The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-08 00:00:00

The Government articles cannot fail in this
way. The temptation to use improper materials
is wanting. Cheapness and economy are very
good things in their way, but they may be car•
ried too far, and there is nothing that should be
so cautiously avoided as "a penny-wise-and-
pound-foolish policy."l The result of a single
battle, or even a comparatively trifling conflict,
would be far more important than all the savings
that could be effected by the contract system,
more especially as it is now carried on by the
Government.

We therefore commend Ministers for seeking
to avoid this formidable danger. It is even
important as a matter of £ s. d., and putting
higher considerations altogether out of the ques-
tion, it is of the greatest possible consequence
that there should be factories entirely under the
oontrol of Government, to act as a check on those
who might otherwise make extravagant demands
when they thought their services indispensable.
However costly, in the first instance, the cannon
and small arms may be much cheaper in the long
run, and there is almost a certainty, S 3 far as hu-

man precautions can insure it, that there will be no
failure in the hour of danger and trial. It was justly
remarked, that " it will not do to take your sol-
diers into action with muskets that won't carry,
with guns that burst, and with mortars that
split." Let there be economy in other matters
Let the jobs that so frequently disgrace the
nation be carefully eschewed, but in the materiel
of war let there be no shortcomings, more espe-
cially at a time when the nation is engaged in a
eontest that may affect the welfare and proiperity
of our children and their descendants for ages yet
to come. In such matters there can be no judicious
saving, and what may appear profuse and lavish
extravagance in the first instance will prove to
be true economy when the accounts are ulti-
mately settled, and the national balance•sheet
fairly calculated. We are not disposed to receive
any Government proposition without full and
mature consideration ; but, in this instance, they

have acted in the best manner for the nation,
and are, therefore, deserving of the thanks and
gratitude of the community.

The frequenters of Kensington Gardens of a
Sunday afternoon may enjoy their music tomor-
row without any misgivings on the score of pay-
ment. The threatened hat will not make its
rounds—the treat is, after all, to bo purely gra-
tuitous. They can afford to lend Sir BBNIAMIN
again their countenance, and, entranced by tho
mellifluous strains of the band, forgot the direful
suspicious that whilome disturbed their honest
breasts, and found their most naive exposition in,
the memorable nursery lines; commencing
"Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was —."

St. James's-park is not to be bisected like an
over-grown cabbage—its tranquil privacy is no.c
to be invaded by the special licence of the licensed
Jarvies with their facetious curiosity into matters
with which they can have no possible business.
The blush of young love is not to be desecrated
by the dust of a highly-triturated highway.. No
wither o
Our "
little
plant of foreign extraction is doomed to
her n its
stem,
es
me
othnev”ictim of alien exclusive-
nwill not have to regret
the dissipation through fright of the waterfowl
they have been accustomed to feed with
instinctive care and delight. The jaded and
weary citizen will not hav© to mourn
over the destruction of that fairy retreat, which,
of all others, he was accustomed to had forth to
the special admiration of his country visitors, and
was associated with his earliest and most pleasinc,
recollections ; nor to seek elsewhere, in vain, a
scene of recreation where, to the pleasures of
quiet and a salubrious and invigorating atmo-
sphere, was added 'that sense of harmonious com-
pleteness which pervaded the Park, as with a
spell. The Goths and Vandals of office have been
sent to the rightabout by a Committee of the
House of Commons, who, like practical English
Gentlemen, have arrived at the conclusion that

"a short cut " is not necessarily the best cut, and

health, taste, and innocent enjoyment ara not

considerations to be trampled under-foot by any-
thing short of an impericus necessity.
The most charming feature of the metropolis—
the beautiful ornamental gardens of the Park are

sup plied are too often not only far more costly,
but much inferior to what could be obtained from
priv %to firms of high credit and reputation. But,
unfortunately, it has been discovered, in many
recent cases, that the heads of such establishments
do not send in tenders in accordance with the
stipulated terms, or that, if they do so, they
have merely their labour for their pains, inas-
much as they are invariably under-bid by persons
who endeavour to compensate for cheapness of
price by worthlessness of material—who have
no characters to lose, and are willing to act in
the most fraudulent manner if they can only
realise gain thereby. The startling announce-.
ment by Mr. MONSELL that one house with which
Government had dealings " was found to have
made attempts at deception in the manu-
facture of five mortars, by inserting pieces of
iren, in order that the flaws in the material
they had used might escape observation," is
alone sufficient to justify any departure from the
ordinary system, although with additional ex-
pense. We cannot conceive a more atrocious crime
than these parties had attempted. The safety,
honour, and welfare of the nation might depend
on the efficiency of these guns, which were prac-
tically useless. The lives of those by whom they
were served—nay of the entire army—might be
jeopardised by the infamous fraud, and yet tbe
names of the delinquents were kept back.
Although, to use a vulgar but expressive phrase,
" hanging would be too good for such crinainals,"
they were not even exposed for the outrage, their
names were sheltered from the national detesta-
tion, which their conduct so eminently merited.
We trust that this undue reserve may no longer
be maintained, but that suitable measures may be
adopted to bring the criminals to justice.
As Lord PALMERSTON justly re marked, " no-
thing could be more absurd than that Govern-
ment should make clothes, shoes, belts, and things
of the kind, the common produce of the industry
of the country." A stringent examination will
detect any fraud, and even the inferiority of the
article, if suffered to pass, although inconvenient,
will not occasion any irreparable damage. But
with fire-arms of any description, large or small,
the matter is altogether different. There the
inferiority can only be discovered at the moment
of trial, and irreparable damage may be sustained
from the failure. Had it not been for the de-
fective material of the mortars used at Sweaborg
a much better account would have been ren-
dered of the Russian fortress. The honour of
our " wooden walls " was imperilled, and the
Russian prestige maintained by the dishonesty of
contractors, whose wealth, multiplied a hundred-
fold, could not compensate for the injury in-
flicted on their country. Whatever, then, may
be the proper rule in other cases, implements of
war must form an exception thereto, particularly
those that cannot be adequately tested at home
before the time when everything may depend on
their efficiency and soundness.