The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-04 00:00:00

benefit. But we take a much higher grouni on behalf

of the allottees. We join issue with our corespondent
on the question of moral liability. We say that they
are not in equity or in honour bound to contribute one
single shilling to the preliminary expenses of those un-
dertakings which were not brought before Parlia-
ment. As to those which were actually brought before

the Legislature, and there failed, we lo not at pre-
sent profess to give an opinion each Df these cases
must in a great degree depend on its own peculiar

circumstances.

Our correspondent supposes a case, a strong one,
For himself. Ha says twenty times the number of

shares put forth in the prospectus were applied for ;
that there was much difficulty in judiciously dis-

tributing them between the proper parties ; that the
acting committee had felt justified in taking the steps
necessary to place the project in a state of readiness
fur the adjudication of the Legislature, and that they
undertook the expenses wholly and solely on the
strength of the promises made by the applicants for
shares. He then supposes the allotment, which un-
fortunately did not take place until after the panic—
this constitutes the great point of the case. We ven-
ture to say that there was not a single instance of an
allotment which took place before the panic in which

the entire number of shares were distributed to the
public, or in which there was not a large reserve
made for the purpose of being divided be-
tween the promoters of the project, in the
event of the scheme proving a successful one
and the shares coming out at a premium. And such
would have been the case in the subsequent allot-
ments, had it not been for the panic; then, indeed, the
full number of shares were allotted—no reserve
was made. The question was not to keep the good
things for the friends of the promoters, but to select

persons who could bear their proportion of the
losses certain to be sustained. He says, " the allot-
ment letters are sent out ; the applicants for
shares —all honourable men—are unanimous in not
taking up or paying on a single share." Does not
this clearly prove the state of facts at the time of the
allotment ?—that it was a certain loss that was en-
tailed by the granting of the application; and
will our correspondent say on what principle
of justice it was that the other applicants,
whose claims were rejected, were exonerated from
any portion of the loss? Were they the friends of
the allotting committee, or not, who were so exone-
rated ? Were they not the very parties who would
have got the allotments, if they had been valuable and
the shares at a premium ? We verily believe that
not one in ten of those who received allotments after
the panic had set in would have had any answer to
their applications if circumstances had been different.
The law has wisely provided that no person shall be
responsible on what is technically termed a nudum
pactum, no promise is binding unless there is a valid
and sufficient consideration ; therefore, there must be
a reciprocity ; in other words, if any man is to be held
responsible on a contract, he must have re-
ceived some benefit or claim in return for that
liability. Now there was no reciprocity whatsoever
between the committeeman and the applicant ; the
latter on signing his letter of application, did not
thereby become entitled to any number of shares. If
the scheme turned out profitably he would not have
got those shares for which he applied, and he there-
fore considers that when circumstances were wholly
altered, he could not fairly or equitably be held re-
sponsible for the loss which had actually been sus-
tained, before he received his allotment. We may men-
tion an example which strongly bears out the view
we have taken. A gentleman of high respectability,
on whose credibility we place the utmost reliance, in-
formed u. 5 that he had applied for shares in many
undertakings during the summer of 1845,
but in not one single instance was his appli-
cation favourably replied to before the panic set in,
except in one case, where he had a friend on the com-
mittee ; but after the panic, applications he had sent
in more than three months before, were answered,
and the full number applied for given to him in
almost every instance. Could he be considered fairly
liable ? We think not. We have thus stated some
of the grounds why the allottee is not bound in
honour to pay on his shares; for, no matter how the
legal point might be decided, we would not have
conceived it to be based on equity arid justice.

The latest intelligence from Persia represents the
sanatory condition of that empire as at present most
satisfactory. It would appear, therefore, that the
reports of the dreadful ravages caused by the cholera
in Persia, which of late have been published in some
journals, are unfounded.

By an ordonnance, dated the 17th June, the King
of NAPLES has reduced the duties on manufactured
tobacco from 30 to 18 ducats the quintal, and the
duties on leaf tobacco from 15 to 9 ducats.

It is said, in aletter from Frankfort, that at Kowno
several shots were fired at a carriage, in which it was
supposed RUSSIA was travelling.
Theofvas not there ; an aide-de-
camp of
RlicuAEL had been mis-
taken for him. No one was injured, although eight
shots entered the carriage.
There is such a scarcity of seamen for the mer-
cantile navy of Russia, that the EMPEROR has autho-
rised the issuing of passports to the masters of
Russian vessels, even although their officers and crew
consist of two-thirds foreigners.

Madrid Papers of the 27th have been received.
The Gazette publishes the new division of the
Electoral Colleges, and a Government circular to the
Political Chiefs on the subject of the approaching
elections. The elections, it is supposed, will not be
concluded before October, and the new Cortes, it is
expected, ✓ill assemble in December.
The inhabitants of Barcelona have experienced a se-
vere disappointment. M. DE LEssErs, the French Con-
sul, has announced that the Prince DE JOIN VILLE will
not visit Barcelona. The Prince DE JOIN vILLE's squa-
dron quitted the Balearic Isles on the 21st, in conse-
quence of dispatches which the Prince received from
Toulon. His Royal Highness proceeds to Tunis, where
the Austrian Consul, who was rejected some months ago,
is about, they say, to present himself again, sup-
ported by Turkish and Austrian vessels of war.
According to another version, the French squadron,
after appearing before Tunis, will proceed
_to the
Adriatic."

MADRID BOLSA, JUNE 27.—Three per Cents.
33i for cash, 33 paper; Five per Cents., 20i paper;
Debt without Interest 6 9-16 for cash. Exchange on
London 36g.

We have received the Paris papers of Thursday.
They all contain comments on the retiring speech of
Sir ROBERT PEEL, and they all, without exception,
Pass the highest eulogium on the late Premier and
his policy. The Ministerial Journal des Debats, the
Opposition Constitutionnel, the Christino Presse,
the Carlist France, the Radical Courrier Francaise,
and the
Republican National, vie with each other in
offering homage to the splendid talents, the sound
views, and
the statesmanlike policy of Sir R. PEEL
The following is the article in the Journal des
Debats:—...

sure that
" The adieux of Sir R. Peel were full of dignity, but at the
same time full of address. If, as it is reported, the leader
-11
et !Ids:ens/ant
oi vteexpaer
of the old 0 does go into Italy, we may be
and that he will return. He explained the state of affairs
ctyt to be suff!red to remain there,
p
very fully and clearly. He did not make any recriminations,
and abstained altogether from polemics. He was unwilling
to wound any one, neither his old friends nor his new
auxiliaries who have' again become his enemies. This, how-
ever, did not prevent his saying some thing which must
have been extremely galling to both. If his measures of
reform had been rejected by the Parliament he would have
appealed to theeople • but they were all accepted, and
he himself admitted that t men who introduced a policy
directly opposite to their anterior declarations must bear the
penalty of thisinconsistency' and retire from power after having
succeeded. Sir R. Peel has fallen under his great difficulty--
Ireland ; but in taking a momentary leave cf power he rids
himself of this eternal difficulty. This is one of the occasions
on which he has shown his greatest judgment. That which
has constituted the strength of the Whigs now becomes their
weakness—the Irish It was under this they fell in
1841 and it • policy.
, . is by this that they rise again in 1846. For a
long time the -- Whig policy has been associated with an idea
of goodwill and conciliation towards the Irish. Sir R. Peel
has taken care to deprive the Whigs of the monopoly of
this pacific policy and reminds the people, with truth, that
!t,is he who in later years has done most to realise and bring
into practice these principles of justice towards Ireland. He
has done the same with regard to commercial policy. He
promises the Whigs to give them his support in this,
but on condition that they walk in the path he has traced
out for them. He will sustain them if their policy is
as liberal as his own—but then only.' If Sir Robert
Peel permits himself to talk thus on the very brink of
dictates his fall, he
laws to his successors and lays down
for thein clearly their programme. A great French writer—
Ilechier—speaking of the fall of Turenne on the field of
battle, eve that he died entombed 411* owe tritualph, 1114