Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

An incident happened which gave great disgust to the house. The second report takes notice of great dealings in stock between him and Mr. [Francis] Hawes (formerly his clerk as treasurer of the navy) who had informed the committee, that those accounts were finally adjusted in November last, when Mr. Aislabie insisted upon having Mr. Hawes’s book (of which he had a duplicate) delivered him, that no one might see it, which was done accordingly upon his giving Hawes a general release. On Tuesday, a motion was made for his laying that book before the house as yesterday, which he opposed, as what the house could not demand, for that it related only to his own private account with Hawes, but was overruled by the house, and ordered to bring in the book; wherewith not complying, notice was taken of it in the house. He then desired Mr. Hawes might be examined, who said at the bar, that when he delivered up the book, both that and the duplicate (in Mr. Aislabie’s hand) were burnt, of which Mr. Hawes made no mention when examined by the committee, nor did Mr. Aislabie on Tuesday; from whence ’twas concluded that this was an afterthought, and the books burnt (if at all) ex post facto. He had on Tuesday imprudently enough said, that if the committee should have demanded those books, he would have burnt them before their faces… Mr. Walpole’s corner sat mute as fishes.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

Since there was presumably by then no chance of his being executed, and a reasonable assumption that Walpole would see him right (he did), did Aislabie rather relish his stay in the Tower? One can imagine Johnson’s cabinet relishing the PR possibilities.

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Original

[Thomas Brodrick to Lord Middleton:] Yesterday night past twelve, Mr. Aislabie’s fate was determined, as you will see by the votes, almost the whole time being taken up in examining numbers of witnesses (late directors) called by him. The questions proposed was the same to them all, viz. whether they knew or had heard of any fictitious stock taken in, or held for him, or of any stock bought for his use with the company’s money, to every of which they all answered roundly in the negative, from whence he argued the certainty, and as he expressed himself even to a demonstration of his innocence, for that ’twas not to be conceived, but they must have known the thing.

As to the proceedings of the directors (to whom he gave all the hard names he could think of) his plea was ignorance.

To the charge of having great dealings in stock (pending the bill) he said nothing, otherwise than by insinuation, that doing so with his own money, he hoped would not be criminal.

His concerting with the directors taking in the 1st subscription at 300 per cent. he dropped, not saying one word to the charge; but an incident happened which gave great disgust to the house.

The second report takes notice of great dealings in stock between him and Mr. [Francis] Hawes (formerly his clerk as treasurer of the navy) who had informed the committee, that those accounts were finally adjusted in November last, when Mr. Aislabie insisted upon having Mr. Hawes’s book (of which he had a duplicate) delivered him, that no one might see it, which was done accordingly upon his giving Hawes a general release.

On Tuesday, a motion was made for his laying that book before the house as yesterday, which he opposed, as what the house could not demand, for that it related only to his own private account with Hawes, but was overruled by the house, and ordered to bring in the book; wherewith not complying, notice was taken of it in the house.

He then desired Mr. Hawes might be examined, who said at the bar, that when he delivered up the book, both that and the duplicate (in Mr. Aislabie’s hand) were burnt, of which Mr. Hawes made no mention when examined by the committee, nor did Mr. Aislabie on Tuesday; from whence ’twas concluded that this was an afterthought, and the books burnt (if at all) ex post facto. He had on Tuesday imprudently enough said, that if the committee should have demanded those books, he would have burnt them before their faces.

After his defence, the questions went without other opposition, than what was very slender, by Mr. Minshall and Mr. Fuller; sir Richard Steele said a little, not very plain in effect (as I understood him) that the examinations did not sufficiently support the question proposed, but it did not obtain. Mr. Walpole’s corner sat mute as fishes. Mr. Fuller, upon one question demanded a division, which was very artfully turned off by the speaker, and generally understood with design to obviate the difficulty those in employment might lie under, on whatever side they should divide.

Thus the matter ended, and in return for the fatigue the house underwent, we got a play day, adjourning till tomorrow, when I think sir George Caswell will have the same fate.

583 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Aislabie, John (1670-1742) (1), son of George Aislabie (q.v.) and of Mary Mallory of Studley Royal (Ripon), free-ranging MP 1695-1721, as Chancellor of the Exchequer took bribes from the South Sea Company and was disgraced ·
• Bribery (5) ·
• Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) ·
• Corruption (11) ·
• Fraud (21) ·
• George Caswall (1) ·
• House of Commons of England (5) ·
• Insider trading (1) ·
• London (74) ·
• Political corruption (10) ·
• 📌Ripon (16) ·
• Robert Walpole (1) ·
• Royal Navy (10) ·
• South Sea Company (2) ·
• Thomas Brodrick (1654–1730) (1) ·
• Tower of London (2) ·

All tags.

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