The Press. — London, England, 1858-12-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 4, 1858 ascerta i n ing the Colonel's age and the state of his regiment, for which pur pose he insinuated himself into the good graces of two very acute privates, w ho, with brandy and water perpetually floating in vision before their eyes, and i n su bstance down their throats, undertook to supply the important piece of in - forniation. The astute ROE forthwith sent two libellous letters, one to the dis turber of his domestic peace, the other to General SCARLETT, and the letters containing libels on the Colonel's conduct as an officer were read publicly on parade. Then followed the action against ROE: not for libel, but for inciting the soldiers of the regiment to commit an act of mutiny, for which there was not one tittle of evidence except the pothouse insinuations made by ROE to the two thirsty soldiers. What could have possibly led Colonel lionNE to risk the fair fame of his sweetheart w e are at a loss to conceive ; and it would have been much better taste, knowing AS he did that the man ROE had intentions of slipping the love-making into `his case," to have settled the matter in a less public manner. Mrs. writing to the Times, assures us " there is a mystery in the case ;" and we certainly don't envy Mr. ROE the life he is to lead under Mrs. Roes roof, as shadowed forth in that lady's letter. The wretched man, in de fending his step-daughter, if he really had that object in view, has not only incurred public ridicule by the method he pursued, but his very wife ranks him as a madman, and repudiates his acts. The whole thing is an amusing episode of barrack life, and we would strongly recommend Lotharios of sixty-two, particularly if in command of a regiment, to keep their loves and their sorrows to themselves, and not trumpet their " bonnes fortunes " to the world, simply because a mad barber chooses to thwart certain romantic intentions that arc paid to his daughter, and takes rather a peculiar method of expressing his disapprobation and views on the subject. We have no wish or intention to depreciate the gallant career of Sir JAMES BROOKE, whose military and administrative talents are beyond dispute; who has perhaps more than any other man of this generation illustrated the peculiar virtues of the English race; and who is unques tionably one of those characters who in certain stages of the world become the founders of empires, or the civilizers of barbarous nations. Ile is a man after Mr. CARLYLE'S own heart, and in an age when society was carried on more exclusively by individual energies, would have risen to be a hero. We say this in order that our readers may be quite sure of our sympathy with the man, while at the same time we decline to advocate the principles of which he is just now the exponent. The facts of the case in relation to the district of Sarawak are simply these :—The island of Borneo, though nominally subject to the sway of a Sultan, or suzerain, is divided into many principalities and governorships, frequently at war with one another, and not always respecting even their feudal superior One of the semi-independent rulers, named MIRDA HASSIM, borrowed a sum of money from Sir JAMES BROOKE, who first went out to those countries on a com mercial speculation about eighteen years ago. Being unable to pay at the appointed time, he ceded the Government of Sarawak to his creditor as a security for the debt—which was afterwards settled by Sir JAMES adding another 8,000 dollars, and receiving the dignity for life. Now, MIRDA HASSIM had clearly no right to alienate a single rood of the land he administered as the representative of the Sultan of BORNEO; and the extraordinary exertions made by the new Rajah to obtain the Sultan's con firmation of, the grant sufficiently show what he himself thought of the nature of his tenure. When this confirmation was at length obtained it went no further than the original agreement—that is to say, it accepted Rajah llnooKi: as the Sultan's feudal vassal instead of MIRDA HASSINI. These are the simple facts of th e case , an d th e y ma y b e r ea son ed upon in various ways. First of all, is it to be argued that England must always lay her hand upon everything that offers, because if we don't advance, we should begin to recede ? But we suppose this, if true of England, which we do not believe, is true also of other countries, and would accordingly land us in con clusions th a t wou ld b e rat h er difficult of digestion. Such a maxim might be true or not of a universal empire like Rome, but it could not be tolerated for a moment in a commonwealth of nations like Europe. But we are bound to keep faith with the British residents in Sarawak. No doubt it is desirable that no British subjects should incur loss under such circum stances. But no Government can pledge its successors in this way to what they believe to be an act of injustice or impolicy. The circumstances of the whole case must have been perfectly well known to Englishmen who settled there. If either their own too sanguine temperaments, or the improper expectations held out by the Government of the time, have placed them in a dangerous position, they cannot expect the present Ministry to violate a great principle for the sake of a policy which they did not initiate, and which they believe to be erroneous. The fact is the day for this kind of thing has gone by. Whether the part we acted in India was nght or wrong, we shall never permit ourselves to act it over again else where. To attempt it would be a revival of that antiquated system of foreign policy, which is now generally condemned by the growing intelli gence of the commun ity. _end we are sure that whatever abuse Lord DERBY may meet with from the interested classes, the opinions indicated by his recent remarks on this subject will be acceptable to the community at large. 1185 may have partially sprung from a consciousness among the Quaker youth that if protection was withdrawn, improvement must forthwith begin ; and that their customary costume would become a serious drawback as soon as peg-top trousers, turn-down collars—to say nothing of scarlet uniforms— were permitted to enter the market against them. A deputation has waited on Mr. WALrotE on the subject of the licensing system. This is one of those questions which we really might be gratef►►l to a despot for settling for us. It is complained that the beer shops at Aldershott are greatly frequented by prostitutes, to the detri ment of the young soldiers morals; and it is sought to apply the same rules to them as are already in force against the houses of licensed victuallers. We have no doubt that in this particular respect the camp is a nuisance to the surrounding country, on much the same principle that a garrison town is not usually famed for the purity of its morals. We sincerely trust, therefore, that something may be done in accordance with the recommendations of the deputation. But somehow or other any inter ference with that " drop of good beer " which the Briton regards as his birthright is always ill received in this country; and as for the other evil, it is useless for one class of men to wage war upon prostitutes while another class is doing all it can to recruit their ranks. We must begin higher up the stream if we are to do any real good. The sentence of the Court-martial on Lieutenant LrCKROFT, of her Majesty's ship Hawke, seems a little harsh. This young officer, it may be remembered, lately startled the whole population of Queenstown by a violent cannonading from his vessel lying at the time in Queenstown har bour. The officer had been receiving a few friends to dinner on board, and in the evening he complied with their request to see some firing. Of course the offence was a grave one, and the offender was supposed to have been drunk. Perhaps he was ; but on inquiry' it appears that he was a very meritorious servant of her Majesty, and had served in China, where he suffered from a stroke of the sun ; and it was deposed by the medical witnesses that, after an attack of that nature, any person's head would be more than ordinarily liable to be affected. Now, it may be true enough that an officer in this state of health may be better out of the navy than in it. Yet, we think, if some means could have been found of effecting the same end less severe than dismissal from the service, it would have been as just as merciful to have adopted them. The Dublin papers of last Saturday contained the following adver tisement : " Reward.—The correspondence of the late Duke of WELLINGTON, from September, 1805, to April, 1807, is missing. Ilis Grace was of opinion that he had deposited these papers somewhere in Dublin, on assuming, in 1807, the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland. They are supposed to he in boxes in some public store, or bank, or in some private house in Dublin. Any information that may lead to the discovery of these papers will be liberally rewarded by the present Duke. Reference to WILLIAM BOOTH, Esq., C. 8., Farm-hill, Dundrum, Dublin." The letters of the Duke of WELLINGTON here referred to were written during the two years that intervened between his return from India and his acceptance of the Chief Secretaryship for Ireland. He left India for England on the 13th of March, 1805, and may he supposed, therefore, to have arrived in England about the beginning of September ; at all events during the two months of September and October three events of no small importance occurred to him. He married Lady CATHARINE PAKENHAM, daughter of the Earl of LONGFORD, to whom he was engaged before he went to India. He obtained the colonelcy of the 33rd Regiment vacant by the death of Lord CORNWALLIS, and he was returned to the House of Commons as Member for the Borough of Rye. During the following year he was much occupied in preparing a reply to the assailant of his brother the Marquis, whose government in India had been denounced as tyrannical and corrupt. The accuser was a Mr. l'At - L, Member for Westminster, and son of a tailor at Perth, who had got a fortune in India, which he sub sequently lost in speculations, and then committed suicide. PAIL'S principal supporter was Lord FOLKESTONE; and for a time Mr. WINDHAM and other eminent members of the House of Commons lent him their countenance. Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY must, therefore, have had a good deal upon his shoulders at this particular time, and it is probable that his correspondence would contain many not over-flattering allusions to the instigators of this attack. It is possible, also, that the letters written on the eve of his departure for Ireland might be found to express some very strong opinions on the misgovernment of that country, and the notorious system of jobbery which prevailed at that time in all branches of the Irish Administration. As throwing fresh light on a comparatively exceptional portion of the Duke's career, it is to be hoped the correspondence may yet be discovered in some lumber room, or possibly some private desk. The Quakers have been holding a meeting to consider the expediency All is fair, we arc told, in love and in war and in politics; so we of relaxing the severity of their regulations. One of the topics that came arc not surprised that the Opposition have been truing to establish under discussion is of considerable interest to the outside public. we that the theft of the lonian despatch from the Foreign-office was in mean the mar r i age res t r i ct i ons th a t p reva il in that singular society. No some wa y t rac eable to the misconduct of Lord DERBY Government. ( Naker ess is at present allowed to marry outside the charmed circle of the The worst of these miserable insinuations—at least for the maker of them 1 broadbrirn, and, considering how large a °rtioh of this world's goods has —is this, that they infallib l y aff ect all his future stateme nts, and that th e tound its way i n t o t h e drab breeches-pocke P ts of the peaceful fathers, the Guardian of the Public Weal, having been caught out so often in vexatious Prospect of free trade in their daughters is calculated to excite the liveliest and frivolous accusations, is not believed in important ones. Thus the embotions of gratitude among the male sex of these realms. Probably the character of the whole press is lowered without any good whatever being consideration of a change in dress, which accompanied the above proposal, effected to gratify the irrepressible jealousy of a single journal.