English and French scandals.
More Frauds in high places.
[from the Paris correspondent of the London lander, July 23d.]
The financial scandals which have been the privatise topic here during the past week have ripened into bloom.
The ‘"director of a great public establishment,"’ who has been compelled abruptly to resign his post,
Mode St. Georges, has been able, owing, it is said, to august interference, to compound with his creditors, by handing over to them a handsome sum down, and making arrangements for the ultimate liquidation of his debts.
The ‘ "pawnbroker general"’ whose misdeeds I have alluded to, is
M. Dieu.
He has absconded.
Among the charges against him one at least is romantic.
A lady of high rank, the
Duchess de — being in want of a large sum of money, pawns her family jewels, including diamonds of great value.
As a matter of course they were soon afterwards redeemed, but instead of the diamonds and emeralds she had deposited with the untrustworthy by
M. Dieu, she receive back only skillful imitations in paste and rock crystal!
The fight of
M. Dieu leaves Government responsible for a sum of about half a million sterling.
One of the bankers whose embarrassments have been also referred to is
M. Pegot Ogier.
His name appears boldly to the official list of bankrupts.
His rating are said to be heavy, and nothing precise is known as to the nature of his assets.
The Correctional Police is likely are long to be engaged with an investigation of his affairs.
Another case — that of M.
Calley de St. Paul-- has also been the subject of many dark innuendoes; but as the gentleman has the good luck to be aid de-camp to
General Fleury,
aide-de-camp to the
Emperor, first equerry, &c., it is probably that his difficulties will be smoothed over.
A full investigation of his affairs might be compromising.
M. Baron, banker of Ba Nointor near
Havre, has been declared a bankrupt.
His liabilities are said to be heavy, and report asserts that three
Paris bankers, who have made their names familiar to the public by copious advertising, are in flight — The names of these gentlemen are no secret, but I withhold them until something more definite has been ascertained.
Scandals at the English bar — case of Mr. Edwin James.
[from the London Globe.]
The announcement made to day that one of the most prominent members of the
English bar has been expected from his profession, will occasion more regret than surprise.
It has been no secret that for several weeks past the Benebern of two of the
Inns of Court have been engaged in investigating charges of malpractice made against a member of each of the institutions.
One of these cases is still undecided, and upon it we shall, therefore, make no remark.
The other terminated last night, when
Mr. Edwin James ceased to be a member of the bar of
England.
The grounds of the decision have not been made public, and are hardly a fair subject for newspaper comment, but we cannot doubt that it was just and deserved.
It is not for the sake of adding any atom of severity to so miserable a fall that we allude to the fact.
It is because we fear we must consider the decision of the Benchers not only a righteous conclusion from the facts of the case, but a lesson which is not wholly unnecessary.
It is not a satisfactory thing to have to say, but it is no more than the truth, that there are members of the proportion of which
Mr. Edwin James has just joined to be a member, upon whom an example in the way of severe punishment is likely to have more effect in the regulation of their professional conduct than those higher dictators, those instincts of honorable minds, which brought more than any rule or any fear of consequences to give security against transgression of fairness, truth and honesty.
That there are persons engaged in this honorable called who are uninfluenced by such considerations is unfortunately a matter of profession, if act of public, notoriety.
We believe that they constitute but a small proportion of the bar, but they are yet sufficient in number to render their offences more a matter of reproach than if it were merely the case of some two or three individuals.
We deemed it our duty severed months ago to make some observations on the subject which we are aware had but too good a foundation.
Perhaps the bar itself has been to blame for not visiting these delinquents with the moral punishment it is in the power of any body of gentlemen to inflict.
We trust, however that the present lesson will not be lost upon them, and that if from no higher motive than the fear of being one day in the same position as this most unfortunate individual, they may become more respectable members of their profession.
The members of the
Inner Temple would have deserved ill of the public had they permitted any consideration for the feelings of individuals to stand between them and strict justice.
They are the guardians of the honor and character of the bar. The bar forms an important portion of the social fabric, its honor and character is in some respects an indication of the national honor and character, and the public as well as the profession are in every way interested in anything ending to make the gown of a barrister what it is in the main — an emblem of honor and respect.
