The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-20 00:00:00

of Woods and Forests the whale transaction; and al,
though Mr. Edwards obtained the lease in 1820, and
Mr. Nash gave him 4,500/. for his goodwill in 1822,
Mr. Mill oft heWoodsand Forests, declared in evidence
that that office knew nothing whatever of the matter
till about a year and a half ago.—(Hear, hear.)-
I.e: the Houle for a moment roNsidcr :he whole

transaction as one between private -parries. Let
them suppose Mr. Nash to have been the agent of
some individual owner of ground-rent property.
What would be the conduct of Earl Grosvenor, or
the Duke of Bedford, if it appeared to them that
their architect agent abused the trust they reposed
in him, to first providing for his friend and relation
by a traffic in their property, and then having heS
come the lessee himself, by disposing of it at a large
personal profit, all the time studiously concealing
from them (his employers) every thing connected
with the transaction ? Would they not at once, on
discovering his conduct, dismiss him from their ser-
vice as a dishonest servant, and fix the brand of vio-
lated trust on his brow ? But, forsooth, Mr. Nash is
to pass off scatheless, unadmonished, immaculate.
It is true, in defence of his conduct, it is asserted by
Mr. Nash's friends, that it would be found he came
off with very small profits; that had such been his de-
sign, he might have consulted his own pecuniary ad-
vantage much more than he had done. It is stated,
for example, that in Mr. Edwards's lease transaction,
Mr. Nash's outlay was 21,5981., though he received
but 17,021/. for the property, thereby being at a
total loss of 4,5771.—(Hear, hear.)—Now Mr.
Nash would persuade the world that he lost the
sum of 4,5771. upon these houses. No man who
considered the subject, and who reflected upon the
experience of Mr. Nash as an architect, could \veil
conceive how he could have lost so much ; but even
supposing that he did, how did that circumstance
alter the case? If a dishonest servant, for instance,
should rob his master of a certain sum of money, and
afterwards lose-a proportion of it, did that affect his
rase, or could it be brought forward as an extenua-
tion of his conduct ? It was the duty of Mr. Nash
to value those houses and the materials of which
they were composed. Now he (Colonel Davies)
would ask what reliance could be placed upon such
a valuation and survey of those buildings which Mr.
Nash had himself erected? What security could
there be under such circumstances that these build-
ings were composed of proper materials ? Who could
depend upon the statement .of Mr. Nash himself as to
whether the materials which entered into the com-
position of these buildings were either good or bad ?
That was a case sufficient to justify inquiry into his
conduct. But an attempt was made to bolster up
the case of Mr. Nash by the evidence of Mr. Shaw.
The evidence of Mr. Shaw certainly, in his (Col.
Davies's) opinion, quite exculpated the office of
Woods and Forests in the transaction. When they
found that Mr. Edwards was desirous to have a lease
of these houses, they thought it not expedient to
lease them to him merely upon the valuation of
Mr. Nash. Accordingly, they employed Mr.
Shaw, without the knowledge either of Mr.
Edwards or Mr. Nash, to value the property,
and Mr. Shaw valued the land, without know-
ing that any application had been made for
it on the part of Mr. Edwards, Mr. Shaw
valued the ground, but upon a plan which had been
originally drawn by Mr. Nash. Mr. Shaw valued
the property at 900/. a year, exclusive of the sum of
174/. a year expended upon the land in the shape of
an increasing ground-rent. He likewise valued the
old materials at 4,000/. He (Colonel Davies) ex-
amined this witness. In answer to a question from
him, he stated that he considered the speculation
a hazardous one ; and for this reason—that he had
known persons who had built houses in Regent-
street, and who had them upon their hands for some
time before they could find tenants to occupy them.
He (Colonel Davies) then asked the witness wiles_
ther he would not have given a different valuation
of this property, if he had known at the time that
there had been several persons inquiring for it before
the period of Mr. Nash's application ? His reply
was, that he would have attached more value to the
property if he had understood that others had made
application for it. Now, it appeared from the evi-
dence contained in the report of the Committee, that
previous to July, 1820, there had been a variety of
applicants for this property.
Mr. MABERLY rose to order. (Cries of order.)
He was quite sure that his Hon. Friend meant to
deal fairly with Mr. Nash, but if he (Mr. Moberly)
were at all acquainted with the forms of the House,
be conceived that his Hon. Friend was out of order.
He would submit it to the decision of the Chair
whether or not it was usual or regular for an Hon.
Member to go into the details of a report which
was not printed, and which was not as yet before
the House
The SPEAKER said, that having been called
upon to state his opinion whether the proceeding of
the Hon. Member was not unusual and irregular, he
had merely to observe, that he was not prepared to
state that the line which the Hon. Member was
pursuing was disorderly, as he did not at present
know to what conclusion that Hon. Member intended

to arrive.
Colonel DAVIES proceeded. He could assure
his Hon. Friend Mr. Moberly, that his only object
was to procure sufficient information for the public
on the subject, and he was only desirous that a full
statement of the case should go forth to the world.
Now what was the case here ? This report merely
contained the resolutions of the Committee, which
stated that Mr. Nash was not at all to blame in the
transaction, and which, therefore, went so far to
criminate him (Colonel Davies), who had preferred
those charges against Mr. Nash. if those resolu-
tions were true, he ( Colonel Davies) was an indi-
vidual not deserving of credit ; for it would appear
that he had brought certain charges against Mr
Nash, and that a committee appointed to investi-
gate those charges had pronounced them unfounded,
and had totally acquitted Mr. Nash. But this re-
port merely contained the resolutions of the Coat-

mittee, without the facts of 'the case--,without the
minutes of evidence which had been taken before
them, and which he (Colonel Davies) contended
lar
go forthrantedadi to the country,fferentconcltisio;‘Th individual in i
resolutionsose
would t
would read them, while the Mihkgtos?f evidence
which had been t4ben before the: kttee, even
if they were printed, would not:. , one out of
.50 individuals in. the country, and -. heir nature,
it would be difficult to underttand them with,
out devoting considerable time to their con-
sideration. He (Colonel Davies) was there-
fore anxious that the facts of the case should be laid
before the public, and he trusted that his Hon.
Friend would not object to the course r.s.f proceeding
which it was necessary for him for that purpose
to adopt. Mr. Nash stated in his evidence that a
great number of applications had been received for
this land—so many, that not one-half of them could
be accommodated. Another witness stated, that up
to July, 1819, they had received communications
from various persons desirous of obtaining portions
of this land. There was also an imortarit circum.
stance stated in the evidence of Mr. Shaw, to which
he wished to call the attention of the House. It
appeared that there was no less than three y;--ars
pepper-corn rent to be allowed to persons taking
this land, and Mr. Shaw state., that he was not at
all aware of that clrcurnstance when he gave his
valuation ()fit. He was accordingly asked whether
he did not think that it would have made a great
difference in his valuation of those houses, if he were
aware that indi7iduais—who would have, suppose,
to pay 1,000/. a-year—would have such an allowance
made to them for three years ? His reply was, that
such a fact would have made a great difference in
his valuation,

Mr. F. LEWIS rose to order. He did not know
whether he should stand excused with the House
for the motion which he should t.na4e, but under the
circumstances he shotdd, without further preface,
move, that strangers be ordered to withdraw,
The gallery was accordingly cleared, and during
the exclusion of strangers, which continued for half
an hour, we understand that the CHANCELLOR of the