The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-25 00:00:00

1010 the Reform Club, failed to obtain his election when started for Dublin after his ejection in 1841 from the West Riding. How comes it that Roman Catholics should be appointed to the stipendiary magistracy of that city in the proportion of six to three ? We must also record our conviction that the present Lord Chancellor is introducing to the county magistracy of Ireland, a most pecu liar class al Ps. No one should be made a county magistrate unless he be a gentleman by position and general repute We indicate the status which may be expected from a justice of peace, when we say that he should have such social standing as to make it natural to see him in the country gentleman's club of his neighbourhood. It is asserted, on what we be lieve to be good authority, that Lord Chan cellor BRADY has gone too far in lowering the rule by which magistrates are selected. We are further assured that there is a perfect fever amongst the Roman Catholics to become justices of the peace. If a man by praise worthy industry in a shop puts together a small parcel of money, and invests part of it in a farm, the priests of his district at once .desire to certify him as one of the county gentry. The poor man himself does not care for it, but he is told that he must "stand up " for Catholic rights ;" and then half a dozen .Boman Catholic members of Parliament are in voked ; every Romanist in the Castle who can be reached is entreated to " put in his word ;" the Lord Chancellor is assailed with certifi• ca.tes, memorials, and deputations from circuit going "counsellors;" the!question of ":respeet ability" is then discussed, and in many cases is decided in favour of the noisiest and sturdiest claimants. So far has this deterioration gone that Roman Catholics of indisputable rank and standing have, in some parts of Ireland, de clined the now questionable " honour " of be coming a J. P. under the present system. They have preferred to wait, and " get it from the Tories," as some of them have said. We call attention to these important matters animated by no sectarian feeling, but we hold that it is time for the Conservatives to be more vigilant, while attempts are made apparently with the design to push the Protestants of he land out of their legitimate social influence. Let it be recollected, as stated by us for merly, that out of the twelve Irish judges only four have been taken from the Conservative Bar; although that Bar is far superior in pro fessional celebrities and numbers to the Liberal Bar. Eight to four on the judicial bench, and six to three on the police magis tracy, of Romanists and pro-Romanists against Conservatives and Protestants, is a most un fair and unpopular organisation of offices. it would certainly seem as if certain political in fluences were steadily employed to depress and damage the Protestant interest in Ireland. It is when such onesided patronage takes place that independent persons become cen sorious about the Viceregal patronage which has been ostentatiously employed upon purely Roman Catholic charities, conventual bazaars, and such similar societies. At other times people would not notice such things; but, taken in connection with the official patronage of the Viceroy, the Protestant public mind be comes distrustful, and trust in the firmness of the Executive becomes diminished. Lord CARLISLE is a most amiable and ac complished nobleman, for whose private cha racter just esteem is felt. But there are certain influences at Dublin Castle which, we fear, warp him from the course which a Vice roy should steer; and in the memory of living men never was the influence of Dublin Castle so steadily exercised as now in the Roman Catholic direction. For some time past all the nominations have leant to the Roman Catholic side. Mr. JOHN O'CONNELL slipped into his brother-in-law's lucrative post, as if by hereditary right. A bevy of Mr. Sergeant MURPHY'S relatives are quartered on the public purse. Twice in succession the Attorney- Generalship of Ireland has been given to Roman Catholics ; and all this systematic distribution of offices is taking place when the Roman Catholic constituencies refuse to elect even " Liberal Protestants," and when they u nite all their fo rces t o d r i ve t h e Con . scrvattve gentry out of the political repre 'imitation of the country. SATURDAY, We are bound, however, to add that in the case of this inquiry the instances are not fre quent in which the Comptroller of the Exche quer was satisfied to give expression to his opinions in the shape of a single assent or dissent. If the question is long, the answer is generally found to increase in its dimen sions accordingly, and in wading through the evidence the wearisome repetition of long questions, followed by long answers, impresses itself painfully as the feature of this inquiry. We must enable such of our readers as happen to have access to the Blue -book to exemplify our remark by one or two references. In illustration of the ponderous and argumenta tive style of question and answer, if our reader will turn to page 275, he will find a question (2768) put by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE QUER, occupying half a page, and the answer occupying the remaining half page ; or let him open the book at page 270, and hP will find an interesting history of prisage and lutterage in England and Ireland, given in more than two pages of questions, by the same learned states man. There is, however, one other feature in this inquiry which we must also notice. The members of the committee generally appear to have stood in the position of being the audience, or as bystanders. Occasionally, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Sir HENRY WILLOUGHBY, or Mr. HENLEY, managed to put in a question; but the whole affair was a conflict between the Exchequer and therrreasury—the Treasury, in the person of Mr. WILSON, and we admit with great talent, assailing the Exchequer with sharp questions, and the Exchequer retorting upon the Treasury with ponderous replies. It is much to be regretted that the inquiry should he overloaded with this departmental antagonism; for the subject-matter is one of great public importance, and respecting which the public are very ill-informed. Seventy or eighty millions a year received and paid away is no light matter. There is not an individual in the whole community whom it does not affect, and yet we venture to state that even among our most intelligent classes there is scarcely any one who possesses anything like an accurate notion of the instrumentality by which this immense sum is received and dis bursed, and of the checks which exist to secure its proper receipt, appropriation, and pay ment. We purpose—though the task, for the reasons we have stated, is somewhat heavy— to extract from the 400 pages of questions and answers, and the 400 additional pages of appen dices, such information as will enable our readers to understand the mechanism of our eighty millions of public monies. THE MAINE LIQUOR LAW AGITATION. NOTHING can more strongly show the social stagnation of the political world as the fact that so much attention has been given to the agitation for compulsory teetotalism got up by the British Alliance. The clear and logical arguments adduced by Lord STANLEY upon the subject nearly exhaust all that can be said upon it. Undeterred by argument, and ex cited by enthusiasm, the cause of dictatorial teetotalism is worked with increased energy by its advocates. It has got its platform in England ; it has opened business in the Free trade Hall of Manchester, and it has its stipendiary lecturers. We foresee that we shall have a stunning clamour on the subject, and itinerant lecturers will carry on a vigorous war against the " Licensed Victuallers " and their patrons of all classes. It is well for us, therefore, to consider the subject in detail. Alchemists did much for chemistry, and phrenologists hive done something for moral science, and in a similar fashion we do not doubt but that indirect good may accrue from the persevering efforts of an organised alliance against drunkenness. But the " United Kingdom Alliance " is of too exagge rated a character, and the views of its pro moters partake largely of extravagance. They overlook climate, prescriptions, customs, and last, not least, the exhaustion resulting from the excessive work forced from our Anglo- THE PRESS. These are matters which cannot any longer be overlooked. We have cautioned our Con servative friends against being lured by the Liberals into the snare of an anti-Maynooth agitation. Amongst other reasons, we have objected both to the narrowness of the object and impra?.tioability of the means contem plated by such agitation. But, as our readers must feel, our objections to the anti-Maynooth crusade were penned in no spirit of indiffer ence to the constitutional rights of Protestant ism. We now direct notice (and shall con tinue to do so) towards the exaggerated importance given by the present Cabinet to the Roman Catholics, and to the influences artfully employed at Dublin Castle to foster and increase the social pretensions of the Papacy in Ireland. PUBLIC MONIES. THERE was a Select Committee last session on Public Monies. It eat from the Ath of May to the 21st of July. Its quentions and answers were 4,647, occupying 449 pages of one of the large Blue-books ; with fifteen appendices, oc cupying uearly 400 pages. Sir FRANCIS BARING was its chairman, and it had among its members the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, Mr. HENLEY, Mr. WILLIAMS, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Sir HENRY WILLOUGHBY, Mr. CARDWELL, and Mr. WILSON. So much for the statistics and compositi on of the Com mittee. Its Report, after the 4,847 questions and answers, is as follows : Your Committee have proceeded on the inquiry con fided to them, and have taken much evidence, but advert ing to the importance and extent of the subject, the in• complete state of the inquiry, and the advanced period of the session, you.. Committee consider they will best dis- charge their duty by laying the evidence before the House. It cannot certainly be said that this S elect Committee, comprising so many able and ex perienced men, after its two months' sitting, has done much in its Report to direct or en lighten the public mind. Something more satisfactory might perhaps have been antici- Bated from the experience of Sir FRANCIS ARING, the sagacity of Mr. HENLEY, the assi duity of Mr. WILLIAMS, the intelligence of Sir JAMES GRAHAM. But, as the Committee have not assisted us, we must turn to the evidence. Lord MONT EAOLE, of Brandon, the Comptroller of the Exchequer, we find occupies no less a portion of the evidence than 213 pages ; or, wo ought rather to state, the Monteagle interrogatories and responses take up nearly one-half of the evidence. Mr. ANDERSON, the financial clerk of the Treasury, occupies 141 pages, with 1,616 questions and answers. The remaining 95 pages are modestly filled up by Mr. HOMY, the Assistant Paymaster-General; Mr. VINE, the Inspector of Naval and Military Accounts in the Audit-office ; Mr. ROMILLY and Mr. MACADLAY, the Chairman and Secretary of the Audit Board ; MT. BATHURST, the Inspector of the Accounts of Woods, Forests, and Works ; and Mr. HoLutios, the First Clerk in the War Department. Before proceeding to deal with the im portant subject referred to this Committee, we are desirous of noticing a practice very prevalent in our Parliamentary committees, and peculiarly to be observed in the proceed ings of this Committee—namely, that of the examining member endeavouring not so witch to elicit the opinion or statement of the witness, as to place his own opinion on record in the form of a question, and obtaining the evidence of the witness simply in the shape of an assent. This we hold to be an abuse of the proper functions of a committee, and has tended materially to swell the dimensions of our Blue-books. It is further calculated to mislead by misrepresenting the views or opinions of the witness. Not unfrequently the question is argumentative and compli• cated. Sometimes it is unintelligible ; the wit ness has little time to deliberate ; he applies his mind to a single branch of the question or argument, and to that alone the assent or dis sent is directed, while it is taken down and treated as an answer to the whole. lli .