The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-17 00:00:00

,

ILONDON, MONDAY, MAY 17, 1858.

It is a great, a momentous question that now
awaits the decision of the House of Commons—a
question that should not be decided on factious or
party motives, but on its just and substantial
merits. Theinterests of India are not to be sacrificed
in order to replace Lord PALMERSTON as Premier,
or to enable Lord CLARENDON to exhibit further
subservience to despotic Powers, nor is it desirable
that Mr. SMITH should be allowed to display his
self-sufficient petulance and arrogant impertinence
—or Sir CHARLES WOOD and Sir G. C. LEWIS
to utter their pompous platitudes from the
Ministerial Benches. It may seem otherwise
to the waiters on PROVIDENCE, the hungry ex-
pedants of the loaves and fishes ; but it is not so
with the truly independent Members, or the more
numerous independent constituencies, who despise
patronage, and, whatever might be their former
prejudices, have had every reason to be satisfied
with the proceedings of Lord DERBY and his col-
leagues since their accession to office.
It is known that the late Cabinet would not be
accepted at any price, nor, unless it were to be
reconstituted, could the necessary temptations be
offered. It has accordingly been more thau
hinted that many political JONAHS are to be flung
overboard, to make way for those who desire to be
regarded as the coming men. Lord J. RUSSELL
has patched up a temporary reconciliation with the
scan whom he twice tripped up, and who
fully
returned the compliment, of course a leading
place must be found for him, and some one must go.
Mr. CARDWELL and some of his political friends
are alsoto be rewarded,and some sop thrownto such
of the Liberals as may be disposed to sacrifice
their independence in pursuit of places. Should
they succeed, there will be a very motley group
collected who may discover to their cost that
" England loves not coalitions." Amongst the
intended victims it is said that Lords CRAN-
WORTH, CLARENDON, CLANRICARDE, and PANMURE.
and Mr. LABOI7CHERE, Sir GEORGE GREY, and
Mr. VERNON SMITH will be included. Thus
eight places would be ready for the new wen—
s strong temptation it must be admitted ; but one
in which the nation would take but little interest.

But what are the real merits of the question
What is the grave object for which the nation is
to be disturbed in the most important part of the
session, and an appeal to the country rendered in-
dispensable, even before the many valuable
measures now before both Houses can re-
ceive the Legislative sanction ? It is not a
defence of the policy adopted by Lord
C1N14"4. Far from it. The crafty authors
well know that it void I be ruinous to go to the
country as the advocates of general csnfiscation—
that it would be prononnud as " too bad" even
by the most venial time-servers. The Sabbath-
day conspirators were too cunning t, place such a
tremendous weapon in the hands of their oppo-
nents. CANNING was to remain in suspense.
His wounded feelings were not taken into con-
sideration. His injured amour propre was a
matter of profound indifference to the schemers
fur place. There is, therefore, a studied
and avowed exclusion of all relating to

Lord CANNING, which should lead that noble-
man to exclaim, " Save me from my friends,"
for most assuredly they have placed him
in a far worse position than if the question had
never been ventilated. The policy of abstention
was never carried to a greater, or more strictly
speaking, a more unjustifiable length, than in re-
fraining from speaking of the Governor-General's
proclamation while dealing with such an issue. It
was the play of " Hamlet," the part of the
Princely Dane being carefully excluded.
The Solicitor-General, in his truly brilliant
oration on Friday evening, raised the cor-
rect issue. The object was not to support, how-
ever indirectly, the policy announced by Lord
CANNING, or its effects on the operations now
proceeding in India, but rather to facilitate opera-
tions in this country, against the occupants of the
Treasury bench. It is the publication of the
despatch that is really the sole ground of com-
plaint, for if the conduct of Lord CANNING could
not be justified, the Government would have abdi-
cated its functions had it abstained from express-
ing a very marked and decided opinion thereon.
But the publication, forsooth, was wrong. We
were to permit the bane to go forth to the world
without giving equal circulation to the antidote,
to permit the Oudeans to be driven to desperation
merely from holding back that which would have
restored confidenceand advanced the complete paci-
fication of the coun try and the restoration of British
supremacy. It was the straightforward and manly
policy, which would be advocated by every un-
prejudiced Englishman who could view the sub-
ject without the intervention of a party coloured
medium, and who had no personal interest to
promote.
But even if the publication were objectionable,
the only responsible party has already more than
expiated. Lord ELLENBOROUGH adopted that
course without consulting with his colleagues.
Alone he did it, and anticipated the envenomed
weapons directed against him. He also sent in
his resignation without consultation, and it is
really monstrous that the motion should have been
proceeded with after that resignation was accepted.
Had the parties to the Cambridge House plot
anticipated the retirement of Lord ELLENBOROUGH
they would have raised a wider issue, but they
were already committed, and they hoped that the
factious spirit of certain greedy aspirants would
enable them to ensure the success of their dirty
scheme. There is, however, many a slip "'twixt
cup and lip," and the result of the debate and
division may disappoint their glowing expecta-
tions, and fling the brimming goblet to the
ground.

The Palmerstonian Government has left a moat
important branch of practical reform almost wholy
open to their successors, and we doubt not that
Lord DERBY will see to it that his Government
gives the people fair deeds as well as fair promises.
We refer to the very important department of the
Civil Service, and competitive examinations as the
preliminary to an appointment. The uninquiring
public will, probably, at first, hardly credit the
extent to which it has been jilted, we know no
better word, in this department. It has had the
promise of competitive examinations distinctly
enough. In an excellent tract now before us,* the
writer, and he is one behind the scenes, remarks ;
that twice the House of Commons has expressed
its opinion in favour of the competitive system.
In April 1856, an address to the Crown was car-
ried against Ministers in favour of open competi
tion ; again in July of last year a resolution of the
House, in favour of extending the system beyond
the narrow limits to which it had been practically
restricted was also carried unanimously Lord PAL-;
MERSTON had learned wisdom, and instead of
kicking tried his old policy of outwitting. He even
thanked the House for strengthening his hands in
the good work so congenial (qp. un-congenial) t
them.

Well, let us see how the strengthened hands
did their work ? There are two large classes into
which the appointments may be divided. First,
the permanent clerkships. From the last Report
of the Civil Service Commissioners, it appears that
in 1857, the nominations to clerkships as they
may be termed, by the various branches of Go-
' vernment service amounted t) six hundred and
twenty. How many of these would our readers
suppose were nominated by any kind of competi-
tion ? just eighty-two, leaving five hundred and
thirty-eight to be nominated as the reward of po-
litical support iu some instances, but doubtless,
much more frequently, as the reward of di-
rect or indirect connection with the aristocracy.
What will the House of Commons say to these in-
disputable facts ? Will no advocate of popular
rights come forward with a motion of inquiry
into the antecedents or relationships of all
of all the Government nominees ? Will no
one inquire of the ex-Premier how he considers
some seven or eight per cent, of nominations by
competition to have fulfilled the intentions of the
Address to the Crown and the Resolution of the
House of Commons ; and how it accords with the
fair promises made by himself ?
But there is a yet more numerous class—those
below the position of permanent clerks, such as
temporary clerks, expectants of Excise, tide-
waiters, and weighers, letter-carriers, messengers,
c.,—in which the nominations amounted to
twelve hundred and seventy-two. Of these none
were nominated by open competition I Why not ?
Blue blood would certainly not accept such ap-
pointments as these. Certainly not. Yet it may
be very convenient to be able to oblige the de-
pendents of the Government and their humble
supporters in the constituencies. Still more, it
may be of consequence to avoid the comparison of
competitive examination as the rule for the hum
bier situations, and patronage nominations for
the higher appointments. If a tide-waiter or
weigher undergo an open examination in compe-
tition with twenty others, all aspirants to the same
post, why should not a Custom-house clerk for
one of the higher appointments undergo a compe-
titive examination for a more tempting salary ?
We must think the unpleasantness of such a com-
parison to be the chief
spendrineags,on.
Here we are, through an irrespor.-
sible Committee of Privy Council, a sum which
the Chancellor of the Exchequer tells us is rapidly
mounting to three or four millions a-year ; and
all, it would seem, to educate those who for the
more part would either educate themselves if we
did not do it, or would be educated by the „rion,
voluntary agencies—spending the money with
little or no perceptible return on capitation
grants, and pupil teachers. Why, these very
situations, fairly offered to open competition through
the schools of the country, would do more thtin
all the capitation grants in the world to rouse
parents and children to a sense of the utility and
profitableness of education. They would to some
extent compete with the farmers' and the manufac
turers' wages. A good government situation for life,
competed for by all the schools of a district, would

set every lad to his slate and copy-book, to his
spelling and grammar, with a zeal unknown be-
fure. Mr. HORACE MANN has already invited
attention to this kind of Governmental encourage-
.

Merit v. Patronage. London : Ridgway, Piccadilly.

ment of education—a mode of encouragement
which would enrich the nation with better ser-
vants, at the same time that it wasted nothing
from the national treasury in damping voluntary
educational efforts.

Perhaps the worst has yet to be told. The
eighty-two who were nominated by competition,
were not nominated by open competition. Three
candidates were selected by patronage, frequently
one or two of these utterly incapable of under-
going examination at all, and from this little list
the eighty-two were chosen 1 If this be not an
attempt to cover the whole thing with ridicule,
we are at a loss to comprehend the motive. The
three points desired are to relieve Government of
the odium of patronage, and prevent its abuse, to
secure a better class of public servants, and to sti-
mulate national education by legitimate prizes.
To attain these objects every appointment should
be open to the competition of either the whole
kingdom, or of large yet manageable districts.
The salaries of different amounts being adapted to
the wants of all classes, would call for the energies
of all. The examinations would be looked for-
ward to with intense interest by far more thou-
sands than those of Oxford and Cambridge are
by hundreds. Give the middle and lower classes
something to hope for from first class education.
We mean first class for each grade respectively
down to the very "Messengers" of Government
offices, and we should soon see an educational
rivalry which the present bounty system can never
create.

We have not time now to advert to the utterly
insignificant objections to open competition in Exa-
minations for all departments. The little spirited
and instructive pamphlet we have adverted to
meets them all ; though they are so obviously
the hypocritical special pleadings of the counsel for
HAYTER and Co., that they really do not deserve
it. Bad not the cause of Treasury nomination
been a bad one Lord Palmerston would neither
have renounced it in the BOUM, nor continued it
at Downing-street.

Very soon the House of Lords will begin, we
suppose, another conflict with the Commons and
the nation. Rather prematurely, and unwisely,
too, we think, Lord DERBY almost committed the
Upper House to this undignified course in regard to
the Church-rates Abolition Bill, which he fully
expected the Commons would send up thither.
One would have thought that the Oaths Bill had
been quite nuisance enough of that kind, and that
a Statesman would have been slow to render the
House of Lards still more offensive to the nation,
and to strengthen the impression that it needed a
thorough reform itself. With the weight of Lord
DERBY'S influence, and the abundant natural
willingness of the Peers to obstruct, in perpetuity,
were that possible, any liberal aao.laure, no doubt
the Bill will never pass more than a first reading,
which, we presume, will be accorded as a matter
of course to a measure sent up from the Commons
—one, too, for which the Premier's own son has
voted, and which he has advocated by the press
as well as in his place in Parliament.

The first great step has, however, been gained.
Ever since the time of the Reform Bill the aboli-
tion of Church-rates has been pressed upon Par-
liament, and has been promised under some modi-
fication or another, by most professedly Liberal
Ministers. Sometimes a compromise scheme
seemed likely to be victorious, soon it was found
that this would not suit any party, till at length the
leaders on the question determined that "no corn-
promise" should be their motto, and " uncondi-
tional abolition " their bill. As with the Corn-
law Repeal, the just and bold policy has succeeded.
In 1853 there was a majority of 48 against the
hill. In 1858 there was a majority of 53 for its
introduction, and of 74, -in committee, for the
unconditional abolition clause ! The bill may be
said to have passed the House of Commons
triumphantly. Opponents confessed the complete.
ness of the triumph. A Cinservative Government
dared not, as a Government, oppose the bill ;
some of its own Cabinet voted for it, and the ma-
jority, iu a house of 380 members, was three to
two in its favour.
Will the Lords venture to deal with Church-
rates as they have with Jewish Disabilities ? We
can hardly think they will. They most likely will
think it safe to reject the bill for one year, per-
haps for two, but the couutry this time has them
in its power, and the chapter of accidents will be
against them. They could prevent a constituency
completing its object in electing a Jew, by refus-
ing him a seat in the Commons ; but they can
prevent no parish constituency from obtaining its
object ; for, if it refuse a rate, the rate is at an
end. This they know, then, that the Opposition will
go on with renewed vigour. Lord DERBY him-
self gave up the Court of Directors, because a largo
majority of the Commons doomed them to extinc-
tion ; and now, in every parish vestry it eel
be proclaimed with irresistible effect that the
House of Commons has also doomed Church-
rates. The refusals, and the difficulty of collection,
will be everywhere increased. In fact, the Lords
must be well aware that if they attempt a Jew Bill
policy in regard to Church-rates, they will have not
only the Commons, and one constituency which has
elected a Jew,.to fight with, but that all the parishes
in the country will speedily join in the battle, and
in a few years more their Lordships will have
nothing left to fight for. On this question ali
the ratepayers of England are in power —in abso-
lute power—neither Crown, nor Lords and Com-
mons, can say them nay. If, therefore, the Lord 3
do reject:this bill, we trust tho ratepayers will
show that they are, if not the Upper, yet the
Uppermost House.

We understand that a marriage is short'y to take
place between Lady Agnes Grosvenor, eldest unmarried
daughter of the Marquis and Marchioness of Westmin-
ster, and Sir Archibald J. Campbell, Bart. The mar-
riage of Earl Spencer and Miss Seymour, third daughter
of Lady Augusta Seymour, is appointed to be solemn-
ised on the Ist of July.
APPROACHING MARRIAGES IN HIGH LIFE. - The
Marquis of Sligo is about to be married to the daughter
of a wealthy commoner. A matrimonial alliance is
arranged between Lord Worsley, son of Lord Yarbo-
rough, and Miss Hare, sister of Lord L'stewel. A mar-
riage is on the tapis between Lady Lvel Cbarlot'e
Pnipps and John Wallis Alexander, Esq. Court
Journal.
THE EXPENSE OF " ENTERTAINING" PERSONS OF Dus-
TlNCTlON.—According to an official document, the ex-
pense to the country last year in entertaining and
conveying persons of dist'notion, ambassadors, gover-
nors, &e., was 19,1341., being an increase of 12,6961, on
the preceding year. The Siamese ambassadors cost
10,1091. 6s. 4d.

OFFICIAL AFPOINTMENTES. Mr. Brackenbury has
ben appointed her Majesty's Consul at Madrid. Mr.
Annesley, now Consul at Riga, is to be her Majesty's
Consul at Amsterdam, vice Mr. R. S. Johnson, who
exchanges. Mr. E. W. Mark, now her Majesty's Con•
sul at Baltimore, is to be her Majesty's Consul at Mar-
seilles. W. D. Dyer, Esq., is to succeed Mr. Mark at
BAltimore. Mr. C. Tulin, now British Vice-Consul at
Oran, is to succeed Mr. Moreton at Mobile. R)bert
Koch, Esq., is to be her Majesty's Consul in the Free
City of Frankfort.—The Press.
HORSE HEALING.—IIorse healing is a fiubject as
interesting as that of horse taming, which is now a good
deal occupying the public mind. In illustration cf the
ous ltyo ho
cure rse sodt
baenrg e r
animalsou sl y
alo ,
former sebject, I may notice that, in the year 1772, there
also, was a Sieur Tunnestrick at the Hague, who healed
instantaneously
professedne
woundedbut
yt heb
notee aodu.
H
him only contains a reference to his practice on the horse.
In January, 1772, in presence of the Stadtholder and
other eminent persons, a large nail was driven into the
head of a horse ; it was then drawn out by pincers,
when Sieur Tunnestrick went up to the animal, injected
a fluid into the wound, and in five or six minutes the
horse was as lively and well as if nothing unpleasant had
happened
to him. Is anything more known of Tunne-
striek l—Netee and Queries.

THE BISHOPS AND THE SPOLIATION
OF OUDE.

We are in a position to state that the Cam-
bridge-House conspirators, being anxious to
mitigate the indignation which their proceedings
appeared likely to excite in all sections of the
religious world, applied themselves with consi-
derable zeal to obtaining some public declaration
in their favour from the members of the episcopal
bench. Although many of the Right Reverend
Prelates, owing their appointments to Viscount
Palmerston, were willing to obey Lord Shaftes-
bury's whip, yet they were unwilling to imperil
their reputations by making themselves the
champions of an act of severity, only parallelled
in the wars of freebooters. Under these circum-
stances the Palmerstonians had recourse to the
services of the Evangelical Intriguer, and requested
him to enter into negotiations with a Right
Reverend Prelate, with the object of inducing
him to advocate the spoliation in a speech.
The Noble Earl, understanding the mission,
with that alacrity which he has al'ays displayed
in the service of the Palmerstonian faction, is
said to have addressed himself at once to a pre-
late, an eloquent and skilful debater,
to whom it was dexterously intimated
that a felicitous speech, in defence of the Canning
Proclamation, might possibly be rewarded by an
Archiepiscopal in itre.
To these overtures the Bishop is said to have
replied, with all the dignity of a Christian Pre-
late—Far from him promising to support the
resolutions by a speech, he would not even sanc-
tion them by his vote. Personal considerations
would prevent him from taking any part in the
discussion, but had this not been so, he would
have been in his place to raise his voice against
an act more lawless and oppressive than any which
is recorded even in the annals of Indian history.