The Sun.
London, England, 1825-03-10 00:00:00

, IN •

JOINT STOCK COMPANIES,

AND
RAILWAY COMMITTEES.

The prospectuses of gambling adventurers, com-
bined with the too ready countenance, and not
very .honest concurrence, of persons of better
character , and fortune, together with the gross
but not unparalleled credulity of those whose ca-
pital and integrity are greater than their wits,
have excited /111 insane rage for Joint Stock Com-
panie; and all sorts of new speculations—which,
instead of being restrained and moderated by the
wisdom of Parliament, as was done in 1720, is in
encouraged by the intemperance with which
all parties in the Senate semi) to have agreed to
indulge their hostility to the old principles. of
trade. We are no advocates for the exploded mer-
cantile system. We partake, with the Elders among
our philosophers, in the satisfaction they must feel
in seeing the principles of TuncoT and ADAM
SMITH become those of our Statesmen, and rejoice
that we still distinguish ourselves from our neigh-
bours by being foremost in making philosophy
practical. But we cannot sympathize with all the
schoolboys and women, and juvenile senators, and
new light tradeimen in political economy, who use
or abuse the language of ADAM SMITH-turn
his doctrines into dogmas, and adopting the
rules of the philosopher, ,abandon all the ex-
ceptions which preserve, protect, and prove
those very rules. There is a mad and foolish hu•
incur abroad at present for Joint Stock schemes,
and the. Railway projects are not among the
least distinguished for folly and pernicious ten-
dency. We single them out for note on the pre-
sent occasion, on account of the particular inte-
rest excited by the parliamentary conflict to
which they have given rise.. That there are canals
enough, is beyond all doubt, and every body
knows that projectors enough have been ruined
by canals; and therefore nobody now projects a
canal, or writes about canal-making, but every
engineer in want of work or notoriety recommends
and writes a book about Railways; and one has
written a sort of rotnwwc about Trum-roads !
Thus is the public mind excited ; nod, by the in-
ordinate propensity of gambling, which has reach-
ed even those who ought to protect the public
against delusion and ruin, it is still further in-
flamed.

We do not agree with the Loan Ca ‘NCELLOR
in thinking that legislative restrictions on these
schemes are necessary. We hate, as much as Mr.
llt►st:issoN can do, restrictive laws in restraint
either of trade or of folly ; but we do agree with
the I,onn CHANCELLOR, as testified by his notice
of a Bill against bubbles, and Lord LAUDERDALE,
as testified by his Standing Order of last Session,
and with Mr. HuntE, as testified by his motions
and complaints, and Standing Orders about the
conduct of Private Bills through Parliament,—
that the schemes afloat, bubbles or not bubbles,
should be deeply sifted and honestly dealt with by
both Houses and their Committees ; and we won-
der that neither the Loan CHANcELLon, nor Lord
LAUDERDALE, nor Mr. IlumE,4should hove dis-
covered that the obvious remedy is, in the labo-
rious, it is true, but constitutional duty of the
Houses and their Committees to hear all parties
--to receive all information, and to grant no

pricileges, superiorities, protections, exemptions—
in short, no Private Bills, except upon grounds
strongly proved, that private benefit will result,
without private or public injury or incouveni-
et►ce ; or that indubitable public benefit will be
produced without more than mere trifling and
compensable private inconvenience to indivi-
duals. It is a silly, tyrannical, and not
very comprehensible. argument, for taking away
by force private property, that it will be of more
service to the public, than to its owners.—
But the most ridiculous imposture in the world
is, on the pretence of a philosophical opposi-
tion to a few old monopolies, to countenance,
foster, and establish new ones without num-
ber, and without rhyme or reason. We feel
confident that Members of Parliament will thank
us for drawing their attention to This subject, and
pointing out the misapprehensions into which they
have been precipitated by the mercenary Cheva-
liers and arithmetical romancers of the last year
or two. We can give a strong illustration of the
danger and . injustice of those n►isapprehensions
from the proceedingsof the Commit tee on the Liver-
pool and INlanchester Railway, which sat the

PRICE SEVENPENCE.

other day, and questioned the propriety of the
vote of the House of Commons, in consequence -
of which they were assembled—na•y, doubted
whether they would entertain the subject at all, „
or even look into the petition referred to them •
bytheHouse, complaining of the non-complianceof
the Railway projectors with the mast just and im-
portant Standing Orders, which the House ever
recorded on their Journals in respect of Private
Bills.

Parliament long since wisely and justly resolv.
ed,—when the probabilities of mischief from their
own or the public ignorance were infinitely less
than at present,—to provide and guard themselves
and the public against those mischiefs, and that
ignorance, which they both had experienced,--
by passing resolutions, as Standing Orders, re-
quiring that maps on a large scale, descriptive
of the intended line of road, canal, &c. and
of diversions and variations of the line, together
with lists of all owners, reputed owners, and
even occupiers of the adjoining lands, should be
deposited for public inspection with the Clerk
of the Peace of every district through ►which the
road, &c. may be intended to pass ; and that a
duplicate of them all should be lodged in the
Private Bill Office of the House, also for
public inspection ; and further, that certain

notices upon the same subject should be pub-
lished in newspapers, and posted at the church
doors in all the parishes and Counties convers-
ed. These resolutions are plainly intended,
and fully and carefully expressed, to insure lull
and accurate information to all persons in thJ

least degree interested, in order that they may
come to the House to complain, resist, modify,
The House is not

or require compensation.

content with all this provision against pri-
vate injury and care of the pnidic convenience,

nor with inquiring into the fact of the corm lip
ance with these orders by the petitioners after
the introduction of a Bill ; but. they will not be
induced even to give permission for the introduc-
tion of the bill, without first referring the peti-
tion to a CoMmittee to inquire into the fact
'alone, of compliance or non-compliance with the
standing orders; and the House has beet' in the
habit of requiring a special report from their Comp
niittee of the grounds of non-compliance, if partial.
and of strong grounds for waiving such partial non-
compliance, to induce them to consent to the intro:.
duction of private bi Ils,w hen there has has been any
failure of strict adherence to those orders. If the

non-compliance is entire, the first step towards a
Bill is not a petition for a Bill, but a petition for.
leave to comply with the standing orders in all
respects, except as to time, so as then to entitle
the petitioners to present their petition for the
Bill. Those who are ignorant on this subject
would almost deem the House unnecessarily cau-
tious, and as throwing impediments in the way of
private Bills—but those who know the difficulties,
mistakes, impositions, and mischiefs of hasty
legislation, on private business especially, will ap-
prove and invoke the continuation of this circum-

spection. And there has been accustomed to be
yet more of this wise and benevolent care of
justice in these proceedings ; for the maps, and
books, and lists, are usually made a part of the
Act of Parliament by a clause to that effect : and
by another clause in such Acts it is always pro-
vided and enacted, that an " omission, misno-
mer, or inaccurate description," shall only not
frustrate the Act in that respect, when it shall
be proved before a Justice of the Peace that the
error proceeded from mistake only, or that the
persons interested had notice. For a Commitee
of the House, therefore, to decide that they will
not receive evidence of non-compliance with the
standing orders, because it may be doubtful
how far the party who tenders the evidence
will be a sufferer by the neglect ; or although
it should be clear that his property would nut
immediately, directly, unambiguously be affected,
or even though he should have no interest what.
ever in the Bill, but that of an amicus curia, is to
frustrate the whole intention of tke standing
orders—to contemn the policy and wisdom of the
House itself—to close the doors against informa-
tion—to offer a bounty and provide a sanctuary
for falsehood—to promote and multiply -all the
evils and injustice that are meant to be prevented
—and probably (considering the effect of the
clause we have mentioned as usual in such
Bills) to render null and void sometimes the
provisions and purposes of the acts them-
selves, or to provide a fertile source of contra-
pbroic eoe fd
etdh e(
if such
versy and litigation. The objection t
deuce is so mischievous in principle, and so mon-
strous in its effects—that we are sure it cannot
o such evi-
he countenanced by House
of Commons, and muasntyhMaveem
a case has occurred) from persons blinded by
interested or factious motives.

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