The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-09 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1856

Sir VELLRLES WOOD bitterly complains of the
present extravagance of the guardians of the
public purse. Ho asserts that the House and
the Government have now reversed positions.
That the former ai one time " exercised very con-
siderable influence in checking the disposition of
the Governments to unnecessary expenditure, but
now the Government were obliged to check mo-
tions made in the House from time to time in
favour of the claims of particular classes of offi-
cers or other public servants." The First Lord
of the Admiralty has stated the case with un-
usual accuracy, but the effect will not be exactly
that which he inte'aded to produce. He has
clearly ex;lained tlae principles by which the
economists are act uated. They protest against
unnecessary expenditure—against jobs of every
kind and descrip don. They will not consent to
squander a million sterling to gratify the caprice
of any individr,al, however exalted, but they will
do everything, that justice and liberality requires
to reward the services of meritorious public ser-
vants, am?, to allow distinguished veterans to
pass the'ir declining years in the enjoy-
ment o f that otium cum dignitate which
they have so well deserved from their country.
On the other hand, the Government and the red-
tapistsi are " penny wise and pound foolish"—they
" strain at gnats but swallow camels," even of
the most capacious dimensions. There is nothing
too. large for their profuse and reckless extrava-
ga.nce, or too small for their cheese-pairing and
paltry meanness. If any matter comes well re-
commended—that is to say, if backed by strong
influence, whether Parliamentary or secret and
unconstitutional—it will receive their support ; if,
however, it has only fair play and th© good-will
of the unaristocratic million is its favour, then,
it has but a Slight chance of meeting their

appY:obation.
Can it be believed that the very same A !minis-
tration that were willing to expend a million
sterling on the cabbage gardens at Kensington for
the purpose of interring the national collection of
pictures where they would be rendered perfectly
useless to the great body of their legitimate
owters, should scruple at allowing half-pay, well
and nobly earned, to eighteen veterans, whose
aggregate services reached to a thousand long
years, or an average of more than fifty-five years
each—that they could resist the animated and
convincing appeal of the honourable and gallant
Member for Bath on behalf of those aged and dis-
tinguished officers. But they did so, and unfor-
tunately succeeded by a majority of 7, through
the apathy and indifference of the House, which
narrowly escaped the disgrace of being counted
out during such a motion, and in which there
'Were the division but 69 members—scarcely
more than a tenth of the number entitled to vote.
ilay, more, they added insult to injury by per-
mitting Sir CHARLES Wool), as their mouthpiece,
to scoff and sneer at services which, as the Morn-
ing Herald trnly remarks, "he has not sufficient
claaracter to appreciate !" It was indeed a heart-
rending statement of Captain SCOBELL—one that
should have elicited in place of scorn and re unqualified sympathy
proach. These eighteen
heroes, whve average service was fifty-five years,
" had among them 42 wounds, including losses
medals and clas
of legs, arms, awl eyes, and bad received 30
ps. The average period dining
which they enjoyed the scanty advantages of
Greenwich was but nine years. In some cases
men had died so poor that their widows had not
bee n able to administer to their wills, or subscrip-
tions had to be raised for the payment of debts
'Allah they had contracted, in order to furnish
their humble dwellings. They were all men with
fallglies, having children to educate, and they had