The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-24 00:00:00

WILKINSON'S CASE.

In the City Article of the Times of Monday last
a defence of Mr. WILKINSON, the late manager of
the Joint-Stock Discount Company, is attempted/
in aid of a memorial addressed to the QUEEN for
free pardon for the convict. In commenting on
the remarks there made, the Pall Mall Gazette does
not hesitate to assert that these remarks represent
with lamentable accuracy the tone of morality which
unhappily prevails at present moss extensively le
the commercial world, and, to set it in the clearest
light, its deep and essential baseness." "The part of
the article," the Pall Mall goes on to say, "
appears to us disgraceful, is the estimate which it
discloses on the part of the mercantile world, and
on the part of so influential a person as the author
of the Times' City Article of the character of this
man." Now, the Times has a pleasant habit of
ignoring damaging remarks. But such a slap
in
the face from such a journal as the Pall Mall must
be uncommonly stinging and disagreeable to sub
mit to. The influence of the Pall Mall is accord
only to the Times itself, and such remarks canoe"
be ignored. But strong as is the influence of the
journal in which this damaging article appeared, its
real strength is derived from its crushing truth. 311%
WILKINSON, who had long been engaged as a bin'
broker, founded on his business the Joint-Stock pis"
count Company, receiving in hard cash for the good-
will £25,000, and the position of Managing Director
with a salary of £3,000 a year. Backed by
a strong
company, which shortly after its formation paid 11P
£BOO,OOO, and knowing the business to which be
was bred, trusted implicitly by both directors and
shareholders, few positions could have been aPP3"
rentiy more secure or more enviable. Yet, in less
than two years, this man landed every one ivlin
confided in him in a hideous ruin. Nor was thin
the only injury he did. the revelations of the
Discount Company over which he presided well
of so shocking a character that they struck the first
great blow at commercial credit, and inaugurated
the panic from which England will take years to
recover. So damaging were the facts revealed b°,
the Committee of shareholders that by the universal
voice of the Shareholding public the Directors, who
had permitted his shameful mismanagement, were
expelled from the boards of other concerns. it 11311
stated that even during the few days spent by the
Shareholders' Committee in investigating the affair!",
of the Company, enormous sums were made aW
with, securities disappeared, and transactions were
consummated which eventually forced the concern,
into its disastrous liquidation. In the midst °'
these transactions Mr. WILKINSON had the audaeitY
to write to the Times, declaring the Company to be
in a solvent state, speaking of the foolish terrei..
of the shareholders, maintaining the excellence
of his own management, and decrying the Pre-
ceedings of the investigating committee. The state'
ments made by that Committee have never been e't
plained. They were not sums of a few hundred
that Mr. WILKINSON was supposed in that intern
le
to have made away with, but approximate nlerm
closely to a quarter of a million. The chart
brought against him were only those likely t° %-
proved, and it was asserted that had the conviction
on these charges failed there were other chargel
behind them. If a man murders fifty people, lf
will be sufficient to convict him of the murder of
one for all the purposes of justice. The advice tho
NANA SAHIB gave to KHAN BAHADUII KIIAN 1/1,0
conveyed in this sentence, " You may as well
drowned with a foot of water as with an inch 01e
your head." What he meant is expressed by t'he
vulgar old proverb of " going the whole hog." Tif
NANA knew that the KHAN would be hanged' a
taken ; there was no use, then, in repenting, „
his true policy was to cut every Kaffir's throat .
could lay hands on. In mercantile transactions Ire
the city of London there is a much nicer and loef
discriminating morality. So long as there is .to
there is hope. Mr. WILKINSON escaped the gre3of
charges, and was drowned with a bare inch r,
water over his head. Now his friends come in
ward to prove that he should not have 110
drowned at all in so paltry a puddle. Such a wh: 6
as this, they say, could never be found in etle"tho
pool. They ignore the great sea in which
leviathan floundered and created so much C°l'
motion. The shark may have swallowed enc)r;
mous baits, and be hooked at last biting 0.-t
a tiny piece of
pork. But the argument is Doe
good that he should be returned to his nall
element because the bait was altogether too Ono
for so voracious a monster. We can well believe
the Editor of the City article of the 7 inzes when h.,
states that the people who signed the memorial in ho
WILKINSoN'S favour are members of solid firms Wro
have not been engaged in speculation. They 3ch
probably men who have rather profited by Oho,
proceedings as those of Mr. WILKINSON, but sir 0,
at all events, knew enough to steer clear of all e°oo
nection with such transactions. The insinuatl.°o
implied by this allusion to speculative transaeooo
is, that Mr. WILKINSON was engaged iu carryiegrs,
the operations of a speculative body of shareholdcw,
who, in anger at his failure, made him their vie°
Now, the reverse of this is the case. The ge°roo
body of shareholders were under the impressiost
that they were connected with a simple difet/er,
business, and one of the revelations that so °oci
whelmed them with consternation was the chnilig
into which their funds had been directed b 1
trusted manager. " Whether Mr. WILKII,IS°`OI
says the Times, "was deserving of five years' Pellt,
servitude for his mad management of the Je,,ht
Stock Discount Company is a question that 101700
have a serious bearing on the personal po ia
of a very large number of other perse°lo,4
London ; but it was not for this be the
tried and sentenced, and, looking at 4
excitement that prevailed at the time, when n' 00
sufferer was anxious to see some one hanged °de,
example, it is to be feared that he encountered n
ed
gree of prejudice for which the parties engl,lo;
in his defence were not sufficiently prepared." to
he was charged and convicted with stealing 0'
sums, amounting together to £4,860. But tile geed,
tion now is whether this conviction is to be iglioo
°
and the convict returned to the bosom of the aeft,oo
lie appears so well to represent. The solid P,
may delight in their intercourse with Mr. Wrllif Do i$
sox, and no doubt many of them feel the loss No
hospitable table and of the till from which it ~
supplied, for he was a man, we believe, most 1374
0
in his expenditure. In deciding this questiee the
MAJESTY'S advisers must consider the career 7,
big
convict, and take into account the honesty' of
management of the concern over which he preS fed
If there be a failure of justice, and it can be Pr; 10
that on the points on which he was convicted tit of
in reality innocent, let him go, with the weiguehe
the ruin of hundreds on his shoulders. If
innocent of the actual crime, there is no elenlspite
in it, and he has a right to a free discharge 10 at
of the legal fiction which terms it a pardon. 00
unless this can be clearly shown, he is the last a Do
in his prison to whom Royal clemency s-°,oll-
g
extended. We consider that the Pall Mall ti
coor
has done good service to the cause of English 030'
mercial morality by counteracting the unfair 01'
ence attempted to be brought on her lWhat De
advisers, and the Home Secretary will knot'isiboo
will be supported in weighing carefully the
merits of the case, and deciding in strict acc°l4rsosA
with the further evidence which Mr. 11r IL 10 tbor
10'
friends can now produce after being sifted bliog
who brought this charge againstWAlL"'
American Times.

et,
na, 01-0
HASTINGS—On the 22d inst., at 13, Queen
Cavendish-square, the wife of Dr. Cecil
Bust tvß
daughter. til
HENLEY—On the 22d inst., at 11, The Cedars, i°l'
Hon. Mrs. Robert Henley, of a daughter.
Marriages.
GREEN—ANDERSON-0 the 23d inst., at the peris- to
Hendon, Charles Dymoke Green, Esq., Jelin
roline Mary, youngest daughter of the late "
derson, Esq., Glasgow.
Deaths.

Births.

if ateliiiiß°ll

LITTLE—On the 22d inst., at Hastings, George -
Little, Esq., aged 42 ICe1(. ,rO.-
11
RENARD—On the 21st inst., at 292, Cambervre of 00
in his 67th ear Samuel Renard, Esq.,
countant-General's Office, Court of Chancery.
late

81115'
London: Printed and Publiahod by WILLIAM of
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Oft
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the
Aliddleoex.--Wodrieliclay, April 24, 1867.