The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-18 00:00:00

AN EX CHIEF JUSTICE.

THE Sligo Election Committee of 1853 reported in
the following terms :
" That Jeremiah Joyce O'Donovan, an Alderman of the
borough of Sligo, was bribed by Henry Stoner by the pro•
miss of payment of lOU, being the portion of an out•
standing election account, to forbear giving his vote, which
he had promised to Mr. Somers, and in consequence absented
himself during the election."
Subsequently to this conviction, notwithstanding
his Grace the Duke of NEWCASTI.E is a noted purist
and colonial reformer, this same Mr. STONOR was ap-
pointed to be a judge in one of her Majesty's colonies.
To illustrate this appointment in the language of the
Ministerial organ,
" when a man is sent to a colony, a gold colony, and
once a penal colony, to take his seat on the bench, and in-
terpret laws to that mixed and ill organised population, he
ought to be not only untainted and unbranded, but above
suspicion. He has .to be a model of purity. He
has to be honoured and trusted. The colonists are to
see in him a singular exception to the corrupt tone of their
own dismal society. But, when this image of old virtue
has been set up, what a downfal, what a scandal, when it is
discovered that our rir pietate graris has dabbled in bribery !
Colonial awe will give way to ridicule, and the grandsons
of felons will hail a kinsman, and felons themselves at the
duck will be ready to shake hands with their brother on the
bench. It is of more consequence there than in this coun-
try. Here we just see how a man may be honest, and
possibly good, even if he has had a hand in ' transactions.'
In the colonies the rules of morality, if ruder, must be more
emphatic. Bribery must be bribery, and rubbery must be
robbery, to suit the colonial apprehensions."
Notwithstanding, however, the eminent disqualifi-
cation of Mr. STONOR for the special function con-
fided to him, he was actually on his way to adminis-
ter justice at the antipodes when Mr. MooRE, in the
House of Commons on Monday last, put a question
which was answered by Mr. FREDERICK PEEL to the
effect that Mr. SToNon was appointed "in respect of
" his professional attainments and entire fitness to fill
" the situation to which he had been recommended ;"
and though the decision of the committee VMS not, at
the time known to himself or the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE, yet " having had an opportunity of examin-
" ing the evidence," Sze., they "were not of opinion
" it afibrded a sufficient ground for cancelling the
" appointment." In the course of the debate which
followed, various gentlemen, including the chairman
of the committee who had made the report, expressed
their dissent from Mr. PEEL'S inferences so distinctly
and indignantly that on Thursday he was again
obliged to rise in the House and state that his Grace
the Duke of NEWCASTLE no longer recommended the
confirmation of the appointment. Mr. PEEL ad-
mitted that a printed paper by Mr. STONOR, relative
to the resolution of the committee, bad passed un-
heeded by himself or the clerk whose duty it was to
inspect the testimonials. Again an unhappy clerk
stands sponsor for the Inches, to call it by no worse name,
of his political superior. To make no harsh inferences,
until Mr. MoonE broughtthe matter before the House,
the Colonial-office had not heard of the gross charges
against Mr. SlioNon of Sligo election notoriety !
What becomes, then, of those superlative talents for
administration of which the Peelites pre-eminently
boast the possession ? They first appoint a man un-
fit to be a judge; they then defend his continuance
upon the bench on their own responsibility ; but,
frightened by the temper of the House of Commons,
they cancel on Thursday what they commended on
Monday ; and before the week is half over they seek
to throw the burden of blame upon the clerk who
omitted to examine the packet of testimonials!
This occurs when we are threatened with Govern-

243

went by clerks on a scale to which we have been
hitherto strangers. And the moral of the story
remains as pointed by the Times in a leader of
Friday, that Mr. STUNOR, " otherwise a worthy
" gentleman, has been taught ; "that " the members
" of the House are generally one as bad as another ;
" but they are not all equally found out." Some of
them, it is true, can participate in divisions on this
very subject which they opportunely forget. But
we can leave this story as it stands, without com-
ment. Both facts and moral are at the service of
the pure Peelites.

244

died in the discharge of his duty,—in the field of his
labours. He has died as he lived, uttering noble
thoughts clothed in noble words, and feeling deeply
all he spoke. His relatives, struck by the sudden
shock, may remember that it is in truth a mercy to
be spared the protracted misery of marking the
fading of the lustrous eye, the faltering of the
eloquent tongue, and, sadder still, the failing powers
of the brain of genius. These they have been
spared, and, if their distinguished relative died too
early for their happiness, he had lived long enough
for his fame.

THE GUANO SUPPLY.
THE following letter, greatly curtailed for the sake
of its inconvenient length, is inserted on account of
the practical importance of the subject, and the esti-
mation in which we hold the opinion of the writer:—
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."

Sir,—Allow me a few more words on the guano ques•
tion, although I am aware your columns are much en.
gaged at this season. It appears that the debt contracted
by Peru to our bondholders in 1822 was 1,800,0001., at an
interest which was gradually as much as 8 per cent. by April
in 18.13. This debt was reduced from 1822 to 1825 to
1,400,0 NU. An accumulation of interest from 1825 to
1849 created another debt of 1,900,0001., which wail to bear
3 per cent. interest. The entire debt was to be reduced
by a sinking fund of 1 per cent. on the original debt, and
of 8 per cent. on the accumulated interest, and also by half
the sales of guano effected by Peru.
That State has, therefore, to provide every year for the
bondholders in interest and sinking fund 170,500/., besides
half the sales of guano. It was supposed in 1851 that, at
this rate, the debt could not be liquidated in less time
than fifty years.
Let us estimate if the guano deposits will afford the ne-
cessary quantity for that length of time. The interest and
sinking fund will require 16,634 tons per annum at 101. 55.,
the price now demanded per ton. Admiral Moresby says
that the deposits on the Chincha Islands will not last
beyond nine years. I never gave credence to this state-
ment, although apparently circumstantially supported. A
French engineer, M. C. Faraquet, employed by the Peru-
vian Government, reports that on the
Northern Island are
Central Island
Southern Island

In all
This is the supply from the Chinches alone, indepen-
dently of that from the Lobos Islands. In so far, there-
fore, as the interests of the bondholders are concerned
their debt seems amply secured to them, and it would be so
were the importation of guano to reach 263,823 tons for
fifty years to come.
Our minds being thus made easy on the score of secu-
rity, it seems to me that if Mr. Disraeli had proposed in
his budget to pay off the debt of 3,300,0001. by estimating its
present value, at the rate and time for its redemption, the
sum would not have been so great as to deter Parliament
from agreeing to It, seeing that every party acknowledged
that the agricultural interest was entitled to some favour.
able consideration from the sudden and violent manner in
which Parliament had chosen to deprive it of protection,
and to expose it to unlimited competition. The Peru-
vians could not have objected to be freed of an incon-
venient debt. The bondholders would have been glad to
receive their claims in hand at once. In making such a
proposal Mr. Disraeli would have taken care to secure the
cost of guano at a moderate rate to our farmers, say at 61.
or 71. per ton, including freight and duty, for an unlimited
period to come.
Now, a full supply of guano at a moderate cost would be
of immediate advantage to agriculture. It would greatly
add to production and leave a handsome profit to the
farmer. It is found that three cwt. of guano to the acre,
in addition to onlinary manuring, gives an increase of
five or six tons of turnips, and from six to nine bushels of
wheat. The average value of the three varieties of turnips
in common use, the white, the yellow, and swedes, may be
taken at 71. the ton. The increase may then be estimated at
from 335. to 425. the acre. Wheat at ss. the bushel would give
an increase of from 30s. to -Os. an acre. At present prices
wheat would yield double those amounts. It is thus evident
that guano at I ls. per owt. leaves no profit worth the trouble
of procuring it. Make the price Os. or 7s. per cwt., and the
inducement to use guano is increased in a great pro-
portion.
The main object of our Government ought to be to make
as good a bargain as possible with Peru for a specified sup-
ply as, the least, every year, at a more moderate sum than
has been paid for some years past. I observe that indig-
nation is expressed by some parties at certain alleged ad-
vantages denied to the country being given to the Ameri-
cans in the sale of guano. What these may be we are not
told, but should they receive guano at a cheaper rate than
we do it need excite no surprise, since the Peruvians have
no debt to liquidate with the Americans. They can, there-
fore, trade with them on natural grounds, whilst the trade
with us is trammelled with debt, and this is the position of
every transaction we have with every nation. Debt, for or
against us, interposes in every matter of business, and
hence the impracticability of a genuine free trade.
H. S.

The French and Emglish Ambassadors had an
audience of King Othoon the 3rd, and communicated
to him their instructions; at the same time promising
assistance in case the insurgents should foment dis-
turbances in the Greek territory. The King engaged
to observe a strict neutrality, and expressed a hope
that there would be no necessity for aid.

THE PRESS.

toutVings 111 ilatlinutent.

RUSSIA AND " THE TIMES."
On Monday, in the Peers, attention was called by
the Earl of DERBY to an article extracted from the
Journal de St. Petersbourg, as well as to the comments
on it which appeared in the Times of Saturday last.
It was evident, he said, and no disclaimer on the part
of Lord Aberdeen would convince him to the con-
trary, that the information contained in these com-
ments could only have been furnished to the Times
by some person in an official position. How was it
that documents of so confidential a nature that they
were withdrawn from the papers on the Eastern
question presented to Parliament had now come into
the possession of the Times for publication; and
what became of all the asseverations of the Govern-
ment as to its having been deceived by Russia, when
it appeared that this confidential correspondence con-
tained proof that the secret designs of Russia on
Turkey had been revealed to the Government even
before Prince Menschikoff's mission? He wished to
know whether the Government had any knowledge
as to the means through which the Times derived
its information, and whether it was prepared to lay
the correspondence in question before the house, to-
gether with any other communications which might
have passed between the Emperor of Russia and the
British Government on the subject.
The Earl of ABERDEEN assured Lord Derby that
he knew nothing of the article in question, that he
had never even seen it until that morning, and could
not guess by what channel the information it con-
tained could have reached the editor:—
" In reference to the comments upon the extracts from
the St. Petersburg Journal, as published in the Times news-
paper, the noble earl may be surprised, considering as he
does that there is some connection on the part of her Ma•
jesty's Government, and particularly of mine, with the
Times, to learn that until this moment I never read or
heard of those comments. (Hear, hear.) I never heard
of them either directly or indirectly; moreover, and 1 find
some advantage in approaching this subject in the fact—l
have neither directly nor indirectly the remotest conception
of the origin of those communications—(loud cheers from
the Ministerial benches)—and am perfectly free, therefore,
of the source from whence they emanate. I don't know
that I can say anything more than that. Being in total
ignorance of the matter, of course I cannot form any con-
jecture, unless it be, as I have recently heard, that a clerk
in the office over which my noble friend (Lord Clarendon )
presides—but who is now no longer in that office, but who
was, I believe, introduced by the noble earl opposite (Mal-
mesbury)—was the means by a scandalous breach of duty
of making these communications to the Times of Cabinet
secrets which came to his knowledge in the course of his
official duties. (Hear, hear.) Ido not say positively that
this is the case; it is only what I have been informed. I
have myself no means of knowing how this correspondence
has been made public, or the comments made upon it to
which the noble earl has referred. All I can say of it is,
that neither directly nor indirectly have I the slightest
knowledge upon the subject. (Hear.)"
As to the recent correspondence alluded to by Lord
Derby, the Government had already resolved upon
laying it before the house ; but withrespect to certain
earlier communications, and a memorandum drawn up
by Count Nesselrode ten years since in reference to
the conversations held with British Ministers by
the Emperor Nicholas when in England, he must
reserve his decision, and take time to consider whe-
ther their production would be judicious.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH and thei Marquis of
CLANRICARDE joined in recommending the immediate
and full publication of every document, the Nesselrode
memorandum among the rest. This, said the noble
marquis, was the more necessary because of the im-
pression so prevalent in other countries of Europe
that the British Ministry had formerly used language
very different from that in which they now described
the aggressions of Russia.
The Earl of MALMESBURY protested against the
charge brought by the Premier that a gentleman in-
troduced into the Foreign-office under his auspices
had betrayed the confidence reposed in him :
" The noble earl had no business to make such a state-
ment, of the accuracy of which he was not fully aware.
It was inconsistent with the manner and usages of their
lordships' house, nor did it agree with the custom which,
not only as peers, but as gentlemen, their lordships were
supposed to respect and value. (Hear, hear.) The noble
earl had spoken of him as having appointed a man who
had betrayed his trust and character. He wished to know
who that gentleman was ? (Hear, hear.) And this led
him to a much more serious consideration. Great and
important political secrets had been betrayed by public
servants. It was necessary that the house should know
who it was that betrayed these public secrets. (Hear,
hear.) Their lordships ought to know how it was that
Cabinet secrets had oozed out to the public for some time
past, on subjects upon which information was refused to
Parliament; for this system was going on, and the Prime
Minister did not know how himself and his Government
were betrayed. After what had passed, he thought he had
a right to ask the name of the public servant who had thus
betrayed his trust, and whom the noble earl had said that
he
.(the Earl of Malmesbury) had appointed. He should
seriously consider whether it was not his duty as a peer,

SATURDAY,

and as a member of their lordships' house, to move that
some searching inquiry should be made before Parliament,
and with all the power with which the house was armed,
to discover who it was that betrayed the secrets of the
Government to a public newspaper.'
The Earl of ABERDEEN replied that nothing more
than rumours had reached him. He had no definite
information, not even a name, to communicate.
After some remarks from the Earl of Derby, Earl
Grey, the Earl of Ellenborough, and Earl Fitz -
william,
•

The Earl of MALMESBURY rejoined by saying
" I do not think I have received the justice I had a right
to expect at the hands of the noble earl opposite. I ex-
pected that after such a charge the noble earl would have
named the Government officer to whom he alluded, if not
for my sake, who must naturally feel anxious about an ap-
pointment I had made, at least for the sake of those other
gentlemen over whom the charge must now hang. I made
three or four appointments of clerks in the Foreign-office,
and, as long as the noble earl refuses to communicate the
name of the person to whom he referred, this stigma must
attach to all those gentlemen. I beg your lordships to re•
mark one thing. I am told that this gentleman was
appointed by me, but, if the custom which prevailed at the
Foreign-office when I had the honour of holding its seals
is still in force, those gentlemen who are very young in the
service must be quite at the bottom of the list of clerks,
and must necessarily be occupied in copying papers of a
merely formal and unimportant character, so that it is
hardly possible they could have become acquainted with
a correspondence of the very important and confidential
nature to which the noble earl has alluded. The noble earl
refuses, or is not able, to give me any further information
on the subject; but, looking at the circumstantial evidence
in the case, it is almost impossible that the very young
men apppointed by me two years ago to situations in the
Foreign-office could have become cognisant of this corre-
spondence, or could have revealed it to any other parties.
(Hear, hear.) "
The subject then dropped.
The publication of the reserved correspondence
having been also urged in the Commons by Mr. I)ib-
RAELI,
Lord J. RUSSELL explained that, according to
diplomatic usage, no communication that might pass
between a British envoy and the Sovereign to whose
Court he was accredited ought to be laid before I'ar-
liameut. In the present instance, however, the St.
Petersburg Journal had already infringed the rules
of reserve. The Government accordingly felt them-
selves entitled to publish the correspondence, whose
tenor, he was assured, would completely disprove
the statements of the Russian organ.

MAROR 18, 1854.

earl at the head of the Government—l suspect the latter—
the dinner was postponed. (Hear, hear.) Nothing in
my opinion could be more prudent or more judicious than
that determination ; for, in the circumstances in which we
are now placed, and at such a critical period, I should say
that it is far better that the Government should abstain
from demonstrations of this nature. (Hear, hear.) The
dinner at the Mansion-house did not take place ; but a
dinner did take place at the Reform Club. (Hear, hear.)
I do not expect the Government to put an end to dinners
at the Reform Club. (Hear, hear.) Clubs are celebrated
for their cookery, and a great number ofthe members make
preparing for their dinners and eating them the chief object
of the day. (` hear, hear,' and ` Oh, oh.') But, although it is
no part of the business of the Government to put a stop to
dinners at the Reform Club, if they thought the dinner at
the Mansion-house injudicious, I do not know how they
could think the attendance at the Reform Club dinner of
three Cabinet ministers and of an admiral just appointed
to a high command otherwise than an injudicious step.
(Hear, hear.) 1 suspect wo shall soon have to ask who
are the Ministers—who are the Cabinet ?—where are we to
look for the administrative power of the country ? I look
upon this occurrence as a proof that there is a majority and
minority in the Cabinet—that there are differences of
opinion in the Government upon this and perhaps upon
some other important questions. ( Hear, hear.) It is said
that the noble lord the member for the city of London was
asked, if not to preside, at least to be present at that
dinner. (Hear, hear.) I need not remind the house that
that noble lord, in the midst of many political successes
and of some political reverses, has contrived to show
that he has some respect for his own character, and
for his own position—and he was not there. (Hear,
hear.) The noble lord the member for Tiverton, how-
ever, was chairman upon that occasion. ( Hear, hear.)
Another feature of this dinner which gave me great pain
was the presence of my right hon. friend the member for
Southwark, the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests.
(Hear.) It is wonderful to think what a change a few
months of official life appears to make in public men.
(Hear, hear.) We have heard of men who have grown old
from the anxieties of a single year. (Hear, hear.) We
have heard even of men whose hair has been tamed grey
by the agony of a single night. (Hear, hear.) I think it
was Horace Walpole who said that Ministerial language
was the easiest of all languages to acquire, and that a man
might learn it in a week. (Hear, hear.) It has taken the
right honourable gentleman twelve months to efface flora
his head all trace of that great principle of noninterven-
tion, in which, if I remember rightly, he gave a vote em-
phatically condemning the policy of the noble lord the
member for Tiverton. (Hear, hear.) I now come to the
right honourable gentleman the First Lord of the Admi-
ralty. He has been in this house longer than most of us
can remember, he has held office for a great number of
years, and he is a man whose language is most precise and
accurate. He is not surpassed—l doubt if he is equalled
—by any member of this house in the beautiful precision
with which his words are uttered and placed. (` Hear,
hear,' and laughter.) The right honourable gentleman is
so good a judge of what is discreet, that, in flat contradic-
tion to the understood opinion of the noble lord the mem-
ber for London, he took upon himself to vouch for the
absolute discretion of Sir Charles Napier. (Hear, hear.)
Reverting, however, to the language actually tittered, as the
published reports present it to us, let ns see how the
matter stands. Now, the language which Sir Charles Na-
pier is reported to have used at the dinner—and I believe,
from what I have heard, that the report is almost literally
accurate—was this I cannot say we are at war, because
we are still at peace.' (Laughter.) I suppose there was
nothing so funny as the whole matter about which these
gentlemen were assembled. (Hear, hear.) But Sir Charles
went on to say, But I suppose we are very nearly at war,
and, probably, when I get into the Baltic I'll have an op-
portunity of declaring war'—a statement which is said
to have been received with loud cheers and laughter, and
cries of ' Bravo Charley !' Now, it was in reference to
this probability that the right honourable gentleman the
First Lord of the Admiralty made this observation
gallant friend says, when he goes into the Baltic he will
declare war; I, as First Lord of the Admirrlty, give him
my free consent to do so.' (Hear, hear.) I understand the
right honourable gentleman when he states that Sir Charles
Napier has no orders to go into the Baltic ; but I say that
it would have been just as rational and just as proper for a
minister of the Crown to have made this declaration in
reference to Admiral Pundits, before Admiral Pandas
received orders to go into the Black Sea, as to make it
at this moment in reference to Sir Charles Napier. (Hear,
hear.) No notion that there may be actual war, when Sir
Charles Napier goes into the Baitic, can offer to my mind
any excuse for the indiscretion of such language as this.
(Hear, hear.) What I was going to ask was, whether for
the language which he used, and the tone which he
adopted, the right honourable gentleman had the sanction
of the Cabinet, or the anthority of his Sovereign. (Hear,
hear.) From the explanation he has given, it appears that
it was only an afteralinner speech—that, in fact, a subject
the gravest of all was treated in this manner—l will not
say for the purpose of eliciting cheers, although it, no
doubt, did elicit cheers from an audience who were not
very particular about what they cheered, nor about what
the Government were going to do. (Hear.) I confess that
I have read the whole of these proceedings with pain
and humiliation. (Hear.) Whether this war may be justifi-
able or not is not the question, but, whatever sort of war it
may be, it is an awful sort of thing to any nation that en-
gages in it. (Hear, hear.) If war be not itself always a crime
it is the inevitable parent of innumerable crimes. (Hear,
hear.) There are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of
lives depending upon this question. (Hear, hear.) The
fortune and happiness it may be of millions are depending
on it. (Hear.) You are sending out 25,000 men to the other
side of Europe. Yon are taking a man from each of 215,000
British homes ; in each of those homes there is a British
stay idled at this moment with feelings of the deepest