The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1863

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES. —The weakness, the folly, and the credu-
lity of mankind are exemplified in our courts of law
with a boldness which fiction dares tot emulate. A

column of Divorce Court cases reveals vices which

would be held to outrage all probability if hazarded
in a three-volume novel ; the romance of the Rou-

pell case seems equally beyond the possibili y of an
actual occurrence, whether we believe or disbelieve
the story of the convict ; and now this cause celebre

in the Bankruptcy Court, whereof Colonel Waugh is
the hero, comes to tax our capacity of belief in the

impudence of an adventurer, and in the blind

credulity of his dupes. If a man would prey upon
his fellows, audacity seems to be the only requisite
for a temporary success. Colonel Waugh comes
before the Bankruptcy Court, not as a public wrong-
doer, but as an unfortunate man worthy of all com-
miseration. He tells us at every turn of the argu-
ment that he is a rough, honest old soldier, who has
spent 23 years of his life in the service of his

country. He is so weak in his eyes that it would be
a cruel persecution to imprison him; and he is able
to get up a burst of virtuous indignation at any
suggestion that he and his fellow directors in the
London and Eastern Bank were not " the most

honest men in the world." If he keeps up the
representation long enough, and if day after day
his counsel shall be allowed to dwell upon his
personal ailments and his military services, Colonel
Waugh will soon get a little public of commiserators.
It is eight years since he dazzled the town with his
pomps and his splendour. It is seven years since
the ears of the nation were filled with the wail

of the victims who were being swallowed up in the
little social earthquake which destroyed so many
humble families. If- we could resuscitate the

details of those miseries, if we could follow the

fortunes of the victims, and contrast the present
position of scores of men and women and children

with what it might have been if Colonel Waugh bad
lived upon his moderate competency and had never
got access to the funds of the London and Eastern

Band, public opinion would still go hard against
Colonel Waugh. But time has flown by ; the
victims have all been swept away; death and ruin

and inso vency have rolled over them, and they are
gone do wn to the bottom of the social scale, oat of
sight and out of hearing. The only residuum of
this great evil is the man who was the chief agent
in it; and he comes before us claiming our pity, and
even remonstrating against our censure. He evi-
dently has the same audacity in defence which heshowed in his adventure, and there are fools enough
in the world, although of another class, to make a
party against punishing him, just as there were
fools enough to believe in his story of untold millions
lying hid in the clay of Branksea Island. We laugh
at the absurdity of the Monto Christo romance, and
yet we find ourselves gravely investigating the in-
cidents of this Branksea Island reality. A retired
Colonel, with an income of £4OO a-year, buys a
little island upon the coast of Dorsetshire. Fifteen
thousand pounds was the price, and, of course, he
had not the money to pay for it, but so plausible
was the Colonel, or so silly were the people with
whom he came in contact, that in a short time he
had invested £30,000 in the island, and had raised
about the same sum in mortgage upon it. This
seems to have been the state of affairs when he in-
troduced himself to the managing director of the
London and Eastern Bank. He went there to raise
more money upon some property belonging to his
sister, and he took the occasion to launch his story
of the wonderful wealth that lay hid in the clay of
Branksea Island. He was too wise to talk of hidden

treasures. Boxes of diamonds and chests of ingots
are left now to more professional romancers ; your
practical men take a bolder flight and assert that
the whole soil is a treasure. Here was an " old
soldier," whose possession was a deposit of clay
mortgaged to double its worth, persuading a
banker that this clay was a security for
£70,000 and was of the value of untold millions,
A. piece of paper purporting to be a report or
valuation, showing how all this island might be
made into alum, and calculating its value at

about L 8 per ton, was sufficient to induce the
managing director to lend £50,000 upon this pre-
cious clay. We suppose we must believe that
this statement is correct. There is no proof that

this was a conspiracy between Stephen and Waugh

from the first, and therefore we have no right to as-
sume it from the mere improbability of the alterna-
tive story. But, if that story be true, how strange
a truth it is! The next step is stranger still, if pos-
sible. Upon the strength of this very indebtedness
Colonel Waugh becomes a director of the bank from
which he had borrowed. As a director he seems to

have done pretty much as he liked, and he went on
" borrowing" till the amount reached £114,000. It
was only £114,000. Colonel Waugh complains
bitterly that he has been injuriously put down as a
debtor to the bank to the extent of £240,000, and
he evidently thinks that he has been by this cheated
out of £126,000. As we read his own statement,
however, it would appear that he raised £114,000
and £30,000 upon a mud bank for which he gave
£15,000. What became of all this money ? There
is a shell of an unfinished castle and some pottery
works cn Branksea Island, and there is a fading
tradition of ostentatious banquets in London. There
is, moreover, an estimate for the formation of a
working establishment, which was to cost £5,000,
and a paper of most audacious calculations concern-
in,' 30,000,000 tons of " marketable clay," worth
£40,000,010 sterling. This is all we have to show
for £144 000 in hard cash. The flight of the co-
directors when the extent of the old soldier's bor-
rowings became known, the shifts, contrivances,
and broken promises, the confident assurances, and
the ultimate smash, are all too necessary a sequence
to the antecedent facts to be dwelt upon. The great
fact notable in the history of human credulity is
that a man of no great means, but living in an ex-
travagant flashy style, was able to raise £144,000
alum, to the extent of a profit of £40,000,000. It
upon a story that he was able to convert clay into
the people who suffered were the people who were
cajoled by this impossible nonsense, and none
others, we might be inclined to say that no laws
can protect such folly as this, and we might be
satisfied to see such delusions work their natural
result. But the hundreds whom the London and
Eastern Bank ruined had no choice or voice in this
matter. They did not know that their managing di-
rector was lending their money upon this promising
adventure; they did not know that their director
was helping himself to their money upon this won-
derful security ; they believed that their business
was being conducted as banking business generally
is conducted. When they awoke to ruin, and were
told that they were liable to their uttermost shil-
ling, because Branksea Island clay was not worth
£8 a ton, they had, probably, never heard of Brank-
sea Island, and had no notion that their fortunes
had ever depended upon any so singular an impro-
bability. This is not a fair risk. Take it in the
most favourable light; let us strive to believe that
this man was his own dupe as well as the deceiver
of others ; still the manner in which he obtained
this money was as bad as bad can be. The moral
wrong produced was as great as that effected by
Redpath or Roupell; and if the law looks more
lightly upon it, and has no name for it among the
criminalcatalogu e
law.of crimiPerhapsnal offences,if there m wereere a shamepu b public our
secutor some section of our Criminal Code might be
found to have a bearing uponsuchacts tt for
as ese,
in the majority of cases where the public cry out
against the impunity
of wrongdoers it is not the
law which is in fault,
but the administration of the
law. Let it be,
hee however, that nothing of a crimi-
nal character has occurred. We are not about
to call for any vindictive
Colonel Waugh, Something, however,
even against
however, ought to be
done to prevent such amanlike
k as this passing through
the Bankruptcy Court
trader, and escaping scot-free, while others who
have not occasioned half so
much misery are expi-
ating their offences under heavy sentences.
POST.—Notwithstanding the recentr reverses sus-
tained by the Southern Confederacy, it may well
be doubted whether any material advantages
accrued to the Federal Government.
The
hages have
South
has lost many men and large quantities of warlike
stores, and has seen pass into the hands of
its
enemy one of the most important strategic
tions within its territories ; but although the
posi-
tions
blows which have been inflicted must appear un-
doubtedly heavy, it is questionable whether by
the Federal Government they can be turned to
any practical account. The campaign in the north
east will once more be carried on within the limits
of Virginia, as Maryland and Pennsylvania are no
longer obliged to support a hostile army. General
Meade bad not, according to the latest accounts,
crossed the Potomac ; but when he does it will be
either to resume the old position at Falmouth, or
some other from which operations may be con-
ducted against Richmond with some hopes of suc-
cess. That those operations will prove successful
there is, however, no reason to believe. Although
Lee experienced heavy losses at Gettysburg, his
opponent suffered no less severely, and, acting on
the defensive, the Confederates will doubtless be
as well able as hitherto to oppose the advance of
the grand army of the North. The marked dish).

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o
occupies a position either on the left bank of the
Rappahannock or elsewhere in the vicinity of
Richmond, so long the Confederate Government
will be obliged to maintain their finest army in a
state of comparative idleness. But of reinforcements
there is no prospect. It has been stated to be the
intention of the Government at Washington to en-
force the conscription notwithstanding the recent
riots. Whatever may be the projects of the Admi-
nistration, there can be no doubt that the draught
will never be assented to by the Northern popula-
tion. The Federal Cabinet may threaten to enforce
it, but they do not possess the means. Mr. Lin-
coln might poisibly wish to convert New York into
a Warsaw, but in order to do so he would be obliged
to occupy it with a numerous army. New York
is, however, only one of a number of cities in every
one of which the inhabitants have, with more or less
vehemence,, announced their refusal to be dragged
from their homes to fill the ranks of the Federal
army. If Mr. Lincoln would enforce the conscrip-
tion he must employ his armies in carrying into
effect the orders of his provost marshals. New York
was pronounced by its Governor to be in a state of
insurrection, but we may neat expect to hear that
it has been declared by the President to be in a
state of siege. We do not think, however, that a
feeble attempt at establishing a military dictator-
ship will either strengthen the Federal Government
or recruit the Federal armies. But if in Virginia
military operations will in all probability flag, there
seems but little likelihood of the Northern armies
being able in other parts of the Confederacy to do
more than retain the positions they at present oc-
cupy. The necessity of providing Vicksburg and
Port Hudson with strong garrisons will have the
effect of withdrawing from active service no incon-
siderable portion of the armies which have succeeded
in reducing them. It is one of the necessary inci
dents of the war in which they are engaged that the
Federal Government must employ one set of armies
in retaining possession of territories which another
set of armies have conquered. It is true that at the
present moment the navigation of the Mississippi
is, comparatively speaking, uninterrupted ; but still
it is far from being in that condition which the
necessities of commerce imperatively demand. The
Federals cannot occupy the banks of a river which
flows for many hundreds of miles through an
enemy's country, and their inability to secure pro-
tection for vessels navigating the Mississippi should
teach them how hopeless it is to expect to exercise
undisputed dominion throughout the length and
breadth of the Southern States, If the Fedefal
Governmentresult
tof
the are really
and
sanguine concerning the
if
they
think their recent
successes are of ouch a kind as to be fitly celebrated
by a day of general thanksgiving, they would do
well to cast a glance on the map of the Confederate
States. Out of the many hundreds of thousands
of square miles over which the Southern territories
extend they might count by hundreds those in which
they have re-established their dominion. The
Unionists of the North should never forget that, in
order to succeed in re-establishing in its original
integrity the Great Republic of the West, they must
not only conquer the Southern population, but re-
duce it to perpetual submission. The siege of
Charleston has been renewed, though in a different
form. Even iron-clad Monitors have been obliged
to succumb to fortifications which were built years
before iron-plated
gunbcats were thought of, and
all hopes of reducing the town by a naval attack
seem to have been abandoned. The same tactics
which the allies pursued at Sebastopol are now
about to be employed by the Federals at Charleston.
The harbour of Sebastopol was naturally inacces-
sible, and the French and English armies were
obliged to depend almost exclusively on siege opera-
tions to effect the reduction of the town. The
recent attempt by the Federal iron-clads to force
their way past the forts commanding the entrance
to Charleston proved so disastrous in its results that
it was not renewed, and now the North appears to
place reliance solely on its armies to recover posses
sion of that Southern port. It would be premature
as yet to express an opinion of the probable issue;
but although the operations of the attacking foree
have been up to the present tolerably successful, it
is not likely that Charleston will prove to be the
asy prize which the Northern generals anticipate.
But supposing, like New Orleans, it should suc-
cumb. What then ? From the capture of the
Crescent City the North, independently of the
plunder of the inhabitants, derived no material
advantage. The seizure of Charleston, beyond re-
lieving a portion of the Federal fleet from the
necessity of blockading that port, would not place
the Government at Washington in a superaor posi-
tion. In fact, however we regard the successes of
the North, whether past or future, it is equally
impossible to connect them with the realisation of
the object for which the war is prosecuted. Assum-
ing that the Southern population continue averse
from an amalgamation with the inhabitants of the
Free States, neither the command of the Mississippi
nor the capture of the principal cities in the Confe-
deracy will place the latter in such a position as to
enable them to dictate to the former the conditions
of their political existence. If the Federal Govern-
ment have now, at the close of more than two years'
hard fighting, begun to conquer, they will find
themselves equally obliged to retain forcible posses-
aim, of their conquests. The latter task, however,
in the present temper of the Northern population,
will be found no less difficult than the former.
for

cessful in the House of Commons. His position Ras
made before he was a member of Parliament, and his
seat for Liverpool neither advanced nor retarded him
in his career. When Mr. Littledale was asked by
the Patronage Secretary of the Treasury what his
politics were he replied that he was a special pleader.
Cresswell could not have given this answer, but when
he was made one of the Justices of the Queen's Bench
in 1842 it was because he was a sound lawyer, and
certainly not oecause he was a member for verpool.
He fully answered all expectations formed of him as
a lawyer. He was what is called a " strong" judge.
That is to say, he was not only a learned judge, but
a man who would have his own way. He had suf-
ficient confidence in himself, a sufficient contempt
for his audience, and a sufficient power of saying
very disagreeable truths at proper times to keep
every one in awe of bim. It is a great temptation
to have this power in that position, and perhaps Sir
Cresswell Cresswell abused it as little as it is in
human nature to do.

The work by 'which, however, Sir Cresawell
Cresawell will be remembered—and the only work
by which he will be remembered—is the creation
of the Divorce Court. Sir Cresawell Cresawell was
appointed to preside here in January, 1858. It was
an experiment distrusted at the time by the public,
and most dangerous to the reputation of the man
who should firat undertake it. Sir Cresawell Cress-
well's confidence in himself allowed him to accept

it, and, as that self-confidence was fortunately in
his case well founded, it enabled him to carry it
through. To him chiefly it is owing that the Divorce
Court has been a great success. He has made a code
of divorce law by his decisions; and he has based it
upon sound, broad principles. As a social lawgiver,
Sir C. Cresswell is as great as Lord Mansfield is as
a mercantile lawgiver. He has built a bridge in
chaos ; and if his successor has the prudence to keep
to it he may travel without any very violent falls.
This building up of a new system of law must
have grown to be a labour of love with Sir C. Cress-
well. He had long since earned his pension. He
was rich in private means; he was childless, and,
indeed, unmarried. It could only have been an
absorbing interest in his work and a desire to con-
solidate the practice of his court which could have
induced him to toil on in a drudgery which must
caused him frequent disgust and continual labour.
It is true that he was generally appreciated by his
countrymen and countrywomen, and was doubtless
conscious that he was doing his work well; but in
the work itself he could have taken no pleasure. He
was a hard-working, conscientious, and successful
public servant, and his life has been useful. How
few there are who die and of whom so much as this
can be truly said ; and who is there among us of
whom we could truly say much more ?

(From the Lancet)
At seven minutes to 7 on the evening of Wednesday the
distinguished Judge of the Court of Probate and Divorce,
Sir Cresswell Cresswell, suddenly expired. It is well known
that he had recently met with a severe accident; but the
injury which he then received, although it may have accle-
rated his decease by the severe shock which it undoubtedly
inflicted on the system, does not appear to have had any
direct share in the fatal result which has unexpectedly oc-
curred. When violently thrown over by the runaway horses
which broke from Lord Aveland's carriage, Sir Cresswell
was found, on being raised from the ground, to be suffering
from fracture of the knee-pan. This was not, however, a
fracture from direct violence ; but when examined by the
surgeon summoned—Mr. James Lane, of St. Mary's Hos-
pital—he found that from the nature of the fracture it was
evidently one of those rare instances in which the knee-pan
is rent by the sudden and violent action of the extensor
muscles of the thigh, commonly in the effort to recover the
balance of the body, and avoid falling. There was but little
bruising—much less than might have been anticipated. and
no other apparent injury. The fractured part was healing
favourably, and Sir Cresswell bore the confinement with
great equanimity, and was in good spirits throughout. Mr.
James Lane and Mr. Charles Hawkins were in continuous
attendance, and everything promised a speedy recovery.
Properly devised splints having been adjusted, Sir Cresswell
was able, with assistance, to shift himself from the bed to
a couch, and had done so in the course of Wednesday. As
he was being lifted in the evening from the couch again to
the bed, with the assistance of his brother, the Rev. Oswald
Cresswell, he complained of feeling faint, asked for wine,
and almost immdiately died. He had always considered
himself a specially healthy man,and was mentioning shortly
after his accident that he had never had a day's illnees,and
had never consulted a physician since he left the school. He
had lately become somewhat suddenly corpulent, but it was
never suspected, by himself or any other person, that the
hand of disease had seized him so firmly though silently.
The poet mortem inspection was performed at 7 p.m. on
Thursday by Mr. Charles Hawkins, Mr. James Lane, and
Dr. Baber. The examination of the chest showed that the
heart was the sole seat of disease. It was loaded with fat,
the walls of the ventricular cavities were thin and weak,
and the muscular fibres pale; the valves were competent.
Throughout the rest of the body the organs were found in a
healthy condition, although in parts much loaded with fat.
On examining the knee joint some blood was found effused
between the fractured surfaces of the bone , there was no
inflammation, irritation, or effusion in the interior of the
joint, but repair was going on satisfactorily. The cause of
death was doubtless severe syncope, fatal because occurring
in a weak heart fattily degenerated.
A circumstance occurred in connection with the accident
which, although by no means exceptional, deserves to be
mentioned, as illustrating the admirable spirit in which oar
hospitals are administered, and the firmness and self-devo-

tion with which the members of the medical profession per-
form their duties to the poor in those establishments. Sir
Cresswell was overthrown within sight of St. George's
Hospital, and a hasty message was sent there, stating that
an accident had occurred to the d:st nguished Judge, and
requesting that the house surgeon might accompany him
to his home. The house surgeon, however, was then en-
gaged in urgent duties of attendance upon poorer sufferers,
and felt unable to leave his post. Other skilled attendance
was immediately at hand. Such incidents are not rare, and
we cannot but think that they reflect honour on our profes-
sion and deserve to be widely known.