The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-23 00:00:00

ME SUN, LONLON, TUESOAY EV ENING, OCTOBER 23, 1866.

range, and in favour of the Knaresborough men at
theirs, it was agreed to shoot a third and deciding
match at the Tadcaster range, the use of which was
kindly granted by Captain Shaun. The match
came off on Friday, the 12th inst., and, after a
close contest resulted in a majority for Ripon of 15
marks. Wimbledon targets and scoring, five shots
at each distance. Both teams may fairly be con-
gratulated on the high scores made, the average per
man for Ripon being 37.17 and for Knaresborough
36. Rain fell during the shooting, and the light
was not good.

The Devon Volunteer Association brought its
annual prize shooting-matches to a close on Satur-
day, when the Suider rifles were used. Despite the
unfavourable weather the shooting has been un-
usually good—in one instance five bull's eyes in
succession were made at the 500 yards' range. The
attendance of Volunteers, however, has been com-
paratively small. For the Challenge Cup there
were only 65 competitors-10 less than the stipu-
lated number. It was, however, shot for. The
ranges were 200, 500, and 600 yards. The cup was
won by Colour-Sergeant Westlake, of the 19th
Devon Rifle Volunteers, with a total score of 46
points. Private Pecke, of the Bth Devon Rifle
Volunteers, carried off the first of the All Comers'
prizes with a score of 45. The first of the Exeter
Town Council prizes was won by Corporal Bennett,
of the 16th Devon Rifle Volunteers—score 46. It
is intended to hold the meeting early- next year.
On Saturday Lieut.-Col. Payn, of the 72d Foot,
by request, reviewed and inspected a corps of about
200 juvenile volunteers in the green of Heriot's Hos-
pital, of Edinburgh, in presence of several of the
magistrates and of a large public attendance. The
corps owes its existence to an Edinburgh citizen,
who devotes almost his whole fortune to benevolent
objects--Mr. John Hope—and who, being an ab-
stainer himself, requires of his proteges enrolment as
members of the British League. From their con-
nexion with this body the little regiment, consisting
of apprentice lads of from 12 to 18 years of age,
takes the name of British League Cadets. They are
drilled two evenings a week, and are subjected in all
respects to a strict and healthful discipline. They
wear a red Garibaldi shirt,- and blue cap and trou-
sers, with leggings for winter parade. They are
armed with small carbines, and their " lieutenants"
with short swords. The whole cost of their equip-
ment and drill has hitherto been borne by their com-
mandant, Mr. Hope, who is also the captain of the
Abstainers' Company in the Queen's Edinburgh Vo-
lunteer Regiment, a company always having its full
compliment, and gaining constant accessions from
the cadets. On several occasions the cadets have
been allowed to take part in public parades, and
have for some years had the honour to take a part
in the Lord High Commissioner's annual procession.
The present total enrolled strength is 261, and about
three-fourths of the whole number took part in the
review of Saturday. The miniature regiment went
through the usual battalion manoeuvres, and in a
manner that would have done credit to almost any
Volunteers. At the close Lieut.-Colonel Payn
highly complimented the corps on their efficiency
and steadiness, remarking that they stood well
shoulder to shoulder, and had indulged in no talking
in the ranks. Baillie Russell, after reading a letter
of apology for the absence of the Lord Provost by
indisposition, congratulated Mr. Hope on the excel-
lent appearance of the corps, and the proceedings
concluded with three cheers for the Queen, and with
similar compliments to Mr. Hope, Lieut.-Colonel
Payn, and the magistrates.

Visit of the Volunteers to B3]gium.

(From the Times Special Correspondent.)

BRUSSELS, Monday Morning.

The second gala opera performance at the Theatre
Royal was attended by some 500 Volunteers, by the
French, Dutch, and Swiss riflemen here, and by a
large number of the citizens of all classes. The
Volunteers principally occupied the orchestra stalls,
the pit, and the grand balcony; and their varied
uniforms drew forth repeated expressions of admi-
ration from the Belgians. As I stated in a former
letter, the uniforms of the several branches of the
Garde Civique are handsome and soldierlike, but they
are heavier, and there is more material and buttons
about them than are employed in the make-up of our
Volunteers, and the result is our men look smarter.
The Bruxellois have observed this, and the regi-
mentals of their Civic Guard have fallen very much
in their estimation. Public opinion here is now in
favour of a change. It will be gratifying to the ,
whole Volunteer body if their visit here has been the
means of giving a practical suggestion to a people '
who have shown them such unbounded hospitality.
Previously to the opera to which I have alluded, M.
Anspach (the Bourgmestre) had the Lord Mayor of
London, Lord Bury, and other English gentlemen
at dinner to meet the Minister of the Interior and
the Governor of the province of Brabant. Replying
to the toast of his own health, the Lord Mayor made
a speech, in which he spoke of the similarity of the
Belgian to our English institutions, and of the good
schooling which the present King had received in
the principles of constitutional government. Lord
Bury, in proposing the health of the Burgomestre's
wife,which he did in the French language, assured the
Belgians that when next year they came to invade our
country we should hand them up the keys of our
cities and towns for the way they had surrendered
theirs to the foreign riflemen. I may mention that
the English officers have addressed a letter to M.
Anspach and the College of Echevins, in which
they present to them the homage of their most re-
spectful compliments- and thanks. They observe
that the immense body of Volunteers who have vi-
sited Brussels for the fetes of national independ-
ence are living witnesses of the increased and ever-
increasing friendship which exists between the two
countries ; and they hope the thanks th9y tender
for the magnificent welcome given the Volunteers
by Brussels and its chief magistrate will be accepted
in the frank spirit in which it is offered, and will
prove to them that the debt of gratitude which the
English visitors feel themselves unable to repay is,
at least, acknowledged with enthusiasm. The docu-
ment goes on to point that each of the two nations
lives under a dynasty of its own choice, to which it
pays the tribute of the most devoted loyalty, and
under a Sovereign whom it regards with a feelingof
personal love ; that each lives under laws madeafter
the free deliberations of its own citizens and under
institutions of its own creation ; that the Sovereigns
and the statesmen of England have long looked on
with admiration at the development of Belgian na-
tionality and Belgian prosperity ; and that nothing
was wanting to the complete development of our in-
ternational affection except a personal acquaintance
among themselves of the people of either land. The
opportunity for this international acquaintance they
declare to have been given by the noble hospitality of
the Belgian people. The Volunteers, they say, leave
inanexrtiflyeemarenin boundorder
to
on
rheos
tnoorue r
tthoactorme
ge
behind them affectionate regard ; and they hold the
Blaenldg
artdo, Eanngd-,
in their turn, to leave us their
own; No doubt, this
' address will be very well received by the civic
authorities ; and, with the view of
to prepare for the reception of the
year, a meeting of the committee appointed on
Thursday was held at head-quarters on
Saturday
evening. At this meeting Lord Bury was requested
to act as president of the committee for arranging
such reception, and for renewing the visit made
this year to the Belgian people by the British Volun-
teers. Lord Bury accepted the post, on condition
that he should be allowed to retire from office at
the first general meeting of the committee, and that
he should be at liberty in the meantime to appoint
a secretary- who, like himself, should retire at the
first meeting of the committee. It was further re-
solved that as it would be impossible for the president
to communicate with every member of the committee,
which consists of 200 members, publication should be
considered sufficient notice of meeting or of any busi-
ness transacted at a meeting. It was proposed that
members of the committee should be allowed to vote
by proxy .at its meetings, but the proposition was
eventually withdrawn after a discussion in which it
was represented as being impracticable. A warm vote
of thanks was passed to Col. Loyd Lindsay for the
able manner in which he had conducted the arrange-
lments of this year's visit • • of the Volunteers to Bel-
gium, and the continued kindness and firmness with
which he had uniformly exercised the difficult cora-

mand with which he had been intrusted, at the re-
quest of the Belgian authorities and the Volunteers,
expressed through their committee.
Yesterday afternoon the prizes for the shooting at
the long range, 40 in number, were distributed at the
Tir. All these prizes were handsome, while many of
them were exceedingly beautiful, and of very consi-
derable value. Among them were silver cups richly
gilt, crystal vases with silver stands, a very large and
splendid silver medal, gilt and silver forks and spoons.
As the prize list is not yet in aperfect state its publi-
cation might only lead to mistakes, and I therefore
hold it over. There was not very much state or
form in the ceremony of presentation ; but, though
it was conducted in a business form, scenic effect
was not disregarded. The prizes were ranged along
a table covered with a bright cloth, and placed under
the President's canopy. That gentleman, M. Daily,
was present, surrounded by the members of the
Foreign Riflemen's Reception Committee and the
principal officers of the Garde Civique; and as the
prizetnen came up to receive their rewards they
were loudly cheered by the comrades and by the
large crowd assembled in the building. After the
distribution the Volunteers were received by the
committee of the Exhibition of Modern Painting
and Sculpture now open here, and conducted round
the various rooms.

The King's banquet continues to be the theme of
conversation, and large numbers are visiting the
Pavilion to see the decorations which yet remain in
their places. It is not a little remarkable that from
the commencement of the feast to the close no guest
had to ask for anything. There were no fewer than
200 servants in attendance, and every want of any
of the company was anticipated by them with an in-
telligent readiness. The number of plates used on
the occasion was 20,000 ; there were 15,000 wine
glasses and 2,000 dishes on the table, and yet every-
thing was served with as little confusion as if the
party was a small one in a gentleman's house. The
King of the Belgians is said to be nervous about his
English ; but he has no occasion to be so. On
Saturday he spoke his English speech admirably.
There was no undue emphasis, and but a 'slight
foreign pronunciation. His French speeches are
spoken with much fluency ; but, whatever the lan-
guage in which he may be speaking, there is a tone
of earnestness in his words which conveys to the
hearer the impression that the King is saying what
he really believes. The officer who commands the
French National Guard, Col. Deherpe, is a good and
ready speaker ; but the most eloquent of the foreign
riflemen is Major Meder, the commanding officer of
the Dutch, who uses French, English, and Flemish
with nearly equal facility.

From the White Mountains up Mount
Washington by Steam.

We learn from a letter to the Springfield Weekly
Republican that the 29th August bad been fixed for
the public trial of the new steam railroad up Mount
Washington. The railroad men of all the region
round about were assembling at the " White Moun-
" taM House," and were to drive in carriages to the
place of exhibition. But the correspondent gives
the following account of a trial trip in anticipa-
tion :

" Some five hundred feet of track have now been
" laid, and sufficient tests have already been made to
" warrant the belief that another season will see a
" steam carriage ascending and descending Mount
" Washington with perfect ease and safety. The
" place chosen for the commencement of the railway
" is in the valley of the Ammonoosuc, at the foot of
" Mount Washington proper. A new carriage road
" has been opened from the stage road, about half-
" way between the White Mountain Ilouse and the
" Crawford House. After leaving the stage road
" the carriage road to the railway follows up the
" Ammonoosuc valley, and gives the finest view of
" the whole range of prominent mountain peaks to
" be had from any one point; and the track coin-
" mences its steep ascent directly over the bed of the
" Ammonoosuc, on trestle work, with a grade of
" 1,700 feet to the mile.

" Just before cominglin sight of the station the
" shrill whistle of the locomotive ' Mount Wash-
" ington ' started us not a little, and seemed quite

out of place there iu the forests and mountains,

"and so far away from humanity's reach.' I found
" the locomotive fired up and ready to move up the
" mountain as far as the track is completed, some five
" hundrei feet. A platform car with rude seats
" stood on the track, attached to the engine, and as
" soou as our party, consisting of some eight or nine
gentlemen and ladies, had taken their seats, the
" locomotive commenced its chug," chug;' and up
" we went, at a slow speed at first, which was after-
" wards increased to good headway, and thus we
" went up and down the track, which lies, as it were,
" against the mountain side rather than on it, both
" the locomotive and the car being under the most
" perfect and absolute control of the engineer, who
" stopped the ' train' and started it at will, re-
" peatedly, at one time leaving us standing for
" several minutes, and then moving up and down,
" and stopping instantly ; and holding the car ap-
" parently as solid and sure as on an ordinary rail-
" way.
"The whole distance to be traversed by the rail-
" way, from the point where it commences to the
" top of Mount Washington, is three miles, the
" whole rise being about 4,000 feet, and the steepest
" grade being at the rate of 1,700 feet to the mile.
"The rail used is the same as the old fashioned 4 strap
" rail,' and midway between the ordinary rails is a
" track of wrought iron pins or rolls, one and a half
"inches in diameter, and four inches long, set four
" inches apart, in three-eighths inch angle iron
ti wrought into an angle of 3 by 3 inches, holding
" the pins or rolls firmly in their places. Into these
"pins the teeth of the driving cog-wheel of the
" engine works, each tooth of the wheel striking
"between each pin, being practically the working
" of one cog-wheel into another. The engine, weigh-
ing some four tons, is rated at twenty-five horse
pounds of steam will
wer, forty pounds of
4‘ p o
drivew e
eann
odr with
twelvese v ehnot
rys-efi
pv
oe
" steam being as high as has yet been carried. The
"cost of the engine, which was built by Messrs.
" CAMPBELL, WHITTIER, and Co., of Roxbury,
tg Massachusetts, was $3,000, and it is s 6 constructed
"that by the use of union joints,' the boiler is al-
" ways kept in an upright position, no matter how
" steep the grade, or how great the inclination of
" the trucks of the car.

"The enormous propelling power necessary to run
" up the required steep grade is obtained by the pro-
" cess of what is termed gearing down," that is, a
" twenty-four inch gear workingin to a six inch gear,
" the engine making four revolutions to one of the
" driver, thus securing an immense power and pur-
" chase, which not only propels the train forward,
" but holds it immovable, when desirable to do so,
" on the track, at any desired point or place. An
" additional safeguard for holding the cars at a
" stand-still is that of the atmospheric brake, and
" so successful was the application of this power
" that the engine was several times detached from
" the car on whiCh we rode, leaving it with its eight
" or nine persons several feet up the grade, to work
" our way down with this brake, which we did most
" successfully, it being operated as easily as one
" could turn a thumb-screw. We rode up and
" stopped, and down and stopped, and had the fact
" established to our wondering eyes, and ears, and
" senses, that a steam engine and cars can be run
" up and down Mount Washington, or any other
" mountain, at a fair rate of speed and with perfect
" safety ; and after what I have seen to-day, I
" venture the prediction that in a short time we shall
" see the Iloosac tunnel abandoned, and trains of
" cars running over rather than through the moun-
" taro. And so practically of other enterprises, to
"say nothing of
new projects and plans of up-
" and-down-hill steam locomotion ; and the same
" generation which witnessed the advent of the iron
"horse,
welcoming him as a missionary of civilisa-
" ton and progress, will not only listen to his heavy
" breathing along our valleys, and on our plains,
" but will hear his shrill neigh from our hill-sides,
" and see him shake his fleecy mane amid the
" clouds of the mountain-top. The track of cop
"or pins for the railway is all made by the Boston
"Machine Company,
and is wrought from gun-
" iron, the track when completed weighing twenty
" pounds to the foot, and the whole of it being

" hauled by teams from Littleton, twenty-five miles
" distant."

The only question, as to the practicability of the
scheme is established, is one of cost. It is esti-
mated that it R ill cost some $20,000 per mile to
build the track, and that the three miles of road,
with the necessary rolling stock, deposits, &c., will
cost some $lOO,OOO, which is considered a low es-
timate.

The originator and inventor of this new railway
and its attendant enterprise is Mr. SYLVESTER MARSH,
now of Littleton, New Hampshire, but formerly of
Chicago. He has given much time and attention
to the matter, and his " experiment" is an experi-
ment no longer. The railway is now in the hands
of a company, who have already purchased the
site of the old Fabyan House, with the view of
erecting a large hotel there for the accommodation
of guests, which this new and novel plan of moun-
tain travelling will call mountain-ward.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

~-~- ---.

TIMES.—it is loudly proclaimed by our Continental
critics that the power of Britain now gravitates to-
wards Calcutta. The remark probably expresses
nothing more than a little annoyance at our retire-
ment from those quarrels in which they would fain
have had us intervene ; yet it is true that we now di-
vert to our Indian empire the flower and strength of
the British army, If, however, we ask whether the
English public takes a more lively interest in India
than formerly, or whether Indian politics are of a
character to command even its unwilling attention,
a negative answer, we suspect, must be returned to
both inquiries. Englishmen have, unfortunately,
not yet learnt to look at India as they should do,
nor is the Indian Government at present engaged
in any transactions of an unusually impressive
nature. The truth is, and we are happy to tell it,
that our policy in the East has not become more
aggressive or arbitrary with the growth of our power.
We have greater strength than ever, but we are
less disposed to exert it. We do not want any war,
notwithstanding our irresistible army ; nor have we
any desire for territorial acquisitions, though large
provinces of India are still in native hands. The
questions now occupying the attention of Indian
rulers bear a strong resemblance to the questions
under discussion at home. Finance, cotton, public
works, the laws governing the relations of master
and servant, coal deposits, and tenant-right—these
are the subjects which engage the authorities of
India in the year 1866. Uppermost at the present
minute in Indian politics are the affairs of Oude, and
very characteristic of modern days is the aspect
which they assume. Possibly, persons now living
may remember when the affairs of Oude turned upon
the wrongs of the Begums, and it is barely half a
century since the kingdom of Oude was to the In-
dian Government what Hungary was once to the
nations of Europe—a barrier and bulwark against
aggressors beyond. In those days we were in 'nor-
' tal fear of the Mahrattas, and we strengthened and
encouraged the independent State of Oude for the
protection of our North-Western frontier. We
now turn the Punjab to a similar purpose, the
Mahrattas havihg been suppressed and forgotten,
and the Affghans being the people regarded as
troublesome. But in the interval between those
times and these the kingdom of Oude has passed
through various phases of fortune, till at length it
was merged in our own dominions, and now Sir
John Lawrence has been quietly engaged iu inves-
tigating and determining the conflicting claims of
landlord and tenant in that province of the British
Empire. The affairs of Oude, in fact, might
almost be described like the affairs of Ireland.
Our correspondence from India has recently re-
ported in some detail the settlement of this intri-
cate land question, and though, like all Indian
topics, it is obscured by the use of Indian phrases,
the points at issue were simple and natural. In
India the Sovereign is supreme landlord, and
the chief reliance of the Eastern Exchequer is ,on
the revenue from land. But under the Sove-
reign are several tenures, the most debatable
of which is that of the actual cultivator of the soil.
Had the cultivator any rights beyond such as were
created by his agreement with his landlord ? Was
he a tenant at will, or did his position approximate
to that of a copyholder ? Such were the questions
which, well known and long discussed in India, gene-
rally pressed urgently for decision and settlement in
the province of Oude. The first part of the process
consisted in impartial investigation, and the inqui-
ries instituted by commissioners on the spot resulted
in the conclusion that, as a rule, a tenant in the
province of Oude was possessed of no rights of occu-
pancy maintainable against the will of his landlord.
This decision was all the more remarkable because
it was in opposition to the theoretical views of the
commissioners. There are in India two schools of
doctrine on this point, and it was very well known

that the Governor-General himself, as well as those
by whom he was assisted in the case, belonged to
the school which regarded tenant-right as the old
law of the country. Theorists of this party believed
that independent rights originally vested in the occu-
pant of the land all over India, though the proofs or
traditions of the custom might have been obliterated
by generations of war, oppression, or anarchy. No
inquiry, however, could confirm the truth of this
theory as applied to Oude, and Sir John Lawrence,
therefore, who would willingly have recognised the
rights of the peasant as inherently existing, was com-
pelled to establish them, as far as he could, by a
fresh title, derived from compromise and adjustment.
We should find it difficult to carry the English
reader with us through the details of this intricate
settlement, and we must content ourselves, there-
fore, with saying that the great landlords of the pro-
vince who hold immediately under the Sovereign
were induced to make concessions by concessions on
the part of Government; that certain classes of
tenants who already enjoyed beneficial terms by
favour have now these terms confirmed as rights;
and that a prospect is opened of a gradual enfran-
chisement of tenures through private contract, to
be facilitated by Government, between sub-
tenants and landlords. The most important feature
of the case is that •it is deemed generally satisfac-
tory. A deputation of the great landlords of the
province waited upon Sir John Lawrence at Simla,
and conveyed to him the assent and agreement of
the whole body to the new settlement. Of the actual
character of this arrangement we need only say that
the future extension of the principle is thought to
be inevitable, were it only that the rest of India
may be raised to the level of Oude. Not the least
curious feature iu these transactions is that they
should have been concluded at a remote spot in the
Himalayan mountains, 1,000 miles from Calcutta,
on territory which belonged to native chieftains only
20 years ago. The fact is that when foreigners re-
present us as absorbed in Calcutta they are speak-
ing the language of a past generation. The seat of
Government has not actually been removed from
Fort William, though more than one proposal has
been made for the transfer, but in the hot months
of the year, when the city of Calcutta is about the
least habitable spot in the world, the Governor-
General now retreats systematically to Simla. For
this practice there is ample justification in the de-
mands of health, but, apart from this consideration
it is by no means desirable that the Government of
India should be exhibited as stationary in Lower
Bengal. The true requirements of the case were
shown when it was even argued that Calcutta
should give place to Lahore. It was at Lahore or
Agra, in the Punjab or the North-Western Pro-
vinces, that the old Sovereigns of India resided, and
such a position is almost as desirable .to us as it was
to them. But the climate of Calcutta would of
itself be sufficient to decide such a question in days
when the value of health is better understood. It
is simply a fact that the work of administration
can be better done, and done more quickly, at
Simla than at Calcutta ; and if this relief were not
practised, the only result would be the desertion of
Calcutta altogether for a more central and salubri-
ous spot. From Simla the Governor-General can
now survey our most exposed frontier—if, indeed,
that term can be applied to a frontier which we are
at length beginning to think not insecure ; and
from Simla he will presently descend to Agra to
repeat the festival which a shdrt time since was
exhibited at Lahore, and to receive, as his Sove-
reign's representative, the homage of native Princes
who no longer distrust our rule. There may be
nothing very striking in such policy as this, but
it promises better, we venture to think, both for
India and England, than a policy characterised by
restless intervention or perilous expeditions based
upon chimerical alarms.
" THE EXAMINER 77
ON RAILWAY MANAGE3IENT.
—The closing scene of the late meeting upon the
report of the committee of investigation into the
management of the London, Chatham, and Dover
line was almost pathetic. The chairman and vice-
chairman spoke at once truthfully and mournfully.
They said that, unused to accounts, they had ac-
cepted as just all that was submitted to them by
the Secretary and other officers, that the dis-
closure of mystified accounts and suppressed
facts astonished them as much as it did the
shareholders, that they lamented deeply the posi-
tion of the concern, and, conscious of their unfit-
- ness, were anxious to resign, if by so doing they
3vould promote the good of the company. It is
. impossible to doubt the good faith in which this
utterance was made by each of the noble lords. The
'fruit of their being found deficient as directors is not
with them so much as with those who placed them
in office, in compliance with the bad customof seek-
ing to have a few titled men ready to be primed with
speeches to be let off at general meetings, when it is
vainly hoped that dissentient shareholders will be

awed into silence by their titles and social rank.
But how is it that not a syllable of explanation was
heard from the mute colleagues of the two noble
lords ? Why was there not a word from the ex-
directors, who surely were not absent, who ought to
have stood beside the table of their former fellows
in prosperity, now that adversity had overtaken
them ; men whom they had left possibly under
the guidance of an instinct such as rats are said to
exhibit when their bark is in danger of sinking.
The question has been asked, and as yet remains un-
answered, what have the auditors been doing? One
was a professional accountant. He, at any rate, can
not plead ignorance of the mysteries of £ s. d.
i Per-
haps some explanation will yet be given. It s im-
portant to know how much of the shareholders'
money has, in the aggregate, been paid to brokers
and financial agents for raising ready money to keep
the works going. A large sum appears in one item,
although it is by no means all. To whom has this
been paid ? A correspondent asks whether any of
it, and if so, bow much, has reached a broker who
is closely related to one of the auditors ? But the
most important question remains. How best can
mismanagement, such as has befallen this company,
be averted from other companies, many of whom
have had to sustain the odium of similar, but none
of equal exposure? The government of joint-stock
companies by means of directors has been tried, and
in a majority of instances it has been weighed in the
balance and found wanting. Many pamphlets have
been written, and various propositions made to im-
prove, and some wholly to supersede, the present
constitution of the board room. Many persons whose
remoteness or other engagements prevent them from
attending general meetings and looking after their
own concerns, almost necessarily leave the manage-
ment to a board of many men of varied and some-
times discordant views. Some few are able adminis-
trators, some do the work with interested motives,
some merely think of petty patronage and their
weekly guineas ; all are entirely irresponsible.
Surely it would be better to place the management
in the bands of one strictly responsible person,
or, according to the length of line, in the hands of
three. Let them be the best men that can be

found for this very important office, after diligent
search and , every practicable assurance obtained
of ability and integrity ; and let the engagement
be at a liberal salary, to which would be added
an augmentation running both in rise and fall
pari passu with the dividend. A solid and effective
security should be demanded in an adequate amount
for due and faithful performance of duty; and the
manager should be rigidly and minutely responsible
to the biennial or special meetings of shareholders.
The directors, who are recognised in the several acts
of Parliament, might then be reduced to the mini-
mum in number, and subside into the character of
a committee of shareholders, who should once a
month meet to watch proceedings, of which they
must be fully informed, and to ask for and to re-
ceive explanations from the management. Their
powers of interference should, however, be limited
to that of calling together a special general meeting
of shareholders, if, in their judgment, the interests
of the company would be compromised b 3 awaiting
the next half-yearly assemblage. As to audit, a
matter of vital importance, let one man be appointed
by the shareholders, who shall hold office for two
years only, and shall be empowered to call in the
aid of a professed public
,accountant to assist him.
Let the Board of Trade nominate a second auditor ;
he also to be changed at a short interval of time,
so that neither one nor the other should come under
the blandishments of the management, which has
hitherto not unfrequently contrived that things
should be " made pleasant," and auditors become
merely the influential colleagues of the directors.
The interference of the Board of Trade might have
the very desirable effect of producing a uniform and
plainly intelligible form of accounts; so that railway
proprietors could, in the printed statements, make
comparison of the several items in different com-
panies, to the advantage of all.
—•-

- ,
THE CIVIL SERVICE GAZETTE.—By the retirement of
Captain Whitty from the chief control of the Irish convict
prisons, which, we regret to hear, is necessitated by ill
health, the Government loses an officer of great practical
experience and rare merit. Some ten years ago the late
Sir Joshua Jebb born public testimony to the fact that no
one in the kingdom, from his wide range of duty and close
study of the subject of prison discipline, was possessed of
such sound qualifications for arriving at a just opinion
upon any matter connected therewith as Captain Whitty.
He possessed a practical acquaintance which is the lot of
few men who are appointed to direct or inspect, with- all
the details of every deparment of the prison service, and
was chosen by the Board of English Directors in 1848 as
the first governor of Portland Public Works Prison, the
entire management of which he most successfully organised.
Afterwards, while for many years director on the English

Board, he had the constant and supreme supervision of
5,000 convicts, and was fur long the mainstay of Sir Joshua
Jobb; but evidently differing in some particulars from the
system as pursued in . England, he eventually transferred
his services to Ireland, and for some years has ably filled
the post of head of the convict department vacated by Sir
Walter Crofton. Without underrating Sir Joshua Jebb's
good intentions or Sir Walter Crofton's better principles
of convict management, it was undoubtedly to such thor-
oughly practical men as Capt. Knight and Capt. `Witty

that the true success of the various reformations iu the
system is mainly to be attributed. Theoretical views,

however good, require shape and consistency, which can-
not be brought out by a prentice hand, but first in Capt.
Knight and subsequently in Capt. Whitty, Sir Walter
Crofton was happy enough to obtain the assistance of
coadjutors of surpassing administrative ability. Captain
Knight succeeded Capt. Whitty as governor of Portland,
then opened the new prison at Portsmouth, and eventually
became a commissioner of inquiry into the state of Irish
prisons, and one of their first directors ; and Capt. Whitty,
aftor holding a similar position at the English Board, fol-
lowed his successor in the Portland governorship to the
Hibernian directorship. He has now most ably adminis-
tered that department for many years, and was for some
time subsequent to Sir Walter Crofton's retirement left
single-handed, which was too much even for his vast
powers, those who knew him best being ever ready to tes-
tify to his immense capability for official work, and his un-
tiring zeal. What might have been the reason for the Irish
Government crippling the Convict Board in its activity it
is impossible to say, but being originally constituted three
in number, with one as a chairman, it certainly underwent
a gradual dissolution or melting process. First, Mr. Len-
taigne, the junior director, was appointed Inspector of Irish
Gaols, and then when Sir Walter Crofton left, no chair-
man was appointed, and no fresh appointment made. At

length, when the Royal Commission on Penal Servitude

and Transportation came into. existence, the matter was
brought under their consideration, and they reported
against this overburdening of the energies of one man in
the following words :—" It is bad economy not to have
sufficient strength in a penal establishment to admit of the
effective discharge of their irksome duties by the officers
without an undue strain upon their minds and bodies. The
office of one of the directors of Irish Convict Prisons has
recently been abolished, and there is, too, now only one
director. This reduction appears, front the evidence of
Captain Whitty, to have been inexpedient, and we consider
that the Irish Board ought to be placed in the same posi-
tion as it was before Sir William Crofton's retirement."
We trust that when the Government comes to assign to
Captain Whitty his pension they will not overlook the
fact of their having so far oversaddled him, we fear, to the
injury of his health. The willing public servant, like the
willing horse, is too often made a convenience of, and
worked to death. As the present vacancy affords so good
an opportunity of reconstituting the Board of Directors
it is to bechoped that it will not be lost sight of, for the
present government of the department— or rather its
arrangement—before Capt. Whitty's resignation was any-
thing but satisfactory or calculated to work well. Two
equally responsible officials form a most inconvenient head-
ship to a department, and if they don't pull well together,
there being no supremacy in either, matters are likely to
result either in a state of apathy or disturbance. A casting
vote consolidates and strengthens, and under a triumvirate
authority cannot well be questioned. At the time that the
number of directors were reduced, two inspectorships were
founded as a sort of make-weight. The gentlemen holding
those offices merely act as superintending governors, and
occasionally take charge of the prisons when the governors
are absent on leave, but they possess none of the superior
powers of the director, and it is generally felt that their
mission, whatever it may have been intended for, has
proved a complete failure. A good governor cannot need
more than a good director paying frequent visits, to sanc-
tion or improve his work ; but this system of having two
classes of superintending officials, one with no more power
than the governors themselves, is purposeless and irksome.
To weaken the sense of responsibility of the regular and
resident head of a large establishment is by no means the
best method to improve his efficiency; and we think it is
too little calculated how great an effect a certain amount
of faith and confidence possesses in the strengthening of
official power and self-dependence. If the English gover-
nors of convict prisons can be trusted without this inter-
mediate class of officials constantly watching their admini-
stration of prison matters, which are as well understood by
them as the inspectors, we should think that equal confi-
dence might be reposed in the Irish governors. At all
events, the true balance of power is not much prompted
by this singular fancy for two officials of every kind. That
number may have been very appropriate to Noah's Ark in
virtue of the difference of sexes, but we re no purpose
that it is likely to serve in consolidating tlie power of a
department, and if the Irish Government is wise it will
take this opportunity of returning to the original and
practical constitution of the Board of Directors of Convict
Prisons.

REPRESENTATION OF WEST GLOUCESTERSHIRE.-
The appointment of Mr. Roll, one of the members for
West Gloucestershire, to the Solicitor-Generalship, renders
an election imminent, and it is announced that Sir G. Jen-
kinson, who, it will bo remembered, contested North Wilts
unsuccessfully, is to be the Conservative candidate.