The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-26 00:00:00

of these accidents. I have mentioned these two
objects in the hope that you will yourselves consider
them, and let us know whether you think they
would do good. We particularly wish that you
should give
.us hints relative to any objects -which
our association might carry out. You ust know
your difficulties and your own wants better than
! we can, and it is one of the bbjects of our associa-
tion to create that confidence and good will between
us that will encourage you to tell us where you
want help and to give you a handymeans of commu-
nicating with us, and I hope you will make especial
use of these social annual meetings to state to us
your wants. Ido not mean your wants in a money
sense, but I mean the difficulties of your position,
which you may think we can help you to remedy.
We who are above you can help you with our ad-
vice and with our knowledge. There will always
be differences of rank in society, and if we were all
made equal to-day we should be unequal to-morrow.
But we who are in a higher rank than you are have
more means, more time, and more knowledge than
you have. We can help you by our contributions
to objects requiring more money than you could
afford, and we can give you advice on many points
on which our greater knowledge necessarily renders
us better informed, and you on your part can show
that you appreciate our efforts by encouraging good
feeling towards us, by the order and regularity of
your lives, and by helping us to help you,
In proposing " The health of Mr. Gee and success
to the Abbott's Langley Association," the CHAIR-
MAN adverted to the advantage of having a body
of gentlemen, viz., the clergy, distributed over the
country, who were able to give their time to the
wants of their poorer brethren. Many of the gentry
are able to give money to support good objects, but
cannot give their time, while the clergy can give
their time when they often cannot give their money,
In answer to these remarks Mr. GEE expressed
his happiness in belonging to the noble body of men
described by the chairman, and stated the satisfac-
tion they felt in supporting institutions like the
Chorleywood Association. Mr. Gee then described
the many comforts which modern civilisation placed
within the reach of the labourers, and suggested
modes by which the comfort of their dwellings
might be still further increased, and remarked that
now that papering for rooms might be bought at
4-d.a yard, the wives might, during the absence of
their husbands at work, paper their rooms, and
thus prepare an agreeable surprise for them on
their return.

THE RECORDER OF HULL ON POLI-
TICAL AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS.

On Saturday Samuel Warren, Esq., Q.C., M.P.,
the _Recorder of Hull, delivered his usual address
to the Grand Jury. He spoke as follows :—Gen-
tlemen of the Grand Jury—Our ears are still
ringing with so many elegant discourses, de-
livered by philanthropic persons on subjects of
social interest and importance, that I shall to-day
say not a word on the topic of education, nor, be-
yond a brief allusion to a late statute, the reforma-
tion,of the'youthful and adult offenders. Those are
subjects at all times occupying much of my serious
attention, as I have often here attempted to show
ought to be the case with grand jurymen, and in-
deed with all intelligent Christian people. Let me
proceed, therefore, at once to the duty—not always
0. light one—which I have for some time imposed
upon myself at this period of the year, of placing
ph'inly, but compendiously before you and the
public, those leading changes which have been
effected in the law of the land during the last ses-
sion of the legislature. I consider this, as I have
often said here, a duty of real and great import-
ance. Gentlemen, I have often been surprised at
Sir Wm. Bli,:ekstone's telling us_that though it is
necessary that laws should benotified to the people
who are to obey them, " the manner in which this
notification is to be made is a matter of very great
indifference." I think, however,you will agree with
me that it is, on the contrary, a matter of very
great importance, and that eminent person himself
shortly afterwards tells us, that it is incumbent on
legislators to promulgate acts of Parliament, and in
the most public and perspicuous manner, and not
imitate the example of the execrable Caligula, who
wrote his laws in a very small Phstract^r and hung
them up on high pillars the mare enee t ually to ensnare
the people. Gentlemen, let us really listen to com-
mon sense. If ignorance of the law is not to be tole-
rated as an excuse for violating it, let us, as a
matter of mere justice and humanity, lose not a
moment in giving publicity to changes in that law
—let us, even, force them upon the notice of the
people at large, and thereby leave them really with-
out excuse or just cause for complaint. Gentlemen,
the edicts of Roman Emperors did not acquire legal
force till they had bcdn formally promulgated. 'ln
free England it is otherwise. But why? Let the
reason never be forgotten ; it is because the people
themselves, through their representatives, are par-
ties to the making of every law that binds
them. Before printing was invented the King, at
the end of every session of Parliament, sent a copy
of all the acts passed during that session to the
sheriff of every county, with strict injunctions con-
tained in a writ, in the King's name, and under
the Great Seal, to proclaim them, and every part
of them, as publicly as possible. This was done
accordingly at the County Court, where the copy
was preserved for every one to refer to and copy,
and this custom prevailed down to the reign of
Henry VII. At this day acts of the legislature are
simply printed, and sold to everybody at as small
a charge as is practicable. But even now, how
many of the millions directly and most seriously
affected by a new law ever trouble their heads about
the matter, till, perhaps, it is too late ? How many,
for instance, within the sound of my voice, are
at this moment aware of two small statutes passed
in July and August last, one of which makes
the fraudulently obtaining a man's signature
to a bill of exchange or promissory note,
or any valuable security, a misdemeanor, punish-
able with penal servitude for four years, and of an•
other which makes tampering with the crossing of
a cheque a felony punishable with transporation
for life as a forgery. Therefore I think it a high
function if they choose to exercise it, of those
charged with administering the law, to seize every
proper opportunity of explaining at least the main
features of new laws, and by so doing at least have
the satisfaction of—so to speak—putting people on
the scent of what so closely concerns them. During
the last session of Parliament, gentlemen, many
new laws, some of very great importance, were
made, and others only attempted, being withdrawn
or postponed. I shall confine myself, of course, to
those actually passed, but I shall take very slight
notice of such of even them as from their magnitude
obtained universal notoriety the moment that the
Legislature began to discuss them. One constituted
the monster topic of the session—the act transferring
the government of India from the East India Com-
pany to her Majesty. Another provides for the
government of British Columbia—that is, in the
language of the act, " of certain wild and unoccu-
pied territories on the north-west coast of North
America and adjacent islands, to which divers of
her Majesty's subjects had by her Majesty's per-
mission resorted and become settled on them for
mining and other purposes." Here is suddenly
opened a new field for the display of our adventu-
rous national energy, and we see moulded by the
hand of a statesman of brilliant genius, and an orna-
ment to his country's literature—l mean Sir Edward.
Bulwer Lytton—a new British colony of great pro-
mise, but which I foresee may occasion, in the
future, ground for no small solicitude. I pass over
the important act remodelling the Scottish Univer-
sity system ; the medical act establishing a code of
regulations for the great and noble profession of
medicine and surgery, having for its object, as the
act recites, " to enable persons requiring medical
aid to distinguish between qualified and unqualified
persons, and establishing The General Council of
Medical Education and Registration of the United
Kingdom.' " Nor shall I dwell on, but I cannot
quite pass by, six short acts of great and perma-
nent importance, of a political character, affecting
the constitution of the Legislature itself. The first
of these is to prevent seats in the House of Com-
mons remaining vacant during a whole recess, in
the case of a member's having accepted office under
the Crown, since a prorogation or adjournment of
Parliament ; when that is the case, the Speaker
may issue his warrant for a new election during
the recess. A second totally abolishes the property
qualification of members of Parliament. A third
continues the Corrupt Practices Act of the year
1854—varies the statutable definition of " candi-
dates," and renders it lawful for them and their
agents (appointed in writing) to provide convey-
ances for voters for the purpose of polling, but pro-
hibits paving money or giving any consideration
to the voter for or in respect of such travelling ex-
penses. By this last, and one or two other provisions,
it is sought to prevent bribery under the colour of pay-
ing travelling expenses. A fourth abolishes the three
oaths of allegiance, luoprema cy-, and abjuration, sub-
stituting
much
only
of ferthtehtelel-: one
as the
esil
Legislature
oath, containing so
it right to preserve. It aolassoeb but
le.sJews
a st do ee
makem e (1
cdlencrloadratnioont to affectsincertainnny
es
of thsio provisions expresslys
the
Roman enables
Roman Catholic Relief Acts. A fifth
either House of Parliament to pass, if
fit, a resolutick enabling a Jew to take The thinkew
oath, omitting the concluding words "And I make
this declaration upon the true faith of a Christian."
A- sixth carries into effect one of the main provisions

of a bill I myself had introduced into the house
during the last Parliament, and have given notice
of for the next session, enabling select committees
of the House of Commons for the future to examine
witnesses on oath in matters relating to private bills
—putting both houses, as I have long contended
they ought to be, on the same footing in this parti-
cular. An excellent alteration in the municipal
franchise has been effected by an act, which in the
case of owners of certain tenements being rated to
the relief of the poor instead of the occupiers, en-
titles the latter to all municipal and franchise rights
conferred by the great Municipal Corporation Act,
1855, exactly as if they had been rated instead of
the owner. Two other acts. remedy defects existing
in those which in the preceding session had estab-
lished the ne w Probate and Divorce Courts. The judge
is armed with new powers, and various valuable im-
provements are effected in those important statutes.
Approaching subjects of a social and sanitary na-
ture, two acts vest in the Privy Council certain
powers, especially in relation to public vaccination.
Another is entitled " The Local Government Act,
1858," and its scope and object are sufficiently indi-
cated by its name. Its great feature is the confer-
ring on towns and populous districts in England
the power of governing themselves in local sanitary
matters, instead of subjecting them to a sort of cen-
tral despotism. The act is, where not inconsistent
with the Public Health Act. 1848, to be construed
with, and regarded as part of it, and may be wholly
or partially adapted to existing local boards or by
owners and ratepayers—observe this—if either
classes of persons think proper to do so, in the exer-
cise of powers conferred for that purpose, and guard-
ed from abuse by certain salutary provisions, espe-
cially an appeal to the Secretary of State, who is
also armed with proper powers of supervision. An
act of immense importance,with reference to Ireland,
has become,—l may almost say,--of even ten-fold
greater importance than it is from its foreshadow-
ing the speedy adoption of a similar act in this
country. I allude to the statute constituting "The
Landed Estates Court (Ireland)," a permanent tri-
bunal established for facilitating the sale and trans-
fer of land in Ireland, whether it shall be encum-
bered or not, and arming that court with far more
extensive powers than those of its bold predecessor,
which dealt only with encumbered estates. It is
difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of this opera-
tion. An owner of land in fee in Ireland may now
submit his title to the investigation of that court.
which may give him a judicial declaration, conclu-
sive and indefeasible against all the world, of his
having a good and sufficient title, for the purpose
of dealing with the property as he may require.
And, when it is sought to sell an estate, the vendor
or the vendee may, in like manner, apply to the
court for an indefeasibie title and a statutable con-
veyance of it, and an order for specific performance
of the contract at the instance of either party. This
amounts, as affecting the legal profession, to a sort
of revolution. It supersedes the system f convey-
ancing ; most seriously affecting the interests of
practitioners, but conferring on the public such
benefits as, I think, ought to be extended to Eng-
land, and will, doubtless, be so very shortly. The
general administration of justice has been improved
by several short, but by no means unimportant,
acts. One of them gives the Courts of Chancery
powers hitherto wielded by common law courts alone
—enabling them even to award damages for the
breach of any kind of contract, and to examine
witnesses viva voce, on oath, even before juries. As
for the county courts, the inconvenient inequalities
at present existing in these various districts can
now from time to time be rectified by the Lord
Chancellor, who may make corresponding changes
in the position and duties of the judges, but without
increasing them • beyond the existing number of
sixty. The jurisdiction of these popular tribunals is
further extended, for instance, to actions for da-
mages sought to be recovered for pirating copyright
in designs. Stipendiary magistrates are now autho-
rised to do all acts .which various statutes empower
the justices to do ; but the act is expressly declared
not to affect the jurisdiction of quarter or special
sessions, or the granting and transfer of licenses.
As Ireland has been the subject of a very great legis-
lative experiment—soon, as I take for granted, to
be tried in England—in respect ofproperty, so Ire-
land has, during the last session, received the benefit
of reformatory schools for juvenile offenders, pre-
viously conferred on the two sister kingdoms. Let
all of us wish successto this important movement of
a Christian philanthropy. Some of you recollect
my briefly explaining to you the nature of the
S fled ,L.statos Act, 1553. It has since been in
full operation, and its provisions are extended by
an act of the last session. All persons interested,
as either lords or tenants, in copyhold property,
will be glad to hear that new assaults have been
made on that antiquated, anomalous, and incon-
venient tenure, before which it must, ere long,
fall altogether. Either the lord or the tenant
may now compel enfranchisement, and the act con-
ferring this, among other boons, came into opera-
tion on the first day of the present month. Our
commercial jurisprudence has been directly and
considerably affected by four acts—at two of which
I have already glanced, at least in one aspect of
them. By one of those two acts, if you cross your
cheque with two transverse lines, with the words
" and company," or any abbreviation thereof—or if
you write across it a banker's name—you render
that crossing or writing an integral part of the
instrument, materially affecting the position of
drawers, holders, and bankers; and if any one
obliterate, add to, or alter it, or offer, utter, dispose,
or put it off, with intent to defraud, he is declared
guilty of felony, punishable with transportation
for life. As to the last particular, however, the
legislature appear to have forgotten that it had
just enacted, as I explained here last year, that
"no person should thereafter be sentenced to
transportation." The offender is, however, liable,
in the alternative, to the punishment enacted for
those guilty of forging bills of exchange. The
other of the two acts in question also deals very
severely with the offence of obtaining by any
false pretence, with intend to defraud, another
person's signature to a bill or note, or valuable se-
curity. This is now a misdemeanour punishable
with four years of penal servitude, or such other
punishment, by both fine and imprisonment, or by
either, as the court shall award. It would really
seem, gentlemen, as if our Joint Stock Company
Law were never to be deemed in a settled state,
every session seeing changes effected in the most
elaborate acts of former sessions. By one just
passed, a very material clause in one of the preced-
ing sessions is repealed, and now joint-stock bank-
ing companies may be on the principle of limited
liability—except so far as regards the issuing of
bank notes. As to them, such joint-stock banking
companies continue subject to unlimited liability.
A second act of last session relates to joint-stock
companies, and amends two similar ones which had
been passed in the immediately preceding two
years. I wish I had time to put you in possession
of the salutary changes, loudly called for, effected
by this last act, which ought to be familiar to
every member of a mercantile community.
It places the winding-up, whether voluntary or
compulsory, of these companies on a much better
footing than before. It enables the court—to use
the very words of the act—" to have regard to the
wishes of the majority, in number and value, of the
creditor." The court has now greatly extended
powers for'protecting the property from being
squandered in reckless litigation ; appointing ad-
ditional liquidators ; enforcing the payment of
calls, by contributaries ; and enables the court, of
its own motion, or at the instance of any person
interested in the matter, to order the prosecution of
either any present, or any past director, manager,
public officer, or member of the company deemed
justly liable to it. There yet remain to be glanced
at, and only glanced at, three valuable additions to
our statute book, and of general importance and
interest. The first makes available evidence, in
courts of justice, a great number of non-parochial
registers of births, baptisms, and deaths,burials, and
marriages, in the case of various great denominations
of Dissenters. The second is of a somewhat bold and
novel nature,providing, beforehand, against the dis-
tinction of important but perishing evidence, in ques-
tions of legitimacy--as to the marriage of parents and
other ancestors—and the right to be deemed natural-
born subjects. All these matters,of such moment to in-
dividuals and families, may now form the subject of
authoritative judicial declaration by the Court of
Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, on being duly ap-
plied to, and subject to prescribed safeguards
against abuse. The last act amends the recent sta-
tute relating to friendly societies in important
particulars, and especially enacts that henceforth
deathn o money shallchild be
withoutpaidby
the t h
production
d u societiestion of a certi-
ficate, o n the
signed by a qualified medical practitioner,
stating the probable cause of the death of the child.
erso
The exceedingly grave reasons on which the Legis-
lature proceeded in making this enactment I need
not dwell upon. Now, gentlemen, I have done. I
assure you that it has cost me some little of that
time which is very precious to me to prepare—to
dispose, condense, and fittingly express—what you
haveheard. With me it is a labour of love. How can
one citizen be better employed than honestly explain-
ing to his fellow citizens the nature of the laws under
which they live—mid such of those laws, above all,
and of great importance too, as they have necessarily
had only little opportunity of becoming acquainted
with ? But of what use is this if the exposition be
but listened to, and forgotten ? -Why all that you
and I do here in our official capacity is only an
argument for attending to and remembering these
things, and inculcating all around us to do the
same—and see how you thereby stop the mouths
of those who would' indolently or wickedly plead,
in excuse for crime, an ignorance of the law they
were charged with violating.

ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ARMY
STORE AND CLOTHING SYSTEM.

Yesterday, at 12 o'clock, Mr. A. Turner, M.P.,
Mr. Selfe, and Col. French, the Commissioners en-
gaged, under the direct authority of the Crown, in
inquiring into the state of the military store and
clothing depots at Weedon, Woolwich, and the
Tower, assembled at the Arsenal at Woolwich, and
commenced the investigation they are empowered
to institute into the depot there. They were
accompanied, as they have been from the first from
day to day, by Mr. Dew, their secretary; and Mr.
Howell, Director of Contracts in the War-office,
was also present during part of the day. So far.
the impression on the public mind has probably
been that the inquiry of the Commissioners is
limited to the system of clothing the British army,
and especially that branch of it in operation at.
Weedon. That undoubtedly was the primary ob-
ject contemplated in the appointment of the com-
mission, but at the instance of General Peel, the
investigation takes a wider range, and embraces
the condition of the depots for all kinds of military
stores, as well as clothing, at Weedon, Woolwich,
and the Tower, and the system on which the books
and stock have been kept at each of those places.
On this new field of inquiry the Commissioners
entered yesterday. They were received at the Ar-
senal by Mr. Morris, deputy military storekeeper,
who has been up wards of 40 years in the service,
and by Mr. Parkyn, an officer in the department,
and by, them conducted over the whole of the depot.
Capt. Gordon, the principal military storekeeper at
Weedon, has been appointed to the same office at
Woolwich, but does not assume his functions there
until the Ist November. Some idea may be formed
of the extent and value of the military stores accu-
mulated here when it is stated that it took the
Commissioners nearly three hours to walk over the
space which they cover. The examination was not,
and could not be in the time, anything more than
a cursory one ; but so far as it went, the Commis-
sioners more than once expressed themselves pleased
with the arrangements, and with the manner in
which the books were kept. For weeks past, it is
true, the authorities have had notice of the visit and
inquiry of the Commissioners, and it may be pre-
sumed that they had to some extent set their house
-in order. It may or may not have been " swept and
garnished" for the occasion, but certainly the ad-
mirable order which prevailed on all hands justified
the eulogium of the Commissioners.
The walk through the depot was intended simply
to familiarise the Commissioners with the mode of
arrangement, and with the enormous extent and
variety of the objects kept in store, including every
conceivable article used in the modern art of war.
It was indeed little more than a stroll through the
place, such as an ordinary pleasure party takes, ac-
companied by an intelligent chaperone. Trophies
of the Crimean war, and now and then some humi-
liating memorials of it, encountered their gaze at
almost every step. For nearly three hours they
wandered about among huge piles of ambulance
waggons, field batteries, ammunition, tents d'abris,
and all the rest of the paraphernalia of war. Occa-
sionally the words " obsolete stores from Weedon,"
posted up, gave rise to a laugh among the Commis-
sioners, and they had an opportunity of inspectin g
some of the many- thousand socks and knee boots sent
from Weedon, the disposal of which has formed so
prominent a topic in their inquiries.
The inspection of the depot over, the Commis-
sioners repaired to an apartment in the head-quar-
ters of the department, and proceeded to take evi-
dence, Mr. Selfe acting as chairman.
The first witness called was Mr. Wm. Morris,
who said he was deputy military storekeeper, an
office he had held for forty years. He was pre-
viously principal clerk, and had been altogether 42
years in the department. Mr. Francis Perry, who
had been the principal military storekeeper, was
killed by a fall from his carriage at the Arsenal
gate. Capt. Gordon was to succeed to the office,
and would enter upon it on the Ist Nov. The de-
partment consisted of al principal military store-
keeper, one deputy and one assistant military store-
keeper, 11 first-class clerks, 7 second-class, and 14
temporary clerks. There were 546 labourers em-
ployed in connection with. it. The establishment
had increased very much of late years in conse-
quence of the war. It was divided into various
branches, the first of which was the correspondence,
of which the first clerk 'was the head ; the second
was the contract branch, which received all the
contract stores; the third the receiving branch for
home stations, which took cognisance of all re-
turned stores and stores from departments ; the
fourth the foreign issuing department ; the fifth the
home issuing department ; and then there were the
ledger and the pay-office departments. There was
the laboratory department, presided over by Capt.
Boxer ; the Royal carriage department, of which
Col. Tulloch is the head ; the Royal gun factory, of
which Col. Wilmot is the head. Those were all
three manufacturing departments. The money all
passed through his (witness's) hands for paying the
wages of the men employed in the different depart.
ments. He drew an " imprest" for the total amount
twice a month, and sometimes he was obliged to
have an extra imprest. The imprest varied from
£28,000 to £34,000 a month for wages in all the
departments, all of which money passed through
his hands. The last half month's imprest he re-
ceived was £14,000.
The Chairman said the Commissioners had heard
a great deal about guarantees iii the course of their
inquiries, and asked witness if he gave a guarantee?
Witness said he gave two joint securities to the
extent of £l,OOO in the whole.
The Chairman—What security, except your own
honesty,:is there that you maynot follow the exam-
ple of Mr. Elliott ? (A laugh.)
Witness—l really cannot answer that question.
(A laugh.)
The Chairman—There is none ?
Witness—There is a deal depending on a man's
respectability sometimes, and upon his family con-
nexions.
The Chairman—Just so; the Government trusts
you as a banker does his cashier, and there is
nothing to prevent his robbing the cash box if he
be so minded.
Witness said he rendered an account once a
month of the state of his balance.
Mr. Turner said he asked Mr. Ramsay, of the
War-office, if any steps were taken in the account-
ant's office at any time to ascertain if Mr. Elliott,
when he was at Weedon, had in his possession the
amount of cash-balance which his books represented
him to have, and Mr. Ramsay said no such steps
were taken; because they trusted to Mr. Elliott
being a man of honour. Now, would the witness
(Mr. Morris) as an honourable man be affronted if
the Government asked if he had really in his pos-
session the balance which his cash book exhibited
at any particular period ?
Witness said certainly not, and he had been in
the habit of producing the balance shown by his
book once a month in that very room in which the
Commissioners were sitting. He should consider
it rather a compliment than otherwise for the Go-
vernment to ask him to show the balance due from
him in cash at any time. He might state that about
three weeks or a month ago a gentleman came
down from the War-office on one of their pay days
at Woolwich with the intention of asking him to
produce his balance. It was a very busy day with
them, and the gentleman had to wait half-an-hour
before witness could produce his balance, but he did
produce it, and to the entire satisfaction of the
visitor.

Mr. Turner—That must have been since my ques-
tion was asked of Mr. Ramsay ?
Witness could not say.
. Mr. Turner—lt is at least within three weeks or
a month, and that is sufficient for me.
By the Chairman—The superintendents of the
different departments sent in a requisition to him
every Monday for so much money. Witness drew
on the County Bank at Woolwich for the amount,
which was supplied to him next morning, and
handed over to the cashier of each department on
the following morning. The money only remained
one night in witness's possession. He had generally
a balance of £3OO or £4OO a-week in his hands. He
did not know whether the superintendents or
The Chairman--Did rm
or a
clerk,B i
o dry ooffiu ial
cashiers of the different departments gave security.
ever
at know\voo
hav
ich
caseb
being
gfa
storekeeper,
deficient in his balances ?
Witness—No.

The Chairman—That is the best test, after all.
Witness, added that the cash accounts were made
up quarterly, and rendered 14 days after the quarter,
and that he had rendered his Michaelmas account.
He expected Capt. Gordon to take possession of the
balance on the Ist November. Their store accounts
were settled yearly—the year.ending on the 31st of
March. The work of the department had trebled of
late years in consequence of the war. The con-
sumption of military stores in a year of war would
probably equal that of 10 years of peace. He would
not hold the situation Captain Gordon was about to
take for £50,000 a-year. He felt he was too old to
bear the 'responsibility and the worry of it. Besides,
he was not in actual want, and if he could retire
into some quiet appointment he should be satisfied.
By- the Chairman—He had nothing t-F. do with
the inspection of articles manufactured on the pre-
mises. The inspection of the main supply of timber
received into the department came under the super-
intendence of the Royal carriage department.
Colonel French asked if anything had been done
to improve the trenching tools which were found to
be so useless in the Criinca ?
Witness said, a committee sat during the Crimean