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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

" glorious uncertainties" of the law
have seldom been more signally illustrated than in a
case which occupied, or rather which evaded occupy-
ing, the Central Criminal Court yesterday. It is the
case of the charge preferred by Lord Shaftesbury
against his late steward, and the discussion yester-
day arose upon an application on the part of the de-
fendant for a postponement of the trial until the
next session. The charge, it will be remembered, is
one of embezzlement. The defendant is accused of
having appropriated to his own use not less than
£B,OOO of Lord Shaftesbury's money which passed
through his hands in the capacity of steward. One
would have supposed that nothing could be more
simple than the issues presented by such a case.
The defendant has unquestionably received this
money, and has been responsible for its disburse-
ment. Where, it might have been supposed, could
be the difficulty of producing the vouchers and re-
ceipts which would account for it? A gentleman,
one would have thought, can at any time by a little
scrutiny satisfy himself as to his own actual expen-
diture; and the question whether or not his steward
was defrauding him, not of hundreds, but of thou-
sands of pounds, must appear at first sight a very
plain matter of fact. A glance at the proceedings
in the Central Criminal Court yesterday will show
that the reality is very different from this imagina-
tion. A short sketch of the history of the case will
explain to our readers the position in which the two
pasties now stand. We of course mention simply
the counter proceedings of the two parties, without
presuming to anticipate in any way what may be
the issue of the trial. The defendant was steward
of Lord Shaftesbury's estates in Dorsetshire and
elsewhere from 1851 to 1863. During that time he
represents that a sum of £500,000 passed through
his hands, besides £50,000 in connection with drain-
ing operations, and his accounts had been annually
submitted during the whole of this time to Lord
Shaftesbury's auditor. In July, 1863, he left Lord
Shaftesbury's service, and was required, of course,
to deliver up all accounts, receipts, and payments
not previously delivered. Accordingly, on Sept. 4th
in the same year, 1863, he delivered his estate ac-
counts up to the time of his leaving his post, but on
Jan. 26, 1864, he delivered a further account, which
he called a supplemental account, containing dis-
bursements to the amount of £23,000, and repre-
senting that this was his complete account. These
accounts were submitted to Lord Shaftesbury's au-
ditor, and on April 19, 1864, this gentleman informed
Mr. Waters, the defendant, that " he had discovered
falsifications" in them, and in answer to this, upon
the 28th of May following, the defendant delivered
additional supplementary accounts. In July, 1864,
Lord Shaftesbury placed the matter in the hands of
his solicitors, and they recommended "iim to institute
a criminal prosecution. Upon being informed of this

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 postponed on 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 Slraftes-
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 instruci.
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 applidation. 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, who 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. Gifford, Lord
Shaftesbury'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. The 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 the 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.
HERALD.—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.
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 FebruFebruary;
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
rt
obedience to the orders of thpeaeoi7sidaonms' to refuse
ini,andact
as if they represented some. other, and t that the
legitimate authority ; we will not perm. them to
use their position to intrigue for the Prince of
Augustenburg and stir up
hhattrfeerrdrsme
caaenn,nddanoillid-w_ttihilleel
against Prussia. We insist,
.f therefe
ore, , the first
expulsion
nono
fthseuecxhpuolfsi7hniso
Schleswig-Holstein officials as set themselves against
the state of things 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 b,,-; held for the promotion of what we
regard as rebellion." This 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, eon-

scions that to go to war with Prussia would be to
rush on her own destruction—convinced that she
would not have the slightest effectual aid from the
minor states whose battle she would be fighting—
Austria has given way, and perhaps made a hand-
some profit from her pliancy. There is no tinge of
that hatred of Austria which pervades the Prussian
people in the Prussian Court, and King William
and his Ministers, if they can only get what they
want, would have no objection to help Austria to
get something for herself. It is very possible that
no definite arrangement has been come to between
the two Governments as to the disposition of the
Duchies, but as a sufficiently good understanding
has been arrived at to enable the two monarchs, who
have been for the greater part of the last three
weeks within forty or fifty miles of each other to
meet as friends, it may safely be assumed that Aus-
tria has conceded the main points insisted upon by
Prussia. A definite agreement has, no doubt, been
come to as to the government of the D uchies by the two
Powers, and an arrangement made to prevent such
scandalous conflicts between the two commissioners
as this which has- arisen from the recent high-
handed proceedings of Herr Von Zedlitz against
two Prussian subjects. Further, if Austria has not
consented to the ignominious expulsion of the
Prince of Augustenburg, she will have assented to
measures which will make it impossible for him to
remain in the Duchies, and she will have agreed to
the Prussian proposal for putting in force the exist-
ing laws of the Duchies with reference to the press
and public meetings. As a matter of course, all the
Duchies enacted during the Danish rule remain in
force until they are amended or repealed by some
competent authority. At present there is no autho-
rity competent for the work of legislation, unless we
assume that the condomini have a right to legislate
without reference to the wishes of the people of the
Duchies—an assumption which would answer the
purpose of Prussia very well, but against which the
Augustenburg partisans would protest very vehe-
mently. And all thelaws of the Duchies have been
kept in force except just those which Prussia wishes
to apply. The laws relative to the press, political
assemblies and societies, have been completely dis-
regarded during the last 18 months. In Holstein
these laws, at least so far as the press is concerned,
are mild enough. The Holstein newspapers used
to write treason enough every day under the Danish
rule to have insured their immediate suppression in
every state of that dear fatherland to which they
were constantly appealing to rescue them from
slavery. Public meetings and political societies were
more hardly dealt with. In Schleswig the laws were
in both respects much severer than in the neighbour-
ing duchy. If these laws are put in force—and
Prussia insists that she and her partner Austria
stand in precisely the same position as the King of
Denmark, of whose rights they are cessionaires, did
—that incitement to hostility against them, or one of
them, and advocacy of the cause of any pretender,
amount to just the same thing as the attacks upon
the sovereignty of the King of Denmark provided
for in these laws—a stop will very soon be put to
the Augustenburg agitation. If there is anything
real in the loyalty to the Prince it will of course
survive although denied expression ; if it is facti-
tious, the product of clever intrigues, it will soon
die out—not, however, that it really matters much
whether the Holsteiners wish to have their Frederic
VIII. or not. The determination does not depend
upon them ; it rests almost entirely with Prussia •,
and at present the odds are ten to one that she will
never be called upon to pay him obedience. The
assertion that Austria has abandoned the Prince
and expressed her readiness to support the candi-
dature of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg is probably
premature ; but in the end she will in all probability
bring herself to support hhn or to consent to the
annexation by Prussia. The Prince of Augusten-
burg has managed to give great offence to the
Prussian Government, and to earn, moreover, the
ill-will of the Prussian people. He at least will not
be, we may be pretty confident, a gainer by the war
which his perfidy had so much to do in provoking,
and no attachment of the people of the Duchies to
him—no desire to be formed into a state absolutely
independent—will be able to resist a few months
more of the provisorium. The surrender of Austria
now will satisfy the people of the Duchies that they
can place no reliance upon her, that for weal or for
woe their fortunes are bound with those of Prussia,
and as, although a very obstinate and opinionated
race, they have a good bit of shrewdness in their
composition, they will very soon cease to kick
against the pricks, and make the best terms they
can with the Prussian Government. But the real
importance of this surrender of Austria does not
consist in its influence upon the fortunes of the
Elbe Duchies—it means the triumph of Prussia in
Germany. The long fight is practically over, the
great prize is won by Prussia. Austria may still
be a great European power, but she has practically
abandoned her pretensions to lead Germany.