The Express.
London, England, 1849-09-25 00:00:00

They had themselves escaped alike from puha° jaad
and official reprehension, until a trace
wrong was accidentally discovered among the Shag
that covered up the secret, and the electric telegraph
of Lord DUNCAN'S keen apprehension conveyed the
inquiries which resulted in this astonishing exposure.
The abuse of government patronage which this
case reveals is in all respects equal to the went
instances we ever heard of. MANNING received
an appointment in the militia " because a coble lord
had a respect for his father; O'CONNOR wee pm.
e.lecAteild
Mr.for I theil t.Nderpety
moted to an important station in the Customs because
he was related to active electioneering agents in
the county Tipperary. We wish we hid anything
like so full and candid an explanation of the reasons
swahryv,7 Nolrr.shßipliaoCif KENT
sa
l- wse y
Forts. e
tell is that "he had known him previously. He had
employed him on some private business; intuiting
up some exeoutorship accounts." The man was clerk
to an attorney in the city. "He had never had the
management of timber in his life, he knew nothing
whatever about it that Mr. MILNE was aware of.
KENT'S appearance and manner were so bid, that a
respectable person deposes that, on first sinht, he " re.
fused to associate with him," judging that "he wu
too bad a man for any one to know anything about"
Yet this was the man specially selected, far reasons
altogether unexplained, for a post of great trust and
responsibility under the Crown ; a post which elevated
him from the position of en attorney's clerk to be "a
moo of standing" in the county of Northampton;
post which gave him the command, as if he were the
sole proprietor, of an important district, an influence
in county elections, and the power of misep?ro.
priating the public property. Whet shall we
say of the system which threw such authority
into the hands of such a men : what shall we lay of
the public officer, who, despite his evasiors, evidectly
had the principal hand in his promotion ?
The ignorance of the Commissioners of Woad. and
Forests even of the facts which most nearly concern
them is established by this cote in a manner most
complete. KENT'S depredations in Salcey were car-
ried on for five years. The commissioners during the
whole time never had the most remote notion hat
that he was acting honorably and conscientiously. He
VMS openly engaged in felling the cn:ire foreet: but
for five years the commissioners were not aware that
he had lopped off a single branch. At length anciror
in one of his accounts brings an officer to the spot.
This officer had eyes, and could use them, but
even he was not aware that there had been any.
thing irregular. Probably if KENT had put a bald
face on the matter he would have concealed his
robberies still longer. Hut he was frightened, and
absconded. Even then it took some time to awaken
the suspicions of the Woods and Forests. It wu
only " in the cour-e of the investigation" that "cit.
cumatances came to light of a character a hich left the
board too much re aeon to apprehend that there was a
considerable deficiency in Mr. KENT'S accounts
beyond what he had stated." The inveetigatioa
which followed first of all elicited that there was a
deficiency of 3,Bool.—then an amended re-
port was made fixing the amount at
4,lo4:l.—afterwards "other misapplications" were
detected, and the total was reported at 4.8001.
Mr. MILNE now says that the deficiency was "from
4,0001. to 5,0001." The fact was, and is, that neither
the Woods and Forests, nor their officers, nor any-
body else, ever knew the extent to which RING
KENT plundered the public. It was impose//e that
they could know it, for they had not the slighted
idea of the nature or value of the property committed
to his charge. The only means they had of ascer-
taining any thing definite concerning the loss was
from the books of an auctioneer who was employed
by KENT to sell timber, and whom the commissioners
describe to be h mself guilty " either of the grossest
negligence or of direct criminality."
This extraordinary case, moreover, dlecloses not
merely a loose and improper system of keeping ac-
counts in the office of Woods and Forests, but far
more—an absolute falsification of the financial state-
meets annually made to parliament and to the pub-
lic. In session 1848 Mr. Commissioner MILNE was
examined before Lord DUNCAN'S committee relative
to the affairs of Whittlewood and Salcey. Tners was
some discrepancy in the accounts which Lord DON-
CAN could not understand, and he wanted to elicit
the truth. His Lordship enquired
Use there been a surplus of revenue every veer ?—No.
In what year was there • dc [lei. ne I—There w.,Cha-
cieney in 1832 of 4081 ; in 1835 of 441.'; in 1841 of 1711.; is
1842 of 88/. ; in 1843 of 611. (pane 45.)
Not a word, be it remarked, about the defacer
tion.

Q. I added up the figures for Whittlennod and Balm
Forests, as stated in the annual report of 1827. The amain
of the income wu 10,6311. fur the two forests, and the
amount of the expenditure was 3,0341. In this account that
I have Aare fur the year 1927 the income is stated at
10,6111. and the expenditure at 3,6671.. so that there is a
difference between the two arcuun•s et 6971. ?
A. I can"ot account for that without lookirg into it; bat
I have no doubt that the cause of difference can be explained
by looking into the ace unto.
How tar it con be "explaired" we do not know
but "looking into the account" referred to by Lord;
DUNCAN, we find that is every single instance cued
by Mr. IkIILNE he misstated to the committee the
actual deficiency. We put in contrast the amounts
as they are given by Mr. Commissioner MILNE in
evidence, and as they are given in the accounts of
the Forest, published in the Appendix to the Repaid
of 1848:

DRPICIENCY.

Year. Amodio[ to Mr. Mate. According to the Amount
-.---
1832. £4OB £l,lBB
1835. 44 95
1841. 171 531
1842. 88 1,068
1843. 61 991
Total ....

A difference of on►y 3,1014 beovetn the commie.
sioner and the truth.

But this is not all. In the " first report," jest
now presented, further errors ere detected. Lord
DUNCAN says :
I hold in my hand a document which was laid before the•
committee last year. Tarn appears an important shunts
panty in the year 1831 between this document and eas
document In the Appendix. In this document the inr-aat
of 1834 is stated at 7,1941., at.d the expenditure at 7,5491. la
the return in the Appendix the inoom: for 1834 is stated at
2,8421., and the expenditure at 2,8374 Can 70.4 exp.sil
the difference

Answer—There is no doubt that could be %explained ay
the gentleman who prepare) the returns. I cc 01910 t explain
it Further. On asking him why the d•rie.ieney war not
inserted, he said it was inserted on both side,, of the account,
and that it made no differencw.

This is Mr. Commissioner MILNE's reply. In com-
mon English it means "before the investigation
reached a certain point we though',to bamboozle you.
When we found that impos.ible ,we thought it safer
to make a different return." I'. will be seen that the
difference between the two et exounts is the estimated
amount of KINO KENT'S def aication. To keep that
affair secret, the accounts de livered to the committee
were " cooked." When detection became imminent,
the board made the alteration.
The climax of this diegrac fal exposure, which
more or less scandalises every one connected with the
Woods and Forests,, is the defeat of public justice,
which, like the ore' ming of the accounts, was evidently
neatly manned f.or the oi. ce purpos m. Nothing was
SO necessary for the public good as a complete state-
men!, before 14 judicial tribunal, of all the facts con-
certing Mr. KENT. But that exposure would have
been too els.maging to the department. The matter
was oonv.quently bushed up. KENT was allowed to
plead 1* guilty" Not a word of the evidence
ever escaped in court. The affair was smothered
in the same way as the facts connected with
the Exchequer Bill forgeries were bushed IT
some eight years since. The Exchequer bill
business, it is true, obtained more currency
than the Balmy Forest robbery. That was kept
so secret that, until the facts were exposed in
our paper yesterday, probably not fifty people in all
England were aware of them. They will teach sn
instructive lesson to the people ; they will enforce the
necessity of keeping a close eye on official men, and
of insisting on a strict audit of every departmental
account.

CUBA.—On the 25th August the American frigate
Raretan, 60 gnus, and Albany, corvette, 22 guns,
were close off the harbour of Havatinah, and, after
communicating by boats with the American coned,
stood to see. Their appearance did not tend to ler
men the apprehension some time entertained at lir
vannah. Vera Cruz and Tampico are also kept on
the qui eke by the force assembled in the United
States. The strong fort of St. Juan d'Ullos,
a few
nights before the arrival of the Trent, opened a tire
on two logs or drifts, which they mistook for boats
from an enemy's fleet.