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LIABILITY OF DIRECTORS. Ii is a matter o...
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Ciiuncu Missionary SocucTr.—A correspond...
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ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE —?
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TRANCE. (From Our oion Correspondent.). ...
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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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Who Shall Rule The Roast ? The Liberal P...
be mended or cast aside by time , or it must be made what it is professed to be— -a representation of the whole people . It must not be a representation of 2 ? roperty , 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 m spite of , the people whom , according to the theory , the system is to represent . To be a troth and a reality it must be a representation of the whole peo ]) le .
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 which 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 propertyof the very poorest man , and lie may be sent to prison or fined if he be unrepresented , in pursuance of enactmentsmade by rivals , opponents , enemies , or oppressors . His liberty is continually violated on innumerable pretexts . His pi ^ operty is continually taken from him by the tax-gatherer . However poor and however lowly , lie cannot escape tlie action of the laws ; and under a Government founded on representation , one man is as much
entitled to be represented as another . The Drincinle titled to be represented as another . The principle applies to every Irish bog-trotter , every Highland crofter , and every costermonger 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 . Carlyle ' 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 ihe purpose of keeping the non-propertied classes here as the slaves are kept there , in rigid subjection to laws . Let us not call , 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 Tbe a representation of property or a class should not be delusively called the representation of the people .
To us these seem some of the logical consequences of a nominal system of representation . That they are what we ought now to bend all our exertions " to obtain we do not assert . " We are profoundly sensible of the many difficulties in the way of now carrying into effect a fair and perfect system of i * epresentation . The problem has nowhere been solved . Our present system , imperfect and incongruous , full of fictions and false as it is , has been found 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 tho principle of representation , and as they all seem to be proposed much more to secure the ascendancy of the Tories , tho "Whigs , or tho middle classes , impatient of tho superiorUy pf the " territorial classes , " they scarcely justify any pf the " territorial classes , " they scarcely justify any
great agitation , or anything like a revolution , to obtain them . They will be offered to the people by the several parties as a means of gaining or securing a hold of the Government , and It will bo i , ho business of tho people to use the weakness and divisions of the ruling classes , which imposo on them a necessit y to woo popular support , to obtain advantages For themselves . In tho end , neither Tories , nor Whigs , nor middlo classes , but the whole pooplc , naay rule tho roast .
Liability Of Directors. Ii Is A Matter O...
LIABILITY OF DIRECTORS . Ii is a matter of real satisfaction to us to find that our impression of the injustice of the verdiottaking into account ; the quality of tho evidence Thought boforc tho jury—in the case of Scott v . JDixon , has been confirmed by the dooision of Lord Campbell , on Thursday , in granting an application for a new trial . Wo were quite as anxious as « ven the worst-nsed shareholder of the Liverpool Borough Bank for full and substantial justice to bo meted out to those who wove really the dolinqnout parties j wo were as sincerely anxious ns any one
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 : ven a great good ; and certainly we could never 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 be 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 , which 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 sauctionin ° - a report to the shareholders which was " fraudulently and knowingly" wrong , thereby inducing the pla ^ tifF 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 ho was a-u outside director , and the rules of the bank actually prevented outside directors from knowing anything about the financial arrangements . Then in-the report in question , so much relied upon as being fraudulent , it will be found that mention is impliediv made of the capital having been trenched upon . It is quite certain that Mr . Dixon believed the capital of one million was only deficient about 5 8 , 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 tho report was a fair statement of the position of the bank at that time ; indeed , he could have no means of knowing to the contrary , as lie 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 these 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 . Although we have been desirous of doing individual iustiee , and seeing that Mr . Dixon docs not
stand in a wrong position before the public , such as the late extraordinary verdict certainly places him , we have been more anxious to vindicate the principle involved in this matter . That principle is nothing less than—whether men of standing , wealth , and character shall be henceforward debarred from coming forward as supporters and directors of public companies , —or whether—their responsibilities shall bo so fairly and clearly defined as to leave them no oxouso , 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 character to lend the weight of their names and position to important joint-stock undertakings , whioh hayo already done so much to promote tho prosperity and enlarge the greatness of this country .
Ciiuncu Missionary Socuctr.—A Correspond...
Ciiuncu Missionary SocucTr . —A correspondent of the Brighton Examiner writes j- — " Having lately returned from Madras , I thought tho friends of tho Churoh Missionary Society might wlali to know what is doing there . The church is fitted with cane-bottomed and backed aeats , and soft footstools , nil free . Tho congregation i « composed of Government servants , tradoapqoplo , clerks of offices , and East Indians , but very few natives . Tho collootions nro very few , not coyorlng the expenses of lighting , clean Ing , & o . Tho church w « 8 intended , no doubt , for natrvas , but tlioy aro put off with a schoolroom with no floats . Then , thoro are six coolies employed on ( he Sabbath to pull tlio punkahs or fanr , to cool the ladies . This is unnecessary , and breaking tho Sabbath . The Wesloynns havo nothing of the sort . You aeo , now , how the money la spout . Wo havo to holp those who can help tlioinBolvos . "
Original Correspondence —?
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE —?
1196 THE LEADER . ,. [ STo ; . 450 , ISTovembeh 6 , 185 SL
Trance. (From Our Oion Correspondent.). ...
TRANCE . ( From Our oion Correspondent . ) . ' ' ¦ - ' . Parxs , Thursday , G ^ p . m . Complimentary as are the foreign criticisms " ou jr . r . Bright ' s recent speeches at Birmingham to him personally , tliey would not bo held flattering to any Englishman who bad 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 hu powers of digestion ; for , however much he may delight in parados : and singularity , he cannot be willing to cast from him his English citizenship , or to welcome the destruction of the British constitution , ns preparatory to annexation to the United States , or as the nvant-courricr of subjection to the immortal principle of the French Revolution , expounded anil applied by a lieaven-borri Bonaparte . ZNIr . Bright will , doubtless , be much astonished to linil 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 ri-sjn to " adulterine" distinctions , are'hid fellow-countrymenand it reads very badly , especially in a foreign land , this stigmatising of a whole clas-s us ghouls , who are indifferent to the suiFering . s of their 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 . liich and poor fought shoulder to shoulder in the Crimea , shared the same deprivations , nn-l suffered a coiuinon death ; anil it is monstrous to insinuate , as Mr . Bright did , that when the earl's son wont with his-company-up to the imminent deadlv breach , be did so with a view to
build up his fortunes upon the slaughter of the rank and file that followed him . To one living abroad , it sjeins incredible that , among the four thousand auditors at Birmingham , there was not sufficient manhood , not sufficient English love of fair j . lay , to cry No ! upon such slander . Can it be possible that political meetings-have degenerated into occasions for retailing scandal , anil 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 , tho Birmingham 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 of national faith , and there is just cause for apprehension tkat tho old English spirit was dying out did we n . t all feel convinced that the speaker had no faith in his cruilo cosmopolitan theories , ami that his hearers would Imyo taken it as a great insult if they had been asked to put in practice tho doctrines they so vehemently applamleil . M . do Ceasena has just published a pamphlet o : i tho decay of England , and purposes to introduce into Hie second edition a notice of Birmingham speeches in illustration and proof of his proposition . There is a talk ot this " literary production being dedicated to Mr . » r \ A » h Lniics
as woll , also , as n forthcoming work , Los ., Trahisons et FJloniea d'Auyteterre . The honourable member for Birmingham will bo luudod as tho *" . " Catiline , who , in the fulness of tiino , will load the huglish slaves to tho extirpation of the aristocracy , ami prepare thorn- for tho advent of tho tricolorod ling , wlucn , in tho vision of M . do Levignd , is to sail from Choriimirb . That Mr . Bright will repudiate such nows wo all un «« i that ho is ns national and pugnacious a Briton n-s ever breathed wo feel convinced , and by the distortion oi ins purpose in foreign prints ho only pays tho pt-ua ty j tho exaggeration and misrepresentation in wnlen no »• dulgod at . Birmingham . If J \ lr . Bright is claimed ns . on ally by tho Anglophobias , a still gruator hiunilwUt"i > is in store for him . Ho is now tho oracle ol l ' l'mlt' 11 Protectionists , the god bv wliom they swear . ll 1 " , \ famatlon of Lord Stratford do liodullffb him '' I '" . " '
, ¦ Univcra and Conatitutionncl with joy , and »>» oi \ Wr j " £ your readers may judge how popular U Mr . 15 r !» among Protectionists , Ultrnmontanes , and Ab « oliiu « i all deadly enemies to England , I forward two » u > iw a from tho cuiatneot M . Charlos do Losaops : — " * " ¦ ' " < ) "" Birmingham ) Mr . Bright , In pngos which should n . 'in part of history ( M . do Lossops fauulos tho honour . uio gontloinon road hla speeches ) , drew , In characters »« I >'" found aa truo , tlio / mUfortiuKW , ho uvon said tho t ;| 1 "l ) V \ l of that politlyw of which Lord l ' nlmoraton is tho I" 1 "" 11 ' Ho proposod to England a programme which wo nm au . to call tho programme of poaco and justice , uvi V ' gramme of tho future . . . . This Hpoech U . the i ; **• dilation , not only of a fttntoAman , but also ol a «»« mind , that understands both tho state of tho world nno
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 6, 1858, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06111858/page/20/
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