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.TH. B- . -L Jj A D E R. [No. 446, Octob...
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WEEDON. The inquiry into the Weedon iniq...
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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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Lord John Russell And-Loud Derby. Soatg ...
ficulty of that Minister in retaining power , and in a corresponding degree diminishes the chance of a Whig restoration . On the other hand , certain partisans of the noble member for London , with more-zeal than discretion , disclaim in every mood and tense the charge thus made against lus lordship ' s Whiggery . Never , they exclaim , has anybody dared to tamper with their favourite chief ; and never has he told the head of his hereditary enemies what he would do about Reform . Imputations of calumny and slander are bandied about with vehemence ; and there seems on both sides to be a strange forgetfulness that the allegation is capable of being proved in a sense which would deprive it of all colour of imputation or unworthiness .
"We can easily conceive a man in Lord Derby ' s position desiring to know what so distinguished a politician as Lord John Russell is disposed to do in case a given proposition were made respecting the elective franchise . Four years a £ o Lord Joiiu brought forward a measure embodying a 61 . franchise for towns , and since then he has voted for a 10 / . franchise in counties . Lord Derby cannot want to know whether he would go thus far , because he has already taken these steps , and in electoral concession everybody feels that there are n-ulla vestigia retrorsum . But what we apprehend the Premier
might very naturally seek to learn would be , whether Lord John would agree to a somewhat lower suffrage for both town and county ; and we can imagine nothing more legitimate than his expression of such a wish in honourable confidence to a great rival for the post he holds . He might truly say , this is no common question of parliamentary dodges and party biddings ; it is one whose decision may affect for good or ill the future fortunes of that aristrocratic order whose just influence in the State ¦ vre both so highly prize , and the well-being of the clorious country with which our individual fame is
indelibly associated ; can we not find some common ground of agreement that shall be safe and lasting ? and when we have determined a broad basis of representation for the sake of the realm at large , there will still remain amp le room and verge enough for party battles and tnals of strength in Parliament . We can readily imagine , likewise , the feelings with " which a statesman like Lord John Russell ¦ would receive a communication of the kind . He would see at once that by giving a specific answer he would relieve his competitor for office from all doubt as to one important question ; but he would ask himself whether he ought , on that ground , to refuse to answer him , and he would probably decide that honesty in this , like most other matters , was the wisest as well as the worthiest
policy . What , after all , could he gain by refusal ? If the present Government chose to play a cautious game , and substantially do no more than reproduce the 10 / v county franchise and the 6 / . borough franchise , already endorsed by Lord John Russell himself , any more liberal amendment moved b y that noble personage would be infallibly defeated , m the present House of Commons , by the junction of the Conservative Whigs , under Lord Palmcrston and Sir Charles Wood , witli the Ministerial phalanx . And if , on the other hand , the present Government should , as we fervently hope they will , make up their minds , when they are about it , to do something more comprehensive and better than the Coalition Cabinet proposed in 1854 , then Lord John would have no choice but to support in the main , or abandon all hope of retaining his lead of the Liberal party .
It so happens , moreover , that peculiar facilities exist for such an interchange of views in a patriotic ' spirit , and at the same timo without political form or ceremony . Lord Stanley , as is well known , has long been on terms of personal intimacy at Pembroke Lodge . His visits there were frequent before he entered office , and they have not been discontinued since . Of the two , it is probable his sentiments agree more nearly with those of Lord John than with those of his own father ; and thero are many who have good opportunities of forming an
opinion on the subject who look forward with confidence to the clay when the ex-Prime Minister and the present Minister for India will be found sitting in the same Cabinet . There arc several members of the existing 1 Administration who would undoubtedly prefer forming parj ; of such a combination to re . roaming in their present * perplexed and equivocal position ; and the country in general is , wo are convinced , too thoroughly sick and tired or the worn-out shams aud shibboleths of mere party Jo core a rush how soon the last shreds of the eld
distinctions are given to the winds . Lord John Russell must have a bitter recollection of the manner in which he was flung overboard by the selfish and scheming bulk of the party in defence of whose short-comings , and to prolong whose exclusive grasp of power , he had so often sacrificed his own personal reputation ; aud he is not the man we take him for if he would not like to try , some day or other , to show the shabby dogs who joined in the cry against him in 1855 , that he could dispense with their returning loyalty and their fifth-rate abilities . Be this as it may , we are sure that he is very unlikely to refuse in private to tell Lord Stanley
his opinions about Reform , and as a Cabinet "Minister Lord Stanley would not be at liberty to withhold from his colleagues information so important . The Cabinet indeed has not been sitting during the last six weeks , and as Lord Derby is still suffering at his seat in Lancashire from one of the sharp attacks of gout to which he is subject , it is possible that their reassemblage may be delayed till the latter end of the month . Meanwhile it were preposterous to suppose that Lord Stanley , was not in communication with his father on the greatest of the impending topics that will engross their early attention .
Here then we have unravelled this pretty little bit of mock mystery , and shown that there is about it nothing necessarily mysterious at all .
.Th. B- . -L Jj A D E R. [No. 446, Octob...
. TH . B- . -L Jj A D E R . [ No . 446 , October 9 , 1858 .
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Weedon. The Inquiry Into The Weedon Iniq...
WEEDON . The inquiry into the Weedon iniquities continues , and our daily contemporaries , in opposition to the expressed wish of the Commissioners , supply us with reports of the proceedings . We cannot believe that their desire for secrecy was spontaneous . It could only operate , as events have shown , to their disadvantage . In the course of the investigation , one witness gave evidence that was displeasing to the authorities of the Horse Guards , or supposed by them not to be correct . Instantly these
authorities by telegraph interfered with the examination , and passed a severe censure on the witness . As lie was one of their subordinates , such a proceeding was well calculated to intimidate other witnesses and lead to the suppression of the truth . It tended to defeat the very object for which the Commission was appointed , and which General Peel professed to have at heart . Accordingly the Commissioners justly expressed considerable indignation at the proceedings of the Horse Guards , and their indignation finding an echo in the public voice , seems
effectually to have put a stop to further similar improper interference . If their inquiries had not been reported in spite of themselves , they would not have received public support day by day , and most likely would have been snubbed continually by the Horse Guards , perhaps degraded into instruments for screening the malversation they were appointed to inquire into . The Times , which has not only reported these proceedings , but vindicated its conduct , and the other journals , deserve public thanks for the patriotic course they have adopted . strik
The more the inquiry is pursued the more - ing becomes the picture of inefficiency , jobbery , and corruption ; though it pleased Mr . Selfe to . say on Thursday , that , as Tar as the Commissioners Iwd inquired , the rumours of corruption vanished at the touch of investigation . At Weedon one man was inspeotor of articles , storekeeper , and issuer . He was under no control whatever , and if | ie did not give false vouchers and share the profits of the contractors , or make away with the stores , it was duo to the extreme honesty of the individual and not to tho oare of his superiors , or the system they acted on . AH the arrangements at Weedon , the reader must ¦
remember , are entirely of modern origin , duting only from the period when an end was put to the system of allowing tho colonels to clothe tho regiments . The inoHioioncy , therefore , was not duo to old routine , or a reverence for bygone usages . As a clothing . establishment , Weodou was entirely a , new thing , and had to bo rcgijlatod by the best intelligence of the Horse Guards , onliditonod and kept in check by tho public press . All tho faults , therefore , and all tho errors of the officers ( if thoro bo , aa tho Conunissionors say , " not a tittle of ovidonco to prove corruption" ) , arc duo to tho authorities of tho . Horso Guards , and Parliament will neglect its
duty if it do not insist ou some of the ge ntlemen there being dismissed and severel y punished . Against such a monopoly of place and power as that mentioned , there are numerous regulations extant . Since the period of the Delancy and Melville cases , numerous inquiries have been instituted by committees of the House of Commons and by commissions into the best modes of keeping the public accounts , and of carrying on the civil ° business of the army , the navy , and the ordnance . As a result of these inquiries numerous checks of office on office and mail on man were devised , and a great deal of complication and delay in carrying on public business was submitted to in order to ensure the hottesty of public men . All these inquiries , with
the regulations they resulted in , were all neglected or set aside by the authorities when they appointed Mr . Elliott to be chief storekeeper at Weedon , and allowed him to arrange the business as he liked , having officers who uuited in themselves such incongruous functions as inspector and storekeeper . The spirit of all the regulations for the civil service , which proceed on the principle that individuals are not to be trusted , was boldly and openly set at defiance at Weedon ; and tlie jobbery and fraud which the public believes to have existed were the necessary consequences of neglect at head-quarters . They justify the spirit of the regulations , and are a severe condemnation of the authorities which disregarded them . The value of the testimony , however , of the Commissioners is much diminished bv the fact that
they have no power either to compel the attendance of a single witness , or administer an oath . One volunteer witness could accordingly say that he had seen papers in the hands of another person which justified him in believing that improper practices p revailed , butjie would neither disclose the name of that person , nor the nature of the papers . So an : accusation which was made before the Contract Committee remains unanswered and unproved . Tins is most unsatisfactory , and amply justifies our dissent from Mr . ' Selfe ' s conclusion . The inquiry by the Commissioners is not efficient , and appears meant not to he efficient . Contractors , packers , inspectors , storekeepers , clerks , arc all members of
the same body , and all have an interest in keeping each other ' s counsel , When there is neither the power of compelling tlie attendance of witnesses , nor of extracting the truth from them by crossexamination on their oath , the persons most implicated keep out of the way , and all concerned guard all their secrets with jealous Care . We cannot overlook the testimony of the Commissioners while we dwell on the circumstances which lessen its weight . When wanton extravagance , false pretexts , and even a fraudulent disposal of the public wealth , are not uncommon amongst the heads of the State , we cannot expect greater virtue in the subordinates . Only a fellow-feeling in the chiefs could have allowed Mr , Elliot and his associates
and clerks to carry on their business without accounts , to have no vouchers for tlie stores they issued , to keep no lodgers , never to balunce their books , and be for ever in arrears with theic business . Yet we are much afraid lhat this exposure will produce no beneficial effect on the opinions and conduct of the higher authorities . They have been so long accustomed to be under no control , jobbery and corruption seem to us so systcmatiscd aud so to pervade all the branches of tho public service , that the general opinion in them jin « of public men is not hostile to corrup tion . Jt is equally true of olowna « ud peers , of thieves and Pharisees , of schoolboys and members of the StocK ¦«^ ¦¦« vv •* * iw ^^ ^* ** ^^ * u ^ ft jb ^^ % ^ * *& ^ s 1 Iv %% I * v * * ¦ ¦ ^* w • r * ^* ™^ ~ M in wd ot
Exchange , that tho opinion they stand » is that of their associates , neighbours , p layi ^ tcs , and follow-labourcrs , and not of strangers . »; r ml 1 cr > therefore , from tho disclosures made by this Wccuon inquiry , that jobbery aud coruptiou arc common to publio men and public offices of every Kina * They are released , as the rule , from the competition which not only kecsps other men honest , but helps to form and correct their opinions of what tho term means . Tho eyo of tho publio press and the uoliomo of mutual inspection do not suffice , we aro alnua , to keep alive in publio men a sense of honesty ; «»« wo accordingly believe Unit tho practices deuouiice » at Wcodou aro muoli more a fair sample ol u «> ironcrul conduct of mcu in office than an uxoepu ° w « ruuier
Ono oiroumstnnoo will strike Mio public as remarkable It is—taking their own statements gj their own impeccability—Mint there never was sucu a act of uubriboablo people as tho t radesmen , ^ supplied goods to tho Weedon dcp 6 t . Wo nro afraid , Uowevor , that those worthies havo Ifiion uto tho common mistake of " proving too muon .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09101858/page/16/
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