The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-23 00:00:00

SZIRIT OF THE Eu.smo JOURNALS.

No one can have been surprised, says the Times, that the
special jury impanelled to try the Messrs. Gurney and
their fellow directors should have returned on Wednesday
afternoon a verdict of Not Guilty after ten minutes' con-
sultation. It had been felt for days past that it must be
so. No other end to the case was possible on the argu-
ments and evidence adduced by the prosecution itself.
A. year ago an equally strong impression prevailed
against the defendants. Public morality would have
been outraged had the Lord Mayor dismissed the charges.
It would have been outraged now had the directors
been convicted on those charges. But there is no
real discrepancy. For the purposes of the preliminary
investigation in January it was enough to establish a
primci fade case to prove that the facts were compatible
with guilt. On the trial the prosecutor was bound to demon-
strate to the jury that theywere incompatible with innocence.
This he has failed to accomplish in respect of any of the
defendants, and flagrantly in respect of the three
new directors. The unfortunate shareholders in this
ruinous company will probably be disappointed in
finding that they have been made victims, but that the
law gives them no victim in return. But this is
because, like Dr. Kencaly, they have failed to
apprehend that for the establishment of a charge of
conspiracy the accused must be shewn to have both known
the truth and concealed it. Gross and culpable ignorance
is not sufficient. The verdict has been given, and it is the
right verdict. But while the public is bound to be just
to these unhappy gentlemen, it cannot afford to be gene-
rous. They sinned grievously in not putting the public
into as good a position as themselves for judging as to the
expediency of joining or refusing to join their company.
If their reticence has ruined their fortunes and peace of
mind, it must not be forgotten that it has broken up and
wrecked many households besides. When all is said, it can
hardly be disputed that they, in their character of directors
that is, trustees for their shareholders—engaged the public
to buy an insolvent business under the delusion that,
apart from any question of guarantees in the shape of
private estates, it was still solvent. We consider conduct
like this highly censurable, and any indulgence towards it
to be opposed to public policy. To hail with enthusiasm
an acquittal which is no acquittal from this charge is as
repulsive to our feelings of what is becoming as to have
triumphed in the defendants' committal last winter. Of
the bursts of applause which are reported to have welcomed
each event, we think the one as senseless and immoral as
the other was savage and heartless.
The Daily News declares that the result of the Overend
and Gurney case has been foreseen almost since the trial
began. To have decided otherwise would have been to
disregard alike the rules of law and the conclusions drawn
from the evidence. As is common in trials where social
interests as well as legal issues are involved, a great
warmth of expression characterised the speeches
of the opposing counsel. Those who rejoice the
most over the result have the greatest reason for
rejoicing that the proceedings were instituted.
Had nothing been done it would have been said
that law is swift to smite the small transgressor, but impo-
tent to punish the gigantic wrongdoer. As it is, the
accused have been fairly dealt with while the equality of
all men before the law has been vindicated in a way which
will not soon be forgotten. Those who demanded a victim
and those who have denounced the prosecutor have both
been disappointed. The fact of the prosecution having
been carried into effect will have a salutary result, if it do
nothing mote than render the promoters and directors of
companies more cautious in the future. The proceedings
themselves will lose all their value if they fail to render
the investing public less credulous, and more disposed to
ask questions than to place trust in great names. Nor
are we without hope that this and other examples of
the havoc caused by the failure of establiehments of
reputed solidity will lead to the reconsideration of the
conditions under which the liability of a shareholder is
limited. The loss of capital involved in Overend, Gurney,
and Company (Limited) could have been borne in many
cases where the payment of the subsequent calls produced
beggary. Fifteen pounds were paid up on each share of
fifty pounds. The prospectus said that no more would be
required. Since the liquidation has been in progress, calls
of five pounds each have been made at frequent intervals.
How much suffering would have been saved and ruin
averted if the maximum sum according to the prospectus
had been the maximum in reality !

The Standard is inclined to think that the Archbishop
ins done wisely in cutting the knot by asking for the
assistance of a suffragan in discharging the duties which
hamper him in his work as Primate. Certainly we have
no sympathy with the suggestion of a Liberal contem-
porary, that he should neglect a certain portion of his
work as the alternative to having a suffragan. Why,
asks the Times, with contemptuous meaning,
" undertake those ruridecanal conferences," or
squander time in " attending debates between
handfuls of country clergy ?" Why are bishops to
permit themselves to be " devoured in this way by their
subordinates ?" In fact, our contemporary comes back to
its cherished penny-post theory, and anticipates the day
when a bishop will be a civil functionary, sitting in a cen-
tral bureau, and dispensing the graces of his office through
the medium of the pillar-box round the corner. We look
upon suffragans as a stop-gap, pending the honest and
practical consideration of the overwhelming case
for a reconstruction of the dioceses and an extension
of the Episcopate. No one who fairly examines the
question, and takes into account the enormous
increase of the population since the days of Henry VIII.,
will aver that an addition of one new diocese to the
number then in existence represents an augmentation of
episcopal power adequate to the present needs of the
Church. Possibly the day is -not far distant when the
question of the increase of the episcopate may be fairly
taken in hand, but we have no doubt that the Archbishop
of Canterbury has been well advised in asking for a suffra-
gan in the meantime.

The Post, in discussing the question of national defence,
observes that during the ten years that Lord Elcho's corps
has been enrolled it has, he tells us, passed through its
ranks sixteen hundred men trained to arms. This is a
remarkable result. If we assume that half of these
volunteers would, on any imminent danger threatening
the country, join the ranks of their old corps, the
London Scottish would then be a magnificent regi-
ment. But Lord Elcho reckons that as this process
has been going on in the other corps of the force,
somewhere about a million of men have been thus trained.
If only a half or even a quarter of these men were to
respond to a call to arms, the country would be in
possession of a very formidable force that now lies,
dormant and unobserved. Whatever, then, may be
said as to the aptitude and capabilities of the volun-
teers for offensive war, there can bo no question that,
as a nursery for a purely defensive force, the volunteer
institution is fulfilling important and special functions.
Lord Elcho is an avowed advocate for the
introduction of some modification of the conscription in'
England. He says every Englishman is bound morally, as
also by "an ancient law," to defend his country, and is
"legally liable for home defence with compulsory
service." But if it be true that the volunteer
service is silently and quietly causing a vast
body of men trained to arms to accumulate in
the country, surely we may afford to dispense with a
measure chat—whether.rightly or wrongly—is abhorrent
to the ideas of an Englishman. With a remodelled militia,
and a really effective volunteer force, it seems certain that
while the country would be amply defended at home, the
regular troops would be available more than they ever
were before for general service, the militia, in a great mea-
sure, making good their losses.
The Telegraph thinks that in the very remarkable sermon
preached by the Dean of Durham at Westminster Abbey,

•
on the occasion of Dr. Temple's consecration, he struck
what Dr. Newman would call the true " note" of the
policy that should guide the Church of England. Dr.
Lake discussed in no disguised terms the question
which has been raised by the elevation of Dr.
Temple to to the episcopate, and appealed to
the memorable support which Saint Athanasius
gave to Saint Basil when the Greek father was
denounced as unfit to be a bishop, because he would
not separate himself from the Arian friends of his
youth. No one would say that the great opponent of
Arius undervalued unity ; but he also- knew the necessity
of individual freedom. As Dean- Lake justly said, the
C%urch of England would do well to study that example.
She has been distinguished for the learning and ability
of her divines, because she has shunned the crowd
of tests which are the bane of sects, and which
drive intellect into opposition. In no sect could men
of such diverse views as Hooker and Paley, Tillotson and
Butler, have worked hand in hand. So far from being the
reproach, that fact is the glory of the English Church.
Were. the EpiScopal (aces confined to one school of
theology, then, whe'ber the school were Low, Bread, cr
High, the power of the Church would bejn to decline.
The- groat aim of her authorities must to, to snake
her more and more national ; and it is chiefly
because Dr. Temple is peculiarly fitted for the task
that the laity have so heartily welcomed his elevation. As
,he Speaker of the House of Commons said the other day,
I perilous game is played by those who would reduce the
Church to the narrow dimensions of a sect : and those are
the true friends of the Church who place in positions of
ecclesiastical authority men who will save her from such
fate.

The Prieeess Alice had a fall from her horse, at
f:inne.s tho other day. VIOI.IO, G(l;liatiiAbly §4o,kop ate
Uot 00riOUgly hut.