The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-13 00:00:00

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dour approaches nearer to that white and sparkling
lustre which we attribute to the saints than any
other result of the bleaching power of the world's
fuller's earth. When he has to narrate the history
of transactions not altogether clean or edifying,
there is a soft benignity and a stainlessness in his
treatment which affect us like the compassion of
nature burying the foul places of the earth in a spot-
less garment of driven snow. Lord Westbury's ex-
planation in the House of Lords on Tuesday of the
unpleasant transactions in connection with the
Patent-office, of which we gave a brief notice last
week, was full of this tranquillising beauty. True,
the feathered words, the flakes of compassionate
candour, did not fall till a heavy cloud had rested
for a whole day on the firmament of his own
official purity. But this perhaps only enhances
the lustre of the the effect. Till Duty's stern voice
was heard the Chancellor listened to the pleadings
of pity. He could not bear to cut off a possible
culprit from the way of repentance and tears. Yet
when the voice of conscience became at last impera-
tive, the sentiment of Wordsworth's great " Ode to
Duty" at once prevailed with that
pure and single
mind

Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace ;
Norknow we anything so fair
As is the smile upon thy face,
—nothing quite so fair, but the next thing to it is
the bright selection of that serene smile on the up-
turned face of the earthly lawgiver who keeps the
conscience of England. The Lord Chancellor's
heart seems to have got the better for a time of his
stern sense of duty. When he received an earnest
request from Mr. Edmunds' - solicitor to postpone
that communication till Mr. Edmunds could hear
from abroad. Why it would have been a consola-
tion to Mr. Edmunds to hear from abroad before the
Lord Chancellor could be permitted to set his con-
science at rest does not very clearly appear, but it is
said that the Lord Chancellor had again intimated
to Mr. Edmunds that for the second time he might
avoid a trial more or less public, by resignation,—
perhaps he wished to give Mr. Edmunds time to
take the advice of friends abroad whether such
re-
signation would be desirable. This Lord Westbury
does not deny, but he repudiates with great fervour
the imputation of having tempted Mr. Edmunds
with the hope of getting a pension as well as avoid--
ing the publicity of an inquiry by the House of
Lords in case he should resign. No doubt Mr. Ed-
munds had a difficult calculation to make. On the
one hand, it is pretty clear that his friends in the
House of Lords were numerous. Lord Derby, for
instance, does not scruple to palliate the
rather alarming practice (hypothetically attri-
buted to Mr. Edmunds) of paying State money
to a private deposit account and drawing the
interest of that deposit account as your own. With
powerful friends willing to draw (if necessary)
strong moral distinctions in one's favour between the
practice of holding a capital not one's own in one's
own hands while actually drawing the income and
spending it, and the practice of annexing capital and
interest at once, what might there be to hope from
an inquiry in the House of Lords ? On the other
hand, a pension of £BOO a-year without inquiry
might be in every way preferable—preferable to all
parties—to Mr. Edmunds himself, and to the patron
in whose gift was the successorship to Mr. Edmunds.
And considering especially that this patron was the
powerful and compassionate Lord Chancellor him-
self, what might there not be to hope from the policy
of resignation which seemed to be expressly indi-
cated by the merciful Judge as the only condition
of his silence? Might not the Lord Chancellor have
conceived the benevolent idea of conferring the post
on some deserving relative of his own ? And might
it not be very gratifying to his feelings both as a
Christian and as a father to be spared on the one
hand the pain of a public censure of Mr. Edmunds,
and on the other the uncertainties arising from the
long delay of an investigation, and the possibility
that the House of Lords might after all take the
same high moral ground as to the broad difference
between spending the capital and spending the in-
terest of public moneys as Lord Derby takes; and de-
cline to dismiss their Clerk for his little peccadillo in
another department ? These considerations—or some
others equally weighty—determined Mr. Edmunds
(after he had heard from abroad) to place his resig

nation in the hands of the Clerk-of the Parchment

accompanying it with a petition for ayension

consideration of faithful service. Lord Westbury's
pity now triumphed. It was not in his nature, he
hinted, to " pursue" Mr. Edmunds to the committee.
So—apparently without again consulting the Govern-
ment—he held back his revelations—presented Mr.
Edmunds' petition himself, and made no commu-
nication to the committee appointed to consider the
pension concerning his alleged misdeeds. Doubtless

lie had not. promised. Mr. -Edmunds to favour his
pension in case he resigned—but Mr. Edmunds had

rig,htly on -the compassionate temper of
that gentle heart. The resentment of the judge
was satisfied by the resignation of the culprit ; the
tenderness of the father was gratified by the new
opening for the son. The committee appointed to
consider the pension had heard generally of the
unfavourable rumours, but these rumours were not
officially before them, and Mr. Edmunds's friends
in the House of Lords are many and earnest.
What the Lord Chancellor did not feel it his duty
to explain, the committee did not feel it their duty
to ask. A pension of £BOO a year was granted
without asking questions. What if it should turn out
that Mr. Edmunds had appropriated money in the
Patent Office—did that diminish his merits as Clerk

to the House of Lords ? Would not every reason-
able man feel it his duty to pension handsomely for
faithful service the confidential servant who had

punctually discharged all his duties as a house ser-
vant, but had been compelled to leave his place only
for occasionally abstracting money from the count-
ing-house, and putting it in his own name to a
separate account at the savings' bank, of course
drawing the interest (pro teinpore) for himself ? At
all events the committee were not affected with notice

of the truth of the various rumours, and did not wish
to test it, so the pension was given. And in the mean-
time the Hon. Slingsby Bethell succeeded to Mr.
Edmunds as Reading Clerk to the House of Lords.
Thus it was arranged in a manner very soothing for
all parties—when the story oozed out into the press,
and that coarse stimulus furnished by public
opinion was applied to the motives of all con-
cerned. However, we cannot regret a circumstance
which has resulted in these second " confessions

------
of a beautiful spirit." The delicate sense of respon-
sibility, the atmosphere of " soft compassion's feel-
ing soul," the lowliness—almost Augustinian—of
that last sentence of the Lord Chancellor's, in which
he urged upon their lordships an investigation into
his own conduct—" I humbly beg to move your
lordships that a Committee of this House be ap-
pointed," &c., almost force us to cry out " A saint,
a saint is here !" Then the self-sacrifice ! He only
just touches upon his self-denial in not filling up
that second Patent appointment of £6OO a year.
What a lesson in lowly self-abnegation it reads us !
The spirit of IVordsworth's prayer, " Give unto me,
made lowly wise, the spirit of self-sacrifice," seems
realised in the great English lawgiver. In short,
we can but be thankful for events, however unto-
ward, which have resulted in opening the gracious
glimpse of

" The image of a Chancellor's soul,—
How bright, how solemn, how serene 1"

•
And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And looking on it with lack lustre eye,
Sap very wisely, ' It is ten o'clock :
'lhus we may see,' quoth he, "how the world wags."
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MENAI AND CONWAY BRIDGES.—A Parliamentary
return shows that the principal debt still duo on account of
advances for building the Menai-bridge, and purchasing the
rights of ferry, amounts to £231,498. The interest on the
debt amounted in April, 1864, to £432,902, towards which
£41,421 had been received for tolls, and £106,768 for ad-
ditional postage received on Irish letters. Adding the cost
of maintenance, the total due to the Exchequer a year ago
was £539,065. In respect of the Conway-bridge there was
£68,720 due to the Exchequer a year ago, but the tolls taken
at this bridge exceed the expenditure.
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they act so gently on the stomach that they may be given
with the utmost confidence and perfect safety to young
children.

(Via Crookhaven.)
NEW YORK, March 2 (Morning).
• Deserters state that the last of Hardee's am
crossed the Santie on the 25th ult. at Charlott
and the last of Hood's army of 12,000 strong pass
through Augusta on the 19th to join Beauregard.
Georgetown has been evacuated, and is now
possession of the Federals.
The steamer Arago received off Charleston
the 26th, news of the burning of Columb
and of the Federal occupation of Augusta.
The Charleston correspondent of the Herald,
the 26th, announces that official news has be
received that Sherman had burnt Columbia in reta
ation for his troops being fired upon from the house
The Herald correspondent at Hilton Head, on •
26th, does not confirm the capture of Augusti.
Charlotte papers denounce the shelling of Colu
bia by Sherman without warning, and before
women and children had left the town. Several c
zens were shot down after the occupation. Chark
despatches of the 25th report that no alarm was
there. The direction in which Sherman is moving
not stated, but he is supposed to be making a fit
movement. The weather and the condition of
roads interfere with military movements. Sherm:
head-quarters are at Columbia.
The Herald thinks that the Southern despatc
show that Sherman, after sending Beaureg.
Hardee, and Bragg upon a false,..scent to the no.,
ward, has moved to the east'to form a June
with Scofield from Wilmington.
The Richmond Examiner inveighs against the
that the evacuation of Richmond would not dan
the Confederacy, and declares that it would rc
in the loss of all respect for the authority of
Confederate Government, the disintegration of
army, and the abandonment of the scheme of
Southern Confederacy.
The Enquirer says that the enemy have lz
thrown their forces across the lines of easy conk.
sional retreat, since when the members of ConE
have left Richmond, one by one, until only
skeleton of the legislature remains, which is rar

diminishing to a number of members insufficien
form a quorum. If the President is firm and
not imitate the congressional example he will
esteemed as the founder of a new people and
name will be written with Washington, Tell,
Alfred. Should he, however, abandon his post,
torical instances can be found to illustrate his disgr
The Sentinel says, in view of the opening of
campaign by two armies destined to wrestle

Richmond as the prize, it would be proper to
the capital into fighting trim, and recommends

departure of useless non-combatants and consum
Grant has marched his troops out of hatch
Run, it is supposed to make another effort to L
the south side of the railroad. The condition of

roads, however, has caused the temporary aband
ment of the movement.

The Petersburg Express of the 25th believes t
an important battle will be fought within two
three days.

It is reported that Sheridan has sent an expc
Lion to ascertain if preparations are making for l
to fall back upon upon Lynchburg.

Forrest has assumed the command of the cava
in Mississippi, east of Louisiana and west of T
nessee, and threatens to exterminate all Confeder.
stragglers, robbers, and deserters.

President Lincoln, in replying to the commit
informing him of his re-election, acknowledged w.
gratitude that the people continued to have cm
dente in him, and he accepted the trust with its ;
onerous and perplexing duties and responsibilitie&
President Lincoln has approved the Fortificatic
Bill, the appropriations for which have been reduc
to half their'original amount.
The Senate has passed the Loan Bill.
The House of Representatives have passed a bi'
to become valid on April 1, increasing the duties (
liquors and spun silk, and imposing a duty of 5<
per lb. on raw cotton, 20c. on crude petroleum, 15(
on coal oils, 15c. per lb. on tobacco stems, 50c. pek
cwt. on railroad iron, increasing the tonnage duty
to 30c., and repealing the act forbidding the expor-
tion of guano from the islands discovered by the
Americans.

A privateer steamer, mounting six guns, was re-
ported off the western extremity of Cuba on the 9th
ult.

The steamers Moravian, Edinburgh, New York,
and Pennsylvania have arrived out.

NEW YORK, March 2, Evening.
Gen. Johnstone has issued an order, dated Char-
lotte, Feb. 25, assuming the command of the army
of Tennessee, and of all troops in the department of
South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. He says he
takes command with strong hope, because he will be
assisted in council on the field by the talents and
skill of the general he succeeds.
The New York Daily News estimates Johnstone's
army at 90,000 men.

The Richmond Inquirer says—" The air is filled
with alarming rumours. Every fear has found voice,
every ear is opened to its tale."
_ _

Measures of precaution are considered to presage
disaster. At a mass meeting of the people resolutions
were passed declaring their unalterable purpose to
achieve independence.
The message of the Governor of Georgia opposes
the arming of the slaves. They do not wish to enter
the army. They are now restrained by fear. If they
leave the enemy will make them fight.. They will
desert .by thousands.

The governor denounces violently the military
and civil policy of Davis, which, if persisted in, must
terminate in reconstruction with or without subju-
gation.

The New Jersey Legislature has rejected the con-
stitutional amendment.

The House of Representatives has passed the
$600,000,000 Loan Bill. The main features have not
been altered. It empowers the Secretary of the
Treasury at his option to make a further issue of six
per cent. gold bonds, in lieu of seven-thirties. The
house has also passed a resolution by 80 to 64 votes,
declaring that hereafter trial by court-martial shall
be confined to persons in the naval and military
service, or rebel spies in all the States and territories
where United States courts are open.
The Senate has adopted the amendment increas-
ing the duty on tobacco, snuff, cigars, and cheroots.
It has also passed the House bill taxing sales
per cent.

The sales of 7.30 bonds since February Ist
amount to 78,000,000 dols., leaving 111,000,000 dols.
unsold.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
NEW YORK, March 2, Evening.

Money _Gold, 198. Exchange on London,
2143 ;on Paris, 2 59i 2 622. Stock dull—New
York Centrals, 1121 ; Illinois, 1174 ; Erie, 712 ;
Five-twenty Bonds, noi. Cotton quiet. Mid-
dling Upland, 84. Breadstuffs declining. Provi-
sions heavy. Coffee steady. Sugar quiet. Mo-
lasses dull. Petroleum dull—Crude, 42i ; Re-
fined, 68.

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ARRIVAL OF THE EURoI A.l
The Royal Mail steamship Europa arrived a
Queenstown at 10.15 p.m. yesterday, with 41 pas-
sengers and $13,160 in specie. She landed 126 sack
of mails and three passengers, and proceeded a
10.30 p.m. All well.

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