The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-27 00:00:00

ABDUCTION OF A VOTER AT BURY.

A very crowded court assembled in the Town-
hall, Bury, on Saturday, to hear a case brought
before the magistrates, in which five of the sup-
porters and friends of Mr. F. Peel, the sitting mem-
ber, were charged with abducting and holding in
duresse a voter on the opposite side, under circum-
stances of great violence and cruelty. There were
seven magistrates on the bench—Mr. John Grundy,
chairman, Mr. Thomas Wrigley, Mr. Richard Kaye,
Mr. Robert Kaye, Mr. Richard Wild, Mr. Hutch-
inson, and Mr. Wm. Openshaw: The defendants
were Zachariah Hardman, Joseph Booth, Murphy,
Sudron, and Ogden, Dr. Wheeler and Mr. Chas.
Hopwood were counsel for the prosecution, and
Mr. Fernley appeared as counsel for Hardman and
Ogden, and Mr. Higgin as counsel for Sudron,
Murphy, and Booth.
Dr. Wheeler stated the pace, which was brought
under the 17th and 18th Vic., cap. 102, sec. 5, by
which the offence of abducting and holding in
duresse a voter during an election is constituted a
misdemeanour. By the 10th section of the same
statute it is provided that such cases, if sent for
trial, must be taken to the assizes. There was a
further charge of assault.
'Wm. Constantine, the plaintiff in the case, hav-
ing been sworn,•stated that he was a stone mason,

living at Elton, a township within the borough of
Bury, and was in his 48th year. He voted for Mr.
Barnes at the last election. On the morning of the
29th April last, which was the nomination day at
Bury, he called at the New Inn, Elton, a Conserva-
tive house, about a quarter-past seven o'clock. It
was a house frequented by the Peelites. He called
for a glass of ale, but the defendant Hardman, who
was present with several other people, would treat
him with some spirits. Hardman had told him he
was a watchman for the Peelites, and had a number
of men under him as assistants. Could not say
what sort of spirits they were, but they made him
feel very sleepy. Before he had finished a second
glass, he rose from his seat to leave the house,
when Hardman and others seized him, and carried
him with force and violence through a yard at the
side of the house to a cab, into the bottom of
which he was thrust, doubled up, and it was driven
away. Hardman was In the cab, and another man
and Hardman kept him down by kneeling on his
chest, covering his mouth with one hand to prevent
him from giving any alarm. Complainant proceeded
to describe at some length his treatment in the cab,
and violent struggles to get loose during a journey
the length of which he could not guess. He was
frequently so ill-used by Hardman, Booth, and
Murphy, that he became much exhausted. Twice
in his struggles to get at liberty he got the cab
door open, and on one of these occasions he believed
Murphy, the driver, struck him violently. He
caught Hardman with his hand in his pocket, and
afterwards missed three sovereigns from that pocket.
Hardman hit him a blow in the mouth, which
knocked a tooth out and cut one of his lips. He
could not see, being doubled up at the bottom of
the cab, which way they drove him, but on the
journey recognised by the overhanging trees that
ho was in the neighbourhood of Sudron's residence.
The cab was ultimately stopped at Astley-bridge,
near Bolton,'where he was carried into the Tip-
ping's Arms public-house, and kept prisoner for
many hours in a room up stairs. Whilst in this
room a pillow was placed under his head and
another over his mouth, and he was nearly suffo-
cated several times in the attempts to stifle his cries
of murder." Hardman, Booth, Ogden, and
another man joined in the violent detention of him
there, and Hardman tried to pour half a pint of
spirits down his throat. Whilst the others held him
Hardman pinched his nose, and every time he
gasped for breath poured the liquor into his mouth.
It burnt his mouth, and ran into his eyes and all
over his face, but he blew most of it out of his
mouth as fast as it was poured in. He got hold of
Hardman's hands with his teeth during the
struggles, and bit pieces of flesh out of his fingers.
Hardman repeatedly asked him if he would go over
to the Peel party, but he replied that he would vote
for Barnes if he had life. Complainant detailed seve-
ral stratagems he resorted to in order to regain his
liberty, by one of which he got a bucket brought
into the room, which being of iron he suddenly
snatched up and dashed through the window.
It carried glass and window frame with it, and
so some neighbours interfered, and the landlord and
landlady came up and causedhimbe
liberty. He cried "Murder'' when he got outside,
fnodl
mhviemd
hhi how
out
had been, and told to a crowldlwoholagn
odtladroyu
five shillings to pacify him. Some
th
and gave him
and he reached Bury about eight
men outside kindly s owe im e nearest
eight
way station,
o'clock the same night. He was much exhausted,
and voided blood, after the usage to which he was
subjected, suffering much pain for some weeks, and
was not yet recovered from its effects.
Mr. Higgie and Mr. Fernley subjected the
plaintiff to long cross-examinations, without shak-
ing his evidence.
It being now nearly five o'clock, and the case
having lasted from soon after eleven in the morn-
ing, the magistrates decided, after hearing another
witness or two, to adjourn till another day. The
additional evidence was corroborative of onstan-
tine's statement.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.—The following
gentlemen, having undergone the necessary examinations
for the diploma, were admitted members of the college at a
meeting of the Court of Examiners on the 24th inst., viz.:
Messrs. Joseph Rickey, Clones, County Monaghan ; Her-
bert Roby Harris, Swan River,lAustralia ; Thomas Scard,
army ; Henry Thomas Barton, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Thos.
Dean, Llaithwaite. Yorkshire ; Edward Davies, Llansilin,
Denbighshire ; Henry Goode, Derby ; Henry Hadow,
George Street, Minories ; and James Cotton Byles, Vic-
toria-park-road, liaclaley.

'•-rk
s-4.•
Az4
Lord Elden never doubted" for on • h., I
.to fire as soon as his dogs had put up ardoVeyLif
iirds The -gun was brought up well and truly)to
his shoulder, mid' the. bird in due course fell to the
ground. WhatOet hesitation the Chancellor.might
feel as to the pbints which were brought before him
for decision when upon the woolsack, he felt none
when pacing the sti the turnip fields on a
September morning."Wr•oni this great example we
are entitled to conclude that there is no incom-
patibility between the study. of equity and!the use
of arms. The consideration is of vast importance
just now, for Lincoln's-inn is about to don Lin-
coln green, and descend into the tented field. The
draughts are in course of preparation. Counsel's
opinion has been solemnly taken upon the matter,
and the decision is—to go , on. . The .learned and
gallant gentlemen will soon be under arms, and our
muniments of title to the English soil will be as
secure as the rifles of Lincoln's-inn -can make
them. Nor is it to be supposed that the Camden.
Lawyers lag behind in the race of glory. Start-
ing from Garden-court even to Tanfield-buildings
and King's-bench-walk, the two temples are
moved to their foundations. They have deter-
mined to show cause against any rule of a foreign
Court.' Woe to the adventurers who may
pollute the hop-gardens of Kent and the pleasant
downs of Sussex. with invading tread, nisi
prius they make good their escape—before the
Home Circuit is upon them, Sergeant Shee and
Mr. Edwin James boanding.like incensed Zouaves
at their head. Remote Gray's-inn sympathises
with the call, and is ready with its remainder-men.
Even Sergeants'-inn Sergeants'-inn, Chancery-
lane, we say—the mother of heroes, is ready with
her select band of veterans. What they may want
in youth they will make up in experience.
If the French nation did but know the terrorarof
this legal phalanx as well as we know them, they
would think twice before they_ ventured within
its reach. Let them be aware that they will be, in
Chancery with every Chancery 'lawyer retained
against them. What 'would be the feelings of any
Englishman if informed that a detachiment of 200
lawyers was moving down upon hirh, bent upon
ejectment and battery ? - They will net be allowed
time to plead. The matter will not be suffered to
stand over till after the Long Vacation. Vain 'will
be all attempts to move for a new trial upon the
ground of misdirection by. the Colonel.. We hive
read of the fabled effects of the Gorgon's head when
duly attached to Perseus's shields but here will be
at the least 2,000 heads of counsel, all fierce, venge-
ful, and implacable. Let us trust that our legal
warriors will take the field in their professional
costume. The bar-wig will be to all intents and
purposes as comfortable a covering for the head as
the ordinary forage-cap, and surely will, strike
terror into the mind of the foe.. The white
neckerchief and bands are certainly better than
the apoplectic leathern stock which decimates
our armies before a shot is fired. The robe
would prove a protection against the weather,
and a useful covering at night. It might be tucked
up in action. The lagers of the Austrian army,
the Zouaves in the French service, and our own
Highlanders, all adhere to their particular costume,
and experience has shown that:it inspires appre-
hension into the breast of the enemy. Besides, a
man always fights .best in the dress to which ho
has been long accustomed;, The suggestion should
not be despised.

Be this as it may, the. English Bar is quite in
earnest about the matter, and, jesting apart, we
rejoice to see such a display, of public spirit in a
body of gentlemen who exercise great and deserved
influence throughout the, country. On Thursday
last a meeting was held at Lincoln!s-inn-hall for
the purpose of taking the subject into consideration.
Vice-Chancellor Kindersley was in the chair, and
the meeting was very forcibly addressed by the
Attorney-General, Sir Richard Bethell, who
moved the first resolution, " That it is expedient
that a Rifle Corps should be formed by the mem-
bers of all the Inns of Court." Sir Richard—
himself an excellent shot—perhaps rested his
case a little too much upon the principle that
an English gentleman should be accustomed to
the use of arms. He deprecated the idea that
the present movement for the formation of Rifle
Corps throughout the country should be at all
referred to any apprehension of invasion from
France, or from any other quarter. It would
never do, according to the Attorney-General's
opinion, to give umbrage to foreign Governments.
Now, this is not quite ingenuous. We have,no
desire to give any such umbrage, but it is as well
to be honest in the matter. There would have
been no stir about these Rifle Corps, or even, as we
fear, about our want of naval preparation, were it
not that a French army is at the present moment
careering about Europe. The most prudent and
farsighted of us cannot say where it will stop. All
we know is, that until quite recently we were
fearfully unprepared had the storm broken upon
our own white cliffs. Now, if the French had been
content to stay at home and mind their own affairs,
Europe would have been at peace, and the English
Sergeants-at-Law might have gone to their graves
without laving a learned finger upon the trigger of
a rifle. We very earnestly desire to remain friends
with our French neighbours, but we also desire
that they should remain friends with us. There-
fore it is that our Ministers—if they are doing
their duty—are setting our war ships in order ;
and therefore it is that the youtk and manhood of
England are bent upon learning the use of the
rifle for their own defence. Sir Richard Bethell
may assign whatever reasons his fertile ingenuity
suggests for their sudden growth of warlike spirit;
we say that it is because

from north to south
Austris. and France shoot in each other's mouth ;
and that no one can foresee with reasonable cer-
tainty in whdlre face the French Emperor may be
pleased to burn his next cartridge. We can only
rejoice that the lawyers are prepared to enter a de-
murrer against any such proceeding.—Times.

THUNDERSTORM YESTERDAY MORN-
LNG-LOSS OF LIFE.

Early yesterday morning a severe thunderstorm
visited the metropolis and its neighbourhood.
eenl leyme then t
s mer-
curyap.
About half.past seven o'clock the thermometer, as
a
it stood in the shade at Clapham-common, regis-
tered
r6oos rose te oi g re3e sd
eg Fahrenheit,degrees, and then
and
suddenly
d
peered to open and pour down their vengeance.
Flash after flash of forked, and, ;
saigular to say, at
the same time, sheet lightning, illuminated the
atmosphere, and peals of thunder, loud enough to
astonish anyone, followed like salvos of artillery.
Just at that moment a man named Hutson, a fore-
man of Mr. Herbert, of the corner of Cavendish-
street, Clapham-common, was struck down by the
lightning. It appears that he was in the habit of
sleeping at home on the Saturday night, and was
going to his master's house yesterday morning
when he encountered the storm, and was prostrated
to the ground. He was picked up, and removed to
the Windmill public-house, when he was found to
be quite dead. The unfortunate man has left a
widow and four children totally unprovided for.
The trees in the gardens of Mr. Mortimer, of
Upper g
Tootin,
• have been stripped of their bark,
and several riddled in a most curious manner,
branches as large as a man's body have been hurled
away from the parent stems and thrown long dis-
tances off.
At Merton all the tiles were cast off the roof of
one house, and a man who was in the garden
gathering neas was thrown down by the force of
the electricity, and for two or three hours seemed
perfectly paralysed. Medical aid, however, having
been procured, and the usual remedies applied, he
appeared at half-past eleven o'clock last night to
have so far recovered as to be pronounced out of
danger.
Owing to the recent explosions at the Dartford
and Hounslow powder-mills, we are informed that
many of the neighbours rushed out of their houses
and took shelter a long distance off, they expecting
that another fearful explosion would be caused by
the violence of the storm.

A very singular accident, which was happily
unattended with fatal consequences, took place at
the Hope Tavern, in Gravel-lane, Southwark, the
property of Mr. A. Kibblewhite. It seems that
the upper floor is let to a lodger ; he got up rather
earlier than usual, and was reading, his wife and.
two children being in bed in the same room, when
the electric fluid struck the window and hurled the
man off his seat to the floor, but, strange to say, his
wife and children were not in the least hu rt ; and
the only injury he sustained was the frigh-t of the
moment.

The Rev. Mr. Wallis alluded in the E; rough-
road Chapel to a man having also been struck down
and killed by the lightning;
and the accounts
brought to town last night by persons
v; •ho tra-
velled by the different excursion trains are of such
a character as to lead to the belief that sever :al acres
of land have been deprived of their cr ops and
serious damage done to the farm building t
At nearly midnight a large sheet of. lightningwas seen in the atmosphere, but not bein. g "hat is
usually termed " forked," no danger to life was
apprehended.

We learn that the affairs of Mr. F furison, the
secretary of the Royal Agricultural. Societ3 r, hay) a been
investigated this week, and the deficiency is fol Ind to
amount to £1,930, which has arisen since th o Che/ susford
meeting.—,Sufolk Chronicle.

mR. GLADSTONE'S COMMITTEE SITS
DAILY, at the UNION HOTEL, Coekspur-street,

S.W.
Railway passes will be supplied upon application to the
Committee, at Oxford, or to the Secretaries.
tARTHUR IIILMAN, Esq., M.A.,
Student of Ch. Ch.,
JOHN W. OGLE, M.D., Trinity, Hon. Secretaries.
GEORGE C. BRODRTCK, Esq.,
M.A., Fellow of Merton,

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE,
Under the Amazement of Mr. Charles Kean.
THIS EVENING will be,psesented Shakspeare's historical
play of KING HENRY V.
King Henry V., Mr. C. Kean ; Chorus, Mrs. C. Kean.
After which, ll' THE CAP FIFS.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee, Mr. 3. B. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING the performances will commence with
rirEIRYBODY'S FRIEND. Messrs. Charles Mathews,
Compton, and Bue.kstone ; Mesdames C. Mathews, Wilkins,
and Reynolds.
After which, MARRIED FOR MONEY.
To conclude with THE WATER WITCRES.
Commence at 7.

I\TEW THEATRE - ROYAL, AD ELPHI.
AA Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
THIS EVENING, ICI ON PARLE FRANCAIS. Messrs.
J. L. Toole, Chas Selby, billington Misses Keeley, Arden,
and Laidlaw. and Mrs. Billington.
Followed by THE HOUSE ? or, THE HOME ? Mr. A.
Wigan, C, Selby, Blllington ; Mrs. Alfred Wigan, Miss H.
iiimma. Miss Laidlaw.
And (by desire) THE FIRST NIGHT. Mr. Alfred Wigan,
Mr. Billing,ton, Miss M. Keeley.
After which, THE RIF I.E VOLUNTEERS. Messrs. C.
MelOy and Moreland ; Misses Woolgar and K. Kelly.
Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith.
Doors open at a quarter-past six—Commence at seven. Box
Office open from 10 to 5 —no charge for booking. No fees to
servants permitted. A registry kept of all articles found.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Lessee and Directress, Miss Swanborough
THIS EVENING, VANDYKE BROWN. Mr. J. Clark,
Miss A. Burditt.
After which, CAUGHT BY THE EARS. Mr. J. Rogers
and Miss F. Hughes.
To conclude with KENILWORTH.
Commence at 7 o'clock.

ROYAL SURREY THEATRE—This Evening
Shakipeare's Tragedy of RICHARD 111. Duke of
Gloster, Mr. Hermann Vezin ; supported by Messrs. Charles
Calvert, B. Potter, C. Cooper, Vollaire, .T. Neville, Miss Agnes
Hemble, Mrs. Atkins, Mrs. Charles Calvert, Miss Ferguson,
Miss Yokes.

After which, the new comedy, entitled THE VISCOUNT
LETORIERES. Mrs. Hermann Vezin.

[0 conclude with OUR RIFLE VOLUNTEERS.

CANTERBURY HALL AND FINE ARTS
GALLERY, Westminster-road.—Open at Seven.

EVERT _EVENING during the week will appear
THE DELEPIERRE FAMILY,

*misting. of three Juvenile Violinists, viz., Jules, Juliette,
and Julia Delepierre, aged, respectively, FOUR, SIX, and
EIGHT years.

The perfect execution by these Lilliputian Artistes of some
of the most difficult and brilliant Solos, Duets, and Trios ever
written for the violin, has excited mingled wonder and admi-
ration in Continental Musical Circles, and drawn forth enthu-
siastic' tributes of praise from the Public Journals of France
and Belgium.

The will perform EVERY EVENING, at NINE and
ELEVEN o'clock, in addition to the usual Entertainments.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, JUNE 26.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
76—highest since noon yesterday.
72—lowest this morning and during the night.
76—this day at noon.
BAROMETER-29.92.
WIND, S.W. ; fresh, with fine weather. There was a
thunderstorm early this morning.
JUNE 27.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
78—highest since noon yesterday.
71—lowest this morning and during the night.
76—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-30.19.
WIND, Southerly; light, with fine warm weather.

During the last forty-five years there has been no
such battle fought in Europe as that which has
resulted in this great victory of the French at
Cavriano and Solferino. Between 300,000 and
400,000 troops were there upon the field. The
line of battle extended over a distance of five
leagues, or from twelve to fourteen miles. The
contest lasted altogether during some sixteen
hours. The defeated Austrians were driven back
from every one of their positions without excep-
tion. The victorious Emperor of the FRENCH
passed the night after the conflict in the very room
occupied during the previous day by his Imperial
brother of Austria. According to some ac-
counts received from the seat of war as
many as 50,000 men upon the side of the van-
quished were placed hors de combat. Even
at the most moderate calculation there were
6,000 prisoners—and, as additional trophies of their
triumph, the Allies retained in their possession,
after the retreat of their discomfited antagonists,
numerous stands of arms, a great many flags, and
from 30 to 50 pieces of ordnance ! The Austrians
themselves, for once, frankly admit they have been
defeated. After making as much as possible of a
momentary repulse of the Piedmontese by their
right wing at Pozzolengo, they honestly subjoin—
" BUT, on the other hand, the order of our centre
could not be restored." Adding—" Losses ex-
- traordinarily heavy, a violent thunderstorm, the
development of powerful masses of the enemy
upon our left wing, and the advance of his
main body against Volta, caused our retreat, which
began lata in the evening." Yet the whole circum-
stances under which this mighty and sanguinary
engagement took place were of the Austrians' own
selection. They chose the day, they chose the
hour, they chose the battle-ground. They were
perfectly familiar with every inch of the locality
over twelve miles of which they fought and were
conquered. They had collected together the whole
of their available resources. They had concentrated
upon their line of battle troops to the number of
from 150,000 to 200,000. The Allied armies,
though heartened for a decisive engagement by
the preliminary triumphs of the campaign, won
successively at Montebello, at Palestro, at Magenta,
hesitated prudently before crossing the line of the
Mincio into the enemy's territory, in the presence
of a powerful array of some 200,000 disciplined
soldiers. The Allies refrained from making that
bold and adventurous movement, at any rate, until
it could take place simultaneously with the advance
against the foe of some 40,000 in their rear from the
direction of Venice, and of some 40,000 more upon
their flank, from Tuscany, under the command of
the Prince NAPOLEON. Eager, no doubt,
to prevent, if possible, the immense peril
of that united assault upon their position by
the Allies—the Austrians, who had before wisely
enough retreated behind the Mincio, now boldly,
and as it proves rashly, determined to retrace their
steps across its protective current—to precipitate
the collision before NAPOLEON 111. could be aided
in his designs by the arrival of 80,000 additional
troops, half of them from Venice, half from Tus-
cany. By an insensate decision of temerity the
'whole mass of the Austrian army recrossed the
linq of the Mincio at four different points on
Thursday, the 23d of June, 1859—taking up a new
ana Powerful position between the Mincio and the
Chi ese in a line extending obliquely in a south-
westerly direction. The centre of this new posi-
tioct crossing the high road between Goito and
Mot itechiaro, caused the left wing to extend to the
borders of the river Chiese, occupying as its
stra nest point of course the Castel Goffeedo,
whil e the right wing extended from Cavri-
ano and Solferino to a point about three
mil( :s below Peschiera, namely, to the :position
alre ad y mentioned at Pozzolengo. Upon this
chosen . line of about a dozen miles in extent—upon
s, t o the Austrian's thi
well-known line, running,
as we have said, from the Mincio to the Chiese,
from the north-east to the south-west—this tre-
mend( ins conflict, of sixteen hours' duration, raged
from o'clock in the morning to .8 9'clock in the

evening of February the 24th instant, until the
victory was completely assured, indeed, to
the Allied Armies, under the Emperor NAPO-
LEON and King VICTOR EMANNITEL, until
every one of the Austrian positions had been
yielded up to their heroic conquerors, the van-
quished retreating across the fatal waters of the
Mincio, leaving cannon, flags, and prisoners in the
hands of the victors, and upon the " foughten
field" a dreadful chaotic mass of from 30,000 to
40,000 Austrian soldiers killed or wounded. Such
was the terrible and signal victory won by the
French and the Sardinians at the great battle—
how it will be designated by history we are yet in
doubt—of Cavriano or Solferino.

Mr. GLADSTONE has lost no time in paying
homage to public opinion. He has disavowed the
rumours imputed to him of a retrograde movement
in arresting the progress so happily begun and
patriotically carried out, in placing our navy in a
position to guard and protect the independence of
England. So far we are very willing to believe him.
But there were some just grounds for apprehension,
seeing that orders were given to reduce the working
time of our shipwrights. Why was this done ? To
save the Exchequer a few thousands, which would
ultimately prove no saving at all. Then why was
it attempted in the face of an imminent war ? Per-
haps to try the temper of Englishmen, and feel if
the National pulse beat in unison with his own.
And what reports the new Doctor of our finances ?
Why, that instead of our blood running in dull,
slow German veins, it boils to indignation at the
very thought of our truckling to any fancied saving
in the maintenance of our only true national Bul-
wark—the Navy. What would England be with-
out her Navy? Why, nothing. She would not
even be a third-rate power, or any power at all.
The whole continent would pour in its myriads, and
those who owe us most—our Cousin Germans—
would be the very first to vent their hate. Yes
the Germans are the proudest, most beggarly, mean'
and tyrannical oppressors in Europe. Neither for-
tune nor misfortune tempers the stoic lethargic
blood of German despotism into a Christian feeling
of humanity. It is all boastful, 'domineering arro-
gance. The German has no sympathy for his kin-
dred, and no love for anything but his own precious
" Fatherland "—which is for the most part as bar-
ren as his heart is cold.
The Germans hate our Navy because they have
little or none of their own. And yet they assume
a mastery, through their family alliances with this
country, that is quite sickening to English patriot-
ism. What have we ever gained by our unhappy
connection with Austria but loss, loss—loss of
money, loss of character and self-esteem; for how-
ever liberal England has been in her generous
folly, the Germans cry—more ! more ! and yet they
yield no return.
Well, as we have had such sad experience of past
deceptions, let us now be wise and trust to our-
selves. Let us have a fleet, or fleets, worthy of the
country, and strong enough to maintain our supre-
macy on the ocean against " all comers." We can-
not be blind to what is preparing around us.
France has a powerful fleet, and Russia is busy,

very busy, in equipping her navy, both in the Bal-
tic and Nicolaieff. At the latter place she is pre-
paring men-of-war under the guise of merchant-
men, or transports. Now we know that under
whatever denomination you call a ship, if well
built, she can be turned to any purpose.
"A rose, by any other name, will smell as sweet."

And Russia has not yet forgotten the cunning of
her hand, nor relaxed in her wily diplomacy. Not
she. The Archduke CONSTANTINE has not gone up
the Mediterranean for nothing ; nor paid a visit to
the SULTAN but to spy the nakedness of the land.
And his visit will one day bring forth some bitter
fruits. Then let England be prepared, and her
motto be—Ready ! aye, Ready !
Now the only way to keep up our preparations
is to have efficient men at the helm. We want no
land lubbers to mismanage our Navy. As we must,
and do pay, let us have efficient men for our money.
Why should our Board of Admiralty be made sub-
servient to every political shipwreck of party ? If
a Ministry falls, the Horse Guards stands as before.
Not that we are-over enamoured of its construc-
tion ; but there it is for better for worse ; but with
the Admiralty it is all for the worse, with little
hope for the better. What can a civilian know of
ships or their internal administration ? Very little,
or nothing. What then is the First Lord good
for ? To make a speech, and deal out patronage to
all the hungry spawn of nobility. In short to sell
commissions for political support. To corrupt
members by the promise of something to their own
advantage, or that of their friends. But is such
conduct in public life what men would practice or
tolerate in private ? Gentlemen would scorn to
submit to such baseness. Then at whose expense
are men in office so very liberal ? Surely not at
their own—no—nor yet at the questionable bounty
of Party. No ; the much-abused Nation is made
the scape-goat for all the sins of office. Nor is undue
influence confined to Whig or Tory—nor, we fear,
would it be better if at the mercy of even a mock
heroic Radical corrector of abuses. No,—men are
hut men after all, and the crows of place will vin-

dicate their grain !
Sir CHARLES NAPIER ought to know something
of the Navy ; and yet he often takes a one-sided
view of things. We remember well discussing with
him, in this room, some years ago, about the neces-
sity of apply the screw, instead of the paddle to all
our men-of-war. With a truly quarter-deck infal-
libility of assurance—he exclaimed " Nonsense !
There's nothing like the paddle !" " But what if a
shot hit the shaft ?" "Nonsense ! It's a hundred
to one against it." "Well, but suppose it struck
the hundredth time ? Where then would be your
paddle ? Besides, a ship with the screw is efficient
with a full broadside, which the paddle is not."
Bravo !" exclaimed three other Pest Captains
then present, for the old Commodore was then
only a Captain. Now, what we infer from
this is that, bad as is the appointment of
civilians to the head of the Admiralty Board,
we are not over-satisfied that such dogmatic
Reformers as the old Commodore are the best quali-
fied for the due administration of naval affairs.
The question then arises_ hat is best to be done?
That there are many places for which civilians are
better fitted to act than mere sailors we willingly
admit—and for such offices let civilians be ap-
pointed. But what we object to is the absurd
change of men who, when they have just learnt
their duty, are turned out for other men who have
theirs to learn. Why not have a permanent Board,
composed of efficient men, selected, if it must be,
from both parties, with a due proportion of men
who represent the country and not the factions—
men who sink all party spirit in their true love of
fair play—men who will not swerve to the right or
the left, from favour or affection, to serve the undue
interests of others.

Aye ; but we shall be asked where's the respon-
sibility ? We answer, in the character of the men.
Let them become responsible to Parliament, and
give an account of their conduct. Let a naval re-
port be annually made L and let the duty in our
dockyards be carried out in a business-like man-
ner. Let the Surveyor of the Navy be accountable

for the construction of the ships, or their conver-
sion, if requisite ; but let no newly-appointed Sur-
veyor be suffered to make ducks and drakes of the
ships of his predecessor. That has been the curse
of our fleets. It is said that a new broom sweeps
clean, but some of our surveyors sweep the half-
built vessels of his predecessor right off the stocks !
His jealousy cannot contain itself at the fancied or
real excellence of a rival, and the nation has to
pay for his presumptuous folly. If he be re-
strained in any one favourite particular, he
takes it so much to heart that he sulks
for a season and leaves the "offensive ship" to rot
on the stocks ! Thus has it been with ships that
have disappeared—or, with those too heavy to be
smuggled without observation like the NELSON—
that the expense of their building after long Years
of uselessnesss, would serve to fit out a respectable
fleet. We are glad now to find that our present
very excellent surveyor, Sir BALDWIN WALKER,
has had the courage to take the Nelson in hand
and to cut her down from a first-rate to a second-
rate of 91 guns. Better late than never ! But
what disgrace does that one fact reflect on former
surveyors and boards of Admiralty !

No board or set of men can ever be efficient, or
do justice to the country, if subject to eternal
change. The out-going board scrambles to find
places for friends neglected, or for friends that
may become useful hereafter; while the incoming
party, hungry and sharp-set, hasten to make
places—for their friends, or friends in expectancy,
and so the country is taxed by the shuffling of
both the cormorants and their friends. The system
must be altered and the nuisance abated, or Eng-
land will be ruined.

The confidence of the Coalition is beginning to
fade out. Their bouncing and braggadocio are no
longer audible. They don't, certainly—as yet—cry
Peccavinzus. But they begin to look about them
with some degree of trepidation. Hitherto they
have talked of themselves as a strong, an unassail-
able, an unprecedentedly powerful, permanent, and
peculiar Government. They are, they always have
been, we will admit, a peculiar Government.
Though not according to their own estimate of the
meaning of that phrase—according to a very dif-
ferent interpretation of it. They are a peculiar
Government, for example—for inasmuch as they
enter upon office not simply, be it said, with the
seeds, but with the burgeoning boughs of disunion
among themselves. They undertake to carry on the
Government of the empire in the face of the most
powerful, the most united, and the most formidable
Opposition that has perhaps ever yet confronted
an Administration. They do so with a narrow
majority of thirteen votes—in other words, of
scarcely seven voters—upon that memorable divi-
sion in the largest House upon record in the annals
of Parliament, the division which led to their own
instalment in office, under the Premiership of the
now once more First Minister of the Crown—Vis-
count PALMERSTON. They assume the reins of
Government when a sanguinary European war
is threatening an extraordinary development—
and this at the very moment when England
is, by a strange anomaly, at one and the same
time eager above all things for neutrality, and yet
animated from one end of the land to the other by
an unusual ardour of warlike enthusiasm The
population insisting upon the diplomacy of the
country being strictly neutral, even while forming
themselves with all speed into volunteer corps in
almost every county, in nearly every town, in well
nigh every class, and in all but every profession—
thus giving an instantaneous response to the appeal
of the Laureate—

" Riflemen, riflemen, riflemen form,
Ready, be ready to meet the storm,
Riflemen form, riflemen form :"
The Coalition has to preserve peace between itself
and the a2tual belligerents—under the conduct of
the so-called YEolus, or Firebrand of Europe, Lord
PALMERSTON. They have to celebrate this main-
tenance of peace with a considerable increase of
taxation. They have to signalise this unwarrant-
able increase of taxation most unwarrantably, by
imposing the war•tax as the price of the peace
thus unaccountably purchased by a monstrous
advance in the expenditure, necessitating a more
monstrous burden upon the toiling multitude. The
Finance Minister who will have to propose to
the House of Commons the abrupt reim-
position of the obnoxious Income Tax
upon the nation, upon the very eve of the
date of its long-anticipated removal, is that identi-
cal Chancellor of the Exchequer who devised, a
few years back, so ingeniously the method of its
gradual extinction by 1860—the twelvemonth which
is now, it seems, to witness, not the removal of the
income tax, but its whole re-imposition. Precisely
when the juncture has arrived for the accumula-
tion of all these various difficulties around the
newly-installed Government of the Coalitionist
Palmerstonians, they are contriving ingeniously-to
celebrate the inauguration of their rule by an im-
mense defection from their own already diminished
and embarrassed forces Mr. ROEBUCK awaits
the new Ministerial explanation on Thursday—
armed, formidably enough, with the avenging
blue-book of the reviled and maligned, but honest
and patriotic Earl of MALMESBURY. Mr. BRIGIIT
awaits those explanations powerful, almost, we had
said, irresistibly strong, in his seemingly despised,
certainly depreciated independence. Indignant,
naturally indignant, at the glaring violation of
faith which has induced the Chiefs of the
new Coalition to exclude his namo among all
names from the long list of that hodgepodge
Cabinet, including within it men like Mr. CARD-
WELL and Sir CHARLES WOOD—the popular
Tribune sent to the House of Commons by the
reforming, constituency of Birmingham, for the
express purpose of putting an end to the govern-
ment of England by the Great Families, has ob-
viously within his grasp the means of at once
wreaking a deadly vengeance upon those who, for
theirown selfish ends, have treated him at once so un-
gratefully and so contumeliously. The persuasions
of Mr. BRIGHT, if so directed, we may rest per-
fectly well assured would be adequate to induce
Mr. COBDEN, on his arrival from the United States,
to decline the acceptance of that seat in the
Cabinet which has been set apart for him, to the
discrediting of his eminent associate and compatriot.
Once let the member for Birmingham withdraw
the member for Rochdale from the Palmerston
Coalition Government, and the member for Ashton-
under-Lyne must, in honour, withdraw also, from
that seat, as President of the Poor-law Board, to
which he has already been inducted as one among
the ranks of our sixteen contrasting administrators.
Deprive the Coalition of the support of the Man-
chester School leaders, and let those leaders lapse
in a cluster into a fresh section of the Independent
Oppositionists, and the vaunted Strong Govern-
ment will to-morrow be completely at the mercy
of their antagonists. The Coalition will collapse
and the Derbyites be at once recalled to power—
not merely as the only strong, but as the only
possible, Administration.

THE RIFF PIRATES.—GIBRALTAR, June 17.
The Merced (Austrian barque), Captain Tomichic, from
Tunis, reports that on or about the 30th of April sho was
chased by a Ruffian boat, off Cape Tres Forcas, fur a consi-
derable time, but a fresh breeze having sprung up, she was
enabled to dear the coast, and thus escaped.

,
1
\ '3 • !
,
hi , 4-f •)1 brairr "

THE SUN.
MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1859.