married man, previously of high eller- acter—of a criminal assault. Dr. Edwardes demanded and ob- tained a written retra,ctation ; but Dr. Whitmarsh, professing to believe the story, insisted that he should leave, and accept £500' in discharge of all demands. Dr. Edwardes, after instruct- ing a solicitor to prosecute on a charge of conspiracy to. extort, told his wife that Whitmarsh's conduct would ruin him, and took prussic acid. The actual facts are not yet- conclusively ascertained, Dr. Whitmarsh not having been ex- amined upon them ; but the populace of Hounslow, who know all the parties, are convinced that the charge against Dr. Edwardes was groundless, have wrecked Dr. Whitmarsh's house- as far as possible without entering it, and have threatened the woman. The village is held by strong bodies of police, and the- excitement will subside, not, however, without leaving the im- pression that the conditions which in America produce Lynch Law exist here also. Whatever the merits of the case—and prime!. facie, Dr. Edwardes was certainly an oppressed man— the mob has no authority in the matter. The police seem to- have acted prudently, but our laws should make a mob demon- stration more dangerous to its leaders.
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