The Express.
London, England, 1852-11-19 00:00:00

!gentleman stands before the public, the Wag sp.
to to he impossible,—that is, morally
rp:md us
ible, for as to what may be officially feasible or
desirable in the estimation of thopreeent Government
we do not venture to form au epaulet). But we took
for granted that, were it only for decency's sake, the
alleged accomplice, or rather the allerd instigator of
the infamous pros' e&np at Derby in the month of
July last, would be ready to meet the charge as he
had undertaken to do, on the floor of the Howe of
Commons. He had publicly branded the imputation
as the result of "• vile conspiracy," intended to'
blast the character of an honourable man • and pro-
mised that "an hour should not elapse after Parlia-
ment met" until he should triumphantly clear him-
self of the malicious accusation. The opportunity for
doing so has at length arrived. Sir ALLIANDER
COCKBURN brings the subject under the notice of the
House this evening; and as Major BERESPORD
dw-
dained to take refuge from the charge against him,
in a colonial appointment, so we trust he will lay
aside in his defence all Disraelitish devices and
Derbvite dexterities, and say point blank on the
word of a soldier and a gentleman, whether or not
he wrote the letter sworn to be in his hand-
writing.
The member foe North Essex has been for many
years the confidential councillor of Lord DERBY,
and his confidential manager in all election
matters. It is well known that he had para-
mount control over the Tory nominations,
cannotings, and arrangements in 1847. For a brief
Beeson Lord Groner BENTINCIL's influence with; his
party served to check, and at length almost to para-
lyse, that of the turbulent and unacrupulouswhipper-
in whose violence disgusted, and whose dullness pro-
voked, the former secretary and friend of the festal-
one CANNING. Lord GEORGE refused to be account-
able for his party so long as they were left to the
mercy of such a man as Major RERESPORD, and
DISRAELI actually invented a new whipper-in, in the
person of Mr. FORBEs Maexr-Neir., in whose favour
the obnoxious member for Essex was speedily
obliged to give way. As some compensation
for this humiliation and indignity, when the present
government was formed, to the amazement of all
who did not know the fall extent of Lord DERBY'S
rashness and contempt for public opinion, Major
BERESFORD was gazetted as Secretary-at-War—an
appointment which Mr. °swarm amid the cheers
of the house, stigmatised as " about the worst of the
entire batch." Every one who knew his temper and
tarn of mind foresaw that even in this comparatively
subordinate post the mischief Major BERESFORD
might do would be incalculable. There was a new
militia force to be organised and an old military
system to be amended and keptl in order. It,
seemed certain that a hot-brained, shallow, and
overbearing pretender to administrative skill, with
a real knowledge of no other tactics than those
familiar to the little dark room at the Carlton, where
boroughs are settled on and settled for, was not " the
safe man wanted for Derby." On the contrary, most
persons, even of the Protectionist sect, admitted,
when the subject was pressed, that it was one of the
chief hindrances and difficulties in their way to be
compelled to provide for individuals like the combus-
tible colleague of Sir Jour; TYRRELL. But what
could they do? The man had fastened himself in
his own peculiar fashion round the party's neck,
and would not be shaken off by any writh-
ings or spasmodic indications of aversion. He
knew so much, had done so much, and
might on a pinch do so much more. The very rea-
son, whispered Disittett and one or two others, why
we had better be without him. Their suggestions,
however, were overruled by the impetuous and reck-
less Parities, who is always sure to be fascinated by
what is vulgarly termed " pluck" in a jockey, a
game-cock, or a partisan. The ex-whipper-in had
evinced this quality in a shining degree in 1846 ac-
cording to Lord DERBY, by heading the first out-
break of mutiny against Peet, and subsequently by
taking pains to put himself out of the pale of that
injured statesman's forgiveness by the coarseness and
loudness of his abuse. This is the style of thing
that with our sporting PanIIER passes for political
courage and consistency, and which from him is tole-
rably secure of its reward.

All this would nevertheless have been, perhaps,
forgotten, and the mere impropriety. of the nomina-
tion of so unsuitable a person as Major BERESTOILD
to the governorship of Jamaica would not have called
forth any extraordinary manifestations of surprise,
had not legal proceedings, involving charges of a
grave and serious nature, been notoriously pending
against a person said to have been employed under
the secret directions of the Minister at War. It is
not necessary to prejudge the case of Mr. FRAIL or
his accomplices, in order to come to a clear and just
conclusion as to the impropriety, indeed we should
say the impossibility, of any man directly charged
on oath with being implicated in their guilt, being
recommended to the Quee:s for a high and lucrative
foreign post. Lord Denise owes it to himself to
afford full opportunity for inquiry into all the
facts of the case in question, as far as one of
his immediate adherents and fficial colleagues is
concerned. If Major BUMMED has been falsely
accused, if he never wrote the letters, one of which
the public are already acquainted with, prompting
the proceedings at Derby, by which Mr. HEYWOOD
was defrauded of his rightful seat, and a friend of
the Government foisted into Parliament for that an-
cient borough ; if the plot was not hatched at the
Carlton by members of the House of Commons, but
at Shrewsbury or elsewhere, by a mere knot of ob-
scure and rapacious adventurers, then it will be easy
for the SECRETARY-AT-WAR to make all this plain
in his place in Parliament, and to vindicate
not merely his own, honour, but that of
the Administration to which he belongs, and the
legislature of which he is still a member. But it
were alike unprecedented and intolerable that any
man being a member of parliament should be swf
fervid to vacate his seat while such an inesstigatlem
is pending. All law and justice, all decency and
right, would be insulted by .a proceeding so wanton
and scandalous. Denials in after-dialer speeches
addressed to packed audiences in out ot the way vil-
lages, will never stop the importunate demand for
inquiry on the part of the public. Of as little value
are the authorised paragraphs that from time to time
appear in Government organs, regarding " the entire
groundlessness of the charges against the right hon.
gentleman." Still less satiefactorT will be the un-
accountable non-appearance of witnesses before a
committee, and the consequent failure of the aggrieved
party to bring home any positive charge against
Ebody. Major BERESFORD is himself the princi-
witness whose testimony in the affair of the
by election the public at large desire to hear;
and for the best of all reasons, that it is the only
testimony which can decisively put an end to the
imputations that have now for several months
lain upon the character of the govern-
ment of which he constitutes a prominent
part. Major BEIICSFORD cannot, as a straight.
forward man, desire to elude this inquiry. Tho
Commons of England must cease to be what they are
—a high-spirited and constitutional assembly—
before they could permit such an evasion of their
authority were it contemplated ; and, to say the
truth, we do not imagine that any such course on the
part of the accused gentleman is in contemplation.
We have the lowest opinion of Lord Deeev's judg-
ment, but we cannot believe him to be so weak and
rash as to sanction a refusal on behalf of Major
BEREEFORD to answer Sir A. ....,.I",lieritN.B allega-
tions ; and, bumble as is our estimate of Major Br.
nasroad's political character, we are unwilling to
deny him credit for that one quality to which he owes
his present position that, namely, of political
courage. •

As the course to be taken by the ex-Attorney.
General will depend on then'', of proceedings which
the SECRETARY-AT WAR may be advised to adopt, it
were premature in us to •:prase any opinion on the
point. But this we feel aided spoil in the strongest
manner to urge upon all who value the character of
representative institutions in this country, that while
the discussion ought to be conducted with the utmost
calmness and entire freedom from party or personal
asperities--the accused having • right to be treated
as innocent until the contrary is confessed or proved
—it is the plain duty of the house in any event to
vindicate exemplarily its insulted honour. If ono of
its members has been defamed, let the slanderer be
rigorously punished; if its dignity and integrity have
been betrayed, let such retribution fall on the
offender as may deter others in the time to come
from similar violations of public morality and public
law. The House of Commons cannot afford to trifle
with en grave an accusation. The country awaits
with no ordinary interest the pending issue.