The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-01 00:00:00

-, --- —_—____—
SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOUBNA.LS. TEE ST.RLE.E AT PRESTON.
The Times observes that the improvement-in the revenue !
There was another numerously-attended meeting of the
in the quarter just closed is a fact to be remembered in
masters, on Wednesday, the object being to discuss the
making provision for the year just beginning. But it
" situation," and consider the measures requisite for pro.
must be observed that the future thus foreshadowed testing the interests of the trade in the present crisis. The
depends upon three circumstances, one of which, we are various statements put fcrth since the last meeting were
told on authority, is very uncertain. The first is the mentioned, the embarrassing condition of the cotton trade
maintenance of the elasticity the revenue has exhibited was commented upon, and the inability of working to a
during the last three months. The state of trade does profit at the present 'price of the raw material and labour
not justify any sanguine prediction that this elasticity was referred to. No disposition to deviate from their
will endure, and, perhaps, points the other way, original proposal—a reduction of 10 per cent—was shewn
but we incline to the opinion that it may on the whole be i by the masters ; such a change in remuneration as
trusted to continue. The second circumstance is freedom
1 it will necessitate was deemed essential ; and the meet-
from any further extraordinary expenditure for some time ing eventually broke up with a firm conviction
to come, an exemption we can never rely upon when the ' that the step which the manufacturers had taken was a
extent and multiplicity of our national interests are con- right one. It seems to be now certain, unless a compro-
sidered. The last circumstance is the absence of any mist is come to in the meantime, that in a week from now
further calls from India in respect of Abyssinian expendi- ' the operatives employed in between twenty and thirty of
ture, and, while this is the most doubtful element of the the mills in Preston will be out on strilce.l! A meeting of
three, it is the one which may be most quickly resolved, the Preston Amalgamated Trades' Council was also con-
Should Mr. Lowe be able to inform the House next versed to consider the letter received from Mr. Mundella,
Thursday that he is free from future claims, his first M.P. A large number of operatives in Preston belong to
Budget may be launched under happier auspices than any the militia regiment, which annually assembles in the
of us have dared to hope. : town at this time of the year ; and for several weeks from
The Daily News considers that the revenue return for the present the funds of the trades union will be consider-
the quarter is very similar to its predecessor. There is an ably relieved by their absence. Deputies sent from Preston
increase of about the same amount en most of the prin. into different parts of the country report favourably as
ci Dal heads of receipt ; and in the Customs, where there is to the support they have received for the operatives on
a decrease, the amount is rather leas than it was in the strike.
previous quarter. Altogether the net increase is 2731,000,
but this includes two items-2204,000 of property tax and
£179,000 miscellaneous—which cannot fairly be reckoned i
A curious system of robbery, which is said to have
when the revenue is taken as an indication of the national
resulted in the loss of £50,000 to a well-known
progress. The miscellaneous always fluctuates, and the
company of great wealth and longstanding in the City,
rates and collection of the property tax have for the periods
has just been discovered, and a reward of £2OO has been
in question been somewhat irregular. Deducting these'
offered for the apprehension of a gentleman suspected
two sums there is a net increase of £410,000, which '
and ,of being concerned in the affair. The suspected party,
may be properly considered a sign of elasticity,
a Mr. Benjamin Higgs, was assistant book-keeper, and
the amount is large enough, after the returns to which
he occupied a confidential position at the office of t.).•
;we have been lately accustomed, to justify a good deal
of satisfaction. Actually there is a gross increase of Great Central Gas Company, his salary being £lBO a yeat.
Ile lately informed some of his City business friends that
£-.172,000, N iz., Excise, £248,000 ; stamps, £44,000 ; taxes,
£17,000 ; Post Office, £lOO,OOO ; and Crown lands, £l,OOO. he had married a ward in Chancery, whose wealth was so
The disagreeable feature is the want of response in the great that he did not exactly know what it amounted
Customs, which seduces this gross sum by 262,000 ; but to. lie took to living in style, and ordered a mansion
to be built for himse?: at a cost of £12,500. The
the Customs do not so readily indicate the beginning of
site fixed upon was near Richmond. There was some
improvement as the Excise, and we may rest satisfied
with the diminution in the amount of the falling-off. The land near the house, which he wanted for pleasure grounds,
account for the whole year is by no means so satisfactory. and he bought the freehold of it for £3OO an acre. He had
The iron railings put round a meadow at a cost of £1,500. The
unfavourable returns of the first two quarters of the
house, when completed, was beautifully furnished. The
year are far from being wholly recovered. While there is
an apparent gross increase of £3,555,000, and a net in. gentleman used to give sumptuous dinner parties,
crease of £2,991,000, we find that this is more than accounted and he introduced his guests to his wife and
two daughters. Some of his guests were aware
for by the increase of i 2,441,000 on the property tax,
due of the amount of his salary, but he told them that
to the higher rate and the arrears left of the
he was one of the largest shareholders of the corn-
previous year, and of £769,000 in the miscellaneous.
Looking at the ordinary branches of revenue only they;pany, and that he merely remained in the inferior posi-
is a decrease of £226,000 in the Customs, £323,000 i: tion in which he was so that he might be able to see that
,stamps, and D 5 OCO in taxes—total, £564,000 ; and an he was not robbed. Everything went on well for
carriedath extensivee
u len on,tllay and
increase of 2300,tm
e, in the Excise, £30,000 in the Post him until a few days ago, when the books were inspected.
office,, and £ls,ouu in Crown Lands—total, £345,000;
It was
eroyf the andoothena
ern
anddiscovered money
had
ey
hadad i
s been
b
t
ratehda,
upon
nu
oa fi anr
fraudulently
l
spewing a net falling off of £219,000 for the year. The
fattached
a sumytthat
as cthsl system
thestolen
et°
nof
panic of 1866 by the depression it caused has told most
heavily on the year just past. It is only now we have a documents,oe
falling off on the whole financial year. In the year pre. is said to be £50,000. The clerk has fled, but warrant
vious there was a real expansion of somewhere about has been issued for his apprehension, and a reward offered.
£BOO,OOO. It may be hoped, however, that as the tide has He is know to have had a large sum with him when he
begun to turn, we have seen the worst of the crisis, and absconded.
that every quarter of next year. and the whole year, will
chew a continuous improvement.

ROBBERY OF £50,000 IN THE CITY.

EMBEZZLEMENT OF £B,OOO BY A
SECRETARY.

The Telegraph says the unpleasant ciicumstance about
the reduction in Customs revenue is, that all articles of
luxury have gone less into consumption recently. Our At the Salford Hundred County Police-court, on Tues.
people have consumed less tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, day, Henry Jackson, secretary to the Astley and Tyldesley
spirits, wine, and even fruit, within the last few months, Coal and Salt Company, whose defalcations are alleged to
and the revenue tables chew the effect. No circumstance exceed -08,000, was brought up on remand on charges
could more painfully testify to the hampered and lessened of forgery and embezzlement. The principal wit-
ness, Mr. John Adamson, accountant, Manchester, and
means of our great consuming middle class. But the
resulted disclosed has another aspect. It is impossible auditor to the company, stated that the prisoner, in his
capacity as secretary, bad the charge of the cash. In the
to doubt that, in the present circumstances of that
month of February last witness went over to Tyldesley,
portion of the community which is exposed to the full
incidence of direct taxation, every addition to the where he saw the prisoner, and asked him to produce his
income tax provokes a corresponding retrench-
balance sheet. That document, in the prisoner's hand-
it inff, was given to him, and represented a balance of
ment in personal expenditure. Even in times of prosperity
wr£12,839 12s. 6d. as being the amount due to the bank.
we should expect such a result ; when times are bad it is Under date of December 5, he found in the rough cash
inevitable. The ability to bear burdens is then in the
book an entry of £950 for " bank sundries," and on
aggregate much smaller, and the inducements to lessen
the 22nd of December an entry to the same bank of
the infliction are proportionately stronger. It is to be
£1,393 ; hut upon examination it was found in the cash
hoped that Mr. Lowe will bear this consideration in mind
book the latter amount had only been £393. On the 31st
when he arranges his financial proposals for the year, and
of the same month there was another entry in
will endeavour, by retrenchment, reduction, or postpone-
the rough cash book of the item " bank sundries " £1,512,
ments, to avoid laying a heavier weight on that portion of
the communit which is too honest to evade the tax-
and here again the Jriginal sum appeared only to have
y
gatherer—but which will, nevertheless, unquestionably been £512. In this way the prisoner was charged with
stint in one direction if over-pressed in another. The having in all forged a pass book to the extent of nearly
£l,OOO. Four charges of embezzlement were also preferred
income tax, though obnoxious and unpopular in the
against the prisoner, but it being proved that there
highest degree, is an efficient financial screw ; but an
excessive application of it ms.y in some measure defeat the were entries of his having received the cheques in
each case in his pass book, the sitting magistrates decided
end sought by its operation.
that as the essence of embezzlement was " non-account-
The Star says that it is not very pleasant to contem- ing," and that as in this case the prisoner had in reality
slate the predicament in which we find ourselves placed. accounted for the cheques, this part of the case could not
.Apparently, after borrowing £1,000,000 from the Bank, be sustained. The prisoner was committed for trial on
--we have absolutely less money in the Exchequer than the the other charges.
demands coming due by £1,845,918. To expect any
lightening of the intolerable burden of taxation is in such
circumstances hopeless. We shall be fortunate indeed if
we escape an additional 3d. of income tax, which, most
unfortunately, would just provide for the deficiency. The A LIBEL CASE.— At Leeds, on Wednesday, an action
was brought by Mr. Dunning, surveys r for theborough of
temptation to use this ready instrument of adjustment
will be almost irresistible. Middlesborough, against the editor of the Middlesborough
News, for a libel. The article complained of severely
The Standard thinks it has been proved to demonstras
censured Mr. Dunning's appointment as surveyor, which
Lion that Mr. Gladstone's scheme for dealing with bray. censured
it declared him to be quite incompetent to fill on
tooth College involves not only a flagrant injustice to the
account of his multifarious occupations as ironmaster,
Irish Church, but a distinct breach of faith. In regard to
manager of gasworks, and agent for the Middlesborough
the first, the building charge on its fabric is remitted,
while the enormous debt of nearly a quarter of a million Estate. No witnesses were called on either side, and the
on the glebe-houses of the Irish Church is exacted to the jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff—damages 40s.
last farthing. Moreover, care is taken in the case of the ELECTION RIOTS.—At Monmouth several persons have
been tried for taking part in election riots at Aberyschan
Irish Church that the money compensation may be
and Blaenavon. The, greater part of them were found
exhausted in the payment of life interests, while by the
°nay, and sentence was deferred.
plan of commutation adopted in the case of Maynooth,
the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church are placed WILFUL MISCHIU.—On Wednesday, at the Dover
Sessions, Mr. Tait and Mr. Duncombe Shafto were
in possession of a sum with which they can purchase an
charged with maliciously destroying the fittings of
endowment of at least £12,000 a year, although, as
a first-class carriage on the South-Eastern Railway.
a correspondent recently pointed out to us, it would he During the journey from Charing-cross to Dover these
the easiest thing in the world for them to realise
£40,000 a year out of it. The injustice of this is flagrant two gentlemen amused themselves by throwing thecushions, blinds, carpets, &c., out of the window, and
and patent ; that it constitutes a gross breach of
cutting the cloth and padding of the seats. Doubts
faith is scarcely less obvious. Mr. Gladstone declared
were raised as to the jurisdiction of the court; and
over and over again in the course of his campaign in South- the recorder concurred in the view of the counsel,
west Lancashire, that, in abolishing the Maynooth Grant, and no bill was sent to the grand jury. The recognisances
as a consequence of sequestrating the revenues of the of the accused were not discharged, as it was understood
Irish Church, he would not sanction any proposal for that the South-Eastern Company would prefer the chargs
banding over any portion of those revenues to the Roman against them at the approaching assizes.
Catholic Church. In the preamble of the bill he lays it ASSAULT IN THE HUNTING FIELD.—At the Barnsley
down as tl e very basis upon which he asks Parliament to Police-court, on Wednesday, a case was tried which excites
legislate, that, while it is expedient that the Church should much interest among sportsmen. It appeared that on the
be disestablished, its property "must be applied to the 20th ult., while the Badsworth hounds were chasing a fox
advantage of the Irish people, and not fox the maintenance near Barnsley, a farmer, named Newsome, came up to
of the Church or clergy of any other persuasion, nor for the horsemen with a poleaxe, and aimed a blow at one of
the teaching of any religion." We do not hesitate to say them, which fortunately missed its object, but struck his
that the proposed transfer to the authorities of May.
horse, wounding it severely. Two gentlemen who were
nooth of a capital sum, convertible into a permanent present gave evidence, and the defendant was fined £3 and
annuity of at least £12,000, is a distinct violation of these
public and formal engagements. In fact, the bill does that the expenses. The assault was not committed in the
which its preamble says must not he done, and which Mr. farmer's own field but in one adjoining his land.
Comic SINGERS.—At the Sheffield Town Hall, Cleorge
Gladstone himself declared never should be done. And
,ur sense of this faithless conduct is none the less acute Leybourne, the well-known comic singer, appeared to
answer a charge of assault preferred against him by
another comic singer, named Fancourt. The affair was
more comic than tragic in its nature, the disputants
having been friends until Mr. Fe.acourt took
offence at something his friend and rival said
of him. He challenged him to fight, a challenge
which Leybourne accepted, seemingly in jest, and the
bench fined him ls. and 9s. costs. The fine did not appear
to give much concern to the defendant, who handed in
two sovereigns, requesting that the change might go to
the poor-box,

LAW AND POLICE.

when we consider the motive by which it was instigated.
The Post declares that the poor have a great many
claims to consideration, and an undoubted right equally
with the well-to-do classes to beneficial legislation, but it
cannot admit that they have an exclusive claim to the
title of the People of England, notwithstanding the inter.
pretation which Mr. Morley has attempted to affix to the
phrase in his speech at Blackburn. " In my opinion,"
said Mr. Morley, "the poor are the people of England,
just as when we speak of the army we mean the rank and
file." It must he owned that the new nonsense
of extreme Liberals is to the full as absurd,
and certainly quite as likely to be mischievous,
as the antiquated nonsense of the old ultra • Tories.
The doctrine of the divine right of kings, and the
classification of the working men by the noblesse of the
French ancien regime as canaille, were not a whit more
extravagant than the theories of national organisation
which there seems a disposition to put forward just now,
in which it is claimed that there shall be a despotism of
numbers, and that the sole functions and only rights of
the rich shall consist in their carrying on their backs the
burdens of the poor. Mr. Morley appears to think that
the result of his ideas put in action would be the removal
of poverty from the face of the land. People more
practical and less fanatical will probably come to
the conclusion that Morle:yism thoroughly carried
out would lead no further than to the destruc-
tion of property, while men of military knowledge
might tell the propagandist of these new interpretations
that an army constituted of only rank and file would cer.
thinly be squandered the first time it ways brought into
prey see with a iiifficulty. That there are poor, or, in
other werds, that there is " a People," is iu Mr. Morley's
opinion- caused by the fact that there is a Government
administered by property.. L.t i.t•le is tkhands of tlr:te
Who-li.vdnone, an& irkead of .the wearing of broadcloth
aeci(lent, it-Will become a universal practice. In

In a suburban church near Birmingham, a
Sunday or two ago, the clergyman in charge preached
a sermon so thoughtful and eloquent, and so much above
the preacher's ordinary level, as to attract general atten•
tion from the congregation. One of the hearers, however,
fancied that the discourse was not unfamiliar to him ; and
being of an inquiring turn of mind, he hunted it up, and
found it, in print—one of a series of essays contributed
by Mr. R. W. Dale to Dr. Macleod's magazine, Good
Words.

ANARCHY IN A MERLCA.—Outrages of all kinds
continue to be perpetrated in Georgia. A Kuklux editor
denounces a Unionist doctor as a coward and liar
for having blackballed him at a Unionist club, where-
upon the doctor takes his trusty rifle, and waits in his
own room till the editor passes his window, when he kills
him by a " pot shot:" The sheriff locks the doctor up, but
the Kuklux arrive in the night and break open the gaol,
and take the doctor out and riddle him with balls. Other
Kuklux operatione are negro floggings and ravishing's,
by the dozen all over the State: The t',o*er
the State Legislature pe.30,1 tb t;Ota:,titutional amend-
merit, with the vivW, fts one of the minority said,
to "gire butler a dose of nigger suffrage in Mas-
sa: ugetts ;" I,,it in the Senate this consideration
was not deemed saff,c2:ently powerful, anal the amend-
ment was. rejected. The combined refusal of both branches
to win& the negro members has led the Comniittee of the
United States Senate to "report "a bill providing for the
restoration of military rule in Georgia ; but the committee
are unable to agree in their recommendation about it, and
it is very doubtful whether it will pass, or, if it does pass,
in what precise shape. The whole affair is a very disagree-
able one to deal with, and yet something must be done to
restore order. The country is expecting great things from
Grant, but Congress has nut left.him men enough in the
army to do anything with the strong banA.A.4ktin
Texas get W4IS*4

.e ;pt, Englar I will, if these ideas are well promulgated
and thoroughly enforced, become a perfect Jack Cade's El
Dorado,and the fountains in Trafalgar-square will flew
with champagne and claret.

The Bwv Post London correspondent states that
when Mi.- Bright, in the Irish Church debate, predicted
that the fall of the Establishment would dispose Irish
Catholics to Protestantism, Dean Stanley nudged
bishop blArnitig, who Sat with h4ai_an4 kojil 4uglied