The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, UESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1‘,269.

urged, and very likely will be by the opponents of
the measure, that this was not a regular affair, and
that we cannot judge from this fancy undertaking,
but the principle is the same, and the experience of
Friday and Saturday can be cited as an illustration of
the expediency of the matter. When we find that
more than eleven thousand persons took an active
part in the affair, and that so great an undertaking
was accomplished with no noise, disturbance or ob-
struction, surely we have a lesson before us that he
who runs may read. Those who have no faith in the
lower orders, and those who look upon the arena
of political strife with a cynical air, or a scornful in-
terpretation, may understand that it is not the
fault of the voters themselves, if elements of dis-
order are rife during the election contests ; but
of those who interfere with them for their own
purpose, and draw into the struggle the unruly
spirits who have really no call to mix in the affairs
at all. These disturbing elements were not visible
at Manchester, nor need their sinister influences pre-
vail in any election where the ballot is tried. Men
will then find their attention directed to the real
object before them, and instead of wondering which
side will come down most handsomely, or worrying
over the probable cost of an independent vote, will
only have to dwell upon the merits of the rival can-
didates, and thus think of the substance instead of
the shadow. It has been the last argument
that the opponents of the Ballot could
find to employ against it that it was un-English ;
but really if it were an importation from another land
that should be no reason against employing it if it
answered our purpose and served to rectify our
errors. Are we, then, to conclude that rioting,
bribery, and false-swearing are particularly our pos-
sessions ? Are they indigenous to our soil, because if
so our political harvest is not likely to be a pleasant
or a profitable one. At any rate, it is a satisfaction
to know that the Ballot has been tried to a certain
extent, and that it has not been found wanting. Man-
chester may lay claim to the merit of appreciating its
advantages and of having inaugurated its career. The
working of the new Bribery Act has already gone
far to disenchant many votaries of the old system, and
when a Conservative Government has introduced so
sweeping a measure of reform to remedy old abusep,
the least that the Liberal majority can do on their
part is to complete the work by giving the electors
the Ballot. If they hesitate much longer they will
find that they have lost the chance of being famous,
and that the country will owe this great electoral
change like the repeal of the Corn Laws and the Re-
form Bill itself to the foresight and determination of
their opponents. Meanwhile both sides may learn a
lesson from Manchester, where the Ballot has come
safely through the ordeal that was preparA for it.

Fon some time past the managers of election mat-
ters at the Reform Club have been casting about for
a seat in which to place the new Postmaster-General,
the Marquis of HARTINGTON, who was defeated in
North Lancashire at the general election. At last
Mr. RICHARD GREEN PRICE, the unknown successor
of a very distinguished man, has been induced to re-
sign his seat for Radnor boroughs. Mr. PRICE was
first elected in April 1863, on the death of Sir G. C.
LEWIS, but has not, we believe, ever opened his
mouth in Parliament. Resignation can scarcely,
therefore, be a very serious sacrifice to him, and
though he may miss the " Rich Men's Club,"
he will no doubt get the usual reward for
his self-abnegation, the reward which was given
to Mr. RICH when he left Richmond in order to make
room for Sir ROUNDELL PALMER, and which was
given to Mr. HUMPHREY when he left Andover to
make room"for Sir JOHN KARSLAKE—a baronetcy,
to wit. Radnor district has before now been an
asylum for a rejected statesman, for when Sir
GEORGE LEWIS was defeated in Herefordshire, he
eromod the bord pr and go* rot urnod for t o
Welsh constituency. Lord HARTINGTON willl
be the first Postmaster - General who has
sat in the House of Commons. He is enabled to do
this by reason of Mr. DARBY GRIFFITH'S Act.
Lamentable to relate, that hon. gentleman will not
be present to witness the practical results of this his
sole achievement in legislation. We ought to add
that Lord HARTINGTON is threatened with oppo-
sition. Mr. G. PHILLIPS, a Conservative, is announced
as a candidate. We imagine that the opposition is
scarcely more serious than that which was offered to
Mr. PRICE in November by Mr. HAIG, who did not
go to the poll.

THE sovereigns of Europe would do the British
nation a real kindness if they were to seize every
English paper published yesterday. Our reputation
as a commercial people had already fallen low
enough, but the proceedings before the LORD MAYOR
i on Saturday, in the case of OVEREND, GURNEY, and
Co., shew that there is a lower depth of disgrace,
and that this depth has been sounded. Concerning the
defendants in this case we have nothing to say to-day.
' Their conduct is still sub judged. A few hours will
reveal if the chief magistrate of the City takes the
same view of the proceedings which have been
I revealed to him that is taken by the world generally.
There is no need to withhold our comments upon the
conduct of another actor in this miserable drama.
He is not under prosecution. his transactions are
recorded by himself. They are some of the most
extraordinary ever revealed in a court of justice.
Mr. EDWARD WATKIN EDWARDS is an official
assignee in the Court of Bankruptcy, and has held
that post for many years. While holding it (in
November 1862) he entered into an agreement with
Messrs. OVEREND, GURNEY, and Co., by which he
was to give them advice and assistance for five years,
at a salary of £.5,000 a year. In other words, Mr.
EnwArns, being a public officer, paid for looking
after the public interests, engaged himself as confi-
dential adviser to a commercial firm at a very large
salary. It is obvious that Mr. EDWARDS, being paid
by the public for his services, had no right to offer
them to any private persons. It is also obvious that
a man holding such a position as that of official
assignee would acquire an amount and a kind of infor-
mation very valuable to a house like OVEREND and
GURNEY'S. It is equally obvious that to impart such
information would be a gross breach of confidence.
It does not appear if this information
was given. Whether it was given or not,
Mr. EDWARDS is not the less open to the
severest censure for having placed himself in a posi-
tion so compromising and so suspicious. At the
time that he made the arrangements with OVEREND
and GURNEY he was secretly advancing money to one
of the partners, Mr. CHAP MAN, in whose hand-
writing, by the way, the agreement was drawn up.
That is to say, this official assignee was lending money
privately to a member of the firm to whom he had hired
himself, the amount of the loan, significantly enough,
being one year's salary. What Mr. CHAPMAN'S
partners would have said to this arrangement if they
had known it we will not undertake to say. We
scarcely think that they would have been content to
give Mr. Enwanns S:5,000 a year on the tacit under-
, standing that one year's salary should be " advanced"
to one of the firm. At present the transaction
looks as though this were the commiss ion paid to
Mr. CITAPMAN by Mr. EDWARDS for getng him the
post of con2ljential adviser. If we misinter-
pret the arrangement the fault is not ours,
but theirs who placed themselves in a posi-
tion so equivocal. The matter becomes worse when
we examine into the amount actually plid. The
agreement was to commence on January. 1803 ; at
the end of 1804 Mr, EDWARDS received IL's come.
having been already paid for the first year. Never-
theless, £20,000 was plz wed to his credit in the t books
of the firm, and this aviount was transferred to the
unfortunate limited liability company, and was paid
by them. It must be admitted that :Nil. EDWARDS
was amply requited for his generosity zn " lending "

5,600 to his " vey intimate " friend of ten years
standing.
It is interesting b examine the services rendered
by Mr. EDWARDS br this handsome salary. He
" advised " them vith regard to the Milwall Iron
Works, and that company ran into debt to the
amount of £570,(00, whereof nothing has been
recovered. He " advised " them with regard to the
Atlantic Mail Compmy. He was well qualified to give
advice—in the interests of the Company—for he was
a director, and bemg, of course, unable to serve
two masters, mach his choice, the result of
which was that the Atlantic Company became
indebted to OVEREND and GURNEY to the modest
sum of £839,000, of which the liquidators have some
hope of recovering £3,000. It is not astonishing
that Mr. BIRKBECE, finding the retainer of £5,000
a year had led tD this unprofitable transaction,
scolded Mr. EDWARDS in "rather coarse" terms. Mr.
EDWARDS further " advised" his employers with
respect to STEPHANOS XENOS and the Greek and
Oriental Steam Shipping Company, with a resulting
loss of £144,000, after crediting Mr. XENOS with the
"nominal" value of his ships. Mr. EDWARDS also " ad-
vised " OVEREND and GURNEY respecting the follow-
ing very hopeful firms :—ZACHARY PEARSON, of Hull,
whose bankruptcy was at the time one of the events
of the day—it would be thought a small matter in
these more rapid times ; the Austrian Bank, in which
Mr. ROEBUCK burnt his fingers ; Mr. JOIIN SCOTT
RUSSELL, the shipbuilder; concerning whom his
brother engineers have expressed an opinion not
altogether favourable ; Mr. C. J. MARE, the bank-
rupt shipbuilder and unseated member for Ply-
mouth ; Mr. Howann, who had to be " discharged"
from his debt of £321,000 ; the East India and
London Shipping Company, whose debt, only a
bagatelle of £27,000, had to be "written off."
Finally, there were all those concerns in which Mr.
JOHN ORRELL LEVER, once 11.1. P., lately bankrupt,
was concerned, and of which it is sufficient to say
that he was concerned in them. In these
last matters Mr. ERWARDs shewed himself
a man of many parts. He was acting, as we have
seen, for OVEREND and GURNEY; he was also a
partner in the firm of accountants which inspected
Mr. LEVER'S accounts; he-was also umpire in au arbi-
tration arising out of those accounts. But the
crowning feat of all was that Mr. EDWARDS, while
the interests of O« REND, GURNEY, and Co., received
receiving £5,000 a year to " advise " and act in
£2,000 from Mr. ZACHARY PEARSON for selling his
ships to that firm ; and there is reason to believe—
at least Mr. EDWARDS will not deny it—that he
received £,45,1300 from the Milwall Iron Works for
inducing his employers to advance £.510,000,
which they were never to get back. Comment
upon such a case as this is needless.
We can only condole with the defend-
ants, in that having made an agreement with
a public official of a very questionable kind, it should
have turned out so disastrous to them. As for Mr.
EDWARDS, we presume that his achievements will
shortly receive the attention of the LORD CHAN-
CELLOR.

LATEST INTELL LGENCE.

(aEurER'S TELEGRAMS.)

POLITICAL NOTES.

The London correspondent of the Birminghant Post gives
some interesting items of political news. He mentions a
rumour that Mr. Childers is about to show that ho is really
in earnest as to the reductions, by an act of self-sacrifice that
will save the country some thousands a year. The First Lord
has an officsal residence at the Admiralty. The situation is
central, and handy to the other Government offices and the
Houses of Parliament. This residence, it is stated,
he is about to give up. Should Mr. Childers give
up his official residence there will bo nothing to
preyent the concentration of all the Admiralty Civil
Service Departments—many of which aro now at
Somerset House—at Whitehall. Every successive First
Lord has admitted the importance of transferring
the offices and clerks of the Accountant-General of
the Navy from Somerset House to the Admiralty, but no one
has had the self- denial to give up the official residence. The
evening receptions will, of course, be at an end, but no one
can pretend they were necessary to the performance of the
First Lord's official duties. For the morning lev4es there is
a good deal !Jere to be raid. They were turn to good ac-
count both by the Duke of Somerset and Sir J. Packiugton,
who by this means kept up a knowledge of the personnel of the
navy.—The same correspondent confirms the announcement
that the Government does not intend to build a new House of
Commons, but the Peers are to be Wined out to make room
for the "representatives of the people.”—Mr. Lowe is not
quite over his troubles about the Abyssinian bills. It
will bo remembered that twice ono evening, when
every one who took the trouble to consider the
matter, was satisfied that Mr. Hunt's estimates would
be exceeded, Mr. Visraeli got up, and declared that
he had no reason to suppose that such an event would
take place. The estimate was five millions, if the war
ended in May. The war ended on the 17th of April,
when Magdala was burnt, and the army immediately
afterwards started on its return home. The expedition
has already cost eight millions, and there are some bills still
to come in. It is also rumoured that the late Government
spent a million of money in 1868 in excess of the sum voted
by Parliament. No reduction of the i❑come tax seems to
be possible for another year yet to come.

The petitions against Mr. Denis O'Conor, M.P.
(L.), and Sir R. G. Booth, M.P. (C.), the sitting members
for the county of Sligo, have both been withdrawn.
Sir Bernard Burke tells us, in his " Vicissitudes
of Families," that of the twenty-five barons who were
appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Charta,
there is not now in the House of Peers a single male
descendant. •

Le Figaro of Monday says that " the Siamese
twins are in correspondence with the famous Paris surgeon,
Nelaton, who, contrary to the,opinion of their Edinburgh
advisers, regards an operation for their severance as very
possible."

A committee, of which Lord Northbrook is
president and Generals Lefroy and Simmons and Colonel
Jervois are members, has been appointed, and is now
engaged at the War Office considering various points con-
nected with the proposed adoption of the 14Ioncrieff system
of working heavy artillery. -
ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.—The only lunar eclipse
visible in this country in the present year will occur
during this night (Wednesday). The moon will enter the
earth's dark shadow, at a point 50 deg. from the northern-
most point of her limb towards the east, twenty-nine
minutes after midnight. The middle of the eclipse will
occur at 1.3 S a.m. on Thursday, and the last contact with
the shadow at 2.47 a.m. At greatest eclipse 45-100ths of
the moon's diameter will be immersed in the shadow on
the upper part of her disc.

On Saturday morning the Royal Mail steamer
Prince Alfred, of the North Lancashire Steam Company,
was totally wrecked off the Isle of Man. She left Fleet-
wood on Friday night, and on the next morning,
owing to the dense fog, she came violently
into collision with a rock on Manghold Head,
fifteen miles out of her course. All On board were saved,
and that part of the cargo which was on the upper decks
was secured. The rest went down with the steamer in
twenty fathoms of water. The vessel was insured, but
not the cargo.

The curd of Labroze, in the department of the
Pas-de-Calais, France, has just been tried for vagabondage
and mendicity. He abandoned his flock, and ran off with
hie servant, a woman of 36, and the two, after various
vicissitudes, were compelled to beg for bread. The curd
addressed himself to a Dutch Protestant, stating
his intention of embracing the Protestant faith, and of
thus enabling himself to marry his companion. Priests
cannot marry under the Catholic law. The Dutchman's
suspicions were aroused, and he gave information. The
two were apprehended, and sentenced to seven days'
imprisonment, at the end of which time they will be placed
at the dispThicion of Government.

At the County Police Ccurt, Congleton, Joseph
C. Washington, late manager of the Congleton branch of
the Manchester and Liverpool Banking Conpany, has been
charged with embezzling divers sums of money belonging
to his masters, the trustees of the said bank. It appears that
the defendant's duties were to discount bills at a certain rate.
entering the amounts charged into the books of the bank.
The case was that be had charged customers certain autos
for discount, but accounted in the hooks fot sums consider-
ably less than the amounts actually paid to him. Evidence
in support of the charges having been g'ven, the bench
committed the defendant to the Chester assizes for trial.

The New York papers report a case as to authors,
which has just been decided in the Supreme Court. In
that case the court holds that the author of an un-
published manuscript has at common law an exclusive
right of property therein, the violation of which may be
justly protected by injunction. But this exclusive right
pertains only to the unpublished manuscript, without
copyright protection. After unrestricted publication to
the world, neither the author nor his assignee, whether a
foreign or domestic writer, can assert an exclusive right
to property in the future use and publication of tho compo-
sition. Unrestricted representation upon the stage is a pub-
lication ; and if spectators carry away in their memory the
whole or any part of the play, they cannot bo restricted by
an injustion from printing it.

The insurrection in Cuba continues to gain ground.
If the insurgents receive the arms they are expecting it is
likely they will give battle, if not they will maintain a
guerilla warfare. Advices received from Havana, Jan. 7,
report that General Cespedes, the provisional President of
the Republican Government, and Senor Aguilera have pro-
claimed the emancipation of the slaves. The Spaniards
profess to believe this a desperate measure, and
the Spanish authorities, on their part, are tnak-'
ing concessions. They have proclaimed the liberty of
the press and the abolition of military commissions for tho
trial of civil cases. A commission of influential citizens of
Havana left that city on the 11th to meet the revolutionary
leaders and try to effect a compromise. It is said they are
empowered to concede pardon and political rights on the
basis that Cuba shall continue under the flag of Spain.

The Dean of Carlisle has published a protest
against the letter written by the Rev. A. H. Mackonochie
upon the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council in the St. Alban's case. Dr. Close says
the letter is a " criminal document," "couched in lan.
guage of intolerable arrogance and indecency," and asks if
there is no remedy against such a libel upon her Majesty,
the archbishops of the Church, and the chief judges of the
land. He expresses a hope that " this convicted offender,"
whose spirit is chafed by defeat, will on reflection perceive
that " he has published words which every good man of
every sect and every party mustblush to read." Observing
that Mr. Mackonochie avows that he remains in the Church in
order to " move every power to obtain a dissolution of this
ungodly alliance " between Church and State, the Dean
says : " If these are his principles, and this the spirit
of the men who are to stand at the helm of our beloved
Church when divorced from the State, if the English
Church Union and the Ritualist faction can have theii
way in these matters, it is time that all true-hearted
members of the Reformed Church should rouse them.
selves, and determine whether such seditious slanders as
these are to be tolerated within the Church."

- _
THE PIIINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES IN
DENUAnK.-- A correspondent at Copenhagen writes that
the greater part of the time passed in Denmark by the
Prince and Princess of Wales was spent in the Castle of
Fredensborg, in the neighbourhood of Elsinore. The
Princess particularly enjoyed her rambles in the company
of her brothers and her sister through the fine woods, or
along the sl.ores of the magnificent lake of Fredensborg,
and the Prince was so pleased with his stay in Denmark
that he remained considerably longer than had been
intended. A short time before their Royal Highnesses'
departure the Court left Fredensborg for Copenhagen.
.All the festivities in honour of the Prince and Princess of
Wale 3 had, therefore, to be crowded into a few days.
The frst was the ball given by her Majes:y's envoy, Sit
C. Lennox. Wyke. The King and Queen of Denmark,
the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Crown Prince of
Denmark, and Prince John of Glucksburg were
amongst the first arrivals at the ball. The Mar
chioness of Carmarthen, Lord Carrington, General
Knollys, Hon. Oliver Montague, and Colonel
Keppel were amongst the guests. Sir Charlei
Wyke being unmarried, the company was received by
Mrs. Strachey, wife of the First Secretary of Legation.
The Prince and Princess of Wales remained till the close of
the ball, which was not till four o'clock in the morning.
On the following night there, was a State ball at the
Palace of Christiansborg, and two nights later a brilliant
ball at the house of Baron de ivianuheim, the Russian
Minister,

BFIRIT OF THE I'UBLIO JOURNALS,

-~-

The Times, in commenting upon the tendency of Irish
statistics to deal with a shadowy and melancholy past,
instead of with a hopeful and practical future, is at a loss
to discover in what respect Ireland and the Irish are at a
disadvantage as compared with this country. Every
Irish Man on coming to maturity has all England, and
everything made ly England, or belonging to England,
before him. Indeed, England is much more open to him
than his own country is, for England is the most open
and hospitable country in the world, and Ireland, without
exception, the most close and inhospitable. There is no
country pretending to be civilised more jealous of
strangers, more exclusive in its manners and
code, and more ready for any extremities that can be
excused by the maxim of " Ireland for the Irish." No
Englishman can venture to enter the Irish labour market,
to bid for an Irish farm, or to risk his money in Irish
enterprise, except under rare and exceptional circum-
stances. Exclusiveness, and consequent non-improve-
ment, are the incurable vice of the tribal system and the
regime of families and factions into which it developes.
The sentiment of such a system is always retrospective,
always recurring to some presumed original, some
imaginary inheritance, and traditional wrongs. If
it has no hope, it is because it refuses to share
the hopes of all the world around, and prefers ever to
brood over a buried and misrepresented past. The
Englishman, particularly, has long since renounced all
dreams and all birthrights except the use of the powers
and opportunities Heaven has given him. He also has to
leave his home, and seek a livelihood and friends in
towns, cities, and distant colonies. Our two million
Australian colonists are chiefly English. But whether
the Englishman goes or stays at home he offers a
welcome to the Irishman, and gives him free access to the
soil, the wages, and all the employments of this country.
The English have gone through disabilities which
happened to be serious in their case, because they often
could have done what the law denied them. But our
social and statistical societies don't meet and solemnly
advise the Englishman to sit down and howl, just
because his great-great-grandfather was not the member
of a corporation or a privileged company, or was hit by
the Corporation and Test Act, or was not allowed to
send a ship to India or China, or could not, with any
money, obtain a freehold or even a lease within twenty
miles of his home. We don't think of the past here,
with its interminable grudges. We look to the future,
and we believe in a Providence that will befriend any-
body who makes the best use he can of his lot, whatever
it is, and of his openings and opportunities, whatever he
he may find in that future which is the common property
of vs all.

The Post remarks that the Manchester experiment
deserves attention as an attempt to give a practical illus-
tration to two political ideas quite new to this country.
The first is that of the preliminary selection by a poli-
tical party of a candidate who shall be thenceforth
adopted as the only representative to be supported by
that party. The second idea of which the Manchester
Liberals have given us an illustration is that of the Ballot,
and in this respect they must be held to have done a good
service from whatever point of view the matter is regarded.
So much interest attaches at the present moment to the.
subject of secret voting, and it is so important to
gain as clear an idea as possible of its pro-
bable working in this country, that a few real
facts on which a hold can be laid are very acceptable,
and some such facts the proceedings at Manchester cer-
tainly furnish. The choice between Mr. Milner Gibson
and Mr. Ernest Jones was taken by means of the Ballot,
carried out upon the Australian principle ; that is to say,
each voter was required to strike off from a list containing
the names of the two quasi candidates the name of that
one for whom he did not intend to vote, and then to place
the list in an envelope and to drop it into -, ballot-box.
The provision of numbering, to which we have previously
alluded as in force in the colony of Victoria to
make a subsequent scrutiny, to be taken if required, was
omitted, and there was, therefore, no possible means
of connecting the voter with his vote. Thus the
choice was conducted by ballot pure and simple,
and the result has been that, although there was
a good deal of feeling on both sides, and although as
many as 11,415 electors recorded their opinions, every-
thing was carried out with the most perfect order and
decorum. To that extent, therefore, the experiment
must be taken to be in favour of the system of secret
voting ; but of course, in this instance, there were not
the same probabilities of bribery or of corruption of other
sorts as exist in ordinary elections, and therefor^ it is not
conclusive. This much, however, at least, the experi-
ment has shewn, that secret voting is not incapable of
being understood and carried out in an English consti-
tuency, and that is no small matter to have clearly esta-
blished with regard to a subject which is at once so novel
and so important.

The Doily News remarks upon the difficulties of the
Opposition in choosing a leader in the Upper House. Who
can lead? The Marquis of Salisbury and Lord Carnarvon
are out of the question. Mr. Disraeli's three dukes.
shadows of great names, are not to be thought of for a
different reason. Nowadays dukes do not lead. Dux a
non ducendo is the true political etymology of the title.
Unless the House of Lords is to receive recruits from the
Commons, Lord Cairns is the only possible man. Mr.
Disraeli is not likely just now to alter his mind on
the subject of a peerage. Mr. Gathorne Hardy
could not be spared from the House of Commons. There
remain Lord Stanley and Lord John Manners, whose
elevation now to the Upper Chamber would only anticipate
the course of events. Lord Stanley's leadership would do
something to restore the intellectual balance between the
two parties in the House of Lords. But under his guidance
the Conservative party would be very doubtfully Con-
servative. Lord John Manners, though without force of
character or intellect, is personally amiable ; he is fluent
in speech, and not without readiness in reply;
He would do well enough. If Lord Stanley and Lord
John Manners both elect to remain in the Commons, the
choice will lie between some duke's coronet and Lord
Cairns's brains. The Conservatives do not like parvenus
in the House of Lords, though they are obliged to put up
with them in the House of Commons. If this feeling has
way, a ducal roi faineant—Marlborough will do as well as
Buckingham, and Richmond as well as either, with Lord
Cairns as Mayor of the Palace—may be the form taken by
a compromise between blood and brains.

The Telegraph comments upon the unsatisfactory state
of the volunteer arrangements, in consequence of the re-
fusal of Mr. Cardwell to increase the capitation grant.
A mutiny amongst the volunteers would be a most serious
affair, and should a rage for unreasoning reduction
lead the War Office to be penny wise as regards our citizen
army, while it remains pound foolish as regards our regu-
lar troops, we may witness in a few months the dissolu-
tion of our volunteer army. But we cannot, without fur-
ther inquiry, believe it possible that Mr. Cardwell has not
something to say for a decision which at first sight ap-
pears indefensible. The great majority of the experienced
and able colonels of volunteers have declared that the pre-
sent capitation grant is not sufficient to pay the neces-
sary expenses of each corps ; Mr. Cardwell, relying
on some anonymous authority, asserts that it is.
Lord Elcho, in the name of the volunteers, demands full
inquiry ; and full inquiry is their due. We require some-
thing more than the ipso clzocit of any War Secretary
before we refuse to our favourite and cheapest force any-
thing which its best men declare absolutely essential for
its efficiency. But the question goes much farther. We
have to inquire, not merely whether the capitation grant
suffices for the volunteer force as it is, but whether it
suffices for the force as it ought to be. Are there
no improvements in the condition and circumstances
of the volunteers, which are possible with an increased
grant, and impossible with the present allow-
ance ? We want genuine, not mock soldiers
—men who can, if called upon, march out and camp
out if ordered against the foe. We want a real,
serviceable sword and shield— then gild them if you like
at the hilt, and engrave the blade if you please with
verses from the Bible, pretty national mottoes, and
filagree work of dainty device. But if you expect your
volunteers to be all this, to sacrifice the time needful for
such perfection in drill, you must not put your hands in
their pockets. No officer or private should be forced to
give anything beyond his time ; and that is in itself a
large donation, quite sufficient for our needs. The Govern-
ment, not the officers or privates, should defray all the
expenses required to make the whole body a well-drilled
army of fighting men. If the present capitation grant
can do that, well and good ; if, as experienced and
patriotic volunteer leaders affirm, it cannot, then let it be
increased.

The Star thinks that Scotland did well for the Liberal
cause at the general election, and that the Government
have recognised her claims to consideration. Respecting
the work that lies immediately before the Home Secre-
tary, the Star observes : As Mr. Bruce, however,
has pledged himself to bring in a hill to deal with the
criminal classes, he might find something worth imitation
the Scotch mode of administering the criminal law.
Much of the confusion and uncertainty which prevails at
present results from the want of a public prosecutor. If
there was an officer charged with tie duty of investigating
all charges of a criminal nature, and of prosecuting the
accused before the proper tribunals, a certainty and accu-
racy would he imparted to the administration of
justice which nothing else can give. The recent improve-
ments in the criminal code have defined with great accu-
racy the various offences ; but the application of the law
is left very much to chance in the case of those graver
crimes which cannot be disposed of before a magistrate.
It is too frequently found that a criminal escapes simply
because the prosecutor has failed to get up the evidence
in the manner which the law very properly requires. lie
has employed some solicitor who has more profitable
work to attend to, and who in his turn at the eleventh
hour seizes on a counsel at haphazard, and the case is
bungled amongst them. A public prosecutor, while
enjoying all advantage of the assistance of the police
force in getting up evidence, would still be a functionary
entirely apart from that body, using them as servants, but
not permitting them to acquire the mastery either over the
cases to be pushed to a conclusion, or over the evidence
to be submitted. That observation of habitual criminals
to which the Home Secretary refers is in every-day prac-
tice in the great towns of Scotland, without any other legal
provision than the employment of judicious detectives, and
Laving a public prosecutor ready to begin his researches
within half an hour after a crime is reported at his. offices


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HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Jan. 25.
Her Majesty walked in the grounds this morn-
ing, accompanied by Princess Beatrice.
Princess Louise, attended by Lady Churchill,
walked in the grounds.
Prince Leopold also walked out.
The Right Hon. William and Mrs. Gladstone left
Osboine to-day.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
A DISORDERLY TAVERN.—A CURIOUS SCENE.—;IIr•
John Hutchins, of the White Lion, Hemmings-row; ap-
peared before Mr. Tyrwhitt, to answer the complaint of
Inspector Steel, of the C division, of unlawfully and
knowingly permitting prostitutes to assemble in his house.
Sergeant Leech, 17 C, said that on the 13th inst. be
visited the defendant's house, and in a room up stairs be
saw nine soldiers, four of them drunk, and two of them
pulling about two prostitutes. There were eight other
prostitutes in the room, two of them drunk;and there were
four couples dancing, and a man that was drunk was
also dancing on' a table. On another table a man was
sitting playing on a concertina. On his leaving the house
the prostitutes were got out, but on his visiting the house
again he found three prostitutes there, and a soldier
bathing the head of a man who had been fighting. On
first entering the house he told the defendant that
he had ten or a dozen prostitutes in front Of
the bar, and thought he had better get them out of the
house, but they remained for nearly an hour afterwards,
and on getting outside the house there was very great dis-
order caused by them.

Mr. Tyrwhitt fined the defendant .£5 for permitting
prostitutes to assemble in his house, and the other sum-
mons against the defendant for permitting drunkenness in
his house would stand over three weeks, that the poli co
might report how the house was conducted in the mean-
time.

CAUTION TO CABMEN AND CADOWNERS. —Alfred Vine, a
cabdriver, was charged with working a horse in an' unfit
condition.

Tho defendant was seen to put his horse on the cab-
stand in the Haymarket, and it being observed that the
horse was very weary it was examined, and found to have
two broken knees and several bad sores about it, and in
very bad condition.

George Young, an officer of the Royal Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that the horse wee
totally unfit for working.
The defendant said that the horse had been in the stable
ton days through its knees, and the veterinary surgeon
advised that it should be taken out to reduce the swelling
in its legs.

A veterinary surgeon said he advised the horse should
be taken out for light work, as ho considered it would do
him good.

Mr. Tyrwhitt said he had heard all sorts of evidence
from "vets," as they were called, and it certainly had not
tended to increase his respect for them. The defendant
would have to pay 40s. or a month, and if he worked the
horse again he would be sent to prison, and the society'e
officer could take out a summons against the owner.