The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-05 00:00:00

API

IT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times sums up at length the case against the
directors of the great firm to whose sudden collapse we owe
the disasters of Black Friday, and observes that the mode
in which a body of shareholders was induced to accept and
even pay a heavy price for liabilities like those of this firer
was most discreditable to the character of those of the
directors in the company who had been partners in the
firm, and to the judgment and discretion, at any rate, o:
the rest. It is possible they believed the assets, including
the private fortunes of the members of the firm, would
balance the liabilities ; but they must have known that
they were not giving the shareholders as large a benefit aa
had been bargained for. Their failure to make a full die
closure of their balance-sheet proves that they mistrusted
their power to induce the public to share their confidence.
But even had their hopes of a restoration of the origins'
prosperity been justified, the public was not the less de
frauded by a concealment which prevented it from parti
cipating in this future prosperity on as easy terms as else
it might. The shareholders fancied they were conceding
certain advantages to a partnership which in dissolving
itself gave up much greater pecuniary advantages. But
the fact was that, as now appears, in consequence
of losses then known to the partners and the
directors, but not disclosed by them to the public.
the firm without the company must then, as
it ultimately did, have simply collapsed and carriei
down with it the entire fortunes of its members. Tc
attempt to win such advantages at the cost of a pecuniary
risk to strangers without first obtaining their consent to
the hazard is what in equity is called a fraud. But the
criminal charge will hardly succeed unless it can be esta
Wished that the directors themselves knew they were
inveigling the shareholders into an undertaking whict
was then insolvent. The absence of adequate motive ii
those of the directors who were not members of the ok
firm, but between whom and the latter no distinction h
made, for imperilling their credit in an enterprise so despe
rate on the face of it as the prosecutor represents it; is I
grave objection to this point of view. Whether and hou
it can be got over remains to be seen.
The Post directs its attention to tb e pernicious systerr
of the money-lenders, whereby they seduce young ats
inexperienced persons into the meshes of usury and debt
The notice from the Treasury serves as an opportune
warning to one class of persons of the sad consequence'
of such practices. The employs of the civil service are
told to take heed to their ways under the contingent
penalties of losing promotion, rise of salary, and even their
situations. The clerics whom it is most worth the while of the
usurers to attack are those who are well connected, and wile
do in effect live with and upon their relations, the salary
of a hundred and odd pounds or so, more or less, being
regarded as mere pocket-money, and this the usurer soot
takes care to absorb in the shape of interest on his
"accommodation." Still, on the other band, there are
poor clerks whose necessities —among which that of keeping
up appearances is not the least—cause them to fall victims
to the meek, smooth-tongued, plausible money-lender—not
from mere extravagance in the sense of betting and dis-
sipation generally, but because circumstances compel.
or at least are conventionally supposed to compel, them to
live in a style which is really beyond their means. The
grand principle to be observed in all cases is that whict
holds good equally of nations and of individuals—namely,
to make one's expenses conform to one's income, and
upon this excellent text the new minute, as we have
remarked, preaches a most edifying sermon, the minator,
clauses of which are by no means the least importan
part of it.

The Herald, in referring to the threatened attack of the
new Administration upon the members of the Civil
Service, observes that it will not do much towards reducing
the total expenditure of the country, and a single blunder
in building a new frigate on a wrong plan, or iu the dis
tribution of colonial garrisons, may cost more at one blow
than can be saved by all the pruning possible in the salaries
of Admiralty clerks or the civil staff of the War Office
At the same time there is no doubt some money
may be saved without in any way detract.
ing from the efficiency of the Civil Service
A great deal of the circumlocution complained of is due
no doubt, to the fact that public departments may be
called upon at any time to give a more minute account 6
their transactions than private firms. There may be
needless complications in the systems of some departments
No one has a direct pecuniary interest in their simplifica
tion, and their natural tendency is to grow more and more
complex. But if the departments were more independent
they might also be more extravagant in matters of greater
importance than the salaries of their clerks. The Heralc
suggests that the inferior departments of the service
should be reserved for the employment of very young men
on the understanding that they should only hold them foi
three or four years. Such employ-Lis would only
require small salaries, while the three or four
years' maintenance would give them a start it
life. In the higher departments probably some conspi.
cuous salaries could be saved altogether, here and there
The abolition of boards, indeed, and the substitution o
single chiefs of departments, would be a method of saving
salaries not by any means unattended with danger. The
members of a board are mutually a check upon one
another, and a single chief might often be under a strong
personal temptation to make the expenditure of public
money subservient to his own interest or that of his friends.
Where an appointment is abolished, and the Government
magnanimously foregoes a bit of patronage, the sacrifice
is of course lightened by the thought that it is very con-
spicuously made, but such sacrifices may be made too often
for the good of the country. It is a curious fact, but one
which can hardly escape the attention of any one win
devotes a little study to the subject, that the loves'
salaries in the service, and not the highest, are too high.
The Daily News considers the question of the army,
and remarks that as yet nothing is settled. What changes
are to take place next spring are not determined upon
but a good deal of doubt is felt in many quarters as to the
intentions of the new Minister of War. There are excellent
reasons for believing that Mr. Cardwejl will not introduce
changes which will seriously affect the prospects of the
officers, or materially impair the efficiency of the army
It is very desirable that the enormous half-pay establish.
menj should be put down, and the most simple and effico
cious way to accomplish this would be by letting half-pay
officers be appointed alone to the militia arr
reserve; but this cannot be done until the militia
patronage is taken out of the hands of lord
lieutenants, and the appointment of its officers' given tc
the charge of the regular military authorities. This change
appears to be the key to an organic improvement in our
military system. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Cardwell:
supported by the intelligence and opinion of the country,
are strong enough to disregard the opposition of some
influential landowners, if political and salutary reason:
alone influence their courses. The lord-lieutenants will,
doubtless, resist to the utmost of their power, and will
bring all their social influence to bear upon the point. Here
is the danger. The issue must prove whether the present
Government consists of real reformers, or only carpel
knights, easily amenable to the intrigues and impressions
of the drawing-room.
The Star believes that the Poor-law Board has resolves
upon a great measure of reform, in order to make uniforrx
the whole treatment of casuals in England. The object
will be to found a system which will supply all the casual's
wants, without ministering to his fancies, and the life o 1
the inmate in the wards is to be made as unpleasant as is
consistent with a due regard to his health. At the same
time we must not conceal from ourselves that but half the
work of the Poor-law Board will have been done wher
. workhouses and casual wards have been made a terror, or
rather an aversion, to the idle. There will still be, or
the other hand, the man in distress, who may fairly
claim that they shall Ve made as comfortable for
him as circumstances will allow, or, at all events,
that they shall not be made so unpleasant as
to render the shelter they afford a penal infliction.
Such harshness would defeat its own purpose, for, besides
the unmerited suffering it would inflict on the unavoidably
destitute, it would once more encourage in the vagrant
mind the play of hope and fear, as it would be impossible
to maintain. a uniformity of surliness throughout all the
workhouse lodges. of the kingdom, and the happy
valley would again be dreamed of as a place when'
nature sometimes made the official smile in spite of
the "rules of the 'service." What we so much want in
this matter of pauperism and vagrancy is, to get rid of
that sad alternation of fits hot and fits cold, from which
our emotions have hitherto suffered—to-day a charity
sermon and half-a-crown in the plate; to-morrow a prose.
cation under the Begging Act—and we Welcome the new
proposal of the board as a sign that we are getting into a
state favourable to a healthier activity.
The Telegraph considers that, on the whole, the retro-
spect of the last twenty years is cheering. In the country
great efforts have been made to improve the dwellings of
the poor. In towns, the progress of sanitary science, and
the censtruotion of • sanitary works, have certainb
dim inielred
.disease and dirt, and counteractee ,
to some extent, the evils of overcrowding. We kna,
that ethfcation, hooks, and newspapers are' wid
ely
spread; G% v
spread; and that gnbd fruit must come oret of teachh,e
the poor.to read an.l-think. We know that clmrches <et d
clergymen have multiplied ; and, ignoring. for the mo neat
a.l lugher thoughts, we are aware that a Christian vat :e•
twin, resident in any parish or district, must do saine:m4
Oar prisons, if not perfect as places of punishment, in
at
all events, no longer, as once they were, nnwhole me
Glens in which penalties never adjudged-- namely, --a* :ti•
hence and death—awaited the. hapless prisonere, our
trade and finance, as they were carried on three orlour
years ago, we will Pay nothing good ; but there are
sig-nz that a new 51,irit has arisen to rebuke rag uery
. pnnish is-4,n], and place enterprise on a solid basis.
Our,
colonies are no longer overLfrown boys fighting with
the mother country they are a " Greater Bri "
self -prot
zef free alai all but independent States, r yearly
ected, and univereally loyal to the
It i.e Omen.
that
'eeerfainty no mere estimate
of an enthusiast to say
t; in the twenty years from 1848 to- 18q8 the world has
witnessed the achievement of good deeds greater in
character, number, and apparently in lastier, result, than
were accomplished in any other twenty of the past Ivan.
dreg years.