Star. — London, England, 1826-12-06 00:00:00

plaining that having proceeded to mover arrears of salary due do him by attachment, be Iliad been defeated in the Lord /day& s Court, on the ground that it was a Company; and that having afterwards proceeded by action in the Court of King's Bench, he bad there been defeated on the ground that it Was not a Company. Tbis was rather an amusing instance of the glorious uncertainty of the law.—Ordered robe printed. Colonel TORRENTS gave notice that en the first open day after the holidays, he should move for leave to bring in a Bill for the paci fication of Ireland. Mr. WODEHOUSE enquired when the Papers, for which be had moved, were likely to be produced ? Mr. HUSKISSON replied that he was anxious no time should be lost in laying the required information before the House. and be hoped to present the Returns moved for by the Hon. Member on Thursday. Mr. Secretary CANNING rose to ask an Hon. Mem ber oppoSite, who had given notice of a motion for that evening, to postpone it to some future occasion. He was not aware at first what the extent of the motion would be, or that it might lead to discussion, such as would hardly be convenient in the absence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Until his Right Hon. Friend was present, they should be perfectly unpre pared to meet the motion. 11ABERLY begged to say, that he came down to the House determined to give way to the Hon. Al derman, on account of the nature of his motion, as he conceived that any thing affecting the character of Members ought to take precedence of every thing else. He had hoped, that after the Hon. Alderman, he should have been able to bring forward the Motion of which he had given notice. But from what had fallen from the Right Hon. Gent. respecting the absence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he would postpone it to the earliest day after the holidays, the 13th of February. He believed that the subject was one in wbich a gteat number of Members would take a very large interest, and he trusted that the Right Hon. Gent. would let him have an early opportunity of bringing It torw•ard. Notice postponed to February 13th. CURRENCY. Lord FOLKSTONE, seeing the Right Honourable Secretary for Foreign Affairs in his place, rose to repeat a question which he had asked the ether night. He wished to know whether it was the intention of his Majesty's Ml misters to renew the Committee for inquiring into the State of the Currency, and the circulation of Small Notes in Ireland, and whe ther any measures were to be introduced to Parliament, in conse quence of the evidence taken before the Committee of last year, and the Report made thereon. Mr. Secretary CANNING said, he was not prepared to answer the question. Mr. W. WYNNE presented a Petition from Thomas Flanagan , complaining of the Election for Athlone.—Laid on the table. Mr. WY NNE moved for leave to extend the time of lodging Petitions against the Retutn for Athlone in the Dice of the Clerk of the Crown for Ireland, to within the next fourteen days.—Agreed to. Mr. 11 UME postponed his motion relative to the Cape of Good Hope to (as we understood) Thursday next. Mr. M. A. TAYLOR moved for a Return of the number of Commissions of Bankruptcy issued under the Great Seal from the Ist of December, 1824, to the Ist of December, 1826, distinguish ing the number in each year. - Also for a Return of ibe Number of Persons who have taken the benefit of the Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, from the Ut of December, 18424, to the Ist of December, 1226, distinguishing the number of those discharged in each year, and of those se ws nded.—Ot dered. Mr. 11. G RATTAN gave notice of a motion on the appointment of Sheriffs, Sub-Sheriffs, and their Clerks, in Ireland, under cap. 21, Geo. 111. He wished to know from the Secretary of Ireland whether the subject was under official investigation? Mr. GOULBURN said it was; and that he would be able to state bow far after the recess. Mr. J. SMITH presented a Petition from Ballinrobe in the county Mayo, for Catholic Emancipation. The lion. Member supported the Petition ; and thought the numerical ratio of the Catholics to the Protestants in the Army and Navy, proved their allegiance, and re futed the objections of their opponents. He thought the charge of Lord Liverpool on that subject a stain upon his character as a Statesman. He earnestly hoped the motion of an Hon. Member (Mr. Grattan) with regard to the appointment of Sheriffs of Ireland, wbuld meet with the support of the House; for till that department of Justice was purified, he (Mr. J. Smith) would rather live in Algiers than in Ireland—(Hear, hear.) Colonel DAVIES gave notice, that he would, on the 15th of February, nurse that the estimates for the years 1823 and 1826, be referred to a Select Committee for its consideration. &r T. ACKLAND gave notice of a motion for to-morrow, for Copies of Correspondence relative to the Slave Trade. ARIGNA MINING COMPANY. Alderman WAITHMAN presented a Petition from Roger Flattery, Civil Engineer, complaining of the conduct of the Directors of the Arigna Iron and Coal Coapany, praying the House to institute an inquiry into the sae. Mr. BROGDEN thought the Petition should not be received, as it contained statements that were not true. It was not true, that the Petitioner had corresponded with all the Directors of that Company on the benefit that would accrue to Ireland from the proposed under taking, for he only had communication with two of those Members. He (Mr. Brogden) had no communication what. ever with him, and he denied his statement of the manner in which the Petitioner was connected with the Arigna Company. The House was about to divide on the motion for the Petition being printed, bet did not. The motion was agreed to. Alderman WAITHMAN next presented a Petition from certain Shareholders in the above Joint Stock Company, complaining that they purchased shares in the Company to the value of 10,0001.—that they were subsequently charged by the Directors of the Company 25 0001. for those shares—and that they were thereby defrauded to the amount of 15,0001. of their property. That of those Directors some were Members of the Honour able House ; and they prayed the House to institute an inquiry into the causes of the illegal charge, and into the manner in which the 15,0001. of their pro. petty was disposed of by the Directors. They further complained, that of that sum—unjustly taken out of their pockets-4,5001. fell to the share of Sir William Congr eve, Bart. 1,0471. to the share of James Brog den, Esq. M.P. 1 0471. to Bent ; 1,0471. to Clot ke, ten. 1,0471. to Clarke. jun. 1,0471. to J. Smeedon ; 1.0471. to F. D. Power; 1,017/. to -- Hyde ; 1,0471. to Hynes ; 1.0471. to J. Dunster ; 1,0471. to -- IS ibian, sen. 1,0471. to -- Bobian, jun..and that 1,0471. lay in the hands of Sir W. Con vey. and Mr. Hyde for distribution ; and that of these sums, the produce of 100 shares of the Petitioners, and fraudulently disposed of by the abovementioned persons, they have been unable to com pel the Directors to refund any portion, and therefore prayed the interference of the !louse. Mr. BROGDEN asked the Clerk to read the signa. turei to the Petition. On their names, W. Clark, J Mitchell, T. Bernal, and —Robinson, being read, the Hon. Member wished the House to attend to the fact, that out of 230 Members, constituting the Proprietors of the Arigna Company, only four signatures could be procured against him (Mr. 13rogden), notwithstanding the zeal of one of the parties, W. Clark, silo hawked the Petition about—(Hear, hear), and of the Hon. Al. I I dermas himself, who exerted himself to the sameeffect. As to Cli.rk (who prided himself as being the Clark -without the e) he wa., so distinguished for his Joint Stock Company exploit, that he need not say mote than that he was a convicted libeller, and was waiting the judgment of the C o u r t t h at tr i e d hi m, for the measure of his . punishment. He w as not surpr i sed at his attack. ing h its (Mr. Brogden), though he intencli-ti otherwise; of two of the other signatures, he would merely say, they held but five shares each.—(Hear.) Alderman WAITHMAN.—Whether the Petition had one or five hundred signatures, it mattered little in a question of truth or falsehood. If true, it would suf fice with one name ; if false, numbers would not prevail. He contradicted the Hon. Member's assertion of his (Alderman Waithman) exerting himself to procure sig. natures—so far from his having hawked the Petition about, he knew nothing of its existence till yesterday, when he desired it to be sent to hits by four o'clock.— He knows nothing of the signatures, and is not ac quainted with them. Mr. Clark, one of them, stated, that the paucity of signatures was owing to the circumstance of the majority of the Proprietors being engaged in a Chancery suit on their claims, and were therefore unwilling to prejudge the question by giving their names. OP the motion for the Petition being printed, Mr. It. MARTIN wished the names of the Petitioners to be also printed, that the Public might estimate the weight of the charge against the Honourable Member (Brogden), by the character of the Petitioners. He pro. posed an amendment to that effect, which was subse quently withdrawn, at the request of Mr. Brogden, who stated the amendment to be contrary to the practice of the House.—Petition ordered to be piloted. Alderman WAITHMAN said, if obstacles were thus thrown in the way of Petitioners, there was an end to the liberty of the subject. The aspersions conveyed in the Amendment of the Hon. Member for Galway, on the character of the Petitioners, were unbecoming the dignity of the House, and should be discountenanced. The Hon. Alderman then presented a Petition from the Electors of Sudbury against Mr. J. Wilke, but withdrew it at the suggestion of Mr. WYNN, who, doubted whether the House could receive it without notice having been given to the party implicated. Alderman WAITHMAN then rose, pursuant to the motion of which he had given notice, relative to the conduct of the Directors of the Arigna Mining Com pany. It was with feelings of pain and difficulty that he ventured to bring the subject before the House, as it was one in which he could not avoid personally impli cating some Hon. Members of that House, and thereby exciting a great sensation in their own minds and those of their friends. Setting out, he must beg leave to re peat to the House his declaration, that not having been fairly dealt with by the House, who compelled him to convert a general censure into an individual charge against an Hon. Member, against whom he had no per sonal feelings of resentment to indulge in, and to whom he only particularly alluded, by declaring it his inten tion to oppose his being appointed their Chairman, in the event of his being proposed for that office. He had no particular charge against that Hon. Member; be never said he bad. The evil of which he had to complain, and which touched the Hon. Member, was of such extent and magnitude, and implicated so many persons bearing a reputable station in society, that it would be invidious in him to charge an individual with crimes which be shared with many others. The Hon. Member certainly looked towards a situation, at the disposal of the House, which no one ought to presume to fill whose character was not pure and unsullied. beyond all ques tion. In that he (Alderman Waithman) would have opposed; but beyond that he was any thing but per sonal in his censures. Indeed, his object was much higher—it involved the character of the House indi vidually and collectively in the eyes of the country; thence the respect that would be paid to its decisions ; and it involved the integrity of Parliament—thence its reputation in the eyes of posterity. It was these consi derations that induced him to bring the question before the House, and not the gratification of private feeling. The House were aware of the Joint Stock Company mania that raged in this country during the last two years; of the extent, however, of this sp irit, . the ma jority of the House could have but limoed means of forming an opinion, and could therefore not arrive at just and adequate conclusions. Within the last three years there were projected six hundred Joint Stock Companies, chiefly in the Metropolis, with a capital of upwards of three hundred millions. —He spoke with confidence, for they little knew the immense labour it took to estimate the amount of capital, the average premium and market price of shares, &c. which he (Ald. Waithman) would never be able to do without assistance. Of these six hundred Companies, about three hundred had vanished ; of those sixty were Mining Companies, with a capital of 25,000,0001.—a capital destroyed to the country—for he maintained that the great abstraction of currency consequent on the destruction of so much capital did more to injure the country, and to produce the distress, than all the Corn Laws and Currency tampering on which the House had been ringing the changes. With out taking the daily fluctuations of the market into the account, he would state, that of that capital of twenty five millions, 5,200 , 000 1. had been paid. The premiums on that capital amounted to nine millions, making a value of 14,200,0001. of which the market price was but 2,400,0001. less by nearly 12,000,000 than the value received—that is, 12,000,000 lost by mining speculations alone, to which he now confined himself. Now it might be said that these 12,000,0004 had not been all lost to the country, as they were in the pockets of some of its inhabitants. Granted ; but there was the roguery of the business--,to call it gambling, was to soften the matter. It was robbery that had no analogy to gaming, unless that practised with false dice. It was disgraceful conduct, that indignantly demanded the in terference of the House, who were very ready to make laws to correct the morals of the lower order, by fining them if they sat late in a public-house, but were very lenient to aristocratic gambling. It might be said that the mode by which this fraudulent abstraction of money was accomplished injured but a few ' • that, for instance, out of fourteen Shares, by which 1 001. on each had been schemed in the market, and by which, therefore, 14,00 W. would have been pilfered ; that but 14 persons might be the sufferers. That was not the case. These shares might be bought and sold, and the same frauds practised many times over—(Hear, hear). He would 'move that to be the fact two or three times over, as far as the Arigna Mining Company was concerned, and that the present holders of shares were not, in some instances, the original ones—that is, where there was a great loss on them—and that they were the orginal holders when ever so being had betn gainful. He would prove that certain persons made 14,000/. by tricks, on a deposit of 30,0001. and that too where there was 140 imputation on their conduct, and he would call upon the House for its interference; for if he understood any thing of the princi ples of legislation, it was the duty of Government to pro. test the weak against the aggressions of the strong—the simple and unsusectin aainst the artful ad esn ing. His object i n callin g g u pon the House to n go i d nto ig an inquiry upon theArigna,and formation of theJuint Stock Bubbles, was for the security and safety of the countiy. If no amends could be made for the injuries it had sus tained, surely the least that could be done would be, to take care to prevent a recurrence of the evil. It was not his intention to enter into a minute history of the Joint Stock transactions; some of them bad been instituted With good and honourable intentions, but the generality of them had been concocted for' frandulent and base' purposes. He could name a dozen persons who had created twenty and more of these Companies, to suit their own purpose. The number that had sprung up was immense, and the loss of capital beyond all calcu lation. There were two Mining Companies, which, from their birth to their death, had swallowed up more than a million and a half each. The Pasco Peruvian, it should be recollected, was brought forward by the same individuals with whom originated the Arigna Mining and Gas Company. The Pasco Mining Company, notwithstanding its brilliant prospectuses and shares at premiums, was at an end ; and he certainly could speak with more certainty as to the evils produced by the dead than of those likely to arise from the living. The shares of the Pasco Peruvian Company were run up to a premium, upwards of 100,000 shares were sold, and a capital wasted of more than 140,0001. This Company, which originated with the projectors of a Gas Associa tion, requited to be strictly scrutinized. In the Arigna Mining Company there were 900,000 shares, which, when first brought forward, were very low, but by arti fice and contrivance were as quickly rai.ed. Great fluctuations took place in the value of the shares, but the premiums on those sold constituted a large profit, which profits went into the pockets of those who had reserved shares for themselves. It would be for him to single out cases where culpability existed; he should do so, and when the House came to enquiry, he thought it extremely improbable that some of the Gentlemen who then sat in the House would long continue in their seats. Much had been said about the thoughtless employment of capital; but would the House say that a person sit ting as a Director was an honourable man, if be could encourage the Public to invest their money upon a false representation of his own. Yet such there were ; men who lent their names to the furtherance of these ruinous schemes, and who, though nominally putting but six or seven guineas a week into their purse for attendance, yet reallywere pocketing thousands by the sale of their shares. What moral distinction was to be drawn from the fact that where shareholders neglected to pay up the depo sits, the shares were declared forfeited, and the Directors took them to themselves ? With regard to this point an action had been tried before the Lord Chief Justice, and his Lordship declared, that the party aggrieved had no remedy. Here, then, after this opinion of the Lord Chief Justice, declared in very forcible language, were found men assembled to legislate for their coun try, breaking in upon those very laws they themselves had made. He had to speak plain, and sorry he was that it should have fallen upon him to undertake so un pleasant a duty. However, he was regardless of censure or approval, and as he implicated both sides of the House, he was as fearless of the one, as careless of the other. He regretted that his Majesty's Ministers had not taken up the question. There was another Com pany, which was culpable to a high degree, and in which a Member of that House he should mention names, for it was not his intention to mince the matter ; he meant Sir W. Congreve was reported to have put upwards of 20001. in his own pocket, and had also brought his brother forward to share in the profit.— Now, he would ask, was not Parliament in honour bound to institute an inquiry into the conduct of its own Mem bers? There never existed a fouler scheme for the purpose of picking the pocket of John Bull than the Equitable Loan Bank Company. The present of 10004 to the Chairman (tithe House, in former times, in order to get the Orphan Bill passed, was nothing to it.— There was another Company in which were thirty-four Members of Parliament, who had 12,000 shares amongst them; and in a Committee upon a Bill relative to that Company, the majority of the Members who formed that Committee were Shareholders—(Cries of Name! Name the (:ompany): He should not name the Company then. Surely one at a time was sufficient. If the House would allow him to proceed quietly, he had no doubt but that he should be enabled to hit the right sail on the head presently. The Equitable Loan Bank Company was a delusion practised on. the country. The Directors were culpable. They held out to the country that the concern was conducted by men of strict honour and integrity ; and yet it was by fraud and false representation that the name of his Royal Highness the Duke of York was solicited to give sanction and countenance to the undertaking. Under this supposed sanction a flattering paragraph appeared on the 2d of April. It should have been the day before, stating the pretensions of the Company, which were founded upon humanity towards the poor, and justice towards the fair trader; and after setting forth the ways in which it was intended to reimburse the Shareholders, it pro ceeded to tell the Public that the Company expected to have enough to pay the Directors their salaries, and other incidental expenses, from the sale of the unre deemed pledges only. The most fallacious hopes were held out to the Public to induce them to countenance the scheme. The Directors told the country that they had orders for more shares than they could possibly furnish ; the fact was, they had distributed nearly the whole of the Shares amongst themselves, the News papers, and a few Stock-brokers. At a subsequent Meeting of the Company it was ascertained that most of the Directors who had taken Shares had not paid for them ; and he would therefore ask of the House how any man could sell at a premium that Share which he had not paid for ? One of the Directors, in praising the Company, told him (Alderman Waithman) that he had a right to protect the interests of those persons to whom he sold ; to which he had replied, that the only way in which their interests could be protected would be, to return diem the money which had been taken from them— (Lauedster). Upon the whole the Hon. Alderman con tended, that, for the honour of the country, an inquiry ought to be immediately instituted into the origin of these Juint Stock Schemes. He had said much about the conduct of an Hon. Member of the House; but though he had been liberal of his censures of that Honourable Gentleman, he should be equally ready to afford him an opportunity of vindication, and should rejoice if he successfully exculpated himself from the odium which certain transactions had thrown upon him ; but, at the same time, he thought that no man who identified himself with fraudulent transactions should be considered as a fit person to fill the Chair of the Committees in that House. The Hon. Member concluded by moving, that a Committee be appointed to investigate the formation of Joint Stock Companies, during the years 1824-5, and to report to the House such cases as might come before them for their consideration. Mr. BROG DEN begged to second the motion. The SPEAKER seeing Mr. Secretary CANNING about to rise, begged to be allowed to mention a circumstance to the House before the Right Hon. Gent. addressed it. He had received a letter, in the course of the morning, from Sir William Congreve, stating his inability to at tend the House that evening, in consequence of severe indisposition, and enclosing a certificate to that effect from two physicians, Dr. Paris and another. Mr. Secret/Ty CANNING assured the Hon. Alder man that, in announcing his intention to move au !Amendment, he had no wish to obstruct the obje ts in view, but rather to promote its attainment, by rep. dering the proposed inquiry practicable. The H on . Alderman, in the course of his speech, had stated to some of the friends near him—who were giving him, but not favouring him with suggestions—that he would rather take his own course, as he could only do one thing at a time ; that was precisely the principle on which he (Mr. Canning) wished to proceed : thinking, as he did, that a sufficient Parliamentai y case had bee n made out for one specific inquiry —to that inquiry he gave his consent, and to that case he wished it to be con. fined. He did not mean thereby to preclude further investigation, should other cases be subsequently esta. blished ; but at present it would be sufficient to direct attention to that which was most distintly brought be, fore the House. Ir. might be convenient to state in the outset, that whereas the Hon. Alderman wished the in. , vestigation to be extended to the origin, management, and present state of all the Joint Stock Companies formed during the years 1824., 1825, and 1826," he (Mr. C.) proposed by his Amendment, that it should be rests icteit to matters connected only with the Arigna Mining Company. In suggesting this alteration, he might add, that neither he, nor those with whom he acted, felt the slightest disposition to screen from exposure any patties guilty of alleged misconduct. If the put pose of tu t Hon. Alderman were practical good, he seemed dit posed to launch on so wide an ocean, that even if he ever arrived at the and-[ his voyage of discovery, it would be prolonged to such a distant date, as to de prive the result of its most material advantages. He (Mr. C.) was desirous to steer for owe point in the first instance, and afterwards, if it were found expedient, to proceed in quest of new adventures. As at present framed, it was impossible to agree to the Resolution, since its terms would include many Joint Stock Com panies not in the contemplation even of the Hon. Alderman himself. Many persons of the most unim peachable characters had embarked in speculations of this description for the most irreproachable ends: Com panies for Rail Roads, Piers, Harbours, Gas-lights, and many other laudable objects, had been established during the years mentioned in the Resolution, and into these he presumed it was net Intended to carry the investigation. He did not appre. bend that the Honourable Alderman meant to cast any imputation upon the parties who had engaged in these useful speculations. Mr. Alderman WA ITHMAN said, that he had no such design in the Resolution be had offered to the House. Mr. CANNING repeated, that at some future time he should not resist inquiry into the origin and manage. ment of other Associations, if a case at all like that against the Arigna Company could be established in the first instance. What had recently passed in Pella. ment bad excited in the mind of every man attending to debates a suspicion, that in the conduct of panies connected with that undertaking there is matter fit grave inquiry. The allegations on the ore hand, and perhaps the nature of the defence set up on the other, shewed that the case could not be passed over in silence. The project had been stigmatised by epithets he would not repeat, while the Hon. Gentleman accused had denied his participation, and had maintained his inno. cence : all who heard him must wish that that inno cence should be established; and without inquiry, the opportunity of vindication could not be afforded. He begged to be understood as not intending at all to pre judge any question hereafter to be brought before a Committee; bat he felt called upon to say, that what bad fallen from the Hon. Alderman, regarding any other project, did net establish a case at all equal to that which bad been made out against the Agrigna Company. As to any general investigation, he was quite sure, that if the Hon. Alderman could induce the House to concur with him, he would find, in practice, that he merged his own particular object in the multi plicity of details. It was expedient, therefore, that the House should limit the labours of the Committee in the first instance to one subject. There was certainly matter requiring further examination as far as related to one mining speculation, and the object would be defeated by mixing up with it other topics only connected in subject but not in substance. He could not assent to some of the notions promulgated by the Hon. Alder man, nor go the length of censuring, in such unmeasured terms, the supposed readiness of the country to lend itself to these delusive projects. Some of the most be neficial undertakings had been carried into effect by the agency of Joint Stock Companies, and it was sufficient, perhaps, to mention the Bank and the East India Com pany. The House, he thought, ought to confine the present inquiry to the Arigna Company merely, and to go no farther at this time. To that extent the motion had his concurrence. There was no disposition among those who sat on the same side with him to protect any persons who might have misconducted themselves, be they whom they might; and if, at any future time, the Hon. Alderman would make out a proper case, for in quiry into the conduct of persons connected with other Companies, he would be ready to give him his support. With respect to the names of the persons whom the Hon. Alderman proposed as those who were to con stitute the Committee, a list of them had been put into his hands; and certainly the names were very respect able; but, at the same time, he could not help remark ing, that no less than fourteen of them were on the h H i o m n s e . A l f s cl e e e r sinners were on his own side (a laugh); and it was on m in e a d n's to sid a e dm in itrt l h it a ic t s. th n e gerHeaotenr. nAl d erm an himself seemed to admit, that the greater number of that ground that he objected to so many names fromthat side; for it was not exactly right that so many sinners should be appointed to try sinners (a laugh), as the sinners would naturally support each other: [Herr Mr. Waithman or Mr. Brougham intimated across the table, that it was not admitted that the greatest number of sinners was on that side of the Housej. However, he trusted that the House generally had no sinister interest to serve, and that nothing was contemplated but a fair, just, and impartial inquiry.—(Hear, hear). Mr. BROGDEN gave his most cordial and eager support to the motion for inquiry, and was glad to find that the inquiry was likely soon to take place. A speedy and impartial inquiry was what he most anxiously de sired, as he had no doubt but that he could fully clear himself from any impropriety of conduct, and dispct the prejudices which had been excited against him. But ' owing to these unhappy prejudices, he was now called upon to speak under great disadvantage, on a subject which to him was one of the last importance. He had been personally and particularly selected as the objet of the Honourable Alderman's animadversions ; and he certainly could not help blaming the Honout able Alder man for the uncandid and unfeeling manner in h he had proceeded against him. He repeated that he rejoiced at the prospect of this inquiry ; for he wa, cow fident that when the matter came before the Committee he would be able most entirely and completely to C l ad himself from all blame. lie tejoiced in the pto.pect the appointment of the proposed Committee, and hie great araiety was, that it should meet immediately. lig h , s