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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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3 Sfd . S 8 S , JtTLY 25 , 1867 . 1 THE LEADEB , _ _ . ^^ JPJ :
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object of the French Government—and m this it seems to be supported by Austria and Russia—is once more to disturb the French # nd Italian refugees in . their home . They cannot live in peace because M . Ledru Eomin-who has evidently no more tp do with any project for assassinating the Emperor of the French than Lord Pat . mebston —can smoke his cigar in [ London streets .
Whatever may come of this disgraceful attempt to get tip an excitement against innocent and honourable men , we trust it will be remembered that the English and French Governments , by the tone of their quarrel with Naples , and the English press , by its persevering encouragement of the spirit of disaffection in Italy , its savage attacks on Bomb a , are alone responsible for recent events . Ever since the beginning of the world , to describe a king as a tyrant , to represent him as guilty of the most cold-blooded tyranny , of torture , exaction , and perjury , has been called incitement to insurrection ; and for the
demagogues , who have played fcjns game , to turn round on those who rise and seek to hand them over to the executioners lias been called cowardice . We have recently read much ludicrous abuse of M . Ma-zzijti , because when his attempt failed lie contrived to escape . Do not these writers reflect that for two years , from a much safer position than that of the Italian revolutionist , they have been doing all in their power , if not ? to sharpen the dagger which no one meant to use , at any rate to load the musket which has this time missed fire ?
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AN ADYENTURE IN THE PROVINCES . Theue is a vast palace not far from the river Thames , and in this there formerly ruledand may rule still—a sovereign at once wealthy and powerful . The exterior of the edifice is gloomy and unadorned , but the interior , occupied by suites of chambers and a vast central hall , glitters with gilding and silk . The monarch , to whom rumour imputes some familiarity with the black art , is master of many thrones , but chooses not ; to sit upon them himself . His ministers possess each twelve various robes— -the
costtimes of as many ages and nations—and wear divers ornaments and crowns . In his Treasury is the dagger of Bnurus , with the wand of ArteIj , the shroud of Hamj , et ' s father , and millions of Columbine spangles . Sometimes the king reigns as a PuAitAon , then as a Prince of Beauty , to whom a hundred damsels offer garlands of flowers ; next he is a tamor of horses , and now he engages a giant-killer to nmuso his subjects . Well , this potentate—so mighty that every seven days two heralds scattered his renown on
broad-sheets—was not satisfied with ruling the realm of Drury , but espied far beyond its borders three kingdoms—Bedford , Bodmin , and Bridporfc . " Ojio of thoso shall be mine , " ho swore right royally . This hearing , the Cavalier Edwakdes , from the land of Peckham , came and threw himself at tho foot of the Drury Pharaoh , ami offered , if provided with a handful of yellow tokens , to conquer the Bedford nation . " Two rivals contest tho crown , " ho said , " and my gracious lewd shall prevail over both . " At these mellifluous words tho
monarch was "well pleased , and uaw tho ' cavalier once and again , to prepare him foi * tho valorous adventure First , a gorgeous pageant wns mado ready—banners of rainbowcoloured paper— " " Welcome to tho King of Drury I "— " Down with the Eoo I ' —" The Oat will be lot out o ( tho Bug . " A faithful sonant desired to march upon Bedford lit the head of a . coryplwoun pluilanx of
Amazonian graces in pink or pearly Areophane ; but this was forbidden , as they , lightly and briefly robed , might have trembled in the tempestuous cold of that country . But three Pindars went before the chariot of the King ; them following , rode three Orators , one heavily equipped , upon the back of a Green Dragon ; at the gate of the besieged palace stood a ( chamber ) -maid in the attire of Arcady , and her addressing , spoke the Peckham cavalier , " Say , who in this city is
greatest . ? " Him answering , " ManteI / , " slie said , and gazed in awe upon the lengthening cavalcade—the Drury King , in his highseated , gold-embossed chariot , the Orators , the Poets , the blue-and-orange banners of paper , the blazing records of virtue , soupgiving , and valour , the mystic oracle " Cat out of the Bag "—when suddenly the enchanted chimera vanished , and lo ! six stout gentlemen stood upon the scene ; there was no Green Dragon ( only the odour of it ) ; the
the Peckham knight became a clown ; standards were changed into placards , and clung to the walls , and a red-lipped chambermaid , with a curtsey , said , " Please , sir , Mr . Mantei . is the most intelligent and influential man in the Radical interest . " Armed . with this authority , Ebwabdes , of Peckham , summoned meetings in support of . the" candidate from Drury , wrote art address for him , paid the beadles for a peal of bells , smoked , dranlc lemonade , and is said to have idled ; yet evidently he did his worst to make a farce of the Bedford election , for his employer obtained nearly two hundred covenanted or uncovenanted suffrages . Some of the necessary work was done by a deputation , and in the deputation figured Hemi Shei-ton , independent elector . This gentleman was petted at Drury , ' had champagne , saw the performances , and looked at the dancers behind the curtain . ' The whole affair resolved itself into ' capital fun . ' There is corruption in the Government ; there is corruption in Parliament ; but the electoral system is more corrupt than any . The avenues of the House are infested by jobbers , jugglers , pettifogging agents , and miserable local ' leading men , ' who will accept as their candidate the first man who offers to spend his money freely . "When the small boroughs are not tinder ducal influences , they become the property of little cliques , ignorant or venal , and any Peckham
EmvARDKS can get up a requisition for a public meeting and a . vote of adoption . In this way tho scourings of illiterate vanity , popularised by the rant of tap-room orators , are shot into tho House of Commons . The large boroughs are bad enough , -with their hundreds of public-houses opened in the interest of an opulent ignoramus ; but these boroughs aro the curse of the country ; without sinking thorn ; and destroying , by means of the Ballot , tho influence of purchased Peckham agency , no measure of parliamentary reform can bo effectual .
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ANOTHER RIGHT ROYAL BRITISH BANK . A . iniiii is passing through , Parliament to umko provision for tho defalcation which UupPAVii effected in tho capital of the Groat Northern Railway Company . Tho House of Commons and tho IIouso of Lords are at iwsuo upon one provision : tho Lords aro for laying tho burden equally over all shai'eholders , * preference' or ' original ; . tho Commons oro for preserving tho exemption of tho preference ) shareholders , on tho ground that tho Act guarantees to thorn tlioir 4 £ por cent ., and that tho two Houses of Parliament Hhould not interfere with the ordinary oourso of law . It deems to bo forgotten that tho ordinary course of law has not sufficed ,
sinee it has been necessary to appeal to the two Houses of Parliament . The reason why the ordinary course of law fails is , that shareholders and directors have been so negligent through a series of years as to create a constant opportunity for IJed ^ ath , and the preference shareholders , who exercise a very influential vote in the company , have used their full array of power in . continuing that opportunity . The defalcation is a monstrous charge upon the company , and should
rightly be provided by an exceptional course . The public is anxiously awaiting a prosecution of the directors of the Uoyal British Bank , on some of whom the public has already passed its judgment , while for others the same public will most assuredly hope a verdict of acquittal . It has recently been reported that Patti ,, Stbahaw , Redipath , Robbe
son , Agak , and Saward , are about to conveyed to " Western Australia as to a penal settlement , under the provisions of the Penal Servitude Act . By the magnanimity of Lord PAiiMEBSTOJ * , the Fraudulent Trustees Bill has gradually been , making its ivay ^ through the second House of Parliament . We have quite a formidable array , therefore , of penal examples and penal terrors .
In the midst of this expectancy , the Zzmes somewhat suddenly denounces certain directors of another bank , as deserving all the severity that could be inflicted on . the directors of the Royal British Bank . The firm in question is ' the London and Eastern Banking Company , ' which had the misfortune to smash in March last . The circumstances were no doubt peculiar . The
paidup capital of the bank was 250 , 000 ? . There was a branch in this country , with branches in India , The Indian part of the business appears to have been managed regularly enough ; but serious losses were thrown upon it by the exchange operation of the directors in London to . supply themselves with funds , and the funds in London had been used in an unlicensed manner : more than
the paid-up capital had been advanced by way of loan to Colonel Wattgh and other members of the Board of Directors , including Mr . Stephens , the Managing Director . No doubt there are some circumstances in this case which greatly i-esemble those of the Royal British Bank j but all the facts are not before us ; and we can at least see startling differences .
The shareholders have agreed to the private composition j and with tho experience of the Royal British Bank before them , probably they are right . The monstrosity of that case did not consist in the diversion of capital , but in the extravagant professions of piety , in tho conspiracies of the directors to keep up an appearance of solvency when they had no means , in the endeavour to entrap share purchasers nud depositors when the bank was not simply insolvent , but a fiction . The London and Eastern Banking
Corporation did have a paid - up capital oi 250 , 0002 , ; the smaller ' paid-up' of the British Bank was in part a fiction . Tho managers of the Royal British Bank-were persons acquainted with banking affairs ; Colonel W ajjcux was known to havo been an Indian cavalry officer , and tho managing director a surgeon in tho Indian army , it is true that Colonel -Waugh took Oamp den House at irnv , a { r . < rftnii nnd flfaiick out in spJencua
stylo ; that ho had a romantic and picturesque country residence on Branksea Island , in Toolo Harbour ; true that poor shareholders and depositors were roally payiuff for tho sumptuous entortaiments , the apTondid concerts , and tasteful luxuries both at Kensington and Bran csea - £ » < ; " « l , avo no evidence that Colonel VwaB invoked Pivine blessing on a J > ubWe
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 25, 1857, page 711, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2202/page/15/
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