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758 . • ; , , ff H :E LEA B B B. pSfo. 3...
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A HOUSE OS SKELETONS—AND THE KEY. The th...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A Plot In Parliament House. Before The P...
To the Globe and Times together , when they say that Mr . Bebtolacci has charged Earl G-EAJfviiiiiE and the Duke of Newcastle with gross corruption , we reply that he has not so charged them . To invent one statement which has not been made , and rebut it , is far from being an ingenuous way of meeting another which , has not been disproved or even denied . The Report is a specimen of technical special pleading ; we assert that its conclusions are
contrary to evidence , and that the question must be carried into a higher court . Justice has not been done . Every public servantnay , every citizen— -is interested in carrying out this scrutiny and making high functionaries responsible . " What do the Tories say ? Sir ITitzroy Kelly ' s opinion has been set aside in favour of that delivered by Mr . Exlis and Mr . James , themselves inculpated officers of the Duchy . The maxim has been laid down that the Duchv of Lancaster is
under the supreme control of the Chancellor : is this law or dogma ? Sir Peedbbiok Thesigeb stated in the House of Commons , on Monday , that , when retained as counsel , he held his personal judgment as worth nothing ; he was bound by acts of Parliament . The Duchy Attorney-General appeals to no charter or statute whatever , but pronounces an opinion which enables the Committee to get rid of Mr . BEB / roLACOi ' s Letters-Patent and the Auditor ' s immemorial privileges .
The Report is singularly loose in texture , and contains several important admissions . The Auditor was right in representing that the leases of the Duchy were drawn up carelessly ; then why was he wrong in interfering upon other similar . points ? The Report refers to one lawsuit which might have been stopped could the Chancellor of the Duchy of L / ancaster and the First Lord of the Treasury have agreed ; whereas there was more than one . It is allowed that the [
Receiver-General ' s deputy spoke to the Auditor about Iceeping- open the accounts of 1853 , to allow Earl Granville time to pay his arrears . " Mr . Bebtoxacci was merely made acquainted with the fact of the arrears , and perhaps thought there was something wrong . " Perhaps , indeed , since he detected systematic efforts to keep him in ig norance , and was called upon blindly to sign documents ¦ which might have been fraudulent . He understood , moreover , that Crown property was being sold below its value . " The Returns
to Parliament , " says the Report , " did not Bhow the real amounts" paid as salaries and fees . " In one year ' s return the word Accountant is substituted for the word Receiver-General ; by which means it was concealed from the House who the party intended really was . This is true . " Then who understood his duties- —the Auditor , or the
Chancellor who obstructed him and covered with his signature these garbled returns ? Mr . Burtolacoi , the Report goes on to say , did not audit the accounts . He has shown that to audit them honestly was impossible ; he was called upon to certify that which might have been false , to sanction that which might have been fraudulent 5 but that his presence , even with his functions of check thus limited
and resisted , was of great public value , is shown by the fact that a large increase in the revenue of the Duchy resulted from hia exertions . Perhaps we iriuet admit that the Auditor exposed his simplicity in imagining he was to do hia duty . The Committee badgered him upon , every point ; but it received , without corroboration , the bare assertions of the individuals whom he confronted . Perhaps it was due to Earl Gbanvilld to accept his account of transactions with the Duchy with no uncourtly hesitation , but there is a gloss , even to the
GttATrviiiiiB history . " I have built on the property thirty third-class cottages , " he said . But he did not say , " And I have let them at very fair rentals . " He said , " I have built new colliery-shafts , " but he forgot to say that by the coal and iron masters of the locality his bargain is considered a very good one . We quotethe Preston Guardian : —¦ It is to be lamented that his lordship did not use an excellent and appropriate opportunity of removing the prejudice , excited by recent speeches of his neighbours , Copeland , Ricatdo , and "Wise , in the House of Commons . The three honourable members state that his lordship ' s servants wantonly injured and destroyed the house property of two thickly-populated townships in
Staffordshire . This is a serious charge , and it has often been repeated out of doors , but never answered . The traveller in his tour through the manufacturing districts being led to the seat of the ceramic manufactures , is struck quite as forcibly by the mining havoc—by works and dwelling-houses tumbling down , cracked walls , and roofs rent in twain—as by the beautiful products of Copeland , Minton , and Wedgwood . " When he asks who perpetrated this terrible destruction , of property , he is told , " Earl Granvule . " If the awakened curiosity of the tourist prompt him to inquire why the earl is not compelled to make good the damage , or compensate the parties injured , the reply is strangely significant . " You see , sir , Earl Granville is a tenant of the Duchy of Lancaster , and the Queen [ i . e . the Duchy council ] protects him , " is the stereotyped answer .
Lord GtbaitvilIiE , the favoured and fortunate tenant , reproving this conduct when Chancellor , said : — " For several years I thought my name was in the parliamentary returns , but I have since found that that is not the case ; but I never gave any directions that my accounts should be kept back . " And this is the way he performed his duties as guardian and steward of those important public estates . He signs the parliamentary returns without knowing that the name of the principal defaulter ( his own name ) has been omitted . " We admit the integrity of the Chancellor , but why did he receive
2500 ? . a year p The Report is a veil drawn over the entire case . But the public will wait for the evidence , which has been kept back , although it has been hi type for some weeks . The Report is unaccompanied , by Sir Fitzboy Kexlt ' s opinion , to which it is a contradiction ; but that opinion has been published , and although the time damnee of Xord Granville , drawing his whole knowledge of the affair from seven pages of flimsy mystification , chooses to exhibit Mr . Bertoiacci ' s position upside down , the exposure has made a public impression which will not be effaced . We now
understand how the administrative machinery of our departments is worked ; our faith has been upset ; we know that any amount of Redpabhisin is possible in the public offices 5 we have only to regret that Mr . Bertolacoi has been sacrificed , and to express a conviction that , whatever may be ordained by a Committee of five members packed for the Government , the opportunity will arrive for showing that the administration of this great country does not possess , and does not deserve , the confidence of one man of common honesty or common sense .
758 . • ; , , Ff H :E Lea B B B. Psfo. 3...
758 . ; , , ff H : E LEA B B B . pSfo . 385 ; Attqttbt 8 , 1867 ¦
A House Os Skeletons—And The Key. The Th...
A HOUSE OS SKELETONS—AND THE KEY . The three eminent engineers to whom Sir Benjamin Hall has referred the drainage plans of the Metropolitan Commissioners report , that th © whole valley of the Thames is so saturated with refuse that pure water can be obtained oialy from four of the tributaries that traverse it—a painful illustration of a city living on a foundation of its own
corruption . The same aspect ? of corruption , surpassing the means of its own redemption is exhibited in the moral aspect of our great metropolis . Sectaries of all persuasions have exposed this truth before , and each had his nostrum ; b , ut they have all failed , because they dogmatized and preached , without assisting to expose the real cause of the evil ; just as men preached ngainst the plague ,
ascribed it to some * sin' apart from bad ventilation and drainage , and recommended ' mortifications' or ceremonials as the cure . Because , in short , they refused to look at facts , Or to study the cure of the disease or its diagnosis . We do the same in the moral plagues of our day : we pretend that we are still the same soundly upright men in commerce , and think to deal with commercial vice through bankrupt laws , lenient and severe , that counteract each other except in creating bankruptcy . The Blqomsbury County Court has supplied another illustration of our ' English morality . '
Mr . Httnteb , an upholsterer in Tottenham-court-road , brought an action to recover 15 Z . 10 s . for goods sold to Jady Agues , ' a lady living at No . 1 , Eccleston-terrace , Pimlico . There was no dispute as to the supply of the goods , but the question before the court rested upon the delivery and receipt of a summons ; and it was in the endeavour to prove that formality that the family arrange-XT _ — ~ . trn S > * 1 * I ht out of the witnesses
ments were broug . Two Were Theresa , the sister of Liady Agnes , and Mrs . Ann Rogers , their mother . The mistress of the house is Hady Agnes , who keeps ' a butler ;* her sister lives with her , and assists in receiving the visitors . Mrs . Eogers is the housekeeper—literally her daughters' servant , paid in wages , and apparently in good wages ; for the worthy housekeeper was ' dressed in the height of fashion . ' Another officer in the establishment is Lady
Agnes ' s ' Secretary . ' These are titles which imply an establishment of ' distinguished ' character . The nature of the income may he understood when we state that the visitors appear to be only gentlemen . " An exceptional case ! " cries the defender of the existing system . We deny it , and in proof we appeal to very unexcepfcioaahle evidence—the Representative Council of St .
Marylebone , held at the Courfc-house on Saturday , Mr . Churchwarden Soden in the chair . The object of the meeting was to take into consideration a letter from Mr . Rottndell Palmer , who , as an inhabitant of Portlandplace , complained of an increasing nuisance —the multip lication of indictable houses in the streets east of Portland-place . Two streets were named , and " the number of houses was returned at 130 or 140 ,
harbouring nine hundred or a thousand of the women whose very appearance in Portland-place alarms and shocks Mr . Rottndell Palmei * . People are leaving the parish , and the district suffers . The Rev . Mr . GJ-aenier said " one wealthy gentleman who had been compelled to give up his mansion was a supporter of all their local charities , schools , and b enevolent institutiops , and the clergy and the poor , as well as the parish , would deeply feel his loss . ' The Representative Council was all for
prosecution . But one member detected a difficulty . Mr . Hutojetons did not see what the vestry could do in this matter . "Norton-street , Chariotte-streot , and the neighbourhood had possessed the same character for thirty or forty years . It -was o most difficult question to deal w « n . The Colonnade of the Regent ' a-guadrant had been taicon down some flow years since , one of the main objects 0 - ing to prevent the congregation of thoao unfortunate women , but ho believed it had not resulted in effecting that object to any great extent . "
Of course not ; but there were two suggestions . One gentleman was for fastening upon one particular house , and p ursuing tne case to the uttermost . The Rector whs 01 opinion ' that if they could not destroy tno evil it would be better to disperse it . ' J- * " perse it I Dilute the vice of the highest Dy mingling it with the virtue of the miclaio class ! Is that the Marylobone missionary a plan for redeeming Mtirylebouo manltuia r Besides , it is « dispersed ' already . The n * P
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 8, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08081857/page/14/
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