The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, FEB. 6, 1879.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5601, 6 February 1879, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, FEB. 6, 1879.

The sentence's passed on the Glasgow Bank Directors are -wonderfuL They show how far the English law is from the proper gradation of punishments. An uncomfortable idea has long prevailed all over the British dominions that by some mysterious fatality, convicted criminals sometimes are sentenced in the most unaccountable fashion. Men are always talking of the impossibility of comparing punishments for like offences with advantage to tbe law, and public writers have found in the subject roost abundant material for brilliant, incisive, epigrammatic denunciation. The Glasgow Bank case has come upon the world as the strongest argument and the most outrageous fact that could be wished for by the advopates of Law Reform, What is’ the crime of which these bank Directors were guilty P It was the crime of applying to thousands the system which the forger and the embezzler apply to single individuals. The difference between them and the ordinary criminal is that the latter preys upon society by retail, whereas they did so wholesale. In the pursuit of this unrighteous trade they sought and obtained positions of. trust, in order that they might abuse the confidence of thousands. They used the reputation for good character which they had earned presumably • fairly, and . the observances of religion as cloaks to bide their iniquity... Hypocrites of the first magnitude, their frauds were of the most enormous known dimensions. The effect of their wholesale system of prey has been what no ordinary criminal who is expiating his crimes by long years .of hopeless captivity could ever produce. That effect is simply the ruin of thousands, and the temporary collapse in some measure of the trade of a kingdom. Rich merchants, gentlemen of leisure, thrifty artisans, frugal agriculturists, are involved in a common ruin, with widows and orphans innumerable. The crime is one that calls to Heaven for vengeance. Yet the punishment is the mild infliction of impi’isomnent for eighteen months in the case of two of the criminals, and for eight months in the case of the others.

Of all the prisoners confined for offences against property in any gaol in Her Majesty’s dominions, there is, perhaps, not one whose offence against property equals the offence of these hanking gentlemen. In the abuse of trust, in the worst form of hypocrisy—that which covers villany with the cloak of religion—in mendacity, shameless and sweeping—for what is the publication of false balances but mendacity?—in the magnitude of their booty, and the almost national extent of the ruin they have effected, they probably stand unrivalled not only in Her Majesty’s gaols, but in the whole history of crimes against property. The guilt of all these men is not alike, for probably some were the dupes. But in the punishment of men holding responsible positions there should be no difference. If a man is unfit for a position of trust he has no right to accept such a position. His acceptance must be looked upon as a confession of his fitness. His neglect to probe the villany of colleagues to the bottom—a thing that any man who chooses to adhere to the obvious precautions of business can do—can only, therefore, be the sign that the watchfulness expected from competency has been allowed to slumber. For purposes of punishment all these banking gentlemen of Glasgow must be pronounced equally guilty. To hold otherwise would be to offer a premium upon the neglect by responsible people of important interests committed to their charge. For the purposes of deterrent punishment, then, the crimes of these men may be regarded as worse than those of any offenders against property to be found in any of Her Majesty’s gaols. Yet those of the latter have been punished with a severity which, in comparison with the treatment of the Glasgow gentlemen, is worse than Draconian. Hundreds of men now in prison have received sentences of two years for stealing a horse of the value of five pounds; thousands are expiating by years of durance the crime of appropriating a watch or a few bank notes, or sundry worthless articles of jewellery j the names of those who have to ruminate for long years on the unhappy fatality that led them to commit forgery, is legion; thoughtless young fellows who have killed the useless sheep, technically known as “ crawlers,” belonging to their neighbours,have been sent to prison for longer than some of these pious thieves of Glasgow; and only the other day, in London, a poor wretch had to go to gaol for four years for keeping the change of a five-pound note in his pocket, under circumstances which made it exceedingly likely that his money was his own, to do as ho pleased with. Morally the offence of the sanctimonious Glasgow hypocrites towera above all those offences wo havo mentioned, and thoir punishment is far below the punishment awarded to tho inferior crimes. The legal net catches minnows and Tritons alike, which is something. But tho Tritons get through the meshes sooner than the minnows, which is also something. Tho one something is right, and the other wrong.

~ 6ft * d that tho money lost by the bank was not appropriated by these u ‘ owu ÜBe aud profit. It « , 1S that tho money was used indirect private enrichment by Bpeculation rather than ommfa # dlr . c . ot transfer to private acTbn fc v f i’ pur P oaea o£ pleasure. which a tama *» commuted matters very little. The fraud s the crime, which cannot be palliated V any mm, prac p tioo ol 6img., up the known rotten buai-

ness of friends or colleagues is a fraud for which Bank Directors and Managers should be held accountable, A good deal of sympathy will no doubt be got up for these Glasgow criminals on the above plea. Sympathy and pity will also be asked for. on account of their grey hairs, their age, their hitherto respectable and luxurious position. The punishments of imprisonment and penal servitude are, it will be said, much more severe to the tender old Sybarites than to any of the rude and common herd. There is reason to fear that a great portion of society will bo carried away by -this kind of reasoning, _ Many people, in their admiration for high station, and their worship of wealth, become blind. For which reason, when the wealth has been proved to have been unjustly acquired, it continues to command respect ; and when a black coat is dragged in the mire people forget that its wearer had duties and responsibilities in proportion to his station. The forgetful will rejoice that their Glasgow martyrs have been to some Extent protected by legal technicalities. But the thoughtful should conclude that the time has come for reducing the law to reason, and should act accordingly.