The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-23 00:00:00

MORE DIREC7ORS' MORALITY.

Surprise would be excited had a charge of burglary
been made and particulars detailed—were the accuser
on being required to prove the case to declare it to
be all a mistake—that the circumstances bad been
explained, the highly honourable gentleman hav-
ing only misled him by a playful way of entering
the house through the window at midnight ? Let
the reader then picture the gushing counsel em-
bracing on each side, the noble-hearted accuser
lavishly praised for his quick and generous manner
of appreciating the real intentions of the accusal,
and withdrawing at once all imputations, while the
supposed burglar was complimented on the honesty
of his character, the suspicious case, bu's the better
showing what an industrious, sober, and worthy
man he was. If the judge interrupted these proceed-
ings by asking for an explanation, and it was alleged

that the accused had with crowbar forced his
way through the window, that he ha I picked up
some silver spoons, and decamped with a consider-
able amount of plate, but on hearing that a clue
had been gained which would lead to his capture,
the option had been given to the prosecutor, who
elected to get his plate back rather than to punish
the delinquent. Were all parties perrnitte I thus to
leave the court society would take alarm, feeling
that a pre:nium hal been offere I to robbery; for
the robber, if such compromises were permitted, in
success gets clear off with his plunder, while in
failure he has but to return it. Yet a case, not
widely differing in appearance, actually occur-
red in the Lord Mayor's court last week. If
Mr. Benjamin Henry Moore's alleg ttion Wa3
true, Mr. Richard Stuart Lane, Mr. Horace Ed-
ward Chapman, and Mr. Frederick John Helbert
Delbert, should not, as they did, have left the
court, but if untrue, then Mr. Benjamin Henry
Moore ought not. What he affirmed against
the others, all persons of consideration and position
in the City of London, was that by the issue of a
false prospectus they hal induced himself and
others to form a Joint-Stock Company for the
purchase of their trading business of Lane, Hankey,
and Co., which, though represented by them as a
flourishing concern, making large profits, was, in
truth, hopelessly ins Avant, and soon proved to be
so, as the company suspended a few months after
it was formed. Though his own deposition was read,
as well as that of the colonial manager of the com-
pany, who asserted that he was intimately ac-
quainted with the house, and the fact of
the failure, yet, as an arrangement prior to the
hearing of the case had been agreed to, Mr. Moore,
through his solicitor, withdrew his accusations,
stating that he had no vindictive feeling, and as he
was persuaded that the accounts did not show the
discrepancy he imagined between the facts and the
prospectus, he also withdrew any imputation that
might have been thrown upon the defendants.
Whereupon, the solicitor for Mr. Lane, thanked his
brother solicitor for the frank manner in which he

hal relieved and exculpated Mr. Lane from any
dishonourable motive. Then the counsel for the
other gentlemen also thanked the solicitor for his
frankness, though the hon. gentlemen he represented
rather courted investigation, and while hinting at
other parties pulling wires behind the scenes [vicke
men] he allowed the matter to drop, as the defend-
ants had been completely exonerated even from any
suspicion. All this was delightful, and would
probably have continued so had not the harmony
been interrupted by the Lord Mayor, who insisted
on the information laid before him by Mr. Moore
being read. The Counsel interposing, asked if it
was right to damage the defendants by reading in
Court what had been found to be fallacious. "By
whom?"—inquired the Lord Mayor. "By those
who had made the charge," replied the counsel.
A quiet little question, later in the day, came from
his lordship. " Pray, Mr. Moore," he said, " have
you received or been promised any considira-
tion for withdrawing the charge ?" After some

fencing Mr. Moore —a
Imittel that an arrange-
ment had been come to by which he was to receive
back the money he had invested in the company,
an I thus the affair droppe l—so far as his lordship's
court is concerned. Bat what about the public?—
what about those gentlemen thems.,lves, accuser
an I aceusel ? Are we thus to regard these circum-
stances ? Mr. Lane having come forwarl as the Con-
servative candid tte for a South of Englana constitu-
ency, besides being the pro:noter of the Merchants'
Company and vendor of the business on which it was
founded, has the additional qualification of being
a director of the Credit Foncier of E ngland, and
thus having fully proved his competency to frame
laws for the commerce of this country, he can with
confidence offer himielf as a fit and proper person.
No better proof could be furnished than this scene
of thepreseut tone of English commercial morality. In
Liverpool the gentleman appointed to investigate and
report on the affairs of a great bank that had failed
puts this questioNto the shareholders—" If I pub-
lish this plain, unvarnished tale, I will break up a
preserve of rascality in this commercial centre ;
but, in doing so, you wilt suffer severely. If I
garble the statement the rascality may blossom into
fruit which you may gather, and thereby avert loss.
Which shall Idu ? For the honour of England, we
are happy to say that the shareholders were not
unanimous in accepting the compromise with dis-
honesty, and Mr. James Finley, of Burton-on-
Trent, ought to meet with a hearty support
in the effort he is making to unravel the mys-
teries of the Royal Bank of Liverpool—a task

more disagreeable, than people who have not
trodden such paths, can imagine. Could we step
back front the present with such exposures a
decade into the past, we would everywhere see
mouths assuming the shape of an " 0," and hair
standing on end. Now they excite no surprise, and
but a faint emotion of indignation, and no sign
could be worse for the national future; indeed we
believe it would be better to see crimes of violence,
burglaries, and highway robberies make vigorous
head against the powers of suppression. The fore-
runner of national decay has ever been this in-
sidious corruption. It is not that liars, thieves,
and accomplished swindlers permeate society, but
that when they stand confessed they excite lit-
tle horror an I disgust. On the contrary, as
a general rule they propose themselves now as
candidates for Parliament ; but in saying this we
must be unlersto el only in general terms, for we
know nothing of the case in question beyond its
extraordinary termination. Tile leading papers,
with the honourable exception of the Pall Mall
Gazette, are almost silent on the subject, probably
dreading the effect abroad of a forcible expcsure
and denunciation of the pitiless frauds which have
brought such suffering and disgrace upon England.
Indeed a lawyer can throw in on the occasion to
which we have referred, a little pleasant "chaff" to
raise a laugh in the Lord Mayor's Court. Grim

irony, in truth, on these circumstances. The Mer-
chants' Company, he stated, hal averaged during

_ .
six years £116,000 per annum of profits ; on the
paid-up capital the vendors had, we believe, gua-
ranteed the shareholders 10 per cent. for three
years; yet, notwithstanding this flourishing business
and this valuable guarantee, the company com-
menced in October, 1865, and failed in November,
1866. "It had," said Mr. Valiance, " paid dividends
before it failed, and stood through the panic of 1866."
"There is a general recollection," observed Mr.
Lewis, " that everybody failed on that memorable
occasion, except lawyers." It would be well in-
deed for England if the money squandered had
been England's total loss. Infinitely more disas-
trous is the loss of that keen sense of honour—
that public feeling stamps those who have
broken through the code of morals, that safeguard
of man in his dealings with his fellows, upon which
even gamblers pride themselves, and rigorously
bring into operation against those who violate their
code. It was with such a flippant remark and with
the laugh that followed that this shameful scene
closed—a scene, more calculated, to make honest
men blush, and weep for the degradatio❑ of their
country.,—Anglo-American 7 lines.

LUXURIANT AND BEAUTIFUL S. A.
ALLEN'S 'WORLD'S HAIR RESTORER cm DRESSING never fails to
quickly restore Grey or Faded Hair to its youthful colour and
beauty, and with the first applica'ion a beautiful gloss and de-
lightful fragrance is given to the Hair. It stops the Hair from
falling off. It prevents baldness. It promotes luxuriant growth;
it causes the Hair to grow thick and strong. It removes all
dandruff. It contains neither oil nor dye. In large Bottles—
Price Six Shillings. Sold by most Chemists and Perfumers.
Depot, HG, High Holborn