The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES.—The public Press has this misfortune,
that it has to notice subjects while yet in an imma-
ture and half developed state. A statesman can
wait till the whole evidence upon which a judgment
must be formed is fully before him ; he can take
any time he pleases to sift and consider it, and then
pronounce a clear and well-considered judgment,
interspersed, it may be, with severe reflections on
the hasty criticisms of the newspapers. We enjoy
no such advantage. As soon as a subject becomes

public property our readers expect us to throw upon
it all the light in our power, and this duty becomes
very difficult and demands large and charitable
allowance when our information is, as in the case
we are about to enter upon, uncertain and incom-
plete. Rumours have been for some time circulated
castingimputation and even reproach on the conduct
of persons whose elevated position and important
duties, though they must not for a moment protect
them from inquiry, ought at any rate to shield them
from too ready suspicion. Except 'what was stated
by the Attorney-General last night in reply to Lord
Stanley, we are in no condition to aver anything with
certainty, but it will perhaps be convenient to

state the outlines of -what-is said to have oc-

curred, ',guarding ourselves in the most explicit
manner against being supposed to give cre-
dence to all that may be alleged before we
have heard such statements as may be made on be-
half of the parties inculpated. It appears, then,
that since the month of July last an inquiry has
been prosecuted at the Patent-office into the con-
duct of a gentleman who has been employed for
many years in the public service as Clerk of the
Patent-office and Clerk of the House of Lords.

What were the causes that led to this investigation

we are not told, but the result appears to have been
that Mr. Edmunds was found to be indebted to the

Treasury in a sum of from £7,000 to £B,OOO, and

that this sum was, after such finding, paid over by
him in liquidation of this demand. A second inves-
tigation has since been held, which is not yet wholly
concluded, and the result of this investigation, unless
_ _ _

Mr. Edmunds can succeed in overthrowing its
validity, is that the public have a further claim upon
him for some £9,000 more. We are not informed
of the precise-manner in which these debts became
due ; we are not informed, nor do we know, what
the system of check, account, and audit can be under
which a Clerk in a Public Office can be enabled

during a course of years to receive and retain
such large sums of money without interference and
without suspicion. We certainly were under the im-
pression that as much care was taken to secure the
receipt of money into the public Exchequer as to
prevent its expenditure except for just and lawful
purposes. This must form one subject of inquiry
in a case presenting many aspects well worthy of
consideration. It would seem, in the absence of all
information to the contrary, that a Clerk or Ac-
countant receiving public money, and neither pay-
ing it over nor accounting for it, is within the
provisions of the Statute of Embezzlement, and it is
clear that the payment of money in satisfaction of
the sum so withheld can in no degree alter the

nature of the offence, though it may very properly
extenuate its punishment. We gather this to be the
Attorney-General's opinion, for he states that after
much consideration it has been resolved, not that
Mr. Edmunds is innocent, but that it is unnecessary
to prosecute him. The propriety of this decision,
which has on the first aspect of the case the appear-
ance, which we admit may be removed on further
inquiry, of compounding a prosecution for felony,
will also deserve a careful investigation. It is noto-

.rious that notwithstanding the -confession of im•
proper conduct involved in the payment by Mr
Edmunds of upwards of £7,000, and the further
charge against him of having received and not ac-
counted for £9,000 more, he has been permitted by
the House of Lords to retire upon a pension of £BOO
a year. It is abundantly clear that no such pension
ought to have been granted to a person relinquish-
ing office under such charges as have been preferred
and substantiated against Mr. Edmunds. A pen-
sion is a reward, not for service merely, but, as
everybody knows, for good and faithful service.
Another head of inquiry must be as to the granting
of this pension : whether it was granted with full
knowledge of the circumstances under which the
clerkship became vacant ; if so, how it came to be
granted at all ; if not, how this necessary know-
ledge came to be kept back from the Committee of
the House of Lords by whom the pension was
granted. The Lord Chancellor has, it appears, ap-
pointed his second son, or rather, as the Attorney-
General phrases it " a person who stands towards
him in that relation," to the place vacated by Mr.
Edmunds. This seems to be made a ground of im-
putation, but we do not exactly gather for what
reason ; for, as we understand, nothing is alleged
against the character of the gentleman who has
received the appointment, and we know no reason
why the son of a Lord Chancellor should be ex-
cluded by that relationship from any public office
for which he may be fit. Here we would willingly
close the list of subjects requiring investigation, but
there is yet another subject which cannot be passed
Over in silence. It is alleged on his behalf, though
even if true it may probably be considered rather as
an aggravation than an extenuation of his offence,
that Mr. Edmunds received his present office on con-
dition that a considerable portion of the salary should
find its way into other hands than his own. We notice
this statement, which has hot yet been brought be-
fore Parliament, not as one to which we are disposed
to give implicit credence, but as one which cannot
wholly be passed over. If this statement, traced
to Mr. Edmunds himself, is false, it cannot be too
speedily or too peremptorily refuted; if it be true,
it cannot be too severely condemned. The characters
of our high judicial officers are, above all things,
public property ; it is of the last importance to every
one, not only that the fountain of justice should
itself be pure, but that it should imbibe no taint by
the contamination of the channels through which it
passes to the public. Those who fill these high offices
are entitled to the fullest consideration of the diffi-
culties which beset the execution of their duty. The
presumption is all in their favour; they are not likely
to go wrong from any evil motives, and still less
likely to go wrong from want of sound judgment or
knowledge of affairs. But they are, after all, our
fellow-subjects, and when the slightest cloud of sus-
picion is thrown upon their conduct they must be pre-
pared to clear themselves with even greater com-
pleteness than the poorest and meanest among us.
We have every reason to suppose they will be able
to do so, and have only discharged our duty as
careful observers of passing events in calling atten-
tion to a question on which the public will naturally
desire the most complete information.
PosT.--The publication of the Navy Estimates a
fortnight since prepared the House of Commons for
the most important item of information given to it
last evening by the Secretary of the Admiralty.
The estimates for the forthcoming year show a re-
duction of upwards of £300,000 on those of the year
which now terminates. At any time an announce-
ment of a reduction of expenditure is received with
satisfaction ; but the progressive decrease during
the past three yeais in the demands made by the
Government for the maintenance of the navy
affords special grounds for self-congratulation. The
complete revolution effected a few years since in
the art of building vessels of war by the introduc-
tion of the system of armour-plating rendered it
necessary for Great Britain, in common with every
maritime Power, to rebuild her navy at a cost
which, measured by the experience of the past, was
quite unparalleled. The ordinary estimates of four
years ago, large though they were, were still
further increased by supplemental votes, and the
House of Commons, on the eve of a prorogation,
was called upon to grant additional supplies to meet
a want whose existence the most rigid economists
did not venture to deny. At length, however, the
want has been provided for, and the steady diminu-
tion in the total of the expenditure anticipated by
the Navy Estimates furnishes the most convincing
proof that the great and expensive changes which
the recent improvements in the science of naval
warfare rendered necessary have at length been
effected. The policy of this country, as is well
known to all the world, is not aggressive. We
would willingly dispense with a fleet of ironclads if
we could only be satisfied that no foreign State
would take advantage of our weakness. But our
insular position, the comparatively small extent of
our European possessions, and the number and im-
portance of our colonies and dependencies, render
it essential to the security of our independence that
we should maintain an unquestioned supremacy on
the high seas. The English Channel separates us
from the Continent ; it is as it were a line of forti-
fications by which our territory is defended, and we
cannot evade the responsibility of keeping those for-
tifications efficiently manned. The Channel fleet,
it may be said, does nothing but rove from port to
port. The circumstance that a sword remains
sheathed does not necessarily prove that it is use-
less to its owner. The knowledge that it can be
drawn if required confers a protection no less great
than the most skilful use of the blade itself. In
opening his statement the Secretary of the Admi-
ralty addressed his observations to the votes to be
taken for the number of seamen and marines to be
employed in the navy during the forthcoming year.
That number, it appears, will be decreased to the
extent of 2,200, although the amount required for
their wages will be increased by £16,000. This.
circumstance admits, however, of easy explanation.
One of the principal results which have flowed from
the substitution of armour plated vessels for wooden
frigates and ships of the line has been a diminution
in the number of seamen and marines, and an
increase in the number of officers required for each
ship, and it consequently follows that a decrease
in the aggregate number to the extent mentioned in

the estimates, so far from indicating a loss of naval
strength as compared with the past year, really
shows a considerable increase. The substitution, for
example, of such a vessel as the Warrior for one
of
the old line-of-battle ships would render then era'
oes-
ployment of a much smaller number of men
sary, whilst it would confessedly give to the navY,
much more formidable vessel. The increase in tDe
vote for the wages, on the other hand,
made to
to some extent the necessary additions
the number of oi?lcers, but chiefly to the DI
larger sums now expended under the head of " go°
will, m the
conduct pay," and which it is estimated .€l
ensuing year be more tlwn double the amount palie
six years ago. The most important reforms waa
of late by the Admiralty, however, are those in con;
nection with the recruiting of seamen ; anon for
evening Lord Clarence Paget was in a position fa,
the first' time to lay- before the house the results. oil
the redeWay---aclopted ~system of training boys-1.011,e
view to 11 g. up the vacancies occasioned in t%
navy by deaths and othei •
year 3,100 seamen either t.. 1
causes. During the PI
is exPlicable
and of the vacancies thus ere,
ied or were discharge d
up by. boys specially trained ' the naval servlT:
the
.s is unquestionably a vast int}
ancient system of manning nrovement o. u
lted 2,517 were filled
t
cellence was so well appreciated a ~ar since th
the proposal of the Government to redut.'e the r(o)P0
of boys to be kept in training from 9,000' v" ity
met with considerable opposition. The AdOir.ant
have, however, shown that a stock amply sufnei-e
our fits ets, and its e);
when taken together with the numbers of able
men who are willing to quit the merchant service,
has been maintained to supply the wants of the navrf
and we may assume that henceforth a training bell.
for the navy may be regarded as a permanent insw
tution.
i Our armour-plated fleet is no longer in em-.
bryo ; t has a tangible existence. At the close
the present year, the Secretary of the Admiralty la-
forms us we shall have no less than thirty arra.url
plated.
.ships either at sea or ready to be put int,'
commission. The transformation of our navy.ln
therefore be regarded as having been already effeen•
Four more vessels will be completed in the cours.e
the following. year, and, independently of these, it 1
the. intention of the Admiralty to construct tyree;
ships of the Alabama class, which shall be special,
remarkable for their speed, and which, in the evenn
of war, would be employed in protecting our 01;
commerce and harassing that of our foes. lt,isr,,E;s
intended. to construct a turret-ship on Capt. ua"--",
principle, and, in the event of the experiment
ing successful, others of a similar kind may probav'm
afterwards be built. It is observable, howevel:
that in. the construction of our iron-clads the telLt,
ency is to increase considerably the strength of t%,5,
defensive covering which, when the Warrior. way
launched, was supposed to have reached its waxille
point. The sides of this vessel are 23 inches th.l;
of which six inches are composed of armour-Platilri;
the rest being of teak. In one of the vessels naw,he
course of construction it is proposed that all`be
water line the thickness of the ship's sides shouter
43 inches, of which 11 shall be iron (the „c.°ollocl.-
plating being six inches thick) and 32 incises" -nos(
It would be presumptuous to assert that eveli.."o;
we have reached a point which we shall never,Lost
but when a ship's side attains a thickness of of
four feet, we can scarcely conceive the possibill% to
its being still further increased. The new fleeti7sed
be divided into five different squadrons, eOl3l,PiO,
of vessels varying according to their strengtal,'
and draught of water, the fiat squadron be/13g ;eft
posed of seven of the most powerful of the
.iron-clads. How long armour.-plated vesse4,sic to
maintain their present supremacy it is inaP°ssi'ffiro
say, but we believe we may with co.nfideniiee 3001
that at the close of the present year we shalt, Pi ou
the. most powerful fleet of these vessels :to L'evir°
in any part either of the Old or of the New ' °