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Leader (1850-1860), 8th November 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 7, KF . ALBA'N'H I5RII5KKY COMMISSION. 1 li...

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      Monky Faimikk Ok Kuitopkan Malmv- >¦ [Fr...

      , T Ifthe Bank may continue for a lengthened rf is regarded in the City as giving additional perl ° m . v to the questiou of the law of partnership , with Consols already approaching par , it is evident V * I if a further accumulation of capital should go on I * seW * months , some new outlet will be forced . K -J poually evident , from the condition of Europe , iw ^ t that new outlet must be found either at home , the colonies , or in the United States . Whether 111 shall enjoy its healthy proportion will depend « nrh upon the boldness and promptitude of our mmercial legislation . No one can have mixed in husiness during the last four years without arriving at the conviction that the day of joint-stock companies under their old form , is at an end , and con-Spnuently that , capital is to be diffused and pmoloyed at home , it must be under some new condi' ' ons The system of foreign loans has equally rercived a deathblow . Sardinia and Denmark are , perhaps , the only two borrowing States in Europe that could now raise even small amounts in our

      mar-Icets and these have already been supplied , to the extent their resources warrant . Austria and France indicate respectively an annual want of about £ 8 000 , 000 sterling ; but it has been demonstrated that although if the present state of things in those countries is to continue , the money must be raised in some manner , it will be impossible for the smallest fraction of it to be obtained here . The fate of the recent proposals connected with the Western Railway of Trance shows that , as regards public works in that country , the prospect is the same ; and that hence the scheme for the Lyons and Avignon line , ¦ which is to be one of the earliest measures before the Assembly , will fail to derive any support from this side . Thus , while enterprise at home is checked by the state of the law , it is shut out from the entire

      Continent by political causes . As regards the colonies , the Cape can afford no field while it is the scene of war , and capitalists will not venture their money in Australia when they must wait eight months to hear even of its arrival . In India Government interference and supervision is inconsistent with the possibility of commercial progress , and Canada can never compete on a large scale with the attractions of her immediate neighbours . Under these circumstances it is plain that , when the next external rush of capital takes place , it will be to the United States . Indeed , for the past five years ,

      the value of money in the two countries has been bo disproportioned that all who were conversant with the opportunities that presented themselves , were surprised the natural course of operations which was sure , sooner or later , to bring about a nearer adjustment of the rates , was so long delayed . A knowledge of the way in which our partnership law operates to discourage individual enterprise , and to dam up capital till it breaks all bounds in a sympathetic mania , is sufficient , however , to explain the anomaly . There is no reason -why the rewards of enterprise should not bo almost as great

      in this country as in America , and they would become bo if capital were equally free . That the undcrtakingS" which have been carried forward in the various States for the past five years nave yielded high rewards which have had nothing to do with any artificial excitement , has been proved by the fact of the rate of money during the whole time having ranged from 5 to riper cent ., a period of some months having , moreover , just been passed with safety in which it was as high as from 12 to 18 per cent . With the growing intercourse between the two countries it will be impossible that such a disparity can much

      longer continue . The thing to be desired , however , is that enterprise should he so facilitated in England as to render it worth while to pay high rates for money here , in place of letting the equalization be ( 'fleeted by a midden drain to the other side . There are , it in true , abundant openings in the United ? States in which English capital might , in moderate wupplics , be constantly employed , and still more numerous are the projects in which a union of the two natioim would be advantageous ; but a violent

      "nd indiscriminate outpouring in ruinous alike to both , since it corrupts the one and enrages the other by all the consequent loss . Whether thin result , which was witnessed in IH . 'JO , is again to be seen a *< -w yours hence must , therefore , very much depend upon tht ) course of legislation meanwhile ; but if such should ho the case , it is to be hoped , when we experience its inconveniences , we shall be Huiliciently Just to henr in mind that tin ; reproach at our own doors will be heavier than any we can be entitled to throw elsewhere .

      Nov. 8, 1851.] Fff) * Vltaittr. 1059

      Nov . 8 , 1851 . ] fff ) * VLtaittr . 1059

      Kf . Alba'n'H I5rii5kky Commission. 1 Li...

      KF ALBA ' N'H I 5 RII 5 KKY COMMISSION . 1 lie St . Alhan ' HOominiHHioii promises to bo the cause ot greater revelations Mian were cither anticipated or will he pleasant to its authors . The CoinmiHsioii are bound to carry out a very stringent Act of 1 ' ailiai |>< 'iit ,, and tlu ; Hecrets which have ; come out KubHtantuite tho well founded suspicions of every reflective Politician , that the foundations of the IIoum ; of Ooui"loimare laid pietty deeply in bribery and corruption . Ji ik obvious from tho evidence ; of the 1 'ldwardncn , . ithor and hoiih , that one mode of bribery is the pro-J 8 ° ot ( JovernrnenL bituations : while for tlie muBH

      of electors , corruption in the grossest form , " head money , " is resorted to . The Edwardses had been engaged to further the cause of the late Mr . Raphael and Mr . Benjamin Bond Cabbell . In short , the Edwardses were tlie efficient and willing instruments of corruption in the borough of St . Alban's . But their evidence chiefly bore , upon the local question . A new witness appeared before the commission on Tuesday , Mr . James Coppock , the well known Parliamentary agent , of Parliament-street , whose evidence from its breadth has a national interest . Mr . James Coppock had first , before he thought of obeying the summons of the Commission , written to

      Mr . Bell for permission to give evidence . Had Mr . Bell withheld his permission , no power on earth could have made Mr . James Coppock speak , as he held that no ex post facto Act of Parliament could compel a solicitor to violate the confidence reposed in him by his client . However , Mr . Bell had given his permission to tell whatever he chose ; Mr . Bell being desirous to aid the Commission to the utmost of his power . The part that Mr . Bell plays is singular : he is the immaculate dupe who put down £ 2500 as the expenses of a seat , quite innocent of any idea that the money was intended to bribe the electors of St . Alban ' s . The gist of Mr . Coppock ' s examination is as follows .

      " Mr . Coppock ' s profession led him very much in connection with parliamentary matters , and this had been so for the last fifteen or sixteen years . Shortly after Sir Robert Peel ' s celebrated speech , ' register , register , ' an association was formed by the Liberal party , in 1835 , which comprised several hundred people of the Liberal party , and shortly after he became secretary to the association . The object of the association was to attend to the registrations generally throughout England in the different boroughs , and to promote the Liberal cause generally . That led him into communication with nearly every borough and county town in the Kingdom ; and from that time to this he had been in some way connected with the Liberal party whenever a vacancy

      occurred . He had constantly watched them , and knew something of most places in England ; and if , instead of going through the register of voters as Mr . Edwards had done , and marking the name of every man who sold his vote , he were to go through the list of British boroughs returning members to Parliament , beginning with the firs on the list—say Abingdon , down to Stafford—and if he were to put opposite the name of the respective members bought his seat , ' he should make more extraordinary disclosures than that of Mr . Edwards himself . ( Loud applause , and cries of 1 Order ! 1 ) He did not make that statement for applause ; but he stated it to show the system , and no man in the kingdom had a greater horror of the system than he had . When the vacancy occurred ,

      and Mr . Bell was anxious to get into Parliament , a Mr . Thorby , an old friend of Mr . Coppock ' s , said he had a friend who was anxious to get into Parliament—did witness know a vacancy . Coppock asked who his friend was , end what was his position and circumstances , and if he was what was called a ' produceable man '—( laughter } —if he was an orator . Mr . Thorby replied , ' Oh , yes , I will give you the information , hut I only want to know if there is a vacancy , and then I will introduce you to him , but I have no auihority to give his name . ' Coppock also required his politics . Never was employed by any but one side , and never would be . He took time to consider , and Thorby returned in three weeks and gave the name of Mr . Bell . Coppock requested Mr .

      Bell to call on him . Mr . Bell did so , and made a memorandum of his name in his pocket-book , having made inquiries as to Mr . Bell ' s politics , and as to the expense he would be willing to incur , because it was absolutely necessary to know the depth of a member of Parliament ' s pocket as well as the nature of his politics . ( Laughter . ) Coppock inquired the amount of money he ( Mr . Uell ) would be willing to expend . Mr . Bell told witness that his only object in getting into Parliament wan to promote some views relative to the medical profession , which for years he had laboured to bring forward , and he thought he could better carry them

      out by obtaining a seat in Parliament . Mr . Bell stated that he had no ambitious views , that he asked for nothing —that money was not to be an object—tlmt he should not mind a proper expenditure . Coppock asked him what , he would expend , and when asked , in reply , what would be sufficient , tsaid from £ 1500 to £ ' 2500 , according to the place that was sought , and Mr . Bell authorized him to send word to him whenever a vacancy occurred . Twelve months elapsed before anything did occur , and then on Mr . Raphael ' s death Coppock negotiated with parties at St . Aldan ' s , and amongst the number with Mr . Edwards , and In ; told him that £ ' 2500 would be the

      expense if there was u contest , but ll there was not a content it would be considerably leRH . There was also a probability at this time that tlie Honourable Mr . Craven would become a enndidate ; and a person of family like Mr . Craven always had an advantage over a man from the ranks , but ultimately Mr . Craven declined to ( stand . At thin period Coppock found that St . Allmn ' n was in the market in London in three different channels , and by three parties connected with the borough , each of them anxiou . s to promote a candidate , and witness had peculiar mcann for knowing the movements of all three

      and it was in this way he heard that with bir Robert Cardeu £ 1600 wiih tho limit , and that he did not like £ ' 2500 . ( Loud laughter ! ) Tho third party in the borough made every eflort to get a candidate , simply for the sake of tlu ; expenditure , und utterly regardless of principle or politics . ( Hear , hear . ) This Hort of thing ; had been the case at St . Alban ' s for the last ono hundred years . The principle of ' bleed and bribe' had always been the ruling principle . There were some respeotublo men in tit . Alban ' s who knew nothing of that system ; but the great majority of the

      voters had always been bought and sold without regard to principle or anything else . Mr . Bell having at the last election arranged that £ 2500 should be the maximum , it was agreed that the money should be supplied , and it was sent to Coppock ' s office in Parliament-street , by somebody . He never opened the ' packets , ' or saw one farthing of the money . Did not know from whom , or from whence they came , but knew for what they were intended . In all these matters inquiries -were never

      particularly made . The packets went as they came , as was the case in all transactions of the kind , in any borough for which he was ever concerned . Coppock never had anything to do with the arrangement or disposition of the money , and derived no advantage or benefit , except a political one . The £ 2500 went in that way , and it was well known and notorious that St . Alban ' s was to be bought and sold . Coppock ' s bill , on the occasion of the petition to the House , and committee of inquiry , was £ 1000 , all of which Mr . Bell had paid . "

      In cross-examination other small facts were elicited ; but from the above specimens the reader may form a pretty good notion of how an unambitious gentleman gets himself elected for St . Alban ' s , and how ambitious and unambitious in general get into the House of Commons . One other morsel of Mr . Coppock ' s evidence we must extract . " There was nothing to be done at St . Alban ' s without ' headmoney . ' When the present Sir H . G . Ward some years ago stood for Sf . JAlban ' s , it cost him £ 2400 ; but when he went to Sheffield , a town with a constituency of

      some thousands , Sir Henry Ward wrote to witness to say that his total electioneering expenses only cost him £ 150—( loud laughter ) , —znA he thanked Mr . Coppock for sending him there from St . Alban ' s . The expense of the last election for St . Alban ' s might have been done for £ 200 , including hustings , clerks , & c , and that would leave £ 50 for the manager of the election . ' You cannot , ' said the witness , emphatically , ' prevent this species of expenditure until you allow the ballot , which would be the only preventive against bribery . ' ( Loud applause . ) In his mind , measures of this kind could come to no result .

      " Mr . Commissioner Slade : We cannot go into that . Many people have different opinions . There are many people who think that the ballot would increase bribery very much , and I am one of those . ( Laughter . ) " Witness : But until Parliament does something more than attempt to put down bribery by punishing a single borough , they will never effect it . ( Applause . ) " Mr . Commissioner Phinn : But we must go by steps . " Witness : They are very slow ones . " Mr . Low , local agent for Sir Robert Garden , proved that bribery had been practised on his side , and that Conservatives were as corruptible as Liberals in the borough . The examination continued on Wednesday . The ¦ witnesses were Mr . Low , Mr . Blagg , the Town Clerk , and Sir Robert Carden . The facts elicited from these

      gentlemen were all alike . Bribery and corruption were everywhere prevalent . Only Sir Robert Carden declared that he had had nothing to do with it ; that he was in a manner forced into being nominated ; that he stood on " purity" principles ; that he wrote cheques for £ 200 , £ 200 , and £ 500 for expenses ; that he thought some of the charges , especially that for wine , enormous ; but that he himself had nothing whatever to do with any bribery .

      T He Kafi It W A It. The Bosphorus, Whic...

      T HE KAFI It W A It . The Bosphorus , which arrived on Wednesday , brings papers from the ( Jape up to the 1 st of October inclusive . The information is still disastrous . The position of the colony still the . same—menaced by large bodies of Kafirs . \ V " e find that on the 9 th of September Colonel Maekinnon marched with a large patrol to the Fish Itiver Hush ; upon arriving there he divided his force to scour the valleys . One of these detachments consisted principally of the Second Queen ' s , and unfortunately this gallant regiment met with another and

      still more lamentable loss ; for the , grenadier and light companies , while searching for the enemy , got separated from a detachment of the levies , under Commandant . Davie . s , who accompanied them into the bush , and were scattered in their endeavours to extricate themselves ; from their ignorance-of tho locality they only got more entangled , and while ; so embarrassed , they were set upon by the whole forco of the Kafirs and Hottentots , who cut off the small parties in detail . The officer in command , Captain Oldham , was struck down and slain , along with two

      or three sergeants , who rushed to his rescue . This catastrophe occurred near Commit tee ' s Drill . During ; tliit- * patrol both Colonel Maekinnon and Colonel Kyru were warmly and sueccsufiilly engaged with the enemy , who suffered great , Jonm . ' / 'lie Iroopw returned to King William ' s Town on the J 7 th . On the l' 2 lh , the place when ; ihe brnvi ; men of tho Second were killed , was thoroughly traversed , and many dead Kafirs found , wdo hud fnllen in tin ; sanguinary struggle . The loss of the different detachments m killed , wounded , and mi . ssiug was

      acoentyv . iqht t On tho 7 th of . September , M . icomo continuing to ravage tho colony at Wateikloof , representations wore ' made to Colonel Fordj <; e upon tin ; subject by Colonel JSutton and various inhnbiluntH . Colonel Fordyre , in consequence , made an effort to repress their devastations * by inarching , in conjunction with that officer , ua atrong ti force ua ho could com-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 8, 1851, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08111851/page/7/