THE OPIUM SWINDLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 554, 12 July 1862, Page 7

THE OPIUM SWINDLE.

(From The Consliution, 21st June.)

We renew our remarks on the Opium Scandal which formed the subject of our article yesterday, because it presents several features highly significant of the character of our rulers, and exemplifies the way in which political life and position can be made conducive to private gain. We may commence with an observation upon the palpable disingcuuousness of Mr. R. S. Anderson, the Commissioner of Customs, when speaking about the matter on Tuesday evening. He began with the usual shallow piece of affectation about " having had his attention directed to an article in one of the daily papers," and so forth. In this style it is now customary for M.L.A.'s to exhibit their haughty disdain of journalistic writers, whose society they many of them courted in other days, and a word of praise from whose pen was esteemed a favor of infinite value. So far as Mr. Anderson and the Aye a"c concerned, we care not to be officially informed that he does not subscribe to that paper, but lie might reasonably be reminded that the Nicholson Ministry, to which he was once attached, did appreciate the journal in question, and we know enough of the present official crew to be assured thf.t they would highly prize support, where they now affect to acorn antagonism. Enough on this point, however. Mr. R S. Anderson only speaks in the same style as Messrs. Don, O'Shanassy, and L. L. Smith, who invariably consider an observation upon their peculiarities inserted in any paper " quite beneath their contempt!" What is really of moment in the tone and deportment of our Commissioner on this occasion.wasthe coolness with which he presumed upon the ignorance, hcedlessness, or stupidity of his audience. This estimate of the capacity of his brother members may be just, for aught we know, but certainly it was rather too much for a Minister to pass off a denial of some totally independent e'reumstance, as a contradiction of the allegation upon which he was remarking. Mr, IlHgh Glass was said to have bought a large quantity of ojjium as a speculation, and to hare srot it all out of bond the day before an extra 10s. duty was imposed. That's an intelligible statement surely ! But, says our sagacious Minister, " No clearances have passed the Customs in the name of Hugh Glass during the period alluded to, that is, from 28th May to 12th June," and this denial of a totally different affair was positively accepted by Mr. Anderson's audience as conclusive ! Why, so far as anything in that gentleman's list of clearances appears, the whole quantity taken out of bond during these days, might have been purchased by Mr. Hugh Glass and his partners in the speculation ! There certainly was a movement in opium during this period, no less thau 7000lb having been cleared, and if this speculator, or those in his confidence, had bought a like quantity out of bond, it will be evident that a very desirable sum would be put into their pockote. But did any of this opium belong to the speculator named ? " A Merchant" informs the Age that two large pireol'i, at any rate, did, namely, those reported on " 10th June, J. Smith, 480 In., and 11th Juno, J. Smith, 480 ll>." Now, why did the clerk of Mr. H. Glass paw these clearances in the very cquivoeil name of Smith ? Was there any object to be gained by using a fictitious uatae, and so throwing a curtain over the transaction? It would really spem so. But that object could not be personal to the buyer, who unquestionably has a right to speculate in opium or anything else he please 3, and no man need fear disclosing his own name in. his own transactions ? Was it then to escape any remark on the extraordinary concidence of Hugh Glass paying a lower duty on a large quantity of opium, and the Ministry deckringtheirinteationtodouble'the tax, both on the same day? la there any audacity in supposing that the speculator had received a hint of what was in contemplation ? He, of course, cannot be blamed, but the entire Cabinet, to whom the secret ought most sacredly to have been confined, must be distrusted. We do not care whether Mr. Glass bagged a few thousands or not by his opium purchases, but we do care for the honor of the Government of the country, whose members have all subjected themselves to the charge of having •' laid him onto a profitable spec," and of having shared in the gain. Is it not humiliating that we should be compelled to ask ourselves the question, — Ts there one of these Ministers who is capable of divulging a State secret with a view to his own or his friend's advantage ? Is honor at so low an ebb among them, than any member of a Government, containing such names as those of the Chief Secretary and the Attorney-General, could be supposed weak enough to yield to the temptation of putting a valued and liberal friend up to a good thing ? We may repudiate the bare supposition witli honest indignation if we please, but we cannot entirely free ourselves from the ugly doubts, so obviously suggested by the very curious coincidence upon which we have been animadverting. There are so many ways of serving a friend without risk of detection, when a man is in possession of a lucrative State secret. " A wink is as good as a nod," and a question pi-o-perly intoned, would convey information as plainly as a categorical proposition. Besides, intermediaries might be employed. A political supporter who understood the business on hand, might make a " pumping" suggestion and receive a significant intimation that it was " all right," amply sufficient to warrant a purchase where there was much to gain and but little to lose. We shall not, however, venture any further suppositions as to the way in which these things may be done, but shall simply repeat that it is a melancholy reflection upon the honor of the men who form our Ministries that any circumstances whatever should give occasion for entertaining any such doubts or conjectures respecting their official integrity !

Tub India Mails. — Southampton, Thnrsday. — A telegram v«w received at the Peninsular and Oriental Company's offices to-day announcing that; the Sultan steamer, on the Marseiilos-and Alexandria line, had broken down. Orders were immediately given for the Euxine steamer, which only arrived here on Monday from that station, and was to have taken out the Bombay mails next Saturday, to be despatched to take the Sultan's place, and she will' leave at six in the morning for Marseilles for that purpose. The Ellora, which was about to be despatched to the India station, will take out the Bombay mails on Saturday instead of the Euxine. — Times, April 11. Marching in India. — When we first leave the encampment all is shrouded in darknes3, and everyone naturally feels a little grumpy, but when the first streaks of dawn appeal-, and we have been an hour on the road, the welcome note is heard in the distance of the bugles sounding the '• halt j'^ with great rapidity it passes from regiment to regiment and dies away in the rear ; cavalry dismount, infantry pile arms in the middle of the road, and for a few minutes the whole army disperses on each side of it; the favorite refreshment of officers is bread, cold tongue, and "brandy-pawnee, 3 ' which find their way out of innocent-looking holsters : and now we all take off overcoats or monkey jackets which were needed when we started in the cold and damp night ; the blue jackets fasten theirs over their shoulders, and the officers strap theirs to their saddles; the brief halt is quickly at an end, and we enjoy a ten minutes' rest, when the "advance" sounds again down the line from bugler to bugler ; all at once fall in, aims are unpiled, and enlivened by our baud, we again stop out ; now feet begin to ache and boots to chafe, but the cheery music of the bands, bugles, or drums and fifes of the regiment marching next to ns, generally the rifles, infuses energy into the most footsore. We make three halts in a march of thirteen or fourteen miles, of which the last is the longest, to allow Hie quartermaster-general and his staff to ride on and mark out the camp. A day or two ago, an officer of a distinguished Highland regiment was observed passing the naval brigade on a enmel ; now to ride a camel at all requires some experience, but to ride one in a kilt can hardly be accounted among the pleasures of life ; the individual in question, so far from appearing to enjoy himself, appeared much distressed, and in imminent danger ot slipping over the camel's tail ; at last his feelings became too much for him, and letting go his hold, he fell sprawling on the grass amid shouts of laughter. As the sun rises, the heat rapidly increases, and the camels and elephants are seen making short cuts across the fields, and keeping .always clear of the road ; when our bauds have blown as much wind as they can spare into their instruments, our men strike up a song, and old windlass tunes, forecastle ditties, and many a well-known old ballad resound through the jungles or on the fertile plains of Bengal, and serve tn animate our sailors and astonish the natives. The dust now becomes almost stifling, and rises in a thick cloud for eight or ten feet above the road; occasionally a staff-officer gallops by, kicking up a terrible dust ; or again, a slight declivity and slope in the road shows the long and varied line of march ; generally, however, it is very level, with a broad grassy glade on either side, bounded by handsome spreading trees. Our guns and ammunition follow in rear of the brigade, under the charge of a lieutenant with a strong guard ; the small-arm ammunition is carried on camels in charge of a midshipman with a small guard. Perhaps one of the least romantic and most important offices is that of baggase-master, and every officer in the naval brigade will long remember the friendly care bestowed on our bagga«e by the Hon, Hugh Hare, an officer of the Indian army, attached to us in that capacity. Owing to his exertions, it rarely happened that our baggage was not among the first to reach, the new camping ground, the luxury of whiali will be appreciated by many an old campaigner.— The Shannon's Brigade in India I*u mmvh Urn Yang/, #f# ., fa n *"**