The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-23 00:00:00

MR. CARD WE.

LL ON THE EXPENDITURE.

Onhis return for Oxford without opposition on Tuesday,
Mr. Cardwell, the new Secretary for War, took occasion to
refer to the expenditure. "In forming his Government
Mr. Gladstone did me the honour of inviting me to join
him, and I felt that the calls of duty and the wishes of the
constituency alike required me to accept the invitation.
I believe there is, as Mr. Neate has said, a natural con-
nection between the office I formerly had the honour to
hold and that which I have been invited to undertake in
the Government that has just been formed. It must be
evident to all that the distribution of our troops in the
distant possessions of the Crown must be one
important element in the expenditure they must
occasion. During the summer we repeatedly said to
each other we believed it would be possible to reconcile
efficiency with economy, and to shew that the Government
had in view the diminution of the public burdens without
at the same time impairing the efficiency of our defensive
services. The principles I explained to you in the summer are
the principles which actuate me now. I entertain the Same
opinions, and feel them, if possible, with increasing
strength. I shall endeavour by every means in my power
to give effect to them in office. As yet the time has been
short, and it has been impossible for me to examine minutely
the details of questions of expenditure ; but I think it may
be satisfactory to you if I say that even now I venture to
anticipate that in the estimates of the ensuing year you
will find evidences of a substantial reduction of the ex-
penditure. But it must be evident to everyone who has
thought upon the subject that the object of retrenchment is
not confined to a single year, and that it would not be
true economy which should lighten the burdens of the
present year at the expense of increasing the burdens of
future years. The object must be to lay down principles
which shall endure for all time, and which will be effec-
tive in future years as well as in the immediate year with
which we deal. Vast questions of the highest national im-
portance underlie the whole subject of military expendi-
ture. They are subjects of cardinal importance, requiring
careful examination and deliberate consideration ; but I
venture thus early to make this remark, that while there
may be an economy that will starve the service—and this
would be economy which, in dealing with the gallant
defenders of our country you would not desire, arid
Parliament would not approve— there is also an economy
which braces and invigorates, which seeks to expel from
the system everything which would interfere with its
healthy action, which gives a tone to energy, and which
makes its pulse beat with vigour. It ought to be the
object of Government, as I am sure it will be of Parlia-
ment and the people, to introduce this kind of economy
through every branch of the public service. It is with a
sincere desire that I may be able to render some assistance
in performing a task like this, that I have ventured
to accept the office I now fill, and that I stand
before you to-day as a candidate for your suffrages."
Passing to other subjects, Mr. Cardwell said:
" In Oxford we naturally attach the highest importance to
the question of education, and whether it be the higher
education pursued here, whether it be to bridge over the
gap which separates, by the abuse of charities for the use
of the middle classses, the higher from the lower educa-
tion, whether Ripe to carry the lower education through
all the deserted portions of the country till a religious
but not sectarian education is available to every
subject of her Majesty, questions like these shall
always receive my most earnest attention. There is one
question which, however, overshadows in importance
almost every other—it is thequestion of whether we shall be
friends and united cordially in the ties of affection with
the sister island, or whether we shall continue as we have
been, separated and divided. The Irish people were once
called by a great senator 'an alien people.' If they be
alien it is because they have been treated as aliens. But,
gentlemen, the mission of the present. Government and of
the present Parliament is, I trust, to reconcile an alienated
people, and incorporate them in the bonds of affection
with the great body of her Majesty's loyal subjects, to pre-
mote concord among ourselves, and to exhibit to other
nations the spectacle of a strong, because a united people.
I have now only again to thank-you for this, the ninth occa-
sion on which in sixteen years you have been kind enough
to return me to the Commons House of Parliament. I
heard some gentleman just now call out ' The Ballot.
Well, I will tell you with perfect plainness my notions
about the Ballot. lam for free voting,whatever else happens,
but I shall always be best pleased to find that in this free
country every man is able to give his vote and fear nobody
in so doing. As you have already returned me nine times
in sixteen years, there is another point of the Charter of
which, so far as I am concerned, you will feel that you
have no need—l allude to triennial parliaments. I return
you once more my most unfeigned and sincere thanks for
this new mark of your unvarying confidence and kindness,
and assure you that I feel deeply the respoirs'itility which
has been cast upon me. But }you know a man ig greatly
strengthened and encouraged when he can return to the
duties of his office supported by the confidence, the kind-
ness, and, I,may truly say in your case, the attachment of
the citizens Whom he represents."

Weston, who was to have walked 5,000 miles in
100 days in America, has abandoned the task, after accom-
plishing 300 miles of the journey.

An explosion of. 200 kilos. of gunpowder took place
on Saturday evening in the magazine of the military bar
racks at Madrid. The disaster is attributed to the impru•
dente of some children, who lfatd discovered a means of
access to the building to pilfer its contents. Two of them
were killed, and another grievously wounded, and two or
three others, as well as two soldiers, slightly injured.
A Cabinet Council was held on Tuesday at the
Foreign Office. The Ministers present were the Right
Hon. W. E. Gladstone, the Lord Chancellor, Earl• De
Grey and Ripon, the Rail of Kimberley, the Right Hon.
H. A. Bruce, the Earl of Clarendon, Earl Granville, the
Right Hon. E. Cardwell, the Duke of Argyll, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. Hugh Childers,
the Right lion. J. Bright, the Right Hon. G. J.
Goschen, the Marquis of Hartington, and the Right Hon.
C. Zortescue.

TlLLoTsoreslVia.—Tillotson was the first clergy-
man in England Who was seen in the pulpit with a peruke.
Tillotson's wig, however, only represented a natural head
of hair, cut short. " I can remember," he says, in one of
his sermons, " since the wearing of the hair below the ears
was looked upon as a sin of the first magnitude, and when
ministers generally did either find or make occasion to
reprove the great sin of long hair ; and if they saw anyone
in the congregation guilty in that kind, they would point
him gut particularly, and let fly at him with great zeal.—
Doran's "Saints and Sinners."

A METEOR IN BRAZIL.—A correspondent, writ-
ing from Bahia, Nov ember 27, says :—" On the 15th inst.,
at 1.30 a.m., a splendid meteor passed over Bahia, a little
to the north of the Equator, from E.S.E. to W.N.W.,
which, bursting like .a rocket, but without any detonation,
splendidly illuminated' the whole country round for a few
seconds. So far this is nothing new or remarkable, you
will say, and I fully agree with you, but what is new to
me at least was, that it left a fiery streak apparently
about 9in. broad, very sharply defined on the outsides,-but
fainter in the middle, and of about 30 deg. in length,
which, like a huge fiery snake, kept its place unchanged
for at least five minutes, and must have been an abject of
terror to anybody who may have casually seen it with-
out having observed the meteor which originated it.
After the lapse of five minutes the streak gradually
became fainter, slowly commenced rolling itself up from
W. to E., and finally assumed the appearance of the larger
of Magalhaes' (Anglice Magellan's) clouds, but much
larger and brighter than the brightest p of the Milky
Way, and, remaining in the same pos on, gradually
vanished after the lapse of at least a quarter of an hour.
There can be no doubt about its duration, for after
observing that the streak did not vanish immediately, as
is usually the case, I looked at my watch and marked the
time. Several other meteors were seen the same night,
twenty-four hours later than the period marked for their
regular annual appearance. The night was clear and
calm, with a slight breeze from E."

SCOTCH FARE.—The Glasgow Stationers' Com-
pany, a day or two ago, gave the Lord Provost (Sir J.
Lumsden) a complimentary dinner. In proposing the
health of the guest, the master referred to the past history '
of the company, and quoted a minute from one of its oldest
records. It was in these terms : " The said day the mem-
bers supped together, and took a cheerful glass, and
served the poor as usual upon the like occasions."
(Laughter.) And, again, on the Centenary of
the Revolution, 1688 : "It is resolved to meet
at three o'clock to eat sunkets and drink to the
glorious Revolution." (Laughter.) The same friendly and
convivial spirit still continued to exist among the mem-
bers of the society. Sir James Lumsden, in his reply,
said : I have been asked by a gentleman near me to
explain what " sunkets " are. I find by referring to
" Jamieson's Dictionary " that "sunkets " has a very
extensive meaning. It means provisions of any kind.
The simplest and best way to illustrate its meaning is an
anecdote :—" We are told of an English gentleman who,
hungry and weary, alighted in the evening at some petty inn
in the south of Scotland, the appearance of which had no
great promise. Good woman,' said he to the landlady,
can I have anything for my horse? Ou aye,' she
replied, he'll get sunkets.' Although he did not under-
stand the meaning of the term, he naturally enough con-
cluded that this must be the food commonly given to
horses in that part of the country. In a little time,
urged by his personal wants, he proposed another quo:-
tion: ' Good woman, can I have anything for myself ?'
His astonishment may well be imagined when he received
the very same answer, " Ou aye, ye'se get sunkets,'
(Laughter.)