The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-03 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULY 3, 1858.

The Times and Globe complain that a "run of luck" attends the pre-
sent managers of our Foreign-office. This is the common phrase of men
who are envious of superior skill. 'We are quite willing to concede to them
that either Lord MALMESBURY conducts our Foreign Affairs with great
talent and discretion, or else he is very lucky.
The American dispute, which had a threatening appearance a fort-
night since, has now passed over, and excites no more alarm. And the
outrage committed on the British Consul at Belgrade has been amply
atoned for. The regiment has been withdrawn; the soldier who made the
attack has been sent to Constantinople for trial ; a salute has been given
to the British flag ; and the Pacha has been desired to call on the Consul
to express the regret of his Government at the occurrence.
The Hon. W. G. E. ELIOT, First Paid Attache at Constantinople, is
appointed in the same capacity at St. Petersburgh. And
Mr. BULWER LYTTON, First Paid Attache at St. Petersburgh, takes
Mr. Emoz's place.

The Church-rate Abolition Bill has been rejected in the House of
Lords, by the large majority of 187 votes against 36.
The contrast is a strange one, between the reception given in the
House of Lords to the Oaths Bill and the Church-rate Bill. The majority
of their Lordships dislike both these measures. But the Oaths Bill, di-
luted by Lord LUCAS, is to pass, because it is the tenth time of asking;
while the Church-rate Bill is dismissed in a summary manner, because it
is the first time of its appearance in that House.
The Jew Bill, when it made its first appearance in that House, was
repelled in as positive and abrupt a manner as the Church-rate Bill is
now. The majority against it was nearly as large. But mere pertinacity
has gradually subdued their Lordships, and at last they end the contest
with Baron Ronisciithn by an absolute surrender.
This brief history ought to teach us one lesson. The House of Lords
either cannot or will not maintain a merely defensive position for more than
a certain number of years. If it contents itself with simply rejecting Bills
for tho extinction of Church-rates, it will probaby have to repeat its nega-
tive every year ; until, after three or four years, it will grow weary, and the
question will be asked, "How long will you carry on a struggle in which
you are sure to be bestas at last P "
The House of Lords, then, must not do, in the matter of Church-
rates, as it has done in the matter of Parliamentary Oaths. Utterly dislik-
ing the Bill sent up from the Commons, it must meet it, not merely by a
bare negative, but by a counter-proposition.
No one can wish the Church-rate question to remain in its present
position. A law exists, which in at least four hundred parishes in England
is set at nought. Supposing, therefore, that the Dissenters were altogether
passive—supposing that they presented no petitions, and proposed no Bill,
Churchmen ought still to wish for some fresh legislation, in order that one
law might prevail over all England.
Let the Lords, then, take up the question. It is one in which they
are largely concerned ; for they are large proprietors, and the Church-
rate is levied upon their property. Let them propose some better plan
than that which now exists—some plan by which all property shall be
taxed alike—while Dissenters, for the most part, shall be exempt. This
may easily be done by charging the rate upon the proprietor, instead of
upon the occupier. Such a Bill as this might be sent down to the Colli-
sions, year by year, in reply to their tender of a Bill for total extinction.
If the present agitation is to be met, it must be met by some practical pro-
position. And such a plan as we have once or twice hinted at, would
commend itself to the judgment and feelings of every sincere friend of the
Established Church.

The East Norfolk Election gives favourable promise for the Conser-
vative cause. That division of Norfolk is such a " Whig preserve" that it
was given up without a contest by the Conservatives at the general
election of 1857. The name of Coke is all-powerful in Norfolk, and that
division swarms also with Gurneys, Windhams, Buxtons, and other
Quaker and Dissenting Liberals. Besides which, the Wodehouse interest
has latterly passed over to the Whigs, and a leading Conservative I'eer
refused his support, on personal grounds, to Sir HENRY STRACEY. Yet,
in spite of all this, the vote was only slightly adverse ; being, for
COKE
_ _ _

STRACEY
It is remarkable, too, that in the two great towns of the division,
Norwich and Yarmouth, the Conservatives had a majority; that is, in
Norwich—STRACEY

-- -----
COKE 772
Yarmouth —STRACEY

COKE 496
While Major COKE'S majority was entirely gained in the rural districts.

THE affairs of this empire have grownup to such an enormous magni-
tude, that they are getting almost beyond the power of any Ministry to
conduct them, however great may be their wisdom, their talents, or
their energy. Everything connected with this empire is colossal ; and
the great danger to be apprehended in our future career is that our
affairs may become so vast and unwieldy as eventually to prove un-
manageable by human capacity. It is well known that a Minister in
the present day has his time so absorbed with the urgent and imme-
diate business which is brought before him, that he has no leisure to look
around him, and forecast for the future. His official duties alone are
almost enough to overwhelm him ; but to these must be superadded his
Parliamentary labours. The consequence is, that the object too frequently
,r.; A rid of questions for the moment, rather than to settle them wisely

for a permanence ; so that this nation is really "drifting"—the wisest
cannot tell where—it may possibly be into the open sea, but it is far too
probable on unknown rocks and hidden quicksands. We well know that
it is impossible to check that enormous and continuous expansion in
every branch of industry and commerce which has developed itself during
the last half-century, nor should we wish to check it if we could ; but
what we do want to see is a just sense amongst our rulers of the magni-
tude of the interests with which we have to deal, and such a preparation
on our parts for dealing with them as, with GOD'S blessing, may afford a
fair prospect of their being dealt with wisely and successfully. But what
do we witness day by day in the proceedings of the House of Commons?
Does there appear any strong sense amongst its members that they are
engaged in one of the most tremendous and difficult tasks which ever fell
to the lot of any set of human beings since the world began? Is there
any desire manifested to free themselves from the care of dealing with
petty or local details, in order to brace themselves for the nobler work
of dealing with imperial interests ? Take any one day's work in the
House of Commons; for instance, Tuesday last. The morning sitting of
four hours was spent in a wrangle about the Galway freemen. These
freemen had been guilty of corrupt practices at the last general election.
We do not deny that the prevention of such corrupt practices is a
very fitting subject for discussion ; but the difficulty was to believe that
corrupt practices were really uppermost in the minds of the debaters; and
the question naturally arose in the mind, who amongst them was
innocent enough to believe that the generality of the constituencies which
returned the speakers were free from the practices which they con-
demned? The sentiments put forward did not appear to be the real ones.
At the evening sitting, much time was consumed in discussing the
management of one of the Royal forests—chiefly whether 3/. or 4/. per
acre might not have been saved in conducting the improvements; and
at the close of the debate a claim was put in, that before similar improve-
ments were undertaken by the servants of the Crown, the 654 members
of the House should have an opportunity of examining and sanctioning
them ! Next came a discussion on the endowed schools of Ireland—a
topic, we readily admit, well befitting the attention of Parliament. And
lastly came the most lengthy debate of the evening—the question whether
a gentleman, who had been appointed to a small place of 1201. a year
in Ireland, ought to have been appointed to it, being, as he was. Secre-
tary to an Orange Lodge. The House very properly negatived the
motion; and Mr. WurrEsinE naturally regretted that, at a moment when
" great questions awaited the decision of die House, and useful measures
lay upon their table," their time, at this late season, should be consumed
in discussing such a trivial affair. Such were the topics which filled the
mind of the House for a whole evening, when the gravest measures of
imperial policy were awaiting their decision ; and such, we lament to say,
is the too frequent tendency of their course. We believe that it will
ultimately prove a fatal one ; we are convinced that the House will not
eventually be able to hold its own, if it do not make up its mind to
confine itself to its truer and nobler functions. It; unhappily, it shall
decide to try and assume to itself the duties of the Executive, and to
meddle with every trumpery matter involved in the administration of
public affairs, it will ere long find ott that it is attempting to do that
which its organization renders it impossible for it to do. If petty details
occupy the minds of members, it mist be to the exclusion of imperial
interests ; and whilst fancying that they are grasping all power to•
themselves, they will, in fact, be retaining none. Rarely indeed is it
given to a single man to be at once grand and minute, but it may be
safely predicated of a popular assembly that the union of the two is
impossible—one or the other it must choose. If it choose minuteness,
it will lose greatness; and if it lose greatness, contempt and loss of power
is the sure and inevitable consequence.

Our readers must not imagine that the whole extent of the frauds
perpetrated in connection with the Weedon Establishment have been dis-
closed ; and no pains will be spared by certain powerful individuals to veil
the truth from the public gaze. The Crown, it is true, has promised a
Royal Commission to inquire into the matter; and we have no doubt that
the present Minister for War will act as a man of honour, and do his best
to mete out to deception and fraud due meed of punishment. We trust
most sincerely that he will act for himself, and not on the advice of any
of his subordinates, however high their position may be at the War
Department. Colonel BOLDERO and others have told the House of Com-
mons and the public how the soldier has been robbed; how Mr. Eli.torr,
the principal storekeeper at Weedon, who has since levanted, received
" loans" from contractors, and forced his subordinates to sign receipts for
goods not received ; how he kept no accounts, and the Accountant-Gene-
ral's Department failed to discover the fact; how stores were sold by
Government on one day, only to be purchased by the State on the next at
double the price for which they had been previously sold. But there is
one, and that an important, point of which no mention was made in the
debate on Monday night. We allude to the evidence of Messrs. GRAY
and MuNno, to the Committee, relative to certain threats alleged to have
been made use of towards them by Mr. RAMSAY (a nephew of Lord PAN-
MURE), for whose special benefit the late Minister for War actually made
a nice little place, of 8001. per annum, at the expense of John Bull and
the welfare of the British soldier. Mr. GRAY, who was formerly employed
at Weethin, and who seems to have been discharged for being too honest,
states :—" 1 went to Mr. RAMSAY for employment. He told me that I
" had no business to come to the Committee at all. I said the first time
" I came was out of curiosity, and I found I had been summoned by
" General I'Ent., and he said it was a lie. When I showed him General
" PEEL 's letter ordering me to collie here, he said that altered the case.
" Ile said if I did not mind what I was about I should never get any
" employment in the Government service; and it' I came up before the
" Committee I should be very cautious in what I said in mentioning any-
" thing about the Weedon Department." Here, it' this witness's statement
' be correct, vi e have the Minister for War ordering a man to give evidence

before a committee, and a subordinate of the War Department threate
ing the same man with ruin if he obeys that Minister's orders. Now, the
testimony of GRAY alone is worthy of no small amount of credit, for the
witness had much to lose and nothing to gain by making an avowal which
would at once make Mr. RAMSAY his enemy. How much more valuable
does it become when we find Mr. Mimi°, a gentleman holding an office of
much responsibility under Government, informing the Committee that in
the presence of Mr. ELLIOTT (who, by-the-by, seems inseparable from Mr.
RAMSAY) the latter gentleman spoke to him (Mr. MirNno) in an angry
manner, telling him that he went " open-mouthed" to give information
to the Committee. Mr. MUNRO further states, that feeling hurt at being
thus spoken to for answering in a straightforward way the questions put
to him, he had some conversation with Mr. ELLIOTT on the subject, who
told him that he had better look out for himself in answering any of those
questions, alluding to questions put by the Committee with reference to
the arrears of work at Weedon. To the statement of the first witness Mr.
RAMSAY gives a positive contradiction ; to that of the second a vague and
rambling denial, concluding with the remark, that to the best of his recol-
lection he made use of no expression calculated to intimidate Mr. MUNRO,
and that he only represented to him two mistakes he had made in giving
his evidence. Mr. MUNRO having heard Mr. RAMSAY'S remarks, was asked
whether he accepted the statement made by that gentleman. Mr. MUNRO'S
reply was pretty distinct :—" Ido not. I positively assert that every
" statement I made to this Committee was true, and I am prepared to
" stand or fall by the proof." Now as with Mr. GRAY so with Mr.
MuNno—there could be no end to be gained by affronting Mr. RAMSAY.
It is true that this gentleman denies the correctness of the assertions
made by these witnesses. We wish that this case of conflicting evidence,
like that in which Lady DiNoituEs was concerned, could be decided by
twelve men in a jury-box. Two things are quite certain,—that either
Messrs. GRAY and MUNRO or else Mr. RAMSAY are unfit for the public
service; and that if Mr. RAMSAY has been guilty of attempting to inti-
midate witnesses, no Royal Commission will ever get to the bottom of the
Weedon frauds until his influence is removed from the sphere of the
inquiry. This is not the first time that we have heard of chiefs of depart-
ments abusing their power in a similar manner, and the sooner the prac-
tice is put a stop to, the better for the country. Therefore let this case
be at once thoroughly sifted. If we have not already given extracts
enough from the evidence to prove the necessity for a searching inquiry,
here is a passage from the Blue-book which reads, we think, very much
like truth, and goes far to prove that Messrs. RAMSAY and Ewcrrr had
too many ideas in common. GRAY states saw Mr. Eworr the mine
" day, and I said the Committee have asked me two or three questions
" conc..rning the patterns; ' and he said, 'for God's sake mind what you
" say, and you had better see Mr. Ramsay on the subject." When this
subject is again debated in Parliament we trust we shall hear Mr. T. G.
BARING speak less like a special pleader, and we would recommend Lord
DUNCAN to show his attachment to the House of Ramsay in a less
marked manner in future. One more observation and we have done with
this subject for to-day, which nothing but a sense of public duty has
induced us to notice. Some two months ago it was stated in an article in
this journal, on the " Report of the Committee on Public Monies," that
the present system of departmental or local examination of the public
accounts was not efficient, and that we were convinced that the system of
the Accountant-General's Department was wholly unsound. The Weedon
disclosures have now corroborated our statement. A departmental audit
of public accounts may be a convenience to Whig jobbers, but undoubtedly
is not of advantage to the State. We trust that the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER will look into this matter.

The ex-Attorney-General for Ireland (Mr. J. D. FITZGERALD) has
been making himself restlessly conspicuous since his WI from office. On
Tuesday night the Right honourable Gentleman, after mature considera-
tion, brought forward an inquisitorial motion touching the appointment
of Mr. CECIL MOORE to the post of Sessional Prosecutor for the county
of Tyrone. It was alleged that Mr. MOORE was an Orangeman, but
the Attorney-General for Ireland (Mr. WHITESIDE) in an eloquent speech
completely demolished the case attempted to be set up by Mr. J. D.
FITZGERALD, and the motion was negatived without a division. It is not
often that a motion made after such long preparation results in such
complete failure. One of the most remarkable circumstances in the
debate was the fact that the Roman Catholic Members from Ireland gave
Mr. J. D. FITZGERALD no effective support. It is probably not for-
gotten by the Roman Catholics of Ireland that the speech of J. D. FITZ-
GERALD, when prosecuting Father CONWAY for the Mayo election riots,
was couched in language which gave needless offence to Mr. FITZGERALD'S
co-religionists. At that time Mr. J. D. FITZGERALD was supposed to
be near the Bench, but since then a great change has occurred;
and the electors of Ennis may at a future time show that they do not
understand a politician who can make speeches in office calculated to
please the Protestants of England, while in Opposition the same gentleman
would concoct futile motions for the purpose of investing himself with
Roman Catholic support. The position of Mr. FITZGERALD on Tuesday
was most ludicrous, when Mr. WHITESIDE produced a congratulatory
address to Mr. CECIL MOORE signed by deputy-lieutenants, magistrate;
and by four Roman Catholic priests. Mr. FITZGERALD never had any
reputation for statesmanship or eloquence, though it was supposed that he
had some discretion and skill as a tactician ; but after his floundering
exhibition on Tuesday no one hereafter will be disposed to place confidence
in his political judgment. " A Jack in office" is proverbially disagreeable,
but the pretensions of a " Jack out of office " may be even more unpleasing ;
and the best men of all parties unite in condemnation of the tone and
spirit in which Mr. FITZGERALD raked up past Irish discussions on
'Tuesday. While listening to his sectarian speech, thinly disguised under
an affected impartiality, we could not help thinking of EDMUND BURKE'S
(1(11'1,1'41110R of the retrospective malignity of those politicians " who
" would exhume the coffins of the dead in search of bullets for assassinating
" tut living."

THE PRESS, JULY 3, 1858.

THE "TIMELY RETREA T;"

t 37

Or, THE EX-STINKTION OF FATHER THAMES.
It was a s ultry night in June, the weary city slept,
And o'er the still expanse of Thames a dark miasma crept ;
The moon peep'd ghastly thro' the mist—beneath the light she gave
Forth stole the ancient River-god, impatient of the wave.

The silver mantle, erst his pride, was soil'd or rent away
By Iron-bound Leviathans, or Copper'd " Letter A ;"
Dull, dead, and dirty were his looks—and thus I heard him cry,
" Alas! can Ibe come to this! Alas! can this be I!

" My banks were green and pleasant once, but pleasance now is gone;
For nothing green can there be seen, save those who walk thereon.
Men praised of yore my sounding shore,' but ah ! too well I ween
My shores' to-day, tho' loud enough, are 'common' and unclean.
" Time was, infinity of fins would cleave this stream of mine—
Blithe fisherlads would haul the net, and anglers drop the line;
But fish are none where all is foul—no net proceeds at all !
No answer to th' inviting line—no profits from the

" The swans that floated double once, like pearls around my brow,
Their bills have clear'd and disappear'd—no ecce signum ' now ;
Dead curs recur for evermore, and most unfeelin' cats ;
But nought can thrive or look alive save antibilious rats.

" Ah ! woe is me ; the fairest spot in all my wide domain,
Fr,m Blackwall tip to I3attersea, is now no watery reign;
The very pool—bad cess to it—is thick as mud can be;
And if you mutter'd what a sink !' you'd hit it to aT.

" The friends who sought me, shun me now—the steamers miss their fares
Of Aldermen from London-bridge, Q.C.'s from Temple-stairs.
The sicken'd peeler dares not watch the outlets of the Strand,
But quits his stand—too well he knows 'tis what no nose can stand.

" Our Judges—no bad judges they—of shorten'd sittings talk,
Our M.P.'s, distrusting lime, prepare to walk their chalk.
I too, them, from 'Westminster must westward stir perforce ;
To migrate is my great design—my source my last resource !

" Yes! I must teach some clearer reach to purge this eye-sight dim,
Some fresher wave this face to lave, so grimy and so grim;
I'll hook it' off to Penton Hook, to Boulter's ' bolt away !
Adieu—a long adieu—foul Pond ! fare-well I cannot say !"

• The Mayor of Portsmouth is said, while walking round the Dockyard with
Wigiaten IV., to have thus alluded to the rats,—" I wish, jour Majesty, we cou:d get rid
of them ' antibilious' animals."

THE ALABAMA " RESOLUTIONS."

Air—" On boa rd the Arethma."
Oh ! New Orleens flogs half creation,
And old Virginny's a prime location,
And a first-chop place is Tenessee ;
But above them all, at the top of the tree,
The glorious home of the wise and free,
Is the State of Alabama!

Oh! that's the pride of the stripes and stars;
The 'coons down there air as big as bars,
And Freedom broods in a spacious nest,
And laws air strong, and virtue blest,
And Planters wallop their Niggers best
In the State of Alabama!

They come out strong in a resolution
Or a 'cute defence of "the Institution;"
They've look'd out sharp for 'varsal laws,
11 ave traced the world to its final cause,
And summ'd up all in a sweeping clause—
The sages of Alabama!

" There ain't no doubt that blacks are born
To pick our cotton, and hoe our corn—
We've seen many 'carnal ills befall,
And some air great, and some air small,
But want of Niggers air worst of all,"
Say the sages of Alabama!
" If Slav'ry's right (and in course it air),
The eend being good, why the means is t'air ;
And thus it's proved, as we all must feel,
That the men which works for the public weal
Ilas a right to buy their slaves—or steal—"
Quoth the wisdom of Alabama!
" Let `clippers' be rigg'd, and `deals' be made,
And the South go in tbr a roaring trade;
John Bull. I guess, will have found his match
When we bring home slaves in a hansom' batch ;
And won't we wallop e'm like old Scratch,"
Quoth the State of Alabama!

i

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