17 JANUARY 1857, Page 14

THE DISEASE OF COMMERCE.

Two points of joint-stock morals are brought out with much force in the Great Northern trial. Mr. Baron Martin, and after him Mr. Justice Wiles, noticed the absence of personal contact between the employers and servants—the want of that " affection " which is the bond between a good master and a good servant. When Mr. Mowatt appeared as a witness, he stated, defensively, that he had no intercourse with Itedpath out of office—they were not even "on visiting terms" : yet what more natural and proper, if both were honest men and gentlemen, serving the same master ?

The second point is "the unknown." Others of the company besides Redpath held stock under false names ; others besides Kent had passed the forged transfers of Reclpath ; but Cawkhill, who had done exactly the same act as Kent, was made witness and not prisoner; and the prosecution was conducted with a degree of reserve most provocative of curiosity.