The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-02 00:00:00

UST.

MR. LAING.

The reply of the Great Western of Canada Com-
pany to the recent report of the committee of in-
vestigation will be read with satisfaction not only
as regards the conduct of the directors, but also
with reference to the accusations made against
Mr. Laing. Those accusations have already been
eagerly seized by foreign journals, and such was the
vague and angry manner in which they were made,
that a leading New York paper has held them up as
a complete set-off against the latest and most noto-
rious example of financial delinquency in the United
States. " The Finance Minister to India," it is
observed, " is accused of pocketing one million ster-
ling by dishonest means. Mires and Laing in whole-
sale swindling are the counterparts of Mr. Floyd."
The gentlemen who by attacking an English public
servant in a spirit that could be made thus to subserve
hostile views'of the national character should be pre-
pared to support their charges to the very letter.
Yet it has always been pointed out that their re-
port did not contain a single tangible point against
Mr. Laing that would, in the state in which it was
presented, be received with consideration by any
body of persons or judicial Court accustomed to an
impartial examination of evidence; and the Direc-
tors of the company now furnish materials to con-
firm the opinion thus expressed. Although the
present Directors were not in office at the distant
period of the events which have been dragged up
with regard to Mr. Laing, they have the means of
testing the allegations in question, and very.properly
feel it their duty to do so, as he is no longer in
Europe to defend himself. An explanation is given
of each charge, and in some instances the answer to
matters on which the indignation of the committee
was most excessive is so simple and complete as to
be almost ludicrous, if the sense of the ludicrous
were not overpowered by the stronger feeling
which the occasion merits. As regards the charges
against the directors, so far as can be estimated
from an ordinary perusal, the answer on all main
points are equally fatal to the judgment, and it
must also be observed, the scrupulousness of the
committee. It is to be assumed that they have
not intended, in any instance, to deviate from
truth, but the number of cases in which direct,
proof is furnished of the hastiness of their state-
ments appears to be too great to adm t of much
reliance being placed upon their inferences in ge-
neral. Among other extraordinary things cited
by the directors is the circumstance that a certain
loan to the Detroit and Milwaukie Railway, which
is a subject of especially severe remarks by the
committee, was declared at the time by Mr. Robt.
Kaye, of Glasgow, one of the members of the com-
mittee, to be absolutely " imperative." Mr. Kaye
had just travelled over the line, and therefore had
had better opportunities even than the London
directors for estimating the requirements of the
case. Under date of the 26th of September,
1857, he wrote from New York, urging the trans-
action, and saying, " I feel a confidence in this line
greater than I dare express to you." He will,
consequently, at the meeting to be held on the
11th inst., find it a duty to bring his past con-
victions into harmony with " his present state-
ments. Meantime, not only the reply of the
directors, but the charges of the committee should
be carefully read by the public in general. The
affair is one political and national no less than of
private interest, and it is dangerous to attempt to
summarise statements bearing on the conduct of a
body like this committee of investigation, who have
shown themselves ready to fling against all who
differ from them, charges of dishonesty and of
wailful " garbling," which they hesitate to substan-
tiate when invited. Fortunately the interval is
short to the day when all parties will have the
opportutaity of fall discussion and justification. The
shareholders will attend with the facts before them,
and can do what is necessary if the committee have
been unintentionally misrepresented. The only
caution to be suggested is that they should insist
upon every charge being put in a concise and
specific form, and dismiss as utterly without value
all intimations of disclosures which the committee
intend to make at some future period. It is intoler-
able that the character of a large number of indivi-
duals should be held up to odium by a practice like
that adopted in the report of the committee, of
stating that proofs of delinquency exist, which for
the sake of ulterior proceedings it is not thought
proper promptly to produce.—Times' City Article.

TILE .EASTER BANQUET' AT TILE
MANSION HOUSE.

Yesterday evening, according to ancient custom,
the Lord Mayor sand Lady Mayoress entertained
a numerous party at dinner at the Mansion-house.
There were about 253 guests, and the entertainment
was of the most sumptuous character.
Mr. CHARLES DICKENS, in proposing the health
of " The Lady Mayoress," observed that, having
nu r
e of t
ot h er iermhaorskt
tboeepnrohpoenseouaredthaweitt,
hhethwe opueldrinvisesniot
that since he had been seated at the table he had
found it pleasant to consider (referring as men
naturally did to their own pursuits), how ill
English literature could afford to part with its
Lord Mayors of London. The literature of Eng-
lish history losing its lord mayors would lose some
of its most noted characters among the sturdy,
brave, adventurous, and high-minded of its good
old citizens east of Temple-bar. The literature of
English romance would lose its wealthiest London
merchant, its most beautiful merchant's daughter,
its crossest cook, its best known foreign adventure,
the most profitable investment on record, and its
most wonderful cat. (Laughter.) In like manner
English biography losing its lord mayors would
lose some of the most notable examples of the
reward of perseverance and integrity, and the
nobility of self-made men. (Hear.) Even the
great English satirist, of whom it was well said
his pictures required to be read like works,
could no more have dispensed with his
lord mayor than any of the rest, for without
him he could not have committed his idle appren-
tice, under circumstances of very touching and
powerful contrast, nor could he have rewariled his
industrious one by presenting him at court at the
height of his grandeur and fame. In his mind—
and he was sure in the minds of all who heard him
—the Lord Mayor of London never was and could
not be complete without a Lady Mayoress—(hear,
hear)—and the Lady Mayoress was the theme of
the very few words which he had to add. Within
the walls of the Mansion-house the English custom
of separating the lords of the creation from the
ladies was happily not known ; and he believed
that if the sterner sex were polled on the ques-
tion, they would arrive at the unanimous conclusion
that they were never so wearisome to themselves
or uninteresting to one another as when they were
conventionally supposed to be left quite at their
ease. • (Laughter.) In venturing to propose the
health of the Lady Mayoress, if he were to depart
from state and ceremony, and to say that he had
the privilege of long and intimate personal friend-
ship with her when widely diffusing her influence
in another capital, it would be merely for the
purpose of saying that as the liberality and princely
hospitality of the chief magistrate of London could
find no fitter female representative in the Mansion-
house, so the most wholesome influence of an Eng-
lish lady could find no better representative in the
capital to which he referred.