The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 4, 1854.

THE "EX-LORD" OF THE TREASURY:
A STRANGE document from the pen of the ex-Lord of
the Treasury, Mr. JOHN SADLEIfI, has just come to
light- It seems that, when first the notorious case of
"Dowling against Sadleir" was brought, in 1852,
before Mr. Justice CRAMPTO':, Mr. SLDLEIR, in excul-
pation of himself, wrote a letter to our contemporary
the Standard. His statement in that letter is contra-
dictory of his evidence at the recent trial. In the
witness-box he admitted that CROTTY handed the
bond to him, and urged him (SADLEIR) to have it
executed, such being (according to the report)
his only complicity in this disgraceful case. In
In the letter to the Standard of August 20th, 1852,
while the circumstances were still fresh in his recol-
lection, the ex-Lord of the Treasury positively
says :—" Now, sir, I wish to state that the bond in
" question was not handed by Mr. Crotty to any
4, person whatever" ! The discovery of this singular
letter, and its obvious contradiction of Mr. S.ADLEIR'S
sworn evidence, have added to the sensation pro-
duced in Dublin society by his position ; and we
shall be surprised if a tender regard for the " New-
castle compact " precludes inquiry here as to the con-
duct of one of the contracting parties.

OTHER BRIGADE SCANDALS.
SOME startling statements were made last week at a
political dinner given at Tuam to Mr. MoonE, the
M.P. for Mayo. It was positively asserted by two
speakers that they had personal knowledge of Irish
members of Parliament who took sums of money
for getting places for applicants ! Rumours to a
similar effect have been circulated for some time,
but we never saw or heard the facts stated with so
much precision. Nor can it be said that these
" revelations" came from the lips of unknown men,
or that they are whispered in a corner. Doctor
GRAY, the authority for one fact, is a gentleman well
known in Irish politics, and, besides being editor of
the Freeman's Journal, he is the brotherin•law of
Mr. TORRE Ns M‘C 111.1.A13 fr, the late Whig-Radical M.P.
for Dundalk, formerly Private Secretary at Dublin
Castle to Mr. LABOUC HERE. The statement of Doctor
GRAY is to the effect that an Irish member—" the
chosen of a Catholic constituency "—consented, for
the sum of three hundred pounds, to procure a
paid guardianship under the Poor-law Board for
a place-hunting applicant. Doctor GRAY says the
applicant consulted him upon the whole transaction,
and made no secret of " the honourable gentleman's"
name. The other statement was made by a Mr.
KELLY, who positively asserted that he was privy to
another member having agreed, for one thousand
pounds, to get a stipendiary magistracy for a certain
person. Five hundred pounds it is stated were paid
down, the office was procured, but the new magis
trate dec'ined to give the other moiety, of what
Trapbois in " The Fortunes of Nigel" calls " the con-
sideration." Mr. KELLY'S services, it seems, were
then required to compel the magistrate to fulfil his
bargain.
Upon these statements we will only offer this re-
mark, that they were made in the presence of the
members for Mayo, Meath, and Wexford, the leaders
of the " Independent Irish Oppositron." Either
they are true or false. If fictions, they criminate
their narrators ; and if facts, they inculpate the cha-
racters of some Irish M.Ps. Our contemporary the
Times (though suppressing notice of other Irish
scandals) has given circulation to these statements,
under the significant title of " Who is the Traitor
And the effectiveness of the " Irish Independent
Opposition" will be put to the proof by the manner
in which its leaders will deal with facts, the ventila-
tion of which has caused much anxiety amongst
some Irish " patriots."