The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-05 00:00:00

MONTAGUE-HOUSE.

IN our remarks last week on the renewal of the lease
of Montague-house to the Duke of BUCCLEUCH, we
spoke purely from regard to the public service, and
had not the least desire to magnify a small matter of
administrative detail into a party question. In the
management of Crown property, harshness on one
hand, and favouritism on the other, should equally
be avoided ; and, were there any special circumstances
in this case which rendered a renewal of the lease an
act of justice to the occupier, that renewal could
scarcely have been opposed by a plea that the site might
at some future time be advantageously employed for
Government purposes. Whether the lease was re-
newed under the late or the present Administration
can be of very little importance, provided that the in-
terests of the public were not overlooked, and that
no suspicion of partiality can attach to the trans-
action.

The prorogation of Parliament is definitively fixed
to take place on Tuesday week, the 15th inst.
The Dauntless, Captain Ryder, is ordered to take
in ammunition, shell, rockets, shot, Sze., and a con-
siderable quantity of boatswains', carpenters', and
gunners' stores for the fleet, and is to leave Sheerness
to-morrow (Sunday) morning, direct for the Baltic.
Cases of cholera have taken place among the Eng-
lish troops.
The Greek Ministry was formed on the 28th ult.
Mavrocordato, President and Foreign Affairs; Argy-
ropulos, Finance ; Landor, Justice. A manifesto,
issued by Kalergis, indicates the policy of the new
Ministry. The Chambers will shortly be convoked.
New elections were expected.

• The commissioners estimate that if the entire population
were married the births would be 1,600,00 n yearly, instead of
700,000 ; &maiming that the marriages took place in eaohinatenee
at the moat prolific period.


THE PRESS.

routbings rn arliammt.

TIIE CASE OF MR. LAWLEY.
Sir J. l'iwaros bad given notice of his intention
to call the attention of the Commons to " the cir-
cumstances under which her Majesty had been
recommended to appoint the Hon. F. Lawley as
Governor of South Australia." Thursday was fixed
for the subject to be discussed, but, before the right
hon. baronet rose to explain the purport of his
motion, Sir G. Grey, the Colonial Secretary, inter-
posed, and after referring to a note he had previously
addressed to Sir J. Pakington, and stating that
" certain circumstances " had come to his own
knowledge but a few hours before, forestalled
all statements or comments from other parties, by
giving himself a detailed narrative containing his
explanations of the appointment in question. Before
the Duke of Newcastle relinquished the seals of the
Colonial Department, after only a six months' ac-
quaintance with Mr. Lawley, but satisfied as to his
ability and character, he had offered him the ap-
pointment in question. Mr. Lawley was anxious to
accept it, but wished previously to consult his family
and friends, and asked a few days for deliberation.
His grace replied that he only held the seals of that
department ad interim, and that he must decide at
once, but added that he would mention his name to
his successor. This promise, upon Mr. Lawley's
willingness to accept the office being signified to
him, the duke subsequently performed. Mr. Lawley,
Sir George said, was wholly unknown to him, except
as a member of that house, and the Duke of New-
castle, in mentioning Mr. Lawley, intimated that
the only drawback to his qualifications was that he
had in early life been on the turf, and was fond of

horse-racing :
" The duke informed me that he thought it right to
state the only drawback which he thought might exist to
the appointment of Mr. Lawley—(and under the circum-
stances he did not consider it as a drawback)--that Mr.
Lawley, like too many young men I fear, in his position,
had early in life been addicted—l hardly know how in or•
dinary language to express it—but everybody will under-
stand me; he stated that Mr. Lawley unfortunately had
been upon the turf. He had early had an inclination for
horse-racing in common with other men in high rank and
station in this country—(Hear, hear)—and, so far from
feeling, under the circumstances, that this was a drawback
against the appointment already stated, or that it consti-
tuted any objection to it, be thought, on the contrary, that
it was a recommendation under the circumstances—
(ironical cheers and laughler)—the circumstances which I
am now about to state. Hon. gentlemen opposite may laugh.
I should not have expected a sneer from them, the members
of a party who have recognised the late lamented Lord
George lientinck as their head in this house—( Hear,
hear)—l should not have expected to hear from them a
sneer which would imply that a connection with the turf
was an absolute disqualification from office. (Cheers.)
The Duke of Newcastle went on to state that Mr. Lawley
himself had become deeply impressed with the conviction
that that course was one which could not be too early
abandoned. He had stated that his desire was to break
off from those habits in which, unfortunately—l say it
honestly—he had been early implicated. His desire was
to break off from those habits; and he accepted his office
of private secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer
with a view to engaging himself in higher and more
useful pursuits, and that his desire for a Government
situation was prompted purely by an anxiety to be removed
absolutely beyond the reach of temptation and from vicious
habits."
At that moment, the Colonial Secretary added, he did
not feel himself actually bound to renew the offer
made to Mr. Lawley. Subsequently, however, he
found that Mr. Lawley himself, and Mr. Lawley's
family and friends considered that the appointment
was still at his disposal, and under these circum-
stances, knowing nothing of Mr. Lawley, not thinking
that a fondness for the turf unfitted him for the
office of governor of a colony, and not a breath of
suspicion as to the character of Mr. Lawley having
reached him, be submitted his name to her
Majesty, who approved the appointment ; but upon a
more recent day, namely, the 2gth of July, the Duke
of Newcastle informed hin that he had received from
two quarters information that rumours were circu-
lated highly injurious to the character of Mr. Law-
ley, stating that he had recently become subject to
heavy liabilities in consequence of transactions
in connection with the turf, and, what more nearly
affected his character, that he had availed himself of
his official knowledge, as private secretary to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, to engage in extensive
speculations in the funds. He (Sir G. Grey) imme-
diately addressed s letter to Mr. Gladstone, stating
that, if there was any foundation for this rumour, it
was impossible that the appointment should proceed,
and that, in justice to all parties concerned, the full
purport of it should be communicated to Mr. Lawley.
On Monday he received, through his private secre-
tary, a letter from Mr. Lawley, containing what be
considered a satisfactory denial of the most serious
charge—namely, that of speculating in the funds
while private secretary of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer. This letter he sent to the Duke of New.

SATURDAY,

castle, stating that he thought its terms conclusive.
So matters stood until that morning, when he re
ceived a communication from the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, whence it appeared that Mr. Lawley,
according to his own confession, had been engaged
in transactions in the funds within the last few
months. The charge was, that he had availed him-
self of his official knowledge. He (Sir George) had
no reason to believe such to be the case. He
was informed that the speculations were losing, not
gaining, and the disclosure was his own act. But he
had felt it to be his imperative duty to advise her
Majesty to revoke the appointment, confessing his
unfeigned regret for the whole transaction, and ac-
knowledging his own responsibility for everything that
had been done. The Colonial Secretary left the case
to the consideration of the house.
Sir J. PAILINGTON acknowledged the candour mani-
fested in the explanations offered by Sir G. Grey, but
enlarged upon the necessity of selecting for high
colonial employment men of proved talent and irre
proachable character. These conditions, he sub-
nutted, were not fulfilled in the case of Mr. Lawley,
even leaving out of sight his lately-discovered trans-
actions on the Stock Exchange. After the an-
nouncement that the appointment would be can-
celled, he should not make any specific motion on
the subject.
Mr. S. WORTLEY, as a relative of Mr. Lawley, gave
some further particulars touching his conduct, and
confessed that the chief object of his friends in
recommending him to accept the colonial appoint-
ment was to get him out of harm's way
" This appointment was obtained by Mr. Lawley entirely
by his own exertions. No influence was used to obtain it
for him—no application was made to the Colonial-office
on the part of any of his friends or relatives. It was his
merits and his services during the eighteen months which
he had been a most able, efficient, and valuable secretary
to the Chancellor of the Exchequer which had pointed him
out for the appointment in question. He (Mr. S. Wort-
ley) first heard that the appointment was to the governor-
ship of Western Australia, and he remonstrated, as a
relative, against so promising a young man expatriating
himself in that way. He then heard that he was to go to
South Australia, and then he and other relatives gave their
consent. When Mr. Lawley received the appointment of
Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he rejoiced
in the opportunity which that appointment would give him
of withdrawing from the turf. But that was a resolution
which unfortunately could not easily be accomplished. He
had a strong desire to retire from the turf, and it was for
that purpose that he (Mr. S Wortley) and the family
agreed that Mr. Lawley, who they thought could do much
better in this country, should expatriate himself. He
thought that, with his station, his fortune, his talents, and,
above all, his seat in Parliament, it was no small sacrifice
on the part of Mr. Lawley to talce such an appointment.
He was, however, advised to accept it."
The Recorder of London proceeded to confess that
Mr. Lawley's indiscretion rendered him unfit for the
proposed office, or any other just now, but submitted
that no worse fault had been proved against him, and
that he stood perfectly exonerated from the grave
charge of having used the information derived from
his official position in directing his speculative opera-
tions. Mr. Wortley then read various testimonials
from high authorities to the abilities and merits of
Mr. Lawley. He also felt the necessity of stating
that, "until a late hour last night, neither his own
family nor any member of the Government could
have been at all aware of his transactions in the
funds."
Mr. DISRAELI unwillingly referred to so painful a
subject, but felt it his duty to defend Sir J. Paking•
ton from the charge of want of straightforwardness in
not declaring the precise nature of the charge he was
about to make. He submitted that the com se of
that right honourable baronet had been completely
justified.
Mr. BRIGHT was assured that Sir J. Pakington had
done no more than his sense of public duty de-
manded upon the subject. He then censured the
selection of Mr. Lawley, irrespective of his personal
conduct, but on the public ground that the governor-
ship of an important colony ought not to have been
conferred upon a functionary whose abilities had
never been tested, and who had sat for two years an
absolutely silent member in that house.
Mr. ADDERLEY considered the Government highly
blameable for their loose and careless administration
of colonial patronage.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER took upon
himself the responsibility of having originally stood
sponsor to the Duke of Newcastle for Mr. Lawley's
fitness for the high functions afterwards offered him.
From his own knowledge of that gentleman's talents,
acquired in the course of their official connection,
Mr. Gladstone felt convinced that his recommenda-
tion was not unwarranted, and he detailed the nature
and extent of Mr. Lawley's services to substantiate
that conviction:—
" There was something in the very term of private secre-
tary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer which did not do
justice to the case. His right hon. friend (Sir C. Wood)
near him, who had filled the office of Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and the right hon. gentleman the member fox
Buckinghamshire, could corroborate his assertion, that the
daties of private secretary to the Chancellor of the Ex-

-

AUGUST 5, 1854.

ereipTer were not analogous to those which devolved upon '
private secretary of any other head of a governmental
department. Owing to the anomalous position of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose duties were more
outside than inside the Treasury, his private secretary had
to perform duties which to a great degree were of an
official and departmental character. (Hear, hear.) His
private secretary had to conduct must important transac-
tions with the Board of Inland Revenue, the Customs,
the Bank of England, and the Commissioners of the
National Debt ; and, in fact, he had to discharge duties
which in any other department of the Government would
devolve upon the chief. He (the Chancellor of the Ex•
chequer) did not scruple to tell the hon. member for
Manchester that, in his judgment, although his friend Mr.
Lawley had not had an oportunity of acquiring such dis-
tinction in that house as to make himself known, yet he
had laboured more for the public, and had acquired inure
experience in the transaction of public business during
the present and last years, than most of the gentlemen who
sat in that house would have acquired in five, or six, or
even ten sessions in that house. (Cheers.)"
Colonial governorships, Mr. Gladstone proceeded to
remark, did not offer prizes sufficient to tempt men
of known and distinguished talent. Ministers were
generally obliged to appoint persons unknown to the
public, but of whose qualifications they had obtained,
as in the case of Mr. Lawley, a private assurance.
Precedents could be cited for similar appointments.
It was said that Mr. Lawley was unknown, but Sir
W. Denison was unknown when he became a colonial
governor. He VIM said to be young, but Lrd Elgin
was young when he first went to Canada. He was
charged with wanting experience, but Lord Harris
was untried and inexperienced when he was
appointed to govern Jamaica. Repeating on his
own account that "until within the last twenty four
lours" he had never repented having borne to-ti-
molly to Mr. Lawley's talents, and recommended him
As an "eminently and admirably qualified man" for
the appointment in question, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer thanked the house for the indulgent tone
in which the question had been discussed, and ex-
pressed his hope that an act of indiscretion would
not close the career of a man who had been guilty
of no corruption, but that an opportunity would be
afforded him hereafter to retrieve the position he had
forfeited.
Mr. V. SMITH, addressing himself to the question
of colonial appointments, suggested that a system of
promotion should be established, and that func-
tionaries who had tried their hands successfully upon
such colonies should be selected for the more im-
portant governorships. There was some attempt to
prolong the discussion, but it was stopped by the
Speaker as irregular, there being no motion before
the house. The subject then dropped accordingly.

BRIBERY BILL.
On Thursday in the Peers the Duke of NEWCASTLE
moved a resolution declaring that the Bribery Bill
presented a case of urgency which justified the sus-
pension of the standing order of the house whereby
the 25th of July was fixed as the latest date for
taking the second reading of a new measure.
This motion provoked considerable discussion, in
which the details of the bill itself underwent much
criticism. Ultimately their lordships divided on the
motion. Contents, 41 ; non•contents, 33-8.
The Earl of DERBY announced that he should
consider this division as indicating the sense of the
house respecting the bill, which he did not intend to
oppose further. The bill was then read a second
time, the Duke of Newcastle having previously inti-
mated that in committee he should propose an
amendment limiting the duration of the measure to
two years.

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