The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-28 00:00:00

BRIBERY AND CLOSED DOORS.

We have already adverted to the •ingular proceeding o f
clusingithe doors of Election Committees against the public,
As far as regards the dai'y publication of the evidence.
This rule has been adopted in two cases, in both of
which the public must he particularly interested—Lik er-
pool and Norwich, the object in each being to expose bri-
bery and corruption.
11 we are rightly informed as to the proceedings in the
Liverpool Committee, tthe mode of inquiry may not turn
out to be so satisfactory as the pubic has a right to expect.
With respect to the Norwich Committee, we do not
wish to prejudge the case, but we cannot ,refrain from
observing, that some of its decisions are openly spoken of
as not only at variance with the decisions of other Com-
mittees engaged in a similar inquiry, but as calculated to
repress all hope of exposing that corruption which we
ilasys supposed it was one of the main objects of the
Reform Bill to extinguish.
Take the following case as an instance of the difficulties
to be contended with by electors in any attempt to prove
corruption. The law is, that to affect the candidate, the
bribery must be, proved to have been committed by him,
or by those who acted with his authority:—
A and B, two attorneys, are partners. A, one partner,
wa shown to have been the attorney managing the prt-
ceedings at the election ; B, the other p teener, was proved
to have canvassed with the candidates to have appeared to
argue votes at the registration of votes ; he is traced to
the committee-re om ; and, further, the clerks of the firm
are employed ; and he is also shown, during the poll at
the election, to have argued the case of disputed votes be-
tore the Sheriff, arid when asked for whom be appeared
answered, on behalf of the successful candidates, and
against whom bribery is sought to be proved ; and, fur-
ther he it remarked, that the candidates were proveil'to
have been present cloilst be argued these votes, and one
hf them actually ctuffrred with him. Now, on this case,
the Committee, after repeated arguments, refused to hear
any evidence of bribery by this person so acting, declaring
it as their opinion that no prima facie case or agency was
made out.

This decision is itnpottint on many grounds; it is fit,
in justice to others who m.y be on the eve of spending
thousands (and no one embarks in a case of this sort with-
out spending thousands), to show how fruitle,s any
attempt may be to expose bribery and corruption; and
igain, if this determination be entirely consistent with the
,aw as it now stands, the sooner the public are acquainted
with what is the state of the law the better.— Times.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We promised some days aro to take an early op-
portunity of noticing ao excellent " Digest" of the
evidence taken before the Committee on the Bank
Charter, and we are now glad to redeem our pledge.
This work will be found adequate for every useful
purpose to supersede the original report, and will be
resorted to in preference by all those whose leisure
and curiosity do not enable them to defy the terrors
of 600 or 700 folio pages. It contains, in the nar-
row compass of a small octavo, all the information
worth having which can be derived from the depo-
sitions of the witnesses, or the statements of the
docurrents in the Parliament ary volume. The evi-
dence of the former has been arranged under proper
heads, and the contents of the latter have been clas-
sified under the more convenient denomination of
tables. Thus the report is not only much abridged,
without the omission of any essential fact, but is re-
duced to a methodical form, and rendered of easy
reference. From an able examination of the report,
entitled, " Strictures and Illustrative Remarks,"
prefixed to the " Digest," we conclude that the whole
is the work of Mr. Joplin, who is already advanta-
geously known for a consider title number of essays
on bankeig and financial subjec!s. Though there
had been no direct reference to his former wouks,
the internal evidence supplied by the style of ex-
pression and the line of argument in the present,
would have bstrayed the author. Mr. Joplin, with
tome slight variations, has repeated Mr. Joplin
in every successive pamphlet, ever since we began
to look into his publications; but we really think
the present excellent work is not wily the hes?
" digest" of the Bank report, but the best digest of
Mr. Joplin's opinion: which we have yet seen.
The " observations" or criticisms of this ingenious
commentator on the Bank evidence, though, as we
have above sated, they contain little more than an
exposure of the alleged errors which he hail formerly
pointed out in our monetary system, and an expla-
natory application of his own principles to the exist-
ing state of the question, ought to be read by every
person who takes an interest in such discussions.
He, of course, is still strong in support of his own
scheme of " a national bank," for a self-regulating
adjustment of the currency, in the metropolis, with
joint-stock banking companies in the country con-
nected with or dependent upon the parent establish-
ment in London. He proceeds on the supposit on
that if banking business were generally understood,
and if the public were to have unlimited confidence
in the parent-bank and its branches, no gold or sil-
ver would be required unless for exportation, and
that the metals for this purpose would he demanded
in bullion only instead of coin. He would take the
,amount of our present paper circulation of :ill kind-,
and declare that no more paper than that amount should
be issued, on the return or the renewal of the notes.
If the exchanges continued favourable, gold would
be imported ; and if the owners of the bullion
chose, it would be carried to the Mint, or to a com-
mission established for the purpose, and exchanged
for commission notes, expressive of its quantity or
value in standard metal. These notes would form
an addition to the circulation 'till it was full, or till it
began to be in excess. When this event happened,
they would be carried to the Mint commission, or
the currency commissioners, and exchanged for gold
to be exported. The export of gold would reduce
the amount of domestic currency, raise the value of
money, and check the fall in the foreign exchanges,
arid the machine of circulation would thus regulate
itself. The gold, or, in other words, the value
of the metal received for our exports by our
merchants or manufacturers, would thus, in the
shape of Mint-notes, its representative, cir-
culate all over the country, instead of being thrown
exclusively into the currency of the metropolis.
Draughts would be given on the depot in London
by country bankers, when bullion was wanted for
exportation by becoming redundant, or by an un-
foreseen demand from abroad, and thus those fluc-
tuations would be prevented which are now created
by the occasional excessive accumulation or defi-
ciency of country funds in the hands of their London
agents or correspondents to balance their ordinary
transactions. This theory is expounded by Mr.
Joplin with much ingentrty ; and we have no hesi-
tation in saying that either his scheme, or that of
Mr. Ricardo, which he claims as his suggestion,
would have powerful demands on public attention,
if the national mind were ripe for the experiment,
and f we could erect a machinery sufficiently free
front sinister influence to carry it into execution.
Iu ulludino twice or thrice, or. 'former occasions, to
this subject, we have never denied its theoretic per-
fection, though we have always expressed doubts as
to its practical s. cority. From Dr. Smith to the
present time the only question has been one of
safety ; but this is important in a case where we
never had any experience except one of soleMn
warning, instead of cheering encouragement. The
nazi n would, indeed, save all the interest of the
dead stock used as a metallic circulating medium.
Its batik would come in place of the Bank of Eng-
land and of the country banks, and its notes, if kept
below the wants of the country, instead of exceed.
ing them, as is proposed in the Attwood scheme,
would not only remain at the value of bullion, but,
were it desirable, might rise above it, as they do at
the present moment. We only beg to subjoin the
following illustration of an American writer, which
fully expresses our own sentiments on the subject :
" Barns are certainly a very expensive implement of agricul-
ture. The capital expended on those buildings, in the middle
and northern states, is more than the value of one year's crop
of the farms, and causes therefore a reduction of more than 5 per
cent. on the annual gross produce of the earth. To dispense with
barns would be a greater annual saving than that which arises
from the substitution of a paper to a metallic currency. Some
favourable seasons occur when the farmer might thrash his
wheat on a temporary floor, exposed to the weather, and dis-
pense with a barn ; yet, in our climate, every prudent farmer
prefers security to a precarious advantage, and would consider
it a most wretched economy not to incur the expense necessary
for that object. Similar is the economy of that expensive in-
strument, the precious metals, if the substituted paper currency
is insecure."
In the mean time, with the ideas of " a national
bank" as his guides, the author of the " Digest"
has found ample scope for criticism in the pr. sent
management of our monetary system, as di-closed
in the examination of the Bank Directors and ofthe
country bankers called before the Committee. He
objects to the improved system of the Batik, by
which the Directors engage to keep an average third
of their noes arid deposits invested in bullion or
coin; and he appears extremely hypercritical both
on the proportions which they observe. and on the
character of the deposits for which they provide.
Deposits would certainly appear to us, as they do to
the Bank Directors, liabilities for which the Bank
should provide as much „as for other out-
standing obligations, though o ordinary occasions
they are not so fluctuating in their nurture. The
illustration taken from Scotland does not appear to
us, for reasons which we cannot stop to give, at all
applicable. There is said to • be in that country
20,000,0001. of deposits, and only 3,000,000/. cui-
rency ! At any rate, if it is an error to provide for
them, it is an error on the safe side, as it gives us
additional security against a run. The pertnissiost
of the public to act on the Bank by paying in notes
for gold, when gold is required for exportation, and
thus raising the value by reducing the quantity of
the remaining circulation till the drain is checked—
and, on the contrary, by receiving out notes fur gold
when gold flows from a favourable state of the
exchanges, would appear to us to resemble in nsany
points the self-regulating system of the financial cri-
tic who objects to it. In the same matinee his Inge-
nious objections to the usual conduct of the Bank,
in the apprehension of a scanty harvest, would
equally apply to his own system ; but into these and
other topics we cannot now enter. We have only
room to give the summary of the points which Mr.
Joplin alleges he has proved from the evidence on
the Bank Charter, and which ine of sufficient im-
portance, or established on such plausible grounds,
as to, deserve general attention :
" 1. That the Bank profess to govern their circulation by
a certain fixed rule, which is falsein theory, and absurd if
carried in practice; but that in reality they are governed by
another rule more simple and intelligible, which is in strict
accord?nce with the principles and recommendations of the
aulitorecommatee, and the.cash payment committees o'lBl9 ;

and that, consequently, they have presented their principles
in a worse light than they really deserve; and have proved
themselves to be more ignorant in theory than they are in
practice.
"2. That their intercourse with Government, they'con-
found the financial dealings of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
with the currency; and do not possess clear practical views of
thedistinction which ought to be preserved between the two,
but allow the operations of the Government to act upon the
currency in the most absurd manner.
"3. That in dealing with the public, they adhere to their
rule, when, in the very doing so, they admit that they violate
the principles upon which it is founded, and thereby continually
subject the currency to derangement, from which their princi.
pal duty is to protect it.
" 4. That, on the other hand, they have no difficulty in de-
parting from their rule under circumstances when they ought
to adhere to it (inasmuch as they would do so in anticipation of
a bad harvest, in order to protect themselves against a demand
for gold), though they would thereby prevent the importation
of foreign corn, and aggravate the distress of the nation in an
incalculable degree.
" 5. That on the resumption of cash payments they allowed
their feelings to get the better of their judgment, by which
they accomplished the ruin of half the nation.
" 6. That the branch bank system is calculated to entail
great misery on the country, without producing a greater union
of action between the parent batik and its branches, than
previously existed between the Bank of England and the
country banks ; and without,: therefore, affording that im-
provement upon the system of our currency which was ex-
pected from it. . . .

" And, lastly, that it has been proved by those intimately
acquainted with the hi►tory of the period, that the conduct of
the Bank during the panic, for which they claim extraordinary
credit, was not such as to entitle them to the credit they claim
But that, on the contrary, it further confirms the necessity
of a change of system."— Times.

The meeting for the distressed Poles, which took
pace c n Tuesday at Freemason's Tavern, was not
•uch as we could have wished. The cause was an
honourable one,—an oppressed people; and, be-
s'cles this, many individuals of the Polish nation,
once of the highest rank there, were known and
esteemed for their generosity, hospitality, and moral
worth, by persons of equal consequence in this
country ; there was everything, therefore, to excite
zeal and kindle enthusia•m ; yet 'the meeting was
cold, arid but thinly attended. Whence is this ?
People of the fir.t consequence in England are often
too fastidious to take the lead in popular assemblies,
and hence an opening is male for more doubtful
character:—for needy men, and desperate unprin-
cipled adventurers. If ever the low and turbulent
become our musters, the blame will rest with those
in higher life and with more affluent means, who
do not act with a spirit becoming their station. Sir
Francis Burdett, however, it will be seen, was pre-
sent at the meeting, and Lords Ebrington and
Dudley Stuart, and Messrs. C. Fergusson and
George Evans, and Colonel S'anhope; yet there
was a deficiency of men of their position in the
state and in society.—Tinter.
We have received an official printed copy of the
important documents which were read to the Court
of East India proprietors on Monday, an abridg-
ment of which appeared in our report from the In-
dia-house on Tuesday. These documents are too
long for insertion at length, and most of them being
of an argumentative or explanatory nature, would
not possess much interest in an abridged form.
Their controversial character was sufficiently appa-
rent in our yesterday's report, and though the Court
of Proprietors, whose interests depended on the
result, might listen to them for four or lice hours
without a sign of impatience, the general public
could not he equally arrested by their importance,
or indulgent to their proxility. The only two
points, or, at least, the main points, which could
lie discussed between the Court of Directors and
the Government of the country, requiring the opi-
nion or sanction of the Court of Proprietors, were—
ls', whether the charter of the Company was to be
renewed along with its China monopoly; and, 2dly,
whether the -lompany, if stripped of its trading
character, was still to continue its political func-
tions in the administration of our eastern empire.
The Government, in its memorandum, or " paper
of hints," decided these two points in the following
very summary manner :
" The China monopoly to cease."
" The East India Company to retain their political
functions." _

lhe subsequent parts of the memorandum, which
we insert at length in another column, advert rather
to the means of executing these objects than to any
new or additional principle of arrangement. If the
Company is to cease trading, of course there must
be a new disposition of its commercial and territorial
assets, which have hitherto been confounded ; and if
it is to continue its pol tied] functions without trade,
it must be secured in its dividends on other fund.
than commercial profi s. Accordingly, the annuity
of 630,000/ , which has been divided amongst the
proprietors ever since 1793, is to be paid in &R-
I ind by half-yearly ins!alments as heretofore, and
" to lie charted upon the territorial revenues of India
exclusively." Thus, if the sovereigns of Leaden-
ball are to enj,-iy the patronage of a great empire,
they must, like other sovereigns, obtain their civil

list from their own dominions, and not by a tax
levied on the foreign trade of England. Nor do we
see that their dividend will be one iorn more preca-
rious by a change in the nominal source whence it is
to be derived; it will be as secure as any other part
of the debt with which India or England is charged.
Though the political patronage of India is proposed
to be vested in the Company, and though the inte-
rest due to the proprietors of their stock is thus gua-
ranteed, it is not ddlicult to see why the Court of
rtt tors is dissatisfied with the new arrangement. A
tr,de of several millions sterling cannot be carried On
without conferring immense power and patronage on
those who manage it, and who so manage it without
any individual risk. The factory a, Canton, composed
of gentlemen—who, with the humble title of super-
cargoe,, and dealing wiih the Hong for tea, lived
like pi inces—lN as appoinied by the Government at
home. The chartering of ships and the selection of
officers opened to them other sources of influence.
Indeed, trade seemed to be their greatest object;

for out of the t hree principal con-inn:tees into which
the Court of D rectors is divided, two are entirely

commercial; the one enth led " The Committee of
Buying and Warehiiuse-," and the other " The
Committee of Shipping." Since these two com-
mittees are now to be abolished, it becomes a ques-
tion whether a smaller Daintier of Directors than 24
ought not to be sufficient for all the reserved duties
which the Court wt.! have to discnarge. In the
course of the correspondence between the President
of the Board of Control and the Court of Directms,