The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times notes that the Bribery Bill has at length been
forced through committee. A Saturday afternoon sitting,
appointed chiefly to dispose of it, manifested the deter-
mination of Mr. Disraeli that the bill should become
law this session, and on Saturday afternoon the
remaining clauses were debated. Some sugges-
tions remain to be considered on the report next
Wednesday, but it may be regarded as certain that
nothing further will be added to the bill which can pro-
voke discussion. The Government will, if they can, pro-
vide means for extending its operation to Scotland and
Ireland, and as the judicial staff in each country is noto-
riously too numerous for their present work, Par-
lament need not be asked to sanction the appointment
of additional judges at an additional expense. But
the Times does not recommend the immediate application
of the bill to the sister kingdoms. The measure is

an experiment—an experiment, indeed, tried for good and

sufficient reasons, and offering the fairest promise of
success ; but still it is an experiment, and it is well it

should be watched in England, where it will be worked
under the most favourable conditions, before it is extended

to Scotland, where, happily, bribery is rare, and the reason
for a change less pressing, or to Ireland, where party
spirit is so unscrupulous that the bench itself might
not command implicit confidence in its impartiality.

The leading journal cannot regret the failßre of Mr.
Clay's suggestion that every member on attending to be

sworn should make a declaration on his honour that

he had not and never would be party to any bribery
in connection with his election. The legislation of

Parliament cannot advantageously outstrip the opinion

of individual members. and it would have been

premature to adopt Mr. Clay's clause. The
bill al it stands marks an immense stride, which

may be made hereafter the starting point of further pro.
gross, but sufficient for the present has been accom-
plished. An external tribunal has been constructed
which promises to be of great efficiency, and we shall not
be surprised if the fear of a local inquiry following
close upon an election—an inquiry conducted by a
trained judge, with power to hear any witnesses whe
may present themselves—strikes a salutary terror into
the dealers in corrupt practices. Those candidates,
moreover, who have hitherto " winked hard" at
the doings of their agents, in reliance upon the
certainty that no committee would find that bribery had
been committed with their knowledge and consent, will
tremble lest judges should convict them of connivance at
bribery, and inflict on them a seven years' exile "from
all that makes life endurable." The bill is, in fact,
_ _

emphatically a good bill, and very creditable to the
Government. It will be reported on Wednesday, and
will at once be sent up to the House of Lords, by whom
it will probably be sanctioned without much discussion. It
might in at/ case be expected that the Lords would defer
to the views of the Lower House on a measure exclu-
sively affecting itself ; but in the present instance, with
the exception of Mr. Fawcett's amendment, and one or
two other clauses, which, as taxing provisions, cannot be
touched by the Peers, the bill represents the views of the
Government, and will therefore command the assent of
the House in which their influence is supreme.
While the Post protests against the manner in which
the opposition to the Metropolitan Cattle Market Bill has
been conducted, and deprecates in any case a factious and
purposeless exercise of the obstructive power of a minority,
it is none the less convinced, in this instance, of the dan-
gerous character of the measure to which it is applied.
The more it is examined the more evident does it become
that the proposal "to have two markets, one for English
and the other for foreign cattle, would divide the buyers
and destroy competition," and would be, in fact, a gigantic
system of protection." It is no less a person than Lord
Robert Montagu who used these words no later than last
year, and we have never yetbeen favoured with any explana-
tion of the means which have been used to induce him now to
give the weight of his authority to a measure of which he has
such an opinion." The scheme offers no sort of security
against the importation of the cattle plague, indeed it
would be more calculated to facilitate than to prevent
its importation. But the most fatal objection to it is
that, even if it were calculated to defend us against that
danger, it would be unnecessarily severe even for that
purpose, since it includes within its operations cattle
coming from countries where no plague has ever been
known to exist, and that, as a permanent measure, this is
as if we should enact that no foreigners should ever be
allowed to enter London from any country abroad what-
ever because the plague is known to exist among the
Mecca pilgrims ; and, unless we are to be more careful of
cattle than of human beings, it is worth consideratior.
whether such a restriction should not be placed upoe
them.

The Herald observes the adoption of a gold currency in
India is a measure which has long been discussed, and at
length, as we learn by the telegraph, it is to be tried. The
beginning will be an experiment, and therefore a new coin
will not be struck, nor indeed, is there any occasion for one.
The advocates of a gold currency have asked no more than.
that the sovereign should be admitted at its full commer•
cial value. Their request that it should be declared a legal
tender is not acceded to, Put the sovereign will now come
into much more general circulation. Down to the present
time the coin could only be bought in the bazaars. The
partial relief thus afforded may check that excessive drain
on silver which has so long been a subject of complaint
with financial authorities. It will also be a great conve•
nience to the commercial communities, while the natives
will very soon hoard gold instead of silver, and so set
free much of the metal which has been growing more ana
more scarce of recent years.

The Standard calls attention to the opposition offered to
Mr. Moffatt's Bankruptcy Bill. Our contemporary had
thought the oft-expressed desires of mercantile men for
some such enactment, coupled with their loud and deep
murmurs at the mischiefs of the existing law, would have
ensured this instalment of reform a safe conduct through
parliamentary perils, and a warm welcome among those
for whose benefit it is intended. Advertising may cost
some money, and making an affidavit may involve some
trouble, but these will be trifling evils in comparison
with the perpetuation of a system which enables thou-
sands of people to get rid of their debts every year,
by a process which is believed, in nine cases out of
ten, to involve the commission of frauds which aro
all the more dangerous because of the impunity with which
they have hitherto been practised. We regret that, when
within a few days of the prorogation, the noble lords who
had charge of the bill so far deferred to their opponents as
to consent to an adjournment till next Monday. But we
trust that not even the, loss of four days at a critical period
of the session will suffice to throw over a measure the
need for which becomes more pressing every month during
which debtors are allowed to got rid of their debts in that
very unsatisfactory fashion which the Act of IS6I first
brought into favour with that class of insolvents by whom
the payment of what they owe is regarded as a favourite
aversion.

The Telegraph observes that it would be a great mistake
to suppose that all danger of opposition to the Electric
Telegraphs Irjill has ceased ; for in some quarters dislike to
the project is as great as ever, though it is shewn in an
altered mode. Resistance on the ground of policy is
abandoned, but we may have a fierce fight over details ;
and unfortunately the enemies of the Government can
make out a plausible case. In his first calculations of the
amount which the Government would have to ray for
the purchase of the telegraphs, Mr. Scudamore estimated
that the cost throughout would be about two and
a half millions sterling. The actual cost, as brought
out before the select committee is almost six millions.
It is to be borne in mind that the bill does not necessarily
commit the Government to the payment of this large sum.
The amount may be reduced in the process of arbitration.
If it does remain at this total the nation has the satisfac-
tion of knowing that the amount to be paid represents
full value received. The clause which refers to compensa-
tions for clerks and other servants of the companies appear:.
to the Telegraph unnecessarily liberal, and if any honourable
ineml cr chooses to take exception to that arrangement, the
House would probably support him in revising it. But it
is absurd to imagine that the scheme should be allowed to
founder on so very small a rock.

VISITATION OF MOSVITOES.—WOohviCh is at the
Present time suffering from the visitation of thousands of
mosquitoes, which have been imported on the rigging of
ammunition vessels from Bermuda and other military
stations, where the mosquito abounds. Their sting pierces
through ladies' dresses, stockings, and other portions
of wearing apparel, the swelling and irritation lasting
four or five days. In some instances the stings have been
so numerous, more especially in the case of children, as to
endanger life. The excessive heat being favourable for
their development and propagation, the mosquitoes are
daily increasing in .nambers, and threaten to become a
local calamity, which nothing but a change in the weather
is likely to remove.
SeECIAL AND COMMON JUEIES.—The inconve-
nienca of special and common jurymen summoned to
attend the law courts at Westminster and Guildhall
have been made the subject of inquiry by a parlia-
mentary committee. The report, which was issued on
PAturday, contains a large number of recommendations,
the most important of which are that the overseers
should be paid for preparing the lists ; that the practice
of relieving persons liable to serve as grand jurymen from
the duty of acting as special or common jurymen ought to
be abolished ; that no person shall be called a second time
until the whole list has been exhausted ' • that attendance
ought not to exceed more than a week at a time ; and
that the rate of remuneration should be a guinea per
43Y f2r:...t., VeSirlinryrnan, aTia 10s. for steemrorum,

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE IN A GRAVE-.

YARD.

The Dublin correspondent of the Times states that a
scene of extraordinary excitement was witnessed a few
lays ago in the ancient graveyard of St. Mary's, Drogheda.
A. Mr. Strype, manager of the foundry of Messrs. Grendon,
having died a few days ago, his friends desired to have
him interred in the cemetery attached to the parish
in which he had resided for three or four years. When
excavating about four feet below the surface the grave-
digger came upon a tombstone, which was lifted, and was
found to have cut upon it several figures, including a cross,
a lamb treading upon a dragon, a key, and other devices,
which led some Roman Catholics to suppose that it covered
the remains of a dignitary of their church. A rumour
quickly spread that the grave of a bishop was about
to be desecrated. The people in the vicinity became
greatly excited, and assembling in large numbers, pro-
vided with spades, they soon filled up the grave, replaced
the stone, and declared their determination not to allow
any one to disturb it again. The Rev. Mr. Duggan, the
curate, who was looking on, entreated them to take the
stone into the vestry of the church for preservation, but
they indignantly refused to do so. The churchwardens
were sent for, and endeavoured to convince them of
their error, but in vain, They insisted that another grave
should be opened, and offered to dig one in the new
ground where strangers were buried. At length, after tho
funeral had been delayed for some hours, the friends of the
deceased offered to have another grave opened if the
crowd quietly dispersed. They refused to do so, supposing,
no doubt, that it was a stratagem to get them away. The
Roman Catholic curate of the parish arrived, and strongly
advised them to accept the proposal, but they still
refused, and as matters were assuming a very threaten-
ing aspect it was found necessary to send for 80 men of
the 21st Royal Scotch Fusiliers, under the com-
mand of Lieutenant Allen, who formed a cordon
round the gravediggers to protect them while they opened
a fresh grave. The Rev. Mr. Duggan, writing to the
Dub/in Express, states that it could not have been the
grave of an ecclesiastic, as the feet were placed in the direc-
tion of the oast, as lay people are buried.