The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-27 00:00:00

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LONDON, WFDNESDAY NiNEMBER 27, 1850

The second annual meeting of the members of the
council aril members of the Freehold Land Societies
wte, held in the committee-room of the Town-hall,
'Birmingham, on Tuesday morning. It was numer-
°Uly and influentially attended ; several Members of
Parliament, and delegates from the various societies
throughout England, . almost all of which were re-
presented, took part in the deliberations preparatory
to the public meeting. It appears that there are
already no less than eighty of these associations
in existence, exclusive of a great number of affiliated
branches ; that they contain in the aggregate no less
than 30,000 members subscribing for 40,000 shares,
and that the paid-up capital amounts to about
170,0001. This is a very fair commencement for an
institution which is still but in its itfancy ; but we
confess that we shall be deeply disappointed if it
should not receive a vast accession of strength, as
well in the number of subscribers as in the pecuniary
resources that will be available within the ensuing
year. Heretofore the condition acd circumstances of
the country have not been favourable for the due
development of such a project. The nation • is only
just recovering from the commercial crisis that
brought so many persors to the verge of ruin, and
pr"alyzed industry. The labouring population, from
whose ranks these associations must chiefly be re-
cruited, could not obtain remunerative employment
sufficient to enable them to set aside a portion of their
earnings for any purpose, however desirable. The
sufferings of past yeers—the knowledge that so long
as our infamous monetary code is main-
tained in its present form, such crises must
be of constant recurrence, induced the great
majority of the working classes to put by their savings,
in a shife in which they could at any moment be
made available, on the approach of " the rainy day.'
Wider Auch circumstances, then, it is by no mean-
stirprising that greater numbers have not enrolki,
ttiir.- names as anembers of the freehold land so-
cieties. 'We hove rather cause to congratulate our-

a s

selves that so many as 30,000 men have come
forward, contributing 17;000/. sterling, an ave•
rage of 51. 13s. 4d. each, for the purpose of
acquiring the legislative franchise—of freeing them-
selves from the reproach of being mere political
cyphers, without a voice in the selection of repre-
sentatives.

Such persons have proved themselves worthy of the
suffrage, and they have adopted the best mode of ob-
taining it, not only for themselves, but for their less
energetic brethren, who, although similarly situated,
have not exhibited similar zeal and enthusiasm for the
good cause. Those who are submitting to petty priva-
tions, who relinquish many little comforts for the per
pose of achieving their own enfranchisement, have af-
forded the best evidence of their qualifications for that
important duty. They will, indeed, be tree and inde-
pendent electors, not willing to barter the privileges
they have acquired by steady industry, frugality, and
self-denial. Their votes will be given for the most
eligible candidates. They will be proof against
bribery, corruption, and intimidation, will live
honoured, and bequeath to their children the noblest
heritage, the possession of an honest and unblemished
name. We are, therefore, proud to learn that 30,000
such persons have been found among the less wealthy
classes, and we sincerely hope that next year they
will receive a vast accession to their ranks from those
who, with increased and steady employment, and with
the additional stimulus to almost every species of in-
dustry, occasioned by the approaching Exhibition, will
have larger means at their disposal than has hereto-
fore been the case.

It must be sufficiently obvious to any person at all
acquainted with the laws of real property, and
the enormous expenses occasioned by the pre-
sent complicated system of titles, that no private
individual of small means can acquire the possession
of a freehold estate. A person with a few hundred
pounds may in vain look for a favourable opportunity
for investment. The expenses attending the deduc-
tion of title and costs of conveyance would absorb
the greater portion of his property. The purchaser
of a simple close, or small freehold, will have a much
larger sum to pay in proportion than his more wealthy
neighbour. The latter may have to pay 5 or 10 per cent,
on the value of his new estate, but the former must
make up his mind to a larger outlay than that ne-
cessary for the purchase itself, and with this addi-
tional inconvenience and drawback, that if from any
reverse of fortune, or from its becoming divisible
among his children on his deatb, it will become
practically unsaleable. The Society for Promoting
the Amendment of the Law, speaking on this subject,
in one of their admirable reports, say "Prac-
tically speaking, small properties cannot be
dealt with except as articles of luxury. The
large proprietor is debarred from selling, and
the poor man from buying, by the expense of the
transfer. Retrospective titles then are not merely a
legal inconvenience, but a great social evil." This is,
indeed, the truth ; they are social evils, and that of
no ordinary magnitude. But " union is strength,"
and what cannot be accomplished singly, may be easily
achieved by the cordial and zealous co-operation ofmany.
The freehold land societies, if the rules be judiciously
framed and the objects carried out with judgment
and integrity, will overcome every obstacle, remove
every impediment ; a large estate may be purchased
with only a single title to be investigated, which, in
turn, may be subdivided, so as to suit the wishes of
subscribers, giving to each man a fair return for his
investment, larger than that which he can obtain
through the savings'-bank, and, at the same time,
giving him without expense the great object of his
ambition—the rights and privileges of a freeman—a
voice in the national councils, and the power of making
known his wants and wishes in the Imperial Parlia-
ment through his chosen representative.

It is not our custom to offer any observations on
ex parte statements, or questions that are still sub
judice. Audi alteram partem is a golden rule which
we ever desire to respect and preserve inviolate. We,
therefore, advisedly abstained from commenting in
any way on the extraordinary transactions brought
to light in the case of " SAMUEL &BURY v. the
Rev. THOMAS HODSOLL WILE INS," although
affording a powerful illustration of some of
the many artful schemes and devices to entrap
the unwary, daily resorted to by some of the
denizens of the modern Babylon, and also of
the imperative necessity for the utmost caution,
on the part of those who desire to obtain pecuniary
accommodation in other than public and legitimate
channels. The matter, however, has at length been
disposed of ; the conditional order has been made
absolute. No notice that can now be taken
of the subject by the public journals can
in any degree influence or affect the result.
We are, therefore, at length at liberty ; and
we conceive it to be our imperative duty to draw a
salutary moral from the facts and circumstances, so
as to prevent new victims from falling into similar

snares.
On the sth of the present month a rule nisi was
obtained, at the instance of the defendant, calling upon
the plaintiff to show cause why a judge's order to
stay proceedings in the action, on payment of the sum.
of 751. for principal and 61. for costs, by monthly in-
stalments, should not be set aside, and why the plain-
tiff should not refund various sums of money,
amounting in the whole to 461., which had been
already paid by the plaintiff in pursuance of said
order ; and why plaintiff or bis attorney should not
pay the costs of the application. On Friday, when
the matter was again brought forward, mo-
tions were made on behalf of the plaintiff
and his attorney for additional time to an
swer the affidavits, but which the Court on due
consideration did not think fit to accede to. No
cause was therefore shown against the original rule,
which was made absolute as a matter of course.

From the affidavits used on behalf of the defendant,
it appeared, that on or about the month of August,
1849, that gentleman received by post a printed
circular letter, stating that the author had been fa-
voured with the negotiation of loans of money for
clergymen, qfficers on full pay, &c. (these appear to
be the parties most easily victimized, and from whom
some money can most certainly be extracted by way
of compromise under the fear of exposure), and that
he was enabled to obtain sums of money for short
terms, from 1501. to 10,0001., on the personal security
alone of gentlemen who might be in want of
pecuniary accommodation, and who bad the
means of returning the same when due. It also
stated that full confidence might be placed, and
discretion would be used in the conduct of the loans,
and that no securities would be required until the
money was ready and all preliminaries settled and
agreed upon. There was one circumstance that might
have awakened suspicion, the application was to be
by letter only, and to an anonymous correspondent,
the liberal and trustworthy agent concealing
his real name under the modest appellation of
" Alpha," 57, Burton-street, Tavistock-square. But
that mystery was satisfactorily explained—it was to
prevent " frivolous applications ;" but " on receipt of
any genuine communication the real name and ad.
dress would be immediately supplied, and all neces-
sary information given." The letter was on the whole
written with great plausibility, carrying with it an ap-
pearance of frankness and bona fides that might easily
deceire an inexperienced person—we say an inex-
perienced person, for any one possessed of ordinary
knowledge of .the world must have known that such
offers are seld oni, if ever volunteered, and that some-
thing more is' required as a guarantee for good
faith than the s elf-praise of an unknown and anony-
mous correspon dent. The defendant was, however,
captured by the glittering beit. He wanted money
for the purpose o f assisting a friend, and he deter-
mined to avail h imself of the services of the obliging
" Alpha." He ai :cordingly wrote to the address in-
dicated, inquiring the terms and mode of effecting
such loan, to wl3l.ch he received a prompt reply,
signed " J. GARDIN, sx," but which, from the affidavit
of a gentleman alum " BEART," were in the hand-
Nritlng of a pergo, a named SAMUEL Slum, the
yornger, who benlri le an insolvent debtor in the
year 1846, having beeli remanded for eighteen months
for having frauduh tritly made away with property. The
unsuspecting deft mdont was satisfied with the terms
:imposed by the e idolon GLRIMRER, but as that high-
ionded ge in could not degrade himself bl
peddling in any
transaction below the minimum
mount of 1501., if ; was, after some correspondence,
greed that Mr. VI '
ILKINS should accept a bill a,
Uch sum being
Three months for 15 'Ol., and that upon a

raised he should receive one moiety, the balance being
retained by the kind Mr. GARDINER for his own
and for which he vies to provide when the bill arrive d
at maturity. Even this stipulation did not excite any
doubt in the mind of the credulous defendant. It did
not strike him as out of the usual routine of business
that he should become responsible for a perfect stranger,
or how it happened that a person with so large a
connexion among, and unbounded iiffaence with, ca-
pitalists should require any assistance in procuring so
small a sum. The bill was duly accepted in blank for
the sum of 1501., payable three months from the date,
the 27th September, 1849. The return did not
however, come quite as soon as he had expected from
the professions of his new friend. Ile addressed two
letters of remonstrance, the second of which elicited
an answer dated the sth of October, 1849, in which
Mr. GARDINER said, "1 do not know what makes you
so uneasy. You must understand this, if you are
going off your engagements, I am not going off mine.
You agreed to my proposition of our jointly borrowing
150/., to be divided between us. lam endeavouring
to obtain this loan, and shall certainly not relinquish
the project until I fail, unless very handsomely paid
for it!"

After such a communication, it was sufficiently
manifest that the defendant had been grossly vic-
timized, that he had fallen into the hands of an ac-
complished swindler; but he continued hoping against
hope, and corresponding on the subject up to the
15th of December, one fortnight before the maturity
of the bill. Then, at length, Mr. GARDINER
conceiving " facts were best," acknowledged
that "he had received 701. from a fellow who
promised the balance the next day, which, being his
moiety, he had applied to his own use, intending to
transmit the residue, when he received it, to Mr.
WILKINS. Then commenced a series of subterfuges,
a tangled web of fraud and duplicity, surpassing any-
thing in the annals of swindling that has ever yet
been perpetrated. Exposure was to be avoided by
all means; the country clergyman ought to redeem
the bill with 751., but GARDINER had but 25/. avail-
able, and he had actually the audacity to transmit his
own note for 501. to his victim, in order that he might
get cash for it in the country and send it up to GAR-
DINER to take up the former bill, which would other-
wise be passed away, and the full amount must be
paid. The bill, however, became due. GARDINER,
although deploring the scrape into which they
had fallen became actually jocular on the subject. He
had arranged that there was "ta be no blackguardism !
but everything to be done, as'gentlemanly cut-throats
of the olden time—the CLAUDE DUVAL style." He
recommended a solicitor to accept service, appear,
and give a consent for judgment for the defendant
getting full time ; nay, further, making such excel-
lent terms as to get him off for payment, by instal-
ments, of the moiety, 751. and costs, G-ARDINER'S
own undertaking being accepted for the residue,
which was, of course, duly and regularly paid ! !
We have not space to follow through this mass of
deceit, suffice it to say, that Mr. WILKINS, after
paying 461., on account, was at length enlightened,
and, with a manliness, for which he deserves the ut-
most credit, he determined on bringing the whole
matter before the public, and with what result we
have just seen. We trust that the entire affair may
act as a beacon-light to warn many unsuspecting
and inexperienced persons of the shoals and quick-
sands that are before them, and on which the happi-
ness of inany families has been shipwrecked. If it be
so, he will not have parted with his money in vain,
or the matter be without advantage to society in
general.