The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-10 00:00:00

rAIPERIAL PABLIAXENT

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

, THE CHARGE OF FRAUD AGAINST
1 ADMIRALTY EMPLOYEES.

-
The Saturday Review, in drecdssing Mr... Lowe% nnancial
At the Central Criminal Court, on Firday, the case in 1
HOUSE OF LORDS—LAST EVENING.
statement, observes that it has been the rare fortune of
. which James Thomas Gambier, a clerk in the Admiralty, The Loin
the Chancellor of the Exchequer to giatify the House
When
and William Rumble, an engineer in the Royal Navy, are LORD CHIN OR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock. -
Commons and the country with &pleasant surprise.
t r na
indicted for unlawfully conspiring together to obtain by THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
all men looked that he should curse them with aarxet c
false pretences from Nicholas Mahon Maxwell the sum of It was announced to their lordships that at the meeting
loan, he has blessed them altogether. The revenue . .
urns £3O, came before Mr. Justice Hannen. The Attorney- ,of the Hudson's Bay Company the proposition of the Go-
Of the financial year presented a gloomy and fuligmous
General, with whom u ere Mr. Huddlestone, Q.C., and !
i Yernment had been accepted.
appearance, and it was generally apprehended
that
d not alone Mr. Harrington, prosecuted on behalf of the Crown ; Mr. I The house then proceeded to consider the motion of
the reduction of the estimates woul
Serjeant Parry appeared for Gambier, and Mr. NaemYth 1 Earl Russell, with respect to the right of Lord Wensley-
produce an equilibrium. Mr. Lowe has maintained, in
for Rumble. I dale to sit and vote in Parliament. The noble earl briefly
the midst of lugubrious anticipations, unbroken silence,
The Attorney-General opened the case, stating that I reviewed the precedents, and stated that in the bill which
congratulating himself perhaps on an opportunity of
the prisoner Rumble had sought to obtain money from i he intended to lay upon the table he should provide that
exemplifying the artistic precept, Mr. Maxwell on the pretence that he could through a friend I the number of life peerages should not exceed twenty-
" Non fumum ex fulgore, sod ex fume dare lucem."
at the Admiralty use such influence as would lead to the I eight, and that not more than four should be created in
Mr. Lowe evidently shares the opinion that exceptional
acceptance of a tender for a contract which Mr. Maxwell one year.
outlay ought to be distributed over a series of years; and , The Marquis of SALISBURY said the bill appeared to
had sent in for the supply of timber to her Majesty's I
If he is right in believing that his new mode of collection be founded on sound principles.
. dockyards. It would be shewn that Rumble bad been
will be advantageous in itself, he is perfectly justified in .The bill was read a first time.
close ad confidential communication with Gambier,
profiting by the accompanying windfall ; or, to use more Their lordships then adjourned.
in
nnd that when the latter was arrested there was
accurate language, in picking up the fruit which he has
found
himself shaken from the tree. There can be no difference
person
could doubt referred to the receipt of £lO from I
of opinion on the expediency of substituting official
Rumble in respect of lal a,xwelrs contract, and which bore
/ jax-gatherers for parochial amateurs ; and although
date about the time that Maxwell bad paid money on this
excisemen will exercise additional vigilance, moderately
account to Rumble. The pretence, said the learned
honest taxpayers will welcome a change which
gentleman, which the prisoners made to Mr. Maxwell 1
removes their establishments and their private
was altogether a false pretence. They bad no influence
affairs from the curious supervision of neighbours.
whatever with the Admiralty, or with any other 1
‘ln his estimates of revenue, Mr. Lowe has been prudently
department, for obtaining the acceptance of any
roodest ; but there can be no doubt that in the absence of
contracts. If it were a fact that the accept- 1
disturbing causes his expectations will be considerably
ante of contracts could be procured through the
exceeded, even if rich men should once more disappoint influence of such means, it would be a very serious matter I
him by obstinately refusing to die. With the exception
indeed, and would indicate a rottenness in our public
of the cotton trade, the principal branches of industry are ;service of a most alarming character. But Mr. Max-
aaa a tolerably healthy state ; and the rise in the rate of : well obtained no benefit whatever from the prisoners, and '
`erect shows that commercial enterprise is reviving.
if they had succeeded in obtaining money from other con-
fir, Lowe has commenced his career with p
tractors in the same way, those contractors had paid their 4
auspices, although at the commencement of his s rosperousp eech h
money without consideration. If the jury came to the
wisely propitiated the jealous powers by dilating upon thee
conclusion, after they had heard the evidence, that these
unhappiness of his circumstances.
' two persons were guilty of this offence, their verdict
The Spectator refers to the discussion that has taken
would be of the highest importance to every department
'
Place about Lord Stanley's politics, and declares that in the service.
.heing what be is, it can be no surprise to anybody that he ' The examination of witnesses was then proceeded with.
should be somewhat of a problem and a perplexity to the Mr. Maxwell said he was a mining engineer and timber
Tory party in days of hot conflict like the present. In merchant, at 49. Lombard-street. On the 12th of January
times of rest, with no great issue before the country, he last he sent into the Admiralty a contract for elm timber for
might do very fairly for their chief ; for he would win for the dockyards. On the 15th, Rumble, whom he had never 1
them the credit of small reforms and lineiness-like sagacity, seen before, called upon him, and told him he would not get
avliile he would throw cold water with admirable precision .
his contract unless he used influence, and, indeed, unless
u• aim on the " heroic remedies" of Radical prophets alp. he made terms with him (Rumble) he would certainlylose
i
i like pelicans in the wilderness, and obtaining no heed. his contract. Witness said he would not bribe anyone to
nToghave so candid a chief telling his party that all their use his influence; and Rumble then went away, saying as
favourite ideas and war-cries are no use in the world, is of be left the office, " Very well, I'll do the best I can for you;
course a scandal and a great source of new weakness. and after you have got the contract, perhaps you will
Naturally enough Lord Stanley is at present the least do something for me." Witness immediately went to
popular of the Tory chiefs, and Mr. Gathorne Hardy, who Mr. Brady, Registrar of Contracts at Somerset House, 1
has identified himself conspicuously with the Protestant and told him what had occurred. On the 18th Rumble
religion, the most so. But Mr. Dieraeli, we think we may came, and said witness would receive his contract in a
venture to prophesy, is not likely to give place to day or two. He had learned that from his friend in the
either of his colleagues. While Mr. Gathorne Hardy Admiralty, who was " pretty high up." Witness asked I
fitly represents only the prejudice, Lord Stanley "ln the event of your receiving.£2o or £3O from me, would
only the prudence, Mr. Disraeli endeavours to repro- you keep the whole of it, or would you have to share it
sent--and more or less succeeds in representing— with any other person ?" Rumble said, " I should have
in the larger sense the policy of• the party he leads. to divide it with my friend. My friend has great in.
He enters into its prejudices so as to avoid drenching the finence, and when you want your accounts passed, I shall
ardour of his supporters in ice-cold water like Lord be able to shew you bow to do so quickly." On the 2nd
Stanley, and without being possessed by them like Mr. Rumble came again, and said witness's contract was
keathorne Hardy. He duly appreciates the force of "smashed up;" the new Board was very difficult to deal
party passions which the former hardly does, but without with. He added that, while witness's contract was for
being influenced by them like the latter. In a time when £914, the other was for -0925. He afterwards brought a letter
a leader even of the Philistines can only be qualified for accepting the contract for Portsmouth Dockyard. Witness
his post by having entered in some degree into the educe. asked whether the letter bad been obtained through his
tion and aims of the children of light, it is impossible foi influence, and Rumble replied, " Most certainly ; if I
such a man of Gath as Mr. Gathorne Hardy, Goliatt hadn't used my influence you would not have got it."
though he be, to lead them with any success. On the Witness bad tendered for the supply of Woolwich, Chat-
other hand, it is equally impossible for one who is so ham, Sheerness, and Devonport ; and he asked bow it was
purged from Philistian lore as not even to wish to see the those tenders hadnot been accepted. Rumble said,
Philistines triumph, though it be also true that he has no "You are much better without them ; they are great
wish to see the Israelites triumph and desires only a sus- humbugs down there." Witness gave the prisoner three
pension of hostilities, to lead the children of Philistia ; and £lO ' '
notes which he had received, through Clark, the de-
this is the case with Lord Stanley. Until there grow up a tective, from Mr. Brady.
leader with something of Mr. Disraeli's detachment of i Mr. Brady was then called, and deposed that after
vision, and yet something, too, of Mr. Gathorne Hardy's receiving a communication from Mr. • Maxwell, he
Toryism of soul, the Conservatives will never have a really employed the detective Clark. The witness described the
great leader. Such a statesman as the late Sir Robert Peens course of business with regard to correspondence about
not easily found twice in a century—and even the late contracts, and said it could not be known at the Store-
Sir Robert Peel had in him a grain or two too much of , keeper-General's office, in which Gambier was a first-class
Lord Stanley. 1 clerk, that Maxwell's contract had been accepted until
The Examiner and London Review says that how to be 1 the 22nd of January, when the memorandum of the deci-
splendid without cash in hand, and to do the nennifi- sion of the Lords of the Admiralty came down. Gambier,
cent without anything to spare, was the problem which however, had means of ascertaining previously that
Providence set Mr. Lowe. Mr. Childers and Mr. Card Maxwell's was the lowest tender.
well had done their best by dint of saving to furnish their Mr. Horton, a clerk in the Storekeeper-Gengars office,
colleague with the wherewithal, and but for the unlookeda. and Mr- Girdlestone, a clerk in the Record Office, were
for windfall of extra liability left him by King Theodoreyk next examined. The latter witness said he put letters
the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have really ha •}
which were to be dispatched into envelopes, which
a surplus, with which he might have lessened the actual he did not fasten, but placed in a basket for
amount of taxation. As it is, however, the whole the messenger. Cross-examined by Serjeant Parry :
of the retrenchments on account of the army and navy Do you mean to say that at the Admralty, when
will not suffice to square the account for glory purchases you put a letter into an envelope, you do not seal
in Abyssinia. Indeed, we are not yet quite sure hov; it or moisten the envelope? I do not.—lt is too
much we shall have to pay on that score. But taking the much trouble, I suppose. (Laughter.) The messengerhas
most favourable view of the case, the bloodless expeditior to do it? Yes. (Laughter.)—And he can read the letters
will cost no less than £9,0e0,000 ster'iug, and thus Mr.- if he likes ? I should not allow him to do so if I saw him.
Lowe has found himself driven to the necessity of Mr. William Henry
, enryGraham, another clerk in the
inventing a surplus, in order that he pay have the pleasure Storekeeper-General's department, Mr. Nelson Girdle-
of spending one. Instead of borrowing from the Bank or stone, Mr. Dundas, Storekeeper-General of the Navy,
the Stock Exchange, he has ingeniously resorted to the Admiral Spencer Robinson, Comptroller of the Navy, and
expedient of borrowing from to-morrow. He proposes to Mr. Baxter, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury,
anticipate £3,30,000 of assessed taxes, a large portion of were also called for the prosecution.
which, in the ordinary course of things, would not become For the defence it was argued, on the part of Gambier,
payable until a good way on in the next year ; and with the that he had only given certain information, for which he
produce which he hopes thus to realise, he undertakes to had received £lO. To give that information was a corn-
relieve the community of burthens to the extent of mon thing. It was indiscreet, not criminal. For Rumble
£2,940,000, leaving a surplus, after balancing all, of it was contended that he had merely acted as agent. Wit-
R 442,000 to strengthen the balances in the Exchequer. nesses as to character were called, among others
The total amount to be paid by the nation in the next Alderman Sir Thomas Gabriel; and it was shewn that
twelve months will, in round numbers, remain the same ; Rumble and Gambier had only very recently become
but, in a variety of ways, the incidence of taxation is known the one to the other. The jury, however, after a
modified or shifted from one set of people to another. The quarter of an hour's deliberation, found the prisoners guilty.
whole affair, as Mr. Lowe himself candidly avowed, is the Mr. Justice Hannen, in passing sentence, said they had
result of a dexterous resort to the art of "parliamentary L been convicted upon evidence which could not leave the
magic," whereby a Minister of Finance is enabled to work , faintest shadow of a doubt on the mind of any person
wonders. 1 1 who heard the case. With respect to Gambier, it was im.
The John Bull declares that if the circumstances of , possible to exaggerate the enormity of his conduct. He
Ireland are so peculiar as to demand exceptional treat- : was a person of good education, was respectably con-
ment, then the only logical alternative is to petition for , netted, and appeared to have troops of friends, so that
an Irish Parliament. If the measure is one dealing (as it one would have thought he would have been restrained by
does professedly) with Irish interest only, it is only just the desire men had to retain their reputation from
that Irishmen should be allowed to decide the matter for committing such a crime as 'this. He had, however,
themselves. We believe that all parties would admit violated the trust reposed in him in a high and
that such a course as that at which we have hinted is a responsible office. Regarded in another view it was
fair and reasonable one. But it may be alleged that in impossible to conceive any offence likely to be more mis-
advocating a repeal of the Union, or even anything that chievous in every way to society, for how many men who
may tend to such a consummation, one incurs a fearful had never yet committed an offence of this sort might be
responsibility. But the question is not whether Conserve- easily induced to do so by some tempter saying to him,
tives should bring about such a cry, but whether they " Oh, you need not hestate ; it is done in the public
should support it before the bill becomes lawoin order offices." In the position in which he was he set an example
that English Liberals may be roused to the real which might be followed in all ranks of society, and as far
danger of the situation ; for all who know Ireland agree as he might he had tarnished even the name of his country.
in saying that the cry of repeal will wax louder every He (the learned judge) would not make any distinction
year should Mr. Gladstone's bill become law. The Irish , between them, but pass upon them both the same sentence,
Protestants will have been deserted by England. They , which must be a severe one, namely, eighteen months'
' will feel that they will not receive less justice from a Parlia. imprisonment with hard labour.
went sitting in College Greene than in St. Stephen's ; and \ --
believing that the article of the Union which made their I
forefathers accept it has been sacrilegiously set aside,
nineteen out of twenty of them will be repealers. Those
who honestly believe that this cry of repeal will be fraught
with peril, and that the bill of Mr. Gladstone will alien-
ate
the Protestants without satisfying the Roman Catho.
lies, may be excused if they prefer that the cry of repeal
be raised before rather than after the bill becomes, law. '
The Saturday Review looks with 'great displeasure on
those well-meaning but fanatical persons who view with
equanimity, if not with positive satisfaction, the prospect
of exchanging the established clergy of the Church of
England for a more religious, as they say, and more
earnest body of disestablished and disendowed ministers
of religion. We are only concerned with the fact that a
disestablished and disendowed clergy would be altogether,
except in Church, an institution not only different from,
but opposed in conception to, an Established Church.
It is simply ridiculous to suppose that, with all the exist-
ing clerical conditions changed, we should have the same
raw material to work with. As it is, there are clergy and
there are clergy. We have the intellectual, intelligent,
highly-educated clergyman consorting with nobles as his
equals, which they are often by birth, sometimes by for-
tune, always by education ; the solid, matter-of-fact,
temperate country parson, of Mackworth Praed's type ;
the forward, pushing town parson, to whom popularity
and pew-rents are powers ; and the vulgar, ignorant
fanatic, who occasionally culminates in an Irish bishop.
'These
varieties we have' and they have their value,
evil • but there would be
' their good as well as their , •
the disestablished Anglican parson of
few varieties in
the future. For a time
notsomething of
.lthe
osapie ch.ad-
racter would survive Butas Rome
r ralieti!vseryi rapidly,onic'di
not perish, in a day. gradually, o
level sink, but the clerical
not only would the clerical
great
character would be entirely changed. In the towns
1, 'etive clever men of the Ward Beecher ,ee.e.,-, —, . ..e„., ._ „
______
....,
we should Lave a VD r u
and very much of despots Oriental scholars have been called upon to believe. A i -ole° tee--
type, men making great incomes, .
Hocks. And we •
over their thr:ving and money-making .
.. discovery of some irde.re.e. 4- e, • - -
should have the petted shepherds of the sectarian petite
ePttse, the spiritual directors and t 3 rants of the women,
and of the husbands who think that religion is a very
proper employment for females and feminine-minded men.
And we should have, both among High Churchmen and
Low Churchmen, the supple obedient nominee who is
patronised and instructed and interfered with and bullied
by the great man of the congregation who finds the money,
and keeps a church and parson as an easy means of minis-
tering to his own state and importance and reflecting his
vulgar munificence. But the independence, the freedom,
thepure liberal spirit of the English clergy would be gone.
As to the country parishes, to suppose that their Church
administration would rise lunch higher than it does under
the present voluntaryism of Dissent is futile to argue. The
Establishment, with all that belongs to it, its good and
evil, its worldliness and political excellences, has made the
- English clergy what they are ; and then we are asked to
believe that every one of these efficient causes ceasing,
precisely the same results will fellow from re • gbililo
9PPOittiritgli and pjaiiplo, . ----- P...cia

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—LAST EVENING.
The SPEAKER took tho chair at 4 o'clock.
THE NEW LAW COURTS.

Sir 11. PALMER presented a petition from the members
of the Temple and Lincoln's-inn against the alteration of
the site of the courts from Carey-street to the Thames
Embankment

A WEALTHY PA.UPER.—A rather amusing case,
and shewing how difficult it is to know where to give
relief, took place at Ilford, Essex, a few days ago. A
poor woman, named Smith, had, on representation of her
destitution, which appeared true, been allowed a weekly
pittance, which had lately been augmented by a piece of
meat. On her death about £6O in sovereigns was disco-
vered under her bed, much to the surprise of everyone
who knew her.

The Lancet regrets to hear that at least one death
has resulted from the exposure to tempestuous weather of the
volunteers who went to Dover on Easter Monday. An offi-
cer of ono of the metropolitan corps, who was previously in
good health, was attacked by erysipelas of the face on the
following day, and unfortunately succumbed after two days'
illness. What adds to the melancholy interest of the case is
the fact that the gentleman in question was to have been
married within the next few days, and that every prepara-
tion for the event had been made.

A NATIONAL COLOUR.—Brown is the character-
istic colour of Spain, from the drapery of Murillo and the
walls of cathedrals, to the shadow of cypresses and the
arid soil of the hills. Whether brightening into gold, or
ripening into purple, it always seems to give the key of
colour. In the streets of Caidona it WAS the base upon
which end!e3s picture que groups of pe ple ware painted
—women spinning flax, children cooling their bare bodies
on the stones, blacksmiths and cobblers forging and
stitching in the open air—all with a keen glance of
curiosity, but also a respectful greeting for the stranger.
THE DISCOVERY OF RECORDS AT THE INDIA
OFFICE.—The " find" of Timour's library at the India
Office is, we hear, now considered not to be so valuable as
Oriental scholars have been called upon to believe. A
discovery of some interest to Oriental scholars has been
made, but its real value is still uncertain. About thirty
years ago a large quantity of manuscripts was sent to the
old East India House in Leadenhall-street, from Beejapoor.
These were inspected by Professor IL 11. Wilson, who de-
clared them worthless, and put them aside. But lately a
Syrian, who is engaged un ler the librarian in rearranging
the manuscripts in the library of the India Office, found
that on several of the papers huddled together in the
box from Beejapoor was the seal of Timour ; and these
have since been put together and bound in volumes. It
is not yet known, however, whether they are original
memoirs or only copies of historical documents already
familiar to students, and the only evidence of their value
so far is the offer made by an agent of the Pasha of
Egypt to purchase some of them, on the strength of their
imykif
_Zan&Q allamagr MUM