The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-19 00:00:00

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must be almost ruin, but it is
quite possible that he
may be hemmed in, his communicationsrm interrupted,
and and the whole supplies of his a
these circumstances he will do well cutihe succeedndienr
rescuing his army as well as Burnside, ofwhom
he
was a few weeks ago so contemptuous. There can
be little presumption in saying that this new inva-
sion has proved a failure as well as those which pre-
ceded it. A General who is driven into intreech-
meats in the first week of the campaign is little
likely to complete the conquest of the Confederate
States.
HERALD.—In the vote of £.956,873 for the packet
service of the present year, provision, as will have
linen seen from what took place last evening in the
Ileut,e of Commons, was made for payra eats to Mr.
J. G. Churchward for the conveyance of mails be-
tween Dover and Calais, and Dover and Ostend, up
to the 20th of June, and no longer. This limitation,
and the reasons assigned for it, are now familiar
public matters; but Mr. Churchward has stated his
own case so very fairly and without imputation, that
our readers must excuse us if we present it as
derived solely from his own clear and temperate
statement. From the year 1846 Mr. Churchward
took up and pressed the question of a more efficient
and certain transit of the continental mails, and in
interviews with the civil Lord of the Admiralty
and the Post-office Secretary of that period ex-
plained that the service was capable of consider-
able improvement, if the conveyance of the mails
were undertaken by contract. In November,
1849, and in September, 1852, the subject was
again and again renewed with the Admiralty,
until at last, towards the end of the year 1853,
a Parliamentary Committee reported that Mr.
Churchward's views were correct, and that it
was expedient that these mails should be carried
by contract. In 1854 tenders were publicly
invited by the Lords of the Admiralty, and Mr.
Churchward's tender, being £1,520 less than
that of one of his competitors, and £4,750 lower
than that of the other applicant, was accepted and
entered upon in the April of that year. At the
same time it was distinctly azknowledged by official
authorities that this agreement was the means of
effecting a saving of public money of £lO,OOO per
annum. Moreover, the Hamburgh mails, pre-
viously carried by a separate route, at an expense
of £lB,OOO a year, were included in this very sub-
sidy of £15,000 a year obtained by Mr. Church-
ward. The first contract of four-and-a-half years,
daring which Mr. Churchward was testing the suc-
cess of his arrangements under the eyes of his dis-
appointed rivals, the South-Eastern Railway Com-
pany and the North of Europe Steam Navigation
Company, were so disastrous that Mr. Churchward
clearly saw he could only hope to indemnify him-
self fur his losses by obtaining a renewal of his con-
tract. The Government evidently allowed that he
proved his claim for consideration, and extended his
contract to an additional four years beyond the
term of the first arrangement. He was thus se-
cured up to June, 1863, in his conveyance of these
special mails. Up to the year 1858 it was always
allowed that the efficiency of the service under Mr.
Churchward was increased and maintained, but
meanwhile, by a second total wreck, the contractor
was exposed to very trying losses. Accordingly,
Mr. Churchward again sought to fortify his posi-
tion, and to overcome these unforeseen depreciation s
to his bargain, by applying to the Government for
a further extension of his contract. He had proved
the worth of his services to the public, and thought
that he was entitled to such a consideration. In
April, 1859, he accordingly received the result of
his applications, and a new contract was made with
the Admiralty, constituting Mr. Churchward the
contractor for carrying these continental mails till
April, 1870, with an increased subsidy bringing his
allowance up to £lB,OOO a year, from the addition
of a commuted sum of £2,500 for special and extra
services, harbour and tonnage dues, and particu-
larly those incurred for the India mails, &c.
This contract Mr. Churchward has invariably
claimed and now claims as his right—a right of
which he has been deprived by a mere political
intrigue. In his own words, Mr. Churchward has
asked that the question should be determined upon
strictly legal and commercial principles, and has
appealed to the Postmaster-General not to "suffer a
public servant," and a good one, we may add, "to
be sacrificed to any political cry, from whatever
quarter it may come.' It may be just as well to
remark that Sir F. Kelly, Mr. Bovill, Sir Hugh
Cairns, and Mr. Hannen, in the clearest possible
language, affirm that the contract "is a good and
valid contract," and that Mr. Churchward can pro-
ceed, by petition of right, to recover compensation
for the dismissal of it if' necessary. But the present
Government have admitted the existence of the coa-
t! act by instructing, on the retirement of Lord
Derby's Administration, the Admiralty superin-
tendent at Dover, " to see to the proper performance
of the contract of April, 1859 ; and both the Ad-
miralty and the Accountant General of the Navy
in certain subsequent correspondence, specify the
existence and liabilities of this very contract which
it is now sought to repudiate. The Government
premises at Dover, moreover, leased by Mr. Church-
ward from the present Government, are held up to
April, 1870, and the lease, duly executed by two of
the present Lords of the Admiralty, fully recites
this contract of 1859. Lord Clarence Paget has
not, with his usual hardihood, oared for all these im-
plied recognitions. The Board of Admiralty and he
have repudiated the contract, and have determined
to treat it as "non-existent," The First Lord and
the Secretary of the Admiralty, for their disdain of
aught but their own absolute inclination, may rank
with Minister President Von Bismark Schonhausen,
and Mr. Churchward is thrown over. Mr.
Frederick Peel asserted last night that the Bel-
gian government had undertaken a portion of
Mr. Churchward's contract, and a Mr. Har-
rington had tendered for the carrying of the
mails between Dover and Calais at a considerably
reduced rate. The House of Commons, almost
proverbial for its rigorous sense of justice when
individuals are concerned, in a spirit of true eco-
nomy endorsed Mr. Frederick Peel's proposition by
a majority of eight. So Mr. Churchward leses his
contract and the foreigner gets it, and a service cre-
ditably and even admirably performed is sacrificed
to a paltry political intrigue. It remains for Mr.
Churchward to seek in the law courts of the coun-
try the justice which party spirit denies to him in
the House of Commons. Notwithstanding the
strong belief of the Solicitor-General and the rest
of her Majesty's Government in the sounss
r
their case, there can be little doubt how the gildingwill be when the matter is taken before a tribunal
the
that will judge it not in a spirit of faction,
law of evidence. It must be remembered that there
is not the shadow of imputation that the contract
has not been .well and tfficientlerformed. The
eymepnt, Sir Stafford
saving under the new arrang
Northcote tell us, will not be more than £lOO a
year. Yet ostensibly for this paltry sum the House
of Commons was called upon to sanction a gross
set of oppression and injustice—an act which must
inevitably bring it into collision with the levy courts,
and which inflicts a permanent blow
of the country. on the credit

The Attempted Murder and Suicide at
Woolwich.

c ock, Mr. C. J. Carttar,
taltiseii-07--rcsurnd an inquiry at the
streeti,axto lii
,n t
oththate e
Richard Robert
Britannia Tavern,
Thursday last, shortnl,
corLoansetr efvoernWinges
a tending the death of Mr.
against him by
Roberts a master baker, residing at King-
nideedeeased she had attempted who committed suicide on
the circumstances t enry-street, -Woolwich, into
afterh. an accusation had been
George
pitsedsertovanpto,isaongihrlisnawmifeed.
tffoewct tyhat at the instigation of the
Mr, Farnfield, solicitor, attended to watch the pro-
ceedings on bchalf of the relatives of the deceased;
and the room was densely crowded. Mrs. Eliza
Roberts, widow of the deceased, who appeared
deeply
affected, stated that on Thursday last Police-
Inspector Lin well came to her residence and saw
witness and the deceased, whom he informed as to
thy! accusation made by the girl Paxton. The
de-
ceased promised to attend the police-court ea that
the
afternoon, and remarked to the inspeetnoyr t
p hertson's
a
girl was a wretch who would swear d
her entire
t, and agrecd to ac-
disbelief in the girl's stateratheon
police-court. After
company the de ceased tode
ceased went upstairs,
the inspector left the
life away; and witness also
--,...5_ _ rently with the intention
brushed his clothes—ai r
court—but he afterwards went
of proceeding to the
d Witness was subsequently in-
formedinto the garden, and
The deceased had been much
of the oil?'" *. the death of his two chil-
• spirits since
depressed 30
t last. The witness gave further
dren in Aug,"
appeared that she entirely
from which it appe
t vidence,
made against the deceased
discredited the statement
I Paxton.
by the Roberts,r father of deceased, and nine other
Afr. Rb
eve evidence to prove that bin
witnesses, g
co the
death of his appeared
very strange in his manner, and was much depressed
in spirits.
After some remarks from the coroner,
returned a verdict of " Temporary • insanity."
the jury
expressed