The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC 3 OVRNALS.
IM ES --There will be -found in the Times of Setur-
dey lest no less than eight coluxeS d'VOrdd to a r, r,irt o;
the proceedings of the House of Commons in the form
of a Committee of Supply. Each column of the debate
might well elicit many columns of discussion.
From the marble arch in front of Bucking-
ham Palace, to the colony of Labuan; from the system
of transportation, to tha reduction of the salary of a clerk
in the Treasury; nearly all the topics upon which we have
been writing and speaking for the last four or five months
were passed in brief and shadowy review. As compared
with the excitement of previous Parliamentary field-days,
the process of voting away money is a quick and melan-
choly one. The burden is fixed upon the backs of the tax-
payers with all the dexterous celerity of a Spanish mu-
leteer. The time has passed for inquiring if the jaded
animal is equal to his appointed task ; his hocks and
pasterns may be out of order ; his knees in a ricketty
condition;. the saddle may gall, and the crupper pinch;
but the time for strapping on burdens and buckling
fast has arrived. The work must be got through—one
sonorous crack with the whip, and away we go, trot-
ting, jing'ing, and suffering, to our next halting-place.
The sums necessary for the public service must be
voted. There is a great difference between the way
in which these things are managed now, and the
system of twenty years back. The tendency of the
time is towards a stricter economy of the public
revenue. So far all is well. Much, however, re-
mains to be done ere we arrive at that period when
the administration of the revenues of the State shall
be considered in the light of a private stewardship.
Over 47-54ths of the sum paid into the Exchequer
we are in a fair way of exercising a tolerably accurate
supervision. It is scarcely so as yet with regard
to the remaining 7- 54ths.. A large margin is left
to the discretion and conscience of those charged
with the duties of' administration. A reckless ex-
penditure and system of unthrift are in certain
departments quite beyond our control. A few
passing remarks when the House is in Committee
of Supply; and a few fleeting comments in the public,
journals, which must soon be forgotten in the presence
of other topics of public interest, and an isolated
act of prodigality, an unfair item, a job, aro consigned
to oblivion. To which of these heads shall we refer
an expenditure of 73,2961. upon Buckingham Palace?
Go to Paris, to Berlin, to Dresden, to Turin, to Naples,
in fact to any capital city upon the Continent, and
where will you find Royalty lodged at such an ex-
pense, in such a building, in such a hole? The
present Administration is not answerable for the
freaks of George IV. nor the bad taste of Mr.
Nash, but it is impossible to help doubting the
propriety of tacking on an extra 150,0001. to the 613,296/.
of expense incurred previous to 1831. We have no
sympathy with the paltry penuriousness which refuses
to contribute amply to the erection of public monu-
ments—for such, in fact, are the palaces—but surely,
in the course of the last twenty-five years, an expendi-
ture of 1,500,0001. upon Windsor Castle seems excessive.
Mr. B. Osborne, on Friday night, mentioned these facts to
the House. They are unfortunately but too well known
to all whose duty compels them to be conversant
with Parliamentary returns ; and yet if we mistake
not they will go forth to many of our readers with all
the freshness of a revelation. The marble arch before
Buckingham Palace cost 80,0001., and now no one knows
what to do with it. It is a pretty object enough, but we
can't place it anywhere with any
.sort of propriety.
We shall be obliged at last to consign it to some dark
corner, like the monster picture of the Vicar of Wake-
fied's fly,
i, simply from the difficulty of finding it an
appropriate
resting place. Private individuals ruin
Wake-
field's
themselves whenever they meddle with brick and mor-
tar. The nation in the same way, in its corporate capa-
city, seems destined to burn its fingers, whenever
engaged in the practical cultivation of architecture.
A proposed amendment of Mr. Henley upon the
vote of 57,2001. for salaries and other expenses in
the Treasury, provoked a discussion upon the pro-
priety of reducing the salaries of the members of the
Government. Mr. Henley rested his proposition
upon the ground that, as the object of recent legis-
lation had been to diminish the price of most
articles, it was only fair that such reduction should
take place. Mr. Cobden, enough concurring in
the object of the proposition, repudiated the grounds
upon which Mr. Henley had rested its propriety.
He denied that the reduction in the price of food had
affected the price of articles of manufacture. He
was all for republican simplicity in the habits of
life of the great functionaries. The Honourable
Gentleman appears to take umbrage at the superior
splendour of a Ministerial entertainment, as he does
at the successes in society of a captivating cornet or an
enterprising ensign. " One of the advantages," said he
on Friday evening, " which he contemplated from putting
the Ministers of this country on lower salaries was,
that they might set the fashion of uniting a greater sim-
plicity in their habits of life, so that they might impart
their hospitality at a less extravagant expense." Mr.
Cobden, with these views, proposes to dock the sala-
ries of the Chief Secretaries of State by 1,0001. per
annum; to reduce them, in fact, from 5,0001, to
4,0001., and see what effect that will produce upon
their sideboards of plate and variety of wines. The
reduction will, of course, go further if they are not
brought down to the true type of... Sparta or Man-
chester. Mr. Cobden again hopes, by this reduction,
to get a back-handed slap at the Bishops. "If the First
Minister of the Crown," said he, " only received 4,0001.
a year himself, he would not get up and say that in his
opinion a Bishop ought to have 10,0001. or 15,0004 a year."
The plan is ingenious enough. Mr. Cobden gives check
to King and Bishop by the same move, and, although
the King may save himself by thrusting forward a
pawn to bear the brunt, the Bishop at least must go. It
may be judged from this little sample into what topics and
to what length we should be led by a formal discussion of
the subjects started before the Committee of Supply. Mr.
Henley's motion was lost by 84 to 33. So Lord Palmer-
ston and Sir G. Grey are not deprived of their chefs and
butlers for another year. The proposed vote of 9,8271.
to defray the charge of Labuan gave rise to the most
animated and interesting portion of the discussion of
Friday night. Sir James Brooke, the Governor, is in the
receipt of a salary of 2,0001. a year. There is a Lieu-
tenant-Governor, at 1,3751.; a Master Attendant, and
Post- master at SQO/.; a Surveyor, 5001.; Station Surgeon,
4161.; there are besides other charges for public build-
ings, &c., which raise the whole expense to 9,8271. 103.
To this outlay Mr. Cobden totally objected, arguing
against it with his usual fairness and candour. Here is
Mr. Cobden's account of the origin of Labuan, and of all
circumstances attendant upon Sir James Brooke's Bor-
nean adventure:—
" The origin of Labuan was one of the most curious
incidents of the present day. They
owed the possession
of it to a piece of sentimentalism.—(Hear, hear.) An
adventurous gentleman, sailing in his yacht, took pos-
session of Sarawak, a district of country on the coast
of Borneo, and was called the Raja of Sarawak,
the former Raja, who ceded the district to bim,
having been a pirate. He came to England, and
by means of enormous puffing—(A laugh)—by sen-
timental puffing—persuaded the people of this country
that he was going to settle Borneo. What did he do ?
First of all he was consular agent to himself. He was
Raja Brooke, of Sarawak, and was consul to himself for
Borneo. Being .Rajit of Sarawak, he took charge
as Governor of the island of Labuaa, ab nit 300 miles
distant, the difficulty of communicating with which was
greater than that of communicating with England ; and,
being unable to be in both places, lie appointe for
Labuan a Lieutenant-Governor to di:charge the duties.—
(Hear, hear.) This Lieutenant-Governor over a settle-
ment without any
population lied a salary of 1,375/.
(Hear.) They talked of the distress of the people of
this country, and yet they gave their sanction to such
proceedings as these. Ho wished to ask the :Govern-
ment whether it was seriously proposed to continue this
establishment in Labuan?"
Mr. Cobden had, unfortunately, omitted one little
circumstance of which Mr. Hawes and others rose to
remind him. This was, that the Manchester men,
took the most prominent part in urging upon the
Government the policy which led to the settlement
of Labuan. Landon, Liverpool, Glasgow, and the
other great mercantile communities followed in the lead
of Manchester. Mr. Laboachere favuurud the House and
Mr. Cobden with chapter and verse. It was in the year
t 846 Sir Robert Peel's Government received a memo-
rial from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce to the
!'ollowing magniloquent effect:—
" That they had heard with great satisfaction of an op-
portunity of obtaining a most desirable settlement on the
coast of Borneo having been lately presented to the Bri-
tish nation, in the voluntary offer of the isle of Labuan,
and they implored the Government net to suffer any delay
in securing a position so important, and in every point of
view so desirable, for .the convenience and protection of
our China trade, and as a refuge for our shipping in case
of distress, as a bulwark in the event of war, and as a
central depot for our trade in the Eestern Archipelago."
What is the difference, morally, between a suggesti
falsi and a suppressio yeri? To be sure, a veil,
unscrupulous advocate, determined to make his point
good at all hazards, may be expected to address a
jury in this manner, to distort one fact and suppress
another, but happily as yet such aro not the
recognised ethics of the British Parliament. In order
to place Mr. Cobden's ingenuity in its true light, we
should say that Mr. Hawes merely mentioned the fact of
the petitions from the commercial bodies. Mr.
Cobden
then rose again, and admitted that
" Memorials had been presented to the Government
from the north of England in favour of making Labuan
a colony; but they were too much men of business
to suppose that the Government would create large
establishments there before ascertaining whether the
island would be of any USN But he must
remind the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Hawes) that those
memorials were prepared in a very cautious manner,
for at the time they were presented an apprehension was
felt that this country was about to occupy Sarawak—a
portion of the great island of Borneo itself. Under
this impression these gentlemen, knowing Labuan to
ebxetdenetta, c.ch,eerdyfcraoumtißouosriny expressed their wish that thateo, and to be only seven miles in
island should be taken possession of by the English
Government."
It was upon this that Mr. Labouchere rose ani set
the House right as to the " very cautious manner" in
.uan. We more than
which the Manchester men had expressed their desire
for the colonization of Lab
suspect the fame which Sir James Brooke has
acquired from the gallantry and success of his enter-
prise must have given Mr. Cobden some little discom-
fort. Why not Raja Cobden as well as Raja Brooke ?
sTublisetrietution. Thus we have
exist no euphonical
gWrohuant'clsa
flown from Buckingham Palace to Borneo, after the
iangaianstnasmuceh?
fashion of the Committee on whose desultory proceed-
ings we are commenting. It is seldom that we would
recommend-with so much earnestness au attentive perusal
of a Parliamentary debate as that of Friday night.

Dispatches were sent off yesterday ir4ui the Colon7tl.•
office to the Goveraor of Sierra Leone.