Star.
London, England, 1827-11-02 00:00:00

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bah!, that Is Ott way which would be ofiepted ; bat If. Feta*
comes and gives information, putting it in a strong way that howl '
him been committed, the first them h, tooMeetans whether
has been committed or not ;" that.i as an which pito& As •`i
Motbed personally, thinking an ' wired Illt OSSA 12 .
iii
*moduct, and that It would be' lin la& It -
freeds; whereas lam terrace " hag•• th!M_Mit al _ A
Oa sti
am. We 9.7llbece.pb torast4/67. etellik. rtviei. de ~,
that I be&amentiellid
I.itesaibe
. . . .
al lattaky, ha side fest ate le idi 'i
ligiresisetToptegels see say; am Ida,
Cl refused the In rei --2,
segoolgo
_Apiesegeobsolty to inspect the 'and 0 ,
the pawl el :commiss, of Inquiry (I ha menden,*
%in
;be matter to the eft), this caused I gnat aril astfilibl..
titration about the mode of doing this, and we got boas '
a little warm. • Imfill, " ray, Mr. Chairman. did not you see left f '
lbeehotHeausnotit thertiday after I saw your He said," Yirs;r iliG" .:
'
01111111 you give him any papers r—"No, be said he had not seen Me- . ,
dime tbe Friday, nor given him any papers; he had no cominooka. 1 .:
tbillithit hint." Ido not think any thing particular passedibot when
'1 lease cut I said to Mr. filawe-.." Did you not tell Me Tait .: .
sum two particular numbers to the chairman?" fur I &repast ~, •
Mr. Mawe to give him only two numbers—nut to give him the ' . :
whole. He said—" Yes." He said—" I gave him two paid. '
Z:umbers, and that paper Mr. Dean saw in the bands of Mr.
Beaumont at the County .Fire Office." I then went into
sbellsleard-room, and desired Mr. Mawe and Dean to be called its; .
I asked Mr. Maw. first wheelies' be had not delivered to the Chair
man a paper containing two particular numbers. He said he bills '
dist Is a copy delivered to him (producing it); that contains thew. .
titulars or the subject of those numbers? Mr. Melee havinammeag.
that be had
es given the Chairman this paper-contaloing 'ol=
be, and that he had not had It back from the Chaleisas, I . .
Mr. Dean whether he had seen the paper "ebb two amebae '.
in Mr. Beaumont's hands? he said, " Yet, he had;" but after ay
great deal of cross-examination, all he could say war," That he ba4
seen a paper with numbers In my clerk's handwriting, that bolajtv
the only paper Mr. Sedgwick had bad." It was strgl preea
.
don that this was the paper which reached Mr. Barber .
hands; the clerk in copying had made a mistake. I bellieoldififi.
Mr. Sedgwick sent this paper to Mr. Barber lieutenant is slang&
for about an hour afterwards Mr. Sedgwick sends for my.llol4am4i;
soya tiers is a mistake as to one of lose numbers that is nos the %
Illtattabar; and in looking at it, it appeared that the number rialltsf
might to: have been 50,154; the clerk had copied it 50.514. Tom, r
lr think, Mews clearly that this paper must have gone .froth Wm • ,
,firdawick to Mr. Barber Beaumont, and that paper put hint in rem—
sasoon, in a great measure, of the evidence that I had. • '.
1 What °Nervation did Mr. Sedgwick make?—ile eras-Titbit. '''.
overcome with that; I left him soon after. yK
Did be attempt turetuncile that with the stitement belted beforidlitio:
' made. that he had not given bimaily paper?—No, he, did not ; . al' - •
inquiry that I could prosecute with Mr. Beaumont was at an end
after this.
Has Mr. Sedgwick any servant ; does he ale a messenger gents.
tally? (Mr. ltappen)—lle has a servant.
Mr. Sykes—fly informer tells me that this has been regularly
done in the County Fire (Ace. .and has been well •ktrown to Illto
amount of 2,000/. a year constantly; and he tells me further, that
since this begun they are now making oat new books in the oillewa. '
complete new sett of books; and it is an eaceedingy singular thing,
the senior clerk, Mr. Shepherd, has disappeared; it appears as if
be is gone off on a charge of bigamy, that is the'sramment now made; •
but I suspect Shepherd having the charge of those books, is making
fresh books. Mr. Schaboer cane to our Ace about a fortnight
ago for an affidavit,for an event to issue against some of their debtors,
and he inquired of one of my clerks whether he had seen soy:
tides of Shepherd, or had paid him any money lately? be sail.
be had been off for a week. • I rather suspect there is some fraud
Meet it. My informer tells me be bas seen one or two clerks,
was stated that his wife has been there with a certilicate of a
Lamer marriage and that he is off in consequence ; but the clerks
mid we have had inspector from Sonterset.houar,be was very near
'sating at it, but he did not do it; I suppose that refers to their get.
ting the book out of his way. I have h.d another letteriront Mr.
,Bremner, dated the fad of June, from which it appears to me there
has been some tampering with the people who knew the facia;
be states that with regard to the insurance of Mr. Grant.
'nothing le to be hoped; that he cannot .find any receipts;
that be.appears to have some idea of having suspended his insurance;
. that Mr. Gordon had promised to look for receipts, &c. but that
When called upon for them, he evidently evaded the Inquiry. It ra.
tier strikes me, that knowing theparticular numbers, Mt. Beaumont
may have thrown impediments into the way of our inquiries with
sospett to them. Those policies were effected in 1815-16, and It
was not till 1822 that he applies for a return of the duty. • ' '
Mr. BROUGHASI proceeded—Theie is a duty of three
,shillings upon every fire policy; it is not paid directly
by insurance offices in general, but it is pad directly by
'the County Fite ['issuance Office, of winch, for a very • '
small salacy, Mr. Beaumont is the managing Director.
The offices are, called upon under penalties to make the .
return of -theta duties every two months, titian-all thei
Casorasers bier make, hoot the Land's End to Joker
O'Gioat's House. The office sends a certain r.umber
of policies, say 100, into the ;minter? it does not there- _
fore follow that they are all tiled, bto they have always
made it a rule to pay in the whole duty, as if the whole
was due; but when, at the end of the year, they find
from the return of their agents how many are used, say
80, they claim the return upon the remaining O. I. ,
pass over a gnat deal more of the extracts, throwing
out the vague suspicions of Mr. Sykes, things very pro-
per for him to report, but becoming groundless, and
,tool calumnies, in the face they assume when the Com-
missioners of Public Inquiry venture to give them pubr
licity'; and becoming far worse v.he.s they have still
further publicity from a public newspaper. Mr. Sykes's
zeal was very commendable as long as it coal kept to
himself and the Board. Why did nut the Commissioners;
if they wanted to do justice, call the clerks and examine
them? Then, I suppose, the Alone* Herald would
not have published the evidence; but when the Com-
missioners act contrary to all the prinCitcles of justice,
then the Morning Herald publishes the, account, gar-
bling all that is just in it. A more cbtnperidions,
successful, and certain mode of destroying the character
of a respectable man, I defy' the malignant itgenuit
of a devil to invent. I have gem over a past, si.
only a very small part, of the evidence of •M Syk r.
enough to stamp a proper chanictii a •the • gni.
ceedings. Mr. J. Hubbard is exatbineda, • " What
situation are you in now ?—I am not in any situation
particalatly : I hold a commission in the militia."
" What situation were you in as connected with the
County Fire-office r—irl was. chief-clerk of the town
department." He does not say be wat'a discarded ser-
vant of the office. I never yet saw a man who was
turned away. But I ask, *what business had the Com-
missioners to inquire into the ptivate'ionduct of Mr.
Barber Beaumont? They might as welf•have inquired
into the business of any private banking'house. The
bookkeeper might have been a witness: if the Cotinnis-
sioners did not call him, their conduct uas Vameable ;
if they did call him, his evidence
sought„to by in the
report; and if there had been a shadow pf fouldition
for the malignant suspicion of that discarded 'svant.
Hubbard, the defendant, would have tailed him:before
you. Mr. Brougham made several other observations
about the evidence of Stevtns and' Of the other clerks of
the Fire office, especially Lye's evidence, who might
have been called before the Commissioners; whose evi-
dence might have broken down, for which reason per.
baps it was, that he would not be called that day, al-
though his evidence was in the colttmns of the Morning
4ferald. ,-Suppose, Gentlemen, you were ed.tors of • a
roltipafers and suppose, from private malice, any one
rbrOught a report end asked you to insert it, to give ita
greater circnlatinn, what would be year feast co ssi-
deration? Would it not be whether It
to give..ciresskitiotrto such vague i
as theortli I have read convey
a thdhr to have occurred -
Newspaper, who were called
Cation to slanderous allegatjops
chiracter of e'en a better known
tiff? If an honest man were i-
slander, be would have answered,
If told it had* been collected; °.
6 Bo.goach the won*" lic---
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ether be right
ie unfoisatikd suspicion
,ey ? Ought not such
to the Editors of a
upon to give Cite64e
sufficient to reach din,
a man-than the pia*.
asked to spread
ten, "Gov torbid!..
be avoid •bvirst ,said4o,
minted (Instil had bees
4 . • .1, , • ,
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