The New York herald., 1869-01-17

ordinary men. ana they were - little ls those menu
bers OF the criminal classes With whom magistrates
had held high positions in the city and IN society
They had been trusted implicitly with the fortunes,
sence q tens of III thoUssnda They had long stood
not only above suspicion but almost above envy, 30
well were they believed TO- have kept the path
house whose ii latest test representativcs they had BEEN
They, or three Of them at least had enjoyed tho ad
name Of Overend Gurney 4 CO. tower Of strength.
IN whose impregnabity. every one beloved that he
might securely trust and until @ ruin nad "a oyertase9 over;
ever deemed It possible that he should occupy such
position. Yet there they were. defendants against
made. and who, for three hours or more, were
compelled to listen to an address, In which the
most important act O. their hSes was denounced g
piece OF fraud and falsehood, whose ascertatned and
intended effect was to involve hundreds OF innocent
TO tell again the too familiar story OF the failure OF
the great discount house, neither have we any desire
on D w ne ays Or o. M o w az
not venture to guess But when it Is found impOs-
sibie on the first day to do more than finish the
opening speech one can but feel apprchenslve that
II will be some time before the prosecution has said
ITS say. We confess however. that the strength Of
the inverse ratio Of the length Of time which that adj
dress consumed. There We're in it great many hard
words but very few hard facts. True the story
two deeds was told with great not to say wearl40mo
fulness OF detail and such phrases as cutter rot.
tenness, )" totally ruined aud bankrupt concern"
.hOpelessly inSOlvent,n &c, &C., came in again and
again. as II they were likely to gather force rom fre
quent repetition. Possibly had the forthcoming ex-
animation related only to civil action, all this might
have been fair and proper. But the issue raised was
criminal issue, and the punishment which the
prosecution desire to lnnct Il criminal punishment
have been rather retfcence In the use OF opprO
Drous epthets and there certainly should have been
more candor In the presentation OF facts which are
perfectly well KNOWN and which, It ts quite certain,
viii come Out before the case ts concluded. That the
meipbers Of the old firm and the new direction were
w0fully, egregfousy in error, when they agreed to
form the company with such materials as they had
at command, no one win dispute. That they had
tempted fortune too far, and wandered too widely
from the good old ways Of their fathers. none can
feel so deeply as themselves. But the fact remains
that throughout the city. even by those who have
lost heavily they not deemed repr0achabae with
anything like intentional iniquity. They believed In
the recuperative powers OF q business which was
returning genuine pro6t Of 100000 year, ana
they took too little account Of the leeway which
enormous losses wO1ld compel them to fetch up.
So much Ia admitted, but this is very different
thing from conspring OF set purpose and OF
deliberate intent, to defraud every unfortunate
whom they could induce to take O share. That
persons irritated bv severe and unexpected losses
should fail to see this, fs not altogether unnatural
That the mental vision OF the outside public should
be equally Obligue would be highly improper, though
whom Baron R0thschd, Mr.. Kirkman HOdgs0n and
Sir F0we Buxton willing to become bail are not
likely to have heen guilty Of c0nspirng to defrnud
Their conduct may have been censurabe. but at
present ground has been shown for treating 0s
wicked.