The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 4, 1854. THE "EX-LORD" OF THE TREASURY: A STRANGE document from the pen of the ex-Lord of the Treasury, Mr. JOHN SADLEIfI, has just come to light- It seems that, when first the notorious case of "Dowling against Sadleir" was brought, in 1852, before Mr. Justice CRAMPTO':, Mr. SLDLEIR, in excul pation of himself, wrote a letter to our contemporary the Standard. His statement in that letter is contra dictory of his evidence at the recent trial. In the witness-box he admitted that CROTTY handed the bond to him, and urged him (SADLEIR) to have it executed, such being (according to the report) his only complicity in this disgraceful case. In In the letter to the Standard of August 20th, 1852, while the circumstances were still fresh in his recol lection, the ex-Lord of the Treasury positively says :—" Now, sir, I wish to state that the bond in " question was not handed by Mr. Crotty to any 4 , person whatever" ! The discovery of this singular letter, and its obvious contradiction of Mr. S.ADLEIR'S sworn evidence, have added to the sensation pro duced in Dublin society by his position ; and we shall be surprised if a tender regard for the " New castle compact " precludes inquiry here as to the con duct of one of the contracting parties. OTHER BRIGADE SCANDALS. SOME startling statements were made last week at a political dinner given at Tuam to Mr. MoonE, the M.P. for Mayo. It was positively asserted by two speakers that they had personal knowledge of Irish members of Parliament who took sums of money for getting places for applicants ! Rumours to a similar effect have been circulated for some time, but we never saw or heard the facts stated with so much precision. Nor can it be said that these " revelations" came from the lips of unknown men, or that they are whispered in a corner. Doctor GRAY, the authority for one fact, is a gentleman well known in Irish politics, and, besides being editor of the Freeman's Journal, he is the brotherin•law of Mr. TORRE Ns M‘C 111.1.A13 fr, the late Whig-Radical M.P. for Dundalk, formerly Private Secretary at Dublin Castle to Mr. LABOUC HERE. The statement of Doctor GRAY is to the effect that an Irish member—" the chosen of a Catholic constituency "—consented, for the sum of three hundred pounds, to procure a paid guardianship under the Poor-law Board for a place-hunting applicant. Doctor GRAY says the applicant consulted him upon the whole transaction, and made no secret of " the honourable gentleman's" name. The other statement was made by a Mr. KELLY, who positively asserted that he was privy to another member having agreed, for one thousand pounds, to get a stipendiary magistracy for a certain person. Five hundred pounds it is stated were paid down, the office was procured, but the new magis trate dec'ined to give the other moiety, of what Trapbois in " The Fortunes of Nigel" calls " the con sideration." Mr. KELLY'S services, it seems, were then required to compel the magistrate to fulfil his bargain. Upon these statements we will only offer this re mark, that they were made in the presence of the members for Mayo, Meath, and Wexford, the leaders of the " Independent Irish Oppositron." Either they are true or false. If fictions, they criminate their narrators ; and if facts, they inculpate the cha racters of some Irish M.Ps. Our contemporary the Times (though suppressing notice of other Irish scandals) has given circulation to these statements, under the significant title of " Who is the Traitor And the effectiveness of the " Irish Independent Opposition" will be put to the proof by the manner in which its leaders will deal with facts, the ventila tion of which has caused much anxiety amongst some Irish " patriots." MANNING THE NAVY. The weather is mild, spring approaches, the seasons of late have been abnormal, and the northern ice may break up earlier than usual. Because the Baltic is rarely navigable before a certain period, we should not act as if there could be no exception to that general rule. NELSON had an excellent maxim, " Always be a quarter of an hour beforehand." Thanks chiefly to the practical ability of the late Board of Admiralty, we have one efficient fleet fully manned, but that is in the Black Sea, and, unless its work is effectually done at this moment, could scarcely be here in time to operate in the Baltic on the opening of the navigation. We have ships, guns, shot, and shell sufficient to accom- THE PRESS. plish al that the destructive skill of man can effect. One thing alone is wanting—the human power that is to wield this terrible weapon. It is easy to say that the Russian ships are rotten, the officers dis honest, and the sailors landsmen. They may be ; kit the rudest raft is more than a match for our Duke of Wellingtons and Agantetunons if the former is manned and the latter is not. The Russians are said to have twenty eight sail ..f the line in the Baltic : in a month we ought to be at least prepared to meet them. The Admiralty seem to be aware of the emergency ; for even landsmen, agricultural labourers, and others are allowed to enter; but they will not have acquired their " sea legs " even for smooth water by the spring, and the North Sea requires tried and able mariners to face its threat ening'sky, gloomy waters, and dangerous coasts. As apparently it seems to be agreed that the wisest economy will be to destroy the maritime aggressive power of the enemy at once, we presume the Russian Baltic fleet will be captured or de stroyed within a month after the breaking up of the ice. Men would only be wanted for a short period. Is there any real reason why seamen should not be allowed to enter for that particular service, pay ing them proportionally ? The blue jackets must have lost their ancient pluck if they did not rush to our naval depots, if they could enter on those . terms. And there is one class of seamen, perhaps the finest in the world, amounting to several thou sands, whose services we should imagine could be easily obtained on an emergency for a limited period. We allude to those employed in the various yacht clubs of the ITnited Kingdon. Hostile opera tions should properly be over in both the Baltic and the Black Sea before the season fully commenced, and thus patriotism would be compatible with pleasure. We throw these out as loose suggestions for the consideration of those who will be answer able for any sins of omission or commission in the discharge of the terrible trust confided to them of wielding the armed might of Britain. WELLINGTON and NELSON have gone to their rests, and this gene ration has been cradled and grown up in peace; but "we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us what wag done in their days and in the old time before them," and in those brave days we have heard that if " the high resolves, the enduring constancy, the heroic self-denial of patriotic resist. once" were wanting elsewhere, in Britain at least it was not so. Let us prove to the world that the children are worthy of the sires, and of the fame inherited from the days of old. LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND MR. CROKER. AN angry correspondence, too long to insert, has taken place between the noble editor of " Moore's Memoirs" and Mr. J. WILSON CHOKER, who criticised that work in the Quarterly Review. In the sixth volume is this entry in "Moore's Diary " "' Barnes' (then editor of the Timex) ' beggel me, in anything I might now write for him, to spare Croker ; which I told him was an unnecessary caution, as Croker and I were old allies.' " And on this Lord JOHN RUSSELL comments, to the effect that to address such a request to MOORE was unnecessary, but that, if it had been addressed to Mr. CHOKER, it would have been complied with only while MOORE was alive, and would have added zest to the pleasure of safe malignity " after his " death." This naturally called forth from Mr. CHOKER a characteristic letter, in which he ex presses his belief that " spiteful slyness" is the main feature of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S character. The truth is, Lord JOHN RUSSELL has badly edited the worst book ever written by a man of genius, and Mr. CHOKER, " in the 74th year of his age, suffering " from disease," with his intellect unimpaired, but with those idiosyncrasies which distinguish his criticisms, probably heightened by illness, reviewed that book. Mr. CHOKER, too, had in his possession certain Irish provincial playbills fifty years old, and from these and a comparison of dates he was ena bled to avail himself of facts which were generally unknown, which were not mentioned in the " Memoirs," and which it was not necessary to in troduce into the review. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, probably smarting under the strictlres on him self, availed himself of this circumstance to jus tify and defend the comment he had made, and told Mr. CHOKER that it was because he was the author of that review that the comment referred to was insert el in the sixth volume. This drew from Mr. Csoxr.r. another long letter, still more angry than the • first, stating that he should publish the corre- spondence, and concluding, "If your lordship has " anything to add to it, I request that I may receive " t here by noon on Monday." Strange to say, be fore that period it appeared in the Times without any addition or explanation of any kind ! There is much in this case to blame on both aides. We cordially concur with Mr. CROlan when be calk "Moore's Memoirs" "flimsy and mean," but we also think that the particular portion of the review to which we have referred gave a colourable excuse to Lord JOHN Rt'sseu. for a comment which probably, unconsciously to himself, arose from a cause not quite so disinterested as that which he assigned to it. All will agree in the opinion so generally ex pressed that " Moore's Memoirs " is a trumpery book, and that it is wretchedly edited by a nobleman who had some literary reputation to throw away. Lord Joffe professes that he only meant to do a kindly act to the widow of his friend. He should have remem bered what was said to a late Lord Chancellor when he remarked that "a certain barrister had been very use " ful, and it would be necessary to rewar3 him with a " place." The observation was, " I t would be cheaper to " pay in money." At all events it would have been cheaper in this instance, for the reputation of the chief parties concerned, to have arranged for a sup pression of the hasty inuendoes and frivolous scan dais which are transmitted thus, unqualified and an corrected, to posterity. THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN FRANCE. IT is stated that owing to the mendacity of the " lying wires " of the electric telegraph an order has been issued in France that henceforth no message shall be issued from the office without the formal consent of a responsible Minister. We cannot but think this course injudicious. Mistakes must occur; no vigilance can prevent them in communications of this nature ; and the effect of the order will be either that so much time will be lost in testing the truth of the messages that the world will to a large extent lose the benefits of early intelligence, or that intelli gence which is not correct will occasionally go ford► stamped with the sanction of the French Minister. Under the old system telegraphic information had no weight except from the character of the commit nientor, internal evidence, its probability, or the general circumstances of the case. If people acted on false intelligence it was their own fault, and they can only blame themselves ; hut if by an inadver tency error were to be promulgated by the French Minister, and individua!s, acting in full reliance on its accuracy, were to sustain Incises in consequence, then they would have a just tight to blame others. The object of the regulation is good, but we believe it will increase the evil it is intended to cure ; for under careful official supervision errors would be so rare that all of them would be implicitly believed, and might therefore effect incalculable mischief; whilst under the recent system the electric wires did not enjoy a reputation for veracity; each short tale told by that "iron tongue" was scrutinised and criticised with keen-eyed suspicion, and never fully believed until confirmed by other testimony. gicttion llnttliigenct. Sount Devon. —Three candidates, all of long standing in the county, have already been named for South Devon. These are Sir M. Lopes, the present baronet ; Sir Stafford Northcote, BRA., of Pynes, near Exeter; and Mr. Lawrence Palk, of Haldon-house, eldest son of the baronet of that name. The general opinion is that Sir M. Lopes has by far the most probable chance of success. It is said that the" vote by ballot" society are also looking out for a candidate, to giveithe Liberal electors an opportunity of record ing their votes. Lunnow.—A candidate has already offered himself to supply the vacancies caused by Mr. Clive's resig nation, in the person of the lion. Colonel Percy Herbert, brother of the Earl Fowls, who has been invited by a large portion of the constituency. At present there is no other candidate in the field. WEST SUSSEX.—Mr. R. Prime, who has represented the western division of the county of Sussex for se veral years past, on the Protectionist interest, has issued an addr,.ss,lresigning his seat in consequence of his increasing years. Mr. Henry Wyndham, son of Col. George Wyndham, of Petworth-house, is spoken his successor, and there is little doubt of the result. SOI7TH SITROP4IIIRE.—A requisition having been extensively signed in the southern divison of Salop, calling upon Mr. Robert Clive, the member for Lud low, to become a candidate for the seat rendered vacant by the death of his father, that gentleman has acceded to the wishes of the requisitionists. There is little doubt of Mr. Clive's election, as no other candidate is spoken of He has already vacated the borough of Ludlow, for which a new writ was moved in the House on Thursday evening. The nominattion is fixed for Wednesday next. - - ' C -