The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 4, 1865.

LAW INTELLIGENCE-

This Dap•

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Holroyd.)
IN RE THOMAS ARMSTRONG GOUGH.—AN OFFICER IN 'no

ARMY.

This bankrupt was formerly a lieutenant in the Ist Dra-
goon Guards, and to-day ho came up for the order of dis-
charge. Upon his statement of accounts he files the follow-
ing items:—Received by the sale of my commission, £1,000;
deducted by order of the colonel for my regimental debts,
£146 ; deducted to pay the passage of my succeeding officer
to India, £94 ; paid by order of my colonel to Cornet Lloyd,
King's Dragoon Guard; £234 ; to Lieut. Reeves of the
same regiment, £l2B ; and to Quartermaster Wrasbury,
£55. The balance of £72 has been handed to the official
assignee. The total debts aro £2,317, and the deficiency,
£2,245. Amongst the creditors are the following officers,
for whose debts the bankrupt says he has received "no
consideration" :—Gen. Freeman, Madras Army; Major
Jago, 74th llighlanders; Capt. Nolan, 17th Lancers ; Capt.
Beresford, Madras Staff Corps; Lieut. Knight, Native
Infantry ; and Lieut. Lawder, 14th Regiment Native In-
fantry.

The case had not concluded when our report left, but it
was understood that no opposition would be offered to the
order of discharge.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,—This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

A GENTLEMAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING A CON-
STABLE.—Mr. Thomas Worsick, gentleman, staying at
Evans's Hotel, Covent-garden, was charged before Mr.
Knox, with being drunk and behaving in a disorderly
manner, and also assaulting police-constable Yeo, 316 A.

Yoo said that on the previous night he saw the defendant,
who was drunk, in the Haymarket in company with two or
three females. The defendant was making a great noise,
and he requested him to go away. The defendant went a
short distance and tried, but unsuccessfully, to get admitted
to a night-house, and then returned to the women. On
his again telling him that he must leave the place he re-
fused to do so, said he had been boxing for four years, and
did not care a - for him, at the same time aiming a blow
at his head with a stick, but his helmet prevented his head
being injured.

The defendant (smiling) said he was "screwed," having
been out dining, and taken•too much wine.

Mr. Knox said a person like the defendant ought not to
appear in a police court, and fined him 20s. or seven days
mprisonment.
ROBBING A LICENSED VICTUALLER.—BASE INGRATITUDE.
—John Crosby, an elderly man, was charged before Mr.
Knox with stealing a .£5 note, the property of Mr. George
Keppin, of the White Lion Tavern, St. Alban's-place.
Mr. Keppin—l attend to prosecute the prisoner for rob-
bing me under very aggravating circumstances. Some time
ago the prisoner was knocking about getting a very pre-
carious living by holding horses, &c. I gave him a job to
clean some pots, being without a potboy, and a person in
my employ suggesting that I should take the poor old
fellow into my employ instead of having another boy, I did
so, giving him ss. a week, board and lodging and clothes. I
went to the annual trade dinner in May, and while I was gone
the prisoner had a £5 note given to him to get changed by
a person I left iu charge of my business, and he never re-
turned with the note or the change. In addition to this
he obtained a hygrometer from a friend, stating that he
had been sent by me for it, which was not the case.

Mr. Wm. Wykes, of No. 5, Blakesley Cottages, Cam-
berwell—On the 17th May, Mr. Keppin entrusted me with
the care of his house, and 1 gave the prisoner a £5 note
belonging to Mr. Keppin, to got changed for the use of the
house. The prisoner never returned.

The prisoner, who put no questions to the witnesses,
and made no answer to the charge, was remanded.

THAMES.

HORRIBLE BRUTALITY.—Bridget Nicholls, aged 25, and
carrying an infant 18 months' old in her arms, was brought
before Mr. Partridge charged with violently assaulting
Ann Shea, of 18, White Hart-place, Poplar.
The complainant, who was in acute pain, and who lives
in an Irish colony, sometimes called Garden-place and
sometimes White Hart-place, stated that she had a quarrel
with her countrywoman Nicholls last night. The prisoner
abused her, and called her very foul names. She went out
to get out of the way, and on her return with a bundle of
wood, the prisoner abused her again, and after striking her
with her fist, threw her down, seized her left arm and bit
a large piece out of it. The poor woman's arm was
enveloped in surgical bandages, and after giving her evi-
dence she threw herself on the floor of the court, groaning
fearfully. _ _ _

Catherine Coghlan, another Irishwoman, said—l saw
Biddy Nicholls pull her hair out of her head and take a
mouthful out of her arm, and make a second bite, and
would have taken a second mouthful if it had not been fur
me dragging hor away.

John Bradley stated that he found the complainant in a
frightful state of suffering, with the flesh torn from her
arm, and the muscles moving. The prisoner was very
desperate, It occupied the united strength of three con-
stables to carry her to the station house.

The prisoner said I will murder the old— when I get
at her again.
In answer to questions by Mr. Partridge, the witness
said—l did look for the piece of flesh. It was seen in the
room. The prisoner was seen to pick it up, and it is be-
lieved she swallowed it.

The prisoner burst out into a long, loud, and fiery decla-
mation in her defence, and imputing to the complainant
that she was intoxicated and committed the first assault.
She had many witnesses, but Nicholls and Coghlan were
such desperate characters that the witnesses were afraid to
attend the court.

Mr. Partridge said this was a most horrible and dis-
gusting case. The prisoner was a perfect savage and had
committed an atrocious assault on tho complainant. The
only provocation he could discover was, that the com-
plainant refused to drink with tho prisoner and give her
gin. He sentenced the prisoner to be imprisoned for four
months, and kept to hard labour, and he ordered that her
child be taken from her and delivered to its father.

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—JULY 3.
LEEDS' BANKRUPTCY COURT, &c.

Motion made and question proposed, " That the evidence
taken before the committee of this house, on the Leeds
Bankruptcy Court, discloses that great facility exists for
obtaining public appointments by corrupt means ; and that
such evidence, and also that taken before the committee of
the House of Lords in the case of Leonard Edmunds, and
laid before this house, shows a laxity of practice and want
of caution, on the part of the Lord Chancellor, in sanc-
tioning the granting of retiring pensions to public officers
over whose heads grave charges aro impending, and in
filling up the vacancies made by the retirement of such
officers, whereby great encouragement had been given to
corrupt practices ; and that such laxity and want of cau-
tion, even in the absence of any improp3r motive, aro, in
the opinion of this house, highly reprehensible, and calcu-
lated to throw discredit on the administration of the high
offices of state. Amendment proposed, to leave out from
the first word " That" to the end of the question, in order
to add the words " This house, having considered the re-
port of the select committee on the Leeds Bankruptcy
Court, and the evidence taken by it, agrees with the com-
mittee in the opinion that the facts which are established
acquit the Lord Chancellor from all charge in the matters
to which it refers, except that of haste and want of cau-
tion in granting a pension to Mr. Wilde, but this house is
of opinion: that some further cheek should be placed by
law upon the grant of pensions to the holders of legal
offices," instead thereof. Question, "That the words pro-
posed to be left out stand part of the question," put, and
negatived. Question proposed, " That those words be
there added." Debate arising, motion made and question
put, " That the debate be now adjourned." The house
divided—Ayes, 163 ; Noes, 177.

AYES-163.
Acland, T. D. Foster; W. 0. Packe, Col.
Andover, Lord Fortescue F. D. Padmore, R.
Angerstein, W. Fortescue, C. S. Paget, Lord A.
Ashley, Lord Gibson, T. M. Paget, Lord C.
Athlumney, Lord Gladstone, W. E. Palmer, Sir It.
Ayrton, A. S. Glyn, G. C. Palmerston, Vint.
Aytoun, R. S. Glyn, G. G. Peel, Sir It.
Baines, E. Goldsmid, Sir F. Pinney, Col.
Baring, 11. B. Goachen, G. J. Ponsonby, A.
Baring, Sir F. Gower, G. W. L. Portman, W. H. B.
Baring, T. G. Gregory, W. H. Poiter, T. B.
Beamish, F. B. Grenfell, C. Powell, J. J.
Beaumont, W. B. Grenfell, H. R. Price, R. G.
Berkeley, Col. Grey, Sir G. Proby, Lord
Berkeley, C. P. F. Grosvenor,Lordßd. Ramsden, Sir J. W.
Biddulph, Col. Gurney, S. Robartes, T. J. A.
Blencowe, J. G. Hadfield, G. Robertson, H.
Bouverie, P. P. 11 audley, J. Roebuck, J. A.
Brassey, T. Hankey, T. Rothschild,Baron M
Bruce, Lord C. Hartington,Marquis Russell, Sir W.
Bruce, Lord E. A. Herve 3, Lord A. St. Aubyn, J.
Bruce, 11. A. Hayter, Sir W. Salomons,Atderman
Buller, Sir A. W. Henderson, J. Scott, Sir W.
Bury, Viscount Hodgkiiason, G. Scrope, G. P.
Butler, C. S. Hodgson, K. Seymour, Daub)
Buxton, C. Holland, .E. Seymour, A.
Caird, J. lliorsmk.n, E. Smith, J. A.
Calthorpe, F. H. Howard, Lord E. G. Smith, J. B.
Cardwell, E. Ingham, R. Smith, M. T.
Castlerosse, Vist. Jervoise, Sir J. Stacpoole, W.
Cavendish, Lord G. Johnstone, Sir J. Stuart, Col. C.
Cheetham, J. Ring, P. J. L. Tite, W.
Childers, H. C. E. Kingscote, Col. Tracy, C. R. D.
Churchill, Lord A. Kinnaird, A. F. Trelawny, Sir J. B.
Clive, G. Knatchbull-Ilugess Verney, Sir 11.
Colebrooke, Sir T.E. Layard, A. H. Vernon, H. F.
Collier, Sir R. P. Lawrence, J. C. Villiers, C. P.
Cowper, W. F. Lawson, W. Vivian, H. H.
Crawford, R. W. Lefevre, G. J. S. Vyner, It A.
Waldegrave-Leslie
Watkin, E. W.
DC raovsesyl e, yu, .Si r F. Lew,l,
0c ki
es :
JI I. .
Davie, Sir IL R F. Lysley, W. J. Weguelin, T. 2d.
Davie, Col. F. Mackinnon, W.(Ly.) Western, S.
Denman, G. Mackinnon,W. A. Whalley, G. H.
Dodson, J. G. M`Mahon, P. Whitbread, S.
Doulton, F. Marjoribanks, D. C. Wickham, H. W.
Duff, M. E. Marshall, W. Wiunington, Sir T
Dundas, F. Matheson, A. Wood, Sir C.
Dundas, Sir D. Merry, J. Woods, 11.
Dunkcllin, Lord Mills, J. It. Wrightson, W. B.
Enfield, Viscount Mitchell, T. A. Wyvill, M.
Ewart, W. Moncreiff, J.
Fermoy, Lord Idonsell, W.
Fitzwilliam, C. W. Moore, C.
Foley, H. W. Morris, W.
Forster, C. Neate, C.

TELLERS.

Brand, IL
White, L.

NOES-177.
Adderley, C. B. Gray, Lieut.-Col. O'Neill, E.
1 Adeane, H. J. Grey deWilton,Lord Packe, C. W.
Archdall, Capt.3l.E. Griffith, C. 1). Pakington, Sir J.
Baring, T. Hamilton, Lord C. Palk, Sir L.
Barrow, W. H. Hardy, G. Papillon, P. 0.
Barttelot, Col. Hardy, J. Parker, Major W.
Bateson, Sir T. Hartopp, E. B. Peel, Gen.
Bathurst, A. A. Harvey, it. B. Peel, J.
Bathurst, Coi. H. Henley, J. Pennant, Col.
Bentinck, G. C. Hennessy-, J. P. Percy, Earl
Benyon, R. Henniker, Lord I'eto, Sir M.
Beresford, W. Hesketh, Sir T. Pevensey, Viscouni
Berestord, D. Heygate, Sir F. Phillips, G. L.
Booth, Sir R. G. Holtord, R. S. Powell, F. S.
Bouverie, E. P. Hood, Sir A, Pugh, D.
Bovill, W. Hopwood, J. T. Repton, G. W. J.
Bowyer, Sir G. Howes, E. Ridley, Sir M. W.
Bramston, T. W. Ilurnoerston, P. S. ' Rolt, J.
Bremridge, R. Humphery, W. Rose, W. A.
Bruce, Sir H. Ingestre, Viscount Rowley, It. T.
Bulkeley, Sir R. Jo life, Sir W. Scholerie,d, W.
Burghley, Lord Jolliffe, 11. Selater-Booth, G.
ButlerJohnstone,ll. Jones, D. Selwyn, C. J.
Cairns, Sir H. Kerrison, Sir E. Smith, Abel
Cartwright, Col. Knatchbull, W. Smith, Augustus
Clifford, Col. Knight, F. Somerset, Col. E.
Clive, Capt. G. W. Knightley, Sir R. Stanhope, J. B.
Collins, T. Kuox Col Stanhope, Lord
Copeland, Ald. Knox, Major W. S. Stanley, Lord
Corry, H. L. Langton, W. G. Stirling, W.
Courtney, Lord Leeke, Sir H. Stuart, Lt.-Col. W.
Cranbourne, Vist. Legh, Major C. Sturt, H. G.
Cubitt, G. Legh, W. J. Sturt, Lt.-Col. N.
Curzon, Viscount Lennox, Lord G. G. Surtees, H. E.
Dalkeith, Earl of Lennox, Lord 11. U. /Sykes, Col. W. 11.
Dawson, It. I'. ' Lennox, C. Thynne, Lord E.
Dering, Sir E. Liddell, H. G. Thynne, Lord H.
Dick, F. Lowther, Col. Tollemache, F. J.
Disraeli, B. Lowther, Captain Tomline, G.
Du Cane, C. Lyall, G. Tref usis, C. H. R.
Duke, Sir J. Lygon, F. Treherne, M.
Duneombe, A. Mainwaring, T. Trevor, Lord A.
Du Pre, C. G. Matins, It. Trollope, Sir J.
Eaton, W. H. Manners, Lord J. Turner, C.
Egerton, Sir P. Miles, Sir W. Vance, J.
Egerton, A. F. Miller, T. J. Vansittart, W.
Egerton, E. C. Mills, A.. Verner, E. W.
Egerton, W. Mittord, W. T. Vyse, Cot.
Elphinstone, Sir J. Montagu, Lord R. Walker, J. R.
Fane, Col. Montgomery, Sir G. Walpole, S. H.
Farquhar, Sir M. Morgan, 0. Walsh, Sir J. B.
Fellowes, E. Morgan, Major Watlington, J.
Floyer. J. Mowbray, J. 11. Whitmore, U.
Forester, Gen. Murray, W. Williams, Col.
Franklyn, G. W. Nicol, IV. Wyndham, H.
Gard, It. S. Noei, G. J. Wyndham, I'.
Gilpin, Colonel North, Col. Wynn, C. W. W.
Graham, Lord W. North, F. TELLERS.
Greenall, G. Northcote, Sir S. H. Hunt, G. W.
Greene, J. O'Ferrall, M. Paull, H.

THE CONSERVATIVE LAND SOCIETY,

MEETING THIS DAY.

The quarterly meeting took place this day at the offices,
Norfolk-street, Strand. The Secretary (Mr. Gruneisen)
having read the advertisement convening the meeting,
Viscount Ranelagh, the chairman, peesented the following
report of the executive committee ;

The executive committee of the Conservative Land
Society, in submitting their 51st report to the members for
the three first quarters of the financial year which will end
on Sept. 30 next, have much pleasure in appending the
following returns :

Qrs. ending Shares in Shares Total
progress. Complete. Shares. Receipts.
---
£ s. d.
Dec. 24, 1864 .... 262
15 277 19,229 V 8
March 25, 18e5 .. 297 60 357 16,249 5 0
June 24, 1865.... 216 64 493 18,552 18 8
----
Three quarters
ending IA itl-
summer,lB6s .. 988 139 1,127 53,831 13 4
Totals to Sept
30, 1864 16,723 4,5(15 21,223 782,389 13 10
--- -
Grand totals to
Illidsummer,ll6s 17,711 4,644 22,"55 836,221 7 2

The receipts for the first three quarters of the present
financial year, compared with the corresponding poriod of
the past year, as also the receipts for the present over tho
last quarter, show an increase.
The total sale of land to Midsummer, 1865,
,s ••• •-•
... £309,005 3 10

The total withdrawals since the formation
of the society (Sept., 1852) to Midsum-
mer, 1865, are ...
... £251,564 17 8
The returns of the register of rights aro as follows :
Completed. Drawn. Seniority. Total.
5,667 3,305 1,758 10,730
Deduct rights unexereised on estates, &c.— B,lkl
Unexercised rights 2,576
The last share number on the register of seniority (date
of membership) is No. 15,575.

The last share issuod up to Midsummer, 1865, is No.
22,355.

The sale of the Sunnyside estate, Sandown, Isle of
Wight, which was allotted on the 6th of April, and the
allotment of the Roehampton and Tottenham (Seven Sis-
tels) estates on the same day, have been quite successful.
There now remain but few plots on tho Sandown and
Tottenham properties to be disposed of. The Wood Green
estate (No. 2) is also progressing satisfactorily. Tenders
for the roads and drainage on the Sandown and Wood
Green estates have been accepted, and the works will be
completed as soon as possible. The new road on the
Roehampton estate will be ready in the autumn, by which
time it is expected that the remaining works on the Bat-
terseagilt-leanlaete' Government naval yard
will be finished. The
removales estate,
eNo
materials. 2 P
( o (Plough-lane),
the
at Deal having been sufficiently advanced, the committee
have commenced the allotment of the land by offering a
portion in 96 building plots, with frontages to the sea (the
Prince of Wales's-terrace) and to the Walmer-road, and
with frontages also to tho projected streets to be called
Sondes, Stanley, and Clanwilliam Roads. In laying out
this first portion of the estates, special attention has been
paid to secure a good sea view in the cross streets. The
preliminary allotment began at Deal on Wednesday, June
7, after a public meeting in the Town Hall, at which
Viscount Ranelagh, the chairman, Col. Brownlow Knox,
M.P., and Col. A. Meyrick, were present as a deputation
from the board, to explain the society's system of selling
land. The executive committee have entered into a satis-
factory arrangement with the town commissioners of Deal,
whereby a complete system of drainage will bo secured,
and the town itself, when the entire works of the town
aro completed, will be materially improved by Eno openings
to the sea, and by the extension of the approaches to the
main streets of the town. Of the development of Deal no
doubt can be entertained. A more splendid esplanade
frontage, commanding, as it does, a view of the shipping in
the Downs and of the French coasts, is not to be found,
independently of Deal being ono of the most salubrious of
sea-side localities. The formation of new docks, the recent
opening of that magnificent work—the iron pier—the rail-
way to be constructed between Dover and Deal, and the
proposal for a more direct railway communication with the
metropolis, are all undertakings indicative of the future

I progress of Deal, and the Conservative Land Society has
supplied the great want of the town—that of freehold
building land in plots for the erection of villas and houses,
as also hotels and boarding and lodging houses, the limited
number of which has hitherto prevented that amount of
accommodation that the yearly increasing popularity of the
place required. In the Lady-day report, the executive
committee referred to two properties in Cheshire and
Cornwall which had been secured for tho society, and they
have now the pleasure to announce to the shareholders
that the allotment thereof will be prodeeded with as early
as possible.

The land in Cheshire is at the new ferry just oponed,
opposite to Liverpool, and close to the projected tunnel
under the Mersey, with a frontage in the Chester-road,
and very near the Bebbington station on the Birkenhead
and Chester Railway. To those familiar with Liverpool,
it is scarcely necessary to add that a large proportion of the
inhabitants migrate after business hours to the suburbs to
their private residences, and that the Cheshire side of the
Mersey is particularly sought after by classes of the
community for villas and houses.

The estate in Cornwall is placed at the thriving town of
St. Austell, close to the port of Charleston, St. Austell Bay,
which may be deemed the Isle of Wight of the Cornish
coast.

A fourth acquisition of land has been made at Putney,
near the Cedars-terrace, one of the earliest purchases for the
society. The present property is close to Wandsworth-
lane, with frontages to the Upper Richmond-road, leading
to the Putney station. The vicinity of the estate to
Wimbledon• common, Putney-heath, Roehampton, and
Richmond-park, will render the plots valuable for building,
and no time will be lost in preparing for the allotment.

•
The executive committee have fixed Wednesday, the
19th of July next, for the final allotment of the Woodhouse
estate, Wanstead, owing to the recent demand for the por-
tion originally offered, of which but few plots now remain
on hand.

The executive committee have, in conclusion, to congra-
tulate the shareholders that the general sale of land and
the financial returns have been so satisfactory.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The debate of last night will be memo-
rable in. Parliamentary history. Not often has it
fallen to the lot of the House of Commons to sit in
judgment on the conduct and character of one so
highly placed, and to deliver a decision carrying
with it such momentous consequences. The charges
against Lord Melville at the beginiug of this century,
and those relating to the administration of the army
by the Duke of York, are the only similar inquiries
in which the Legislature of this country has been
engaged during the memory of living men. No
wonder, then, that the last hours of an expiring
Parliament should be filled with a kind of spasmodic
vitality. The candle has for a moment flared up in
the socket before it is extinguished. The excite-
ment of yesterday was as great as if the fate of the
Government or the Parliament depended on the
issue of the debate, as if resignation or dissolution
was the alternative that must follow the vote of the
house. Members, recalled from the country or de-
tained in town by the urgent remonstrances of their
party, attended the house last night to witness or
take part in one of the most important debates of the
Parliament. On whichever side they might be,
whatever vote their conscience or their party ties
might induce them to give, there could, we presume,
be only one feeling in their minds—that of regret
that they should be called upon to decide in such
a cause. The discredit of a Lord Chancellor is a
reproach to the nation at large. The office repre-
sents, to the popular intelligence, all that is most
elevated in dignity and power. The First Officer
of State, the President of the House of Lords, the
Keeper of the Queen's Conscience, the head of the
judicial system of the country, the nominator of
Judges, great and small, the largest dispenser of
Church patronage, is a man raised so incomparably
above his fellows that no failing of his can be un-
important, and to prove him a delinquent is to
brand the country through one of its most con-
spicuous representatives. The result of the debate
is that a grave vote of censure has been passed on
the Lord Chancellor. The amendment of Mr. Bou-
verie, which, except on one point, hardly differed
from that of Mr. Hunt, was carried without a divi-
sion, and the most exalted person in the Govern-
ment is reproved by a vote originating with one of
its own supporters. The debate which preceded
this grave decision was not in any way remarkable.
The Lord Chancellor was feebly attacked, and very
weakly defended. Mr. Hunt's speech was by no
means impressive. He is entitled to the credit of
comparative fairness, for though he showed no
inclination to spare the Chancellor, he did not in-
dulge in the vituperation which marred the
effect of Mr. Longfield's harangue the other
night. But, on the other hand, he failed to
give his hearers an adequate impression of
the case. Fortunately for those members who
sought only to pronounce an impartial judg-
ment the materials were abundant in the report of
the evidence which had been placed in their hands.
Even the copious quotations of Mr. Hunt do not
give a fair notion of this extraordinary volume,
which may be perused with interest in future times
as a disclosure of official life in England in 1865.
But it would be difficult for the most unskilful ad-
vocate to fail of success with so overpowering a case.
The history of the events in which the Lord Chan-
cellor is the central figure' while Messrs. Bethell
and Welch and Harding and Wilde and Miller stand
conspicuous in their several ways, came out again
last night with undiminished freshness. We see Mr.
Welch and Mr. Bethell as old acquaintances, and
their friendship thickening as the former sees a
chance of obtaining a place in his country's service.
We find Mr. Bethell pressing his friend's claims on
the Chancellor, and it becomes the clearer the more
we consider it that Mr. Welch was chosen out of
the long list of applicants because he was the friend
of the son of him who disposed of the place, and for
no other cause. Then we follow Mr. Welch during
the autumn of last year and the early spring of the
present, continuing his loans or gifts to Mr. Bethell,
and the result is an impression that each benevolence
was timed with regard to the probability of obtaining
this or that appointment. But why should we follow
out the miserable history? Mr. Wilde and his certifi-
cate, on which the gentleman who obtained it made
jocular remarks, the officiousness of Mr. Miller and his
virtuous' rebukes to the Chancellor for too great
severity towards a prodigal son, the intrigues of the
whole party to get Mr. R. Bethell back again into
the public service, disclose a state of things that we
should hardly have believed to exist in the lowest
walks of official life. It has been the misfortune of
the Chancellor to be surrounded personally and offi-
cially by a set of people who are among the least
favourable specimens of English society the public
has for many years had the opportunity of contem-
plating. It is strange that Lord Wesbury, with that
zeal for the public service which he assumed, did not
think it necessary to look more closely into the mo-•
tives of these people. It is the defence made for him
by his friends—but the only defence which, after
much consideration, they have thought tenable—
that he was imposed upon by his relatives and subor-
dinates. This is, no doubt, true, but that such an
imposition could obtain credence argues a want of
energy and public spirit which is of itself culpable
in a public man. This is the view taken by the
House of Commons. In a house extremely large,
considering that it was within three days of a dis-
solution, the Government was beaten on the motion
for an adjournment, and was obliged to accept
Mr. Bouverie's resolution. That of the Lord
Advocate was very properly rejected. That learned
person would have had the house abstain from
censuring Lord Westbury by name, but pass a re-
solution which would be a stigma not only on this`
particular Chancellor, but on the office itself. By
making the grant of a pension by a Lord Cbancel
lor incomplete without the confirmation of the 'Erea-
Bury the house would have affirmed that, as a rule,
the men who rise to the highest lay dignity in the
country are unfit to perform the duties which have
been for generations intrusted to them. Surely, if
a man is not competent to pension a registrar he is
not competent to make judges and to appoint cler-
gymen to livings ? The abuse of minor patronage
was serious in the case of Lord Westbury chiefly
because it threw doubt on the way in which the
more important trusts would be administered, and
to take away the small opportunities for misconduct
and leave the greater was a proposal as little con-
sistent with good sense as can well be conceived.
Mr. Bouverie's resolution was much more in accord-
ance with the feelings of the house. It is notorious
that the Liberal members displayed no alacrity for
this debate. The prospect of going to the hustings
as the defenders or apologists of such transactions as
have been revealed within the last few days had no
attractions for the supporters of the Government.
It is, indeed, rather surprising that so large a num-
ber should have been found at their posts at all. At
any rate, when Mr. Bouverie proposed his amend-
ment, which, while acquitting the Chancellor of any
knowledge of the corrupt practices connected with
Mr. Welch's appointment, adopt the language of Mr.
Hunt's resolution with respect to pensioning of Messrs
Edmunds and Wilde, it was of no avail for the
Government to attempt to change the current of
feeling. Mr. Bouverie's amendment was put as a
substantive resolution, and carried without a divi-
sion. Whoever may have considered that we have
been unduly severe on the Lord Chancellor will do
well to consider the terms of the resolution which
has thus been adopted by a full House, and say if
it does not justify any strictures that we may have
made. No task could be more distasteful to any
person of ordinary feeling than that of pointing out
the demerits of a man of the highest ability and
who had rendered great public services, to Which we
have been always prompt to render justice", but the
circumstances of this case left us no alternative