The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

The beadle's terror, and the vestry's pride.

- -
He knows that he is the greatest man of the
age—in Marylebone• He feels that his word
commands reverence amongst the " people "
who live near the New-road. His patronage
is sought fur by all ranks of Liberals amongst
the ten-pounders of his borough. He feels
assured that lie stands prodigiously high in
his own opinion. He seems confident that
while he lives he will never lose the admired
approbation of himself. He looks back on
what he was, a boisterous Radical ; he sees
what he has become, a contented placeman;
And he turns to the political almanac to count
the revolving moons and dissolving Parlia-
ments which must take place before he can
put a coronet on hie demagogic brow.

THE PRESS.

Now, in answer to the question, " Who
wants Sir BENJAMIN HALL 9" we may say that
several people in and out of Marylebone wish
to know what was Sir BENJAMIN thinking of
while the jobbery of Liberalism was running
up the Miscellaneous Estimates from 2,545,9481.
in the year 1838 to 6,721,250/. in 1856 ? On
previous occasions we have shown the extra-
ordinary increase in these public charges, and
we observe that the returns for• the current
year testify to further augmentation of the
"frightful increase."
" The British Museum Establishment," for
example, has been gradually mounting up to a
vast Wire. We venture to say that if the
question was suddenly asked in any London
Club or in literary society, What does the
British Museum Establishment annually cost
the country ?" The answer would be—" From
30,0001. to 40,0001., or thereabouts." The fact
is that the Museum Establishment cost the
country for the last four years, viz. :

IBM

1854
1855
1856
and in 1857 the " Museum Establishment "
stands at 70.0001.!

" Who wants Sir Benjamin the Magnificent ?"
We answer that the literary men of London, and
even of " the Principality," desire to know why
there is not a better and more accessible cata-
logue for reference at the Museum, seeing that
the charges for the establishment have
mounted up from 27,409 in 1838 to 70,0001. in
1857 ?

There are a score of other questions which
various parties of economists desire to ask Sir
BENJAMIN, and which for the convenience of
" his magnificence," we shall tabulate on an-
other day. Meantime we may communicate
to our readers that the " Civil Service Esti-
mates" tor the current year show the following
increase :

Education, Science, and Art, in 1856, .£876,057
Ditto ditto in 1857, 1,000,32'2
being an increase in the year of 123,385/.
And in the Colonial and Foreign Services
(after all the promises to the contrary) there
has been a further increase of 61,950/. !
There was a time when a Metropolitan
Member used to make a great noise about a
hundred pounds a year, more or less, in cer-
tain bishoprics, and when individual Irish
landlords were pilloried in Parliament to
please the low tastes of London vestrymen.
These latter may wonder why their former
favourite should not apply the "Ben-Hailing"
process to this " frightful expenditure." If
they want to know " the reason why," let them
apply at " 9, Great Stanhope-street, Mayfair."

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