The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-08 00:00:00

SPIEIT OF TIM PUBLIC JOULNALS,

The Saturday Review calls attention to a btatemen
which has been made within the last few days, of a kin
, that may be considered almost official, that Mr. Disrae
intends to make Lord Mayo the new Governor-General c
India. This statement has been made so positively, an
.has remained so absolutely without contradiction, that w
are obliged to receive it as expressing, at any rate, the pre
sent intentions of the Prime Minister. It was len
thought that Sir Staffdrd Northcote was to be the man
He had allowed it to be repeatedly and publicly said tha
he was ambitious of the honour of filling the post. He ha
made a very fair Indian Secretary, quite as good a Secre
tary, as, on the average of Ministries, we can hope to get
Suddenly he is superseded by Lord Mayo, who, whateve
other qualifications he may possess, certainly does no
possess the special qualifications which distinguish Si
Stafford Northcote. To Lord Mayo India is a blank
and he starts with all the advantages and al
the disadvantages attending on an administratioi
which begins with pure ignorance of the systen
to be administered and of the people affected by it
Lord Mayo may be a most remarkable man, who has th,
art of concealing all his gifts from the public, and reveal:m
them only to his intimate acquaintances. We do not is
the least believe that Mr. Disraeli will make this appoint
ment out of pure caprice. If Lord Mayo has cut out Sit
Stafford Northcote, it must have been by the possession o
some elements of superiority. Either he has establishes
claims against Mr. Disraeli which the Prime Ministe
finds himself unable to resist, or he has inspired Mr
Disraeli with a genuine belief that he is really one of th
most remarkable people in the country, and would make
first-rate Governor-General. It is certain that he has dons
much for the Prime Minister. He has done work for him
and even dirty work, and he has so done it that men hay
forgiven and pitied rather than despised him. He mans
himself the exponent of that ill-considered policy of Os,
present Government towards Ireland which has been ths
source of so many evils and so much bitterness. He oho
up the firework of the endowed Catholic University, ant
when it was found not to fizz properly he had the courage
and self-denial to say that the firework was not his fire
work, and that on his honour he had only meant to ligh
the absurdly little squib of a reform in the position of gad
chaplains. The appointment of Lord Mayo may raise I
very serious question. If be is appointed, as is probable,
few days before the present Ministry is driven out, will i
be incumbent on the Liberal leaders to keep him in office
Generally speaking, appointments made by one Govern
ment ought to be rigidly upheld by another, or men is
a respectable position would not accept posts o'
so precarious a nature. Nothing could be worse that
to introduce into England the American system
under which, when there is change of President
a clean sweep is made of all officials, and every one start!
afresh. But is it allowable for an outgoing Ministry tt
appoint for five years a person holding such a position at
that of Governor-General of India ? Clearly it is not
allowable, if we are to suppose that the outgoing Ministry
appoints a Governor-General of whom the incoming
Ministry would disapprove. Fortunately, Lord Mayo it
personally rather popular, even on the Opposition side o'
the House, and there may therefore be no willingness of
desire to supersede him ; but if such a desire did exist, it
is impossible to say that, under the circumstances, it wouk
be unreasonable or absurd, or that it ought not withir
reasonable limits to be satisfied.

The Spectator says that it has become possible, no'
to say probable or advisable, but it has become possible
for Great Britain to have a middle-class Ministry, s
Cabinet in which the majority of members holding sub
atantive office shall be men with no claim but their own
ability and the confidence of the nation. That is perhaps
the greatest, though it has been one of the least noticed
of the changes introduced or completed by the legislation
of the last two years, supplemented as they have been by
the extraordinary decrease in the prestige of the House of
Peers. So immense, indeed, has been the alteration it
public sentiment, that many of our readers will wonder
why we think the change so remarkable ; hut they have
only to carry their memories back eight years, over the
chasm in our history created by the events of 1867, and
they will appreciate its extent. So late as 1860 the idea of
a Radical Cabinet, a Cabinet of men distinguished only
for services or capacity, would have seemed to regular
politicians ludicrous, to the electors disagreeable, and tc
the body of the nation a mere dream. Outside the Whig
circle the strongest Liberals, with the possible or partii
exception of Mr. Cobden, were held to be excluded frail-
high office by the revolutionary violence of ,their opinions
about the suffrage, by want of parliamentary standing, and
by an ill-defined but immensely powerful political etiquette
But now it believes that a Ministry in which Mr. Glad
atone should be Premier, Mr. Childers Home Secretary
Mr. Cardwell Secretary at War, Mr. Lowe Secretary fos
the Colonies, Mr. Goschen Chaucelor of the Exchequer
Mr. Stansfeld head of the Admira`ty, Mr. Austin Bruce
Minister of Education, Mr. Forster Sccre'ary for India
and Mr. Bright, whose licalth scarcely admits of the
departmental work the posiLion to which he is entitle('
would involve, Secretary for Ireland, is a Ministry whicl•
autside the clubs would be received by the Liberals
Great Britain with no sense of shock, with litt'e surprise
with no idea that the destinies of the nation had beer
entrusted to unusual, or incompetent, or untrustworthy
hands ; and that none of the changes which have occus
not household suffrage itself, is so fraught with meanink-
and consequences as this. These are all, without ar
exception, men who owe nothing to aristocratic influence
who, with many minor divergencies, belong properly tc
the new class of statesman-Radicals ; who are prepared
within the limits of the Constitution to remodel our insti
tations with a view to their efficiency alone. That, since
the suffrage dispute ended, is becoming the first test of s
Radical—does he respect an institution for what it accom
plishes, or merely because it is ? We desire to guard our
selves against any possibility of mistake. We are nos
trying to hint at a possible Cabinet, which as yet wonli
be a folly, still less to suggest an advisable one, whirl.
would be an impertinence, and we believe that the nex'
Liberal Government will differ very widely from tha on
we have outlined. What we desire to point out is tht
Immense change which has passed over the public min(
with respect to the personnel of its governing class—:
;hangs which seems to us to be real, to be, in all proba
bility, permanent, and to involve consequences of more
importance to the future career of Great Britain than eves
Mr. Dieraeln revolutionary bill. For one consequent
alone, the ability of some twenty thousand families is not,
at the service of the State, instead of the ability of tw(
thousand ; in other words, the chance of securing efficien
rulers for the empire has in three years been increase(
tenfold.

In a leader upon Mr. Gladstone's address at St. Helen!
Imperial Review complains of its unfairness. All tha

the author of the celebrated resolutions said cn the sub
Sect of the Irish Church was, in fact, but a repetition Cr
what had been said over and over again in the course o'
the debates. We go not deny that it was in some resP ecti
better put than in those dreary and spiritless harangue.
In which the same orator introduced the Irish question ti
the attention of Parliament. But Mr. Gladstone is stil'
as unable as he was at the outset to appreciate either tin
magnitude or the difficulty of the task which he has un ler
taken. It is his nature to warm to his work, and t
acquire vigour from resistance. But it is, unfortn
nately, beyond his capacity to gather wisdom fron
experience, or to do justice to the views which ar
entertained by his opponents. Some day or other i
is not improbable that, by one of his remarkable flash e.
of intuition, he will recognise the impracticability as le
once recognised the iniquity of demolishing the Irisl
Church Establishment. But until some such fit of in
gpiration comes to him he will persist in believing th
opposition now encountered by him to be the fruit, tithe
of personal malevolence or invincible stupidity. We d.
not deny that it is the usual course of apolitical enthusias
to dwell only on his own side of the case, and to ignore al
the arguments of his adversaries. But a politician of Mr
Gladstone's rank, who aspires to the first place in th.
eouncils.of his sovereign, has a different function, could h
but understand it, from that of a mere party agitator
Justice to Ireland is unquestionably an object well worth*
to be sought by all statesmen. And the suspension of th'
Habeas Corpus Act for nearly three y:ars is certainly, i
not quite the grievance which Mr. Gladstone app,are t
think it is, at the same time a painfully unmistakable
cation of a state of things which must be remedied. Th
sneer directed against Mr. Dieraeli's satisfaction when abl
to say that the exceptional powers exercised by the Iris)
Executive in suppressing the Fenian conspirany had vir
tually effected their object, was certainly stupid, and may
by many, be considered ungenerous.
The London Review, in alluding to the close of the session
;ernarks : What a tinge of melancholy must levee pervade.
the pr. ,cee.lines of the last d,bate ! The knowledge tha
after this session of trials and labour, of debates prolonge.
into tlo small hours of the morning, of the sacrifice o
opinions and self-respect on the altar of duty to party, in
shooting on the moors or yachting in the Mediterranean i
in store, but rather a period of greater excitement, an.
infinitely- more disagreeable work to be &lie, is enough t
depress the heert of the most serene. How many a mar
with the vision of a contested election before his eyes, ow
whose return was a matter of grave uncertainty, insist, a
he left that House and recalled his political career, hay
much douLtid whether, after all, it Iyaswort:i the wore
raid the an x tY expended on its acqur,rtion ! 11e entered
it mny be, determined to obtain political and s )cial 5-Ict cs
—inilesed with a conmendab!e desire to regein sate h,
Ponnti y, redress all w 1.,» g•-), and make for himself a nam
that shonti resound tir,tiginit the land. In ,lil this, ho'
reach, probably, has he been di:inippointed ! 1L:12,V; roue
the House of Commons a place a mark ble fur making
man find his own level, and r--.'u. to the world c
comtnon sense. Vain are tl.e a-j ri4 i,,ns of that
tine
entering the House with( sit e.,t a d without
and whose only recomniendation is kis balance at hi
hanker's ; and well would it be fiat the prestige of PM
Lament were he cognisant of the fact, and retrain fret
entering a sphere for which Nature never intended him.
John Bull recommends the use of the I I d .signatio
of Tory. Co: servatives proper, if there be such a clas!
Liberal Conservatives and Conservative-Liberals fin
themselves nowhere. They are extinct species ; hybrid
which disappear. Two armies
are' in face—th Churc
and King army, the army of the Revolution in religio
and property. All outpost work and skirmishing is over
and the real battle—that which always has been the ref
battle in the country, though it has been delayed for
time—is now fairly begun. -

THE PROMOTION OF BUBBLE COMPANIEB

At the Guildhall, Edward Yeiland has been charged es
remand with obtaining se venal sums of money by fala
p-etences. Mr. Robert Donaldson said he lived at 6
Chelsea-villas, West Brompton. He was chief clerk to the
so-called insurance company. In February last he saw as
advertisement in the newspapers for a chief clerk to at
insurance company, and replied to it. He got a letter is
answer to it from Mr. Yelland, and, in consequence
went to 26, New Bridge-street. The defendant said that
the business was that of the British Alliance Insurance
Corporation (Limited). He showed witness a prospectus
mentioning the firm of Valiance and Valiance as solicitor
to the company, and he knew them to be respectable
He asked witness to take 100 shares in the company
and witness asked for time to consider it. The prisoner said
the salary would be small at first. For the first quarter he
said he would pay at the rate of £lOO a year, and for the
next quarter at the rate of £l5O a year. Ou the 7th of Mara
witness saw the prisoner again at the office, and paid
him £25 in cash, as 10s. per share deposit on fifty shares,
and the prisoner then gave him a receipt (produced), which
bore the name of the company on it, as if it had Leer
registered. Mr. llawkesley, M.D., denied being the phy
sician to the company ; and Mr. Winscomb stated that
he only consented to be secretary from the statement that
Valiance and Valiance were the solicitors. The prisoner told
witness they had a large staff of agents, but the bus'.
ness was really at a standstill for want of assistance to
himself. He said that there would be 5 per cent.
guaranteed on the shares. He then shewed him a pro•
spectus, of which that produced was a copy. On this repre
sentation witness consented to act as secretary, at a salary of
£2OO, which was to be increased at the rate of £25 perannum
till it reached £5OO. While he was there not a, single policy
was issued, but several policies were ready to be issued tc
the amount of £9,000, but as there was no capital he would
not let the policies go out with his name. He knew
nothing of an advertisement bearing his name and offering
to lend £50,000. There was not a farthing of capital in
the company. There had not been a single meeting of
directors to his knowledge. His loss had been altogether
over £400.--After hearing some other evidence the case
was again adjourned for the production of further evi
deuce.