Tue case of Regina v. William Hargreaves, contained in our Law Reports, is one of those instances which are from time to time cropping up in society, as a proof of the depravity of Inman nature which constantly underlies the mutual intercourse of man and man, though, in normal times fortunately hidden from observation.
No man knows, until he is tempted, what amount of latent vice is in hit weaker men give way to a temptation which leaves the strong unassailed, but strong men have been known to yield at the Inst—the strongest alone are above proof. The shock given to the community, by the expose of the facts which led to the prosecution of the man whose conviction we now record, is an evidence of the diffi-realty with which the mind of the public has to contend, in associating a highly respected member of its body with systematic swindling. The unfortunate man who is now expiating his crime in the jail of the Settlement, of which he may be almost counted as one of the founders, had every inducement to pursue an honest career. e most of us, he had met with misfortunes in bad times, and faced them suce: ssfully; as an old China trader he had seen his neighbours succumb to the storms of these rough seas, many of them losing all but their honour; he had seen such men meet shipwreck with fortitude, and put to sea again in calm weather with the shuttered fragments of their former fortune; he hud a helping band stretched out to them by brother unfortanates, and that, assisted, they. had reached a have within hail of their original destination. He had even lent. a helping hand himself, upon occasion, and could, doubtless, have depended on others to do thelikeby him, had he called upos them. Yet with all this experi and with the prestige of an old position, he first risks his all, with the recklessness of a veteran gambler, and, losing, descends to the dark depths of criminal fraud, There can be no denying that a fall like this is a reproach to all. In alunited commanity, which nambers its merchants by hutidreds, his crime will be laid at the door of each of us; and the shudder that was felt, as the verdict of guilty was delivered in the Sapreme Court on Friday lust, was not merely an expression of compassion for the unfortunate prisoner, bat a recognition of the shadow thrown upon the community. While sympathizing with the friends and connections of the culprit, we cannot regret that Justice has pursued its course—inevitable, un faltering. It is ramoured that the lawyers for the defence were sanguine of gaining an acqnital on the cri charge; and that they, with their client, were. thanderstrack at the announcement of the verdict. If this be the case, we may congratulate ourselves on having escaped a still grenter calamity; fora calamity indeed it would have been, could actions like those of the prisoner escape criminal punishment. The views of our greatest enemies at home would have been confirmed, and it would hay been said that people were un to convict a man of fraud in Sha Even now this deplorable case will be pointed at by many, as an instance of the recklessness of China trading—the censurers forgetting the numberless instances of honesty and good faith which a series of unfortunate years has failed to in country where credit is developed to an extent unknown elsewhere, and in which the. amount of trast placed in the honour of individuals is almost without example. Had William Hargreaves escaped his deserts, not only should we huve lost faith in the accumulated wisdom of English law, but each banker and merchant among us would: have personally suf: fered—those who have money to lose or credit to give, in losing one of their ultimate safeguard ud there to whom advances and credit area daily necessity, in finding their usual facilities uuexpectedly curtailed. Though feeling pity for the victim, we cannot but congratulate ourselves that the law has proved itself inexorable, Moreover, must we not feel pity for the victims of fraud, for those who have lent their savings on the faith of haman honesty, for the unfortunate shareholders of defrauded banks, for the robbed as well as the robber? How often ina facile pity for the criminal, do we forget those whom his crime has injured? allude not alone, inthe present instance, to an outraged community, insulted by the depravity of one whom it has been led to respect; to the trustees of others' fands, the Bank managers, who are d to undeserved reprimand for a reles credulity; but to those whose ency has been' stolen—the family poverished by acts like, these; finnily, to the honest mei whose tegrity thus becomes suspected. All these are equally to be pitied; and in the contemplation of 1 in sinks into oblivion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.