The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-15 00:00:00

Mr. Waters immediately made a counter move by
filing a bill in Chancery, claiming a balance due to
him from Lord Shaftesbury, and this suit is still pro-
ceeding ; Lord Shaftesbury having, after the lapse
of seven months, filed his answer, Mr. Waters hav-
ing then amended his bill, and Lord Shaftesbury
having answered again. Meanwhile Lord Shaftes-
bury's solicitors having—not, as they allege, with-
out having been compelled to issue a search warrant
—obtained from Mr. Waters the books and papers
relating to the estate, which on leaving he had car-
ried away with him and had kept in his possession
for a year, placed them in the hands of a public
accountant, and set the law systematically in mo-
tion. The result was that the defendant was, on
the 29th of last March, taken before the magis-
trates at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, and, after three
successive examinations, was committed for trial at
the ensuing Dorsetshire Assizes upon an indictment
of 12 charges. An application, however, was made
and was granted to transfer the case from the Dor-
setshire Assizes to London, on the ground that,
in consequence of Lord Shaftesbury's influence in
Dorsetshire, the defendant could not expect a fair
trial in that county. The case accordingly came on
yesterday for trial at the sessions of the Central
Criminal Court, and it is at this point that the sin-
gular features upon which we are commenting came
into prominence. The defendant applied for the
trial to be postponedon the ground of his not having
had time to prepare his defence, and the grounds of
his application will be found detailed with great ex-
plicitness in his own and his attorney's affidavits.
It seems that no sooner is the case put into the
hands of the lawyers, with a view to a definite trial,
than all the accounts are submitted afresh to a pub-
lic accountant, who has had nothing to do with the
case before. This course was taken by Lord Shaftes-
bury's solicitors before they finally advised the arrest
of the prisoner. Lord Shaftesbury's auditor, as we
have seen, had examined the accounts, and had re-
ported that there were defalcations, but the books
had all to be submitted to a new accountant, and
eight or nine months were consumed before legal
proceedings could be taken. In the same way is
the defendant committed for trial at the end of May,
and the first step of his solicitor, in June, is to call
in a fresh accountant, and submit all the accounts
to his independent examination. It is necessary,
we are told, that this gentleman should complete
his investigation, and make a report to the attorneys
instructing him, before a brief for counsel can be drawn
up, so as to provide Mr. Waters with legal defence.
The accountant to whom this task has been deputed
deposes that ever since the 24th of June last he has
devoted himself almost exclusively to these accounts,
and that although he has been " largely assisted"
by the defendant and his clerk, and by his own
partner and a clerk in his employ, he finds that a
month more will be absolutely necessary to enable
him to complete his investigation. The description
indeed which he gives of his accounts is sufficiently
alarming. They consist, we are told, of " estate
accounts," " private accounts," " domestic accounts,"
" drainage accounts," " supplemental," and " other"
accounts ; the whole sum of £500,000 being broken
into innumerable driblets through these perplexing
channels. The defendant is charged with owing a
sum to Lord Shaftesbury upon the balance, and
every item, therefore, has to be " checked and traced"
in bankers' pass-books, checks, and other documents.
The defendant in the same way represents that
" the accounts are so voluminous, and extend over
so many years, that he has been unable, even with
the assistance of four persons, to get ready his de-
fence ;" and the attorney similarly declares that
" the accounts are of the most voluminous and com-
plicated character possible." Of course, the answer
is that if the accounts are " of the most voluminous
and complicated character possible" the defendant
made them so ; that he must know them a great deal
better than the prosecution, and that if they have
been able to prepare their charges and to instruct
counsel in time, the defendant might have done the
same. In a civil case, indeed, the Recorder said he
should not have granted such an application. It is,
however, a criminal case. Mr. Waters represents
that his property and his character are at stake ; he
is certainly not ready to defend himself, and a fair
trial, therefore, would be at present impossible. Mr.
Coleridge, moreover, wh© practises on the Western
Circuit, where the venue was originally laid, is now
away from London attending the assizes. The re-
quest of the defendant's counsel for a month's delay
was consequently granted. This delay, however,
to accommodate one side involved additional delay
to accommodate the other. Mr. Giffard, Lord
Shot tesbury's counsel, represented that September
would be a very awkward time to collect the
witnesses, and requested a further delay until
October, and to this request Mr. Lewis, the de-
fendant's counsel, acceded in the most obliging man-
ner. The application was granted, and Mr. Gifford
then represented that October would be a very in-
convenient month for the counsel to be present, and
requested the further delay of another month. To
this request also Mr. Lewis made no objection, and
the trial accordingly is postponed until November.
Such is the interminable vista of difficulties in which
the management of a great estate may become in-
volved. There are here no less than four sets of
attorneys and three sets of accountants, " assisted"
by clerks and other persons unknown in investigat-
ing the accounts of about ten years; while a Chan-
cery suit draws its slow length along, and a crimi-
nal trial shifts its venue from place to place, and is
postponed from month to month, all to determine
the simple question whether Lord Shaftesbury's
money has been diverted from Lord Shaftesbury's
service. Mr. Waters represents himself as surrounded
by a sort of hydra-headed monster of accounts and
figures. He no sooner cuts off one than another
starts up, and he is engaged in a perpetual struggle
to keep these ever-growing figures within his grasp.
It requires " himself and four other persons" to
manage them. Whatever may be the result of the
trial, we pity Lord Shaftesbury, around whom this
web is spun, rather than Mr. Waters, and we can-
not resist the belief that if the cobwebs had been
more vigorously brushed away from time to time
they would not now present such a formidable
tangle. It is surely possible to manage £40,000 a
Year without requiring the assistance of this army
of accountants and- lawyers whenever the affairs of
the estate have to be examined ? We are afraid
that even if Lord Shaftesbury be really defrauded
to the extent he represents, he will only have tripled
his injury by the time he has shaken himself free
from this legal entanglement. Time moral of the
story, whatever be its result, is equally clear. Pos-
sessors of large estates would save themselves and
their heirs infinite trouble, if not infinite loss, by
putting themselves to the inconvenience of looking
carefully into their affairs from time to time. Waste
and confusion, if not jobbery, are sure to establish
themselves, if they be not constantly driven away
by time vigilant eye of an active master ; and we
may add that men ought not to expose those whom
they employ to the dangerous temptation of having
large sums of money constantly passing through
their hands without the check of being required to
give a minute account of their management.
lIERALD.—The telegraph announces that the
Sovereigns of Austria and Prussia will meet at
Ischil to-day. The negotiations between the two
Courts have resulted, therefore, in an-agreement,
and the war for the liberation of the " northern
brethren" is not to be followed by a war between
the whole band of brothers to determine what shall
be done with the rescued ones. Germany has been
spared this scandal, this suicide, of which, however,
she never was in any great danger. As we have
frequently said since the question entered upon this
last phase, the big words were meant only on one
side. Prussia was determined to secure the advan-
tages she claimed, and had made up her mind to
fight for them, if need were. Austria and the
minor states were very anxious to baulk Prussia,
and they were ready to do anything to defeat her
except fight. There they stopped ; they could ac-
company Prussia along the whole gamut up to that
point ; and as they could go no further, Prussia, as
we observed, was sure to win. So it has been.
I The Austrian Government has held out very
bravely, has vindicated the rights of AuStria as
joint possessor of the Duchies, and insisted upon
the rights of the German Confederation, until the
Prussian Government has said in the plainest pos-
sible language :—" We will be content with nothing
less than the conditions we set forth last February ;
and until you will-agree to them the condominium
shall continue ; but it shall not continue after the
fashion of the last few months. We will not
tolerate the Prince of Augustenburg in the Duchies ;
we will not allow the Schleswig-Holstein bureau-
cracy, composed of his partisans, to refuse
obedience to the orders of the condomini, and act
as if they represented some • other, and that the
them
legitimate authority ; we will not permit to
use their position to intrigue for the
.d
Prince of
Augustenburg and stir up hatred and ill-will
against Prussia. We insist,of therefore, in theand firstthe
place, upon the expulsion
expulsion of such of his niinisthteeimseev
andlee
against
the Schleswig-Holstein officials as set
the state of timings which the Treaty of Vienna has
legally established. We will not permit the news-
papers to write what we, deeming ourselves the
legitimate Sovereigns, regard as sedition, nor public
meetings to be held for the promotion of what we
regard as rebellion." I his ultimatum—agreed upon
by a strange mockery of fortune at a city of Bavaria,
the state most zealous for the Augustenburg pre-
tender and most bitterly opposed to the Prussian
pretensions and, dispatched by the King of Prussia
from Gastein, a little bathing place in the territory
of the Emperor of Austria—compelled the Austrian
Government to come to a decision. At first it met
the ultimatum with a refusal, but a refusal accom-
panied with an offer of concessions which Prussia
deemed perfectly inadequate, and now at last, con-