The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-14 00:00:00

RUSSELL. " One would have naturally suppo• ge d," Mr. O SB ORNE says, that Lord PAL liSTON being politically no more, Lord JOHN ~:sseLL would have been sent for to make the necessary arrangements. But the session having pasle d without the accomplishment of Mr. "osiouses supposition, the star of Russell being a pparently in an unfavourable house, and political lx)dies portending anything but conjunction, the Honourable Member for Dover feels that he can ^•ly indulge before the admiring electors in free independent banter. Ile respects Lord Jobs :SELL as a great man, but raises a laugh at his e xpense as a little patriot. He has not, oddly eno ugh, a particle of affection for Lord J. Rus sues proteg6, the Jew, as a Jew, but regards • upon the broad principle—pay your taxes and dinners, and you have a right to represent matter what opinion in Parliament. The (Ou se of Commons Mr. OSBORNE wishes to see to men of all degrees. Upon the broad (4etoral basis which he appears to favour, future P.'s will be under no necessity of being men of p ro perty, or birth, or learning. In a House of Commons constituted on the plan and to the Mad of Mr. OSBORNE, it would be enough representatives read or write imper ly, or even simply made a mark. wish to see," says Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE, a remarkable elegance of illustration, " men . all degrees in the House of Commons, and not to see it kept as a rabbit-warren for the A. I hope to see the honest labourer, in whose cause I have been so maligned and mis represented, voting and giving his opinions in that House." The ex-Secretary for the did not inform his constituents what or bum he wished to see in the House of Lords. plain that he did not hope to see Lord Timm: mu), and possible that in his place he :,t have wished to see himself or his " warm friend Mr. BRIGGs." " The honest labourer," vhose cause Mr. OsnonNE espouses, must, of course, be of the Honourable Orator's own way thinking. No matter if he were in the receipt parochial relief, so long as he were not a Con ervative, or did not wear top-boots; for in either case—and especially if a Conservative in leather -• would want worth in Mr. OsnonNE's eyes, would be, as all Conservatives are pro nounced to be, impostors. Conservative Government which has passed Indian Bill, restored without any renunciation national honour friendly relations between ranee and America, redressed a wrong at "aples, inaugurated a new colony, entailed no • burden on the State, and won favour with , pponents from its industry in the public service rather than from the aptitude for jest or accomplishments in insult, is, no wonder, an eject of disappointment and daily remorse to ()swim:. "The very nanie of India," he us, is insufferable. Ile is unable to look at curry for dinner because it comes from India. w•as unable to take part, not to say make a on the debate, on account of certain strong feelings he had about Lord PALMERSTON. We astonished he could speak at Dover without being reminded of the Conspiracy Bill and an unfortunate and old statesman. The confession with which the Independent (ember concluded his speech was strange, and solemn. " The Liberal party is at this minute something like that noble river alluded lin the Queen's Speech. The Liberal party in a state of decomposition." Toll for theralisin—PALMERSTON is no more; his prin- Tics are scattered ; and yet need his friends despair as long as Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE remains! err 2 -1 Jetts suPP°' onsi He a ccess passed (Isnot a ppari bodio Ilona afely and in Russ} expen enoug SELCS him ui give d no ml House open I elector M. P.'s of pro] Comm mind if re fectly, I w with a " of al " not " rich. " whm " rcpt . ( " that ralty whom It is CrrEL might friend whose course, of thin of pare servati ease-1 —he and w none( AC an Ind of nat Franc( Naplef new In its opi service its ace object Mr. 0 tells et a cur; lie wa joke, o feeling are ast being unforti The Memb even " mini "to in is i Liters ciples not el( multi SON THA N °Meer custoc count satisfy War. We II( make Of corm( ELIA( THE PRESS, AUGUST l4, 1868. the least. A casual representation of Sir C. TREVELYAN'S " that Mr. ELLIOT was an excellent officer " is put forward as an excuse for his appoint meat. If Lord PANNIURE did select Mr. ELLIOT on the score of merit, he has been singularly un fortunate in his choice; but the late Minister of War was not in the habit of giving the plums of his department to strangers; and it should be remarked that he appointed ELLior after an intimation had been made by Sir T. TROUBRIDGE, the Director of Clothing, " that he would prefer " of the two candidates the clever man of unim " peachable character to the very clever one as " to whose private character there was some " doubt." Was any backstairs influence brought to bear on Lord PANMURE ? Was Mr. ELLtor in any way indebted to the Assistant Director of Clothing (Mr. RAMSAY) for his appointment ? We should like the Royal Commissioners to ask Lord PANMURE and Mr. RAMSAY a few ques tions on this point, t hough little, doubtless, will be elicited from them. Non mi ricordo might well be inscribed over the entrance of that chaos, the War Department. But, besides Mr. ELLIOT, there are others who, though they may not, like him, be amenable to the law, are still of question able utility to the State. Major MARVIN, having been sent to Weedon (as chief of the statistical branch of the War Department) for the purpose of examining into the condi tion of the books there, appears to have failed entirely to accomplish his task—no very difficult one. Captain CAFFIN, the Director of Stores, informed the Committee on Contracts (Q. 7,053) that "though Captain MARVIN did " not touch upon it in his report, still there was " a great irregularity in the mode of keeping the " books, in consequence of Mr. ELLIOT'S not " having a store check distinct from the inspec " tion check. This irregularity was not brought "to light by Captain MARVIN'S report." Again, Captain CAFFIN (Q. 7,070) states, " I believe Mr. " ELLIOT would have been suspended for incom -4: potence had it not been for Major MARVIN'S " report ; that turned the scale." Mr. RAMSAY told the Committee (Q. 8,0'26) that " Major " MARVIN'S report was very favourable to Mr. " ELLIOT." This report, it should be remarked, was made in February, and in the same month Captain 'GORDON went to Weedon to supersede Mr. ELLIOT ; but in what a different light did he at once see things ! lie says (Q. 7,253), " I found " there were no books on which I could act at " Weedon." Question 7,331 was very plainly put by Mr. JACKSON, thus—" Weedon store has received " a certain quantity ; Weedon has issued a cer tain quantity; and the difference between the " quantity received and the quantity issued " should be in stock. What the Committee " want to know is, whether the books have been " made up so as to enable you to find out whe " ther the quantities agree ?" Captain GORDON'S reply is equally plain :—" 1 do not think you " could ever get the information you require, " because the Ordnance regulations have been " totally disregarded at Weedon. The books " were not kept at all. There is no means of " knowing whether the quantity paid for has been " received." No one, we fancy, can deny that what Captain GORDON did discover Major MARVIN ought to have discovered. We have had enough, in fact a great deal too much, of this sort of thing of late years. It is too much the custom now to consider the interests of the few rather than the welfare of the many. What is to become of the British soldier ? There must be Ministerial responsibility ; and there can be no responsibility where there is no punishment for maladministrators. The dis missal of two or three of its civil servants for incompetence would be of more real benefit to the State than all the promotions by merit, alias " interest," of which we have heard so much of late, and would make uncles think twice before • they thrust their nephews into high places. lIIETIIING MORE ABOUT WEEDON. RANKS to the activity of an American police Officer, Mr. J. Surrox ELLIOT has been taken into custody : whether he will be brought to this country, and whether if he is it will be a cause of satisfaction to the " Little Big Whigs" of the War-office, remains yet to be seen. This much we however do know,— that ruined men often make disclosures ruinous to others. Of the mysteries and unexplained wonders connected with Weedon the appointment of Mr. I cuor as storekeeper at that station is not JESUITISM. WE all know well enough, or we ought to know well enough, what the world is; and we ought to know well, too, what sort of a moral atmosphere it is which surrounds the world. That moral atmosphere may be as variable as the climate or the weather ; it may be better or it may be worse in one day and in one place than in others : it is always changing, but it never can be good. The actions and the lives, however, of men in general depend upon the condition and the cha racter of the moral atmosphere they live in. Not that the moral law, either natural or revealed, changes for individuals or for nations, but that men by quiet consent agree to act as if it did change, and they agree to talk as if they were acting right. This quiet agreement of what is called " society " does not, then, really represent the conscience of anybody. The courts of Roman emperors or barbarian Attilas may agree to live just as they please, and may agree to talk just as they live, but there is a silent reasoner, a divine word within, which gives other decisions to the man when he is in his chamber communing with himself and still. The moral atmosphere within these tiny precincts is never the same as the moral atmosphere which floats around us in the world. Courts and " society" lose their preten sions there, and there is nothing which Courts and society hate so heartily or dread so justly as to hear spoken what each individual can very hardly keep from thinking. This conscience, this moral sense of mankind, makes all men judges, and makes all men judge righteous judgment ; and wisdom alone is justified. So, then, they who would keep down the world must take in hand individual mankind, and manage to wield the moral sense. As honour is in the breath of kings, religion and duty must be in the will of priests : no immutable rule of right even in secret, no fixed vile of faith after ages and ages of Christianity. And this brings us to the difference between modern and ancient Rome—to the characteristic which makes the corruption of Papal Christianity so much more durable and more enduringly mischievous than the domination of Pagan Rome. It is not merely the customs of courts and the notions of societies that lose their authority before the bar of conscience. Civil laws may be im moral, and, if immoral, they are unbinding there. But the sanctions of religion are of Got). Laws which are to be vindicated in a future life, bind everywhere. To have dominion over the thoughts of men is to have dominion over con science even. To be authorized to make doubts a sin is truly to be as Gon. And jets divinum claims this authority and this dominion. A jam divinum vested in a perpetual priesthood sets up the hole moral authority of GOD on earth. If this be a reality, the moral sense becomes a shadow, and must follow it : the supremacy of conscience topples down before this new tribunal. Without any help from established Govern ments, with established Governments in hostility to it, it is not difficult to see how mightily the scheme would work, if it were once organized into a polity and had its adequate machinery. And, as we have seen in former articles, it soon was organized into a polity, long before CON• STANTINE. There were those among the blessed Apostles who saw the beginnings of it even with the natural eye. And the first great enterprize of that polity, once organized, was against the supremacy of conscience: its first struggle was to bring into captivity the moral sense of mankind. To have attempted boldly to sanction vice, to have set up adultery and treachery and murder for virtues in an emperor or his wife, would have been stupidity,—it would have been as idle as atrocious. It was neither possible nor necessary for the success of Jesuitry that men's habits of