The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-09 00:00:00

THE S UN, LONDON, TUESDAY E VENING, MARCH 9, lE 69.
THE MUTED S7A7ES

THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION PETITION

EBT.

merica
Mr. D'Eyncourt has just given his decision on the appli- 1
(From the Anglo-A--- n Times.)
cation made on behalf of Colonel Dickson, late candidate We have become so accustomed to the careless
for Hackney, for a summons against a solicitor named writing of English papers on American subjects that
Jenkins, for having, by means of corrupt practices, con- it occasioned no surprise to read the article in the
spired to procure the return of Mr. Smith, the Conserve- Times of Tuesday following the telegram from Wash-
tive member for Westminster. A written information, ington, dated Feb. 28 —" The Senate has passed by
signed by Colonel Dickson, was laid before his worship. 3O votes against 16 General SCIIENCK'S Finance Bill
It stated as follows :—" On the 16th of October last, after '
I amended. The bill now declares that all the national
a public meeting in Hackney, for which place I was also a
candidate, I was informed by some of my committee that obligations shall be payable in coin, unless the law
a gentleman had been down that day in the borough for under which they were issued specifies payment in cur-
the purpose of seeing me, as he had sum of money to rency. The bill also legalizes contracts containing
hand over to me—they said some £soo—to assist special provisions for contracts to be made in gold.
me in paying my expenses ; and he wanted to The Senate rejected the article of the bill which
know my address, which they gave him. On the procosed to prohibit the payment of bonds before
;
following morning a gentleman called on me, giving the
maturity, unless currency should have previously
name of Howard. This gentleman told me he had been been rendered convertible into coin at p ar. The
down in Hackney the day before, and that he wanted to :
bill returns to the House of Representatives." Ou
see me, and to know if I would allow myself to be put .
in nomination for another metropolitan borough. I told the next day this was followed by a leader, wherein
him that I thought standing for one was enough at a the subject was thus discussed :--" These views,
time. I asked him what borough lie meant. He at first however, will be. hardly compatible with General
said he would rather tot say, and then said, ' What do you SCIIENCK'S Finance llill ; it contains a stipulation
think about Westminster?' I said, I would not go that the bonds of the United States, though ruled
against our friend, Mr. Mill. lie then said, ' What do to be payable in gold and not in green].) icks,
'should not be paid off at all till greenbacks and
you say about Grosvenor?' I said I should not mind if
it did not hurt Mr. Mill, as I had no love for the gold shall represent equivalent values. It would
Grosvenors, having suffered enough wrong and injustice
by my connection with Lord Wilton. He then said i follow, iu fact, that the whole currency question of
the Union must be successfully settled before
£5OO was at my service if I consented to stand
for Westminster, and £5,000 to pay the expenses payment of the public debt on that footing
if required, and he added, ' Will you think could so much as begin." The writer evidently
about it?' I told him I would, and he said had not read the telegram, which showed that the
a deputation would wait upon me if I would allow them, very clause he had taken as the subject for discus-
I said the following Thursday would suit me best. I said sion had been stricken from the bill by the Senate,
the deputation could meet me at the Adelphi Club, though the intelligence had been published in his
Adelphi-terrace, but he said they bad better meet at my paper of the previous day ; and it was not till Thurs.
house. I asked him his name and address in town. He
said his name was Howard, and that he did not reside in I day that Reuter announced that the Representa-
.
tines did not concur in this amendment, and
London, but had come that morning from Weybridge, tt
where he had been fishing. The whole of this conversation asked for a confereuze, which ended in the dis-
was heard by a gentleman who was present. I appointed puted clause being retained. Nor is the argu
some of my committee to meet at my house on the follow- meat justified by it, for the words " before ma-
ing Thursday (October 22nd). Also Mr. Edmond Beales turity" are overlooked. The Times is much im-
and Mr. Odger. They came on the Thursday, and pressed with the report of Mr. FORD, the British
remained some considerable time, but Mr. Howard Secretary of Legation at Washington, on the
and his deputation never put in an appear- Financial Condition of the United States, vt ho
ance." The information then went on to say that alleges that " The majority of Americans would
Mr. Jenkins accosted the Colonel, and spoke to him
on the same subject on the 2Gth of January. He appear disposed to endure any amount of sacrifice
said Mr. Howard had so styled himself, but that in reality I rather than bequeath a portion of their debt to
he was his (Jenkins's) father. Light now seems to have future generations." This must necessarily, he
beamedon the Colonel. Was not Mr. Jenkins one of Mr. , continues, long constitute America as it is at pre-
Smith's agents? Would it not be fur Mr. Smith's benefit sent one of the dearest places of residence in the
to divide the Liberal party in Westminster ? So Mr. world, and in this the Times agrees. It asserts that
Jenkins was called upon for an explanation of thematter, but however widely President JGHNSON and Secretary
(according to the information) refused to give any, saying, M'CULLOCH may differ, they are of one mind in
"He should deny having had anything to do with the matter." I refusing to recognize the debt of the United States as
Colonel Dickson, however, having first spoken peaceably
'
to him, received the offer of another borough. "Mr. are those of Europe, a permanent burden, adding
i that °G so far as our own observation goes, no Arne-
Jenkins," the information concludes "admitted to Mr.
Cobb that he had sent his father to me under the name of 1 rican statesman has suggested that the country
Howard, and it has been proved on the trial that Mr. should content itself for the present with paying
Thomas Jenkins, also his father, Mr. William Jenkins, interest on its debt, and leave the principal to be
alias Howard, were agents for Mr. Smith. Also that Mr. dealt with in easier times." Now it is because the
William Jenkins, alias Howard, produced a bundle of observation of the Times goes but a very short dis-
bank-notes to my committee. I tance that it makes such an assertion. Indeed had
its observation extended even as far back as last
In giving judgment, Mr. D'Eyncourt said he had been
carefully through the declaration as set forth, and he had summer it would have known that strenuous efforts
quite come to the conclusion that the offence it charged the
were made in Congress by more than one American
party with—supposing it to be an offence —did not come
under the cognizance of the Act (the Act for the Preven-
statesman to lower the rate of interest by very ma-
tion of Bribery and Corruption). lle could not see how I tee ially increasing the period over which the bonds
it could be construed into bribery where a person offers were to run, grounding the calculation on this priu-
money or gives money to a candidate to procure his ciple that the longer the time the lower ought to be
return. Suppose a man having a son a candidate, the semi-annual percentage paid. While recognizing
and he chooses to supply money to that son for his its truth we pointed out that it might go to the ex-
expenses, that could not be termed bribery. The offer of treme of a vanishing point ; for some of the argu-
money in this case was to procure his (the Colonel's) own meats used would have reduced it to this absurdity,
return. He (the learned counsel) says the offer of money
was to procure the return of Mr. Smith. He could not that by making the debt permanent the interest
whether it was a case that came within the intention
say should cease altogether. IVe believe the financiers
of the Act. He did not think the Act contemplated iof the United States to aim at raising the national
such a case as this. Then as to conspiracy and mis- credit till the Federal Bonds go above par in gold,
demeanour, there was not sufficient evidence for him with the object of pursuing the system adopted by
to grant summonses for these, He declined granting' Great Britain in paying the holders of the Six per
the summonses. Cents. off who will not take Five per Cent. Bonds on
Mr. Littler : I wish to say that the imputations against a longer term, and eventually reduce the Five per
Colonel Dickson have been disproved. Cents. to Four as the debt diminishes and the credit
Mr. D'Enycourt considered he was clear of all impute-
COD. of the country rises to what it ought to be. These
-- -

After thanking his worship for his trouble, all parties
left the court

English Conjectures as to what Americans are going
to do are grounded on the false supposition that they

will do what no other people would do, something
eccentric, opposed to reason, and founded on spread-
eagle sentiment. This is farcically enough asso-
ciated with a firm belief in the shrewdness and in-
telligence of the people. If they be shrewd and in-
telligent js it not reasonahle to conjecture that they
will act an intelligent part, which many in Europe
seem to doubt; though why can be easily explained.
As a rule those who write thus are ignorant of the
re 11 bearings of the Tiestion ; arguing from false pre-
mises they arrive at erroneous conclusions, while filled
with the happy conceit that they are showing an
obstinate and vain people the way they ought to
knowing the road better, go
go—who, however,
another way, and are pronounced to be eccentric.
When the circumstances are really understood in Eu-
: rope, and the argument is just, they suppose the course
they indicate will be avoided, as the people are thought,
like Irish pigs, to insist on taking the wrong road ;
and perhaps they consider it ‘c pure cussedness" when
they see then on the track pointed out. No coun-
try so rapidly grows as the United States, and the
heavy burden of to-day will be the light load of
to-morrow. If it be wise to leave the debt till the re-
sources of the country enable the citizens with
ease to expunge it, that most likely will be the
course pursued ,however strong maybe the sentimental
objection to saddling posterity with such a load. The
system of taxation has lately been modified in ac-
cordance with this policy, and a vast proportion of
the Internal Revenue imposts removed. The Times
is mistaken in considering the public expenditure
to be growing like that of England in all directions.
While granting that it is four times the sum re-
quired before the Civil War, the reductions in all
departments have been very large within the last
fiscal year, and although it may be necessary to in-
crease the salaries of the Civil servants, in view of
the important interests now confided to their care,
and the immense advance in the cost of living, yet
the most vigorous efforts at retrenchment have been
and are being made. It will not do for the country
to continue as the most expensive on earth, for two
injurious effects will quickly follow; the one that
families with realized means will leave it to reside
in Europe, just as English families did when Eng-
land as the dearest of lands, contrasted strikingly
with the cheap living of the continent ; the other
that it must deter immigration, causing an exodus
of employers, and checking an influx of the em-
ployed. America has no right to be an expensive
country, nor will this artificial state long con-
tinue. Why should the land of corn and meat
be the dearest? Why should the land of cotton and
sugar, rice and tobacco, bacon and eggs, be the most
costly to dwell in ? Why should the birth-place of
invention and the home of contrivance, where forests
spread in their primeval growth, and prairies stretch
in boundless extent, the one giving the material for
houses, the other the supply of the larder, be the
dearest of countries ? Ought the neighbourhood
of a river swarming with fish, and a lake covered
with wild fowl, to be expensive as a place of resi-
dence ? The fact is, that society in America has
not yet settled down from the artificial state created
by the war, and prices are maintained, it is asserted,
and with good reason, as we showed last week —by
speculators. The Times may make itself easy about
the course likely to be pursued by America with
regard to the future payment of the debt; but as
yet it is too great and new a subject to have
been so thoroughly discussed and considered as
to enable the people to make up their minds.
If they were as averse to a permanent debt, as
the Times and Mr. FORD appear to think, some of
the individual States would be less ready to raise
loans and more anxious to pay them ; and although
the Union might feel under the unaccustomed
burden, like the head of a family suddenly con-
fronted with an unexpected liability, a yearning
desire to get quit of it, yet the Republic is no
more likely to damage its estate than would the in-
dividual blindly to sell off at any sacrifice to lid
himself of an encumbrance out of which his pro-
perty would grow if only carefully managed. We
hold to the belief we have always expressed, that
the United States will, when able, fund the debt at
a reduced interest for an increased term, the main
object of the people being to get back to a less
costly rate of living, when the States will again be-
come, as they not long ago were, the cheapest
instead of the dearest place of residence in the
world.

A new paper is to be started in Chicago, entitled
The British Mail. It will ho wade wp of clippinge from
English journals.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

THE OPPOSITION AND THE BIW..

nob see why the _Lme onuren should be =lea to
gyre up, perhaps, L 150,000, which it had employed
towards the education of the country, without receiv-
ing any compensation. It seemed to be a matter for
general congratulation that the Duke of Argyll, a
Scotsman, who proved by his speech that he well
understood the Scotch system, was to have the
conduct of the bill.

The rumours are that the Government will have a
majority of from 100 to 120 on the second reading
of the Irish Church Bill. There is some hope among
the Conservatives that they will materially reduce
this in committee. They mean to make a strong attack
upon the proposed compensation to Maynooth,
they say, is a violation of Mr. Gladstone's promise.
The money is given really, not to establish,
but to disestablish Maynooth; and if compensation is
not given out of the Irish Church surplus fund, it
must be paid out of the consolidated fund, an
arrangement which English and Scotch and Welsh
taxpayers will scarcely approve. It is hoped by the
Ministerialists that the bill will reach the Lords by
June 1. At present the Lords have not yet
determined what course they will take. They wait
in the hope that the Commons will insist upon amend-
ments which Mr. Gladstone will not be able to
accept.

The Standard is admitting correspondence to its
columns in which the religious question, the con-
science clause, &c., are being discussed, in some respects
unfavourably to the measure. Virtually, however,
we believe a conscience clause is not needed for
North Britain, as it is carried out under the present
system.

The Dublin correspondent of tile Times notes, with
some surprise, that although the Ministerial scheme
has been made known, "no general movement has
been made on the part of those who are deeply inte-
rested in the maintenance of the Established Church."
The opposition journals are, indeed, full of letters,
written in the strongest possible language. Yet
nothing is being done, and the only practical
measure suggested is to hold prayer-meetings.
A declaration against the Government mea-
sure is being promoted by the Protestant
Defence Association, and is signed by forty-two
noblemen and some M.P.'s. The Dublin Mail, the
organ of the Orange party, apologises for the present
inaction, and draws from
.the rejection of Mr. Faw-
cett's Election Expenses Bill a faint hope that the
Irish Church Bill may be rejected by the present
Parliament. As the Government have resolved to
devote the Church funds to a religious purpose,
and there is, therefore, no opportunity for raising the
cry of sacrilege, the mot d'ordre of the Opposition is to
complain that too large a sum is to be given to
Maynooth.