The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-02 00:00:00

rather (at the expense of the public) of his Grace
the Duke of BUCCLEUCH and QUEENSBERRY! Let

us give their names at once, they are those

of the members of the Thames Embank-
ment Committee—they are the names espe-
cially of Sir ,ToEN SHELLEY, and Mr. CRAW-
FORD, and Mr. GARNETT, and Sir WILLIAM
JOLLIFFE, and Lord ROBERT MONTAGU, and Mr.

KEB SEYMER, and Lord HARRY VANE. Whether

or not, under the guidance of those members of the

committee, the interests of the public are to be sac-

rificed to the whims and fancies of the Duke of

BIICCLEUCH remains a problem yet to be solved

The House of Commons will more immediately have

an opportunity of solving it. Already they have
the facts to go upon, put upon record, and submitted
to their scrutiny. Perusing the pages of the Blue
Book just published, it is within the capacity of
anyone to pronounce whether or no the majority
of the committee, in this affair relating to the Duke
of BrccLEucn, have been guilty of meanness and
subserviency.

The facts, as they are now distinctly be-
'ore us, are undeniably to the effect that the

Thames Embankment is to be very seri-
ously marred, that the gardens of Montagu

House are to be extended and improved*
to the advantage, of course, of the Duke of Buc-

CLEUCH, and to the detriment of the Public—and

at whose cost ? Why, absolutely, in one direction,
by spending £300,000 of the public money, and in
another direction, by drawing an additional sum of
£90,000 sterling from the Treasury ! If any one is
incredulous, let him turn to the Blue-book pub-
lished under authority, as the authentic report of
the proceedings of the Committee. Let those who
are naturally incredulous upon the matter, who
doubt if such things seriously can be, turn to the
evidence of one witness alone—the Hon. CHARLES
GORE. It will be quite sufficient to do that. The
evidence of Mr. GORE alone affords us all the in-
formation we could possibly need, a great deal more
than we could possibly desire, in respect
to these charges of meanness and subser-
viency. , Whitehall Gardens, more particularly
the river frontage of those portions of
Whitehall Gardens appertaining to Montagu
House, the newly-built town mansion of his
Grace the Duke of BuccLEuctr, come, as a
matter of course, under the consideration
of the committee. Mr. GORE, as an important
witness, is under examination. He is asked by
Lord HARRY VANE—" Do you consider that the
Duke of BUCCLEUCH would be sufficiently compen-
sated by the land which this bill proposes to give
to him ? This bill proposes to give to all the lessees
of the Crown certain land, for ornamental purposes,
to be added to their gardens." Whereupon thus
answers the Hon. CHARLES GORE—" The Duke of
BUCCLEUCH represented to me that the amenity of
his house would be seriously injured by making a
road between him and the river; that he would
much rather not have an embankment made,
as far as his personal interest was concerned,
and that he did not wish an extension of his gar-
den, and that therefore no extension of his garden
would remove the objection which a roadway be-
tween him and the river would give to him." This,
however, is not by any means enough. Following
the same witness yet further, in his very notable
examination before the committee, any one who ex-
amines this blue book will come at last to the fol-

lowing amazing series of questions and answers
between the examining counsel and the Hon.

CHARLES GORE :-

" Do you mean that the promoters of the bill, or
the Metropolitan Board of Works, are to make it,
and you to pay the expense ?—That portion in front
of the Crown property.
" You are prepared to encounter the expense of
making it, that is to say ?—Yes.
" Have you consulted with the other public de-
partments with reference to that matter; the Trea-
sury, for instance P they are your masters.—l named
it in a report which I made to the Treasury, object-
ing to that portion of the plan recommended in the
Report of the Royal Commission.
" But have the Treasury confirmed your wish to
undertake this expense P—l do not apprehend they
would make any objection ; they have made none
whatever.
" But have they signed their approbation P—lt
is only necessary, under the Lands Revenue Act,
that the Treasury should give their consent when I
bring before them estimates for the carrying out of
the work.
"Have the Treasury taken the preliminary step
of entertaining the paying for this Embankment ?
—I can only say that I have had communication
with thS Chancellor of the Exchequer, under whose
notice this subject was brought, and he did not
dissent from it as an application of Crown revenues
to which the Treasury would object.
" Did he signify in any way his assent ; did he
approve ?—I only say that it is not the practice of
the Treasury, till a distinct estimate is brought
before them, to do a work (and this has
not arrived at that point which would enable such
a proposal to be submitted to the Treasury), to
express their assent.
" In point of fact, there has been no assent of the
Treasury ; that is all I care about P—No dsent, be-
cause no assent has been required ; but I think
that if the principle I proposed had been thought
objectionable, during the last six months they
would. have signified their dissent.
" They have not signified any opinion either
way P—They have not expressed any dissent what-
ever.

" Or assent either P—Because their assent is not
yet required.
"Nor is their dissent, I presume P—l think they
would have stopped it in the preliminary state if
they had objected to the principle."
The fencing of all these queries by the witness
cannot but be regarded as in itself most significant.
Remembering that it is upon evidence such as this
that the majority of the Thames Embankment
Committee have acted, who shall have the effron-
tery to assert that in this transaction relat-
ing to the Duke of BUCCLEUCH they
have not been guilty of the most flagrant
meanness and the most pitiable subserviency?
Party to proceedings of this kind, however, the
Rouse of Commons will not be. It is to the House
of Commons that we look in this matter for the
tenauee
cinservation of the public rights and for the main-
of the public interests—and for both, in
this matter, we look to the House of Commons with
implicit confidence.

The indications
•
of a-Federal check, presented by
the news brought by the Persia, are confirmed by
h
treesceaivsseudmbye a
more me the North American. " The
Confederates id:t
menacing attitude."
They continue their harassing %tucks on the in-
vading army, and open fire on the fleet which
seeks to reach the city. The PederalB appear,
however, al ways to have the adv„,„
• ...Lage, if;
indeed, their object be to have the last shot and
not merely to disturb and wear out. Reinforce-
ments also continue to arrive, which does not look
as if the Confederates were short of provisionp, in
which case they would not accumulate more con-
sumers in the same place. Neither does it look as
if evacuation were the ultimate intention. M'CLEL-
LAN reports " daily skirmishing," and "fire from
heavy guns," and shelling," but no harm done, and
his own preparations "progressing well." IM'CLEL-
LAN'S own reports have always been as correct as
circumstances permitted, and we may presume,
therefore, he feels himself 'strong enough to hold
his own, if not strong enough, without reinforce-
ments, to make the grand attack. The Secretary
of War is calling on the Governors for more