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    WTrFTMTNT W JUliJ-MJJN

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    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 his 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 . Pour years ago Lord John brought forward a measure embodying a 6 / . 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 iu electoral concession everybody feels that there are nulla vestigia retrorsum . But what we apprehend the Premier

    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 Eers onal reputation ; and he is not the man we take ini 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 vfirv uiilikelv to refuse in p rivate 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 tlie 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 .

    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 we both so highly prize , and the well-being of the glorious 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 renlain ample room and verge enough for party battles and trials of strength in Parliament . We can readily imagine , likewise , the feelings with which a statesmanlike 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 / : county franchise and the 6 / . borough franchise , already endorsed by Lord John Russell himself , any more liberal amendment moved by that noble Dersonaee would be infallibly defeated , in the

    present House of Commons , by the junction of the Conservative Whigs , under Lord Palmerston and Sir Charles Wood , with 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 time 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 there are many who have good opportunities of forming an

    opinion on the subject who look forward with confidence to the day when the ex-Prime Minister and the present Minister for India will be found sitting in the same Cabinet . There are several members of the existing Administration who would undoubtedly prefer forming part of such a combination to remaining in . their present perplexed and equivocal position ; and the country in general is , we are convinced , too thoroughly sick and tired of the wotn-out shams and shibboleths of mere party to care a rush how eoon the last shreds of tho old

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    duty if it do not insist on some of the gentleme n there being dismissed and severely punished . Against such a monopoly of place and power as that mentioned , there , are numerous r egulatio ns extant . Since the period of . the Delancy and Melville cases , numerous inquiries have been instituted by committees of the Housa 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 ordnauce . As a result of these inquiries numerous checks of office on office and man on mau were devised , and a great deal of complication and delay in carrying on public business was submitted to in order to ensure the honesty 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 united 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 the jobbery and fraud which the public believes to have existed were tlie 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 accordingl y say that he had seen papers in the hands of another person which justified him in believing that improper practices prevailed , but he would neither disclose the name o f that person , nor the nature of the papers . So ail accusation which was made before the Contract Committee remains unanswered and unproved ' . This 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 be efficient . Contractors , packers * inspectors , storekeepers , clerks , are all members of

    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 authority ties by telegraph interfered with the examination , and passed a severe censure , on the witness . As he was one of their subordinates , such a proceeding was well calculated to intimidate other witnesses aud 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 suubbed continually by the Horse Guards , perhaps degraded into instruments for screening the malversation they were appointed to inquire into . The Times , which lias not only reported these proceedings , but vindicated its conduct , and the other journals , deserve public thanks for the patriotic course they have adopted . The more tho inquiry is pursued the more striking becomes tho uicturo of inefficiency , jobbery ,

    and corruption ; though it pleased Mr . Selfe to say on Thursday , that , as Tar as the Commissioners had inquired , the rumours of corruption vanished at the touch of investigation . At VVccdon one mau was inspector of articles , storekeeper , and issuer . He was under no control whatever , and if ho did not give false vouchers and share tho profits of the contractors , or make away with tho stores , it was due to the extreme honesty of the individual and not to the care of his superiors , or the system they acted on . All tho arrangements at Weedon , the render must

    remember , are entirely of modern origin , dating only from tho period when an end was put to tho system of allowing the colonels to olotho tho regiments . Tlie inefficiency , therefore , was not due to old routine , or a reverence for bygone usages . As a clothing establishment ,. Weedon was entirely a now thing , and had to bo regulated by tho best , intelligouce of tho HorsoGuaras , enlightened and kept in check by the publio press . All tho faults , therefore , and all the errors of the officers ( if thore bo , as tho Commissioners say , " not a tittle of evidence to prove corruption" ) , are duo to tho authorities of the Ilorao Guards , and Parliament will neglect its

    the same , body , and all have an interest in keeping each other ' s counsel . When there is neither the power of compelling the 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 hcad 3 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 wjihout accounts , to have no vouchers for the stores they issued , to keep no ledgers , never to balance their books , and be for ever in arrears with their business . Yet we are much afraid that 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 systematisea and so to pervade all the branches of . the public service , that the general opinion in them ana of public men is not hostile to corruption , it is equally true of clowns and peers , of thieve ? ana stoat

    Pharisees , of schoolboys and members ol the Exchange , that the opinion they stand in awe ot is that of their associates , neighbours , p laymates , and fellow-labourers , and not of strangers . W o m , therefore , from the disclosures made by this > v ccaon inquiry , that jobbery and coruption arc common to publio men and public offices of every Ki " » Thoy are released , as the rule , from the competition which not only keeps other men honest , but helps to form and correct their opinions of what tho torm

    moans . Tho eye of tho public press and the sclicmo of mutual inspection do not suffice , we arc alnua , to keep hKvo in public men a sense of honesty j « n « wo accordingly bcliovo that the practices d pnouncew at Weedon arc muoli more u fair siunjilo ot uio general conduct of men . in office than an oxcopuon . One oiroumstaneo will strike the publio as niM » er remarkable . It is—taking thofr own statements oi their own impeccability—that there hcvor wa 3 suc » a sot of uubriboublo people us 'the tradesmen \ vuo supplied goods to tho Woodon depot . Wo nro afraid , Uowovor , that those worthies have liiiwn into tho common , mistake of " proving too inuoh .

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    1064 T H "E Ii ^ E APE R . [ No . 446 , October 9 , 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1858, page 1064, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2263/page/16/