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 e
free pardon for the convict. In commenting on
the remarks there made, the Pall Mall Gazette doe 4
not hesitate to assert " that these remarks represent
with lamentable accuracy the tone of morality which
unhappily prevails at nresent most extensively in
the commercial world, and, to set it iu the clearest
light, its deep and essential baseness." "The part
the article," the Pull Mull goes on to say, " which
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
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 see°ll7.
only to the Times itself, and such remarks cannew
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. Air'
WILKINSON, who had long been engaged as a bill-
broker, founded on his business the Joint-Stock Die-
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 tir
£BOO,OOO, and knowing the business to which be
was bred, trusted implicitly by both directors and
shareholders, few positions could have been appa-
rently more secure or more enviable. Yet, in less
than two years, this man landed every one who
confided in him in a hideous ruin. Nor was this
the only injury he did. The revelations of the
Discount Company over which he presided Were
of so shocking a character that they struck the &°,
",
great blow at commercial credit, and inaugurated
the panic from which England will take years 1°
recover. So damaging were the facts revealed V
the Committee of shareholders that by the universel
voice of the Shareholding public the Directors, Wil°
had permitted his shameful mismanagement, were
expelled from the boards of other concerns. It
stated that even during the few days spent bY
Shareholders' Committee in investigating the affair,
of the Company, enormous sums were made avl"e
with, securities disappeared, and transactions wer
consummated which eventually forced the coucertif
into its disastrous liquidation. In the midst (),
these transactions Mr. WILKINsoN had the audacity
to write to the Times, declaring the Company to be,
in a solvent state, speaking of the foolish terror
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 el‘;
plained. They were not sums of a few hundred
that Mr. WILKINSON was supposed in that inter
to have made away with, but approximate 111er
closely to a quarter of a million. The charge°
brought against him were only those likely t° b 0
proved, and it was asserted that had the convicti°o
on these charges failed there were other chargel
behind them. If a man murders fifty people'
will be sufficient to convict him of the murder ve
one for all the purposes of justice. The advice tijo
NANA SAHIB gave to KHAN BAHADUII KHAN °e
conveyed in this sentence, " You may as well er
drowned with a foot of water as with an inch o'ibe
your head." What be meant is expressed b3r1130
vulgar old proverb of " going the whole hog." 1,
if
NANA knew that the KHAN would be hanged,,ci
taken ; there was no use, then, in repenting, 'o
his true policy was to cut every Kaffir's throat Yin
could lay hands on. In mercantile transactions
re
the city of London there is a much nicer and 111310
discriminating morality. So long as there is 'llp,t
there is hope. Mr. WILKINSON escaped the gre -
0,
charges, and was drowned with a bare inch ,t,
water over his head. Now his friends come be
ward to prove that he should not have he 10
drowned at all in so paltry a puddle. Such a 030
as this, they say, could never be found in sileb,Do
pool. They ignore the great sea in which
leviathan floundered and created so much ceal;
motion. The shark may have swallowed ceaot
mous baits, and be hooked at last biting of
a tiny piece of pork. But the argument is 11te
good that he should be returned to his netlaii
element because the bait was altogether too sel To
for so voracious a monster. We can well bed' lie,
the Editor of the City article of the Vines when 1,
states that the people who signed the memorial in 10
WILKINsoN's favour are members of solid firms 10
have not been engaged in speculation. They atte h
A'
probably men who have rather profited bY Doi
proceedings as those of Mr. WILKINsoN, but 1/00,
at all events, knew enough to steer clear of all e.
nection with such transactions. The insinnatle
0°
implied by this allusion to speculative transact-10 o
o
is, that Mr. WILKINSON was engaged in carryiug
the operations of a speculative body of shareho
who, in anger at his failure, made him their viotiol
Now., the reverse of this is the case. The genejoe
body of shareholders were under the imPreaol
that they were connected with a simple dife'",er,
business, and one of the revelations that so tr
01
whelmed them with consternation was the chaut;io
into which their funds had been directed 1)9 oo
trusted manager. " Whether Mr. WiedilSSc 001
says the Times, "was deserving of five years' Pio,
servitude for his mad management of the 3tbt
Stock Discount Company is a question that 11700
have a serious bearing on the personal Po d 10
of a very large number of other persoe'sto
London ; but it was not for this be the
tried and, sentenced, and, looking at feel
excitement that prevailed at the time, when
..ge
sufferer was anxious to see some one hanged:: cle'
example, it is to be feared that he encountered "agecl
gree of prejudice for which the parties ea /0;
in his defence were not sufficiently prepared•
he was charged and convicted with stealing
1109'
sums, amounting together to £4,860. But the -xorocl,
tion now is whether this conviction is to be ig,ieti
and the convict returned to the bosom of the Sev
;
he appears so well to represent. The sob—
,1 fir
may delight in their intercourse with 11r. of 10"
SON, and no doubt many of them feel the 10° 00
hospitable table and of the till from which 110/0
3
supplied, for he was a man, we believe, most 0 1101
in his expenditure. In deciding this questi°of
MAJESTY'S advisers must consider the career
convict, and take into account the honesty °:idecl,
management of the concern over which he Pre;ofecl
If there be a failure of justice, and it can be
,P 13
that on the points on which he was convicted tof
.013
in reality innocent, let him go, with the Welvoo
be
the ruin of hundreds on his shoulders. 'cool
innocent of the actual crime, there is no
in it, and he has a right to a free discharge 1" 13°
of the legal fiction which terms it a pardoe:t ,001/0
unless this can be clearly shown, he is the I°lo be
in his prison to whom Royal clemency sh°oaf,ell
extended. We consider that the Pall 111611 Or
•ht •
has done good service to the cause of Eng.t'! ;01V,
h
mercial morality by counteracting the un'''
MAJ 1)6
ence attempted to be brought on her tot
,0
advisers, and the Home Secretary will know
will be supported in weighing carefully therda4
merits of the case, and deciding in strict ace c)1.400$00
with the further evidence which Mr. WILI' tn°
friends can now produce after being sifted g 0
who brought this charge against biro'
American Times.

Births. o

HASTINGS —On the 22d inst., at 13, Queen And'i
Cavendish-squaro, the wife of Dr. Cecil gas a'
106
daughter. ruteeP
HENLEY--On the 22d inst., at 11, Tho Cedars,
Hon. Mrs. Robert Healey, of a daughter.
Marriages. 'O/
GREEN—ANDERSON—On the 23d inst., at the falA.7 iktr'
Hendon, Charles Dynioke Green, Esq., lien-r- .13110
rolino Mary, youngest daughter of the late

dorson, Esq:, Glasgow.
11000
Deaths.
LITTLE—On the 22d inst., at Ilastings George lititc „Jo
Little, Esq., aged 42. " .07,07,
RENARD—On the 21st inst., at 292, Camberwell I\ltettis A
in his 67th year, Samuel Eenard, Esq., late c".
countant-Goneral's Office, Court of Chancery.

_ 001
NT Pll'. 117
London: Printed and Published by WILLIAN Igo. of
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TUE SUS Offico°'oo.lti
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in til°
bliaillesoi.—Wcanosday, April 21, 1867.