The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-22 00:00:00

TELE WEATHER.
ROYAL GALLERY OF SCIENCE, ADELAIDE_
sTREET.

NOON. APRIL 21,
Barometer 29 88 10.
Thermometer
Highest ....................
Lowest 4O
Wind N. E.—Freezing Point 32 Deg.

CIIIIRCII-RATE FRUITS. Anwha --
Church-rate defaulters lately summoned before zt.st the
Bench of
Magistrates at Hackney, was George Offor, Esq., a Ma-
giitrate in the 'rower Hamlets, who, though he declined
to deny the legality of the rate, refused to pay the demand
made upon him and hia tenants, on the ground that he did
not attend the parish church; and that those who did were
werithy enough to pay for themselves. This opposition. 50
their claims the clergy have not been slow in avenging..
Mr. Offor has for many years been a Commissioner of the
Tower Hamlets' Court of Requests—the most active and
useful niemler, it is beli,ved, ever tonnd in the Commis-
sion. These Collin i;sioners represent the various parishesin the 'rower Hamlets. Hackney elects c.gniecn. Up to ,
the present time, party feeling formed no ingredient in the
selection cf suitable persons twin this parish ; and so little
interest has usually been taken in the matter, that rat ely
have half-a-dozen inhabitants attended 'to appoint the
eighteen commissioners. This Easter, ..the proceedings
took a new turn. Thu clergymen and •chutchwardthis of
the district iu which Mr. Offer resides, attended by a
troop of fii,:nds and supporters, came down to the meeting,
and not only turned cut Mr. Offer, hut also five or six
other gentlemen, lacking no other qualification' for the
office than that of an exclusive and intolerant spirit. From
the disgust which this proceeding has excited, there is
little doubt that the next year retaliation will be rriadc ;
and thus it is that the church and the clergy, whilst nomi-
nally existing for the promotion of peace, become, 'even in
matters which no way Concern them, the fomewers-of dif.
lf,cenci,;i anti hostility among neighboure,—.Citrxi.(le,

7~:

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
!mom THE DAILY Jousts:AEA ovv.'TEsTERDAT.
CHRONICLE.--The Times throughout 1833, and
down to the autumn of 1934, was the advocate Of popular
municipal institutions ; but, having changed sides, that
consistent journal now defends every rotten establishment,
and justifies every Tory who profits by "things as they
are." The Bill of the Attorney-General, "to facilitate
the administration of Criminal Justice in certain boroughs
in England," serves as a text for an article in the Times
of yesterday (which tells us that "its attention has been
directed to some recent proceedings, both in and out of
Parliament"), in which it is hardly possible to crowd in
the same space an equal number of misrepresenta-
tions. We hardly need to direct the public attention to
the contest which has long subsisted in the unincorpo-
rated English boroughs for obtaining popular local govern-
ment as a substitute for courts leet and baron, and local ma-
gistrates, in the place of nominees of the county lieuten-
ancy. The eager desire for self-government was of course
greatly stimulated by the reform, in 1835, of the old cor-
porations of the ancient boroughs: On the Municipal
Bill of that year, in which authority was given to the
Crown to incorporate the new communities not enjoying
charters, becoming the law of the land, the populous towns
of Manchester, Birmingham, Devonport, and Bolton. im-
mediately petitioned the Privy Council for charters. Such
instruments of local government gave those ill-governed
towns the benefit of popular Magistrates; Courts of
Quarter Sessions, with quick periodical trial of criminals;
an efficient police for the security of life and property ;
separate Coroners, and all the advantages of self_govern-
ment enjoyed even in Prussia and other continental
countries, to the great benefit of the people. The ac-
cession of power to the Liberal party in the above
boroughs, consequent on the grant of charters, and
the loss of income by the Tories who worked most
advantageously for themselves the old superseded
system, gave rise, as a matter of course, to the most viru-
lent Tory opposition. The charters were contested in the
courts of law, and every possible opposition was given to
their proper working. After three years of torturing
litigation, a majority of the Judges, as we recently
reported, decided in favour of the validity of the
Manchester charter. An appeal is now pending in the
House of Lords which may delay the final decision of the
question for a year or eighteen months. In the mean-
while, the administration of jus'ice is grievously disturbed
by these vexatious and interminable proceedings. The
grants of Quarter Sessions are also disputed, on the legal
point of their being avoided for want of local gaols. The
natural consequence has been, enormous expenses of
law, uncertainty of jurisdiction, collisions between
the two classes of the Magistracy, borough and
county, throwing all rates into arrear and abeyance,
while the contracts between the counties and
boroughs in respect of custody of criminals are the
subject of li!igation in Westminster Hall, the Ministers of
Justice are unpaid, and a spirit of party most injurious to
the towns, has been engendered, and is daily on the in-
crease. We had hoped that the recent decision of the
Judges would have terminated this deplorable and destruc-
tive State of matters; but the Times. in the name of the
" Conservatives," abets its continuance in a gross attack
on the Attorney- General as " Jach Rapid," and the ob-
ject of his Criminal Justice Bill is craftily passed over.
The Bill does not confirm the Ch irters, but simply enables
the new borough; to build gaols, or certract with the
county Magistrates for custody of orisoners in county eaols.
Since the second reading of theßill, the active opponents of
the Charter in Manchester, aware of the results which must
follow the recent decision, and following the example set by
the ex-town-clerks in 1835, who compromised the Municipal
Reform Act fur compensations, have expressed their willing-
ness to settle the entire question by supportirg the At-
torney-General's Bill, on the condition of the insertion
Of clauses for compensatien to themselves for alleged loss
of fees of office. Such additional clauses are noticed as
" amendments," to be introduced by Mr. Wilson Patten,
for Manchester, and by Sir Charles Douglas and others
fur Birmingham; and for this purchase money it appears
that the few losers by the incorporation of Manchester and
Birmingham would acquiesce in the Attorney-General's
Bill, confirm the charters, and abandon all further litiga-
tion I But the Tories of the Borough of Bolton step in
and refuse the accommodation, declaring that they will for
no price consent to the incorporation of Bolton. The Times,
on their authority, would have it believed that the sop of
compensations and payment of costs of all parties is the
pureert of the Bill, and that this is an object aimed at
by the Liberals. Such i 3 not the fact. The Bill, so far as
it has passed through Committee, contains not a word on
the subjsct ; and the Reformers in all the towns have raised,
and will raise, sufficient funds by voluntary subscriptions
to fight their opponents. Moreover, we see by the Liberal
provincial pi ess a determination to resist compensations.
The Manchester Guardian of Saturday contains a report
of a meeting of the Town Council Gf that borough, at
which a resolution was unanimously passed against the cen-
ceesion. The Birmingham Journal, recording the same
general feeling in Birmingham, says :--ti We are
t di-posed to co quite so far; we are not unwilling
to build a golden bridge for a fl)ing enemy ; but
we must first see his back." Such are the real
facts respecting the Bill of the Attorney-General,
aid the reprmentations of the Times are utterly unfounded.
We shall en a future occasion stme the circumstances re-
lating to the charter of Bolton, which are equally misre-
presented. In the meanwhile, we will only observe that it
is a disgrace to the Legislature of the country that such a
state of local government as we have described should be
suffeied to exist. We cannot, however, believe that Par-
liament will sanction the nails of its long,r continuance.
The legal question of the charters is virtually settled in
favour of their validity. Are the " forty pieces of silver"
charged for the Municipal Reform Ac• again to he de-
manded and exacted in the Lords? Will Sir Robert Peel,
who distinctly approved of the Municipal Bill of 1835, step
in and put an end to this scandalous contest ?
TIME S.—We doubt the wisdom of the " hushing•up "
pt in. We believe that those who, through fear of dis-
couraging, friends and encouraging foes—of " revealing
the nakedness of the land "—and on like pleas suppress
the voice of genuine and honest dissatisfaction, are the
worst hinderers of the cause they wish to promote. In
narrating the following anecdote we shall distinctly sepa-
rate ourselves from this class. A few days since, a gen-
tleman of notorious and uncompromising principle, resi-
dent in one of the great metropolitan districts, was applied
to, in due course, for his subscription to the Conservative
Association of which he was a member. His answer was
a firm and prompt denial—" I shall subscribe no long-r,"
The agent of the Association respectfully requAted
to be permit ed to report his reasons for withdrawal.
" My reasons are, that you have done, and are doing, no
good." An explanation was offered. The clearest proofs
were tendered of the efficiency of the Association. A eon-
tinual progress had been made in diminishing the Radical
strength, and in augmenting the Conservative forces ; and
it was clear, to all human modes of calculation, that the
very next election must entirely establish the Conservative
ascendancy in that locality. " I grant all this," was the
reply. " I admit that you have worked perseveringly and
well ; and that you have purged the register ; and that it
is-very probable that the next opportunity will entirely
change the representation of this district. But, when
all this is done, I still ask what good you will have
done? You gain a Conservative majority in Parlia-
ment—you turn out the Ministry. That is, you net rid of
one set of scoundrels, and have another set in their
room ?" We aver, that this corn ersation took place very
recently; and that the malcontent was a highly respectable,
wortby, and well-principled man, resident in this metropolis.
Now, we are not going to defend his mode of reason.
ing. To him, personalty, and to the very many persons
who may feel half-dispose] to agree with him, we should
say—" Do not disfranchise yourselves, do not commit po-
litical suicide, merely because you do not approve the
course taken by certain political leaders at a given mo-
ment of time. You have clear and strong opinions of
your own, Stand prepared to assert them. Claim and
maintain your own franchise. Who knows how soon the
opportunity may arrive, which may call forth all your
allyour nts, what but
ruin can at ise from a wilful
and deliberate cession of all political power ;to those
the
into whose bands Government itself must fall,
should your example be
generally followed ? " But,
while we thus entirely
admit the irrational charac-
ter of this sort of despairs
band, whether the Conservawtoievte m
seriously
ask, on the other
band,
ought not to he
made aware of, and ought n
y to lay to heart,
the appearance and growth of this sort.i feeling. The
persons among whom it is spreading are firm aner te
CYO 11_,
Conservatives; they have been warm and zealous Conser-
vatives also; but disgust and despair are taking c
pl of
ardent expectation. Is it not desirable to unrielisteand
thoroughly to what this serious charge is owing? The
causes are not at all inscrutable. Part of it, the
ground
work of the whole, may be traced to hope long deferred..
More, much more, to the numberless reprieves, quite unin-
telligible to folks " out of doors," which the Conservative
leaders in Parliament have given, within the last
two or three years, to the mi;ersbles on the Treasury
benches. But the crowning fault, that which turns wonder
into wrath and dissatiefaction into disgust--is. un-
questionably, the tolerance, and more than tolerance,
shown by the Conservatives in Parliament to the new
Poor-law. We are well aware that this frank revelation
of that state of things which mere party politicians would
counsel us to keep out of sight, will be eagerly snatched
at by the Downing-street journalists, who well kn ow that
their masters have lived for these three veers past, and are
now living, not upon their own strength, upon their own
merits, but upon the weaknesses, the "liberal concessions,"
and the want of merits on the part of their opponents.
Let them pounce upon the admission, as they doubtless
will; and let them take With it the declaration
' which they'
cannot gainsay, that the moment a Conservative party in
Parliament, whether consisting of the present or any other,
shall heartily and sincerel?,,-
esPi"t throw. itself upon the people,
making the faith and
its
rule, that instant the swarm of of Christianity
urchan things which now
professes to call itself a Government vanishes
bats and birds cf night before
the
away, like
3inguThe fact,
however. with w tee began this
asiNlsn. is a see
sr itoa ut
one, and rill rin grave corisideratior. What must o
of things be, when the Conservative; turn in disgust
from'
their own leaders in one place, and whoa Conservatives
and Chartists rre found in amicalle ceineact in another?
Let no man be so foolish as to call this '•a desertion rf
principle." It is the contrary—it is the highest tribute to
principle. The man who breaks up all party time like
the individual we have just deecrih,d, in the metrepelis, or
the Chartists who support Mr. Welter in Nettinglinno
does so in the fervency of a zeal far precple., compared
with which such trill -s as Whiggism and Toryism arc mere
childish dreams. The tie which binA man to his brother
man, is older tban the annals of Eegland can reach, and
will endure when the names of Peel and Russell sha'l be
alike forgotten.
STANDARD.—Mr. Hume, not very frequently
the protector of the interests of religion, complained of
a corporal punishment lately intlcted upon a soldier of
the 11th Hussars
Di-
vine Servoiree the on at Hounslow, immediately after Di-
obSunday. Mr. Macaulay defended the
conduct
Noble Colonel of the I I th Hussars, Lord
Cardigan, as far as
im crueltyb could form an ingredient in
the charge against him, ystating, as the result of mi.
ieqUitiest that the punishensat referred to was the

first of the liind inflicted in the regiment for some years ;
and the ch arse of irreverence he tried to palliate, by
expl titling that the punishment was not inflicted
immediately arter Divine Service, but after the
interval of a gong inspection succeeding the public
worship. He, however, gave a promise that
means shall be adopted to render impossible hereafter
a similar profanation of the Sabbath. To defend Lord
Cardigan from the accusation of cruelty was perhaps
unnecessary ; we believe that there is no officer in her
Majesty's service more distinguished for kindness to
the private soldier under his command, or one more
ardently beloved in turn by the soldiers of that
rank. And even the charge of irreverence is
in some degree mitigated by what appears to
have been hitherto more generally than it ought to
be the practice of the army. The very fact that the
proper public duties of the Sabbath bad been imme-
diately followed up by what, though without any exe-
cution, must seriously obstruct its private duties and
innocent relaxations, is a confession that some reform
of our military system is called for. Why should a
Sunday be chosen as the time for a long inspection ?
Why leave for the S tbbath a service which might surely
be as well executed upon any other day ? Under
particular circumstances it may be necessary for a
regiment to prosecute its march upon a Sunday ;
and war leaves no choice as to the time when an
enemy is to be encountered : but in all such cases the
necessity is manifest, and justifies the departure from
what otherwise is a duty binding upon all Christian.
If, however, we are to have a Christian army—and
woe awaits us when we shall have any other—the same
rule of Christian conduct must be observed by soldiers
as by citizens. The case before us indeed seems to
point to the dangerous consequences of deviating from
this rule in even a slight degree ; the assembling of the
men for inspection was probably, according to military
usage, chosen as a fitting occasion to inflict a just pun-
ishment, without consideration of the offence that such
an exhibition must offer to the religious feelings of the
public, and the shock that it must give to the religious
sense of the soldiers.

COURIER.—One of our Morning Ministerial Con-
temporaries, some days ago, noticed a report, commu-
nicated by a correspondent. from Edinburgh, that Lord
Belhaven was not again to be appointed her Maje-tv's
High Commissioner to the General Assembly. This
report the Whig Evening Paper of the next day stated,
by authority, to be incorrect ; and here the matter
rests. We had heard the rumour some time before it
was noticed by the Morning Paper, and, though inclined
to believe it, we abstained from giving it to our readers,
contenting ourselves with expressing our belief that
whoever may be Commissioner, instructions will he
given to him not to countenance the punishment
of any of her Majesty's subjects for the offence of
obeying the law of the land. In this belief we are
more and more confirmed from all we have heard from.
Scotland, where, of course, the matter is attracting
great interest. No doubt appears to be entertained that,
in some way or other, her Majesty's representative will
communicate the Royal mind on the unfortunate colli-
sion that has taken place between the Civil and Ecel'-
siastical Courts in Scotland ; and, lookine to the pre-
cedents applicable to the case, we should think this
communication will be made in her Majesty's letter to
the Assembly, or in the Speech from the Throne by the
Commissioner, and that it will amount to an advice or
a command not to inflict further ecclesiastical censures
on the clergymen who have obeyed the decrees of the
Civil Courts, but to restore them to the exercise of all
the judicial and pastoral functions from which the last
Assembly suspended them. On the answer given by
the Assembly to this communication will depend the
course to be pursued by the Crown. If the next
Assembly persist in the course pursued by the last, and
determine to proceed to the deposition of the Ministers of
Strathbogie, the withdrawal of the Royal countenance,
and the dissolving of the venerable body may be antici-
pated ; and the Constitutional party in the Assembly,
who have all along vindicated the Strathbogie Ministers.
will of course withdraw along with the Commissioner.
Whether the majority will after this continue their sit-
ting, as the Assembly of 163 S did, remains to be seen.
We are inclined to think, that with all the noise they
have made about their " spiritual independence" the
dominant faction will not venture on so bold a step.
But it is hazardous to speculate, and we shall wait the
issue of events with no little curiosity.
GLOBE.—The Times gives d story of " a highly re-
spectable, worthy, and well-principled man," who refused
to continue his subscription to the Canservative Associa-
tion, because its object was " to turn out the Ministry—to
get rid of one set of scoundrels and have another set in
their room." Our Contemporary does not justify this
feeling, but declares that it is " spreading among warm
and zealous Conservatives,with whom disgust and despair
are taking the place of ardent expectation." We shall
not dispute with these gentlemen on their know-
ledge of their own party, though, much as we should
regret the accession of the Tories to office, it never oc-
curred to us that Sir Robert Peel would select a Cabi-
net of " scoundrels ;" nor do we think that the Conser-
vative leaders deserve the blame which is heaped upon
them for allowing the Whigs to remain in office. We
are not aware of their having thrown away a chance, or
that anything has kept them out except inability to get
in, and hopelessness of staying in. The Times says,
the Downing-street Journals may make the most
of this admission, but that they must " take with it
a declamation which they cannot gainsay, that the mo-
ment a Conservative party in Parliament, whether con-
sisting of the present or any other, shall heartily and sin.
cerely throw itself upon the people, making the faith and
spirit of Christianity its rule," there will be a change.
We certainly do not apprehend any immediate d inger
to the present Government ; but its warmest friends
would not desire to subject it to the temptations of that
perpetuity of office which would result from their hold-
ing it till the conversion of the set of scoundrels" to
Christianity, or till the Tories throw themselves upon
the people. We did not guess the cause of this des-
pondency till we came to the end of the article, where
it appears to spring from the Nottingham election.
A statement of progress there is made, in which the
Whigs are blamed for swearing in special constables
whe❑ " no outbreak of popular violence is expected,"
though " there are rumours which every body is men-
tioning in the town, and which may probably lead to
their own realization, of tarring and feathering and
throwing into the Trent." These are pleasantries to
which nobody should object.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TIMES.—The premium on gold at Paris is 8 per
which, at the English Mint price of 31. 17s. 104 d.
per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 25 35,
and.the exchange at Paris on London at short being J 5
45, it fellows that gold is 0.40 per cent. dearer in London
than in Pari,..

By advices from Hamburgh the price of gold is 428 per
mark, which, at the English Alir,t price of 31. 17s. 100.
per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 13. 6i,
and the exchange at Elamburgh on London at short being
13. 7e, it follows that gold is 0.34 per cent. dearer in Lon-
don than in Hamburgh.
The course of exchange at New York on London is
106- per cent., and the par of exchange between Eng.
land and America being 109 23-40 per cnt., it follows
that the exchange is 2.83 per cent. rgainst England.
But the quoted exchange at New York being for bills at
60 days' sight, the interest must be deducted from the
above difference.

Business in the English Stocks to-day was very limited,
and in consequence of the disinclination to deal, the aspect
of the market, notwithstanding there was no material
alteration in prices, is considered flatter.
There was a call for Brighton shares in the errly part of
the day, and the discount upon them decreased to li-; but
towards the close of business some few sellers appeared,
and the last quotation was 2k to ti discount. Other de-
scriptions were firm. The rate on Hamburgh was much
the same as last. post.
CHRONICLE.—An abstract of the Bill for the
, relief of the Banks, which has passed both houses
of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and which was
then before the Governor for his signature, is
is received by the Baltimore, which vessel touched at
Falmouth, from New York, bound to Havre.. Consider-
able doubts rested upon the question, as to whether or not
' he would sign it, and public o,iinion varied considerably.
• Sec. 1. Provide that the B I'the. r
s a'..‘s of Commonwealth
• should be liable for the payment of their debts, as are pri-
vate person
2. Gives the Bank power to issue small notes to the
amount of fifteen per cent. on their capital stock, for five
year!.
3. Liabilities not to exceed double the amount of ca-
pital.
4. The stock owned by the Banks not to exceed (except
of this Commonwealth) 50 per cent. of the amount of their
capital, respectively;
pr. wided ti-at no investments already
made shall be compelled to be reduced more rapidly than
12i.- per cent. every ninety date,
5 No President, or other officer, to loan its funds.
6. No loan to be made to cashiers, &c.
7. Abolishes proxy voting.
[The remainder are of lucre detail, with the exception
of the last, which is]
17. Authorising the capital of the United States Bank,
if the shareholders desire it, to be reduced to fourteen mil-
lions, and the bank to be released from part of the bonus.
The author, whose work on the commerce of Britsh
India we quoted yeiterday, observes, that since the East
India trade was thrown open, in 1830, there has been a
surprising increase in the importations from thence of
indigo, jute (coarse hemp), hides, raw silk, flax seed,
wheat, flour, ginger, caster oil of the finest quality, and
numerous other articles of European consumption. The
Bengal indigo has driven the Carolina article out of
the market. The hemp from British India competes with
that from Russia and Manilla. The imoort of hides to
Liverpool from India in 1835 was 367,000, and in 1839
443,000. In 1835 the importation to Liverpool from
India of wheat flour for the manufacturing of starch was
4,300, and in 1837 equal to 13,700 bag-. The Govern-
ment tables show a great increase also in the articles of
ginger, saltpetre, and pepper. Yet the present consump-
tion of British manufactures in the East Indies is esti-
mated at not more than 13 cents a year for each individual
in the whole population. Jamaica consumes, says our
author, 20 dollars ahead, Trinidad 30 dollars, Cape Co-
lony 30 dollars, Australia 40 dollars. Give justice to
India in law and commerce, and at the moderate compute- '
tion of five dollars a-head, she would take five hundred
million dollars of British manufactures annually. When I
.t is considered that India has made such progress sines 1

1830, notwithstanding the unjust system of duties which
regulates the admissiun of British goods to Hindustan, and
the products of native industry to our ports, we may cal-
culate on an immense increase under a fair tariff. At pre-
sent British cotton manufactures pay only 31, per cent, for
admission to India, while the rude produ,.e of.that country
is taxed at the rate of 10 per cent, in this country. Thu
exports of Indian muslius, silks, and cotton goods have in
consequence greatly declined, while those of the raw
materials have rapidly increased.

JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Mr. Labouchere having moved tor, and a se-
lect committee having been appointed by the House
of Commons to inquire into the abuses and liw relat-
ing to Joint-stock Companies, I beg to call your atten-
tion to the fact, that previous to the year 1824 there
were 156 companies projected, all of which have been
carried into execution, and are now in existence, and
that the profits arising from the undertakings yield, in
most instances, a rate of interest greatly exceeding that
obtained by any other mode of investment, and may be
classed thus :

Comp anics.

63 Cnnal...,

7 Docki
25 Insurance
16 Waternorks
4 Bridges
27 Gas
7 R,)ads
7 .I:scell.tneous

Capital.

X. s. d.
12 202,096 0 0
6,164 590 12 0
20,488 948 0 0
2.973 170 0 0
2.452,017 2 8
1,630,700 0 0
494,964 18 10
1,530.000 0 0

EX47,936,486 13 6

No. cf Shares.

175 374
57 5821
329.841
39,760
31 731
35.194
7,472
17,580

764,5344

But how different the circumstances attending the
companies of 1824 and 1825. A majority of them were
of a nature adapted only to individual enterprise, as by
the formation of a company many useless offices were
made and expenses entered into which prevented the
possibility of any return to the unfortunate shareholder.
The capital required was of such a trivial nature in
many instances as to render the formation of a Com-
pany, a measure only to be attributed to some sini,ter
mot,ve of the projector, and tivAt, coupled with the
fact that out of 624 companies, requiring capital
372,173,1001., formed in London in the years 1824 and
1825, not twenty of thorn are in exis.trice at the pre-
sent time, and it would have been well for the parr
dupes in those undertakings had they never existed, or
that the lives of the mad-brain schemes had been of
shorter duration.

Die bubbles brought forward in those y( ars con•
silted of—

Compani 9.

Capital.

74 Mining....
29 Gas
20 Insurance
28 Investment
54 Canal Railroad
67 Steam
1I Trading
26 Building
23 Provision
292 Miscellaneous

624

38,370,000
12,077.000
35,820 000
52,' 00 000
44,051.000
8 555 500
10 450,000
13,781 000
8,360 000
148,109,600

£372.173.100

No. of Shares.

537,200
200 940
651,000
686.500
542,210
125,220
85 000
164,900

674,000
2,294,350

5,963,220

Among which will he found Anglo-Coilain, Angla-
Mexican, Anglo•Peruv'an, Braz ban,
lien, Bolanos, Bolivar, Chilian, Colombian, Chilian and
Peruvian, Castello, Famatina, Guanaxuato, General
South American, Gold Coast, flaytian, Mexican, Paso
Peruvian, Potosi la Pas, Peruvian, Real del Monte,
Rio de la Plata, Royal Waldeck, Tlalpuxahua, United
Mexican, United Pacific, United Provinces, United
Chilian, Vigo Bay, Brazilian Jewel, Alderney Dairy,
Tobacco and Snuff, Ale, Metropolitan Fish, Drug, Car-
pet, General Dying, Egyptian Trading. Anglo-Russian,
Bengal Sugar, Borneo Lon Loo, Isthmus of Darien,
African, Cornwall and Devon, Manganese, Royal Irish,
English Gwenappe, Tywarnhale, and others too nume-
rous to mention.

From the year 1824 up to the present time compa-
nies have been brought before the public requiring a no.
minal capital of nearly 800,000,0001., out of whica not
more th in 80,000,000/. have been bona fide !aid out,
Which may be roughly s'ated—viz., 60,000,0001.
roads, and the other 20.000.0001 in docks, bridges, and
canals, leaving about 700,000,000/. for fictitious and
gambling speculations.
In the greater nember of instances it will be found

;hat the projector %I'm either an at orney or Par-

liamentary agent, who by the concoction of a
scheme availed himself of the advantage which it
afforded by a bill of costs ; or some unprincipled
person actuated solely with a view to p..cnniary pro-
fit, and to obtain which the measures adopteA were
in such cases neither justifiable nor honourable ; the
deceptive practices resorted to to obtain a price far ex-
ceeding the real value of the property can only lie ex-
plained by the guilty participation of the parties in the
spoil ; while in other instances, by imposing on the pro-
prietors of the Company by nominating a false sum as
the purchase•money, and by withholding the greater
part of the shares, and disposing of them at consider.
able premiums, the parties secured to themselves a for-
tune nt the public expense. These premiums were
obtained by an artificial value being created by mleceu-
vres, and by the aid of irv;ividuals who, for the sake of
a commission, lent themselves to the fraud so committed,
To acts of a simil ir nature to those referred to, is
to be attached not only the loss of property, but the
sacrifice of character, which has, in too many instances
of late, been the result of the proceedings of joint-stock
companies, where, by the connexion of men of title with
designing projectors, the innocent have been implicated
with the guilty. It is, however, to be hoped that the
I,,sson thus tat ght the public will be the mean.; of pre-
venting a recurrence of these events, and that the
proprietor of a base scheme will be shunned and stigma-
tized, while the patron and promoter of objects condu-
cive to national wealth and the public good will be held
in that high estimation of the public which it is their
duty to bestow, and of the possession of which it is his
pride to boast. _ _

It may be laid, how is th's to be prevented ? Why,
very easily. Compel the Directors of Companies to
have a certificate from the Board of Trade certifying
as to the respectability of the parties, and the practi
cabiiity of the plan, and a list of their names and resi-
dences registered at the Stamp-office as responsible to
the public as well as the shareholders, before they are
allowed to bring the scheme forward For publ:c support.
You will then hi a, very se! loin of franduleat Cuinpenies.
I am, &c., T. G,