The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-28 00:00:00

but not to allocate the whole of the duties to one of the
commissioners, and consequently, although Mr. Kennedy
had practically ceased to fulfil the duties of his office,
yet an allocation of office was obliged to be left to him
for the sake of form. Under these circumstances, as
his'patent was continued, when the proper officer in the
Treasury by whom salaries are paid came to Mr. Ken-
nedy, he paid that gentleman's salary as a matter of
course.
CONSOLIDATED FUND (3,300,0001.) BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
• CONSOLIDATED FUND (20,000,0001.) BILL.
Thii bill was read a third time and passed.
CASE OF MR. KENNEDY.
Sir. J. V. SHELLEY rose to move for a select com-
mittee to inquire into and consider the grounds and jus-
-tification of the removal of the Right Hon. Thomas
Kennedy from the office of Woods, Forests, and Land
Revenues of the Crown. He should treat this
case as if there had been no answer to a re-
cent question on the subject. He complained that
Mr. Kennedy had been improperly dismissed from
his office, and reflections thereby cast upon his character
and reputation. He might state, however, in passing,
that the position in which Mr. Kennedy had recently
stood reflected no credit upon the Exchequer, for it
appeared that he had been allowed to receive a large
salary to superintend a manor that produced no more
than 41. a-year to the country. Early last session a
committee sat upon the Woods and Forests, but that
committee did not go into the case of Mr. Kennedy, and
there was no chance of doing justice to Mr. Kennedy
unless his case was eepecially inquired into. Mr. Kennedy
had been dismissed not from maladministration or
incompetency, but because his action in office was too
independent for certain members of the Government.
At his dismissal the office was offered to Col. Romilly,
the brother-in-law of Mr. Kennedy, but, of course, that
• gentleman very properly rejected it, and nothing was
heard of the matter until just before Christmas, when
it was reported that Lord Courtney had been removed
from the Poor-Law Board to this office in the Woods
and Forests. He put a question to the Government
relative to that report, and received an evasive answer
from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whom he dis-
tinctly informed that he had taken up the case
upon public grounds, knowing very little per-
sonally of Mr. Kennedy himself, and the
right hon.. gentleman told him that the Government
would have some difficulty in filling •sp the vacancy if he
prOceeded with his motion.
Mr. GLADSTONE said he had no recollection what-
ever of the circumstance.
Sis .7.V.."SHELLEY said he was prepared to swear
• to. it.. (A laugh.) The immediate objection to Mr.
Kennedy was, that he promised a straightforward course
• in the management of the National Forests, and pre-
ferred that which was most conducive to the public
good to bending to the wish of the Minister. (Hear,
bear.)
,The whole of this subject was considered
of so much importance, that it was mentioned in
. connection with her Majesty's Speech en the Bth of
August, and the Board of Woods and Forests was con-
sequently reconstructed ; and the whole of the Woods
and Forests, with the exception of Windsor, was placed
under Mr. Kennedy's care. He felt the difficulties he
had to contend with, but he felt that he had only one
honest, straightforward course to pursue. But in the
evidence before the committee Mr. Kennedy complained
that a difficulty met him at once—that amongst the
whole of the clerks there was no one who was ac-
quainted ,with rural affairs. Now, he felt that before
he could go further it was necessary to make some alte-
ration in this respect. He then proceeded to make a
personal inspection of Chogwall Wood, Durham, which
had been reported to be in a much-neglected condition.
He found matters were such that he was disposed to be
of a different opinion, but he at once deemed it neces-
sary to have some support to this opinion, and he accor-
dingly appealed to a Mr. Brown, a gentleman well
known in connection with different agricultural associa-
tions, but that gentleman, although holding so high a
position, had been termed a common Scotch gardener.
He (Sir J. Shelley) now came to the forest with respect
to which the dispute arose, which had led to the dis-
missal of Mr. Brown, and the removal of Mr. Kennedy
—Alice Holt Forest. The deputy-surveyor of that
forest was Mr. Higginbotham, a surgeon and apothecary
formerly residing at Pitt-town, in Ireland, where he had
taken care of the health of Lord Duncannon, who,
being first Commissioner of Woods and Forests, had
removed him from his situation of apothecary at Pitt-
town to that of a country gentleman, living in delight-
ful scenery in England, with two horses kept at the
public expense. The inspection of Alice Holt Forest
was made by Mr. Brown in August, 1852. The
whole question was as to how many trees stood on a
certain number of acres. Mr. Brown complained of
the system of thinning the trees, aid Mr. Higginbo-
tham answered him, in a very able paper, in the pre-
paration of which it was quite clear he had been as-
sisted by somebody. The arrangement, upon the whole,
was that of a clever lawyer ; and it certainly astonished
Mr. Kennedy that there should be any dispute
as to the number of trees, and he forwarded Mr. Higgin-
botham's report to Mr. Brown to be answered. Mr.
Brown found that since his inspotion in 1852 there had
been a vast thinning of timbeirin the forest, and that a
large quantity of bark had been taken off the trees. Mr.
Kennedy thought that the suppression of this fact of
thinning had been done intentionally to damage Mr.
Brown in his estimation. The Secretary of the Trea-
sury, instead of aiding Mr. Kennedy in his endeavours
to promote the public service with reference to the ma-
nagement of the royal forests, regarded him as a bore,
because he could never prevail upon Mr. Kennedy to
do anything wbich he (Mr. Kennedy) did not think was
strictly right. Mr. Kennedy proposed to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer to refer the matter in dispute between
him and the Treasury to three of 12 impartial gentlemen,
10 of whom he had never seen in his life. Mr. Wilson, the
Secretary of the Treasury, replied on behalf of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, that all correspondence on the
subject must be regarded as closed, and that the Lords of
the Treasury would not consent to the proposed reference,
as they had taken steps themselves to inquire into the
matter. He was of opinion that very great injustice had
been done to Mr. Brown and to Mr. Kennedy by con-
demning them on evidence taken secretly, and when they
were not present. The three referees to whom the Lords
of the Treasury had assigned the duty of inquiring into
the case of these gentlemen were Messrs. Mertan, Ma-
thews, and Menzies. The last-named gentleman ought
not certainly to have been selected for such a duty, inas-
much as be filled the office of deputy-surveyor of Wind-
sor, and-was therefore, from the very circumstances of
his position, liable to suspicion. He (Sir.): . Shelley) was
prepared to contend that the report which the referees
had sent in was not such as to justify the removal of Mr.
Kennedy from his office. Mr. Kennedy had been for a
long series of years a faithful and efficient servant of the
Crown, and he defied any maxi to show that that gentle-
man's conduct had been actuated,by any ether motive tnan
that suggested to him by an anxious and single-hearted
desire to de his duty as effectively and as conscienti-
ously as possible. The Government ought to have
been most cautious how they took any course that could
injure the character or the interests of a gentleman who
occupied such a social position as Mr. Kennedy enjoyed,
who had attained his age, and who had maintained, like
him, a character of honour, integrity, and veracity. The
hon. baronet having read copious extracts from the blue-
book, which he commented on as evidencing an unfair
prejudice against Mr. Kennedy, proceeded to observe
that, though the report of the referees was by no means
such as to justify Mr. Kennedy's dismissal, nevertheless
that gentleman received a letter of dismissal, from the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, within 24 hours of the
sending in of the report. Mr. Kennedy was not allowed
an opportunity of replying to the report. (Hear, hear.)
He was not permitted to say one word in answer to the
allegations contained in the report, but the Lords of
the Treasury, who had long considered him a bore and
a nuisance, were only too glad of any pretext, how-
ever flimsy, to get rid of him. Nothing, to be sure,
could be sweeter than the letter in which the late
Chancellor of the Exchequer intimated dismissal to Mr.
Kennedy. He (Sir J. Shelley) admittel that that right
hon. gentleman (Mr. Gladstone) was a master of the art
of speaking, and he had always listened to him with at-
tention, but he had invariably observed that, whenever
the right hon. gentleman wore a peculiarly sweet and
bland smile, he was on the point of administering a
very severe blow to somebody. (Laughter.) Nothing
could be sweeter or more courteous than the tone of
the right bon. gentleman's letter to Mr. Kennedy, but
that gentleman could only interpret it as a notice to
quit, and he accordingly replied that he would leave as
soon as possible. Subsequently, Mr. Kennedy wrote
a letter to the Prime Minister, Lord Aberdeen, request-
ing an open and impartial inquiry into his conduct, and
five days afterwards his lordship returned an answer,
saying he had no objection to grant such an inquiry; but
as the matter had been brought before the House of Com-
mons, he was precluded from taking any steps in re-
gard to it. The noble earl added that the Chancellor
of the Exchequer would be in his place to justify
the course which he had pursued. Though ordinary
mortals could not but construe the Chancellor of the
Exchequer's letter into a dismissal, there were some
rho took a different view of it, for Sir Charles Trove-
gark, in a letter to Mr. Kennedy, said—" I have to
transmit to you the Treasury minute relative to your re-
tirement from the office of Commissioner." Afterwards
iMugr'hihZeitYdwrote to the Lords of the Treasury, say- I
but that hesiaakie use of expressions which he regretted,
public serv.ic;.anted from a sincere desire to benefit the
hoped an inquiry would be made
into the minagintehaet
of his department of the Woods
and Forests and Land
lordships replied that they Revenues of the Crown. Their
ot;lbclunuot submit to their acts
being inquired into by any
mral re pt Parliament
but that was precisely what
xeuennedy asked for.
This being the state of things, Mr.
represented
sent him a
his case to Lord J. Russell, and his barucltp
letter, in which he said that it was with some concern
lie had learnt that a man of such high character,
career
in-
tegrity, and honour, was, after a lung and useful
in the service of the Grown, no longer in charge of the de-
• partment with which lie had been entrusted; but he
would support any motion for inquiry which might be
made in the house. The hon. baronet then alluded to
the proceedings of the select committee, and complained
of the appointment of Mr. Wilson :13 a member of that
committee,' on the ground that, as Secretary of the
Treasury, he had conducted the whole correspondence
between the Treasury and Air. Kennedy. A resolu-
tion, asserting that Mr. Kennedy had evinced much
zeal in the execution of his office, was proposed in the
committee ; and on a division being taken, the ayes were
four, and the noes five, the casting vote being given by
Mr. Wilson. He called upon them to give fair play to
a gentleman who had been so long employed in the pub-
- lie service, but who had been so imprudent as to write
tan indiscreet letter, for which he had expressed his re-
.s.kticonfidently placed his case in the hands of
)01541#Q../Itms that it would receive that attention
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