The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-06-25

ohOuiu 10 aAlOMOu W ~ ClcdEj -CO5LlDe
England nothing, and owing England
nothing. But the well-chosen Govern.
or who had now been before the Com.
mittee had rather staggered the Major
aid things altogether were supposed
to be looking MP for the Colonial Office.
And now had como the day of Sir
Marmaduke's martyrdom. He was first
requested, with most urbane politeness,
to explain the exact nature of the gov
eminent which he exercised IN the
Mandarins-, Now it certainly was the
case that the manner in which the ieg-
islative authorities were intermlngled III
| the affairs of these islands did create
complication which it was diticult lot
any man to understand, and very dil-
6cnlt indeed for any man to explain TO
others There was a Court OF Chan-
cerv. so called, which Sir Marmaduke
described as a little Parliament. When
he was asked whether the court exer-
c;sad le0isIative of executive functions,
he aid at first that it exercised ootn,
ond then that il exercised neither. DE
Enew that il consisted of nine men, OF
wbom five were appointed by the colony
and four by the Crown. Yet he declared
that the Crown had the control of the
court,-which, in fact, was true enough
no doubt, as all the five open members
were not, perhaps, immaculate patriots;
but on this matter poor Sir Marmaduke
was very obscure. When asked who eX-
ercised the patronage OF the crown IN
nominating the four members, he dc,
clared that the four members exercised
il themselves. Did he appoint them
No, he never appointed anybody him
self. He consulted the Court of Chan
Gerry for everything. At last it came out
that the chief justice of the island, aud
three other officers, Always sat in the
conrt,-but whether it was required by
the constitution of the islands that this
should be so, Sir Marmaduke did not
know. 1t had worked well,-that was
to say, everybody had complained of
il, but he, Sir Marmaduke, would
not recommend any change. What
he thought best was that the Colo
NAL Secretary should send out his
orders, and that the people in the
colonies should mind their business
and grow coffee. When asked what
would be the effect upon the islands,
under his scheme of government, if a
Colonial Secretary should change the
policy of his predecessor, he said that
he didn't think it would much matter
if the people did not know anything
about it. u...
In this way the Major had a field day,
and poor Sir Marmaduke was much dis
comfted. There was present on the
Committee a young Parliamentary
Under Secretary, who with much at
tentiOn had studied the subject of the
Court of Chancery in the Mandarins,
and who had acknowledged to his supe.
riors in the office that it certainly was
of all legislative assemblies the most
awkward and complicated. He did
what he could, by questions judiciously |
put, to pull Sir Marmaduke through his
difficulties; but the unfortunate Gov
ernor had more than once lost his tenn
per in answering the chairman; and in
bis heavy confusion was past the power
Of any Under-Secrctary, let him be ever
70 clever, to pull him through. Colonel
Osborne sat by the while and asked no
questions. He had been put on the
Committee as respectable dummy;
tut there was not a member sitting
here who did not know that Sir Mar
naduke had been brought home as his
some of them, no doubt,
lad whispered that this bringing home
If Sir Marmaduke was part OF the pay
nent ma le by the Colonel for the smiles
Of the Governors daughter. But no
one alluded openly to the inetfciency of
the evidence given. No one asked why
a Governor so incompetent had been
sent to them. No one suggested that q |
lob had been done. There are certain |
things of which opposition members of
Parliament complain loudly, and there
are certain other things of which they
are silent. The line between these
things is we'll known; and should an i'll
a pig-headed, an under
bred, or an ignorant member not under
stand this line and transgress it, by
asking questions which should not be
asked, he is soon put down from the
Treasury bench, TO the great delight of
the whole House.
Sir Marmaduke, after having been
questioned for an entire afternoon, left
the House with extreme disgust He
was so convinced of his own failure,
that he felt that his career as Colonial
Governor must be over. Surely they
would never let him go back to his
islands after such an exposition as he
had made of his own ignorance. He
hurried off into a cab, and was ashamed
to be seen of men. But the members of
the Committee thought little or nothing
about it. The Major, and those who
sided with him, had been anxious to
entrap their witness into contradictions
and absurdities, for the furtherance of
their own object; and for the furtherance
of theirs, the Under Secretary from the
Office and the supporters of Government
had endeavsred to defend their man.
But, when the affair was over, if no
special admiration had been elected for
Sir Marmaduke, neither was there ex-
pressed any special Reproduction. The
Major carried on his Committee over six
weeks, and succeeded in having his
blue book printed; bnt, az matter of
coarse, nothing further came of it; and
| the Court of ChanCery in the Mandarin
| Islands still continues to hold its own,
and to do its work, in spite of the alb
surdities displayed in its construction.
Major Magruder has had his day of sue
ces, and now feels that Othello's oecupa.
Iion Is SuuC, ho SoCS uO moIe 10 Tue
Colonial Office, lives among his friends
on the memories of his Committeeman
always to their qualification, and is
beginning to think that as his work is
done he may as well resign Kilkicrankie
to some younger politician. Poor Sir
Marmaduke remembered his defeat
with soreness long after it had been for
gotten by all others who had been
present, and was astonished when he
found that the journals of the day,
though they did in some curt fashion
report the proceedings of the Commit
tee, never uttered a word of censure
against him, as they had not before ut
tered a word of praise for that pearl Of
a Governor who had been examined be-
fore him.
On the following morning he went to
the Colonial Office by appointment, and
then he saw the young Irish Under
Secretary whom he had so much dread
ed. Nothing could be more civil than
was the young Irish Under-Secretary,
who told him that he had better of
! course STAY in town till tbn ro,n,,;.+aaI