The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-19 00:00:00

~~ ~ ~~~

//, C?

Monrad.

• • .

sciousness that the Government abused the power
it possessed.of rewarding its supporters in Parlia-
ment with lucrative offices, and an act was premed
with the view of correcting that evil. By that
statute it was provided that, with one or two trifling
exceptions, all members of the House of Commons
accepting office under the Crown should vacate
their seats, with the privilege of presenting them-
selves for re-election ; and that no one holding any
office created subsequent to the year 1705 should be
qualified to sit in that house. At that time there
were three Secretaries of State and as many Under
Secretaries, for the Home, Foreign, and Colonial de-
partments respert'vely. So matters remained until
the close of the American war, when, Great Britais
having lost what had been her most irrportant colo-
nies, Mr. Burke introduced a bill for economical re-
form, by which the office of the Secretary for the
Colonies was abolished, as being one which was no
longer necessary. This bill became law, and, until
the, Secretaryship for the Colonies was revived, there
existed but two Secrotarvships of State with their
attendant Under Secretar-3 ships. At the termine-
tioe of the Crimean war it was thoueht adeiseble to
create a Secretary of War, and an act was passed.
with that intent, and by this statute it was pro-
vided that three Under Secretaries at :he most.,
should be eligible for seats in the House of Com-
mons. The next change which was effected arose
from the creation. at a later period, of the office of
Secretary of State for India, and the act by which
this office was created provided that the maximum
number of Under Secretaries in the Lower House
should thenceforth be four. Since then the law
has remained unmodified, and the primary question
raised for the consideration of the house last even-
ing was whether the law of the land and the privi-
lege of Parliament had not equally been violated,
owing to the circumstance of five Under Secretaries
having simultaneously eat and voted in the House,
of Commons during the present session. The sta-
tute creating the office of Secretary for India is so
explicit that it was impossible for the Government
to avoid admitting that they had infringed the law.
Lord Palmerston frankly stated to the house that an
error had been committed, and proposed that a bill of
indemnity should be passed for the benefit of those
who had unconsciously acted in violation of the law.
But the resolution submitted to the house by Mr.
Disraeli aimed at results other than the mere affir-
mation of a legal and constitutional principle which
did not admit of denial. He asked the house to de-
clare that the seat of the fifth Under Secretary was
vacant. His view of the question was supported by
the unanswerable argument that if the fifth Under
Secretary was ineligible to sit in the House of
Commons a week ago, he must be equally in-
eligible now, as he had not been re-elected since the
redistribution of offices had given him a right to a.
seat in the house. Oa the other hand, it was.
contended by the Attorney-General that the
office of Under Secretary stood on a footing
different from that of those offices under the
Crown referred to in the statute of Anne, and that
their holders were not visited with that ineligie
bility to sit in the House of Commons affixed to the
offices specified in that Act of Parliament. The
House of Commons is not the fittest tribunal to pro-
nounce upon a purely legal question, and it was
agreed by common consent to refer this knotty point
to a select committee, the house meanwhile accept-
ing the first portion of Mr. Disraeli's motion, affirm-
ing that it was a breach of the law for a fifth Secre-
tary of State to sit and vote as a member of their
body. The circumstance that five Under Secretaries
of State have, during the past year, sat in the House
of Commons is, hot: ever, important on other
grounds than that of being a mere breach of the
law. Oa the distribution of the principal offices of
State it is undoubtedly material that of the Chief
Secretaryship of State a majority should be held
by members of the Lower House. It is, no doubt,
very right and proper to appoint Under Secre-
taries, but the House of Commons is entitled to
claim the opportunity of addressing itself directly
to those Secretaries at least who preside over de-
partments which regulate the principal portion of
the expenditure of the country. In the present in-
stance, however, it-is scarcely fair to reproach Lord
Palmerston, because, a few weeks since, three out
of the five principal Secretaries of State were peers
of the realm. When he accepted office Earl Russell
was in the House of Commons, and Sir George
Lewis was still alive. The balance has been par-
tially restored by the appointment of Mr. Cardwell
to the office which the Duke of Newcastle was
through illness compelled to resign, and there are
now three Secretaries of State in the House of
Commons. The appointment of a member of the
Lower House to an Under Secretaryship, whilst
four were distributed to members of that House,
was an error, but that it was inadvertently com-
mitted is apparent from the fact that, though patent
to the world, it escaped detection for so long a
time.

Important Circular Despatch of Bishop

The following despatch, forwarded by the Danish•.
Premier to King Christian's diplomatic agents at
foreign Courts, has been recvived at Mr. M:uter's

Copenhagen, April 9, ISCI.

Sir,—Tho aces and proceedings of tho allied commis-
sioners in Schleswig have unfortunately given us too fre-
quent occasion to communicate with you upon the character
the German Cabinets have impressed upon the invasion in
spite of their former declarations, and notwithstanding the
assurances they appear to have given to neutral Courts upon
the subject of their intentions. I find myself now com-
pelled to call your attention to another series of still graver
facts, in which, not content with setting aside the rights of
the King, our enemies have gone so far as to violate the
precepts of the right of nations and the first principles of
humanity.
The commander-in-chief of the Prussian army has re-
cently, without any previous warning, proceeded to bombard
the open and inoffensive town of Sonderburg. Peaceable
inhabitants, women and children, have been buried beneath
the ruins or slaughtered by the bursting of shells, and hos-
pitals filled with wounded have had to be evacuated under
a hail of bullets.

Some Prussian hussars had been surprised during the
night by a small Danish detachment near the village of
Assendrup. To revenge themselves for this occurrence,
which was owing to the heedlessness of their officers, tho
Prussians have set fire to the farms at which the hussars
were lodged, and, not content with reducing poor peasants
to indigence, surrounded the burning building with a guard
to prevent furniture and even animals being saved from the
flames.

In Jutland the allied armies have overwhelmed the inha-
bitants with contributions of all kinds, and to so exorbitant
an extent, that certain localities have fouad it absolutely
impossible to fulfil these requirements.
The allied generals wished the Danish authorities to afford
them assistance in these extortions, and when they refused
to co-operate in the work of pillage 10 prefects, and burgo-
masters were arrested as prisoners and transported to the
fortress of Rendsburg, where they have already been de-
tained upwards of a month. Though tormented in various
ways, and exposed to every species of humiliation and pri-
vation, these honourable officials do not for a moment regret
having done their duty, but fears are entertained lest this
unjustifiable treatment may not soon cost at least one of
their number hie life.

I could swell the list of these atrocities by many more
examples, but limit myself to again recalling to recollection
that even churchyards and national monuments have not
been secure from the Vandalism of the invaders.

The Government of the King has unquestionably a right
to make reprisals against this barbarous manner of waging
war. If it has nevertheless decided upon not availing itself
of the right of retaliation, it is from a belief that whatever
the excuses capable of being brought for such a course, the
nation would not be slow bitterly to repent an offence against
laws never violated with impunity. The reprobation of the
present age, and the condemnation of history, in fact, are
punishments so rigorous that we cannot add to their weight.
Wo restrict ourselves, therefore, to notifying the Lau.
Europe and entire humanity will judge.—l have, Sze.,
(Signed) D. G. MONRA.D.

THE NEW JAPANESE EMBASSY.—The Singapore
correspondent of the Messager du Midi given
the following information relative to the Japanese Enr•
bassy, just arrived at Marseilles In 1862 the ambassa-
dors of the Taicoon in Paris had very skilfully demanded
that Japan should not be constrained to open all her porter
to foreigners so long as there was any cause to fear that;
security in the interior could not be relied en. They offered
every possible facility to commerce at Nagasaki and other
points, but at none of those that had been wished for. The
French Government accepted the demand, but on condilion.
that Japan should reduce the duties on French wines and
on articles of Paris manufacture. On returning to Yecidny
and after 20 months' hesitation, that is to say, after having
acquired the conviction that nothing could be done by force
against the foreigners, a decision was come to, to yield on.
the question of the tariffs, in order to demand in their turn.
the fulfilment of the promises made at Pane. They hastened
to go to the French Minister to offer him to take up the
customs' question. A discussion took place, and in the end
they yielded, as they said. out of sympathy to France. The
following is the official circular of the Charge n'Affaires,
which explains what was done :—' The undersigned Minis-
ter Plenipotentiary and Charge d'Affaires at Japan- as the
honour to inform the French merchants that the Japanese
Government has just come to a decision, conformably to
the engagements stipulated at Paris by the ambassadors of
the Taicoon, in October, 1562, relative to the reduction in
the duties on French wines and articles of Paris manufac-
ture. That reduction will take place in the following pro-
; portions :—Wines and liquids to 5 per cent. instead of 35
per cent., and Paris articles to 5 per cent, and 6 per cent.,
according to classes, instead of 20 per cent. The present
r measure is to come into force for Yokohama on the Bth of
, February, and fur the other porta QL, the Bth of March.' "

~~~