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To the Globe and Times together , when they say that Mr . ' 3 bkto . IiA . ocx' has charged "Earl GrBAjsrviifLE 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 Fitzkot Kelly ' s opinion has been set aside in favour of that delivered by Mr . Ellis and Mr . James , themselves inculpated officers of the Duchy . The maxim has been laid down that the Duchy of Lancaster is
under the supreme control of the Chancellor : is this law or dogma ? Sir jFbedebick : Thesigkeb 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 , BEBTOiiACCi ' 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 Lancaster and the First Lord of the
Treasury have agreed ; whereas there was m ore than one . It is allowed that the Receiver-General ' s deputy spoke to the Auditor about keeping open the accounts of 1853 , to allow Earl Gbanvjxle time to pay his arrears . " Mr . Bde-tolacct was merely made acquainted with tlie fact of the arrears , and perhaps thought there was something ¦ wrong . " Perhaps , indeed , since he detected systematic efforts to keep him in ignorance , 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 show 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
teally 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 . Bejitolaooi , the Report goes on to say , did * iot audit the accounts . He has Bhown 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 ; 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 his exor » tiona . Perhaps we must admit that the Auditor exposed his simplicity in imagining he was , to do his 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 ' 43-KANViriLia to accept his account of transactions with the Duchy with no uncourtly ¦ hesitation , but there is a gloss , even to the
GbaANViiii / E 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 quote the 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 , Ricardo , and Wise , in the House of Coramons . 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 put 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 Granville . " 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 G-eanviijLE , 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 Ids 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 25001 . a year ? 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 in type for some weeks . The Report is unaccompanied by Sir Pitzrot Kelly ' s opinion , to which it is a contradiction ; but that opinion has been published , aud although the time damne ' e of Lord G-jttANViiLE , drawing his whole knowledge of the affair from seven pages of flimsy mystification , chooses to exhibit
Mr . Bertolacci ' 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 Redpathism is possible in the public offices ; 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 Grovernnient , 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 .
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A HOUSE OISKELETONS—AND THE KEY . The three eminent engineers to whom Sir Benjamin Hall has referred the drainage plans of the Metropolitan Commissioners report , that the whole valley of the Thames is so saturated with refuse that pure water cap be obtained only from four of the tributaries that traverse it—a painful illustration of a city living on a foundation of its own
corruption . TI 10 same aspect of corruption surpassing the moans of its own redemption is exhibited in the moral aspect of our great metropolis . Sectaries of ail persuasions have exposed this truth beforehand each had his nostrum ; but they have all failed , becauso they dogmatized and preachod , without resisting to expose the real cause of the evil ; jusfc . as men preached against the phguc ,
ascribed it to some ' sin * apart from bad ventilation and drainage , and recommended ' mortifications' or ceremonials as the cur e . 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 Bloomsbury County Court has supplied another illustration of our ' English morality . '
Mr . Hdhtee , an upholsterer in Tottenham-court-road , brought an action to recover 151 . 10 s . for goods sold to ' Lady Agnes , ' a lady living at No . 1 , Eccleston-terrace , Piinlico . 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 arrangements were brought out . Two of the witnesses were Theresa , the sister of Lady Agnes , and Mrs . Ann Rogebs , their mother . The
mistress of the house is Lady Agnes , who keep 3 ' a butler ; ' her sister lives with her , and assists in receiving the visitors . Mrs . Rogers is the housekeeper—literally her daughters' servant , paid in Wages , and apparently in good Avages ; for the worth y housekeeper was ' dressed in the height of fashion .. ' Another officer in the establishment is Lady Agnes ' s ' Secretai-y . ' These are titles which imply an establishment of ' distinguished ' character . The nature of the income maybe 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 unexceptionable evidence—the Representative Council of St . Marylebone , held at the Court-house on Saturday , Mr . Churchwarden Sodef in the chair . Tlie object of the meeting was to take into consideration a letter from Mv . Roundeli Palmer , who , as an inhabitant of Portlandplace , complained of an increasing nuisance —the multiplication of indictable houses in the streets east of Portland-place . Two streets Avere 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 . Roundell Palmek , People are leaving the parish , and the district suffers . The Rev . Mr . Gabnieb , said " wealthy gentleman who had been compelled to give up his mansion was a supporter of all their local charities , schools , and benevolent institutions , and the clergy and the poor , as well as the parish , would deeply feel his loss . ' The Representative Council was all t ' ov
prosecution . But one member detected a difficulty . Mr . HtjTcuoNS did not see what the vostry could do in this matter . " Norton-street , Charlotte-street , and the neig hbourhood had possessed the same character for thirty or forty years . It was a most difficult question to doul -vvitn . The Colonnade of the Regentfa-quatlnint had boon taken down sorao few , years since , one of tl » o main objocta being to prevent the congregation of those unfortunate women , but ho believed it had not rosultcd in cm / ding that object to any groat extent . "
Of course not ; but there were two suggestions . One gentleman was for fastening upon 0110 particular house , and p ursuing tlio case to the uttermpsfc . The X ^ ector was ol opinion ' that if they could not destroy ™ evil it would be better to disperse it . y . " perse it ! Dilute the vice of the highest by mingling it with the virtue of the midaw claim ! Ts that the Marylebone missionary g plan for redeeming Murylebone mankind r Bcrtidoa , it is « dispersed ' already . Tlio map
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7 g 8 ^ HE ' LEADER . ENo . , August 8 , 1857 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 8, 1857, page 758, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2204/page/14/
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