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Leader (1850-1860), 16th June 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 7, ¦ CUEATION AND IIECHEATION. rjlfl'ERE «r...

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      History And Phtxciples Of Packet Contrac...

      the hands of the contractors . The Hoard sees the receipts , and tint is the sole audit of this vast expenditure , and at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury . Mr . Wyxihiam once described our officials as no more likely to appropriate the public , money .-than to steal a diamond snuff-box ; and , -relying .-on such hioh-fetciied integrity , Parliament votes the public money by millions . into their keeping . Latterly , however , confidence has been so much abused—men in high stations have shown themselves so regardless even of oaths , so utterly indifferent as to promises , so devoid of that . perfect frankness which encourages trust , so ready to trim and to compromise—that the suspicion will " -lance over the public mind that amongst some of the cashiers

      of the nation Pitllixgeks and Kediwtiis may possibly bo found . If this should ever happen , we shall probably find that the national checks are as inefficient to guard against fraud as were those of the Union Hank . Official men avowedly profess to deal with the public money at their discretion , and they are without control . Men who , from ignorance or wilful neglect , send troops to the Crimea without providing for their subsistence , men who waste millions year after year on building ships to rot or be pulled to pieces , and obstinately refuse to pay just wages for seamen ' s labour , may possibly have amongst them Pullingeks and llEDPATiis . For the honest appropriation of public money , the fancied high integrity of public men is no longer a sufficient

      guarantee . If amongst them official etiquette , which lias lately been so much insisted on , were not held more sacred than justice to the-taxpayers , why did not the Chancellor of the Exchequer .-. ( Sir G . C , LEWis ) aiulthe Secretary of the Treasury ( Mr . Wilson ) , wh p . went out of office in March , 1858 , and who must have been familiaror , at least , ought to have been—with all the reasons which then made the renewal of CUN akd ' s contract highly unjust and grossly impolitic , both as regards Canada and all general principles , denounce the men who immediately on taking office renewed that contract ? They still rcmaine ' d members of Parliament ,

      though not of the Government , and as such it was their duty to impeach ^ -T-a proceeding by political opponents which the Committee has strongly reprobated . -Of what good is an . Opposition if not to keep the ' Ministers right ? The ignorance of the Tory Secretary , Mr . G . A . llAMiI / rox , could be no excuse for such a flagrant * wrong . As tlic cx-oilfcials-did Hot take this .. honest course ^ they must permit us J . o say that their silence , and their not ' leaving full information in their records for the new Secretary , looks very much like a collusion between the ins " and

      ¦ ou ts " to have a ' pretext for perpetrating a gross job . We will here , having expressed this opinion , leave the ¦ ¦ matter to the judgment of the public , who . ' . cannot like to be cozened by boasting professions of a very unnatural high-mindedness in public men . We must remark , however , with reference to etiquette , that the originator of the plan of giving bounties to ^ g < nTtlemfiriHnterested ~ in ^ th <^^ st ^ h ^ Charles AVood , and the , Secketahy of the Theasuijy , who much extended the system , and who oiurht to—but did not : —

      denounce the wrong done by his successor—both being great freetraders—are the persons most highly offended by Sir Charles Tkevhi / van's breach of etiquette in denouncing extravagance and increase of taxation at Calcutta . Sir Ciia . hj . ks was used in Europe by his superiors to inform Mr . Inman , on November !> , 1859 , in the name of the Treasury , contrary to fact , that " the Hoard , when about to establish a new . postal service , was in the practice of inviting tenders by public . ' advertisements ; " and probably the breach of etiquette of which ho ' has ¦ now been guilty , and at which other officials are so outrngeously wroth , was of that species which proverbially loads to honest men recoverin"' their own .

      June 16,1860.J The Leader And Saturday A...

      June 16 , 1860 . j The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 563

      The Glleat Eastern, The Qreat Eastern Is...

      THE GllEAT EASTERN , THE Qreat Eastern is announced to shirt on her first voyage to-day , and this time there seems a fair ' prospect that the promise of the announcement will be kept . " Our own correspondents" have given in detail all the incidents of her fourth trial trip , and as during that twenty-four hours' exposure to wind and waves no material defect was discovered , we may venture to nssuine that the big ship will take her adventurous passengers across the Atlantic in about the time which would be occupied by one of the Cunard vessels . More than this nobody now

      hopes . The brilliant proinises of a spiied which would' put a girdle round the earth in some six -months have all vmiishod , and with them the hope that the ship will ever repay the immense sums expended tipon her . The miracle of size , speed ,- and economical arrangement , upon which so iniiny * eloquent prognostications of human progress have been based , has at present little claim to admiration beyond the tribute due to her gigantic proportions ; and her owners appear to base their hopes of recouping their outlay upon exhibiting ; her as a specimen of

      monstrosity to the sight-seers of the Old and New Worlds . That curiosity satisfied , what can she bo employed for except to carry an army to India , or run down a French fleet ? The story of the Great Eastern is a singularly comprehensive tale of the strength and weakness of man , his presumption and his power , his feebleness and his failure , his genius and his fortitude , his folly and his meanness . It is a tragedy and a comedy . "We mourn over the lives the monster has cost , and the misery it has spread . The tale of victims is a long one : the man

      of genius who imagined the mighty vessel , and fell a victim to his devotion to the task of realizing his great conception ; the gallant sailor who carried her safely through the difficulties which beset her infant fortunes ; and the rank and file of the great army of workers , whose lives she demanded on the Thames and on the Dorset coast . Turn to the other side , and what-food'for laughter in the petty squabbles , the grand airs , the baits for constituencies , the noisy meetings of shareholders , and their grave charges of mismanagement or worse , all settled by . a Pickwickian interpretation . .

      The whole country took an interest in the fortunes of the Great Eastern . Everyman assumed sonic credit to himself , as an Englishman , for her construction , and takes shame , proportioned to that pride , in her failures . We crowed too much over her . We hallooed before we were out of the wood—calculated her achievements before she was launched— -and , despite the warning then given , still thought her success a matter of certainty , until the explosion let out the secret of her many imperfections . The next ship we build of the same size ,.-we shall make much less noise about , and build much better . Some time , however , will elapse before such a monster is again undertaken . The Great Eastern is a warning ' ¦ against attempting too gigantic strides—a significant hint to proceed by safe degrees , instead of

      trying perilous flights . As two and two do not always make four , so it is quite unsafe to rely upon mere proportionate qualities in works of a magnitude which has never yet been essayed . Theory may prove clearly enough that such and such plates may be combined into a ship , and that engines of a certain power wilt drive it a certain speed , but wiien those proportions vastly exceed any of which the combination isi yet known to us , disturbing caiises -arise which no one apprehended . , -Our ' - shipb uilders Will proceed more moderately . They have builF vessels of tiOOO tons , which answer admirably ; " they will go . to . 5000 or 0000 tons ; and from those starting points , strong in the new experiences there acquired , will go on until they quietly- ' and safelv build rivals of the Great Eastern ,

      The next Great Eastern will be built for work and not for show . She will be built by inch who mean to make a profit out of her , and not by a ¦ company , which would have liked , indeed , to have made a profit , biit subordinated business considerations to the glory of their enterprise as a triumph of national skill and strength . Here has been the great shoal upon ¦ which ; the big' sliipiias ! so oft ^ TT-gTOTrrrrteh—H : cr-drmctors-lmve forgotten . in the interest shown by the country in 'their

      undertaking , that they were -stewards whose para mount duty it was to obtain a profit for their ' shareholders , and have fancied thoinselvcs public functionaries charged with u state ceremonial in . which the best places were at their disposal for their own ' friends . Premature as the construction of the Great Eastern was , sh « might probably have paid , because she would have cost much less money and been much better built , if her directors had beat mere vnenofbusiness , only believing in pounds , shillings , and

      pence . Hut after all is said of ' what might have been , that which now has the chief claim upon our attention . Here is the Great Eastern built and ready for sea , and our business would more fitly be to anticipate- her future fortunes than recount her past mishaps . We do not see a very brilliant prospect before her . As a show , or a transport she may remunerate her present proprietors , remembering that they have bought her at a low price , and her experience : on ' the Atlantic or on the Indian Ocean may serve as a very useful lesson to our steam-ship builders .

      ¦ Cueation And Iiecheation. Rjlfl'ere «R...

      ¦ CUEATION AND IIECHEATION . rjlfl'ERE « ro some words in our noble English tongue which h ive ¦*• been singled out and sot aside for one solo purpose , and which , look strango if used out of the ordinary sense . Thus our firat word , " creation , " has acquired beyond its true sense a partially holy siynificalioii , and , ' . ' connected ^^ rts it is with the Grontor ; so much ao that it seems almost profanity to use it in a more common souse . The old anecdote of tho quaker , who said that he had vorily " created" his waistcoat , oinco he ordered it " to bo made , and it was made , " smacks of this profanity , and unless used in cases whore custom has tukim awny the sting-, such us in speaking" of tho civiilion ol ' n peer , the creations of an author , the creation of n new poem , < fci ; ., the word is so tightly confined to one meaning" that wo los ' u all the beauty of its use in others . Bo also wo lose tho b . 'iuity of its anti-¦ v

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16061860/page/7/