The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-19 00:00:00

against the wiles of unprincipled speculators and
the pretensions of bubble companies. Such assoc ia
• -

. -
trona should always be treated with unsparing
severity, for the busy mazes of our mercantile life

offer only too many baits for dupes, and too many
facilities for swindlers ; but public indignation is
more especially excited when a want of good faith
is manifested by the companies, or agents who un-
dertake the succour and maintenance of emigrants or
travellers, and pocket the profits, instead of fulfill-
ing the duty. There is something so cruel in en-
trapping persons away from their own country aerha nd
friends to some distant locality, where pps
their very language is strange, the necessaries of
life scarce, and the means of transit precarious'
and then abandoning them to their own resources,
which may possibly under such circumstances be
very insufficient, that the feats o adventurers who
content themselves with defrauding the revenue of
wealthy companies or robbing the shareholders of
banks fall into insignificance beside of them. Into the
details of the case of the British Columbia Company
we have no inclination to enter. Our readers
have probably learned them fully from the frequent
reports and comments made at intervals by the
daily press. Oar attention has rather been directed
to the recent case owing to its having involved the
names of gentlemen well known in commercial
circles. Although fully coinciding in the justice of
the verdict, for men in a position of prominence
or authority should be most careful with
regard to any needless use of their
names, we confe=s to feeling some regret for their
unenviable position. Few of us are sufficiently
wary with respect to the use of our names or influ-
ence, whether itlbe by careless good-nature giving
a character to an indifferent servant or dishonest
clerk who probably robs his next master, or by re-
peating some mischievous piece of tittle tattle,
which speedily grows into a serious accusation with
" Mr. So and So said it," to endorse it. It is pro-
bable that most of us, at some time or another, have
had cause to regret the thoughtless speech, or the
weak yielding to the urgency of an interested
party, which has involved us in expense, annoy-
ance, discredit, and possibly even that bugbear of
the nineteenth century—a lawsuit. The gentle-
men in question had certainly no valid defence in
a court of law. The very fact of their names having
been entered on the prospectus without their know-
ledge should have made them suspicious of parties
who condescended to such tricks, and no entreaties to
spare publicity should have saved an immediate and
open denial. Even although,as Mr.FENNER declared,
the Times did not insert his letter, written in May
last, there were other channels of communication
with the public which would probably have given
him the opportunity of openly withdrawing his
name from such a discreditable affair. In the
case of Mr. BERKELEY, that gentleman appears
to have acted thoughtlessly, suffering his
name, which he ought to have known had some
weight, to be engaged in a scheme without making
sufficient inquiry into it. Mr. BERKELEY, accord-
ing to his statement on oath, says that, in April
last Mr. HENSON, called upon him, and brought
him one of those preliminary prospectuses which
had been so ingeniously contrived to entrap the
unwary. Mr. HENSON asked Mr. BERKELEY'S
permission to put down his name as director. Mr.
BERKELEY, looking at the prospectus, saw there the
names of Mr. MANGLES, a gentleman well-known
in mercantile circles, and another gentleman, both of
whom he knew. Mr. MANGLE'S name was in writing,
but this did not awake his suspicions, as he might
naturally have supposed that it had been added to
the list. Caught, as he himself says, by the name
of Mr. MANGLES, after making several inquiries,
and receiving, of course, plausible answers, he
agreed to allow his name to be put down, but took
no part in the affairs of the company, not even
knowing that it had engaged offices. This brings
us to another point—the singular indiscretion
of the victims, who none of them appear
to have endeavoured to ascertain whether the
company were duly registered, or to ascertain who
were the auditors, solicitors, or other officers indis-
pensable to such an association. A mere manager
should not have satisfied them, although of course
it was very hard that they should suffer for their
imprudence. With regard to Mr. BERKELEY we
have unquestionable authority for knowing that
that gentleman immediately withdrew his name on
learning that Col. SLEIGH was the manager of the
affair, a fact that should certainly weigh in his
favour at the bar of public opinion. It is
likewise certain that Colonel SLEIGH'S name
had been studiously concealed from him ; and thus,
although from his position we cannot acquit him or
his fellow sufferers of imprudence, it is impossible
.
not to feel that the punishment falls in the wrong
place. The unfortunate travellers were the first
and greatest sufferers; secondly, these gentlemen
have paid heavily the price of their indiscretion.
But what of the individuals who received the
passage money

The proper application of taxation is just so to
apportion it as to produce the greatest benefit to
the revenue at the smallest cost to the comfort of the
people. If the springs of Industry be over pressed
they lose their elasticity, and so defeat the purpose
aimed at. You may overdo in your anxiety to get
more than enough, and so fail in your attempt,
from excessive greed. It has often proved so in our
taxation, till the Chancellor of the Exchequer had
to retrace his steps with a bad grace, and at the
expense of his improvidence. So in the tobacco
duties—the revenue instead of yielding a progres-
sive increase, as was natural with the increase of
our population, has just done the reverse. So we
are now going
to make a virtue of necessity by
changingof
recoveringour tac
urticoswlietaht tghreour end.
aso n
Aa reasonable w
e expecta-
tion say
I we hope " he may get it P'The wonder is, why
Ihe should have persisted so long in a course so
frequently denounced as contrary to sound
o ec
d proof
policy,
and so subversive of his own favourite dtn e of
Free-trade. This only proves—if, inae
were necessary—that the wiser course is to follow
the path that has hitherto led to prosperity, and
to pursue that golden road with confident
assurance that it leads to fortune. But
all men like their own way when they can have ,
their will, and crotchets too often prevail over
better counsel. Hence the frequent anomalies in
our public affairs consequent on the change of poli-
tical parties.
Sir SAMUEL MORTON PETO, in his sensible
volume on taxation, clearly demonstrates this
matter. The honourable Baronet gives chapter and
verse for the faith which inspires his patriotic zeal
in the discussion of a subject so interesting to every
one liable to bear his share in the burdens of the
Country. Not content with stating a fact simply, he
, goes back to the beginning, tracing the progress of
a
s 1
t o pressureits
presentundermaximum
a variety
of f
amount. He often questions whether a simpler
mode would not be more conducive to the end in
view—raising the largest amount of revenue by a
lesser amount of taxation—thus more equally dis-
tributingit
its pressure according to the relative oapa-
yof the parties. And we think he is quite
b
right in his conclusions. For you may so overload
as to bring the vehicle to a stand-still, and so pro-