19 NOVEMBER 1853, Page 16

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A COSTLY DWELLING-HOUSE.

An amusing debate took place in the House of Commons one evening near the close of last session, respecting a vote of 58201. which Sir Wil-

liam Molesworth required to defray the charge of works, repairs, and fur- niture, at the house of the British Ambassador at Paris, for the year end- ing 31st March 1854. As it was well known that a sum of ten or twelve

hundred a year had been regularly voted by the House, from time imme- morial, for keeping the said house in repair, some explanation was demanded as to the necessity for so large an outlay this year. It was stated in reply, that representations had been made to the Board Of Works, of the very dilapidated and indecent condition of the house at Paris, and that an architect had been sent from London to examine the . building : he reported that the house was in a most ruinous state,—the verandah dropping in pieces ; the outer walls in a state of decay, the dining-room sinking into the cellar ; the walls inside covered with dirt ; . the staircases unsafe ; the cesspools exhaling a most noxious effluvium ;-

the rooms full of vermin; ants, maggots, and other creeping things, on the furniture and the curtains, while the carpets Were stained by the dirt of the dogs and cats. Under these circumstances, the sum of 25201. had been advanced by the Treasury to make such repairs as were absolutely necessary ; and a further report was ordered to be made of the whole amount required to put the Embassy-house in a creditable state of repair. From the estimate furnished by the architect it appeared that it would take no less than 92131. to make the repairs and alterations con- templated, and supply the house with proper furniture. Much surprise was expressed at the statement, which threw no light on the manner in which the ten or twelve hundred a year had been expended. Mr. Hurtle had always said that the money voted for that purpose would be wasted, and it now turned out that he had been correct in his suspicions. The money they had spent in the purchase and repairs of the Embassy-house would have purchased one of the finest residences in Paris. The result of the discussion was the passing of the vote on the understanding that the Secretary of the Treasury should lay on the table the whole of the accounts and correspondence relating to the expenditure for repairs up to the present time.

After a due interval, the teturns have been made ; and, although not quite so complete as we could wish, they furnish sufficient information to ac- count for the astounding report made by Mr. Albano the architect, and for his estimate of 92131. to put the house into a habitable condition.

During the six years ending 1852-'3, it appears that the total amount voted for repairs and furniture was 18201.; and as the annual estimates contain charges varying from 4001. to 9001. per annum, for new carpets

and articles of charges, we might have expected to find the residence in a pretty fair condition at the beginning of 1852. But everybody knows how very soon a well-furnished comfortable house may fall into disre- pair, if constant attention is not paid to every department. Up:to 1851, Mr. Decimus Burton had been intrusted with the charge of are Enibassy- house at Paris • and, so far as we can gather from his statement, there was nothing deficient in its upholstery and general condition at that time. How then could it happen that, in the beginning of.the following year, 44/Acewler should have found matters in so deplorable a state as he There describes ?— AWben I arrived in Paris, in February 1852, I found the house in a most dirty state. It did notappear to me to have been painted for years, and the furniture vnis in a deplorable condition. The carpets, curtains, and chairs of the apartment on the CurA floor, generally inhabited by the Ambassador, were stained .with the ordurei of animals, and the silk of which the latter were made either so rotten in consequence that it could not even be dyed, or split and awn so that it could not be repaired. I believe that much of the stuff is still forthcoming, so that the accuracy of my statement can be easily verified. Mice .cante constantly into the drawing-rooms; nothing could be put upon the dfniu; l'efrooin table without attracting a quantity of ants; and in several of the s, among others my own, maggots were found, and in two instances mice- The upper floor, or that in which the Ambassador's family, if he has 011c, must live, was also overrun with mice, and other vermin, to which I need not specially allude."

As regards the larger vermin complained of, Mr. Decimus Burton says the nuisance was kept down by a professional ratcatcher, "engaged and paid annually by the Office of Woods, where his account for 1850 was delivered in April 1851." From that date up to the time of Lord Cow- ley's arrival at Paris in the spring of 1852, a system of saving in every department appears to have been adopted by the Treasury. Mr. Burton, who had been in the habit of makino•* an annual inspection of the Em- bassy-house at the beginning of each year and ordering all requisite re- pairs to be made, was about to perform his annual duty in January 1851, when he received orders not to do so, without any reason being assigned, or any fault found with his management. The result was, that, in the absence of the ratcatcher and the regular tradesmen, the rats and other vermin overran the house and the furniture became so very much damaged that Lord Cowley found himself under the painful necessity of addressing Lord Malmesbury on the subject. Lord Malmes- bury instantly called the attention of Lord John Manners to "the dirty condition of the British Embassy-house at Paris," and hoped that immediate steps would be taken for proceeding with the neces- sary repairs. Lord John Manners wrote to the Lords of the Trea- sury, and they despatched Mr. Albano to Paris to "inspect and report upon the state of the Ambassador's house, and the repairs thereto, which he considers are actually necessary." Of course, Mr. Albano, as the new architect, found everything in the most deplorable condition. Eleven pages are filled with an elaborate narrative of his interesting ramble over the extensive ruins accompanied by Lord Cowley ; who, as he writes to Lord John Manners, "condescended to show me for several hours over the house and offices, attentively examining and pointing out to me the candid= of every room." We have no doubt that "his Excellency" did-ample justice to the forlorn condition of his new home. Even in the professional language of the architect, the complaints about soiled car- pets, dilapidated ceilings, and torn paper-hangings, become deeply pa- thetic.

"Passing into ladies' waiting-room (No. 2), remarked, that it was at pre- sent the only room they had to receive visitors, which had been fitted with the best furniture from the apartment ; that the dining-room (No. 1) con- tained no sideboard, nor other convenient furniture for the purpose; and the tables and dining-table shaken; and chairs very old pattern, with un- comfortable leather seats, and much soiled.

"His Lordship, passing from the sitting-room to the drawing-room (No. 3) and boudoir (No. 4), her Ladyship's bedroom (No. 5) and bath-room (No. 9), &e., pointed out the state of the ceilings, some of the paper and chintz on the wall, as well as the hangings and window-curtains, being very much stained and worn, and the carpet much worn from door to door, and great part of the furniture of this apartment being oldfashioned, with seats badly stuffed, and the silk covering of many chairs completely torn, remaining for shoW, the chintz cover, as well as pointing to the large and uncomfortable fire-places, in which he wished to have caloriferes." And thus he goes on, detailing, first the complaints of "his Excel- lency," and then his suggestions as to what ought to be done, through ever so many pages ; winding up with an estimate of the probable cost of putting it all into habitable order, restoring the chapel to its original use as a ball-room, and "preparing the dining-room for the purposes of an occasional chapel." For all these repairs and alterations, supply of new furniture and renovation of old on the most extensive scale, and also for the abolishing of nuisances, including the extirpation of rats, mice, and other vermin, the total charge to the nation is only 92131. The amount may seem large to rigid economists ; but if Parliament deems it wise, first to spend a large sum in the purchase of an Ambassador's house, and theirto vote an annual sum for the supply of furnitute, it must lay its account with having a similar bill to pay at any time when a new Am- bassador happens to be appointed whose notions of domestic comfort and elegance differ so much from those of his predecessor, and who knows that the upholsterer's bill will be paid by the Treasury.

Scrrnso Goaaro.—The Lima papers lately received contain an ac- count of the inspection of the Chincha Islands, from which so large a supply of guano is promised in future. The calculation is, that on one island alone there are no less than thirty millions of tons. If the Peru- vian Government had common sense enough to dispose of the privilege of loading 'vessels with this valuable manure at a moderate rate, instead of grasping at enormous profits by means of a costly agency in this country, it might reap a far larger revenue from this source than it has ever yet chine, and at the same time confer a benefit on Great Britain, which has hitherto been chief customer. Last year we imported only 129,889 tons; a very great falling-off compared with our consumption a few years ago, although our agriculturists are rapidly becoming alive to the value of guano as the most powerful fertilizing agent at their command. The only obstacle to its extensive introduction is the high price which it bears ; and that is mainly caused by the folly of the Peruvian Government, which is not content with a clear profit of less than 4/. per ton. With one deposit to the extent of 30 000 000 tons, already accessible, and many other avail. able sources of supply, it would be the interest of the owners of the Guano Islands to let it be sold at such a price as would lead to its general use among farmers ; and that will never be done so long as it cannot be Purchased for less than 9/. or 101. per ton. Another evil arising from its dearness is the high premium which it offers to adulteration. Large qut?itities of spurious guano have been palmed upon farmers, at a slight reduction of price. The sham article has all the appearance of the genu- ine Anil without its fertilizing qualities ; so that the purchaser is not

Clae,ated in the transaction, but misled as to the worth of the new Ure. After paying a high price for it, he finds that it does him little

or no good. Front a statement latebiltiade,it-ippeinit that the application of two hundredweight of real guano;dust,to tit etreanoreased the produce of grass, compared with the adjoining land, from 8 to 30 hundredweight. If our farmers could obtain the best guano for 414 per ton, we have no doubt they would very soon be consuming at the rate of ten or twelve times what they are now, doing, and the result would speedily be felt in the greater abundance and cheapness of all kinds of farm produce.

A ROYAL SLAVE-DEALE1L—In the report of the evidence taken by the Select Committee of the Commons appointed to inquire into the Slave-trade Treaties between Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal, which recently made its appearance, it was plainly stated that Queen Christina of Spain is understood to be one of the principal upholders of slavery in Cuba. The Honourable W. G. Knox, Chief Justice of Trinidad, who has resided many years in the West Indies, and who takes a deep interest in the question, was most explicit on that head. He states that he visited Cuba last spring, and was at considerable pains to obtain trustworthy informa- tion on the subject of the slave-trade in that island ; and the conclusion to which he had come was that the late notorious increase in the traffic is mainly owing to the way in which it is encouraged by the Spanish Government. In proof of this, he referred to the disgrace of Captain- General Concha, in consequence of his determined efforts to put down the trade. As to the reason why the authorities at Madrid arc so much in favour of the illicit traffic, he gave a very sufficient account in one part of his evidence. Having been asked by Sir John Pakington as to who furnished the capital employed in the slave-trade, Mr. Knox says- " The general impression is that much of the capital, that is, a large share of it, is supplied by the Queen Mother. How far true or not, of course I cannot say, but that is the general belief; and her agent is a well-known man about the Havana, Sefior Parejo."

"Is it not generally understood that her agent takes charge of certain vessels connected with the carrying on of that trade ? "—"I am not aware of that : the impression is that he supplies capital, but I am not aware to what extent he himself personally interferes with the carrying on of the trade."

"Is he not known at the Havana as the avowed agent of the Queen Mother for that purpose ? "—" Perfectly well known as the agent of Queen Christina."