The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-03 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3.

HOWEVER pertinacious the refusal of an English
Cabinet to indicate their policy, they cannot very long
succeed in maintaining a mystery it is hardly consti-
tutional to preserve. Lord JOHN RUSSELL last night
let out a few words about Russia and Turkey : he
may be glad before long to tell more. For weeks all
England has been deeply anxious to know how we
really stand about the Eastern question. Such
anxiety is most natural, most patriotic, most honest.
For the CZAR to break Treaties which fix
the frontiers of the different countries of Europe
is to peril the peace of the world. England

as
a party to those treaties—and as a nation,
having commercial relations with every one of
the states affected by them—has, probably, a greater
interest, a greater stake, involved than any of
the rest. Hence the popular desire to know our
true position is all the better founded. Hue ing a con-
stitutional Government, and unaccustomed to submit
to silent and despotic dealings with public interests,
the nation has been impatient to know what posi-
tion the ABERDEEN Cabinet has adopted on the
Turkish question. What the Ministry ottyla to have
done in the matter has never apparently been
doubted. We have signed treaties guaranteeing the
integrity of the Turkish Empire; we have trading
I interests which bind us equally with treaties to op-
pose anything like Russian aggression ; we have
honest impulses inducing us to revolt against the ex-
tension of the worst of European despotisms. By
honour, by interest, and by feeling, we are
urged to oppose the encroachments of the Autocrat.
But whether or not the English Ministry has
adopted the evident views of the English people has
been carefully concealed. Week by week the desire
to dissolve this silence has grown stronger and
stronger. Each time that Mr. L.tYARD proposed to
bring the Eastetn question before the House of Com-
! mons the popular interest was excited to the utmost,
—only to be disappointed. The Min iatry would make
no sign. Russia printed and circulated her State met-
sages ; France allowed theMoniteur to place before the
world the response of her Foreign Minister to the
pretensions of the ei %R ; the Porte published her
replies to Russia in the Journal r!( CongtanlinVe.
Nobody kept Europe in doubt but Lord ABERDEEN.
England, who in the event of war would have to pay
the piper more liberally than any one else,
is alone held in prebend ignorance of what
her officials are about. Mystery has long been de-
clared the parent of deception,—too often of fraud,
—and this Ministerial mystery has been produc-
tive of suspicions most dangerous to that honest
confidence, by which alone a Cabinet can long rule a
country. And all the more mischievous has this
state of dumbness been in its operation cn the
present Ministry, inasmuch as the ignorance it
has sought to foster has gained in other quarters the
information that a bold and upright Government
should have been the very first to afford. Whilst
officials have been inert, journalists have been active.
Every event abroad has been made known iu Eng-
land. Every act of Russia in the Principalities,
every step towards the concentration of Austrian
troops on the Saave, Las been chronicled, and in the
discussion on these events the former obligations of
Emperor Fn SISCIS to Czar NICHOLAS have not been
omitted from consideration. The ancient political
career of Lord ABERDEEN has likewise been taken into
account, and coupled with his recent hesitation to give
Russia prompt indication of English views, by sending
our fleet to the Dardanelles, has induced an evil im-
pression throughout the country;—an impression likely
to be confirmed by the obstinate refusal on the part of
the Government to indicate the policy they have
thought fit to adopt. The upright have seldom any-
thing to conceal; and concealment has already told
heavily against Lord ABERDEEN.
The latest attempt to break through the pertina-
cious silence of Ministers was made last night by
Lord DUDLEY STUART. He urged the present
leader of the House of Commons to fix a day
for ascertaining the views of Parliament on the
Eastern question. Lord JOHN RUSSELL refused to
name any day for such purpose; but could not
well avoid giving his version of the diplomatic
steps taken—stel.s each heretofore reported in the
newspapers. What he did tell, however, seems only
to indicate, in the least pleasant way, motives for mi-
nisterial silence. Austria has apparently had things
all her own way. The visit of King LEorow to
Vienna has borne more fruits than a wed-
ding. Austria, which exists only by the grace
of Russia—which owes Hungary to the Cossacks
and must one way or other repay the obligation—
Austris, we learn, has played first fiddle in the nego-
tiations, England being represented, of course,
by that Austrianised musician, Lord II'EsTmoRE-
LAND. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said last night:

When the ambassador of his Majesty, the Emperor of
Russia, left Constantinople, it appeared to her Majesty's
government that it was desirable that there should be a
conference of the representatives of all the great powers of
Europe, in order to arrive at the terms which might put an
amicable termination to the difference between Russia and
the Sublime Porte. It was the opinion of the government
of Austria that it was not desirable to hare any such con-
ference while the matter remained in the state of diplo-
matic relations, end that it would not be desirable to have
such a conference unless the Emperor of Russia by in-
radiny the Principalities should for a time, indeed, hare
disturbed the status quo of Europe. When that event
occurred, the government of the Emperor of Austria, in
conformity with its previous declaration, dcc'ared its mill-
. inyness to hold a conference at Vienne, and it summoned
the representatives of the four other great powers of
Europe to attend, for the purpose of a conference on the
affairs of Russia and Turkey. The minister of his Majesty
the Emperor of It uesia did not attend ; but the ministers
of England, of France, and of Prussia attended that con•
ference. Certain terms were then agreed upon, which, in
the opinion of the representatives of the four powers,
might be accepted with honour by the two governments of
Turkey and of Russia. Those terms have been assented to
by the govemmonts of England and France ; and, accord.
ing to our belief, have been transmitted from Vienna to
Petersburg and Constantinople. • • • (In reply to a
question, Lord John added) "The proposition, in fact, was
an Austrian prnposi•ion, although it came originally from
the government of France,"
The result of this shilly-shallying all Europe knows.
Whilst Lord WESTMORELAND and the representa-
tire of LOUIS NAPOLEON were wasting time
at Vienna, the Generaliavitno of the CZAR was
firmly establishing himself in the Turkish territory
be had seized, by planting in Moldavia and Walla-
chili many thousand men, and some hundred pieces

of cannon. Whether wilfully or no wenatTs,edcifnoitnnothwe
del
discuss, but it is quite clear that, practically and in
fact, Austrian negotiations secured the very tilts
itnhvaatiteus provinces.
ianeeded
(cn'; Stt I
for renehitg i
being well in posses-
sion, and the liwpodar having been ordered to hard
over to the Russian military chest the monies
belonging to the Suur IN, we flat A USt:
ia
amusing herself i ith " a conference " for which, by
this time, she has made ready. An Austrian pTepo.
sition (—" in fact it was an Austrian proposition,
although it came originally from France"—said
Lord Joust Itussw. last night)—is at this Confer-
ence agreed to on behalf of England and France,
and is sent to St. Petersburg. Here is the whole
case. England is represented by Maestro WEsj.
MORELAND—the heroic conductor of the SettwAar.
zEstitatc mass—and Austria does as she pleases
Russia has possession of what she coveted—ltalie;
is despoiled, and Englind—all in the wrong. The
very danger that a little honest courage might, in the
first instance, have trodden out, we now behold
grown to a height thit overshadows the peace of
Europe. Lord Ct. rs Dos, grown valiant over-late,
declares Sir HANitt.roN S I:v3toya is to ask for explnna.
tions ; and Lord JotiN Itus..:l:Li. says, when the time
for proroguing Parliament approaches, the Govern.
ment will tell all /74,y eln. It may then be too late.

AT length something like justice has overtaken
our old friend, the Rev. FRANCIS Norm!, Earl
of Guilford, pester of St. Cross's Hospital,
and of " Goo's House of Noble Poverty, near unto
the Episcopal City of Winchester." It is now
five years since we first directed attention to the
enormity of the Reverend Peer's ecclesiastical post.
tion. He was then the Incumbent of two great and
rich benefices in the county of Hants, and in undis-
turbed possession of the valuable property of St.
Cross, which he was leasing and dealing with far
more freely and lavishly than he ever did his patri-
monial acres. Gradually but slowly we made the
public understand and comprehend the outrage
thereby committed on all law and decency, to say
nothing of morality and conscience. The veteran Mr,
Helm *came to our aid in 1519, and moved an ad-
, dress of the House of Commons to the Crown
on the subject, and the (lekEN graciously referred
it to the ArronNEv-Gi.SNEII.IL, then Sir Jon s .11.1.%
Despite episcopal entreaties and private appeals for
delay, Sir JOHN at once and vigorously brought the
Reverend Earl before the Court of Chancery. To
avoid the consequences of his acts as Master of
St. Cross, Lord GUILFORD offered, if the suit were
withdrawn, to resign nut only that office but his two
benefices. The offer was, however, rejected; but the
storm against his mismanagement of the charity
continuing, the two benefices were thrown overboard
by him as a sort of Pagan offering to the goddess
Foluna—happily without effect. The suit was per-
severed in, and now Sir JOHN Itiottu.v, Master of
the Hods, has held Lord Guityoun's adminis-
tration of the Hospital " to be a shameless per-
version of the charity," and, decreeing an in-
junction to restrain him from any further acts
of wrong doing, has ordered an inquiry to be taken
as to the present state and condition of the institution
and its property ; with a view only however—we
regret to add—to the recovery of the profits from
the date of filing the information ; a most insufficient
restitution of his misappropriation. We may how-
ever be allowed to feel some little satisfaction at
this result of labours that at one time seemed almost
thrown away, and to refer to it as another instance
of the power of the Press to effect public good.

The case of St. Cross is so rich an illustration of
various Charity abuses as to be embarrassing from its
very fulness. Let us take a personal view of it first.
Its Master, the Rev. Lord Guti.ronu, is the son of a
Bishop of NVinehester. By his episcopal parent ho
was first made Rector of St. Mary, Southampton,
worth between 2,000'. and 3,0001. a year; then ho
was appointed by the same generous patron Rector of
Al:esford, worth some !AK or 1,8001. a year; next
the same fond relative gave him a Canonry in Win-
chester Cathedral, then equal in value probably
to the living of Al:esford. Thus comfortably pro-
vided for was the Rev. Fn tm is NORTH, Lord
Guilford, in the year of grace 1608, when
the Mastership of the Hospital of St. Cross became
vacant by Dr. LOCKMAN% death. It was in the
Bishop's gift, and to it also he resolved to appoint
his well-beloved son. But here a difficulty arose.
By the statute of Iltimev VIII., no clerk could,
under any circumstances, hold more than three bene-
fices. Now the Bishop's son had already three
pieces of ecclesiastical preferment, and, though the
Mastership of St. Cross was a lay office, it could
only be held by the rectors of the subordinate in-
cumbency of St. Faith, in which parish the Hospital
is. To be Master of St. Cross, the appointee must
first be Rector of St. Faith ; and hence it is that a
clergyman always holds the office, though it is in
itself a lay one. But Bishops and their sons in 1608
cared little for Acts of Parliament. Toryism
was then rampant, and jobb( ry, corruption, and
venality flourished with it ; and the man who
dared to expose abuses, in that dark age of
English history, was denounced as a Jacobin, an
Atheist, an enemy of all religion, and of the Protes-
tant interest in particular. So the Bishop made his
son Master, without giving him induction into the
Rectory of St. Faith; an 3, though for the last forty-
four years Lord Guatemto has acted as Master of
St. Cross, there seems very small reason to doubt
that he has from the first been a trespasser and
an intruder, and that de jme the mastership has
been vacant ever since Dr. LocKatsN's death. But
as this point was not brought prominently before the
MASTER of the ROLLS, his judgment contains no
decision on it.

For the early history of the Foundation (which we
have repeatedly stated) we may at present refer our
readers to the lucid and judiciously simple account
given by the MASTER of the ROLLS in his judgment,
fully reported by us yesterday. What we now de-
sire to fix attention on is, that at rack rent the net
value of its property is not less than 9,000/.
a year, but that fur so noble a revenue all that is
now done is the maintaining the edifice of the
hospital, and the subsistence, in a very ill manner, of
thirteen grumbling old men. Though required, even
by the Customary, which he set up as legal, to appoint
a chaplain, Lord Gui;.roan has of late dispensed with
any such officer; and &ilia House of Noble Poverty
would have been without a clergyman, save for
private interference on behalf of its brethren and
the parish of St. Faith. After defraying the cost of
maintaining the fabric and the brethren, Lord Gun,
FORD, as Master, has for the last four-and-forty years
held himself entitled to appropriate all the endow-
ments of the charity to his private purposes; and
ith a statute in his archives, expressly passed
in the reign of FAA/ %mint to inhibit and forbid the
Corporation of St. Cross from granting leases of its
,estates, every estate belonging to it has been leased
by Lord GUILFORD, and large fines paid to him on
the granting of such leases ; until now, by this system
of anticipation, the actual annual receipts of the Hos-
pital (exclusive of fines) do not greatly exceed 1,000/.
a year. But as these lea-es are, according to the judg-
ment of Sir J. Rout' i.v, manifestly void in law,
they will of course be set aside by the further
proceedings of the Court of Chancery, and the
hospital at once step full into the receipts of its fine
property. And that having been done, then will
arise the question,—On what scheme or plan this
noble income can be expended most profitably forth: