The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

T• ' r devised an expedition without a commis sariat—a campaign without means of trans port ; incapacity despatched an inadequate force to atte►npt the capture of Sebastopol; incapacity provided no support at Malta, and prepared no army of reserve at home; in• capacity forgot the winter clothing, furnished insufficient medical attendance, and made the hospitals charnel-houses of woe; incapacity caused the disbanding of the most valuable part of the Militia at the moment when their services were of the most urgent importance ; incapacity still presides over our councils, damps our energies, disorganises our forces, and leaves us to drift on in increasing help lessness, while our enemy growa every day more formidable, and our position becomes more fraught with danger. THE TEA DUTIES. CIRCUMSTANCES have transpired whioh show that there is great laxity, or great corruption on the part of officials intrusted with the highest and most important duties of Government. It will not be dis puted that it is of the first moment that all changes affecting commercial interests should, until the moment arrives for making them public, be kept profoundly secret, that all traders may stand on the same footing ; and this should especially be the case with respect to the imposition of new duties, as otherwise those favored dealers who happen to be in the secret would gain a great advantage over their fellows, at the same time that thelrevenue would be defrauded. Now, with regard to the tea duties, it is morally certain that two dealers became, by some circum• stance or other, aware that an additional threepence per pound would be charged, before the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER made his statement to the House, and that they took advantage of their knowledge to clear an enormous quantity of tea, and to make a large profit by the transaction. From a statement in the Commercial Daily List, to which we aro indebted for our facts, it appears that there are about two hundred firms in the tea trade accustomed to pay duty daily, and the aggre gate amount of their clearings each day would seem to be on the average about 150,000 or 1000001bs. On the Friday when the CHANCELLOR E XCHEQUER made of the made his financial statement, nearly one hundred of these firms made no clearance of tea; eighty-five firms paid on an aggregate of 144,4781b5., not one of them exceeding their accustomed heaviest payment; while one firm, that of Messrs. MOFFATT and Co., paid on the enormous quantity of 325,t1351b5., being more than the quantity of its usual clearances for a whole month ; and a second firm, that of Messrs. TRAVERS, paid on the quantity of 100,7811b5, being the amount of its usual clearances for a fortnight. The totals cleared stand thus Moffatt and Co (A month's usual clearance.) !revers and Sons 100,781113c (A fortnight's usual clearance.) The whole trade besides 141,4781b5. (A day's usual clearance.) 673,8941bg. front this plain statement can it he doubted that the two firms in question had, no matter how obtained, some knowledge of the additional duty to be levied not possessed by their fellow dealers? It is certain, besides, from the enormous extent of their transac tion, that that knowledge must have been of a spe cial, not of a general nature, that it must have been positive, not speculative ; and the fact that it was confined to two firms shows how closely the secret was kept, not only from the general public, but from the dealers, who would naturally have been on the alert for information. The circumstances favour the supposition that these fortunate firms must have re eeived from authority to be implicitly relied on a confidential communication of what the CHANCELLOR of the ExoBEQUER intended to propose. The duty of threepence per Po. on the quantity cleared by the two firms would amount to between five and siz thousand pounds, but their profits on the transaction, according to the Commercial Daily List, would probably be something less, as these teas were on the following Saturday morning, when the additional duty of one guinea per chest was rigorously enforced, offered at an advance of two pence per pound, instead of threepence, being a de cline of one penny on the bonded price of the dealers 00 T-ring, it of the day before. The facts of the case are the more remarkable, as the pr,t , tice in this case is a departure from that previously adopted. The Daily List observes : Of late years the mode of effecting alterations in duties ilea been for the Government to give notice some two or three menthe before the change—Sir Robert Peel adopted THE PRESS. that plan, and every trader was satisfied. We are aware that it will be said that by giving time parties would take opportunity to pay the lower duties; but, as counter bene fits, the quantity thus paid upon would be so large that the pressure on the market preventing an undue advance would protect the public, whilst the Treasury would gain a large present accession by the amount of money andel patorily paid in. Our remarks above apply only to London, but if parties in the secret at the ontports have availed themselves of the opportunity (which no doubt they have) the evil is the greater. Whether hereafter there should be an advance in duties or a reduction, time should be given to enable parties to adjust their stocks, and no Government ought to adopt a scheme which on the one hand may give enor mous gains to individuals, and on the other inflict exten sive injury. Whether such time of preparation should be allowed, or whether the change should take place immediately, is a question open to debate. There are obvious advantages attending the latter practice, as otherwise in the case of advanced duties the Government would for a period be deprived of the desired revenue, while great capitalists would be en abled to gain an advantage over traders in general. But, not less for the credit of Government than for the interests of fair dealing, it is essential that in such changes all dealers should stand on precisely the same footing; and it will be difficult to convince the public that a secret which could be kept from, say, 198 dealers all interested in obtaining early informa tion could not be kept from the two firms in the trade which obtained such large pecuniary advantage from its knowledge. Corruption is an ugly word, but a grave suspicion of it is raised by the facts of this particular case. THE CORK ELECTION. AN able article has appeared in the Morning Herald this week on the result of the county Cork election. With the actual candidates it was a matter of indiffe rence to us how the contest ended. The struggle was one, not of principle in any shape, but of selfish interests; and, as VIM to be expected, the man won the day who bid highest for priestly support. These mock contests are a disgrace to our representative system ; they expose it to contempt, and, worse still, they tend to make the whole business of Government a job. But why was the Conservative party inactive on this occasion t Why does the brave old public spirit of the country slumber? It is on this point that we quote the forcible observations of the Herald. We may differ from that journal on some questions of policy, but we are not insensible to its services, and we are happy to see that it is exerting its influ enee to rouse the Conservative party to a sense of the national dangers, and to the evils which must result from the absence of any system of organised ac• tivity A weekly contemporary has asked, pertinently, how it happens that with spoo Conservative electors in Cork no Conservative candidate was started ? We confess this is a question which it seems to us it will be difficult to answer satisfactorily. There is no use in disguising a fact—the Conservative party are not as active as they should be, nor, we take leave to tell them, as they must be, if they desire to maintain their position in Parliament and with the country. Places of consequence, influential counties, and more influential boroughs, pass into the hands of Whigs, Radicals, and adventurers of no politics at all, owing to a want of intelligent combination, or to apathy, or to some CBUB.! still less accountable. The Conservative party might, by judicious energy, become yet an irresistible power in the State, and command again, as they once did, the House of Commons ; but to do so they must not be mere *Teets, tors of the political arena ; they must be prepared to act — vigilant to seize on opportunities, and sagacious in the choice of representatives. Liverpool was lost by sending down the wrong man—Cork has been left to a scramble between three Liberals, because there was no one to op pose them. We cannot afford to lose opportunities and advantages such as these. The Conservative party should make up their minds, once for all, to contest every inch of ground—to permit no vacancy in the representation of the United Kingdom to be filled up without a struggle. We do not underrate the difficulties in the way of such a deter mined course of action, much less do we desire to under rate the influence of the still powerful Tory party. While England exists as a nation that party must also exist as one of the permanent political divisions of her people. It has magnificent antecedents, and it has a great destiny to fulfil ; but its energies must be put forth, especially in this the hour of the nation's trial. We see the Government of the country in the hands of a clique at once incapable and corrupt, unable to govern, yet resorting to the most con temptible arts and practices to prolong their tenure of office —who make the most important branches of the public ser vic" the opportunities for unblushing favoritism and shameless jobbing ; and who carry their impudent disre gard of their duty to their country to the extent of attempt ing to stultify a solemn parliamentary investigation, ren dered necessary by an amount of official neglect and incompetency Without any parallel in our annals. We see all this, and yet we are content to permit such an Admin. istratlon to lay hold of parliamentary vacancies, and to fill them with their creatures, while we look on, with apparent unconcern. SA2IIRDAY, BY CONTINENTAL TELEGRAPH. VIENNA, FRIDAY. Drouyn de Lhuys left Vienna this morning is eight o'clock. The Conference of yesterday is generally believed to have led to no result. ST. PETERSBURG, APRIL 20. General Prince Gortschakoff reports, on the 22nd of April, from Sebastopol, that on that day the enemy had slackened their flre, which had been very violent during the preceding twelve days. The loss of the garrison had been much less in the last few days than before that time. There was nothing important from other parts of the Crimea. OVERLAND MAIL. The steamer Bombay reached Trieste on Thurs day night with the Indian mad. The advices are dated from Calcutta, March 24; Madras, March 28; Bombay, April 3; Shanghai, March 9 ; Canton, March 13; Hong-Kong, March 15. A rupture with Persia is imminent; the Shah openly avows his preference for Russia. Mr. Murray left Bagdad for Teheran on the 12th of March. The meeting between Hyder Whou and Mr. Law rence took place near Peshawur on the 19th of March. Trade in India is dull, and money scarce. Lord Dalhousie reached Octacamund on the Bth of March much better in health. The traffic on the Calcutta railway exceeds all expectations. Shanghai and Canton have been evacuated by the rebels. The Russian frigate Diana has been lost in Japan from the effects of an earthquake. The ratification of the Japanese and American treaty took place at Simoda on Feb. 21. A despatch from Vienna, received yesterday evening, states that a 14th Conference was held on Thursday, which lasted two hours. The fourth Voint was discussed, and the result was undecided. arious rumours were afloat, which caused a great rise on 'Change. Subsequently other reports ob tained currency, and an equally great fall took place. A new levy of troops is shortly expected in Austria. General Hess's departure for head-quarters is fixed for the 2nd of May. The Emperor Napoleon is expected in Vienna on the ith of May. ENGLISH PREACHERS IN PARIS.—The following have been selected by the Bishop of London to preach to the English during the Exhibition at Paris in the Church of the Consistoire, which has been placed at their disposal by the Reformed Church of France :—Archdeacon Sinclair, Rev. J. R. Gleig, Rev. H. Melvill, Rev. R. Bickersteth, Rev. Richard Burgess, Bishop of Oxford, Bishop of Jamaica, Hon and Rev. M. Villiers. LORD PALMERSTON, apologising to Sir Culling Eardley for inability to receive a deputation on the subject of Maynooth, writes—" It seems, however, to be of less consequence, because I can easily imagine what the deputation would have to say to me, and while, on the one hand, I could not hope to change their opinion, I am quite sure that they would not alter mine." IT IS INTENDED to hold a "Grand Bazaar" in London next month, to promote the movement now making to extend the use of free labour in cotton goods, with n view to the discouragement of slavery - • in the American States. THE Horatio, late 24 guns, now 2 monster guns, is being rapidly equipped by the artificers at Sheer ness. The minimum weight of her shot is to be 3 cwt., the maximum 10 cwt., elongated shot, passing through a rifle-cut barrel ; the minimum charge of powder is to be 301b5., the maximum unlimited ac cording to distance required. The RIGHT HON. J. C. HmtnrEs, for many years equally eminent for the ability and consistency with which he supported the policy of the great Country party, expired suddenly on Tuesday morning, in his 77th year, from a spasmodic attack of the heart. The deceased gentleman was educated at the Uni versity of Liepsic, and was private secretary to Mr. Perceval during the greater part of his administra tion, and filled the office of Commissary-in-Chief and Auditor of the Civil List. He was Secretary to tl Treasury from 1823 till September, 1827 ; Chancel'or of the Exchequer from the latter date till Tamar', 1828 ; was Master of the Mint from 1828 till 1830; and President of the Board of Trade from Februa to November, 1830; was Secretary at War from De cember, 1834, till April, 1835; and President of tl Board of Control from March till December, 1852. He sat for Harwich from 1823 till 1841, when be wss an unsuccesful candidate for Ipswich ; and was re turned for Stamford in 1847, from which he retired in 1853.