The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVE;NING, APRIL 21, 1869.

tion with an expenditure of £3,350,000.
ably more, in other words, than double the amoun
originally said to be involved by the scheme of build
ing up a Palace of Justice on this very Carey-stree
site. The sum first of all said •to be required,
there, for that purpose was, in point of fact, no more
than £1,500,000 altogether. Double • that and
you have, according to COCKER, £3,000,000.
But, here, as we have seen, is the inevitable squan-
dering of £l3so,ooo—with no 'guarantee whatever,
even then, that that would be all. As was said last
night in the House, we might consider ourselves for-
tunate, everything considered, if, under these cir-
cumstances, wo got off with an outlay in
the end of no more than £4,000,000. And
all for a site, the very name of which, as
it seems to us, is expressive of its mean-
ness—the Carey-street site! A Site bounded cer-
I tainly on the north by Holborn, and on the south by
the Strand (though many regard the latter even as
but little of an advantage, remembering the enormous
traffic already flooding through that main artery
of the metropolis), but flunked at the same time
both to the east and to the west by a dense and
tangled mass of back slums and miserable rookeries.
No—whatever else may come of it, at any rate last
night's debate, or commencement of a debate, has ac-
complished already this good—it has doomed, or we'
are very much mistaken, the original plan for building
the Palace of Justice to the north of the Strand.
The Embankment site has distinctly, now, the
preference, and to that preference the strong

Consi.ler•

Government now installed in power has, as
clearly as possible, avowed itself to have become a
convert, so far, at least, as we can at all julge from
the declarations made last evening by the right hon.
gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer. What
part of the Thames Embankment will eventually be
selected, as the picked substitute, is another matter.
Sir CHARLES TEEVELTAN'S choice is one involving
an outlay of something like £2,000,000. Mr. LOWE
has an eye to one necessitating—he tells us—no more
extravagant an expenditure altogether than £1,600,000,
So little does he think of the Strand as an advantage.
that he wants to shirk it entirely. Speaking as though
be were describing an out-of-the-way corner of
Pekin or Hong Kong, he says to the House of
Commons—" There is a street called Howard-street,
midway between the roadway of the Embankment
and the Strand, and which runs from Arundel-
street to Surrey-street. The frontage of the
Strand is, of course, very valuable ; but I am in-
formed that between Howard-street and the Em-
bankment the property is not valuable, consisting,
as it does, of premises which have been left derelict
by the Embankment. I am told that a site there
can be purchased for £600,000, and that on it build-
ings comprising all the Courts with their auxiliary
offices and other offices besides can be erected
for a sum cf £1,000,000." This is the gist of his
proposition. This is the revised plan submitted,
in the name of the Government, tothe deliberate eon-
si.leration of the House of Commons, before another
step is taken in the scheme for building up at last
in London a fitting Palace, within the walls of which
and beneath the roof of which the Laws of England
shall henceforth with due decorum be administered

WE are glad to learn that the friends of the
Bishop of EXETER have taken to heart the remon-
strances loud and numerous which the condition of
his diocese has excited. It was, indeed, time that they
I did so. The patience of the Established Church has
been long and sorely tried in the West of England.
The " absence of responsible episcopal government "
has forced those to speak who would far rather have
kept silence. Respect for episcopal authority,
,
' veneration for old age, the natural dislike to inflict
pain—all these considerations prompted to endu-
, ranee, and all had to be overcome before the strong
' sense of duty forced a public utterance of that which
r everyone way saying in private. In spite of obloquy
and misrepresentation, in spite of the imputation of
unworthy motives bypersons incapable of understand-
ing worthy ones, the complainants persevered in ex-
' posing the scandal under which the diocese was suffer-
ing. Their courage and perseverance hav e been partially
rewarded. The Bishop of ExETEn has formally com-
missioned Bishop TROWER to act in his behalf, and
to undertake generally the episcopal duties of the
diocese. The announcement is somewhat vague.
There is one thing, however, which it certainly does
not imply—the resignation of the diocesan. This
would have been the right course. This is the
course for which there is good precedent in
the cases of Bishops BLOMFIELD, MALTBY, and
Horns. We regret that Bishop PEILLPOTTS
has not followed these excellent examples.
He has, if the announcement which he has authorised
means anything, done the next best thing by com-
missioning another bishop to act for him. To a
certain extent Bishop Tnowim has thus acted
already. He has consecrated and confirmed and
ordained. But he has not had any power to appoint
to cures. The episcopal patronage has hitherto been
tenaciously retained by the episcopal entourage, with
what results is well-known. We assume that it will
now be transferred to the Bishop Commissary, who will
be responsible to public opinion for his exercise of it.
We assume that we have heard the last of young men
four years in orders promoted because they are rela-
tives of the BISHOP, while men who have been in
orders for ten times that period are left to starve on
the wages of a domestic servant. If Bishop MOWER'S
commission does not imply his right to present, it

would be the merest mockery, it would be an adding
of insult to the injury so long sustained by the
diocese. We apologise for even supposing that such
a hypothesis is possible.

KING %Lis:mita, begging for an obolus, was
scarcely a more touching spectacle than King
HUDSON appealing to the charity of the British
public. Yes, it has come to this : the man who, less
than a quarter of a century ago, was the confidant of
dukes and the flattered of duchesses, whose house in
Hyde Park was mobbed by all the haut ton of London,
who seemed to have the golden key of the temple
of PLUTUS, for whom constituencies quarrelled
in their eagerness to secure him as a
representative, who might have had a peerage for
the asking, who was more sought after than any
peer—this man is a beggar in a foreign land, and
the papers are appealing in his behalf to the
people whom lie did his best to ruin. What a sight
for angels and for men and for Mr. CARLYLE. The
Chelsea prophet lashed the subjects of the Rail-
way King many years ago, for he saw
how little there was of kingly in him,
how much there was of abject baseness
in them. lie might, were he so disposed, lift up his
voice again, and warn the world against its hero-
worship of men who are not heroes, but quite other-
wise. He will not, for the world is not to be taught.
It will worship the beings who have control for the
time over the money-bags. Convince it that the
object of its worship is a charlatan and a swindler,

that con tiuous land must be bought at a further
outlay of £66B,ooo—remembering that the cost of
building and architect's commission involves an ad-
ditional disbursement of at least £1;650,000, and
that the furniture and mere et ceteras or contingen-
cies of the undertaking will require about £150,000,
Mr. LoWE (being very precise) says £147,000
—we have, there, clearly, a prospect before
us of, at the most moderate computation, over
three millions sterling ! Particularly when, to the
items already enumerated, there have to be added a
nice little sum of £138,000 for taxed costs, disburse-
ments, and so on, including some £27,000 handed to
the Messrs. Field and Co. in honourable payment.
Altogether, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer al-
most serio-comically put it, he found himself in his
official capacity, on his first looking into the state of
things at the Treasury, confronted in this one direc-

and the conviction will make no difference. The
worship will continue so long as the divinity's power
continues. We all know that the reign will come
suddenly to an end, that we shall before long bespurn-
ing with our feet the object whom we now beseech
upon our knees. That is nothing to the purpose. He is
do fct,?to king because he can dispense wealth to whom
he pleases ; when his power is gone our adoration
ends, but not before. It is a simple bargain. So
much wealth, so much homage ; so much scrip, so
much flattery. When the wealth runs out, when
the scrip becomes as worthless as the paper of
which it is made, then our relations are at
an end; the JOIIN LAW, or the GEORGE HErDSON, or
the director of four years ago, may think himself
fortunate if he is merely despised, and not execrated
and prosecuted. We shall do the same thing again
if the opportunity offers. Let the boy bred in the
gutter rise to be a joint stock magnate, and we shall
be ready to lick his boots so long as he pays us well
for the operation. But if anything happens to him
he will find himself left deserted " by those his
former bounty fed," and very lucky if they have not
tripped him up as they fled from him. It is well to
know this. It is well not to deceive ourselves into
the belief that we have learnt by experience. We
have not learnt by experience. Given the hour,
the man will arise again. Given the opportunity,
another tinsel sovereign will appear, and be
received royally by those who are now moralising
over the rise and the fall—the rapid rise and the
miserable fall of GEORGE HUDSON, the Railway
King.

TIIE injustice inflicted by Her MAJESTY'S Cus-
toms' Commissioners upon the Dagenham Dock
Company still remains unredressed. In point of
logic it can hardly be said that the Commissioners
have suffered defeat, for their position is so bad
that they have never ventured to give serious
battle. Their four pleas, one of which was simply
ridiculous, and all of which were unsound, were at
once met by an overwhelming accumulation of
evidence. Since then the Commissioners have con-
tented themselves with suspending a great com-
mercial undertaking, and setting aside the decision
of Parliament by the simple exercise of their
authority. Important works are stopped, capital is
lying idle, workmen are out of employment, and an
enterprise of public utility is frustrated, simply because
the Commissioners, having taken up an unjustifiable
position, decline to retreat from it. The circum-
stances of this extraordinary case may be very briefly
recapitulated. A company was formed to purchase
Dagenham Lake, situated on the banks of the Thames,
a few miles east of London, and convert it into
docks. Three Acts of Parliament were obtained
without opposition, and at intervals extending over
eleven years. On the faith of these-Acts capital was
raised, and the works commenced. £lOO,OOO was
spent, and by April last a pier, with warehouses, a
railway, and every facility for loading and unloading,
was completed. Thinking that this portion of the
works might as well be in useful operation, the
company applied for the necessary permission to
land goods free of duty. But in spite of Acts of
Parliament, expenditure of capital, and tes-
timony as to the public utility of the works,
this permission has been persistently refused. The
commissioners argue that the accommodation is not
required, but the commercial firms of London testify
to the contrary; that owners of other wharves would
demand the same privilege, but the case is entirely
different; and that the cost of supervision would be
involved, whereas the company offers to pay the
cost. The refutation of the commissioners' objections
has been complete, but the permission is still with-
held.

The case, which is entirely without parallel, is not
one of merely local interest. The authority to land
goods is vital to the success of the undertaking. The
works are stopped, in fact, because it is useless to go
on with them until the refusal of the department be
withdrawn. It is clear, then, that in thus setting
aside the decision of Parliament, and inflicting this
great loss upon the company, the Customs' Commis-
missioners have exercised an arbitrary authority which
endangers the interests of the entire commercial
world. Whence is this anthority derived ? It is laid
down by an Act passed in 1853, that "the Commis-
sioners of the Treasury 'may appoint proper places
to be legal quays for lading and unlading goods," and,
moreover, may forbid the landing of goods at
a port which has been declared a " legal quay."
The department has power to raise up and destroy,
to give and take away, without reference to past,
present, or future. No doubt, therefore, the re-
fusal of permission to the Dagenham Docks Company
is within strictly legal limits, But was it ever in-
tended that these functions, which imply the power
of confiscating the property of every dock shareholder
in the kingdom, should be exercise(' to the full extent
and in defiance of all considerations affecting the
public good ? Very many powers, besides this of
the Customs' Commissioners, exist in theory,
and are yet limited in practice by usage and
public convenience. The Customs' department,
in fact, is to docks and kindred undertakings
what the Board of Trade is with regard to
railways. A railroad cannot be constructed without
sanction from Parliament. It cannot be opened,
when made, without a certificate from the Board of
Trade, stating that it is fit for use. But this autho-
rity extends only to the consideration whether the line
is a safe means of conveyance; the department cannot
forbid the opening of lines and reverse the decision
of the Legislature at will. And the same rule
applies to the Customs. On a fair case being
made out, and security being given that the
interests of the revenue will not be affected,
the Commissioners have clearly no ground in the
equitable employment of their jurisdiction for with-
holding their sanction. In this instance, not only
has the utility of the Dagenham docks and
warehousing been attested by numerous mer-
chants, but the accommodation that the company
can afford is a speciality. It has long been
matter of complaint that the goods warehoused in
London are not properly classified. "All sorts of
material," says one authority, "are mixed together,
the only object being to get the largest quan-
tity in the smallest space." When a fire
occurs the consequences are needlessly disastrous.
Now, the Dagenham Company have carried out their
plans for the special purpose of providing warehous-
ing for imflammable, explosive, and dangerous goods.
The secluded situation of the property is very
favourable to the storage of such commodities
But though recent accidents shew how valuable ac-
commodation of this kind must be, this powerful
argument has no effect upon the commissioners
They have the power and the will, and they are satis-
fied. Such a state of things is simply intolerable.

The Scout, unarmoured screw corvette, 21 guns,
1,462 tons, 400-horse power, Captain John St. P.
Price, arrived at Spithead on Saturday from the
Pacific, where she has been on a term of nearly
four years' service. Soon after her arrival at Spit-
head she received orders to proceed round the Med-
way for dismantling and paying out of commission,
and left Spithead again about sunset, conveying
round to Sheerness a number of supernumeraries
from the flag and training ship in Portsmouth
harbour. Lieutenants Harrison and Pascoe, with
the crew of her Majesty's ship Sparrowhawk, paid
out of commission at Vancouver's bland, came
home as supernumeraries in the Scout, and were
taansferred to the flagship in Portsmouth harbour
previous to the Scout leaving Spithead for the Nore.
The Scout sailed from Vancouver's Island in
August last for England, calling en route at Hono-
lulu, Tahiti, Oparo, Valparaiso, the Straits of.
Magellan, and lastly at the Falkland Islands, sailing
over 21,000 miles between Vancover's and Spit-
head. From the Falkland Islands she brought
home a mail, and left all well there. During the last
twelve months of the Scout's commission she has
been 200 days at sea. The Scout was com-
missioned at Sheerness for service in the Pacific
in May, 1865.

The little ship Red, White, and Blue has re-
turned to America from Europe on the deck of a steamer.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.