The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-20 00:00:00

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

A Privy Council will shortly be held at Windsor
Castle, at which the new Ministers will be sworn
into office and receive their several seals from the
Quinn. At present, however, nothing positive is
known as to the day of the Council.
The members of Sir ROBERT Psim's Administra-
tion will also sttj at Windsor Castle on the same

occasion, for the purpose of delivering their seals of
office.

This morning the usual daily meeting of Lord
LANSDOWNE and the other leading political supporters
of Lord JOHN RUSSELL took place at his Lordship's
private residence in Chesham-place, Belgrave-square.
The meeting broke up at three o'clock.

We are not at all sorry to find Lord JOHN Rus-
SELL hesitating long before he undertakes the dif-
ficult task of governing the country. Unless he can
see his way clearly, and calculate with tolerable
certainty that he can conquer resistance in the Lords
as well as the Commons, it would only be a waste
of precious time to assume office. The result of
a division in the Lower House on the question of
" total repeal" would be at best doubtful. A gene-
ral election cannot be much longer delayed, whatever
may be the result of the present crisis. The Tory
county Members will, therefore, be anxious to repre•
sent on a division the sentiments of the constituents
that returned them in 1841, and will vote against a
measure so sweeping and unexpected, in order
to secure their next election. The influence of Peers
in county elections is still enormous, and we
are convinced that they will use that influence to
maintain the corn-laws with the utmost pertinacity,
till they find, as in the case of the Reform Bill, the
machine of Government stopped, and the country
threatened with some dire convulsion. Would it,
therefore, not be the more prudent course to allow
the obstructive party to form a Government and try
their hands at the settlement of this long-agitated
question ? Possibly that was Sir R. PEEL'S real ob-
ject in resigning, for, though he recommended the
QUEEN to send for Lord J. RUSSELL, he could not
fail to see that a Whig Ministry would have still
greater difficulties to contend with than those which
he dared not encounter, and that ultimately they
would be compelled to come to the same conclusion.
Present appearances justify the supposition that
Lord JOHN RussELL can make no progress even in
forming a Cabinet. Possibly the Marquis of Leas-
Dowsta, and others of the old Whig school, are not
prepared to go the whole length ; it is not impro-
bable, also, that they cannot forget their predilec-
tions in favour of the landed interest, and dread the
infusion into the Cabinet of those principles which
distinguish the free-traders of the day, and which, for
aught we know, may be as unwelcome to them as to the
RICHMONDS and TYRRELLS. One thing, we believe,
is certain, that the management of the House of
Commons is not the least of the difficulties that sur-
round the new leader of the Whigs. Unless, there-
fore, he can get rid of the obstructions of his
colleagues, and form an administration, not only
unanimous, but enthusiastic in the cause,
he would only expose himself and his party
to defeat and ridicule. Sir R. PEEL has evidently
made up his mind on the subject. Let Lord J.
RUSSELL do the same, and at once. The people of
this country have already been sufficiently long in a
state of anxiety and suspense—they know the real
cause, the reluctance of the Peers to give up their ill-
acquired gains, and they would be pleased to see the
task of forming an administration cast upon those
men who will neither work themselves nor allow
others to work. This would bring affairs to a crisis.
They could not hold together for six weeks, even
with all the abilities of STANLEY, and all the courage
of RICHMOND and BUCKINGHAM. They have not one
man in the Commons fit to oppose .even a third-rate
speaker of the fifty that would be opposed to them.
They would be resisted to the last by sixty
or seventy Irish Members, by the whole of the Liberal
party, headed by Lord Joins RUSSELL, and by from
eighty to ninety of the moderate Conservatives, under
the banners of Sir R. PEEL. In a few days the
question would be settled by a simple process, called
the "reductio ad absurdum," and the deeds of MILES
and TYRRELL would form even a more amusing epi-
sode in English history than those which broke up,
amidst universal ridicule, " Barebone's Parliament."
Whatever may be the result of the present crisis
however, all tho real friends of Lord JOHN RUSSELL
are anxious that he should not persevere in his
attempts to govern the country without a fair chance
of success, and that it would be better to give up the
struggle at once than form a Ministry which could
not secure itself against defeat.

Since the above was in type, we have learned with
satisfaction that Lord JOHN RUSSELL has acted the
more prudent part, and under all circumstances has
declined to undertake the Government. Sir R. PEEL
is now with the QUEEN, and as he has no prospect of
being able to form an efficient Administration, will,
probably, advise her MAJESTY to send for the Duke
of WELLINGTON. The country, in this case, is left
at the mercy of a leader who never carried any
measure without Sir R. PEEL, and who is now
within three years of fourscore.

We brought before our readers on Wednesday the
points in Mr. PARKER'S letter to Sir JAMES GRAHAM
which belong to his own case of grievance. There
are other points in the letter, relating to the conduct
of the Poor-law Commissioners in the Andover in-
quiry, which also deserve notice. The Poor-law
Commissioners must expect to have it meted out to
them with the same measure with which they have
meted out to Mr. PARKER ; and they who considered
Mr. PARKER'S recommendation of PRICE, in igno-
rance of his having resigned the mastership of the
Oxford" House of Industry, under a cloud, "a great
indiscretion, which they must notice in a marked
manner," cannot expect gentle treatment for indis-
cretions of their own. If no fallibility is to be al-
lowed
to Assistant-Commissioners, the least that we
can expect is infallible chiefs.
That the result of the Andover inquiry Fes hitherto
been most unsatisfactory, there can be, no doubt; and
that the Commissioners are to l':tune for this unsatis-
factory result, we think w;:s.l not be doubted by any
one who reads Mr. I.):.kiiixErt's pamphlet. The in-
quiry was commenced by Mr. PARKER on the 25th
of August ; on the 17th of September the Commis-
sioners ordered the proceedings to be suspended, just
as the evidence in support of the charges was cork,
eluded, and the master was to enter upon his .-kien„;
then, on the 15th, Mr. PARKER was ordered to
resume the inquiry immediately. We will here
quote Mr. PARKER
" On Monday, the 15th of September, I had an interview
with Sir Edmund Head, who desired me to return to An-
dover forthwith, and resume the inquiry on the following
day. I strongly remonstrated against such an early re-
sumption of the inquiry, and stated that the legal gentlemen
who had been employed in the case could not be assembled
so speedily. Sir Edmund observed that he did not care
about their presence at the inquiry, and I stated that if I went
down to Andover that evening, I thought the witnesses
could not be got together by •the next morning. I then
urged that it would-be advisable to give a few days' notice, so
that there might to be no excuse afforded for adjourning the
proceedings. This suggestion Sir Edmund Head would not
listen to, and I immediately wrote to all parties, apprising
them of the intention to resume the investigation on the
17th September."

If the object of the Commissioners was justice,
Why this hurry ? Natural justice counsels the
giving every reasonable advantage to an accused
man. On the 17th, then, Mr. PARKER attended to
resume the inquiries, and was immediately met by
the master's counsel with an application for an ad-
journment, to allow him to get together witnesses
who were dispersed, ',lid to prepare the defence,
towards which not:fling had been done, as tk-ey had
not expected the investigation to be r•.eumed ; and,
with the .consent of the counsel on the other side,
Me. PARKER granted a five clays' adjournment.

" This adjournment for tire days was acceded to by all
parties, and, considering the indefinite character and nature
of some of the charges, it must be acknowledged that an ad-
journment for five days w 2.9 not of greater duratio❑ than the
master might fairly demand. The reasonableness of the ad-
journment will be apparent, when it is understood that evi-
dence on the following charge alone—' That he has fre-
quently taken liberties with the younger women and girls in
the house, and attempted at various times to prevail upon
them to consent to gratify his wishes,' applied to the cases
of no fewer than eleven women, and that none of the
alleged assaults were of recent occurrence, and the greater
number of them were said to hare been. committed several
years since."

But so bent were the Commissioners on haste, and
so little mindful of justice, that they overruled this
adjournment; and on Mr. PARIER proceeding to
Somerset House, he was sent back to Andover, and
ordered to resume the inquiry immediately. Mr.
PARKER endeavoured to explain to the Commissioners
the reasonableness of the adjournment—even en-
treated them not to overrule it ; but all in vain. A
letter was written by order of the Commissioners to
the accused master, explaining their reasons for over-
ruling the adjournment; which letter, to say the
least, is a very extraordinary document :
" The Commissioners are of opinion, that an outer against

whom charges of the kind involved in the investigation now
pending in the Andover Union have been made on oath, is
liable to be called on to give an explanation, and enter upon
his defence with the least possible delay."

And this altogether irrespective of the nature of the
charges, and of the evidence which may be required
to disprove them ! Why the falsest charges may be
the most difficult to disprove. The letter proceeds—
" The time that has elapsed since the investigation began
has been amply sufficient, in the opinion of the Commis-
sioners, to enable you to get together the materials necessary
for your defence, more especially as most of the charges relate
to facts to be proved or disproved by witnesses on the spot."

But the inquiry had been stopped, and it was not
expected that it would be resumed. Witnesses that
had been got together might have been dispersed
again. Besides, Mr. PARKER says that the witnesses
generally were not on the spot. There is another
feature in the case which makes the conduct of the
Commissioners even more harsh and unjust, that they
were aware that the master's funds were exhausted.
One more extract from the jesuitical letter of the Com-
missioners

" Had the Board of Guardians acceded to the recommenda-
tion of the Commissioners,and suspended you—(a proceeding
which would neither have assumed your guilt nor have pre-
judiced any of your rights)—the Commissioners might have
taken a different view of the course they now think it fit to
adopt."

But how is the master responsible for what the
Board of Guardians have done ? Why is he to be
treated unjustly by the Commissioners, because the
Board of Guardians have not followed their advice ?
We trust that this letter will be viewed by the public
as at least a great indiscretion, which must be noticed
in a marked manner.

The end of it was, as our readers probably remem-
ber, that on Mr. PARKER'S resuming the inquiry by
direction of the Commissioners, the master's counsel
protested against the decision of the Commissioners,
declared he could not proceed in justice to his client,
and therefore withdrew from the inquiry, and advised
the master to send in his resignation. Mr. PARKER
thus describes this conclusion, in which nothing is
concluded :—" The conclusion of the Andover case is
certainly unfortunate—for no parties are satisfied,
whilst much odium is cast upon the administration of
the law ;—the resignation of the master, under the
plea of an act of injustice committed :by the Com-
missioners, has secured for him the sympathy of many
parties, whilst the Board of Guardians feel them-
selves compromised by the vacillations displayed in
the course of the inquiry, and, above all, the public
mind is not set right."

The Andover inquiry will inevitably be the
subject of Parliamentary investigation next session;
and this cannot be a very agreeable prospect to the
Poor-law Commissioners. The following extract will
show—what may have been inferred already—that to
do justice was not the object of the Commissioners :
they were to set themselves right with the public as
speedily as possible, no matter though an innocent
man were victimised :

" I had an interview with Sir Edmund Head, touching the
conduct of the investigation, when he expressed great
anxiety about them, on account of the manner in which the
Times had noticed the charges against the master, as well as
the complaint respecting the crushing of bones. Sir Edmund
appeared to me to be unusually excited by what he had read
in the Times, and he expressed a desire that I should exert
myself to bring the inquiry to a conclusion with as little
delay as possible, in order that the public mind might be
quieted. He then informed me he was of opinion that I
ought not to allow the master to be present whilst the wit-
nesses were under examination. This suggestion surprised
me as much as his state of excitement, and I replied, I would
not incur the responsibility of excluding the master, unless
the Commissioners gave me express instructions to do so.
Sir Edmund said, What respeniibility would you incur ?'
and I answered, The responsibility of acting illegally—the
responsibility of acting contrary to the received opinion of
the bar.' "

The exclusion of the accused would have been, with-
out question, the most flagrant injustice. A man
who could broach the doctrine here ascribed to Sir
EDMUND HEAD is certainly unfit to be a Poor-law
Commissioner.

We have learnt with surprise, from Mr. PARKER'S
pamphlet, that, before the exposure by Mr. WALLET
of the bone-crushing in the Andover Workhouse, the
Poor-law Commissioners had been remonstated with
on workhouse labour both by MR. PARKER and by
the invaluable Secretary of the Commission, Mr.
CHADWICK.
" I have been remonstrant against the indiscriminate em-
ployment of the inmates of workhouses in crushing bones ;
I think where green bones' are used a mill is the proper
machine to reduce them to dust,' and that bone-crushing
should only be practised when bones of commerce, or bones
which have been submitted to some proces by which
the fat and animal juices are removed, can be procured.
Green bones' were used in the Andover Workhouse.]
This description of labour in union workhouses has been the
subject of my remarks on more than one occasion, and the in-
formation communicated by me to Mr. Chadwick respecting
it, induced him to make some alterations in a paper, wherein
he broadly stated his conviction that grinding and pounding
bones was not fit employment for the inmates of workhouses."

Nothing was ever before heard of this paper of
Mr. CMADWICK'S, though the practice has been often
the subject of animadversion in Parliament. We
quit Mr. PARKER'S pamphlet with another remark-
able disclosure, on the subject of which the public
will require some explanation from the Poor-law
ommissioners.

" In the Rye Union it was the practice of the present
Commissioners to sanction, as a matter of course, small gums
in aid of wages to able-bodied men. In 1842, when the dis-
trict including that Union was placed under my superin-
tendence, I inquired into the subject, and I was told in the
Commissioners' office that I was to overlook the existing compro-
mises of the law in that Union, for the population was too
deeply pauperised for the poor-law system to work beneficiaty
there."

We have intelligence from Madrid to the 12th
The municipal elections were going on favourably
for the Government. The Funds were rising, nearly
all the Members of the Cortes had arrived, and the
capital altogether displayed great bustle and anima-
tion. The Gazette contains a programme of the
ceremonies to be obse,:cved at the opening of the Cortes
on the 15th.

The 7;nree per Cents. closed at 36 11.16 for easl,
Jan- 37 at 60 days; and the Five per CeP:e. ht. 24,
at GO days.

The Moniteur of the 18th publishes two royal
decrees, confirming the adjudication of the Paris
and Strasbourg, and the Tours and Nantes
Railways. The Paris papers continue their
comments on the Ministerial crisis in Eng-
land, and though there is little new in the
articles, the writers seem to know as much on
the subject as the best informed in this country.
They know the cause of the late resignations, the
difficulties of Lord Joni.; RUSSELL, and can only
guess at the probable results. They generally be-
lieve, that without a commotion the Whig party
cannot succeed. The following remarks appear in
the National.—" In the abusive language directed
against Sir R. PEEL, by the high Tories, there are
great injustice and great passion; but it was, how-
ever, with those prejudiced men that Sir ROBERT
had his majority of one hundred votes in the
Commons, and it was these men who followed the
Duke of WELLINGTON to the House of Lords; it was
with them and through them that he rose to power;
and to sum up all, in a word, they form a body of
200 in the elective Chamber, so that, these votes
failing, Sir R. PEEL cannot do anything but by the
aid of the whole Opposition. For a length ot tt.:111
the Baronet guided this hot-headed party by check-
ing them; but for that he required tht aici of Lord
STANLEY, and, still more, of tie Duke of WELLING-
the latter r:uald at once renounce his resist-
ance,ToN. a
n Ifd
his authority, Sir ROBERT could,
nod
.„ibt, resume power, and go on governing as he
.r
has done, realising the measures of the Whigs. But
without that he can do little. The only real master
of the situation at present is the famine which menaces,
—the bread, which is rising in price—the people, who
cry—the middle classes, who, if further resistance is
offered, will pass from the agitation of meetings to
the agitation of the streets. The hand which can
calm this tempest is the only one that can assume the
reias of power. This is what common sense points
out; but common sense does not always prevail over
interest; common sense cannot prevent resisting in-
terests from having, in the present organisation of
Parliament, a formidable power."
"We learn from a certain source," says the Courrier Franguis,
" that a confidential memorandum has been addressed to the
principal cabinets of the Germanic Confederation by Prince
de Metternich. It appears that the state of Germany, in
his opinion, is anything but satisfactory. After having ex-
posed the gravity of the situation, he recommends the Ger-
man Governments to immediately inquire into the wishes of
their people, to satisfy as speedily as possible their real wants,
material and 'moral, in order to anticipate, by such means,
the complaints which the Opposition would not fail to make.
' The storm which threatens us,' says M. de Metterntch in
terminating, 'cannot be conjured away but by large conces-
sions !"

The French funds were more firm on Thursday :
The Three per Cents, closed at Ilf. 35e. ' - the Five per
Cents., 117 f. 90e. ; the Orleans Railroad shares, 1,172 f.
fick. ; Rouen, 957 f. 50c.; Northern, 722 f. 50c.; Havre, 7651.;
Avignon, UK ; Vierzon, 642 f. 50c. ; Bordeaux, 615 f. ;
Boulogye, 502 f. 50c.; Troyes and Montereau, 435 f,; Bads,
VI,. Mc. ; Fampou,x, Att. Spitnish Attivets; 86.