The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-05 00:00:00

for Halifax—not, happily, this time, from the front
Treasury Bench, not from the very elbow of Lord
PALMEESTUN, but, as common decency would at last
h ave it, from the top of the second bench below
the gangway. Here is a bit of it—a bit, that is, of
this "perfectly and entirely satisfactory" expluna
titan of Mr. STANSFELD'S! We all recollect what
the Avocet-General over in Paris, in one of the
great imperial courts of law, said the other day,
about certain pieces of documentary evidence,
cpsoting indeed, as that high functionary did, when
referring to those documents, divers passages in
letters signed with a female Christian name,
passages speaking of Mr. STANSFELD by his Chris-
tie n name—passages, remember, occurring in letters
babying direct association with M. MAZZINI ! Whet
says Mr. STANSFELD last evening in this " perfectly
and entirely satisfactory" explanation—in regard to
that documentary evidence, in regard to those ex-
tra cts from certain letters ? Well, he says this—
" Two extracts of letters have been published,of which
the house will understand that, if they be genuine,
[he abstains carefully from denying that they are
genuine], lam prepared to take the whole respon-
sibility that may be attached to them. [Lord
PALMERSTON, just in the same grandiose spirit,
took the whole responsibility of retaining
Mr. STANSFELD in his Government—from which
Government Mr. STANSFELD has, nevertheless since
been compelled to withdraw. The whole of the re-
sponsibility !—as if a mere verbal flourish of that
kind settled the matter in any way l] Ido not
know that it is possible for me, or for anyone con-
nee ted with me, to say whether they are genuine or
not," Mr. STANSFELD, with gingerly caution,
goes on to acknowledge—" Bat I say that
there is nothing in them which I have
the slightest desire to deny. As far as I
can judge they may be genuine extracts of letters
which have come into possession of the French
police. What does the first extract prove? The
extract from the first letter proves nothing except
the relationship of personal friendship, which I have
acklowledged, and which it is well known hes long
existed between me and Signor MAZZINI. What
is the second extract ? The second extract states
that a remittance has been received, and will be
applied according to instructions. The house must
understand that this is said not to be a court of
justice, but it is at least a court of honour. [Pity
ho did not recollect this before !] We speak here
upon our honour. Will the house believe me
then when I say that I am utterly unable, and
all those who are connected with me by family
ties are equally unable to imagine or to
recollect to what this passage refers ? Bat
this 1 am able to say, that it did not refer,
because it could not refer—for that would imply
knowledge—to anything which would not bear the
test of the closest examination; and that, so far as
I can judge, upon my honour and conscience I be-
lieve it mast have referred either to some mere
private transaction or to the distribution of some
moderate and poor sum of money for a charitable
purpose." All which is, of coarse—as Lord PAL-
MERSTON says—" perfectly and entirely satisfac-
tory"—in the way of "explanation."
Certain ugly customers, to use a homily phrase,
or " not to put too fine a point upon
it," according to Mr. SNAOSBY'S favourite
idiom-- certain extremely ugly customers
do somehow, at an interval of a few years apart,
flounder into the custody of the Parisian police,
—persons, at any rate (to put it in the mildest way),
suspected of having to do with plots for the assassi-
nation of the French EmrEnon! And, by an odd
sort of a coincidence,' letters talking about money as
procurable at Mr. STANSFELD'S address, letters
giving that aldresa very accurately, letters directly
associated with the sinister name of the arch-con-
spirator MAZZINI—that MAZZINI who himself con-
fessed to having given 1,000 francs and a lapis lazuli
dagger to an intending murderer of the late King of
SARDlNlA—letters giving Mr. STANSFELD'S address
and talking about money as there procurable, letters
such as these are found unfortunately in the pockets
of these extreme ugly customers. Nevertheless—
as Lord PALMERSTON says—Mr. STANSFELD'S
"explanation" is—there can't surely be a moment's
doubt about it—" perfectly and entirely satisfac-
tory."

By the way there is something else that Lord
PALMERSTON says now abdut Mr. STANSFELD
that it is particularly worth while bearing in recol-
lection now that Mr. STANSFELD is passing from
view there on that conspicuous front bench of the
Treasury, to take a modest place, henceforth, upon a
back bench below the gangway. Lord PALMERSTON
is kind enough to inform the House, and through the
House, the Country, as follows ;—" I will uot," says
the Prime Minister, before resuming his seat, and
allowing the scandal (for surely it is that at least)
to drop into the background, " I will not go into
detail, but I will say that my honourable friend
attaches the same value to the welfare and personal
safety of that Sovereign who reigns over the empire
of France wilich any man in this House attaches ;
and that he is as sensible as we are that that great
Sovereign, on many great and important occasions,
has proved himself to be the true friend and faith-
ful ally of this country ; and that we all feel that
his personal security and dynastic welfare are not
only of the utmost value to the loyal and attached
people he governs, but are equally essential to the
general interests of Europe." Well, really, unless
Lord PALMERSTON had told us all this, we
never should for an instant have suspected it.
Mr. STANSFELD to this moment has kept his secret,
as to these being his thoughts and opinions,
wonderfully well—such being his thoughts and
opinions, as Lord PALM ERSTON now tells us they
are. We shall next hear, probably, that they ara,
the thoughts, the opinions, the convictions of Mr.
STANSFELD'S intimate personal friend M. MAzzINI.
However that may be, they are at any rate those
of Mr. STANSFELD himself—Lord PALMERSTON
says so.

The recent catastrophe on the coast of Ireland has
directed public attention in a forcible manner to
the reprehensible negligence in official quarters, to
which it is principally due. The dangerous posi-
tion of the rock, and the importance of taking im-
mediate steps at least to mitigate the evil, have long
been folly recognised by the authorities of Cork and
dwellers in the vicinity ; and as was naturally to
be expected, they have endeavoured to secure the
assistance of the Government in protecting the
national shipping. The old story of courteous re-
ceptions, promised attention, tardy inquiry, and
finally some demur about a comparatively trifling
matter, and adjournment of the question sine die,
has all been gone over in the case of D un,:s Rook.
Mr. 3.+lAGuntE, who has taken a prominent part in
the matter, has addressed a letter to a contempo-
rary, giving.a full account of his share. It is quite
in accordance with the usual routine of official
red-tapeism that a rock which was spoken of to
he head of the Board of Trade as being extreme')
dangerous to shipping in July, 1863, snould be left
marked only by a buoy in April, 1864 ; but it re•
mains to be seen whether the rubric will consider
:hat the energy displayed by the Government has
been fully proportionate to the importance -)f
cAse. In last July Mr. MAGUIIIE wa ei on Lord
C. PAGET in order to call nta rkttention to the
-4Leasinefis fat by the captaluz oi the CunArcr
steamers with regard to that very i annt'a Rook

which has been the cause of the recent accident.
It was then, as now, comparatively unmarked—
, certainly entirely unprotected : it lies right in the
track of vessels corning from the West; and so well
were its dangers appreciated by the commanders of
the transatlan is ships, that in many instances they
had laid outside the harbour during dark nights,
to the consequent delay of the American
mails, whose prompt delivery is just now
a matter of so much interest. As the
peculiarity which always exempts the person
blamed from any share in the offence reaches even
to the ranks of Governments and their officials, it
is not surprising that the First Lord of the Admi-
ralty should, when thus addressed, exculpate his
Board from any part of the responsibility. It be-
longs to the Beard ot Trade. Accordingly, to the
President of the Board of Trade went the Mayor of
Cork, with his story of the perils and inconve-
niences of Daunt's Rock. That gentleman re-
ceived him courteously, and promised his attention.
The first step in the routine journey being conse-
qeently accomplished, the Harbour Commissioners
of Cork took the second, and communicated with
the Dublin Ballast Board. When the annual visit
of inspection was paid to Cork, a meeting took
place at Queenstown between the representatives
of the Board and the Harbour Commissioners, It
was earnestly demanded, on the part of the latter,
that the rock should be removed as soon as pos•
sible, and that, pending its removal, a light ship
should be stationed in its vicinity. The question
of expense was, it was submitted, a national one,
which should most properly be defrayed out of the
Consolidated Fund, or charged on the Mercantile
Marine Fand. The rock lies some miles from the
harbour, and is consequently beyond the jurisdic-
tion of the local authorities, who consider they
have done their part in providing buoys, beacons,
and lights within their own domains. After the
interview with the delegates from the Dublin Board,
it was hoped that a light ship, with fog bell and
signal gun, would be provided as a temporary safe-
guard, while the question of the total removal of
the evil waited for professional consideration. Mr.
MAGUIRE was, however, deputed to visit, per-
sonally, London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, with a
view of interesting the shipping and mercantile
communities of those three ports in the matter.
Memorials from various quarters poured in, and Mr.
MAGUIRE, is his capacity of Mayor, addressed a
letter to the Timm, thinking to guard against
delays by making the business public. Another
official inquiry was held and further testimony
adduced, and presently the result of all these efforts
was made known at the end of December. It was
announced that the necessary consent would be
given to the stationing of a lightship, on condition
that the expense should be defrayed by a tax on the
shipping entering or calling at Cork harbour ! This
expense being reckoned at £1,300 annually, is, as
Mr. MAGUIRE remarks, "no mean addition to the
burdens of an Irish port," and the Cork Harbour
Commissioners have already exempted all transat-
lantic vessels carrying mails and several other ships
from the ordinary dues, thereby reducing their
receipts. The local authorities very naturally ob-
jected to undertaking such a heavy charge, espe-
cially as it was one which on principle they did
not feel bound to fulfil. It is not exclusively Irish
shipping which is imperilled by Daunt's Rock ;
why then should an Irish port bear the sole weight
of the necessary charge ? As we all know, while
the matter has been dragging on in uncertainty,
things have been brought to a crisis by the wreck
of a noble ship and the narrow escape of three
hundred persons from sudden death. But the pro-
vidential safety of passengers, crew, mails and
specie, is the present instance, must not take the
point from the moral. The fact remains start-
lingly apparent, but it was the mere question
of tho dessree of violence with which the
vessel struck that stood between her living freight
and the deep waters. Had the ship shifted her
position and got off the ledge of rock on which she
rested, she would have gone down in ten fathoms
of water. Is a risk like this to be incurred again ?
Is a petty question of expense, a penny wise and
pound foolish economy, to imperil life and limb, to
say nothing of property, whose value dwarfs these
trifling charges, and vessels whose cost would very
soon defray the expense of blowing Daunt's Rock
up twice over ? It is in matters of this sort that
Governments begin to economise, when they are the
very points on which a lavish expenditure might be
most easily forgiven. Bat if affairs of this kind are
to be left to the charge of local authorities, and the
great object of our principal officials is to shuffle
out of the expense, we might as well go a little fur-
ther and save more, by abandoning a Board ot
Trade establishment altogether.

No one can complain at all events that this is a
dull session, or that there is any chance of the poli-
tical wen ld remaining any longer in that state of
stagnation in which it has been for so many years
past. The debates in the Houses of Parliament
have been characterised by the greatest excitement.
From one cause and another there has perpetually
ariaen some discord or other which has kept the
Treasury Benches and the Opposition in a continual
flutter. Nor have the whirl and commotion been
confined to the walls of the Senate, for in many
instances there have been meetings held, and
speeches made, which tend to show that a great re-
action has taken place: The elections which have
recently occurred have likewise contributed an im-
portant share to the general excitement. There have
been a great number of contested ones in which the
interest felt by the lookers on has been very great.
Ordinarily beyond the immediate confines of the
spot in question little or no heed is paid to the brief
turmoil, but in several notable instances lately put
on record, such as Brighton, Hertfordshire, &a.,
considerable attention was paid to the proceedings,
and it seemed more as if a dissolution had taken
place, than as if a few vacancies were being filled
up, and all was proceeding is the ordinary course.
There is no doubt in one point of view, as concerns
all these changes, that they have all resulted in
favour of the Opposition. Adversaries may be in-
dignant, shufflers may shirk the question, and cap-
tious critics may sneer, but the fact remains the
same, and it is idle to attempt contradiction. We
are contierually reminded of the change that has
taken place by one circumstance or another. A
very significant Conservative meeting was held at
Bolton last Friday. From the details there fur-
nished it will be seen that the prospects of the
party have greatly improved, and that it has been
surprisingly successful in its machinations in that
locality. The Borough and County Association have
bestirred themselves to such good effect that they
were able to give in the following numbers in
the report that was made. With the new
voters put upon the register, there were 900 Con
servative electors, and, so far as could be calculated,
only 500 Liberals. Tnose who remember anything
of the politics of Bolton in former years, will recog-
nise the striking alteration that has taken place.
Of course, ell this could not have been done without
exertion and enterprise being employed, but these
zealous adherents of their party have been pre-emi-
nent in discovering what sentiments really existed,
end bringing them to light. They did not effect
anything towards implanting the opinions of those