The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-03 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1863.

A lengthened discussion on the various questions
brought before the Committee of Supply on Mon-

day evening gives evidence that members are

anxious to redeem the invariable pledge given on
the hustings by advocating some retrenchment in
the expenditure of public money. The votes for
the public buildings, for the palaces, for the parks,
for the Kensington Museum, were all severely cri-
ticised in turn. The amount asked on each head
certainly appears to be large, and the most unsatis-
factory part of it is that the sums are annually in-
creasing. On some points, such as the parks, the
expenditure certainly results in public benefit, for
the advantages of these open spaces in the neigh-
bourhood of the metropolis are certainly very great.
It must be remembered by the objectors that very
great improvements have recently been carried out
in many of the parks, which have, of course, added
temporarily to the expense. Colonel SYKES gave
his testimony as to the changes for the better made
in Hyde Park, and as his experience as a resident
extends over a period of thirty years, he must be
well qualified to form an opinion. Battersea
Park has been transformed from a mere
grass common into a really beautiful park,
whose pleasant walks and varied trees and
shrubs delight thousands of visitors during the
summer months. It is of course desirable to keep
a prudent check on the expenditure of the public
money, but honourable gentlemen on Monday night
were disposed to be a little hypercritical. With
regard to the public buildings, there was more
ground for complaint. Largo sums are annually
given for this purpose, and yet no satisfactory re-
sult is ever attained. The few works which enable
us to claim any sort of architectural excellence for
our modern Babylon are scattered far and wide.
There is no chance of obtaining a really fine view
in London, such as can be seen from the Place de la
Madeleine. Even the fine block of public offices at
Whitehall lose half their effect from taking a wrong
slant. Standing at Charing cross and looking down
towards Parliament-street, only part of the first
house can be seen, Had they been placed in the
right position, and had the work been carried
on as it might have been, the gazer would
have looked down a fine architectural avenue to the
magnificent old abbey. There is certainly a great
want of unity in our present method, but it is
doubtful whether the defects complained of would
be altogether remedied by the adoption of Mr.
CHILDERS'S suggestion of placing the whole of the
Public Buildings under the control of one Govern-
ment official. It wculd be necessary to stipulate in
the interests of public taste that the Minister in
question should be selected with more care and cir-
cumspection than is usually shown in the filling up
of vacant posts. Unless some new genius rose up
among the GREYS, RUSSELLS, Or ELLIOTS things
would probably not be much mended. Fancy Sir
CHARLES WOOD at the head of such an office.
According to his principles of Indian legislation he
would probably favour the scheme that left most
money in the hands of the Government, and we
should see our public offices and museums appearing
with square brick fronts and slated roofs ! There is
no doubt,however, some truth in the complaint made
by Mr. CHILDERS that the unnecessary subdivision
of authority created a kind of anarchy. The Chief
Commissioner of Works had not, he said, the gene-
ral control. " The superintendence of the public
works and buildings connected with the Govern-
ment was so scattered about that it was difficult to
know wham to apply to. Some were under the
control of the Treasury, such as harbours and piers;
railways, which required so much care in their
supervision, were placed under the control of the
President of the Board of Trade, who had functions
to discharge of a totally different character, and
other works were under the control of the Home
Secretary. There was such anarchy in the dis-
charge of their functions that it was impossible to
have an efficient and economical control over them.
He hoped before long some hon. member would take
the subject up, and ask Parliament to consider
whether some change in the present plan of super-
vision of our public works and buildings ought not
to be made. He considered they ought to be con-
centrated under the supetintendenca of one depart-
ment, which would be more economical than now,
and tend to an improved style of architecture."
If such a suggestion were adopted it would be
very necessary that a man of architectural taste and
knowledge should be put at the head of it. There
is room for such a department among us, for public
taste has been too long neglected. The Go-
vernment, so readily lavish on some points,
are unduly cautious in others, as some extrava-
gant persons endeavour to atone for their general
thriftlessness by pefty and inconsistent savings.
The same gentleman who talked very indifferently
annualks taho oo
ou
as annt
ed
ds ef expendedu
nofinn
itshhee
dm
se
tt
ar ot e
par
po
of
litthaen
in undertkin
of the conservatory at Kew by saying that the
Government did not
feel lustifieoo
a further expenditure of £l4,
were unnecessarily extravagant it
t s
hlof
ut
lh e
de
not
tt iam
havee
been entered into, but if it
to af k ing
the I bteionnooalf
•
more
ee
tuhnanderis
suitable for the proper comp-
thhoenopuurbalbiclowimllesmcbarecrselywbheogorub
objected
cted to the it. Some
estimates based their opposition on a wrong foot-
icg. It is not because the country has not suffi-
cient means to pay, that extravagant expenditure
is objected to. It is not because " Ireland is starv-
ing,
and Lancashire being kept up at the public
ar )n,
and unreasonable
ee:aogngaezt edde estimatesan ds
expense" (which has not hitherto much affected the
redoce
Exchequer),
ared ton b
ex-
tent. If our northern friends were de •
mending help
and the Government refused it in order to
lay out the
money on the parks and museums, there would,
indeed, be cause for outcry. But while the best
friends of Lancashire have been hitherto deprecat-
ing grants of the public money, and the late
humane and sensible proposal of the President of
the Poor-law Board has originated with the Govern-
ment, not with the distressed districts, there is
scarcely room for such a remark, even supposing
the national exchequer were shallow ouish to give
it foundation. We fully agree wi;l2 the noble

There are some men who are apparently always
eager for the opportunity of making themselves
ridiculous. Mr. WHALLEY is one of these, and, as
fate would have it, several years back he found his
opportunity. It is an opportunity, moreover, that,

once seized, comes back to him periodically. Every

successive session it returns within his reach, and he
grasps at it. And every successive session the hon.
gentleman makes himself thereby, if that be really in
any way possible,moreand more ridiculous. What Mr.
WHALLEY'S opportunity was--who is there, having
the slightest knowledge of the House of Commons
as it is, that does not know by this time ? To say
that it arose—this priceless opportunity for the
member for Peterborough—to say that it arose from
the fact of Mr. SPOONER'S cloak (metaphorically
speaking) having fluttered down upon his shoulders
during the actual lifetime, during the actual con-
tinuance in the House of Commons, of that venerable
and respected gentleman the member for North
Warwickshire—is to say, in this matter,
scarcely anything. And for this simple and
very matter of fact reason that—there is a difference
in the manner of wearing a cloak ! For example
we may naturally presume that JULIUS C.ESAR,
that man of men, who was eudowedwith about the
grandest intellect among ail the great Conquerors
of the classic pagan age—we may naturally pre-
sume that CESAR, when stabbed to death at the
base of POMPEY'S Pillar, must, in falling, have
gathered his raiment about him with an awful
and affecting dignity. SHAKSPERE in fact
is the one to suggest this, as in the
highest degree probable, where, referring to the
anguish with which the Dictator saw the hand of
BRUTUS raised against him among the group of
assassins, the Poet writes—`‘ Then burst his mighty
heart, and, in his garment muffling up his face,
great C_ESAR fell." Yet, robe a TUERSITES with
that same identical garment—upon any occa-
sion, under any imaginable circumstances—
and it becomes upon the instant some-
thing absolutely ludicrous. We don't suppose
that Mr. ROBERT KEELEY, if he were
to return to the stage of the Haymarket some even-
ing, for this express purpose, could possibly walk
across that stage, swathed about in a toga, without
provoking roars of laughter. Mr. ToOLE, of the
Adelphi, might move the most saturnine to merri-
ment, we believe, by the same easy means
And all this not because the raiment it-
self is in any respect intrinsically ridiculous,
but simply because in either of these in-
stances, the wearer of it has essentially the
gifts and endowments requisite to constitute the
genuine low comedian.
Those gifts and endowments the honourable
member for Peterborough evidently possesses in
a very high degree. Placed across his shoulders,
a grave and respectable raiment—old Mr.
sp
oNER'S metaphorical cloak aforesaid—imme-
diately becomes ridiculous. The laughter provoked
every session by his manner of wearing it, Mr.
WHALLEY has never yet been able for the
life of him to comprehend. tinder the
irritation of that laughter, he becomes
every session more and mi,re goaded into a display
of petulance that tends, by exciting him into
greater activity, to induce him, as one may say, to
wrap it tighter about him, in his indignation at
being laughed at, until the comic folds of the mantle
so worn become almost unendurable to look at it.
JOHN BULL, in regard to Mr. WHALLEY,
the member for Peterborough, is fast ap-
proaching that stage of exhaustion from
laughter, reached—one evening (as the story runs)
in the pit of a theatre when LISTON was acting—
by another stout old gentleman who, while wiping
his eyes, was overheard gasping out in a scarcely
audiblelible voice, " For COD'S sake take him away, or
he'lbe the death of me." Nov that Colonel
tnal
Itc"iP has d Passe away,now
leal member that the
he late -
for West Surrey can no

more convulse the House with his dry humour, Premier as to the public enjoyment derived from
the parks, while the advantages conferred by the
even Mr. WHALLEY'S absurdities come almost as a
relief to the dull decorum of the House of Corn- public museums are seldom questioned. Still a due
mons' debates, when they happen to be unenlivened regard to economy should be had, and there is pro-
by the constitutional facetiousness of the aged bably room for a good deal of retrenchment s
pirit
farceur at the head of the Government. detail. It is difficult for members to do this; much
It is only to be regretted, however, that must be left to the discretion and public of
Religion, so called, should be the theme selected by the Minister. At least if such large sums are to be
Mr. WHALLEY for the display—not of his powers annually demanded, let us have public buildings
of being witty himself, but of causing wit in others, and offices worthy of the name, and not hear of the
or at any rate we may say not of laughing himself inconsistency of England pa3Niug rent for her public
but of illiciting repeated, or as we may actually offices, while sums that would certainly startle
call them from their periodicity, sessional many a continental state are yearly obtained from
bursts of laughter from others The sequel to Parliament is the Committee of Supply.
the annual debate and division caused every
successive session by Mr. WHALLEY'S inevitable
motion in regard to Maynooth College, only varies
in respect to the numerals set down as the re-
sult of that division. Otherwise that sequel
may be said to be stereotyped. This year the re-
sult runs simply thus : Ayes 100, Noes 198—
majority against Mr. WHALLEY'S motion, 98—the
announcement being received with cheers and
laughter.

Oa Monday night Lord PALMERSTON moved the
second reading of the "AfricantihtSeedleauvsbetiarefterete,saottbyoseßdrrivlalew.d"
tThehat
it noblew a
s lord,oo only
nj
just
t tr o
theo eci nuge
attentionthethat for many y
oftheHouseeetroethethis A
bill.frieaHo
He then
explained Slave
Trade was protected by the United States flag.
Last year, however, the Government of the United
tSrteaetteys ,
bi the m
yn
which
eho
ehta
protection
rdoosteme e
ti
on manner,w e
was
n o l
longer
g agreed
er tt a
oo
be
afforded. Lord PALMERSTON truly said that he
thought it due to their liberality that he should
point out this fact to the attention of hon.
members. The chief point worthy of notice was
the supplementary article extending to the neigh-
bourhood of Madagascar the right of search.
The noble lord concluded by observing that
last year this measure was passed as a
matter of form, but he now considered that it was
only doing justice to the American Government,
who behaved in the most honourable and liberal
manner in regard to this matter, which was of
great interest to this country, that the second read-
ing of the bill should be marked by some attention
being paid to it. This speech was highly credit-
able to the noble lord, and he showed great dis-
cernment in appreciating the conduct of the United
States, whose Government deserved the high en•
comiums he passed on it. It is satisfactory
to note someth:ng worthy of approval in their
arrangements, and the Anglo-Saxon race in different
hemispheres can find no nobler meeting ground
than the association for putting down the traffic of
slavery. Mr. CAVE made a speech of some length
on this subject. He said that it was satisfactory
that so large an addition had been made to
this treaty. The hon. member did not seem much
impressed with what Lord PALMERSTON had
stated, for he said that he would not pay compli-
ments to " the American Government for having
thus done simply what was just and right," but he
acknowledged that they had now entered upon a
more satisfactory course. He wiehed to call
attention to the 6th clause, under which the crew
were to be sent home for trial, and he further
added that the recent execution of a slave captain
in New York proved it to he no mere form. In
pursuance of this topic, ho observed that a
Spaniard, who had made many successful slaving
voyages, and whom he casually met in the Gulf of
Mexico, said to him, " We don't care much about
capture, that is simply a matter for insurance ;
but if you wish to stop the slave trade, which
(he did the English the honour to say)
I don't believe, hang the captain, or one
of the crew if you can't identify the cap-
tain, and you will stop the trade in
six months ; we cannot insure against hanging."
This was certainly exemplifying the case and
illustrating the fact, and if such a happy result is
likely to ensue from the process, it is to be re-
gretted that the plan was not tried earlier and the
practise made more general. Mr. CAVE mentioned
an important circumstance, which was, that in con-
sequence of this treaty certain proprietors had
resolved that their slaves in Cuba should not be
worked so extremely hard, because they were aware
that if supply was stopped, slaves would be worth
too much to be worked to death in eight years,
which was the period that the test management
gave. After referring to some difficulties that had
occurred with French vessels, the lion. member
wound up his remarks by stating that if some Wise
precautions ware adopted "it might be hoped that
this was indeed the beginning of the end, and that
this abominable traffic might become a matter
of history, even In the days of those whom
he was addressing. After a short discussion,
the bill was read a second time, Sir G.
GREY explaining that the bill merely confirmed
the treaty which had been laid on the table of the
House. So far this brief debate was most satiefae.
tory, since it proved that some decisive steps had
been taken in the right direction. While the
American Government can lay claim to aPProba.
tion, that of Spain can only provoke censure. It
is guilty of the wrongs perpetrated at Cuba,
and hence a great stumbling block is cast in
the way of progress. Had the Spanish Govern.
meat been sincere from the outset there would
have been no occasion for so much anxiety,
and the late stringent arrangements would
have been rendered unnecessary by their care and
caution. As it is there is great matter for rejoic.
ing that the bill has been happily disposed of,
that one step has been taken in the right direction
by the United States. That it may speedily be fed.
lowed by others of a similar nature will be the ear.
nest prayer and heartfelt wish of all who are int,.
rested in the question. It is incumbent on all
Governments to band together and make a strong
defence against the encroachments of this iniquitous
traffic, and the smallest success is of great moment
in so important and influential a cause. It is of
no use to sit at home at ease and inveigh against
Bill
disgraceful
the practice unless energy is employed to circum-
vent
the
that
manceuvoressee. T
s are ceaselessly
Africaneas Slaveelesslyatw or
kin
this Trade
Treaty
worthya o d auxiliaryehold b
ei n
appreciated this nob noble
work of
business.
i
suppression,s a
accordingly.

Elsewhere in our paper of this evening will be
found a remarkable letter recently forwarded to us
from France by the Viscomte de LUPE. In giving
it there, exactly as it comes to us in the very words
of the writer, we have been careful to appendtoit
a literal translation from the original, so that the
precise purport of it should not ran the hazard of
remaining caviare to even a section of the readers
under whose glance our impression of this evening
shall pass. While respecting, as we do very ear-
nestly, the generous indignation with which the
Viscomte de LUPE repels the merest hint
of an accusation against his brother-in-
law, the Chevalier CARACCIOLO, now a prisoner
in the fortress of Alexandria, we cannot but cherish
a belief that he is under a misapprehension in sup-
posing that that gallant but unfortunate officer
was actually the person alluded to in the passage to
which the Viscomte DE LUPE refers—the passage
in which the Turin Correspondent of the chief of
our morning contemporaries recently alluded to the
Comte DE CHRISTEN as manacled by the same chain
raeraent to
was
Penned hastily in a moment of irritation, with-
mon
out any direct reference in the writer's mind at the
troewsahp
001
nno dn
remark,ou t malefactorp we
e or ogu
ul 1 e
prefery s l a v e ,
the brave but unhappy gentleman to
to The
believe, cr
sume stiil is,
IeashedUHRISTEN was, and we pre-
by those iron
The only colourable evidence that it might