The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-11 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX and SURREY GRAND SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
JUNCTION RAILWAY. FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF SATURDAY.
STANDING ORDERS. GLOBE.—The proceedings of the Athlone Tories,
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. and "their political connexions resident in London,"
am a shareholder in the Middlesex and Surrey against Mr. Collett's return for that previously safe
Grand Junction Railway ; and have, consequently, re- Conservative borough are, probably, unequalled in the
garded with much interest the railway applications to annals of political faction. The petition got up last
Parliament this session ; and I feel deeply convinced of year against that gentleman's return, and which was
the necessity of a most rigid revision of the standing rsisted in to the last moment, will not be speedily
orders, or, at least, of their being enforced with strict
tten The Committee selected by the House to
rorgo` . _
impartiality ; and, if you will permit me, I will contri-
bute a few facts in reference to the above line which may try the merits of that petition assembled. The counsel
engaged to defend the return ; the agents and wit..
be of public utility at the present moment.
At the close of November last extra Gazettes were nesses for the sitting Members were all in attend- ,
published, containing a notice of an intended line of ante ; when the agent for Captain Beresford app-
railway from Hogg's-mill River, on the South Western plied for a postponement, on the ground that Mr.
Railway, through certain districts, to Epsom in Surrey ; Cockburn, who was to have appeared for the peti,
and in such notice was contained a paragraph that tioners, was " gone to the Derby !" The Cam
"Application was intended to be made to parliament for mittee refused to entertain the application—its desti-
leave to let or sell the intended line-to the South Wes- tution of all claim to regard•was, indeed, obvious to
tern Railway Company." This notice was signed by every one. Had anything been wanting to complete
Mr. Birclam and Messrs. Morgan, solicitors, Old Jewry.
The usual landowners' notice was subsequentl the proof of its paltry character, it would have been
supplied by Mr. Cockburn's letter to the public jour-
some land-owners being omitted—why, Ido not stop to served along the line very imperfectly, as lam informed,
na s, on the following day, requesting them to state,
inquire—and the usual deposit of plans, &c., was made that though at his chambers until ten o'clock the
.previously a
by the same parties who published the notice in the
evening to the day appointed for
Gazette. trying the merits of the petition, no brief had
In Februaty a petition was presented on behalf of the been sent, nor any instructions given, to him, to
South Western Railway Company (mark this!) for leave appear to support it before the Committee. This
to bring in a Bill, &c, .for making the line, and the same trifling with the privileges of Parliament—this per-
was referred to the Committee on Standing Orders. - version of the authorit of the House of Commons
Now this Committee had to decide whether the South yto the purposes of mere party malevolence, was corn-
Western Company had, amongst other things, published mented upon by us at the time. We called upon
the usual notices required by the Standing Orders, and
the Committee decided the South Western Company had. the House to visit the conduct .of the parties who
Now, it is clear that the South Western Company had thus acted, with some tangible mark of its
never published or served a single notice, the only notice displeasure. Had this been done ; or ha the
of the intended line being the a e, which bears on the Committee pronounced the petition against the re-
face of it evidence of its NOT being the South Western turn "frivolous and vexatious "--as it might and
Company's; for none but madmen would have applied to ought to have done—and thus fixed the petitioners,
Parliament to let or sell an intended line to themselves or their securities, with the costs incurred by
'but the name of Mr. Bircham, the respectable solicitor Mr. Collett in defending his return, thus ground-
to the South Western Company. Ming attached to that lessly called in question, the new and, if possible,
-notice_, in company with other solicitors' names,-seeras to yet more disgraceful experiment—made, as we verily
Ow, have had an effect on the Committee.
believe, and as the evidence goes to prove, for the
-• ow, here the Standing Orders are a perfect farce, . :,lul-i repeat the South Western Company never served purpose for extortion, would not have been ven-
"a single notice of this intended line before the presents- tured- upon. The first abortion alleged corrupt
tion of the petition. The House, however, received a Practices against the sitting Member, or his agents,
report that the Standing Orders had been complied at or before the election. The second was framed
with, and the Bill was read a second time, and, unless and presented to the House of Commons under
the Lords interfere, will become a law, the new election law ; which, in cases where corrupt
From the case above-mentioned, one would naturally payments were made after an election, allowed
-conclude that the Committee would not be very the return to be questioned within twenty-eight
squeamish about the Standing Orders ; and the Mid- days after the making of such corrupt payments. This
dicier and Surrey Company applied for an extension
of time ; but, observe the different conduct pursued new move was performed under the direction of a Mr.
Toss, who described himself to the Committee as
in this latter instance—it was refused peremptorily,
no witnesses examined, and the undertaking is thrown " resident in London, but politically connected with
over until next session. Athlone." This gentleman, whose description of
Now Sir, there are, or rather were, three lines of himself seemed to afford considerable amusement
railway before the House, running to or near the town to the Committee, admitted, in his cross-exand-
of Epsom, in Surrey—Hogg's-mill River to Epsom— nation, that "he had advanced money for the
Croydon is Epsom—and the Middlesex and Surrey, purposes of this petition • that he had re-
c.rossing the country between Epsom and Ewell. Jus- ceived 200/. from Messrs. Wimborne and, Collett,
tice to Epsom demanded that the three lines should be- the solicitors of Chancery-lane, who had taken up the
before the Committee together, in order that the best of petiti n • th t he (Mr. Moss) had advkaced money
o friendship towards a
the three should be adopted. This is denied, and it will,
Mr. Beresford; and that he
out of
mall probability, be seen that a clumsy junction of the
(oydon-Epsom and Kingston-Epsom may be finally ef- expected that any person who went down as a candi-
fected.Another consideration arises—whence arises this date on the Conservative interest, and who should be
extraordinary powerof the South Western Company to set successful, would bear the expenses of this petition."
aside a Standing Order of such vital importance to the Such being the questionable psition of the concoctor
public as the public notices in the Gazette, and individual of the petition, and his admissioons as tothe worthiness
notices along the line ? Is there a sort of mesmeric of the objects for which it was projected, we now come
power possessed by established companies over Com- to the petitioners,
_ and the parties who were called to
mittees of the Rouse ? give evidence. The former were thus described by
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, one of their own witnesses :—" Kelly is one of the
A CONSTANT READER. petitioners.. He is not worth fourpence. Fallon,
another petitioner, could not give his family a din-
ner of potatoes and milk. All the petitioners to-
ge2her could not pay half the expenses of my
coming to town.' These poor creatures were,
by the depth of their poverty, rendered more
easily accessible ; and were more likely to
--- escape the consequences of becoming parties
to the scheme. The witnesses who were ex-
pected to prove the accepting of money for their votes,
were repudiated by those who adduced them. They
failed to prove--indeed, they completely negatived,
having received any money, or anything else, in the
way of consideration, for voting for Mr. Collett ;
but one of them did let out that "he
had been offered 451. to vote for Captain Beresford."
We trust that the evidence will be printed by an
order of the House, and that some Member will
bring the subject before the House on a question of
privilege, or in some other form, in order to ascertain
how far such proceedings as those which have
been prosecuted against Mr. Collett's return for
Athlone, are consistent with the freedom of repre-
sentation or the privileges of Parliament. More
than one party, whose names appear in this affair
ought to be called to the bar of the House, to answer
for their conduct, in thus employing the forms of
the House to serve the purposes of election jobbery.
If so signal an instance of utter disregard to the dig
nity of Parliament be passed over without inquiry,
with a view to prevent, by the punishment of the
offenders, a repetition of the offence—such prac-
titioners of the trade may ply their traffic without
fear. No more flagrant instance can occur; and
having allowed impunity to greater, the House
cannot proceed against lesser, offenders against its
privileges.
STANDARD.—The speech of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer last night, in proposing the conversion
of the Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Stock, received
the unanimous applause of the House of Commons—
and it deserved it, for the speech is a model in
its kind, for it is simple, clear, and unpretend-
ing ; rare merits indeed, if not singular, in a ,
financial statement. It is proper to say so
much of the speech in order to protect it from
the common fate of financial statements, the
....
being put aside unperused by the majority of news- I
'Canada
paper readers. The plan which this most able and
satisfactory speech developes has, however, no small
I share in the merit of the address. It is easy, the
lawyers say, to make a good speech with a good case ;
in such a case all is gentle downhill work, nice gal-
loping ground ; there are no objections to be an-
swered, no bye-roads to be pursued, no halting
apologies to be dragged along. Mr. Goulburn 's
merit is, however, not the less than his task was
light, when the task was lightened by his own ar-
rangements, as a statesman and financier. his
speech was easily made simple and satisfactory, be-
cause his plan is simple and satisfactory ; he needed
neither bye-ways nor apologies, because he has pro-
posed to himself neither bye-ends nor anything
for which an apology is necessary. The Right Hon.
Gentleman's plan of conversion is as follows :
There are about two hundred and fifty millions of the
public debt (somewhere about a third of the whole)
which now pay three-and-a-half per cent. inte-
rest, while the remaining bulk of the debt pays
but three per cent. The effect of the high
charaCter of the public faith of the country,
and the confidence in the stability of the present
Government and in the continuance of general peace,
has caused a very extraordinary rise (more than 10
per cent.) in the price of these securities since Sir
Robert Peel's accession to office, a rise which is the
more remarkable because it has been (as the improve-
ment in commerce and manufactures demonstrate),
concurrent with the application of an immense amount
of capital to active trade ; the fact being, however, that
the security of British faith has attracted
large investments from every part of the world.
From whatever cause arising,' it is certain that the
Three per Cents. yesterday were very nearly at
par, being at 981, and the Three-and-a-Half at
21. 10s. above par, and this has been pretty steadily
the rate of prices for several months. The
time, therefore, for paying off or converting
the stock, which had improved in value beyond
what was contemplated by borrower and lender
when the loan was originally made, and plainly
arrived. If the nation, by paying 505., could re-
lieve itself of 10s. interest—observing the strictest
good faith all the while—the nation was clearly
entitled to do so, and the Minister to whose hands
the care of the national finances is confided was
bound to avail himself of the opportunity of
saving some 14 per cent. of a large annual drain.
Accordingly, Mr. Goulburn resolved to reduce
:the Three-and-a-Half per Cents. to Three per Cent.,
either by conversion into Three per Cent. (paying
the marketable difference), or by paying off the
whole, at the will of the holder. For many rea-
sons, however, it seemed advisable to break the
descent of the holders of the Three and-a-Half per
Cents., instead of holding them to the strict
right ; the sudden diminution of
income to many,
though what they ought to have foreseen, might
prove inconvenient, while the balance, which in
one way or other they were to receive in
consideration of that dimi • nution, might, if
very great, disturb the Money 'Market. Upon these
considerations, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
wisely creates for the occasion an intermediate stock
bearing three and a quarter per cent. interest for ten
years ; but after that bearing interest three per
cent. and no more; and into this stock he pro-
poses to convert the 250 millions of Three-
and-a-Half per Cents., an immediate saving
to the country of 625,0001. per annum, and
at the end of ten years a saving of 1,250,0001. per
annum—a saving in the whole, certainly, equivalent
to an extinction of fifty or sixty millions of the public
debt. This is something to be boasted of by a Minis-
try not more than two years and a half old, which, at
its accession to office, found the national debt increas-
ing at the rate of three or four millions annually, but
Mr. Goulburn makes no boast of the achievement,
he leaves the praise where the praise no doubt is
ultimately due, to the untiring energy and
inviolable good faith of the British nation ;
and he is right. It is honour high enough for any
mortal statesman to say that he is worthy to give
direction to such energy, and to be the guardian of
such faith. And this hpnour was unanimously
awarded last night ta-811. Robert Peel and his col-
,
lotgues, and the nation will confirm the award.
-Commerce revived and extended—universal
_peace
abroad, conquered by glorious victories over all who

TAIL'

'ARY STAT

lONS.

(Front the Uni

Wd Service Magaz

,71e for March.)

X99:iments and Corps

Troops or Service
Companies.

'lst-Life-Guards
24 do
Royal Horse-Gds
Ist Dragoon-Gds
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4th d 0...,..
sth do
6th do
7th do
Ist Dragoons
2d do
3d do
4th do
6th do
7th Hussars
Bthdo ........ ........
6th Lancers .......
10th Husrars
Ilth Lipht Dragoons
12th Lancers l3th 'Hussars ..... ......
.14th do .........
15th do
16th Lancers
17th de
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2d bat
3d het
Vitthlstresar Ist bat
j Guards 2d bat
Scots Fusi. Ist bat
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2d bat
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4th do.
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18th do.
19,h do.
20th do.
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21st do
22d do ...
23d do
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24th do ............
2:ith do ..... ......
26th do .. • ........
27th do ...............
28th do .. ........
29th do ........
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31st do
32d do
33d do ..... .......
34th do
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39th do
40th do. ...........
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45th d 0... .
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47th do ............
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51st do
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63d do
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67th do
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59th do.
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61st
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65th do. ...............
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68th do ......
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73d do..
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79th do. ............
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Windsor
ißegent's Park
Hyde Park .....,•••
Canterbury
Ballincollig
Dublin

Longford
Dundalk
IPiershill
Cape of Good Hopkil
Newbridge .......
'lpswich .. I
'Bengal ...............
Exeter ... ............
Nottingham
Brighton
York
Bengal ,.
Cahir
Dublin
Manchester
Hounslow
Bombay 1
Madras
Bengal ...
Birmingham ......
Tower .......
St. George's 8ar....
St. John's, Wood
Portman Barracks
Wellington Barracks
Wineliester
1 Wilidsor
Gibraltar
Quebec*...
80mbay............
Bengal
Madras
Dublin
Chester
Gibraltar ...... .....
Bolton
Bengal
Bengal
•
Kilkenny ... . . .......
Mauritius ............
Mauritius ...... .....
Bengal •
.. I
Canada ...
Templemore ..
Birr
Aden
China. ... .*
Cephalonia ...... .....
Bermuda ...
Bermuda
Bengal .... ........
Bombay .....
Barbadoes
Canada
Dublin
Madras
Edinburgh
Cape of Good Hope
Bombay .....
Bengal ...... ......
Cork ....

Maidstone

Illaidsto;;

Slaidstone

Maidstone
Nlaidstone
'Maidstone

Tralee
Londonderry
Chatham
Chatham
Chatham

N

Brecon

Chatham
Chatham

[sle of Wight

Chatham
Armagh

Chatham
Chatham
,Jersey
Isle of Wight

Chatham
Chatham
Isle of Wight

1 Chatham

Drogheda
Chatham
Chatham

Bengal ..............,
Manchester ..
New Brunswick ....
Dublin ..
Llauritius ... .. ....
Dublin ........
Ne wcaqt le-on- Tyne.
Gibraltar
Bengal
Bengal...
Canterbury ........
Malta
Malta
Montreal .
Winchester.... .......
Cape of Good Hope
Gibraltar
St. Lucia
Gosport .. —
Jamaica
Portsmouth
Bengal
Van Diernen's Land
New Brunswick
Newry
Athlone
China
Cork
Madras ,
Chatham ...

Chatham

Limerick

Templemore

Chatham
Chatham

Es]. of Wight

ICaphel

Portsmouth

(Guernsey

Chatham
Chatham
Nenagh

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!Chatham

Portameutb ••
Dublin
Jamaica

Belturbet

Limerick . ......
Bengal
Madras •••
Weedon
Mullingar
• Belfast
• Manchester ....
Canada
Castlebar
Leeds....
•
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• Canada .
Fermoy ........
Newport, S W.
Montreal.
Plymouth .....
Devenpoit • ••
Jamaica ...
Bombay
Gibraltar
New South Wales
Canada
Quebec
•••
Northampton
Madras
Antigua
Bombay
Glasgow
Malta
Canada
Ceylon .
Cape and St Helena
Cape of Good Hope
Edinburgh

Chat ham
Chatham

(Chatham

Hale of Plight

Kinsale

Dover

Chatham
Stirling
Chatham
Buttevant
Clare Castle

Chatham
Newbridge
Chatham

Paisley
Cork
Carlow
Isle of Wight

crld do

94th ........
95th do
96th de
97th do. ......-
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48th do
99th do
Rifle B. Ist bat.
2d bat..,
Reserve Bat.

Carlisle
Chatham
Dover
Sheerness
Isle of Wight

Chatham
Chatham
Athlone
Isle of Wight

16t West India Regia
2d Do ...