The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-07 00:00:00

London : Strith, E7d,r, and Co., GS, Cornhill.

BUILDING FOR THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.
91111 E ATHEN2EUNI of THIS DAY, S.,pt. 7,
contains :—A PERSPECTIVE VIEW of Mr. PAXTON'S
DESIGN for the BUILDING, as floaliy a; proved of by her Majesty's
Conkissioners.
A VIEW of the SOUTH FE')NT,
A VIEW of the EAST FRON '
A PORTION on an ENLARGED SCALE,
A SECTION cf the INTERIOR,
And a GROUND PL AN.
The " Atbenreinn" may be ordered of any bookseller, price 4d.; if
stamped' to go tree by post, sd.
Office, 14, Wellington-street North, Strand, Mndon. A single
copy will be sent on receipt of five rstage stamps.

lIECHIAN DRESSING-CASE, the most
portable ever invented, being only the size of a pocket-book.
containing one pair of Mechi's Ivory-handled peculiar steel razors, his
magic strop, comb, and badger hair shaving-brush, price only 255. ;
the same with hair-brush and soap-dish, 355. To military men, and
as a steam-boat or travelling companion, this invention is an invalu-
able acquisition. An Immense Variety of other dressing cases, both
for ladies and gentlemen, either in fancy woods or leather, at all
prices, to suit either the economical or luxurious. An extensive
stock of writing-desks, writing-cases, work boxes, and bagatelle-
tables, razor-strops,.table cutlery, superb papier mache articles, &c.
Manufactory, 4, Leadenhalt-street, Four Doors from Comb'!l.

ARGYLL SUBSCRIPTION ROOMS, Great
Windmill-street, St. James's.
THIS EVENING,
This splendid and magnificent Salle de Danse is NOW OPEN
for the WINTER SEASON, with Laurent's celebrated and
unrivalled Band, Conducted by 31. Laurent, Jun. During
the short recess she above Rooms have been entirely and newly de-
corated by the most talented and ingenious artists of the day ; and
such a galaxy of splendour and taste has been displayed (under the
sole direction of G. F. Pryer), that this fav urite and popular resort
of fashion may be truly styled the most superb and elegant Temple
of Terpsichore in the United Kingdcm.
Terms of Subscriptions—Six months, 5/. 55.; one month, 1/.15.;,
one culling, Is.
Doors open at Half-past Eight, Dancing to commence at Nine pre-
cisely. The Academy closes at Eleven.

SIR R. PEEL ON OFFICIAL SALARIES.
(Continued from The Sun of Thursday.)
It has been suggested to the Committee whether it
might be possible to disconnect some of those, offices
from seats in Parliament ; whether, for' instance, if
the junior Lords of the Treasury were prevented from
having seats in Parliament, the business might bp
more effectually done, even at lees salaries than those
attached to those offices ?—I cannot answer that ques-
tion with reference to individual offices, but con-
sidering generally the official labours and Parlimen-
tary labours of the Prime Minister and those holding
the highest offices of state, I certainly think they re-
quire all the assistance ycu now give them.
In Parliament ?—ln Parliament and out of Parlia-
ment; a Minister in the House of Commons is there
frequently seven or eight hours in the day for six
months in the year ; and I do not see how he can
get through the labour of the office with less assis-
tance, official and Parliamentary, than he has. I
cannot prove to you that three Lords of the Treasury
or four Lords of the Treasury are the exact number
there ought to be ; but looking at the whole, the re-
sult of my observation and experience is the opinion,
that political offices, with reference both to official
and Parliamentary duties, do not admit of reduction.
Does that observation apply also to other branches,
the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Pay-
master General, the Lord Privy Seal, and the Master
of the Mint?—We will take the members of the Ca-
binet. You have the First Lord of the Treasury, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the three Secretaries of
State, the President of the Board of Control, and the
First Lord of the Admiralty ; all those are offices
which at all times and under all circumstances would
be in the Cabinet, I apprehend, in addition to the Lord
Chancellor. There are certain other Cabinet offices
that have not the same amount of labour imposed
upon them; there is the Lord President of the Council,
whose labours, however, have been very much in-
creased of late. The time of the Lord President is
probably fully occupied with the prover duties of his
department, since the great increase of those duties by
new functions connected will education and other
mutters. the Lord President of the C:;uncil receives
2,000/. a year. That is by no means an excessive re-
muneration for the duties that are performed; the office
is one of great importance and dignity. Thor), as to
the Lord Privy Seal, that office certainly hes not the
same amount of official duty attached to it ; but, in
my opinion, it is a great advantage in conducting the
affairs of this country to have one or two members of
the Cabinet who are not overloaded with the proper
duties of their respective offices ; it is a great advan-
tage to the Prime Minis'er to have colleagues to
whom he can commit the con‘ideration of a particular
subject, with whom be san confer upon it, and by
whose advice he can benefit. I will refer to the evi-
dence which was given in the year 1831, by Lord
Durham, who held this office of Lord Privy Seal in
the Cabinet of Lord Grey ; he is asked this question
—" Is the office of Privy Seal an office requiring
pretty frequent personal attendance ?" He sayr, "It
is an office that requires constant attendance, but not
at the office where the clerks do their duties." After
stating what the duties are that belong to his
office, he is asked this question—" The Lord
Keeper being a enemb,r of the Cabinet, is it not
customary to refer to him general subjects con-
cerning the Government, when any other cf the
great officers are overburdened with business? Has
it not been the habit to refer questions for consi-
deration to the L'rd Keeper when he is a member
of the Cabinet ?" Lord Durham's answer is this :
Undoubtedly ; I should say that during the three
months which I have been a member of his Majesty's
Government, I have never had one day in which
I was f.ee from business of that description ; on many
days from seven to eight hours a day. It is the cus-
tom to transfer the consideration of such subjects as
do not immediately fall within the business of the
heads of departments to those members of his Ma-
jesty's Cabinet who are not required to give personal
attendance in their offices." Lord Durham is then
asked, " Does your Lordship not consider that offices
of the description of the Lord Keeper and the Lord
President of the Council are very useful in the exe-
cution of the business of the Government in the man-
ner described in your Lordship's last answer ?" He
says, " I should say they are extremely useful, and
that no Government could go on without them ; but
I am not to be supposed as stating from thence that I
do not consider the salary given to the Lord Keeper
of the Privy Seal as more than adequate remunerarz
tion for the duties be performan s as Lord Beeper."
Lord Durham adds, " If I am to give my own in-
dividual opinion, I should say all Vices of honour
and dignity alone are separated in principle from
those of labour and emolument. I consider the office
of Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal one of high honour
and dignity and station, but the personal labour re-
quired is certainly not such as to demand the salary
affixed to it, nor, indeed, is any salary whatever ne-
cessary to make it an object of high ambition." I
agree wi h Lord Durham as to the importance of re-
taining that office in the Cabinet, in order that the
holder of it may share in the deliberations of the
Cabinet, and may occasionally take charge of business
of very great importance, not immediately connected
with his office; but I totally differ from Lord Dur-
ham as to the propriety of retaining the office without
salary ; I think the salary ought to be attached to
the office.
From your experience, when you were Prime
Minister, do you think it would be impossible to
carry on the government of this country without the
addition of some such offices as those ?—I cannot say
what is impossible; but I think, in the case of a
Minister holding one of the chief offices, the business
which he ought to go through, and which he is sup-
posed to go through, is so heavy, that without
assistance the strain would be too severe. Take the
case of the Prime Minister. You must presume
that he reads every important dispatch from every
foreign court. He cannot consult with the Secre-
tary of State for Foreign Affairs, and exercise
the influence which he ought to have with respect
to the conduct of foreign affairs, unless he he
master of everything of real importance passing in
that department: It is the same with respect to
other departments; India, for instance, how can the
Prime Minister he able to judge of the course of
policy with regard to India unless he he cognizant of
all the current important correspondence? In the
case of Ireland and the Home D -pertinent, is is the
same. Then the Prime Minister has the patronage
of the Crown to exercise, which you say, and justly
say, is of so much importance and of so much value;
he has to make inquiries into the qualifications of the
persons who are candidates; he has to conduct the
whole of the communications with the Sovereign : he
has to write, probably with his own hand, the letters
in reply to all persons of station who address them-
selves to him ; he has to receive deputations on public
business ; during the sitting of Parliament he is ex-
pected to attend six or seven hours a day, while Par-
liament is sitting, fur four or five days in the week ;
at least, he is blamed if he is absent. New, how is

it possible for him to go through all this, unless you
render' him some assistance ? I say, then, it is
great advantage that there should be one or two per-
sons with whom be can confer—men who have the in-
fluence t f high office, and who are connected with hie,
hy the ties of a common responsibility ; it is highly
important thet he should have one or two men with
whom he can confer' who are not over abehned with
dstails of office. If he applies to a Secretary of S-ao-
for assistance, he finds him just as overburdened as
himstlf.
Is not the assistance of persons in both Houses of
Parliament required to c srry through meesares not
immediately connected with the respective depart-
ments?—lt is to carry the business through the two
House s, the House of Lords and the House of
Cominonti.
You said that you differed from L )rd Durham in
one point, namely, in his recommendation that there
should be no salary attached to the office of Privy
S •al ?—I think • there ought to be a salary attached
to that office. I cannot express my own opinions nearly
so.well as they are expressed in that admirable spe, ch
of Mr. Burke, upon the principle of ec asomical re-
form, to which I have before referred ; perhaps the
Committee will allow me to read the passage : he
says, " What is just payment fen one kind of labour,
and full encouragement for one kind of talents, is
fraud and discouragement to others; many of the
great officers have much duty to do, and much ex-
pense of representation to maintain ; a Secretary of
State, for instance, must not appear sordid in the
eyes of the Ministers of other nations; neither ought
our Ministers abroad to appear contemptible in the
Courts where eiraereside. In aft offices of dig*, there
is, almost n'eceigarily, a great neglect of all domestic
affairs; a ferioft in high office can rarely take a view
of his family House. If he sees that the. State takes
no detriment, the State must see that his affairs
should take as little. I will even go so far as to
affirm, that if men were willing to serve in such
situations 4vithout salary, they ought not to be per-
mitted to'do it. Ordinary service must be secured
by the inepv,es to ordinary integrity ; I do not hesi-
tate to ry, that that state which lays its foundation
in rare and heroic virtues will be sure to have its
superstructure in the basest profligacy and corruption.
An honourable and fair profit is the best security
agairist avarice and rapacity, as in all things else a
lawful and regulated enjoyment is the best security
against debauchery and excess." He says again, "If
any individual were to decline his appointments, it
might give an unfair advantage to ostentatious am-
bition over unpretending service ; it might breed in-
vidious comparisons; it might tend to destroy what-
ever little unity and agreement may be found among
Ministers ; and after all when an ambitious man had
run dbwn his competitors by a fallacious show of
disinterestedness, and fixed himself in power by that
means, what security is there that he would not
change his course, and claim as an indemnity ten
times more than ,he has given up ?" The principle
there laid down with respect to the impolicy of ac-
cepting gratuitous service is, I think, a perfectly just
one, and Mr. Burke has expressed it in so much bet-
ter terms than any in which I can express it, that I
have ventured to read the passage.
With regard to another department which has been
observed upon, namely, the Board of Trade, is it your
opinion that the present establishment of the Board
of Trade is required for the public service ?—I do not
see that it is possible to conduct the business of the
Board of Trade on more economical terms than it is at
present. The President of the Board of Trade has
2,000/. a year, and the Vice-President of the Board
of Trade holds the office of Paymaster-General, for
which he has 2,0001. a year. For the conduct of the
business it is absolutely necessary to have a repre •
sentative of the department in the House of Lords;
the more able the representative in the House of
Lords, the better will it be for the public interests. I
recollect when there was great difficulty in prevent-
ing the House of Commons attaching a salary of
5,0001. a year to the office of President of the Board
of Trade, when Mr. Huskisson filled that office.
Among men of all parties, there was a very general wish
that a salary of 5,000/. should be attached to the Pre-
sident of the Beard of Trade. That had reference,
no doubt, in some respect, to the personal merits of
Mr. Heskisson ; but I am certain that, if at one time
the Government had proposed to attach a salary of
5,0001. a year to the President of the Board of Trade,
it would.bave been generally *tweed to.
Have not the duties of the Beard of Trade in-
creased, end are they not greatly increasing ?—Io
1842 the duties of the Board of Trade were as heavy
as in any other department of the G .vernme n'.
Is it your op:nion that the duties of the Board of
Trade are as heavy as these of any other depart-
ments ?—I think they are. The President of the
Board of Trade has al way s taken a prominent part
in public business. When the recent changes in our
commercial policy were in progress, the re was no
office that was of greater importance than the office
of President to the Board of Trade.
But now, after the extensive fiscal changes which
have been made within the last eight years, is it not
probable that the cases coming from the ports, and
from the departments of the trade generally to the
Board of Trade, will be very much fewer than they
were in former years ?—I do not know what may
have taken place since 1846 ; but up to 1846, the
period when I left office, I think it would have been
a very great misfortune to interfere in the slightest
degree with the efficiency of the Board of Trade ; I
think the Treasury derives the greatest assistance
from the Board of Trade. Their respective duties
were not very well defined, but there was complete
harmony between the two departments, and the
Treasury could not have efficiently performed the
duties performed by the Board of Trade.
The question referred to this, whether the changes
made in the last eight years in our fiscal system must
not have necessarily diminished to that extent the
cases coming up requiring attention from the Board
of Trade ?—I do not know what may
have taken
place since 846 ; it is possible that there may have
been a reduction in the duties of the office since that
time; I know that there has been a railway depart-
ment recently constituted, but upon the whole I
should think that the business of the Beard of Trade
has gone on increasing, like all other business.
Do you think there is any important reason against
uniting the two offices of President and Vice-Presi-
dent in one person, beyond the desirableness of having
a representative of the Board in each House of Par-
liament ?—I can only speak from my own experience.
There was a time when the railway business was
very heavy; I have seen Lord Dalhousie go through
more labour in the course of a week, 'and for a suc-
cession of weeks, than I ever before witnessed. I
have been afraid that his health would break down
under the severity of that labour. lam sure that
without the assistance of the Vice-President of the
Beard of Trade it would have been utterly impossible,
during the period I speak of, that the business could
have been got through.
imports, is
That business was railway business ?—The rail-
avaedr y
our much
Custom-
house gon
by,
way business added so much to the pressure of the
e
other business.
N aoawd• ththate thteaxrelwaapon ybusiimnes
affairs generally have been so very much sim-
plified, is there, in your opinion, any necessity for two
offices of President and Vice-President, beyond the
desirableness of having the beard represented in both
houses of Parliament?—I cannot speak with the same
confidence with respect to the general business of the
department since I left office, with which I can speak
of it up to the time when I left it; I think upon that
point the Committee will be able to obtain much
better information than any that I can give. My
general impression is, that the business of the Board
of Trade requires the personal intervention of an
officer in the House of Lords and of one in the House
of Commons; and that it would be a public inconve-
nience if there were a reduction in the Board of Trade.
Should not you consider that the changes which
have been made of late years must have had the effect
of increasing the references to the Board of Trade
from the consuls abroad and from the Foreign-office
with respect to our communications with other
powers P—Still such references would not be of equal
importance with the consideration of legislative
measures. While those measures were in progress
the business was, perhaps, more important than it
now is ; my impression is, that there is business
amply sufficient to occupy the time of two members
of the Board of Trade filling the offices of President
and Vice-President. I do not advise an increase of
their salaries, or an increase of any salaries, but I
have a strong impression that the number of parsons
employed and the amount of their emoluments,
speaking with reference solely to the interests of the
public service, do not admit of reduction.
With regard to the office of Master of the Mint, in
which there has been no particular change since the
time you were first Minister, is it your opinion that
there are any definite duties affixed to that office?—
My impression is, that there is required a complete
review of the whole regulations and system of the
Mint, end that great advantage would be derived from
a man devoting his attention to the reform cf the
Mint, many of the usages of which are obsolete ; sup-
posing that reform to take place, I do not know that
there is business enough at the Mint to (sect'P y the
whole time of a public officer ; but I regard the Mes
tership of the Mint in the same light as the Privy
I Seal. I think it a great advantage to tha Government ;