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Leader (1850-1860), 6th November 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1196, Untitled Article

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    • ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. ¦ ' -?——
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      Untitled Article

      be mended or east aside by time , or it must be made ¦ wha t it is professed to be—a representation of the \ vhole people . It must not be a representation of property , for that at once establishes a superior to the people , and makes their welfare subordinate to the preservation ' and security of property .- It must not be a representation of religion , for that , too , sets a sect or a creed above the people . Nor is literary or other talent to be peculiarly represented , for every exclusive advantage of this kind is conferred on a few , not by , but in spite of , the people whom , according to the theory , the system is to represent . To be a truth and a reality it must be

      a representation of the whole people . a representation of the whole people . The meanest member of the community has a deep interest , as we now know from experience , in all the laws , such , for example , as those whicli assume to regulate the employment of shipping or the import of corn , for they enhance the price of food , and diminish the demand for , and the wages of , labour . Hundreds of laws involve the personal securityor property of the very poorest man , and he may be sent to prison or fined if he be unrepresented , in pursuance of enact ments made by rivals , opponents , enemies , or oppressors . His liberty is continually violated on innumerable pretexts . His property is continually taken from him by the tax-gatherer .

      However poor and however lowly , he cannot escape the action of the laws ; and under a Government f ounded on representation , one man is as much entitled to be represented as another . The principle applies to every Irish bog-trotter , every Highland crofter , and every costeymonger of an English town . It may be very inexpedient in the estimation of the now-governing classes to admit each and all of these to an equal share of the representation with the richest banker or the largest acred squire , but let this be honestly avowed ; let it be declared that the multitude must , be ruled with an iron

      hand , on Mr . Cariyle ' s principle and the principle of the American slave-owners ; let the Parliament 'be boldly described > as = the council of the ruling classes ; constituted for the purpose of -keeping the non-propertied classes here as the slaves are kept there , in rigid subjection to laws . . Let us not gall the House of Commons the representation of the people , but a well-contrived scheme to keep them submissive and obedient . If it be good and * wise it can gain nothing by false pretexts , and the assembly intended to De a representation of property or a class should not be delusifely called the representation of the people .

      To us these seem some of the logical consequences of a nominal system of rep resent ation . That they are what we ought now to bend all our exertions" to obtain we do not assert . T \ e are profoundly sensible of the many difficulties in the way of now carrying into effect a fair and perfect system of representation . The problem has nowhere been solved . Our present system , imperfect and incongruous , full of fictions and false as it is , has been tound less incompatible with the public welfare and the development of society than almost any other . Under it we have attained , by means of the press , whose voice has become all-powerful , a system of representation which is almost complete .

      None of the proposed alterations , as far as is yet known , will fully carry out the principle of representation , and as thoy all seem to bo proposed much more to secure the ascendancy of the Tories , the Whigs , or the middle classes , impationt of tho superiority qf the " territorial classes , " they scarcely justify any great agitation , or anything like a revolution , to obtain them . They will be oftercd to the people by the several parties as a means of gaining or securing s , hold of the Government , and it will bo tho business of the people to use the weakness and divisions of tho ruling classes , whicli impose on them a necessity to woo popular support , to obtain advantages jror themselves . In the end , neither Tories , nor Whigs , nor middle olasses , but the whole people , may rule the roast .

      ___ Tttv -O^-No Liability Of Dieectors

      could possibly be to have such a solemn legal decision as would once for all show directors they were fully responsible for the proper discharge of their duties ; but , at the same time , we were as strongly opposed to the un-English proceeding of doing a little evil to effect even a great good ; and certainly we could neveT bring ourselves to look on quietly while an act of what appeared to us positive injustice to an individual was being perpetrated , even though a useful lesson was thereby to ho read to all directors , present and future .

      We will" not recapitulate the reasons we assigned for our opinion ; we refer to the articles that have already appeared in these columns , whicli we have the satisfaction of knowing have tended to create a juster appreciation of the true merits of the question than had hitherto prevailed . We will , however , briefly indicate the leading points , which , based on the evidence , induced us to take the view of the case we have taken from the very outset . Mr . Dixon , as managing director of the bank , was charged in the action-at-law with sanctioning a report to the shareholders whicli was " fraudulentlv and knowingly" wrong , thereby inducing

      the plaintiff to become purchaser of shares in the bank . Now the fact is , that Mr . Dixon was only appointed managing director about three weeks before the report was issued , and every man of business will see at once that it was utterly impossible he could have been even superficially acquainted with the business of a bank having such immense and such complicated transactions as the Liverpool Borough Bank , Before elected to the position of managing director he was an outside director , and the rules of the bank actually prevented outside directors from knowing lhen

      anything about the financial arrangements . in the report in question , so much relied upon as being fraudulent , it will be found that mention is implied ! v made of the capital having been trenched upon . It is quite certain that Mr . Diso w nbelieved the capital of one million was only dcficrent about 58 , 000 / ., and that such a deficiency was to be regarded as a mere bagatelle when looked at in . connexion with the large and profitable business the bank was then transacting . There is not only the strong presumption , but there is "the actual proof , that Mr . Dixon was under the impression the report was a fair statement of the position of the bank at

      that time ; indeed , he could have no means of knowin " to . the contrary , as he had been for too short a period in the management to make himself acquainted with the actual position of affairs as left by , and known only to , his predecessor . And we think that Lord Campbell , in using those emphatic words : —• " If he ( Mr . Dixon ) believed , bond fide that the report was a full and fair one , he would not be liable in this action , " will have only echoed the opinion of every honest and impartial man in the kingdom . . s . . Although we have been desirous of doing individual justice , and seeing that Mr . Dixon docs not stand , in a wrong position before tho public , such as the late extraordinary verdict certainly places

      Ilim , we have been more anxious to vindicate the principle involved in this matter . That principlo s nothing less than—whether men of standing , wealth , ami character shall bo henceforward debarred from coming forward as supporters and directors of public companies , —or whether—their responsibilities shall be so fairly and clearly defined as to leave them no excuse , if an attempt , to evade them be made . It is evidently tho interest of shareholders to induce , by every proper means , men of wealth and oharaoter to lend the weight of their names and position to important joint-stock undertakings , which have already done so much to promote tho prosperity and onlargo tho greatness of this country .

      LIABILITY OF DIRECTORS . It is a matter of real satisfaction to us to find that our impression of the injustice of tho verdiofctaking into account the quality of the evidence brought before tho jury 7—111 tho case of Scott v . Dixon , has been confirmed by the decision of Lord Campbell , on Thursday , in granting an application for a new trial . We wero quite as anxious as even the worst-used shareholder of the Liverpool Borough Bank for full and substantial justioo to bo meted out to those who wore really tho delinquent parties ; wo wero as sinoeroly anxious os any one

      Untitled Article

      FRANCE . QFi'Oin our own Correspondent . ' ) ¦¦¦ . ¦ ' . Paris , Thursday , 6 . V p . m . CoMPLiBflEirrAKY as are the foreign criticisms on Mr . Bright ' s recent speeches at Birmingham to him personally , they would not be held flattering to any Englishman who had honest admiration for his race , or any love for the country of his forefathers . Mr . Bright has now added to his success , as protege" of the Tories , the approval of those who hate English institutions and detest Englishmen—unless they be renegades , when the detestation makes way for contempt . The honourable member for Birmingham will , probably , feel embarrassed under the civic crowns decreed him by his new friends . Their eulogies will surely be beyond his powers of

      digestion ; for , however much he may delight in paradox and singularity , he cannot be willing to cast from him his English citizenship , or to welcome the destruction of the British constitution , as preparatory to annexation to the United States , or as the avunl-courricr of subjection to the immortal principlo of the French Involution , expounded and applied by a heaven-born Bunaparte . Mr . Bright will , doubtless , be much astonished to find such deductions made . from , his discourses , but the fault is entirely his own . To gratify a feeling , that , from the manner in which it is accompanied by astounding misrepresentations , looks something more than cynical , he belied his countrymen and traduced the State—for , I presume , ¦ Englishmen ,-who may have the misfortune to wear handles to their names and to have risen to

      " adulterine" distinctions , are his fellow-country menand it reads very badly , especially in a foreign land , this stigmatising of a whole class as ghouls , who are indifferent to the sufferings of tlieir poorer brethren and trade in their blood . The time must , of a surety , have gone by for class to be armed against class in England . Kich aud poor fought shoulder to shoulder in the Crimea , shared the same deprivations , and suffered a common death" ; and it is moiistrou ? 4 d insinuate , Tis Mr . 13 right die ] , that when the earl ' s son went with his company-up to the imminent deadly breath , he did so with aviovv to build up his fortunes upon the slaughter of the rank and file that followed him . To one living abroad , it-. a .-ems

      incredible that , among the four thousand auditors- at Birmingham , there was-not sufficient manhood , not sufficient English love of fair play , to cry Xo ! upon-such slander . Can it be possible that political meetings have degenerated into occasion for retailing scandal , and that a parliamentary Sir Benjamin Backbite is the most popular character in which an orator can appear before his constituents of the capital of the midland counties ? Viewed from a distance , the B irmingham exhibition presents a most melancholy spectacle . 1 mean , of course , so far as regards the misrepresentation—criticism it cannot be called—of England ' s foreign policy . It looks like a great national apostasy and the recantation for

      of national faith , ami there U just cau . se apprehension that the old English spirit was dying out did we tut all feel convinced that the speaker had no faitli in his crude cosmopolitan theories , and that his hearers would Imvo taken it as a great insult if they had been asked to put in practice tho doctrines they so vehomcntly applauded . M . de Cessena ha * just published a pamphlet on tho decay of England , and purposes to introduco into > tuo second edition a notice of Birmingham speeches in - \ l \ w » - tration and proof of his proposition . There is a talk 01 this literary production being dedicated to Mr . Jintfiu , as well , also , as a forthcoming work , Les Cn . ues , Tra / iisona ct Felonies d'Aufjkterre . The l > onou , abk l

      member for Birmingham , will bo lauded m the » nu *» Catiline , who , in tho fulness of time , will lead the r . no - lish slaves to tho extirpation of tho nristocvaey , nnu prepare them for tho advent of tho tricolorod flag , "'""'' in the vision of M . < lu Lovignc ? , \* to sail from Cherbonr . That Mr . Bright will repudiate such news wo all mn'Wi that ho is ns national and pugnacious a llnton as " <¦ breathed wo feel convinced , aud by tho distortion ol »« purposo in foreign prints ho only pays tho penn O " tho exaggeration and misrepresentation in which no •> dulged at Birmingham . If Mr . Bright is claimed as on ally by tho Anglophobiats , a still greater ! ; » ' « " "'V . ' „ J in store for him . Ho is now tho oruclo ol 110 » c » Protectionists , the god by whom thuy awoiir . m * „ . t _ _« t i S ii > i . 1 .. i ? n , i < . iin- ' i > linn 1111 lmI i " fumation of Lord Stratford do UodclimMas lll-11 '"

      -> " Univcvs and Comtitutionnrt with joy , and niL oriK '' " , your renders may judge how popular \ t \ Jlr . J fa among Protectionists , Ultrnmontanoa , and Absolut !* " . all deadly enemies to England , I forward two in . i « o * from tho ouiaineot M . Charloii < lo Lcssop * :-- ' / ''^ A , Birmingham ) Mr . Bright , In pugoa which ahoul . lit > part of liUtory ( M . do Uddops fttiiuio * . tho iciiu '« JJ | gentlemen road hi * apooohoa ) , drew , in ohiiraotora ns » , found aa true ; the mUfortumto , ho oven anlil the i » * of that pomif / uo of which Lord lNdnierston s thu hii « Ho proposed to England a programme which wua J to . call tho programme of-peace and Juatloo , t u r gramme of tho futuro . . . . ThU » apoooli I * t u | mj dilation , not only of a Btatonman , but « ho oi a K mind , that understands both tho state of the world an

      Untitled Article

      1196 THE LEADER ... [ No . 450 , Novembeh 6 , 185 S .

      Untitled Article

      Church Missionary Sociisty . —A correspondent of tho Brif / hton Examiner writes : — - " Having lately returned from Madras , I thought the friends of tho Church Missionary Society might wiah to know want is doing there . The church ia fitted with canobottomod and backed seats , and soft footstools , all free . Tho congregation in composed of Government servants , tradespeople , clerks of offices , and East Indians , but very few natives . The collections are very few , not covorlng tho oxponses of lighting , cleaning , &c Tho church was intended , no doubt , for natives , but thoy ore put off with a schoolroom with no Boats . Then , tlioro are six coolies ompjoyed on the Sabbath to pull the punkahs or fanr , to cool tho ladles . This Ia unnecessary , and breaking the Sabbath . Tho Wo ' sloyans have nothing of tho aort . You see , now , how tho monoy is sponfc . Wo have to help those who can help themselves . "

      Original Correspondence. ¦ ' -?——

      ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE . ¦ ' - ?——

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 6, 1858, page 1196, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2267/page/20/