The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-09 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, NOV. 9, 1869.

There are men who really go up like rockets and
come down like sticks. M. ROCHEFORT is one of
them. Within a few months simply by the adop-
tion and travestieing of DANTON'S axiom of audace,
audace, toujours l'audace, he bounded at a hop, skip,
and a jump, not into renown, but into notoriety.
With the slightest flavour of wit, any unprincipled
writer may do the like any day out of the three hun-
dred and sixty-five, by simply indulging in personali-
ties, indecencies, atrocities of words and of insinuation
directed against the constituted authorities of the land
in which these infamous writers are allowed willi-nilli
to obtain circulation. Indignant with the morality
of a political scribe of this class, the Government
thus outraged may resolve at last upon adopting
measures with a view to the suppression of further
slanders, eminating from the same source. In
so acting the "powers that be" continue, however,
the most effectually to strengthen the influence and
to enhance the otherwise insignificant name of its
intrinsically mean and utterly contemptible assail-
ant. A creature of this genus has, during
the chief part of the present year been
polluting the atmosphere of Parisian journalism, and
like the villainous reptile, sung of by the poet
POPE in his sometimes ferocious "Imitations of
HORACE," fluttering to and fro on " gilded wings,"
c)ntrives every now and then to do its little all ac-
cording to its twofold capability, insomuch that it
might be said of it, fitfully and at intervals, all
through this past twelvemonth, ;that it "stinks and
stings." That is the epitome of ROCIIEFORT'S
whole existence, since the knowledge of his being in
existence came to the knowledge of the flaneurs on
the boulevards, and the blouses in the lower
quarters of the gayest and the most voluptuous
city in Chr;stendom. The mere fact that a man
like M. ROCHEFORT should have been tolerated for
even the briefest interval in Paris affords conclusive
evidence that the realm of NAPOLEON 111. is not the
inexorable despotism it has long been represented to
be by the more implacable foes of the second Empire.
Where, in the United Kingdom, could it be possible
for any reviler like ROCHEFORT to obtain an audi-
ence ? Supposing any one could be found
to emulate the editor of the Lanterne
hero in London by personalities of the
gravest character directed against the reigning Sove-
reign, and by perpetual incentives to insubordination
against the institutions of the country—who would
not recognize the reasonable of putting an end to
a succession of outrages at once so contemptible
and so malicious in their character. Hiding him-
self in Belgium and constantly transmitting his
diatribes to the capital of France, M. ROCHEFORT at
last caps the climax of his audacities by crossing the
frontier and presenting himself in the metropolis
as a candidate for the popular suffrages—how ? By
a succession of spoken scurrilities quite on a par
with the printed scurrilities of the Lanterne. Instead
of his arrest being continued and rendered secure, he
has been released,from durance by order of the long-
outraged Chief of the Government. He has not only
been set at large—he has been allowed free access to
the disaffected part of the lowest ranks of the popula-
tion. The most inflammatory of the political incen-
diaries of the land has been endowed with the
privilege of commanding, at his own free will and
pleasure, the ears and eyes of those who are perpe-
tually prepared at any opportunity to take part in a
revolutionary outbreak—the evil-plotters who are
ri-11 Acme-wain an-
vernment !

Tim Institution of Civil Engineers has entered

upon a warm dispute, on a question of great public
interest, with the Indian Government. A. week or
two ago a strange announcement—a melancholy com-
mentary on the commercial morality of the times—
appeared in the Indian papers. It was a
notification from the Calcutta Government for-
bidding civil engineers to receive commissions on
contracts and supplies of materials in connection with
the works which they are appointed to superintend.
The number of engineers employed in our Eastern
Empire is large and increasing. The authorities are
informed that it is a recognised practice in England
for the members of this profession to accept douceura
from contractors, who, by thus making things
pleasant with the engineers, can fulfil their
obligations pretty much in their own fashion.
Without making any specific complaint respecting
the execution of works in India, the Government
declares these commissions to be illegal. In plain
terms it affirms that the engineering profession
carries on a systematic course of fraud in England,
but that such cheating must not be attempted
in the East. Naturally enough this intimation
has roused the indignation of the fraternity.
Its members have met in conclave, have "emphati-
cally denied " that the receipt of commissions is a
" recognised practice," and have, moreover, affirmed
that any civil engineer detected in such practices would
be held "guilty of disgraceful conduct which would dis-
qualify him from being a member of this Institution."
Several individuals, too, including Mr. HAWICSIIAW,
have declared that though there may be black sheep in
this as in every other vocation, yet such fraud, as a
" recognised practice," has no existence. A. repudia-
tion so prompt and decisive is highly gratifying at
an epoch when commercial morals are seemingly at
their worst ; and the denial must, to a certain extent,
be accepted as decisive. It would be unjust after
such a declaration to retain the impression that the
commission swindle was accounted by the Institution
a regular part of professional gain.
But there are many things done in commerce
which are not dreamt of in its philosophy. It is
hardly likely that so gross a fraud as this receipt
of bribes would be held a "recognised practice," as
the Indian authorities clumsily put it; the question
is, how far is the system carried on in secret ? The
Institution can answer for the corporate body; but
there is, unfortunately, reason to think that the
doings of individuals are beyond its control. Evi-
dence is not wanting to prove that in general the
system of superintendents taking presents from
the persons whom they are appointed to
superintend prevails to a greater or less extent. The
SECRETARY Of STATE for INDIA, in answer to the
complaint of the Institution, has promised to make
inquires as to the reason for publishing the famous
notification ; but it may be presumed beforehand that
the Indian Government would not publish such a
serious imputation except on authority of some
kind. Only Ihe other day the Metropolitan Board of
Works were engaged in tracing the origin of some
palpable "stamping" in one of the London improve-
ments. Divers engineers have given testimony very
different from that of Mr. lIAWESHAW. One says
the practice is so common that it is impossible for
even an engineer who would be honest to refuse
commissions. If he were to do his duty, and make too
rigid inquiries, he would speedily be set down as a
troublesome fellow, whom no company would employ.
Another affirms that whilst the fortunes of the lead-
ing men are honestly made, roguery prevails to a
great extent. He has himself been offered bribes by
contractors in a cool, business-like way, which indi-
cated that " they Lai on similar occasions had
their offers accepted, as, indeed, they told
me at the time that they had." This witness knows
personally that it is a general custom amongst engineers
in more than one railway company to allow them-
selves to be treated to an unlimited extent. Nor
does it seem that the practice is confined to engineers