Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 8th November 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 1059, Untitled Article

Page 1059
Page 7
7 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)

      Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      v of the Bank may continue for a lengthened " od is regarded in the City as giving additional P r ^ ncv to the questiou of the law of partnership . With Consols already approaching par , it is evident ? Vat if a further accumulation of capital should go on f r several months , some new outlet will be forced . Tr is equally evident , from the condition of Europe , * h at that new outlet must be found either at home , n the colonies , or in the United States . Whether each shall enjoy its healthy proportion will depend much upon the boldness and promptitude of our commercial legislation . No one can have mixed in business 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 consequently that , if capital is to be diffused and

      employed at home , it must be under some new condi-<' ons . The system of foreign loans has equally rejeived a deathblow . Sardinia and Denmark are , perhaps , the only two borrowing States in Europe that could now raise even small amounts in our markets , 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 France 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 As sembly , 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 monev 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 so 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 be almost as great in this country as in America , and they would become bo if capital were equally free . That the

      undertakings which have been carried forward in the various States for the past five years have 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 1 'i per 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 , la that enterprise should be so facilitated in England as to render it worth while to pay high rates for money here , in place of letting tho equalization be effected by a sudden drain to the other side . There

      « re , it is "true , abundant openings in the United States in which Unglish capital might , in moderate supplies , be constantly employed , and still more numerous are tho projects in which a union of tho two nations would be advantageous ; but a violent and indiscriminate outpouring i « rniiieus alike to both , Miice it corrupts the one and enrages tho other by all the consequent loss . Whether this result , "which was witnessed in 18 . ' ! 9 , i . s again to be neon a low years hence must , therefore , very much depend l » pon the course of legislation meanwhile ; but if such Bhould be tho cnne , it in to be hoped , when wo experience it « inconveniences , wo shall bemifliciently i'l . st to bear in mind that the reproach at our own doors will be heavier than any we can be entitled to thro w elsewhere .

      Untitled Article

      ST . ALBAN'S liHUiKllY COMMISSION . 1 . he St . Allmik ' n Commission promises to be the cuuhc ° f greater revelations than were either anticipated or will bo pleasant to its authors . The Commission are hound to carry out a very stringent Act of Parliament , and the fwcretn which have come out substantiate the well founded suspicions of every reflective politician , that the foundations of the Hou . se of Commons are laid pretty deeply in bribery and corruption . > t is obvious from tho evidence of the Fdwnrdsen , either and noun , that one mode of bribery in the prounflo of Uovernmout eituutioiis ; while for the juubb

      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 the 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' Order T ) 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 , arid 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 , but I only want to know if there is a vacancy , and then I will introduce you to him , but I have no authority 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 . Bell ) would be willing to expend . Mr . Hell told witness that his only object in getting into Parliament was 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 be asked for nothing

      —that money was not to be an object—that he should not mind a proper expenditure . Coppock asked him what be would expend , and when asked , in reply , what would be suflicient , said from £ 1 / 500 to £ 2500 , according to the place that was sought , and Mr . Bell aulhomcd him to send word to him whenever a vacancy occurred . Twelve months elapsed before anythin { Jj did occur , and then on Mr . Jtuphiu-l ' s death Coppock negotiated with parties . at St . Albaii ' s , and amongst the number with Mr . JMwards , and he told him that £ 2500 would be the ixperiBe if there was a contest , but if there was not n content it would be considerably lefis . There was also a probability nt thin time that the Honouiablo Mr . Craven would become a candidate ; and a person of family like Mr . Craven ulwayn had an advantage over a man from the ranks , but ultimately Mr . Craven declined to Htuml .

      At thin period Coppock found that nt . Albim s wan in the market in London in three different channels , and by three partieu connected with the borough , each of them anxious to promote a candidate , and wituctm had peculiar means for knowing the iiiovcmentH of all three , and it wuh in this way he heard that with ! Sir Robert Cardcn £ l . > 00 wan tho limit and that lie did not like £ 2500 . ( Loud laughter . ) The third party in the borough made every eflort to get a candidate , simply for tho Hake of tho expenditure , and utterly regardleHH of principle or politico . ( Hear , / war . ) This Hort of thing had been the cane at St . Albun ' n for the last one hundred yearn . The principle of bleed and bribe' hud ulwuyn been the ruling principle . There were Homo rcnncotablo men in St . Albim ' n who knew nothing of that / system ; but tho great mujority of tlio

      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 St . Alban ' 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 lazcghter ) , —and 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 . ( Ap 2 Jlause . ) " Mr . Commissioner Phinn : But we must go by steps . " Witness : They are very slow ones . " Mr . Low , local agent for Sir Robert Carden , 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 lo 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 .

      Untitled Article

      T HE KAFIR W A If . The Bospliorus , which arrived on Wednesday brings papers from the Cape 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 Kaiirs . We find that on the 9 th of September Colonel Maekinnon marched with a large patrol to the . Fish River Bush ; 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 Dnvien , who accompanied them into the bush , and were scattered in their endeavours to extricate themselves ; from their ignorance of the locality they only got more entangled , and while no embarrassed , they wero Het upon by the whole force of the Kalhn and Hottentots , who cut off the small parties in detail . The ollieer in command , Captain Oldham , wan Ktruck down and slain , along with two or three HerirenntH , who rushed to his rescue . This

      catastrophe occurred near Committee ' s " Drift . During this patrol both Colonel Maelcijiiion and Colonel Eyre wero warmly and successfully unpaged with the enemy , who miflered great loss . The troops returned to King William'H Town on the I 7 th . On the 12 th , the place where the brave m « n of tho Second were killed , wa . s thoroughly traversed , and many dead Katun found , w < lo luul fallen in I he « niiguinary struggle . Tin * Ions of the < liH ' creiit detachments in killed , wounded , and missing wan seventyeight !

      On the 7 th of September , Maeomo continuing to ravage the colony at Waterkloof , represciitutioim were made to Colonel Fordjee upon the uuhjeet by Colonel ( Sutton and various inhabitants . Colonel Fordyce , in consequence , made an effort to repretjn their devuHtutionn by inarching , in conjunction with that oilicer , u » / strong a forco uu ho could com-

      Untitled Article

      Nov . 8 , 1851 . ] ® l > * Ueairer * 1059

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 8, 1851, page 1059, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1908/page/7/