The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-05 00:00:00

SPIEJT 1.17 PUBLIC JO-UXciATS,

The Time: observes that Dr. Tait was on Thursday placed
on the oldest seat of authority in th, a isles, for there is no
throne of -either temporal or spiritual authority that can
dispute this claim with the see of St. Augustine. But Dr.
Tait has given abundant proof of his qualifications. His
late diocese is a post of more labour and more direct respon-
sibility. Indeed, it has already brought him into the
front of the religious warfare as much as the
Primacy can do. His opinion has been chal-
lenged on all sides upon all the controversies of
the day, all the questionable practices indulged in by
Church zealots, and all the legal questions raised by those
who wish to liberate doctrine and authority from law and
civil jurisdiction. He has had to decide and to declare
upon various points of Ritualism, upon the freedoms
lately assumed by Biblical scholars, and the liberty of
interpretation allowed by the existing laws of the Church,
and upon the claims of Churchmen, at home or elsewhere,
to anticipate or override the judgments of courts. None of
these questions can be considered as settled, or as near a
final settlement ; nor can it be thought satisfactory that
two churches in the same street, bound by a common
declaration of uniformity, should exhibit opposite and
antagonistic preachings and practices. Something like an
Anglican Catholicity too much upon the Roman model
would seem to have been attempted by the zealous and
over-sanguine managers of our religious societies, and the
lawyers have to tell them how much beside their intentions
the working really has been. Dr. Tait has ahewn that he
is not the man to be carried away byanydream of spiritual
dominion, and that,' rendering what he will to Heaven, he
will not deny Cmsar his due. He is a plain, sensible, and
careful preacher and writer. He is sufficiently ready, and
not destitute of eloquence. He is as learned as a bishop
need be for usefulness. He is anxious and laborious
beyond his strength. There, indeed, comes in the only
objection that has been made to his appointment. If his
health and strength have failed him at London House and
Fulham, will they serve him better at Lambeth and Adding.
ton? He is no longer young, and has had warnings. But if he
is not strong enough for Canterbury, neither would he be
for London, and the objection only suggests some new
arrangement for aged and failing bishops, such as that for
which Dr. Tait's immediate predecessor supplied an
example and precedent. Dr. Tait's friends need not
shrink from a comparison with any Primate of this
century. All things considered, and taking into account
the difference between fair weather and storm, smooth
water and cross seas, we may yet find reason to congratu-
late ourselves that our pilot is something more than the
amiable and accomplished gentleman who satisfied our
fathers and their fathers before them.
The Herald refers to the case which has just been dealt
with by the presiding judge of the Central Criminal
Court.- Two foreigners, named Streimer and Kunacke,
have been tried and convicted of forging and uttering
a multitude of fictitious bills of exchange, and have very
properly been sentenced to long periods of penal servi-
tude. Within a stone's throw of the Bank of England
they carried out their nefarious and perilous trade
of forgery by wholesale, and from a small office,
situated almost under the shadow of that great
establishment, they sent forth a multitude of
ostensibly genuine commercial instruments, of which
every part was false except the stamps they bore and the
paper on which they were written. The firm of forgers
must have had considerable knowledge of mercantile
business, or they would never have ventured upon so
extensive a scheme. They had bills which purported to
have been drawn on firms in every quarter of the world,
and in every part of the kingdom. The amounts too
generally included some odd shillings and pence,
just by way of keeping up appearances, and all the
ordinary indications of good bills were carefully
imitated, so that some of our most respectable banks were
actually induced to advance money upon them. But when
at length the police got upon the rogues' track, the
drawers, acceptors, and endorsers of Messrs. Streimer and
Kunacke's paper turned out to be purely mythical per-
sonages, with neither form nor substance, local habitation
nor name. The wonder was how they had contrived to
keep up their game so long, and to put so much stuff
into circulation. But perhaps even ,this wonder was
surpassed by the fact that, as far as could be ascer-
tained, they had made very little by it. We are afraid
the natural inference is that we have only got at
the underlings, and that the principal offenders are yet
undiscovered, as is believed to be the case with the Russian
and other foreign note forgeries. If so, the police have an
opportunity of distinguishing themselves by running the
greater delinquents to earth, and so ridding us of pests
whose life must be passed in incessant endeavours to
destroy that confidence without which trade cannot be
carried on, careless of the loss they inflict upon men un-
fortunate enough to be deceived by their evil and frau-
dulent devices.

The Post mentions the fact that no fewer than 1,668 fire!
occurred in the metropolis during the past year, and of these
between one-third and one-fourth arose from " unknown
causes." This subject was brought before the Metropo-
litan Board of Works during their meeting at the end of
last week. Some of the members were very anxious that the
Fire Brigade Committee should cause an investigation of
all fires to be made, and a record kept of every suspicious cir-
cumstance. But however desirable the proposal might be, th e
general feeling of the board was decidely adverse to it.
One of the members of the Board at the meeting said,
` It could not be denied that fires were less frequent when
investigations were held. In the parish to which he
belonged, before the Fire Brigade was placed under the
control of the board, the parish had to pay a much larger
amount of fees for extinguishing fires than they
did then ; and fires of a particular character,
which were formerly very frequent, did not
now occur." A properly-arranged system of judicial
inquiry into cases of fire might, therefore, instead of being
expensive, be the means of indirectly reducing expendi-
ture ; and whoever would be benefited by this reduction of
the number of fires ought to be brought under contribu-
tion to defray the necessary expenses. It is to be hoped, I
therefore, that the discussion of the subject may lead to
some practical steps being taken with the view of increas-
ing the security of the public and removing a stigma
now undoubtedly attaching to the householders of the
country since the great extension of fire insurance.
The Standard defends the late Ministry from the charge
of exercising an undue amount of patronage, and reminds
adverse critics that the one party has been in office five
years for its opponents' seventeen. A Liberal lawyer,
clergyman, or politician, has at least three chances of
promotion for one that falls to a Conservative. And any
reasonable Liberal must regret that this should be
so ; that the good things of professional and public
life should be so unequally distributed. It is a
necessary condition of a system under which pro-
motion is only to be expected from a man's own
party, that each party should, during the average lifetime
of a public servant or professional man, have on the whole
about an equal period of power ; otherwise one side is un-
fairly weighted in the race of life, as well as in the struggle
of politics. The disadvantage of such a state of things
as has obtained during the last eighty years is twofold.
Up to 1830, the Tories had almost a monopoly of power ;
since 1830 they have been almost always in opposition.
Consequently, during the first half of the period
1788-1868 the high places of the bench, the Church,
the civil servic, were entirely filled by Tories ; and a Tory
bias was given to the law, the Church, and the administra-
tion of the country. Since that time a similar preponder-
ance has been enjoyed by the Liberals. Again: besides
the undue leaning to one side thus communicated to our
courts, our ecclesiastical administration, and almost every
service connected with the State, the professional
adherents of one side are promoted too rapidly,
while the others are unduly discouraged and thrown
back. Lord Chelmsford had to wait many years for
promotion, while his Whig rivals and juniors passed over
his head. Sir F. Kelly was Solicitor-General in 1846, and
had actually to remain at the bar for twenty years longer,
while men who had entered the profession when he was

at its head were promoted to the bench. And, therefore,
all candid and reasonable Liberals must rejoice that during
Lord Derby's and Mr. Disraeli's brief term of office so

considerable a number of vacancies have occurred as to
give the Tories something like their fair share of the
prizes of life, something like their rightful weight on the
judicial bench, in the episcopate, and in the service of the
Crown.

The. Daily News makes some remarks upon the arduous
Character of the work that lies before the new Commis-

sinner of Police. Colonel Henderson will find his work
cut out for him in Scotland-yard. By common consent
the polite force in the metropolis has lapsed into a con-
dition from which only a strong hand can raise
Various reasons have been given for this decline f its
vigour : the one which has obtained most acceptance with
the public is that of late years the primary object for
which the force exists has been lost sight of ; while another,
altogether secondary, has been greatly exaggerated. The
public believe that the force has been administered
too much with a view to its discharging the duties of a
military body, and too little with a view to the repression
of crime. Ali-. Bruce corrected some prevalent errors on
this subjcet at the interview with a metropolitan deputa-
tion on Wednesday, but he has sheen how thoroughly he
recognises the repression of crime as the great end for
which the police force exists by appointing as its head a
gentleman who has distinguished himself by his successful
dealing with criminals. In the post which he now leaves
he gathered round him a most admirable staff, and
all who know anything of the Convict Prisons
Departement know that it is
.singularly efficient.
n the five years during which he presided
over it be has effected all annual saving of
£BO,OOO •in the cost of the food of the prisoners
who were never in better health than now--in limiting
gratuities, and by employing the
.prisoners in public
works. We do not mention these circumstances for the
sake of dwelling upon any value that may attach to Col.
Henderson's special experience, but because they represent
and attest a man of resource, of organising power, of skill
in the choice of subordinates, an ardent lover of efficiency
thoroughly able to secure it. It seems to us that such a
man, whatever may have been his previous employment•
is in the highest degree likely to infuse vigour into the
police system of the metropolis, to give us security in mu homes and peace and order in our streets, at the least pos•
sible cost to the rateravers.