The Press. — London, England, 1855-01-06 00:00:00

habitually resorted to in all the Presidencies, saving in the parts protected by the Queen's courts—that it has been so far practised with out any attempt at concealment—that in some cases it has met with the European superiors' direct approval, and in nearly all has had their tacit connivance. What the effect of this exposé may be in India we know not, but in England it must be fatal to the character of the India house in the mind of every man, no matter what his party, who is not utterly devoid of humanity, of truth, and of honour. That such infamies should be openly practised under our sway is bad enough, but it is still worse to see the men to whose hands the destinies of our Eastern subjects are committed get up in the House and solemnly assert what now turns out to have been, not only utterly, but noto • riously untrue. With this specimen before us of India-house veracity, it will be the fault of Parliament and the public if they ever again be imposed on by India-house blue•hooks or India-house statements in the House of Commons : and the consideration will further arise that it is on such India house statements alone that the evidence of the alleged prosperity of India rests—all independent travellers and writers without exception describing it as a model of extravagance, oppression, and misgovern ment the like of which is no where else to be met with under the Crown of England. THE DIGBY-SEYMOUR JOB. Tut last scandalous job of the Coalition, the appointment of Mr. DIOBY SEYMOUR to the Recordership of Newcastle (that name again !), has been decisively condemned by the electors of Sunderland. Public opinion, in the place where Mr. SEYMOUR is now most known, was too potent for the organisers of that clandes tine system of politics under which Mr. STONOR was made a judge, and Mr. O'FWIERTY ga zetted a Commissioner of Income-tax. The Digby.Seymour job has brought matters to a crisis, and the flagrancy of such systematic misuse of patronage, under most suspicious circumstances, will not, wo hope, be suffered to pass by without parliamentary inquiry. All that we know personally of the young Recorder of Newcastle, and ex-member for Sunderland, is derived from observation of him in the House of Commons, in which, by one of fortune's strange caprices, he was for a brief period allowed to advertise his won derful assurance. With a cleverish manner— fluent, noisy, and inaccurate—he had some superficial pretensions to play the low part of a " too smart" Irishman. For the last few days more than usual attention has been concentrated on his career, in consequence of his " last words and dying speech" in Parlia ment. He supported the Foreign Enlistment 13111 in a style that arrested the notice of some members well acquainted with his rather peculiar antecedents. Swaggering about his independence, in dictatorial tone he told the House of Commons that his constituents approved oT his vote ! A few hours elapsed, and the loud declaimer was gazetted as Recorder of Newcastle. His constituency was appealed to, and Sunderland contradicted his audacious statements, and by the decisive majority of 956 to 646 put an extinguisher on the license of Mr. DIOBY SEYMOUR to deal in mythical oratory. On the fall of Mr. SEYMOUR from parlia mentary station comment is needless. Of many an adventurer it has been said, that "he " rose like a rocket only to fall like its stick ;" but though Mr. SEYMOUR'S declension from senatorial dignity might have been anticipated, yet few could suppose that a youthful barrister from Ireland, aged thirty•two years, and of only eight years standing at the bar, would be suddenly placed over the heads of far more competent seniors in his profession. But the Coalition, it seems, has a peculiar tariff in its efficient imports. It opens all its ports free of duty to what are known in parliamentary icthyology as " loose fish." There are dark in fluences at work somewhere, which are weaving ibi. THE PRESS. a web of corruption that threatens to strangle the free use of parliamentary energies. The prevalent belief in the existence of those in fluences, and the constant use of certain official names in connection with a wholesale system of secret political intrigue, will make it requisite to examine carefully the preten sions of candidates for important legal func tions. Taking up the subject upon broad principle, we desire that the appointment of Mr. Dimly SEYMOUR to the Recordership of Newcastle should be thoroughly sifted. That Mr. HAYTER, who is not a talker him self, should have had such sudden partiality for so loquacious a person as Mr. SEYMOUR seems strange, though we can readily imagine that the latter might have a decided predilec tion for " the whip." Nor shall we dispute the fact that Mr. SEYMOUR might, amongst other judicial qualities, be blessed with a rare stock of patience, though it is the least national of the qualities of his native land. But, un luckily, Recorders have to try prisoners now and then ; and sometimes prisoners are tried on charges of bribery, and it would be unfor tunate for a puzzled spectator to look from bar to bench, unable to decide " which is which." As the House of Commons has shown such laudable zeal to suppress bribery of electors, might it not with advantage direct its attention to a measure to prevent the bri bery of M.P.'s ? MISS NIGHTINGALE AND HER NURSES. A CLERGYMAN, of uncompr3mising Protestant principle, lately took occasion to warn his con gregation not to send their bounty to our suf fering soldiers in the East through Romish or semi-Romish hands, when there existed safer and better channels for its conveyance. The subjoined letter from Mrs. SIDNEY HERBERT was soon after circulated among his pa rishioners ; and as it was evidently written for publicity there can be no objection to its ap pearance in print :- 40, Belgrave square, Dec. 9, 1854. Madam,—By this day's post I send you a Chris tian Times of Friday week last, by which you will see how cruel and unjust are the reports you mention about Miss Nightingale and her noble work. Since then we have sent 47 more, of which I enclose you a list. It is melancholy to think that in Christian Eng land no one can undertake anything without these most uncharitable and sectarian attacks; and, had you not told me so, I could scarcely believe that a clergyman of the Established Church could have been the mouthpiece of such slander. Miss Nightin gale is a member of the Established Church of Eng land, and what is called rather Low Church ; but ever since she went to Scutari her religious opinions and character have been assailed on all points. One per son writes to upbraid us for having sent her, " under standing she is a Unitarian," another that she is a "Roman Catholic," and so on. It is a cruel return to make towards one to whom all England owes so much. As to the charge of no Protestant nurses being sent, the subjoined list will convince you of its fallacy. We make no distinctions of creed; any one who was a good and skilful nurse was accepted, provided, of course, that we had their friends' consent, and that in other respects, as far as we could judge, they were of unexceptionable character. A large proportion of the wounded being Roman Catholics, we accepted the services of some of the Sisters of Charity from St. Stephen's Hospital, in Dublin. I have now told you all, and feel sure that you will do your utmost to set these facts before those whose minds have been disquieted by these unfair and false accusations. I should have thought that the names of Mr. and Mrs. Bracebridge, who accompanied and are remaining with Miss Nightingale, would have been sufficient guarantees of the evangelical nature of the work, but it seems nothing can stop the stream of sectarian bitterness.—l remain, Madam, yours very faithfully, ELIZABETH HERBERT. If you wish for any more numbers of the Christian Times I can send them to you. LIST. First party of nurses sent out, Oct. 23. Miss Nightingale and 38, viz. : From St. John's-house 6 From Miss Sellon's Selected hospital nurses Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity lO —3B SATURDAY, Second party of nurses sent out, Dec. 2. Forty-seven, viz. : From St John's-house Protestant Ladies Selected hospital nurses, Protestant '4o Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity l5 —47 Total, 80 nurses; of whom 00 are Protestants, and 20 Roman Catholics. We believe it to be perfectly true that Miss NIGHTINGALE 1S wholly free from Romish ten dencies, and, if we are rightly informed, this circumstance has occasioned disappointment among certain persons in the hospital at Scutari, who had counted on her aid to favour the diffusion of their peculiar spiritual tenets. We hear by a letter from Scutari, that the operation of the nurse-system has not been uniformly satisfactory, Miss NIGHTINGALE having found it necessary to refrain from availing herself of the services of five of the White Nuns sent out. We think it would have been much better had hospital nurses of the best character alone been se lected, as though it is possible that the " Sis ters" from St. John's-house, from Miss Sellon's, and from Roman Catholic Cons ents may be equal to the discharge of their duties, yet their employment must tend to create an uneasy feeling in the public mind, and endanger the success of a plan,Nvhich has so many excellent grounds to recommend it. " OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT." IT is very commonly reported, and very generally believed, that "Our Own Correspondent" of a leading journal has lately been unceremoniously dismissed from the British camp before Sebastopol. The reasons given are numerous in detail, but unite in one point, viz., that his statements upon several occasions have been (to use the mildest terms) grossly exaggerated, and hence his sudden and immediate dismissal from the camp. That the Commander-in-Chief of the British army has a perfect right to dismiss any amateur from the camp no one will be bold enough to deny, and especially if the latter, in his capacity as correspondent to a public newspaper, has chosen to make statements or give information which might be of advantage to the enemy, on the one hand, or of serious prejudice to the " esprit " of our army on the other. The Commander-in-Chief is as absolute in his power over civilians in the camp as the captain of a frigate would be on board his own ship. Neither, on the other hand, can we blame the " Correspondent," paid as he is for the information which he collects ; but a little reflection may lead us, perhaps, to hesitate before we accept his statements. The fact is, that a man unaccustomed to military discipline and to that predominant sense of DUTY which it creates, is more than likely to exaggerate the evils of a cam paign—he cannot comprehend this sense of duty which enables the soldier to suffer so much, and it must be allowed that to destroy this sense is a very questionable proceeding, and one not likely to meet with compliance at headquarters. Hence the dis missal of "Our Own Correspondent," and hence the sudden and violent attacks which have simultane onsly appeared in the columns of a leading journal upon an eminent military officer in high command. It is a singular coincidence, and worthy of notice, that the discovery of "want of head," and the receipt of innumerable letters from the Crimea expressive of the same opinion, should occur exactly at the same time that we hear " Onr Correspondent " starts to Constantinople for the benefit of his health. "There's magic in the web on't," or, per haps, some of that material out of which magic is composed. MAJOR-GENERAL LORD ROXRBY, late of the Scots Fusilier Guards, and a distinguished Waterloo officer, accompanied by Major-General Barnard, late of the Grenadier Guards, left Montague-house, Portman square, on Thursday for Plymouth, where both gallant officers, appointed to the command of divi sions in the Crimea, were to embark to-day for the seat of war. NUMEROUS applications have been made at the Bank during the present week for the new form of note, under the impression that it was to be issued on the Ist of January. The printing of the new form commenced on that day, but it willnotbe issued until the stock of notes of prior date is exhausted. THE EARL OF DESART has lately served his tenantry with notice that he would not henceforth permit them to grow potatoes, as they were a failing crop.