The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-28 00:00:00

asylums, because so many abuses in reference thereto
have been discovered ; but we ask for such precau•
tions and safeguards as will effectually prevent the
seizure of sane men, or continued confinement of
those who have completely recovered their faculties.
On Tuesday we pointed out how the first may be
effected. The latter can only be achieved by constant
surveillance and unexpected visits at brief intervals.
Some expense may thereby be incurred, but a full
equivalent will be received, and, as we have already
remarked, those who can afford to pay for their rela-
tive or friend in a private mad-house may afford
the small additional charge of ascertaining that he
has not been unfairly or improperly arrested or de-
tained.

Mr. LABOUCHERE received intelligence long ago of
those new gold diggings in British Columbia, or, as
it was then, New Caledonia. But Lord PALMERSTON'S
Colonial Secretary hushed the good tidings up as a
bore, at any rate, as something which would in all
human probability necessitate a wearisome amount
of extra work in the way of innovation, and organi-
sation, and all that sort of thing. So it actually
came to pass that treasures of incalculable value were
coolly given the go-by—simply because a Minister
of the Crown was not quite up to his work, and shrank
above all things from the chance of causing any
unpleasantry between her MAJESTY'S Government
and that mysterious imperium in imperio, that dicta-
torial Council of—we don't know how many--the
Hudson's Bay Company.
As a question intermittingly before Parliament and
before the Administration, the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany question was long since placed under a solemn
Whig taboo. Stir up that monstrous wilderness of
wild beasts—Ursa major might growl! The Right
Hon.EDWARD ELLICE had so long enjoyed that which
he must still be allowed in dignity to enjoy henceforth,
his wholly unconditional and undemonstrative Pro-
Consulate. Reform might be allowed to penetrate
everywhere into the remotest corner of our fifty or
sixty colonies, scattered all over the surface of this ha-
bitable globe—anywhere but into the mystic arcana of
that colonial Eleusis, the Hudson's Bay Territories.
True, this exceedingly outrageous and flagrant
monopoly shut the energies of the Anglo-Saxon race
out of one of the most gigantic, one of the most fruit-
ful, and one of the most magnificent of all the British
possessions. No matter, it filled the pockets of the
shareholders—it was extremely comfortable to the
peace of mind of Mr. ELLICE and his colleagues in
the Direction—and, therefore, for those obviously
most adequate reasons, however inconvenient
to us as a nation, we must perforce give in to
the necessities that had somehow been held valid
during two or three successive centuries. It was a
grievance—but it was a grievance that, with how-
ever wry a face, must be swallowed. So argued the
Whigs session after session—they bad relations there
(among that wonderful family the VIPoNTs which has
latterly come to be regarded by certain politicians in
this country as among the number of our recognised
institutions), to whom the taboo we are speaking of
was manifestly, to say the least of it, extremely con-
venient. So the question about the monopoly cannot
be systematically evaded, shelved, cushioned. And
so—though it was an instance of more than usually
flagrant audacity—as a matter of course the
rumours about gold said to be squandered in count-
less profusion along the banks of Frazer's River was
literally, as we have said, shut out of view by Mr.
LABOUCHERE. The Colonial Secretary, under the
late Administration, was, in this, only true to the
system carried out upon stubborn principle by his
colleagues the different members of Lord PALMER.,
6TON'S Government. It was really as though the
seals of office had been distributed among a cluster of
Sir CHARLES COLDSTREAMS—those statesmen were so
delightfully used up, b/ase,bored by the very labour
to get through which they had actually been, in the
first instance, nominated. It seemed as though they
were devoured by that Lucifer among the Blue
Devils, who by a witty mispronunciation, is
called by some one in CHARLES READE'S
" Christie Johnstone"—Yawn-We! Influenced by
which potent spirit of mischief the Sir CUARLES
COLDSTREAM of the Colonial Office (Mr. L ABOU.•
CHERE to wit) hears with a sort of nervous disgust
that there is a talk about gold being somewhere
discoverable on the other side of the Rocky
Mountains. He glances askance at the supposed
Pactolus—Frazer's River—and decides carelessly
with a weary shrug:of the shoulders, that there's
f really—nothing in it ! So this trivial matter is, as
we have said, hushed up, and given the go-by, much
to the consolation of the momentarily affrighted
Hudson's Bay Company, its directors, its factors, and
all that little band of thriving monopolists.
Suddenly, however, a terrible thing comes to pass.
The strong Government expires in the heyday of its
existence by an abrupt collapse—a collapse in its
way so total and instantaneous, as to be really and
truly quite unparalleled. The Ministry, appa-
rently the moment before in what may with
reason be designated, in every sense of the
phrase, rude health, fell through, tumbled
to pieces, broke down, or rather suffered from
a sudden break up of its whole constitution.
The Whigs had had their day. They gave place to
the Tory Reformers or Liberal Conservatives. Lord
DERBY and his colleagues came into power,
and eventually, among the number of those
colleagues there succeeded to the Colonial port-
folio one who was the very reverse of a red tapist—
a man of genius, and industry, and energy, and un-
flinching determination. Hence, he had scarcely
I settled to his work—when, by a stroke of the pen;
the old, bungling, blundering mail contract in regard
to Australia was abolished. Hence New Caledonia
was scanned with a searching scrutiny, and,
as swiftly as could well be, transformed into
this grand new colony of British Columbia. The
gold question, instead of being avoided as some-
thing dangerous, was at once taken into con-
sideration as in every respect most desirable. The
first auspicious :rumours were not only proved to
have been accurate in every particular—they were
rapidly and wonderfully surpassed, eclipsed, and
forgotten by reason of the facts brought to light
by every additional scrap of intelligence con-
veyed to these islands from Vancouver. And
so the wedge is being swiftly, unerringly ,
driven home by the powerful hand and will
of the Colonial Secretary—the potent wedge which
must inevitably, sooner or later, bring toppling
down from its pride of place the most monstrous of
all our colossal and inhuman monopolies.

The important case of SCOTT V. DIXON, to which
we referred in our leading columns of yesterday, has
naturally excited great attention in commercial
circles. Many persons who have purchased shares
in unfortunate speculations are looking to the
reports published in reference thereto, and the in-
ducements by which they were persuaded to become
shareholders. The powerful and brilliant speech of
Mr. EDWARD JAMES, the emient Queen's Counsel of
the Northern Circuit and Judge of the Passage
Court of Liverpool—not Mr. EDWIN JAMES, as er-
roneously stated by some of our contemporaries, that
learned gentleman being engaged at the time in advo-
cating the cause of Mr.RUCIC, and ensuring his libera-
tion frodt he Moorcroft asylum—greatly produced this
important result. The learned gentleman placed
the matter r
cu in a very striking point of view, showing
remedy, andevery
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lent representations, induces another to engage in
a ruinous concern, he is responsible for the damages
that may be sustained in consequence thereof.
The defendant was for many reasons an object of
sympathy. lie had himself invested largely in the un-
dertaking, and never sold a single share, had been but
a short time managing director, and had exerted
himself to bring forward a more truthful and accu-
rate report. But, unfortunately, he
assented
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