The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-17 00:00:00

`~...~~

AMBLING AND USURY

° were always of opinion that the old. Usury
Law—admitting to their fullest extent the objections
So persevering
p ly urgel against it in the House of
t,'°lllllThos by the late Lord SyDENHAm, when Mr.
•uouLeTT TlloMsON—was precipitately repe;;l,,d, and
Worse "amended." But Mr. SPRING RICE'S subse-
quent extension of the principle to the discount of
bills under a certain date, was a far more questionable
experiment towards a free trade in money-broketing,
thei consequences of which have long since ceased to
be matters of merely speculative apprehension. There
is said, in dialectics, to be " no rule without an ex-
e,ePti°ll." In political economy this is true of almost
all general principles. That free. trade in capital, as
iq other commodities, should be upheld and en-
couraged, is a postulate which few men, as this time
("33'1 would be rash enough to contest; yet the
practical experience of every week demonstrates the
necessity for its qualification to the extent of clear,
definite, and even stringent, legislation for the pro-
tection of those who are the buyers of money from
the overwhelming exactions of those who have it to
In commercial dealings, or transactions of or-
dinary barter, there is always more or less of equality
Between the two parties to a bargain. In the nature
of things the competition, on one side, to sell goods is
always greater than it is—among those who have
124"°Y—to advance it. But, on the other hand, the
necessities of those who deal for its advance upon
Simple
iPleloan, or security, are so much greater than
`heir's who consent to relieve them ; —the importance
to the
the rectification of the borrower's position of econo-
rnizi
tr, ng time is so much more urgent than it can be
ithn who is to put clown the pecuniary means for
that purpose, that the law has hitherto wisely
asgueled that the borrower will be prone to pay the
most extravagant and ruinous price for such advances,
and for their acceleration; and that the lender will
he but too well disposed to take every advantage of
Lis distress and of his recklessness. The restrictions,
therefore, which Acts of Parliament imposed upon the
I.llllte of discount which could be legally taken for
and
bills of acceptance and promissory notes,
the Penalties and disabilities of suit which it at-
: Fe'd to the infraction of its enactments as to the
• tdtation it prescribed to the rate of interest to be
iltaken for the use of the money, were, in the main,
sailitary and effective. They sometimes operated with
Feat hardship and injustice on the lender, and encou-
raged' collusive actions or fraudulent defences. But
re balance of good, it is very generally allowed, was
I:lBtheir favour. Since they were repealed society
been incessantly shocked and disgusted at the
heartless avarice and guilty connivance with which
professed money-lenders and bill-discounting attor-
-
teYs have aided thoughtless and improvident young
mien
to anticipate, in the most wanton excesses of
debauchery, or the more insidious excitement of
their own patrimony or estate, or the pro-
rtY and expectations of their families and connec-
•' 61011°: Ever since the money-lender has been secured
11 11Mity in taking interest for his money, within the
enlita only suggested by his own very expansible
eo4science, we have noted an appalling increase of
,43e8 af outrageous spoliation of young men, whose
lint of common sense and ordinary caution have been
,ecnrately proportioned to their criminality and dis-
kPation.
°Ooltistructive specimen of these was disclosed on
Inesday last, in the Court of the Vice-Chancellor
t; P•algland—" Stratford v. Flight." .arr. HUGH
tltATroitp STRATFORD, a young gentleman of four-
NI-twenty, inherited a portion of the property, with-
, e°11: a fraction of the sagacity, of the late Master in
hi alleery STRATFORD, his paternal uncle. It was
tr3reisfortune to have been victimised by " gaming
644Isactions." In June, 1842, he lost, at a game
" blind hookey," no less than 20,000/. ; but
ki,Tigh the instrumentality of one COOKE, of Clif-
C"street, an attorney, the bills which STRATFORD
given for this sum were restored to him, and the
111--so righteous as it doubtless was—was corn-
'orw
r tided for the modest sum of 5,000/. The disin-
te:sted attorney's good offices did not stop here—he
elne his gambling companion. After this new
ecies of professional attendance had continued for
lirittle time, in the course of which very many gamb-
-0,0!,11011ses were visited by them, this interesting
bcPle---the dupe and his "friend"—met, (of course
I,;tbe merest accident in the world, and without any
pa-vitY or collusion on the part of one of them,) a
IstY at an inn in the country, consisting of two men
44411. ed CoGuLara and EvAsts, and a female, who passed
l'u:rs. CoGnLast. After dinner, Mrs. CoGHLAN, as
11001 r like diversion, proposed a game of " blind
„,„eS ;" and Mr. STRATFORD, who even in this pro-
• ttak.-ming saw nothing, it would seem, in the least ex-
p clhlinary or suspicious—with a simplicity calculated
112,14 the meridian of Arcadia, in the most innocent
the et' pastoral society—consented to make one at
$v This This was on the sth of April, 1843. The
013143'ed until two o'clock the next morning. On
o v„'th, after breakfast, one of the "gentlemen" was
14:t'iging as to make up the score which had been
hell' and the results were very singular, no doubt,
l Painfully disastrous for the "squeezable" Mr.
ka-4/Poito. He had lost to COGHLAN, 10,843/. (this
• loved to be particular, even to fractions) ;to his
Z--`ne, faithful, and disinterested "adviser "—the
t°ll°Y, 4,060/. Why the score should have brought
.21"1110ao • a debtor to EVANS in the paltry sum of
ali, or What, if any, were the winnings of the fe-
Aien%lll3on a match so admirably arranged for the
litto-e't and delectation of the man COGHLAN, and the
,thi:4eY, COOKE, the report does not state. But
Was the first act of the three of which this do-
drama consisted.
th:he second exhibited the foolish victim yielding to
vN,--`Persuasions"—the " gentle violence"—of his
cll2' good friends On the 28th of April he was in-
poor man ! to give his acceptances for
ad
er the
Ea,c'tlnt of his losses. Four of these bills, for 1,0001.
``eh' happened to be drawn by COOKE, himself—who,
h anxious to accommodate" STRATFORD, was so
0% as to make- them payable at his (Coma:, s) own
4:e' in Clifford-street. Presently, however, Mr.
tior,-41Polto's friends (friends in the better accepts-
liff-; of the term, not attorneys) discovered the whole
thiar:r) and filed two "bills" (not quite such pretty
410 P as 1,000/. acceptances), the one against COOKE
the the other against COOKE and Cowman' ; and
steclurt, on the sth of May, not being sufficiently
nctOtened on the equity of such transactions, was so
lietfias°llable as to grant an injunction restraining
siea P'actitioners—the professional arid the unprofes-
close4l:"-frorn negotiating such bills. This count
Ti. 4 the second of this serious farce.
third and last opened ominously. On that
" the critical day," as the report terms it,
verv.lB churlish injunction, something else " happened"
tiet;e:clcll3T--but the whole history is full of coinci-
‘ t‘vc, -s* On that very day, it happened, then, that
),tac'r these four bills were endorsed to a Mr. Trio-
aN ILIGHT, the defendant in the suit whereof we
aNaliving this outline. THOMAS FLIGHT, who
14044 tt) be • sort of unprofessionally-profes-
11% discounter, subsequently brought an ac-
alas f," these bills, and obtained a verdict; but,
ilirn! a new trial was afterwards directed.
hide
defence and plea were meant to show that
deol:),lticitlet on the affair has been bona fide. He has
that e
-`4
knowledgeof the gambling. It "happened"
that
t 1 •had
; brought
-IcKE (not otherwise described), wh01,41 the habit of bringing him bills to discount,
the him, the four 1,000/. bills to discount, about
T of April. FLIGHT states that he was told
4boutP°4l3l a young man of good expectations, and
ads kti.:°, be married to the daughter of a Baronet,
veolt-t`°us to raise money for his marriage ; that
to etlhis attorney, had drawn three bills upon him
°I tour him to effect this object. Just the story,
Willa e, calculated to lull the suspicions of a liberal,
r'hro • • •
IsirA Plc, benevolent, discounting "friend to the
1, --sae('
'Old; --quite a duck of a money-lender. But
epe,s. `has this FLIGHT altogether such a person—
aceoll " hearted and open-handed? What is his own
• LWantelidt;:f his Own terms ? In the first instance he
re advan‘doolcE to give a judgment for the amount to
111 e deck eed
to STRATFORD
_; and, on COOKE'S refusal,
elti Lied to discount.: = But afterwards, in a re-
ti° "30d, We suppose--
Nti,. agree , •- • :
411 s'"leat ti to discount, two of them, upon an ar-
hiiiie,urane lat Stratford should pay him 80/. a year as
Per B”were fe on his life, until the bills were paid. The
cent or three mentl nd were discounted at 661.
oil the s'llia;oldi the amount, es sathe discount (1,78,0/.), was
to ilthe same ,May paid Eicke on behalf of Cooke, and
4114:14, aetion'aY. Cooke gave an undertaking to appear
th ,3trati. which should be brought against himself
•ey bee, °red(,,i in ease the bills should not be paid when
11' Re."
e feei,fr
from this statement; a vast respect for Mr.