The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-08 00:00:00

MR. STONOR'S APPOINTMENT.

(From the Times.)
The unfortunate Mr. Stonor is again the victim of a
virtuous and cheap indignation. Poor gentleman ! As
he
languidly reposes in his cabin, and tries by fits and
starts to brush up his little stock of law for the colonial
market, he little dreams that patriots are exhausting
their holy rage over the shadow of his name. When he
arrives at the port where he expects to play the vi- ie-
tate gravis to a population of golddiggT.s he will find his
character already blasted, and his ermine already sullied
with terrible imputations. In the native dominions of
Plutus himself, where the very dust thrown in the eyes
of justice is gold, Mr. Stonor will be "hand and
glove"
with bribery, and will be greeted with, " Hail, fellow,
well met," by men of unctuous look and glittering
brought If he alleges the vagueness of the chargesg
brought against him,—that nothing was ever proved ;
and, furthermore, that money enters into nineteen-
twentieths of our elections, this will only be a
new lesson in corruption to the rude colonial mind,
and the functionary whose lips should be the fountain of
purity and truth will begin office by blackening the
mother country and corrupting the mind of her young
colony. For this we have to thank the wise and good
Mr. G. H. Moore. The Irish Hercules, roaming about
with his lion's skin and his shillelagh, cannot afford to
be particular as to the dignity of his labours. For want
of Nemman lions and Eurymanthean boars, he is
obliged to be content with very small deer. No dispa-
ragement to his courage. When Paddy smashed the
bald head he saw looking out of a window, because "it
was so tempting," it is _probable that he would have
been equally pleased to meet a giant in open field. So
the accidental circumstance that Mr. Stonor is an in-
offensive gentleman, of the least formidable character,
now some thousand miles from home, who has simply
done what almost every Irish barrister has done, and
will do again, does not at all militate against Mr. G.
H. Moores courage and generosity.
Thanks to the carelessness of officials Mr.
Stonor is now enjoying a stream of absolute secu-
rity. He sent in a heap of papers all about the
unpleasant mention of his name in the report, and
was delighted to find that it was not thought worthy-
even of notice. He had wasted a defence of his charac-
ter, for it was not wanted; so he was doubly safe, and
could congratulate himself on having challenged accusers
without having to face them. He had done his part in
the matter. The sleepy official, however, who has pro-
bably had to read in his time more testimonials than
would set up the whole human race in character and
fitness for office, seeing a bundle of papers, possibly in-
scribed in Mr. Stonor 's own hand, as his defence against
some unknown charge, thought it best not to stir
mud," and left the apologetic bundle unopened. So off
went Mr. Stonor, not only unassailed for the time, but,
what turned out a real misfortune, with nobody to
reply to the charge when it was subsequently brought
against him. So what is to be done now ? He has
been recalled, and, as he gave up his practice for
his appointment, is, of course, a ruined man. That
he should be ruined, however, is necessary to the
interest of the story, and of course to the triumph
of purity. Next to doing good the pleasantest
occupation an idle man can take to is doing harm, espe-
cially of the sudden, surprising, and wholly gratuitous
character. When Mr. Stoner gets to Melbourne, his
weak mind will be astonished to find that he is no judge
atall, and he must come back as quick as he can. These ups
and downs serve to keep up the interest of life, especially
in the region of the clubs, where excitement is always
wanted, and cannot always be had. We don't think there
is an English gentleman—in fact, we are sure there
is not—who would have undertaken to persecute Mr.
Stonor out of his poor little preferment on so paltry a
pretence. English gentlemen, however, are not Irish 1
gentlemen, and perhaps it is better they should not in-
terfere with the Irish monopoly of that article.
But this is a pleasant sort of employment for the
British House of Commons on the breaking out of a
war, the management of which, whether at home or on
the scene of action, is not quite as satisfactory as it
might be. There is to be a select committee which is to
rake up all the " antecedents," as they are called, of
Mr. Stonor, and go over again some half-dozen elec.
tions in which he has been concerned. To follow up a
suggestion of Mr. Drummond's, we might just as well
have a select committee to inquire into the Parliamentary
history of every gentleman appointed to any legal office
within the last 50 years. 'When a rising young barrister,
or any gentleman of talents and money, but no parti-
cular local connexions or political character, goes down to
some little wretched borough or seaport, and canvasses
the independent electors, nobody imagines that the small
101. householder or the drunken freeman will trouble
himself to vote for him simply because he has a good
practice, exhibits legal acumen, or has a good property
in land or the funds. He expects something for his
vote, and will have it, as almost every member of the
House of Commons knows to his cost. And if there is
a disputed election, and the affair is arranged through
the convenient instrumentality of Mr. Coppock or some
other Parliamentary diplomatist, there must be com-
promises, undertakings, and, when the case requires it,
the transfer of money. If any member knows nothing
of these things, let him remain ignorant, for it is a case
where ignorance is bliss. Considering how many
who have burnt their fingers at contested elections
are now high in office, the only reason that seems as-
signable for singling out the case of Mr. Stonor is his
safe absence. In this country we do not usually try
a man in his absence, and in this case absence is the
only reason that can be given for the trial. Had Mr.
Stonor been made Attorney-General for Ireland, and
then shelved on the Bench, there would have been no
demand for a select committee upon him. But that is
what his enemies now demand, and what Government
consents to ; and by the time Mr. Stonor has got up
strength enough, or money enough, to re-embark on his
return home, he will learn, by further intelligence from
this country, that a select committee is pulling him to
pieces, summoning witnesses, perhaps getting at his
papers, and doing whatever ill-conditioned people take
the opportunity of doing when they can get a peep into
the affairs of some one they particularly dislike. If this
will be an uncomfortable prospect for Mr. Stonor it will
be not less discreditable to the character of British fair-
ness and generosity. It would be at least decent to
wait till Mr. Stonor is back, and can direct his own
defence.

We will frankly confess that we think there was
no real occasion to recall Mr. Stonor when once ap-
pointed to his office, and actually on his way. When
the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Peel, and the Chancellor
of the Exchequer all declare that the appointment was
made simply on his testimonials and recommendations,
without any knowledge of the charges brought against
Mr. Stonor, we believe them, and find no difficulty in
doing so. Mr. G. H. Moore, according to the custom
of his nation, gives them the he direct, and tells the
Duke and dr. Peel he does not believe their story ; but
apart from what is due to a solemn declaration we
really do not see why either the Duke of Newcastle,
who at this moment seems to have the affairs of
all the world on his hands, or Mr. Peel should have
read all the election blue-books, or made it their
business to investigate all the charges which Irish
gentlemen bandy about against one another. IV°
will venture to say that very few English gentlemen,
ever so much in the world, with ever so extensive a
when
they or so wide an acquaintance, were aware,
they heard of Mr. Stonor's appointment, that he had
been in any electioneering rows, and had been accuse d
of corruption. Believing, then, that the appointment
was made on the recommendations, and wasra.beu. fair. one,
we think it might have remained undietnAt
least, the Government might well have left to the House
of Commons the harshness and hypocrisy of picking out
Mr. Stonor from the crowd of similar offenders, in his
absence, and on the accusation of an enemy. Let every
member who can stand up and declare before Heaven
that none of his own money or interest ever went to in-
fluence the vote of an elector, vote for an inquisition
on the absent Mr. Stonor, and we shall then have a
list of the best and the worst men that ever existed
in this country. He must, indeed, be a very bad
man who could make such a declaration after the prac-
tices customary at most elections. We are aware that
gentlemen who are returned by intimidation sometimes
take a high ground about bribery, but we never heard of
even an Irish election at which money and place had not
their usual attractions. Everybody in this metropolis
knows the immense proportion of Irishmen in office.
How came they there ? A native of Tipperary or Mayo
may force his way in his own country by merit, but,
cast on the streets of this metropolis, he must have good
friends, and those friends can only be political. But the
fact is too patent to require proof. Everybody knows
that, on the very worst supposition, Mr. Stonor's ap-
pointment is only one of ten thousand, and the only rea-
son that can be given for making him a scapegoat is,
that he is no friend of Mr. G. H. Moore's, and happens
just now to be out of the way.

THE MAILF3.--SOUTHAMPTON, Friday, April 7.—The
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's
ship Tagus, Captain J. K. Joy, sailed at 2 p.m. to-day,
with the usual contract mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lis-
bon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, 33 passengers, specie value
1,0001. for Lisbon, 4,0001. for °port), and 5,0001. for
Cadiz, and a large cargo of general merchandise. The
United States' mail steam-ship Washington, with dates
from New York to the 25th ult., is expected off Cowes,
en route to Bremen, in the course of this evening or to-
morrow. The American steam-ship Nashville, with the
usual semi-weekly mails, will leave Havre and South-
ampton on Wednesday next for New York. The Gene-
ral Screw Steam Company's ships Hydaspes and Har-
binger—the former from India and the Cape, and the
latter from Australia, both overdue—are daily looked
for.