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2$0 , THE LEADER. [No. 415, March 6,1&58...
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BRITISH MUZZLES AND MAD POODLES. It cert...
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THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE ROYAL BRITI...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mr. Butt's Case. Mr. Isaac Butt, The Mem...
to have acted fin Ms parliamentary capacity in behalf of Ms cHent , and so to hare infringed the privileges of the Hotrae ; and in evidence of this charge two sums , 300 £ and 2000 / ., are sworn to have been paid to him for Ms good offices , in inducing either the Board of Control or the Directors of the Company to send out a despatch to India reinstating the Ameer * in his lands , and to enable him , Mr . Butt , to go out to India to complete the affair . Mr . Bum ' s exertions in behalf of the Ameer are testified by Mr . "Vernon Smith , Mr . Mang : les , and Sir James Hogg . It was he who advised and arranged the petition to the House , which was presented by himself in June , 1856 ; and in June and July he was in constant communication with the chiefs of the Board of Control and of the East India Directorate . It would appear to have been at his instance that Mr . Vernon Smith was induced to interfere with the decision of the Leadenhall-street Board , which was opposed to making any change in the judgment confiscating the lands of the Ameer . Mr . Vernon Smith thought that the Ameer had been too severely dealt with ; in deference to his views the East . India Directors agreed to write to India concerning the Ameer ; while they recommended him to return at once to India , and to show
by his good behaviour that he was worthy of having the sentence relaxed . The recommendation was sent to the Ameer , who immediately prepared to act upon it by taking his departure for India , but the letter or despatch to the Indian Government concerning him was never sent . According to Mr . Edward Copfey , the Ameer was led by Butt to suppose that the document had been sent to India and had reinstated him in his lands ; and it was for obtaining the document that Mr . Butt was paid the large sum of money stated . Mr . Butt ' s answer to the charge is that , upon the arrival of the Ameer Ali Moorad in England , Mr . Edward Coffey was introduced to him by
Mr . James Coffey , his brother , and consulted him as to the best course to be taken with regard to the object of the Ameer ' s journey to this country . Mr . Butt advised the presentation of a petition to the House , and a petition was accordingly prepared and presented by him on theJ 2 2 nd of June . Shortly aiterwards he gave notice in the House that he would call attention to the petition on the occasion of going into committee on the Indian Budget ; but he was prevented from bringing on a discussion of the subject by the interference of the Speaker on a point of order . On a subsequent occasion he moved for papers referring
to the Ameer ' s case . Later still , when there was a talk of presenting a petition from the Ameer to the new Parliament , Mr . Butt considered that it would be ill-advised in him to present the petition , as there might be a prejudice against him in the House for the vote he had given on the China question ; and from that time he considered the case taken out of his hands . At a later period it was suggested that the Ameer should return to India , and then , in the expectation that the Ameer ' s claims would receive attention from the Indian
Government , it was suggested by Mr . Cotmey that Mr . Butt should go to India to conduct the Ameer ' s case , for which service the Ameer oifered to give him 10 , 000 / ., —3000 / . before leaving England , and the remainder of the sum secured upon bills payable in India . This offer , after some hesitation , and after consulting various friends , legal and Parliamentary , Mr . Butt at length determined to accept . Thus the arrangement , according to Mr . Butt , waa made solely Jn his legal capacity , and without reference to either past or future services in the House of Commons .
The resolutions of the select committee ate to the effect that Mr . Butt did not enter into any corrupt agreement with the Ameer to proscoyte his cause in the Howe of Commons in consideration of receiving a certain reward in money ; that ho did , in the month of July , 1857 * enter into an agreement with the Ameer to go to India to assist him to regain his lands , in consideration of the Ameor undertaking to pay him 10 , 000 / . ; that he did , botween the month
assist tire Ameer , and have on his behalf frequent personal communications with the President of the Board of Control and with the Chairman of tho Board of Directors 5 that , on tho 11 th of August , he did receive from the Amcor tho sum of 800 / ., but thtit it has not been shown that such payment had ahr reference to any proceedings in Parliament . ' SWJtybit * perhaps , has any judicial inquiry resuited 'ft , h decision more completely acoordant with th'd JptMxte : of the case and with what will bo tho gettpna'W & hxJ * bf tho public . "Wo do not supposo
there can be much doubt upon the facts or their character ; Mr . Butt ' s best friends will scarcely argue that he had restrained himself to a course of conduct which was above misconstruction . Yet there are many reasons why a condemnation would have been so painful as to be generally lamented . The case for the prosecution was anything but clean ; the principal witness stood himself in the odious position of being a participator in the acts inculpated , an unfaithful servant , and an informer . There was every appearance on that side of an attempt to strain the facts to make them look worse than they really are . Mr . Butt is eminent
in his profession , he is esteemed as a politician who has been in the main consistent without being 1 bigoted ; he is a man of very agreeable personal qualities , and is much liked . Eor an Isaac Butt to be condemned on the evidence of an Edward Coffey would have keen a case of flagrantly unpoetical justice , if justice it could be called . Everybody will rejoice , therefore , that the case against Mr . Butt fell short of producing a conviction ; at the same time , it is advantageous for the public that conduct of the kind should be dragged to light , and should be marked by a reprobation which it challenges . It is no excuse to say that many
men in the House of Commons hold at once the position of members acting for the country at large and of advocates pleading , with more or less tact , with more or less skill in evasion , the cause of private clients who pay them . It is no excuse for them to say that Mr . Butt brought that equivocal combination of functions under a glare of publicity by a want of tact and discretion . The risk which he has run has shown at last that such conduct is dangerous ; and if other men will follow up the dut y that Mr . Roebttck has so manfully fulfilled in this case , a reform may be worked in the House of Commons scarcely inferior to Lord Robert Grosvenor ' s plan for suppressing cabs and banners at elections .
2$0 , The Leader. [No. 415, March 6,1&58...
2 $ 0 , THE LEADER . [ No . 415 , March 6 , 1 & 58 .
British Muzzles And Mad Poodles. It Cert...
BRITISH MUZZLES AND MAD POODLES . It certainly gives some sort of popular corroboration to the assertion so frequently made that Lord Palmerston embroils whomsoever he professes to extricate , when we find him undertaking to vindicate the English people from complicity with assassination by such a silly prosecution as the one we last week noticed . Against French despatches and French colonels Lord Paxsorston resolved to defend us , and virtually pledged the House of Commons to pass an impromptu bill , which was to show to all nations concerned the strength and sincerity of
British detestation of plots of violence and principles of blood , which had been hastily and unwarrantably imputed to us . Simultaneously with this laudable proceeding , he instructs the upright and estimable counsel to the Treasury , for whom personall y we have great respect , to elevate ' 240 , Strand , ' " before the eyes of the world as one of those ' dens of assassins' which the clairvoyant colonels of the Motiileur had frantically surmised . Following in this wake of ridicule , Lord Derby , with characteristic zeal , is about to Bodkinize ' 39 , Uupertstreet / on account of a " Lettre au Parlementet a la Pressed which scarcelv half a dozen Englishmen
would ever have heard , of but for his Lordship ' s pompous announcement . This is the very conduct on the part of tile Crown which will give to other nations precisely the impression that the late Con-Bpiracy Bill was ostensibl y designed to correct . These wanton , petty , and idle proceedings will be likely to persuade the world that assassination is after all an ingredient in John Bull ' s political diet . The least you expect from a Prime Minister is , that he shall have a decent respect for tho character of the people whom he represents , and that he at least shall not aid in their defamation before tho world . Has Mr . TauEiiOvm ' dangerous political
sentiments ? ' Is ' W . 33 . Adams' a ' diaaffcotcd party P ' Does B-upert-street represent any possible section of English politicians P Yet this is what these trumpery proceedings indicate , if thoy indicate anything bntJuasiness . andioUy ^ arrive at Charing-oross , what a rush they will mafco at 240 , Strand!—number one of the ' dens of assassins' discovered by Palmebston , and revealed to the astonished denizens of London . What will bo the coming colonels' disgust at finding a most tamo second-hand book-shop—a plaster bust of Frankijn over tho window , ana a dop 6 t of that very safe and innocuous philanthropy whioh Mr . Robert Owen posts quarterly to Her Majesty and Prince Amhdrt . The turpitude of tho political sohool to which Tkuexovb Oolongs is to be moasurqd by tho
Millennial Oaeefte , which , we bare heard , is regularly forwarded , to Buckingham Palace , with equal regularity courteously acknowledged in a letter to Mr . Owen ( the venerable Gazetteer ) on the part of Her Majesty , and , we may be permitted to add , never read . Our Imperial ally will live long enough if never assailed by any more formidable bombs than those which issue from * three doors west of Temple-bar . ' Did the solemn debating society meeting at the 'Egg and Tea-spoon" coffeeshop , Watery-row , when they , with boisterous
enthusiasm stimulated by cocoa at ' three halfpence per pint , ' requested e W . E . Adams' to publish his penny rabies on 'Tyrannicide , ' imagine that they were about to disturb the slumbers of the Tuileries , and endanger the stability of the British alliance with our gallant neighbours ? Surely this transcends all storms in a teapot ever heard of . The levity of Lord Palmerston has often been the subject of grave complaint , bat never did rollicking Premier poke such , idle fun at the Gallic cock as this . Whether Lord Deuby will
think it becoming the dignity of the new Government to continue this wretched farce time will show . In all seriousness , however , it becomes the duty of the public to take care that out of this folly spring no danger . Tampering with the press , while juries are under a false excitement , may lead to mischief , and it would be well if 3 ome perfectly constitutional and legal organization , in no way identifyius ? itself with the sentiments or tenor
of any wild or wanton publication , nor holding itself responsible in any degree for the barking of mad dogs , should take care that liberty of speech in London be not assimilated to the state it is in iu Paris by the tendencies of any . possible trial . British liberty of speech is not secured to us by positive law so much as by the atmosphere of public opinion , and every precaution should be exercised , without compromise or relaxation , to keep that opinion , our national safeguard , instructed , vigilant , sound , and free from stain or flaw .
The Beginning And End Of The Royal Briti...
THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE ROYAL BRITISH BANK . In the early part of 1848 , a number of gentlemen from various parts of the United Kingdom found themselves drawn together by the attractive force of an idea . The leading persons among these were , Mr . Menzies , the man to whom the idea belonged , and who had some time previously held an appointment in the General Register House at Edinburgh ; Mr . Muixins , a solicitor ; Mr . Edward Moxhay , the owner of the magnificent commercial premises , known as the Hall of Commerce ; John Macgregor , Esq ., M . P . for the city of Glasgow , and formerly Secretary to the Board of Trade ; Mr . James Godfre y Elster , late a partner in a house in the Baltic trade ; and some others of less note . The idea which had attracted these gentlemen was nothing else than the formation of a London Joint-Stock Bank upon a system , at work in Scotland , of ' cash credits , ' and exceedingly advantageous t o the tradesman , for whose convenience , in fact , it was proposed to found the bank . At a meeting of the above-named worthies , hold at the house oFMullins on the 8 th of November , the ' idea' was elaborately expounded by the honourable member for Glasgow , and all present pledged
themselves to work it out . Operations were immediately commenced , and for some time oamod on with more energy than success . But at length , direotors , manager , servants , fine building , nnesounding name , a good deal of money subscribed , everything , but as much money as was desired , was secured , and tho Royal British Bank was fairly under weigh . ,, . Hero was introduced a second idea , « clever , dui dangerous . Not having sufficient money even to obtain a oharter , tho directors , without hesitation , « M / i > n //^ tfcnf tli « mnnov wn . 9 collected . At U 10
actual commencement of business on the opening of the bank in November , 1849 , its working capital djid not amount to more than 17 , 000 * . or WOW . " ' One " wlic 7 TOn ^ liTdnh " c - sc -eiies- ^ has-cxj ) lauioa that the " paid-up capital of 60 , 000 / ., required by tho Act of ^ Parliament , was reduced by preliminary expenses and coat of buildings , with flttiiigs-np , & c , to tho above sum , of whioh a g ^ t portion was said to have been borrowed from a wcll-knpwn establishment and repaid from the deposits , sliortiy aftor tho purpose that rendered tho lo & n muisponsablo had been served . " , „ With its moroly pretended paid-up capital tno Royal British Bank would have had ft short oust-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06031858/page/14/
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