The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-17 00:00:00

LON DON. SATURDAY EVENING MA.

LORD STANLEY AND HIS CON-
STITUENTS.

On Wednesday Lord Stanley, M.P., addressed a large and
enthusiastic meeting of his constituents at King's Lynn, on
the present aspect of foreign and domestic politics, with the
view, as he stated, of informing them of the politiCal aims
and ideas of their representative, and of hearing from them
their wishes on public matters. With regard to the war, the
hope he had about a year ago expressed, that it would be of
no long duration, had been justified. There was no record,
he believed, of ally European struggle of equal magnitude
ending so quickly—a circumstance which indicated that peace
had become, or was becoming, the natural condition of mo-
dern society. Mr. Pitt was stated to have once said, when
accused of making undue concessions in a commercial treaty
with France, that it was a matter of no great importance, be.
cause a treaty was only binding during peace, and peace with
France ceuld not be expected to last a very long time. We
had now got beyond that state of things, and though we were
yet far from the realisation of universal peace, there were in-
ternational interests growing up which tended slowly, but
certainly, to link nation to nation, until a gradual diminution
of armaments should take place, and Europe be spared the
reproach of keeping more than '2,000,009 -men in idleness
and arms—a standing burden on their fellow-citizens, a per-
petual- check to material progress, as 'pertnal danger to free-
dom, and cause of jealousy and mistrust between people and
people. The treaty of peace, he thought, had-beeh received
with satisfaction, but without enthusiasm, which was all
that reasonable people expected ; ; but he thought its terms
were far less important than the spirit 'in which the parties
mutually negotiated. A treaty, though morally binding and
sacral, was not legally enforceable, for' there was no law
court-to take cogniseuce of its breach,; or,. if there were,
there -was no international police to .enforce its decrees. Tree-
ties, eetherefore, could always be broken by 'those who
'Made them ; excuses were never wanting ; and neither princes
nor people cared much for the public opinion of any nation
but their own, .which was generally with them in such, mat,-
tors. • Terms of peace to be lasting must be not only honour-
able, but suety that neither party should have an Interest to
break them. ..With regard to .the present prospects of
Europe pn this subject he said .that, diplomatically, there
were few continental powers which had assumed to stand in
the first rank, but practically Austria and Prussia had played
a secondary part. France and. Russia were the only two aisle
to involve E rope in war. Russia had a.certain kind of public
opinion; bee was mainly governed by the personal .will of its
ruler, and ho believed that the Czar's love of peace and desire
for social progress was really a part of his character, and not
assumed for a temporary purpose. With regard to France,'
although it was an article of belief with some that her restless
ambition and warlike temper were still a cause of danger to
Europe, yet during the last year there hadbeen a general desire
in France for peace, and a very strong pressure upon the Goe
verument, by its own subjects, to make peace. Napoleon
had, by directing the attention of his subjects to industrial en-
terprise rather than foreign conquests, given another proof that
he understood their temper and tendency. In the disposition.
of those foreign Powers, therefore, there was seen re eson to
hope for a continuance of peace. The general course which
this country ought to pursue in her future foreign policy
was plain. No doubt there were cases, such as, those of
some of the present Italian Governments, where the acts of
cruelty perpetrated-in the name of law justified; and even de-
manded, the remonstrance of foreign countries, on the ground
of common humanity ; others, again, like that of Sardinia,
where we were bound to protect a faithful ally ; but as a
general rule he was opposed to much interference in the
internal affairs of foreign countries, because, among other
reasons, it afforded despotic Governments their best excuse
for keeping up the immense standing armies. which gave
them the power of doing mischief. The • duty of England,
as an empire, lay beyond the limits of Europe. Her
people were eminently a colonising people. Half our trade
at present -was with the United States, the colonies, and
ludia,—with States which now are or have been our
colonies, and with territories which we held by conquest.
Canada and Australia were doubling their population
25 years, and every acre reclaimed, every colonist whowent out to our colonies, was an accession to the cause of
freedom and self-government. The successful and con-
tinued existence of one free and great empire, like England,
under constitutional government, was standing and in-
destructible evidence against absolutism in all forms.
England, so constituted, was destined to lead mankind
out of their present transitional state to a better and-
happier future, destroying abuses-, not by direct attack,
but by • the irresistible attraction of example. Turn-
ing to our internal policy, there were many questions of deep
interest which could at present be stirred with advantage. It
would be premature to speak of financial reform until' our
war taxes were paid off; but there were two taxes so objec-
tionable, on social and economic grounds, that they might
well be remitted, even at the. expense of maintaining a higher
income tax than would be othe• wise necessary. The insurance
duty was a fine on prudence, was not felt by the very rich or
the very reckless, and was now driving business from our
own into foreign hands ; and the paper duty was vexatious in
collection, checked improvement in manufacture, tended to
raise the price of an article of which the demand exceeded the
supply, and hindered the diffusion of cheap literature and
news. Parliamentary reform must necessarily be deferred.
Re believed a general apathy prevailed respecting it ; but he
would say that either the thing ought not to be done or it
ought to be done effeetually—no small measure could or ought
to pass ; and no Government ought to take up that subject
unless they determined to stand or fall by it. It was intoler-
able that a Minister should be enabled to keep on agitation
hanging over the country, merely because his party was dis-
satisfied, and he wished to content them. A third topic
which, he regretted, could not be raised for the moment,
was that of education. He was less sanguine than last year
of any general measure on the subject; but the late
majority against Lord John Russell's scheme was no test
of the general feeling, the measure being not one com-
plete in all its details, but merely a series of resolutions,
some very good, some doubtful, but all put together
without much appearance of care or consideration,
and put forward without much external support. But there
was no cause for permanent discouragement, for there were
causes in operation on which, in the long run, the friends of
education might confidently rely—the cheap press, called into
existence by the legislation of last year, cheap literature,
libraries, reading-rooms, institutes, and, more than all, the
gradual opening of the civil service to intellectual competi-
tion. Sooner or later the adoption by this country of a sound
system of school teaching was certain. But the practical
subjects which at the present moment ought to engage at-
tention were mainly three—army reform, administrative re-
form, and the amendment of the law. The first was a duty
imperatively called for by the experience of the war. He
believed the Crimean disasters were caused much more by
want of plan and foresight in the executive at home than by
want of administrative ability on the spot ; but it was only
natural that two years of war should have taught us that
which 40 years of peace had led us to forget. Now was the
time for action ; if the opportunity was lost it was not likely
to return. For years before this war the House of Commons
could hardly be got to listen to a discussion on military affairs
—the expense of the army, and not its efficiency, was alone
thought of. That state of things, natural iu time of peace,
was certain to recur, and if it did the victories of the war
would be cited in defence of every system, notwithstanding
which they were obtained. No doubt the Government
or its friends would say that before the reduction
was carried too far, and that it was necessary to
keep under arms a numerically large force in time
of peace. There would always be crafty men to hold
that language, and credulous men to believe it. But suppose
ing that advice had been acted upon in 1813, and that from
that time to the present we had spent two or three millions
more early than we had done on our army, we should have
had a larger number of retired officers, or, worse, officers
who ought to be retired but were not—two generations of
soldiers trained in arms without even firing a shot against an
enemy—and a vast stock accumu'atecl of weapons obsolete
i:letc. dutyiau y being
without being employed, and the cost of which would have
been lost to the country. Taking at the highest estimate
(100,000,0001.) the cost of the late war, 2,500,0001, yearly
from 1815 to 1854 would have come to the same sum, with
the addition of interest, while it was not at all certain that
increased preparation would have prevented the war. But
what was wanted in time of peace was rather the nucleus
round which an army might be readily formed than a great
T hofe army
guarding
shouldt he, ,
colonies,
ada extent,an
d relieved
Australia
f
o
e
e
army itself ; and he pointed to the militia, disembodied, but
called out for short intervals of training, as supplying such a
w
well able to do that by local militia; and
standings
grudged in
army at home, campshould
s
of retained
eo of
formed,thno expense
e theirl
training, all means used to developo the scientific branch of
the service, and, above all, so much work given to officers in
the discharge of their ordinary duties that the profession
should be really a working one, and not a mere excuse
foofr whatinstruction was
for wearing a red coat. With regard to the purchase of
commissions, his lordship said that the system had no pa-
rallel, either in other countries or in other branches of the
public service in this, that it was anomalous in theory, un-
just between man and man, and that the principle on which
alone it could be defended would also justify the selling of
judgeships and secretaryships of State. Its one sole defence
was, that the abolition of purchase would put too much
patronage into the hands of Government. But the patronage
of the civil service had been taken from Government, some
branches of the military service had been opened to compe-
tition, a numerous force was not required, and, further, a
fixed proportion of commissions might be given away to the
sons of deserving officers. If the social class from which
officers were taken were changed be this measure, to any
great extent, it would be a misfortune— a constitutional
danger. An army whose officers solely depended upon the
Crown for means of subsistence might become in troubled
times a dangerous instrument in the hands of an unscru-
pulous Government against the people. But he believed
that result was quite out of the question ; the army was
never a lucrative profession; it afforded, during peace, very
little scope for ambition ; it was apt to lead to habits of
expense, and the education required for it was costly to ob-
i tarn ; it was not likely, therefore, to be selected by parents
in the less wealthy classes. The preponderance of one class
among officers depended, in fact, more on the general tastes
and habits .of the community, than upon any exclusive
system at the Horse Guards. The objection to military
reform by Parliament, on the ground of its interfering with
the Crown, Lord Stanley combated by pointing to the navy,
which was represented in the House of Commons, and
governed like any other department responsible to Parlia-
ment ; and by arguing that Parliament voted money for
the army, it had the right of ascertaining llow that money
was applied. But he only claimed for the Commons the right
of settling the general principles of military administration,
and deprecated those debates on the merits of individual
officers, and criticisms on military operations, reviser there
had been too many. The house did not sit to the sen-
tences of courts-martial, or to give opportunity for eulogising
particular men. With regard to the civil service, he thought,
with Mr. Gladstone, that it was not overpaid, test that
more persons were employed to do the work than it would be
necessary if they were bettor selected. He did not believe
that it often happened that candidates known to be unfit
were appointed with that knowledge, but the fair ground of
complaint was that no care was taken to choose the fittest.
All, he believed, agreed that there ou:ht to be a check to
this, and the only question was, whether the test to be im-
posed should be merely an excluding test or a competitive
one. He was in favour of the latter, as tending to promote
.self-respect in the employed, relieving public men of the re-
sPonsibility of selection, which was treated lightly by the
careless, but weighed heavily upon the conscientious. A
system,, oh the other hand, which merely excluded those
below a mental standard, relieved the Minister of respensi-

bility without securing the ablest applicant. He believed
(contrary to an objection which was urged) that the test of
knowledge applied to persons• entering life, was to a great
extent a moral as well as an intellectual test, proving the
elistence of industry, pbrseverance, and steady habits
much more than of mere talent, which was not by
any means the first quality required for success in such
efaminations. He admitted that this question should be
looked at en its own merits, and -not with reference to its in--
clfrect bearing on the question.of education ; that in exami-
nations carried too far there was a risk of pedantry ; that ac-
curacy of knowledge, not extent of attainments, should be
alined at ; and that care should be taken to give as far as
Ipssible an equal value to attainments of different kinds, but
Nthile there was no infallible way of judging men's abilities
and characters, on the whole-the competitive plan was the
best. He supported it because it excluded absolute ineffi-
diencY, favouritism, or suspicion of favouritism, and carried
out that great and sound_, idea—an open career to all. ' He
advocated a more ready transfer of civil-servants from depaie.
ihent and department, so 'as W facilitelie promotion by meri-
ihstead of seniority, without excitirss jealousy ; and the se-
Paration of merely mechanical.from.'.:,neental labour, thus re-
ducing the ..a.umber of servants required in the higher grades,
and rendering their work Of a hi her *erecter, and, there-
fore, more attractive. With reference to law amendment, he
believed that the great majority or thinking men • wete-
*reed that the ecclesiastical courts, with their cumbrous and
antiquated 'machinery,' ought to be done away with, and
probate of wills decided in a new court. The only difference
(If opinion was, as to the constitution Of this new court ; but
lie hoped that difference between-the-two bills before Patha-
n:Lent would basettled and, an effective measure brought into
leeration. Greater facilities were required in the transfer of
aded property, and for the sake of agricultural improve-
ment, the actual possessor of land ought as far as possible
to be the absolute master of, it, iqieendently of.the .claims
Of others: As reCommetided -be% the Statute LAW' Commis-
sion, a.board, was required to exemiae new-bills before and
during their passage through Parliament, to insure their
being crear in meaning and not repugnant to former acts.
The consolidation, alsoeof the statute law itseg was required
-e-the separation ofiebsolete: lasts from those actually in force,-1
and reduction of the whole within comparatively small
bulk. On one subject—that of marriage and divorce—the"
present state of the law was absolutely disgraceful. He
did net wish to* extend the 'right if divorce beyond the
clause of adultery ; but it was monstrous that a husband
Who had been deserted and wronged could only be released
ley a special act of Parliament, costing about 1000/. The
ord Chancellor had ,a; bill on that subject before Parlia-
*lent,- and it was ta be hoped that the session would not
Pass without the establishment of a cheap and simple
tribunal for cases .ef the kind. Lastly, a Minister of Justine
I Was required. Without some such central controlling autho-
city all projects for law amendment would be fragmentary and
imperfect. That want it would not "oe difficult to supply.
He advised a &Vision Of the numerous duties now devolving
on the Lord Chancellor in this respect as Speaker to the House .
of Lords and as the highest judicial authority in the realm.
Passing over numerous minor matters his lordship spoke of
his vote on the Sunday question, confassing himself ashamed,
riot of any vote that he had given, but that such a veto
should .be held to require apology or explanation. He had
maintained, and would maintain through life, the prin-
ciple that individual conviction should be free ; that the laws
eixisted for the maintenance of social order, for the protection
of man against man, and not for the enforeethent of any real
or supposed religious obligation. He expressed his surprise
at the state of feeling evinced on this subject in a Protestant
country, showing, as it did, that there were many who in
theory would admit the right of private judgment, but who
in practice, when the private judgment of their neighbours
differed from their own, were Very ready to adopt the theories
of former times. His lordship concluded by observing on
the general question of reform, that if we wished to go far
we must not go fast ; but while he deprecated all hasty or
violent change, be believed there was in the end no policy so
revolutionary as that which had bees called the conservatism
of immobility—the resolution that "happen what may after-
wards, things shall not be altered is our time." He would
not use party names, because, at the present time, they had
little meaning ; but he would say (not as a paradox, but as 4
truth) that in England there. was much which all must wish
;to see altered, much which all must wish to see retained ;
and in England, therefore, no man could be a reformer who
was not in some sense aeConservative, and no man could be a
true Conseevative who was not iu sem sense a reformer.
His lordship's address, which was mast attentively listened
to and frequently applauded, concluded amid enthusiastic
cheering, and a vote
.of thauks to him, proposed by Mr.
eßagge; was given with three times three.
A vote of thanks to the mayor for presiding concluded the
proceedings. •

SOICIDB OF M. CHARLES RUSSELL.

Mr. Bedford, the coroner for Westminster, held an in-
quest yesterday at 2 o'clock oa the body of Mr. C. Russell,
late chaiskan of the Great Western. Railway, at his late resi-
dence in Argyle street, Regent-street
Mr. G. L. Russell, of the Chancery bar, identified 'the
bo ly as that of his brother. He knew of no cause. except
mental disease for his committing suicide.
Robert Howard, valet to the deceased, deposed that he had
two or three days before complained of pains in the chest ;
and on Tuesday morning had balled for a cup of tea—a fact
quite unusual with him, and still complained of the pain he
was labouring under, and said he had sent for medical advice.
Ho left him at 10 o'clock .atnight.Mud went_to ltis room ata
quarter before 7on Thursday morning. He then found the
deceased lying on the bed in his dressing-gown, on his side.
His face was covered with blood ; two pistols were lying by
his side ; howas not dead at that time, but breathing hard.
'He (witness) ran for the nearestnsedical man, and Mr. M'Os-
car, of Tyler-street, attended, aul a physician was sent for.
He heard no report of a pistol during the night, and no one
was in the house except the deceased, witness, and the female
housekeeper: The pistols found on the bed ho had never
seen before. One had been discharged, the other appeared to
havemissed fire. The deceased never spoke, and died about
2 o'c ock.

Mr. J. M`Oscar deposed that when he was called to see the
deceased he found him bleeding from the mouth and nostrils.
The blood on his face was quite hard ; and, on examining the
mouth, he found a large fissure in the centre of the palate,
evidently caused by a pistol shot, the bullet, in a'l probability
lodging near the brain. Ho was perfectly unconscious and
had had no power of motion, and the act might have been
committed one or two hours before he was called in. He had
no doubt that death was caused by effusion of blood on the
brain from the wound, and that the deceased committed the
act himself, which appeared, from the direction of the wound,
to have been done with the left hand. In his opinion, from
the marks of blood on the floor, the deceased must have fired
the pistol standing, and then thrown himself on to the bed.
Both pistols had not been discharged, hut, one being un-
screwed, the powder bad dropped out, the bullet remaining
in the barrel.

Mr. Morton, of 26, Sta.nhope-place, surgeon, said he had
known the deceased for sonic years ; he had latterly been suf-
fering from oppression on the chest, which would tend to de-
press the brain and cause mental derangement.
After some further evidence the jury returned a verdict of
" Temporary insanity."

RAILWAY TRAFFIC _RETURNS.

TRA.FFIC RETURNS FOR THE WEEK.