The Express.
London, England, 1865-06-30 00:00:00

THE LORD. OHANCELLOH. AND luau=
al inottrrtur OMIT.

Mem the'reisees.t
There is a striking passage in a speech delivered
by Lord Brougham shortly after him resignation of the clear
eelkwohip, describing the deeradation inevitably incident bel
the tenure of that high oleo'. • A shred ffiustradee sl
the sentirmits thia expreesed may be towed in thirhti.'
dears =km bedsen the committee on the Lod& idolt
apt= Oosta, sad publahed yetteediy by order of • the'
House of Commons. Whatever also the fasts timed* HO-,
Wiled may prove, they place In the savaged light the WO
ruptiog tuff Goma by which the Lord Chancellor le lee-
rounded. To the molt distant amusintances, es well es to
near relatives and frauds, he is simply • mine of catrouge,
to be worked all las morn induetriously because no one can
say how soon it may becloud. However clean his own hands
my be, he line surrounded by an atmosphere of jobbery,
and his subordiutesare, perhaps, in league with one or other
of the hungry =pectin* clerical and legal, who are ever
plotting and oonapiring against his honour and public moreffty
for their own profit. Lord Westbury his been subject to
an additional disadvaatage—that of having for a soft the
Hoe. R.. Bothell, wham shameless behiviour throughout
the transactioas investigated by the committee coned not
but reflect suspicion on his father. We must give due
weight to this cinematic" as well is to the admitted
homiest of other parties implicated in the affair, when W.
lendesvour to estimate the degree of blame attaching to the
Lord Chancellor Mama.
The general effect of the evidence before us, so far as a
hasty permed of it enables us to judge, is fairly repre-
sented by the report of the committee. The fret point seb-
mitted to them wan the resignation of his registrarship at
Leeds by Mr. Wilde. The committee were of opinion that
quite enough had ban elicited against this gentleman to
justify the Lord Chasoollor in requirisg him to show
cause in open court why he should not be dis-
missed. In this opinion we entirely ononr ; but two
further questions arise, whether, under these circum-
stances, he should have been allowed to " resign"
at all ; and whether, upon that eupposition, it should have
been intimated to him by the Lard Chancellor's direction
that he might " netts." The evidence leaves little doubt
that the alternative of resignation was offered by Mr.
Miller, in his letter of the 26th of July, 1864, with the Lord
Chancellor's implied sanction. We do not think that the
Lord Chancellor was bound to insist on open
dismissed, but " retiring " is far more suggestive of
a psalm than " resigoing," and the use of the
former term by Mr. Miller was, to say the least.
very unfortunate. There is some colour, therefore.
for Mr. Loog6eld's argument that es this term
occurred in apart of a letter written under the Lord Chan-
cellor's authority, though not revised by him, it commits
him tom intention of pensioning Mr. Wilde, even With:
out taking into amount the following paragraph, for
which Mr. Miller alone is responsible, sad in which a
needicel certificate is directly suggested. Here the matter
stands, end, apart from other facts and presumptions, it
doss not go very far to compromise the Lord Chancellor.
The second point, however, is not so easily disposed
of. Nothing in the evidence *cables us to understand
why the pension for which Mr. Wilde applied should have
bees granted at once, upon a certificate of failing sight,
I which the medical mac did not sign without scruple, and
which Lord Westbury himself now coofesees to be very
%satisfactory. The Lord Chancellor entirely fails to
sipisin it, for it is incorrect to state that he
bad no other option except to dismiss him. He
might surely have demanded an unconditional resig-
nation, under threat of dismissal, and the omission to do
so, after all that had passed, appears to us to be feebly
elmeseteriesd es en act of indulgence done " hastily and
without dee examination." It is this eery haste which is
suspicious, and we dad it difficult to scquieeee in the judg-
ment of the committee that " no improper motives are to
be imputed to the Lord Chancellor."
The two reamiaiog potato to be considered by the Oar
mittee were, " the appointment of Mr. Welch to the said
office (the Leeds Registrarship), and whether he wee Is re-
sign his appointment is favour of the Hoe. B. Bothell wed
receive another appointment is Lawton." As to the are
pointment of Mr. Welch, they again acquit the Lord Chan-
cellar of any imputation, aid express a conviction that any
ulterior arrangement was reads without his know-
ledge. Mr. Longfield'e charge is substastially that
Mr. Wilds having bees got out of the way by the
promise of a pension, Mr. Welch, a friend and creditor of
Mr. R. Bothell, was foisted in for the purpose of holding
the registrarship until it should be convenient to remove hiss I
to Leaden and appoint Mr. Bothell to Leeds. What mese
to be true is that seek a plan had actually been concocted
between Mr. Bethel' and Mr. Welch, with or without the
privity of Mr. Miller, and was not far from taking effect,
but wee frustrated by the resolution of the Lord Choi-
cell= to give his son no =floe whatever. Whether
this resolution was dictated by a ease of fluty sad
coeseqnsot upon information of Mr. Bothell's nieronduct
at Paris, or resulted from the gouda crested by the FAL
monde cue, it is almost vain to spoodate. Mr. Longliald
relies mainly on the fact that Mr. Bothell gave out at
Leeds on the 24th or 25th of February, 1865,
that he was
about to succeed Mr. Welch ; that Mr. Miller 'Mulls, pre-
pared two deeds, appointing the one to Leeds and the
other to London, and that it was only on the
27th of February, after public opinion was roamed
about Mr. Edmunds, that the Lord Chancellor
declined to do anything for Mr. Bothell All
this is amply confirmed by the seldom*, bat it does sot
directly bring borne corrupt motives to the Lord Chumellor.
It is abundantly deer that a nefarious batiste was made
between Mr. Bethel! and Mr. Welch, wad that loans were
reads by the latter, without interest or reasonable hope of
repayment, in consideration of his having obtained the
Lade Registrarship, sad dhis being recommended for the
'London Itegtetroveliip: Nee ea -it- be denied that his
appointment to, the first, being dated on the very
same day as the gams of Mi. Wilde's pension, and
just after hi made: adeseees to Mr. Bethel',
involves the Chancellor is grave Muspicion. It cannot be
forgotten that Hi. Bothell's private inflames had been
need in Mr. Welch% 6'scur, while Biz W. Atherton, on
whose recommadatioe math stiles has been laid, was no
longer a living wither. 'n needs but a single link to com-
plete the presumptive Menexion between this sudden and
-mysterious preferment of Mr. Welch and the subsequent
intrigues foe his teusder to the berth vacated by Mr.
Betbelle younger brother. This link, however, is missing.
The Lord Chancellor may, or be may not, have
been ignorant of all that was being done in his name, and
men of the world-must decide for themselves which of the
two is the moreprobible. Dealing with the case jadidelly
we are bound to point out that the Lord Chancellor is net
proved to have had say stare in this part of the Wei-
nese, or in the preparative of the two appointment deeds
It is passing strange, no doubt, that Mr. Miller should
have ventured to prepare them without his cognisance,
but Mr. Miller figures in so many unenviable positions in
these pages that we can imagine him capable of most

things.
Upon the whole, we forbear to adopt all Mr. Long&len
isforeacee from the evidences before us. At the same time
we cannot disguise the very painful imposition which it is
calculated to leave on the mind. There is scarcely a single
person concerned who comes out of this inquiry with ua-
sullied character. Of Mr. Bothell, Mr. Harding, Mr. Wilde,
and Mr. Welch we need hardly speak. Mr. Miller, whore
duty it was Movsolook ell other registrars, moms to have
kept his own books disgracefully, and to bays carried his
officious devotion to Mr. Bothell to very questierable
lengths. The part played by the Lord Chancellor is open
to two interpretations, the one compatible, the other in-
oompatible„ with his integrity, but neither compatible with
his pleb duty to the Dublin.

Tun Somme or Aare AND zits IbUZZON or
TEI FUNCR.—The Cloonan of the gaiety of Arta have
awarded the gold Albert medal, founded as a memorial of
his royal highasee the late president of the society, to his
Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the French, for distin-
guished merit is promoting in many ways, by Di personal
exerties, the internstioul progress of arta, resaufacitnres,
and menmens, the proofs of which ars 'dude by his kid/.
AIMS patronage of art, his enlightened comArolal policy,
and especially by the abolition of passports in favour of
British *blew* His Boyal Highness the Prince of Wales,
presided of the society, has himself commonieated this
decision W the Emperor, by whom it has been mole put-
*sly received.
CRYSTAL PAIACZ.OI2 litaimano DAY.—
rausiouT Jan 22.—A.disinelons cm pynnsets 045
ditto by seinen tie** 1,419 ; total visitors. 5,265.
From census returns made out 19th April the
population of the district of Valparaiso annionle to 74,402
*habilitate, of whom 35,242 us men and 38,480 women,
and in this 'umber are 4,279 foreigners. The city of Val-
paraiso itself contains 70,108 inhabitant'.