The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-01 00:00:00

eitionina_24ltit

LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1850.

Sir CHARLES WOOD unquestionably possesses one
qualification for the important office he occupies in
"the Government of the country. No person can
listen with more profound indifference to thecom-
plaints of suitors to the Exchequer, who, whether
seeking relief as a matter of right, or of expediency,
of justice, or of charity, are dealt with in a manner
that must discourage all future applications. The
summary mode in which he disposed of the numerous
representations respecting the commercial crisis, and
the wide-spread distress in August, September, and
the early part of October, 1847 ; the unblushing hare
dihood with which he met the various deputa-
tions, totally denying the existence of any pressure
in the money market, and asserting that any person
of real solvency could have no difficulty in obtaining
the accommodation he required upon sufficient secu-
rity, must constitute valuable precedents for the
guidance of all future Chancellors of the Exchequer;
while his conduct and demeanour to those who apply
`for fiscal relief, by the abolition or reduction of some
obnoxious impost ; the impressive. manner in which
'he refuses to enter into any discussion respecting the
justice or policy of a particular tax, or the hardships
'svhiCh its mode of collection inflicts upon the people ;
the simple method of narrowing the question
to the pounds, shillings, and pence, which it brings to
'the revenue—" a sum which," to use -his own
stereotyped answer, " he is certainly not prepared to
relinquish," are beyond all praise, and must serve as
anodels for future imitation.
f But he. has recently established even a higher claim
tei;the admiration of his successors in office. He is
'prCbalisly the first English Minister of Finance who
jias compromised well-founded claims against the
,national Exchequer for something less than 10.. in
pound,, or who suggested a local subscription
-toelnakeetip. the deficiency. He has also afforded a
Ntlifsible lesson to the sufferers on the impropriety
tainipatieiice, and of the unreasonableness of expec-
liiig Shit the money which had been voted by Perlis-
gneut
_for their use should be applied without unneces-
-eery. delay.
I .The case of the unfortunate depositors in the Cuffe-
4street 'Savings' Bank must be so fresh in the public
leb4*Ctiotf that it is surely unnecessary to repeat
eel r ,
~rice circumstances, which, it was almOst universally
peknowledgedf gave them a claim' upon the Govern-
ment for the full amount of their deposits. A Com-
4redttesi of- the House of Commons, selected by
it CuAntas` Woo D—who, contrary to the usual
7p.,urse, took the nomination from the gentle-
ae,an on whose motion the Committee was
sappointed—investigated the case as well as those of
he banks of Tralee, Killarney, and Auchterarder.
:From their report it appeared that the Government
'had long been aware of the condition of the Gaffe-
etreet Bank, that serious deficiencies had occurred in
its accounts, and yet the Comnii• )ners, whose duty
.i.,sistas to have immediately interfered, and to have
prevented further frauds from being- perpetrated on
the people, deliberatily sanctioned the continuance of
'the bank, and induced the people of Dublin to lodge
their savings in an insolvent under-
taking. Had . the affairs- been wound up
-irr -Ins; when the large deficiency • was
fitseelftaii*ie'd, there would hate been a dividend of
`i63. 63. in the pound, and even in 1845, when the
Illahilitties,exceeded the 'assets by a much larger sum,
the losa would not have much exceeded ss. in the
,pound ;. but the Commissioners, fearing '
the run that
It might' have occasioned on savings banks generally
the' erroneous opinion that there was Government
!secUrity'ror the deposits were removed, permitted the
,isanls, to continue its operations until, in 1848, it
;finally ,nlosed :with liabilities which in round terms
zeinveulited to 64,0001., while its assets were under
'W"beini,s `eve'n' asserted that immediately be-
'Yore the-Penal' Closing of the bank the managers gave
aindueyreference to their own friends, by paying
,
_in full certain parties: who had not made any applica-
tion, while they refused those who had served the
ual notices.
. The Committee, in referring to this matter in their
r port, state that " they are inclined to allow due
weight to the considerations which they believe in-
•fleenced the Commissioners, in 1838 and 1845, in the
course' which they' pursued, but they cannot but feel
'that as regards the depositors, who areprincipally of the

poorer classes, a different course would have prevented
the,149,,0f all their savings." After such a state-
'mem it is• difficult to conceive how Parliament could
haie refused• to pay the full &mount of the claims of
-the -depositors., Through the culpable apathy, the
'crassa• negligentia, of the Commissioners, they
hid b'en betrayed, and they had therefore an
'unquestionable right to be reimbursed all their losses
from the national Exchequer., Sir CErsaLis WOOD,
.; however, adopted a middle course; he proposed a
vote- of 30,0004 as a matter of charity; which was

carried by an obedient majority. The inconsistency
of this course was, however, but too palpable. If the
demand was founded on equity and justice it should
have been satisfied to the last farthing. It would be
unworthy of the British nation, which especially
prides itself on a scrupulous observance of the public
faith, to compromise a fair debt, or to take advantage
of the weakness of the claimants, to give them less
than they were fairly entitled to ; but if, on the other
hand, it were to be considered merely as a case of
charity, there could be no possible reason why the
sufferers at Tralee and Killarney should not have been
allowed to participate. The distress in Kerry was not
less urgent than in Dublin ; nor had the southern
depositors less claims upon the compassion of philan-
thropists than those of the metropolis. Sir CHARLES
WOOD could not extricate himself from the horns of
the dilemma on which he had permitted himself to be
tossed.

It now appears, from the correspondence which
has taken place between the Right Honourable
Baronet and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, that
no step has yet been taken to distribute the
money voted by Parliament among the eufferersil
Sir CHARLES WOOD is " sorry to laarn that any of
the depositors should have been induced to have come
from other places, at considerable inconvenience to
themselves, in the expectation of immediately receiv-
ing any part of the money." He, however, consoles
himself by thinking that " it is entirely their own
act, and one to which they have certainly not been
led by anything that be has said." Good easy man,
he suffers no inconvenience, his cheques are duly
honoured by his bankers, his official salary paid to
the day, consequently he has not unduly exerted
•himself by _endeavouring to expedite the inquiry
which he chooses to consider- necessary, and which
will furnish comfortable pickings for some fortunate
protege. Oh, Sir CHARLES WOOD is indeed a great
man I Happy is the nation that is blessed with so
prudent a Minister of Finance !

It Would appear that the reaction against the reac-
tion has commenced in good earnest in the dominions
of the King of the Two Simms, and that the Cala-
brias are at this moment the seat of a civil war
which will probably be of such a character as to make
humanity shudder ; for the Calabrians have been for
the last eighteen months, in common with the other
subjects of his Majesty Kriso BOMBA, experiencing
treatment more than sufficient to generate
sentiments of deadly hatred and implacable
vengeance in the bosoms of a less excitable race
than that which inhabits the ancient Magna Grecia,
,once the most civilized region of the globe, but now re-
duced to semi-barbarism by the. demoralising tyranny
of the successive Kings of Naples. The Austrian
Government, it would appear, has for some time past
foreieen that the unreasoning tyranny of the Neapoli-
tan Bourbon could not but drive his people to despair,
and produce, an outbreak, which, should it once get
head, would inevitably extend to all Italy ; and
as Austria is in no condition to renew the
efforts she made in 1848 and 1849, and could not
now spare a single soldier to assist the Bouanos even
in his utmost need, the Austrian Minister has of
late addressed the Neapolitan tyrant in language
of sharp reproof—has strongly. recommended the ob-
servance on his part of a more constitutional, more
conciliatory, and more reasonable line of policy. The
Bourbon "adder," however, was "deaf to the voice of
the charmer," and with the characteristic stu-
pidity, obstinacy, and cruelty of his race, determined
to persevere in his system of government by terror, but,
as the Austrian Minister foresaw, the 9th Thermidor
of the ROBESPIERRE of legitimacy is at hand, and from
the point of all others least expected, from Calabria, will
proceed, perchance, the liberation of Italy. We pub-
lished a few days since a correspondence which
originally appeared in the Paris Evenement,
and which gave a short account of this
Calabrian outbreak, and we have anxiously
watched for further intelligence, which should
either confirm the truth or prove the falsehood
of the news given in the Ev4nement. We did not,
however, look for any information on the subject
to the Neapolitan journals; they are every one of
them in the hands of the Government; even the Tempo,
which so long preserved its independence, has been at
last forced to succumb, and is now under the sole di-
rection of PECCHENEDA, the Minister of the Police—
neither did we expect to find any account of the
Calabrian insurrection in the foreign correspondence
of the English re-actionary journals ; it is not
their cue to know anything of the Calabrian insur-
rection until the insurgents shall be at the
gates of Naples. In an Italian journal,
however, .11 Commune Italiano, published at
Milan, under the government of the myrmidons,
of Austria, and the authority of which, therefore,
cannot be disputed, we find the accounts given by
the correspondent of the Evinement fully corrobo.
rated. It was on the 25th of August that the attack
was made by the band of Bianchi on Nicastro,
and that they entered that city to "execute," as they
said, " justice on their enemies"—and so far did their
thirst for revenge carry them that they not only shot
down and cut down the Sbirri of the King of
NAPLES, and the Neapolitan authorities wherever
they could find them, but burned the houses
and ravaged the property of these their " enemies,"
and one man was observed who refused to permit
any measures to be adopted to extinguish the flames
of his own house, but who, on the contrary, adopted
every means in his power to increase the force of
the flames, because it was situated in the
midst of the houses of the " enemies." A certain
PERDINANDO Aaar.Lo, an urban guard, who had'
betrayed some persons to the authorities, was shot
by his nephews, who refused to permit any
others to shoot him, because:they wished to wash out
the shame of the family] " This episode," nye
the writer in the Commune Italiano, " should warn
the political power, that if it does not stop short in
the course it is pursuing, and adopt more temperate
measures for the pacification of the country, greater
evils must inevitably occur. The revolution which
is now preparing in the Two Sicilies will surpass
that of '99 in France. In Nicastro there were more
than 200 of the inhabitants arrested by the
military authorities. The revolutionists have
retaliated by wholesale shootings and burn-
ings." Deeply as we regret these events, so
shocking to 'humanity, yet we are not surprised at
their occurrence, for the provocation given by
the King of NAPLES and his myrmidons has
been of a character beyond all -endurance, and their
condact during the last eighteen months has been one
continued series of cruelty, injustice, rapine, cowardice

and meanness. Thus is their conduct described in this
very journal, published at Milan under Austrian

rule:—' The Two Sicilies are in a state o:

complete desolation. The reaction imprisons, tor-
tures, prosecutes, and puts to death, for thoughts even,
into which it scrutinizes ; it gives its own significa-
tion. to the acts and gestures of every -indivi-
dual claim, descends to • a system of the minutest
espionage in private domiciles, •in courts' of
justice, in churches, in oratories, in' mOnasteriest
tortures in the country and in:the city with a cynicism
which inspires horror, and with an impassibility
which.moves the most impassible." Such is a pic-
ture not overcharged of the unbearable tyranny,
under which the Two Sicilies have groaned
since the month of April of last year. Can
we be surprised that the ignorant but fiery
population of Calabria should " profit by, the lesson
that has been taught them," and should. endeavour to
do that which is manifestly impossible, " better the
example?"

REPAVING OF OXFORD-STILEET.—The portion of
this immense and important thoroughfare between South
MoLdton and New Bond-streets has been closed for traffic, in
order to remove the ordinary macadamized paving and re-
place it with granite blocks, as being more durable and also
more suitable to this portion of the street, which is a rapid
decline to the, so called, hollow of Oxford-street, and which
will now be assimilated with the lower portion of the
descent, which was paved in a similar manner about a year
since. The works will proceed with the dispatch requisite
in a thoroughfare of such extent, and in the meantime the
traffic is obliged to take a circuitous route to the place of des-
tination.

AN INLAND " SEA SERPENT."— On Friday last}
as two veteran anglers, who had seen many summers on the
banks of lake Windermere, were amusing themselves at mid.
day with their favourite sport, they espied a snake, crossing
the water. Its dimensions are described as at least a yard in
length, and its girth about the thickness of a person's wrist,
and its vivid scaly hues as glittering beautifully in the sun:
They weighed anchor and gave chase, with the intention of
securing.it.. On their approach, however, it grinned—not
" horribly, a ghastly smile'—but so menacingly fierce, that
they thought proper to desist, and let the reptile pass. The
lake, where it was crossing, is about a mile in width.—U/ver; ,
stone Advertiser.