The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-10 00:00:00

TUB LATE JOHN ;SADLP,III, M.P.

(From. the Times of this day.)

John Sadleir was a natioaat It is not often
that an individual rises to a position ofsuch infamous no-
toriety, but the truth is, now that the whole story of his
frauds is beginning to assume shepe and form, that the
prosperity of a whole province has received a severe
shock from his proceedings. He has forged title-deeds
of estates, he has forged private aceeptances and seceri•
ties, and by his connection with -the Tipperary Bank he
has contrived to swindle the population of the south, of
Ireland to an amount which is already stated at 400,0Q0/.,
and which will probably reach the full proportion of the
half-million. Against this result is to be set a suns of
some 35,0001., and, of course, whatever may be recovered
by the process of selling up innocent shareholders. This
is, after all, but to shift the burden, from the shoulders.
of the manyeto the shoulders of the few ; and, even if it
can be done with a reasonable degree of success, it is
scarcely, to be' expeCted that the creditors will regain
anything trier e than a smellperceutage of their loss. On
Tuesday of last Week the case was' brought before the.
Master of the Rolls in Dublin, on a motion that the. co--
partnership should,be diesolved,and the affairs, be wound
up in conformity with the provisions of the Winding-up
Act. Oa this occasion, in delivering his judgment,: the
Master of the Rolls stated the actual position cif affairs
to be as f alloWs :—" The, late John Saolleir was per-
mitted by his brother, the sole director and manager
of the bhnk, to overdraw his ace mut, to the extent
of 200,0001., withotit the knowledge, s conseat,
or privity 'of a single other contributory, or
creditor, so far as this Court has heard or knows.,
The liabilitiee of the Bank are 'altogether, in round num-
'hers; 400,0001.- ; it was in a state of the m .st hopeless
insolvency on the lst of February last, and the assets
are not pretended to be more ,in round numbers,, than
35,090/." This being' so. iriltalitirplening of; February
a circular was issued with the .object of persuading the
" deluded, defrauded, and unfortunate contributors,"
not only that the Tipperary Joint-stock Bank was in a
thoroughly solvent and satisfactory state, but that it
was actually io a condition to pay a bonus of 3 per
cent. on a paid-up capital of 100,0001 , and that after
the payment of the bonus a surplus would remain ! Toe
story appears to be even more pitiable than was at first
supposed, now that the social position of the majority
of the sufferers has been more clearly ascertained. We
hear of small farmers, traders, clerks, assistants, police-
officers, &c., who have feat their little accumu-
lations from the thrift of many yea's. The provision
for families is gone—the fund which bad been provide]
for the support of declining life in many instaaces is
gone too. As we read in a local journal, "the deluded
victims are left penniless, hopelee e and in the most
afflicting despair." This is all -very terrible, and the
more so when the peculiar circumstances of Ireland are
taken into consideration. In our own portion of the
empire the aggregate mass of wealth is so great, that if
one, two, three thousand persons are suddenly reduced
from of luenco to poverty, the chances are that in the
majority of instaccee the victims will find an oppor-
tunity of gaining the means of subsistence without
undergoing the humiliation of public pauperism. In
Ireland--:in the south of Ireland, it is otherwise. Life
is there a hard struggle indeed, and few are the chances
of recovery to those who have been foiled in the game.
is a surprising fact that it should be in the power
of any mail to swindle his fellow-suhjects to the
amount of a million sterling, and yet this sum
will probably fall short of the reality when the
full extent of John Sadleir's frauds has been ascer•
tained. What with the Tipperary Bauk—what with the
forgeries of private acceptances—what with the frauds
arising from the forgery of title-deeds, Ireland alone will
stand as sufferer for the larger pohtion of the sum. The
railway and bank accounts in London will complete the
tale. There is no instance in history, as far as our re-
collection extends, which can servo as a parallel to this
gigaatic fraud, for iu the case of Law the Scotch adven-
turer represented rather the Regent and the Government
of France than himself. Much the same thing may be
said of the heroes of the South Sea Bubble, and the rail-
way mania of our own times. All the world was mad ;
and certain clear-beaded sharpers farmed the madness in
the names of various companies which were, known to be
made of such stuffas dreams are made of. Oar forefathers,
and the present generation, too, upon these occasions,
all went mad together, and the inevitable consequences
followed when the crash-time came. The case, however,
of John Sadleir--and, from what we now see, we fear it
moue be said of James Sadleir also—rests upon a very
different foundation. We are not all rushing do en to ,
Brokershalley or Capel-court ; we are not looking for 60
per cent. and unquestionable security. We are, on the
contr 'rev, busy with a troublesdnie and expensive war.
We are scraping together pence, rather than risking
pounds for the sake of inordinate gain. The present
period, for the maj irity of Englishmen, is one of econo-
my, rot of speculation. In the midst of all our caution,
however, of all our thrift, of all our circumspection, a
knave slips unawares into the camp and swindles his
fellow-subjects out of the enormous sum of 1,000,0001.
sterling. The history of John Sadleir—let us rather
say of John and Jambs Sadleir—is curious enough
when contrasted with their performances. They
are not in the position of gamblers who have
thrown a heavy stake opon the table and lost it.
Their father is at present living, a small tenant-
farinsr in the south of Ireland. From such an origin,
respectable enough, John Sadleir started in life, and con-
trived to swallow up a million of money before he put an
end to his existence on Hanapetead-heath. The career
of John Sadleir after his departure from the farm is now
notorious enough, Provincial attorney, and then at-
torney in Dublin, political intriguer, Lord of the Trea-
sury, railway chairman, and bank director—such were
the steps of his career, until he concluded it as specula-
tor, swindler, and suicide.
This hideous history may not, we earnestly trust,
prove without effect. It is impossible te be mixed up
with society in London—and the provincial capitals, it
appears, are not behind us in this respect—without be-
coming painfully aware of the range of illegitimate spe-
culation. The men who engage in this unfortunate ca-
reer never seem to consider that they are playing
against loaded dice. One euceeeds in the desperate
game, and a thousand perish—the success of the one is
magnified, and proclaimed with admiration and envy
from mouth to mouth ; the ruin of the thousand passes
without notice and without comment. The art of con•
verting airy nothings into solid coin is far too much in
vogue for public security or public happiness. This is :
an error beyond the reach of legislation. Under any
system of laws which grants to commerce that freedom
without which counmerce cannot subsist, the unfair spe-
culator will have his opportunities, and will abuse them.
On persons who are inclined to enter upon such a path
remonstrance would be thrown away—we can simply
point to the grave of John Sadleir, and say, " Take
warning !" It may well be that to few persons will be
granted the opportunity of perpetrating frauds upon
so gigantic a scale. Thus, from want of occasion,
rather than of will, they may avoid the full mea-
sure of his despair, and the full horror of his fate.
Let thorn, however, he well assured that, without
the dismal success of John Sadl eir, and without the
agony of his closing life, the Demon of Speculation has
secondary punishments in store for its victims, sharp
enough to deter any but madmen from :venturing their
good name and happiness in such a career.