The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-29 00:00:00

_RECENT WILLS 4ND BEQUESTS.

The will and codicil of the Right Hon. Countess
Dowager of Listowel, the relict of the first Earl of
Listowel, were proved in the London Court of Pro-
bate on the 2d November by Mrs. Bushe, her sister,
one of the executors", her brother, Wm. Latham,
Esq., having renounced the grant. The personalty
was sworn under £12,000. The countess has be-
queathed all her disposable right to the property
charged upon the Meldrum estate, Tipperary, iu
possession of her said brother, to her said sister for
her life, and at her decease to her niece and god-
daughter, Mrs. Georgiana Maude, wife of the Hon.
Francis Maude, and bequeaths to her said niece all
her shares in the Irish Provincial Bank. Leaves '
the residue to her sister absolutely. The property
left to her niece is for her own use, free from mari-
tal control. The will was made in-1854, and the
codieil'in 1857.

The late Lady Chetwode, wife of Sir John
Newdiga.te Ludford Chetwode, Bart.. died without
making a will, leaving property which she pos-
sessed in her own right, with power of disposition.
The Same was administered to in the London Court
of Probate by Sir John, her husband, as the only
person entitled thereto by law.
The will and codicil of Major-General Sir Wil-
liam Eyre, K.C.8., late.of Bilton Hall, near Rugby,
were proved in London, on the 19th of November,
by his relict, Lady Eyre, the sole executrix, to
whom he has left the whole of his property for
er
own use absolutely. The will was made in 1854
and the codicil on the 22d of Sune,lBs9, by which
he aDilt •••
s guardians to his son. The personalty
is sworn under £70,000.
The will of Sir Thomas Tassell Grant, K.C.8.,
F.R.S., of 20, Chest,!r.terrace, itee'ent's•park late
Comptroller of her Majesty's Victualling Transport'
Services, Admiralty, was proved on the sth of I-o-
-' vember, by Lady Grant, his relict, and her sons,
Thomas George Grant and William Barley Grunt,
Esq,.%. He bequeaths his drawings, pictures, and
paintin,gs (many of them his own performances
and those of his late father), being coast scenery,
harbours, and shipping specifically amongst Ins
family. Bequeaths the
gold and silver vase, pre-
seated to him by her Majesty Queen Victoria, to
his wife, and at her decease to his eldest son then
living. Bequeaths to his wife, for her own abso-
lute use, ail the housclold furniture and effects,
books and plate e;icepttd, which at her decease, are
to be divided equally amongst his three sons, who
will also in like manner take an equal share in the
rPsithie at her decease, the wife being appointed re-
sicluaiy legate,: fdr life. The daughter takes no
share in the property being provided for f.'di mar-
riage.—Illustrated london News.

MR. WILLIAMS AND HIS CONSTI-

eUENTS.

Last evening Mr. W_ Williams, M.P. for Lam-
beth, met his constituents, according to annual cus-
tom, at the Horns Tavern, Kennington, and com-
mented upon the events of the recent session and
upon things in general. Mr. I. W. Stratton pre-
sided.

WILLIAMS (who was warmly received) said
he had no doubt that his constituents lonked pretty
sharply after him, and he wished the constituencies
of England would do the same with regard to every
member, for depend upon it this was the way to
keep them honest and to make them discharge their
duty. He attended the House of Commons through-
out the whole of last session, without the omission
of a single day or night; and no question of the
least importance was brought before the house in
which he did not take part. Referring to the cir-
cumstances under which Lord Derby's Government
was defeated, and the accession to office of Lord
Palmerston, the hon. member said that if the pre-
sent Ministry did not bring forward a Reform Bill
which was a decided improvement upon the mea-
su-e or their predecessors in office he should be
among the first to move its summary rejection.
There had been such procrastination in this
matter, and the country had waited so long for a
bill, that unless something worth acceptance were
offered them they could well afford to wait a little
longer. (Hear.) Although the last session was but
a short bne, it was a very laborious one, for almost
every night the house sat until after midnight. He
was always at his post. There was a great deal of
talk and of what they called discussion. The greater
part of the session was devoted to the estimates,
and he was very sorry to say that those estimates,
amounting to nearly £70,000,000, were the largest
ever presented:to Parliament in time of peace.
Now, he would compare the expenditure of 1859-60
with that of 1835—a year which he selected, not
on account of any special frugality of expenditure,
hut because two of our greatest. statesmen, Sir R.
Peel and the Duke of Wellington, were in the Go-
vernment at that time. Well, they required for the
expenditure of 1835 only £48,700,000, being
£20,000,000 less than was asked for duringthe pre-
sent year, If the Government of the country could
be carried on as cheaply as in 1835 we could dis-
pense with the whole of the income tax, with the
duties upon tea, sugar, and malt. In consequence,
however, of the extravagance of successive Minis-
tries, which he had done his best to cheek—though
he was sorry to say that the feeling for economy in
the House of Commons was not very general—
those reductions could not take place. He had
spent a great deal of his time—indeed that was his
principal business—in inquiring into this extrava-
gance; and he would just give them an example
how he was supported in doing so within the last
session. One night the Prime Minister all at
once proposed that they should proceed to vote
the Civil Service Estimates. There were seven
volumes of these estimates, which had only just
been delivered. The house had not five minutes
(riven them to look into the books, and he therefore
objected most strenuously to p ass any of these votes,
containing, as they did, some thousands of items,
which he always made a point of carefully
comparing with the same items in former years. It
was no use to point out extravagance in a particu-
lar instance. This would only be laughed at; but
when he showed that in the old borough-monger-
ing Parliaments less was required. Ministers some-
times hummed and hawed, and often tried' to
make a joke of it. In the case he referred to he
challenged any member to say that he had had time
to look at a single figure of these estimates. No one,
however, accepted the challenge, and, upon repeat-
ing it to Lord Palmerston, his lordship very jocu-
larly admitted that he had never looked at a figure.
(Laughter.) Yet this happened in the House of
Commons, whose principal function was to protect
the pockets of the people. He was so disgusted that
he shut up the books and walked out of house,
declaring that he would be no party to such a farce,
and that he considered an insult had been offered
to the House of Commons by the Premier. No
doubt they were very glad to see him go, and the
house immediately went to work and passed 57
votes, amounting to between £3,000,000 and
£4,000,000 of money, without a word from anybody,
as fast as the votes could be read over. One might
have supposed that the Premier would have been

anxious to allow the fullest opportunity of examin-
ing and discussing the estimates. But in this in-
stance he seemed in effect to say, " You, the House

of Commons, have no business With these votes, ex-
cept to pass what I think proper, or what the Go•
vcrnmeut order you to pass." (Hear, hear.) For
several years he (Mr. Williams) had moved the ap-
pointment of a committee to inquire into the expen-
diture of the army and navy. This was not because
he wished to diminish our protective force ; no man
was more anxious to see the country defended by a
force which would be irresistible against any attack
that could be made. (Cheers.) AR he wanted was
to see that the money voted was properly applied.
Well, the army estimates this year amounted to
upwards of £13,000,000, of which only about
£4,000,000 were spent in paying and clothing the
officers and men, and in finding them necessaries
and allowances. This amount he never proposed

to touch. Neither our soldiers nor our saifors'were
over-paid. But he wished to know what became
of the remaining £9,900,000. If the subject were
referred to an honest committee, he dare hardly
say what great reductions might he made in this
charge without the least loss of efficiency. Then
as to the navy ; it had always been his wish to
maintain the navy oa such a footing as would
enable us to defend our shores against all earners,
and money enough had been voted to effect that
object. But how had it been expended ? Since the
termination of the French war £300,000,000 had
been spent upon our navy. At the close of the.
French war we had upwards of 150 sail of the line,
while at the beginning of the present feat, after
this enormous outlay, we had only 29 screw and 12
sailing line-of-battle ships. Well, then, the cry was
raised that the country was undefended, andhe had
heard of two general officers who had said that if
10,0(10 Frenchmen were landed upon our coast
there was nothing to Mothr them from marching
upon London. Why, he thought the men of
Lambeth alone would stop such a force with
their fists if they hail no other weapons. (Cheers
and laughter.) All this alarm existed in spite
of the vast sums voted for the navy. " The French
navy," it was said, "is stronger than ours ;" and it
certainly did happen that at the beginning of
18.39 they had the same number of line-of-battle
ships and nine more steam frigates than we had.
Would it be believed, then, in the face of such a
fact, that the expenditure of France upon her navy
during the last four years was less than one-half
that of Great Britain ? He stated this on the au-
thority of official papers; and could any one blame
him, then, for wishing to know how all this money
was laid out ? (Hear, hear.) The nation was now
going to take its defence into its own hands by the
establishment of rifle corps, and he hoped that
within a very short time we should see 200,000
men, or even twice that number, with rifles in their
hands. (Cheers.) We might then rest secure
though all the world assailed our shores. Why
should Englishmen not bc. as celebrated for wield-
ing the rifle as their ancestors were for the use of

the crossbow ? With their aptness in taking aim and
their courage, Agincourt, the greatest battle on re-
corJ, was won; and in a country so well adapted
for defence, by its hedges and ditches, its woods and
coppices, the rifle would be most effective and would
he hoped, soon become the national weapon. Re-
turning to the navy, Mr. Williams said that the
exposures which had taken place had produced
some effect. Some time ago an inquiry was ordered
into the management of our dockyards, and in the
report just presented it was shown that in every
dockyard want of management, waste, and incom-
petence were exhibited, for which avast number of
remedies were suggested by the committee. He
would not go through all their recommendations,
but one statement made in the report, he would
refer to. The Russian Government contracted with
a large builder on the Thames to construct two
ships of war, and the price paid for wages in that
case was £2 12s. per ton ; while in Woolwich Dock-
yard, near at hand, the cost of wages for ti-c same
sized vessel, containing the same number of guns,
and similar in all respects, was £6 17s. Bd. And
at Chatham the cost of building the same class of
vessel was some 50 per cent. less. When such
extravagance prevailed could they be surprised
that our navy ryas in an inefficient state even after

the vast expenditure which he had mentioned ?
Lord Clarence Paget had pointed out some of the
waste of which our dockyards were the scene. A
man•of-war was just on the point of completion in
one yard. Somebody said, "This ship is too short."
" Oh !" was the reply, " we can very soon cure that
defect." So they cut her in two near the bow, and
lengthened her by £0 many feet. Instead of swim-
ming, however, her nose went into the water, where-
upon somebody else said, " We can mend this by
cutting her in two in the middle." She was cut.
accordingly and lengthened. But even then she
would not swim, and:. then it was resolved to cut her
in two once more, at the stern. (Laughter.) The
account did not add whether she sank or floated
after all these operations; but that was one way of
getting rid of the sums voted by Parliament. From
the days of Alfred to the present hour the navy had
always been our chief bulwark, and his Wish was that
it shon fd be perfectly efficient. Apart, however, from
the cost of building ships was the difficulty of man-
ning them. Now, this led him to the question of
flog gin,,, which he had twice brought under the
notice Parliament last session. He had then rc-
ceived letters from all puts- or our coast and from
all classes of Luen, assuring him that sailors were

averse from entering the Royal service chiefly on
account of this flogging. (Hear, hear.) Some time
ago a premium of £lO was offered for 10,000 sea-
men, and only 1,500 accepted it. Why ? He had a
letter fiom one of the coaling ports of the north,
and the Writer there said, "If the cclifnfil Itatits
sailors, let flogging be abolished. Then we ourselves
will furnish yriu with 10,000 men l but we won't
have the flesh torn from our bones at the Whim of
a single tyrant." (Cheers) Why should a retdin
a punishment which was unknown in the French
and American services? For several years he had
procured a return of the floggings which took place
in every regiment and every ship, setting forth the
nature of the offence arid the number of lashes ; and
he believed that . the publication of this return had
greatly checked the practice. The Duke of Cam-
bridge, to his infinite credit, as a man and a Chris-
tian, had issued a beneficial order on this subject;
and if the Secretary for the Navy adopted the same
principle he would get plenty of sailors. One in-
stance of the difference of system in different officers
he would adduce. Lord Clarence Paget, who was a
fine, straightforward, manly Englishman, with no-
thing of the aristocrat about him, commanded the
Princess Royal in the Mediterranean, and brought
the crew to a high state of discipline without flog-
ging a man. He was succeeded, however, by Capt.
Giffard, who, by his own return to the order of the
House of Commons, had had 53 men flogged, giving
them 2,100 lashes. (" Shame!") So long as he (Mr.
Williams) represented Lambeth his best efforts
should be used to remove this national blot and
disgrace; as he regarded it. (Cheers.) It was
most remarkable that almost all the flogging in
the navy was for drunkenness ; and it would
be asked, "As there are no ginshops and
no beershops on board ship how on earth
do the men get drunk ?" Some sailors, it
seemed, sold their grog to others, who thus obtained
the means of taking more than they ough to drink ;
but surely it would be easy to put a stop to this
practice by prohibiting the sale of grog, by punish-
ing those who disposed of it, and by liberally paying
men who chose to dispense with liquor. (Hear.)
With regard to the estimates generally, he believed
that there was a disposition on the part of some
members of the present Government, and especially
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to reduce expen-
diture, but something always seemed to start up
to prevent reduction. Within a period of less than
four years three subordinate officials—Sir John
Bowring at Canton, Mr. Murray in Persia, and Jr.
Bruce at the Peiho river—had involved this coun-
try in three wars without the sanction of -Govern-
ment, without the authority of Parliament, and in-
fringing upon the highest prerogative of the Crown.
After criticising the details of the Reform Bill in-
troduced by Lord John Russell in 1854, and ex-
pressing a hope that the measure of 1860 would be
found much more liberal, the hon. gentleman said
he would stand up manfully for household suffrage,
and would do his best to obtain it for the constitu-
cncy of Lambeth next year. He would also endea-
vour to procure the repeal of the iniquitous coal-
tax, which the Board of Works were apparently
trying to secure for themselves to help in paying
the £16,000,000 which thsy proposed to lay out on
metropolitan improvements, and very little of which
would be spent on the Lambeth side of the water.
In answer to a question from an elector,
Mr. Wiwams expressed his disgust at the ex-
posures which had taken place at Wakefield, Glou-
cester, and Norwich. The metropolitan constituen-
cies were too numerous to be bribed ; but all over
the country, he feared, these practices prevailed,
and the ballot was the only remedy. (Cheers.)
Mr. WEBBER moved, and Mr. LYONS seconded, a
vote of confidence in Mr. Williams, pledging the
meeting to support his future election.
The resolution, after some discussion, was car-
ried, and the meeting terminated with the usual
complimentary vote.