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Leader (1850-1860), 7th August 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 774

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      The Church In Heal Danger. Tife Worst En...

      paid off the debts . Now one would suppose that this sequestration was a matter not suffered to travel out of the parish , and kept , for decency sake , as private as possible . But it appears that the Bishop of Winchester , in whose diocese the living of Camberwell is situated , is cognizant of all the facts , lias lent his sanction to the sequestration , and has appointed curates to do the duty of the clerical fugitive . Whatever odium attaches to the spiritual condition of Camberwell and the disgraceful arrangements must , we humbly conceive , be shared between the bishop and the incumbent . However the practice ol sequestration may have grown into a custom , the principle of sequestration reflects

      indelible disgrace on the Church of England , and warrants the strongest measures of its worst enemies . But this resort to sequestration by jolly clericals who have overrun the constable , who have spent the revenues of their rectories , possibly in " riotous living" and mundane debaucheries , appears to be very common and on the increase . In the list we believe will be found St . Olave ' s , Soutkwark , Newington , Wandsworth , Hackney , Tormarton , Melton Mowbray , and others . Now as to these livings are attached large incomes , the more shame to the occupants that they have been unable to make

      the expenses of their style of living square with their receipts . To our thinking , it is almost criminal to sequestrate the receipts of a benefice , and apply them to the payment of private debts . The revenue is presumed to be wanted to pay a clergyman for duties attached to the " cure of souls , " not to be squandered in high living or debauchery . The statement of Lord St . Leonards attracted attention from lay lords , but very little from light reverend prelates . Although it was known the discussion was fixed for a particular day , not a single bishop was on the bench .

      But Lord St . Leonards is not the man to let a matter of such vital importance drop . The matter was again brought under the notice of the House , and then the Archbishop of Canterbury , finding it was impossible to blink the scandal , intimated that the bishops , had taken the question into consideration , aiid that it was expected they would frame some bill to meet such cases , but it was impossible to bring in the bill that session . And from what ha 3 transpired , there is reason to believe that the bishops will be disposed to deal tenderly indeed

      with their bankrupt and self-denying brethrenthat they will decline to strike at the root of the evil by turning the clergyman out of a benefice the duties of which he is unable to discharge , but they ¦ will make some further provision out of the revenues of the living for additional curates . The bishops have ere now been advised to " set their Louse in order . " Let them take care they do aiot f ive cause for renewing that cry by their refusal to 0 what justice , honesty , and the interests of religion require to be done in this matter .

      Comment on the circumstances we have referred to is superfluous . The Camberwell affair tells its own story , will shortly work an effectual cure , and that , too , in a direction little dreamt of by the dozing bench of political bishops .

      774 T H E_^E Aj^Jb B 1 _ [No. 437, Augus...

      774 T H E _^ E Aj ^ jB B _ [ No . 437 , August 7 , 185 s /

      The Public Service.—More About Weedon. W...

      THE PUBLIC SERVICE . —MORE ABOUT WEEDON . When we look to the calendars of crime which daily come before our courts of justice , we are struck , in the multitude of cases , with the ingenuity of the human mind and the Energy of disposition brought into action to satisfy some mere temporary gratification where the prize is totally disproportionate to the acuteness of intellect displayed or the risk to be run ; for example , the ready wit ¦ with which the habitual vigilance of a shopkeeper is eluded to obtain an article of jewellery , the ingenuity of the swindler to get \ 0 l . on false pretences , the art and science required to forge a bank-note , the dexterity displayed by the smasher to pass a counterfeit shilling , — -eaoh act exposing the offender to a term of penal servitude for that which miglitbe honestly earned with less trouble , or by a day's or even an hour's labour . But wliat a contrast do such instances afford to our great public defalcations , where hundreds and thousands upon thousands of pounds are misappropriated with the greatest impunity and in the most bundling and barefaced manner without the ends of justice being- satisfied , ¦ with little risk of detection , and , indeed , if discovered , with an almost certainty of escape . For instance , a late secretary to the Eeclesiast ical Commissioners , who lives abroad with what lie mny have of the 80 , 0001 . for which he could render no account

      —the Admiralty Registrar , with 50 , 000 / . — "the Treasury Receiver of fees on intestable property- — the late accountant to the Council-office—and last , but not least , the immortalised Elliot , of Weedon , who roams at large on the other side of the Atlantic , enjoying , with an . opera-dancer , as reported , his reapiugs in this country , the amount of which will perhaps never be ascertained , and who adds open effrontery to peculation by calling on the Government to remit nim his pay wliilc taking his pleasure excursion with an undefined leave of absence which lie has granted to himself . It

      is stated that Elliot has actually written to the War-office authorities requesting that his pay , while absent , may be sent to him , as it is his intention , when his health has experienced a sufficient benefit by the change of air and scenery , to resume his official duties at "Weedon . We are led by such effrontery to ask ourselves , Is this the language and comportment of a defaulter who knows that the ministers of justice are on his track ? is it the hardihood of a man who feels safety in the very act which ought to bind hitn hand and foot , and commit him to the hulks ? or is it the

      confidence inspired by conscious innocence ? As yet we are but feeling our way in the dark , with this extraordinary case , the like of which there may be many still smouldering under the heap of official secrecy , or buried in the impenetrable mystifications of Blue-boolcs and other , books , for there arc queer rumours , " gentle as the breeze , hut dreadful as the storm , " meandering through certain quarters , -until they have reached ears less confined , that all has not been rijf / it , and that matters will toe exhumed referring to millions , the ghost of which will appal even- the Great official himself . We

      shall ^ wait patiently for the more open sound of What is at present only whispered ; but as regards "Weedon , we hope we shall soon have added to the evidence taken before the committee of the House of Commons on public contracts such a report from the Royal Commission as will thoroughly explain the working of the system of accounts , both cash and store , at that place , which , witli a staff of director , superintendent , storekeeper , inspectors , foremen , and some fifty or sixty clerks , has not yet shown a debtor and creditor account of what has been received and issued .

      Let iis here ask a- few pertinent questions . When Mr . Elliot absconded , is it true that officials , holding such important posts at headquarters iri the management of the public business as to justify their being in the receipt of very large salaries , were scut to "Weedon for several weeks ? How was it they could be spared from their regular duties ? Who conducted the business during their absence , or was it allowed to take its chance and go into arrear ? If not , was any one else paid for doing their work during any one else paid for doing their work during

      their absence , or did officers with lower pay discharge the higher duties ? Did they discover at Weedon that duplicate orders for the issues of the same stores had been made from headquarters to Mr . Elliot ? Did such duplicate warrants for issues afford the means to Mr . Elliot of giving false certificates ( had hc felt disposed to do so ) ol the quantities received , on which payment of public money was subsequently made at headquarters in London ? Were they the same parties who were connected with the payment of the money on Mr . Elliot ' s certificates who went down to

      inquire into his proceedings at Weedon ? When at Weedon , did they work from sunrise to midnight P What did they do at Weedon during the time they were there P Do the vouchers from which Mr , Elliot ' s defective store accounts arc now being posted up bear evidence of having been all cut out of the same book ? Do such vouchers bear the signatures of inspecting officers for stores said to have been received by Mr . Elliot , and do those signatures , which purport to have been written by the same part y , appear to be in the same or in totally different handwritings P When Mr . Elliot returned in 1854 .

      from the duties he had discharged iu Canada , and when there was difficulty felt in nllotling to him a situation suitable to his rank , did he not tell Mr . Monsell , who was then at the head of the office , that lie was willing to go on half-pay , and did not Mr . Monscll say that his services were too valuable to be spared ? Was wot Mr . Elliot at work for some time at hcad-quartora P Was it not after this that lie wns appointed to conduct the business at Weedon P Had the parties who * pntroniscd Mr . Elhot ever patronised those who , on his becoming a defaulter , went down to investigate his proceedings ? What report have they made of the

      information they collected at Weedon or oTTT duties they discharged there ? Who are they and what are then- names ? These are all questions \™ feel must deeply concern the interest of tliemihi ; ,. and in which the public will take an interest -mire * fuse to be satisfied unless they are clearly , minutolv " and fully answered , for we are convinced tint o system of secret intimidation prevails by which tli £ mouths of those -who could speak are closed If any doubt exists in the minds of our readers is in tlw possibility of such a fact , we will refer them il a parliamentary paper ( No . 424 ) called for by Mr Macartney , the member for Antrim , wlich shows the names , appointment , age , date of appointment and salary of every person in the War-ollice ' where it will be seen that men who Wn ¦ . « . „ ,- *

      grey in the public service , and who for pcriodsVa-r mg from twenty to forty years have discharged im portant duties , have been passed over by \ outhsMot so long in the world as they have been ihihe service of their country ! What an inducement to youtli to be mentonous !—what a . salutary warning to the veteran against disobedience !! a

      Lady Bulwer Lytton's Case And The Lunacy...

      LADY BULWER LYTTON'S CASE AND THE LUNACY LAWS . Considerable attention ha . s lately been drawn to the Lunacy Laws , in consequence of the occurrence of two or three cases of more than usual interest . Much may , no doubt , be said against the lax admi " . nistration of the Lunacy Board ; and much too against the occasional acts of barbarity , to the commission , ; of which there is so strong a tempiation , when the keeper , of frail patience and indiffercut self-command , feels the necessity of controlling au obstinate and furious lunatic . We can scarcely

      conceive any circumstances in which the temper and judgment of even a cool and self-possessed person would be more severely tried . We arc not therefore prepared to reverberate the ' declamatory denunciations of a portion of the dail y press against both the existing ; laws , and the individuals-whose names have come before the public in connexion with their administration . Violence will do no ; good either with lunatics or saue men ; and most assuredly the exaggerations and

      misrepresentations of facts which characterised the publicity given to one of these cases arc . likely to be most prejudicial to the interests ' of truth and the attainment of the end in view , which , as we understand it , appears to he a thorough revision of the system . If the alleged facts upon which an amendment of the law be demanded be proved false , great injury will be done to the efforts of those who are conscientiously and seriously working for a reform of all obvious abuses .

      The first , and in some respects the most remarkable of these cases , is that of Lady Bulwcr Lyitoii , concerning which the most extraordinary statements have been promulgated . We lime been informed that she was the victim of a foul plot , flint she was " kidnapped , " certified to be insane by two " obscure apothecaries , " rudely handled b y two policemen , and hurried away to a " notorious madhouse . " Very portentous would these assertions be if they were only true ! It is the absence of this important particular that constitutes the step from the sublime to the ridiculous . There would ,

      indeed , be a peremptory necessity for a reform ot the system if these assertions had been founded in fact , for who would be safe ? Even 1 lie pvomulgator of those remarkable hallucinations might be doomed insane , or , at least , oscillating on the brink of that horrible condition which would justify two medical certificates in his behalf , and a merciful conveyance to a shady retreat where hc might learn to temper the violence of his passions , and recover the right use of his faculties . It appears , however , from facts that have come to light , that the lady vas not "kidnapped , " having conic to town by her own free

      will , unsolicited , in haste , and accompanied by two female friends , that sho was not examined by two " obscure apothecaries / ' but by two eminent practitioners , Mr . Hale Thomson , consulting surgeon of the Westminster Hospital , and Ml * . Koss , a veilknown writer and practitioner , and editor of one oC tho medical journals ; that she wns not touched by two policemen as was alleged , and Hint she was noihurried away to n . " notorious madhouse , " but taken to the private residence of Mr . Hill , tho benevolent ; originator of tho principle of non-vcslriihil . in tin ' treatment of lunatics , from whom and whose family sho received the kindest and most ooii ^ idenilc attention . So inueh for this fabrication of misslntcmcnts . We have now recited with brevity the

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1858, page 774, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_07081858/page/14/