Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 24th November 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1124, Untitled Article

Page 1124
Page 8
8 of 24

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      a ^^ re ^ i eiring , a quartionef the " costs * v ^ s casually introduced , upon which the Court asked the counsel who . ventured upon such ground whether he would like to take his cpsts out of the residue which regained at the termination of the suit . Such a proposition was effectual in bringing the present hearing to a close ; ancl the Master of the Bolls said that it appeared to him th « bnly way to bring the matter to any settlement at all was , that he should take the papers home , and draw up such a decree as would DeBt conduce , in the opinion of the Court , to the interests of all parties .

      Wohan-bbatino . — -There has been a slackness lately in . these cases ; bufc still we have some to report . Henry Jones and Sophia M'Cann , costermongers , were charged at Clerkeuwell with an assault on Mary Sullivan and pn * Ker husband . The outrage arose out of a quarrel , at a public-house , when the . female prisoner , seizing ' on Mrs . Sullivan , attempted to gouge out her eyes . Her face was savagely scratched , and Jones kicked and beat the poor woman and her husband . Jones and M'Cann were condemned respectively to four and six months' imprisonment with bard labour . —At the Thames police-office , Samjiel King was sentenced to six months' hard labour for ill-using his wife . This was his fifth conviction ; and lie was' known to be a confirmed drunkard , who constantly left his wife and children in a state of starvation .

      Hocussing .- —A lad named William Bray was sent by his master , a farmer and publican , to dispose of some hay at Knightsbridge . When there a man came up , and , after some bargaining , agreed to give the lad three guineas for tlie hay . He then took him , under pretence of having the hay delivered , to Lambeth , ¦ where he was introduced into a public-house , and had half a pint of beer , after drinking which he felt very sick and stupid . The man gave him a paper ( which proved to be covered with scribbling , written over a receipt stamp ) , and five shillings for himself , saying

      that he should call and pay his master the three guineas . A . companion of the- man , however , was given into custody , the man himself getting off . The person seized-was an individual named William Giggs , an old offender ; and he is now under remand at the Lambeth police-court . / The Abbbdeen Bank . —All the features of the most disgraceful failures-of recent years Beem likely to be reproduced in a suit which came on for a f urther hearing last week in the Edinburgh Court of Session , and which promises a harvest for the legal profession yequal to anything ever yielded by our own Court of

      Chancery . The case ib tnat ot tne Aberdeen Bank , and , although ithasah-eady been five years in progress , and the interests involved are of a momentous character , the period of ita termisntiGli is believed to be altogether beyond conjecture . The proceedings are in the form of an action brought by a proprietor against the directors for the recovery of the purchase money of his stock , in consequence of malversation and false representations on their part . It appears that the Banking Company of Aberdeen was established in 1767 , and that in 1828 the deed of partnership was renewed for twenty-one years , when the capital was fixed at £ 250 , 000 , in shares of £ 100 each . Among the chief instances of misconduct set forth by the plaintiff is the opening of five accounts on which advances were originally made to the extent of £ 146 , 000 on insufficient security , which were

      ultimately increased to £ 521 , 727 , or more than double the capital of the tank . It is further charged that , while the establishment was thus being ruined , the directors up to the year 1840 continued iu their annual reports to represent that its affairs were in a most prosperous state , and to declare dividends varying from six to nine per cent . Subsequently they acknowledged losses which they attributed to a decline in the value of Bank of England stock , a robbery of the bank , and other causes , and announced that ' the capital lad fallen to £ 50 , 000 . A call of £ 50 , 000 : was then made , and at the same time the nominal value of the shares was reduced to one-half , After this the presentation of favourable reports was renewed , and dividends of five and six per cent . declared , until , in 1840 , all further concealment became impossible , and £ 7 , 000 was found to be the total in hand . —Times .

      Untitled Article

      LORD JOHN XUSSELL AT THE MANSION HOUSE . , , ' ( From the Edinburgh News . ) Thbrb is still an outward semblance of war feoling , but the efforts made to fan it are the best evidences of its felt feebleness . Ask merchants behind their counters , or tradesmen at their desks , and you will find the popularity of the war waning beyond power of resuscitation . The men who cheered Lord Palmerston at the Lord Mayor ' s dinner , and , who . to their everlasting disgrace , hissed down Lord John Buaacll—he who , more than any other man , had given them tho political privileges they possess—% 0 « e udendo ncr * represent the oommorical classes of ^ ftjoowtrf any H * we than they " pay the expenses 9 ff , tta ; # & . " It W vain to deny that a portion pf the Vftople € hrivea en War . "Warprices" has always

      been a phi-ase agreeable to agricultural ears , and many reap fortunes out of the miseries of war . These , however , are the few , while the sufferers are the many ; and nowhere could a larger audience of the select fortune-making class be found than at a Lord Mayor ' s dinner . Thirty or forty millions sterling is yearly being spent in this contest—that is , drawn from the pockets , or rather from the cupboards of the people and stomachs of their children . But where does it go ? Where , but into the pockets of the class that cheered Lord Palmerston on Friday . They are the men who make or sell all that Government wants , often'at such prices as they please ; and , like other men alive to business , they will be delighted to pay double income tax , if by so doing business , profits can be increased fourfold . There is another point on which the people will not always remain ignorant , and one on which increased knowledge will produce increased dissatisfaction with those cheerers of Lord Palmerston . They , forsooth , bear the burden of the war because the masses pay no income tax ! Never was there a more reckless reason given to cover a desperate deception . The reverse of this is nearer the truth . The income tax falls heavily on spinsters—those whose incomes are from realised property—and upon clerks , artizans , and servants with , fixed incomes liable for the tax . But these merchant cheerers pay income tax . on profits , and these are levied from consumers , so that the working man not only pays his own share of indirect , which is the heavy end of taxation , for the war , but the consuming classes also pay the income tax of the merchant in the price of what they eat and wear . But even were it not necessarily so , these merchant princes who surrounded Lord Palmerston might well cheer him on to war as a mere business speculation . They , too , form the speculators , the class who are at this moment making fortunes by starving the poor out of the necessai-ie 3 of life . Bread has already reached a famine price , and the speculators boast that before winter is over they will take a shilling out of every four pound loaf . Wheat having reached the maximum , sugar is being operated on ., and within a" few weeks has been raised by speculators to double its former price . When sugar has reached a rate to satisfy cupidity , tea , coffee , and other necessaries will be operated on in time . These merchants cheer on Lord Palmerston to war , knowing that in peace they could never double their wealth by doubling the price of the nation ' s daily food ; and men whose credit or command of capital enables them to extract 6 d . of extra profit out of every shilling of a working man ' s -wages , may well afford a halfpenny to Government as income-tax , aud cheer the Minister who promises that such seasons aud opportunities for extortion will lost for years . The suffering people may , however , before winter is over , greet his lordship with diffarent sounds , The " clamourers " for cheap bread in London have had their cry re-echoed by 15 , 000 men and women at West Bromwich , who with more earnestness than wisdom have demanded the prohibition of corn exportation , and the abolition of monopoly in human food . To starvation prices may be added the miseries of a Manchester strike ; and the masses with hungry children and empty cupboards at home , and disappointed hopes of liberty abroadwith a diminished trade , ill-paid accounts , and accumulated burdens paralysing the energy and hopes of the middle classes—with all statesmen of eminence cqldly concurring or positively hostile to his war policy , there is little present prospect of Lord Palmerstou receiving the support of the nation , even although he were to carry his implied threat into execution , unless he did it now , thereby forestalling that reaction which the sufferings of winter and high prices is sure to produce among all but those merchants , contractors , and speculators , who so lustily cheered his belligerent after-dinner speech at the Mansion House on Friday . Sacrifices would willingly be borue for the liberty of nations , which will never be submitted to for the strengthening of dynasties ; and as Lord Palmeraton ' s war is for kings and not for peoples , the sooner it is brought to a close the better for Britain and the world .

      Untitled Article

      AMERICA . AKtineasy , jealous feeling still hangs between England and the United States ; and , with reference to the " difficulty" with Mr . Crampton , the Washington Correspondent of the New York Herald writes as follows on the 5 th inst . : — " By the last foreign mail , which arrived here this morning , highly important despatches were received from our Minister in England , all of which I understand will be considered by the Cabinet to-day , and it is believed have reference to Mr . Cramnton ' s difficulty , the whole of which will be j ~ . ^ t .+ w < v ' une Herald quotes from developed iu a day or two xue •« .-. hi- * t ^^ m ™ ,. ^ the Hampshire Tekgr ^ h Of OCtooer ^ , t £ ^ 2 ! J ™ stating that a number of British vessels of war had been despatched to Bermuda " in consequence of the insulting tone of the United States Government on the rald

      subject of Cuba ; " an announcement which the He considers semi-official on account of Lord Palmerston ' s country seat being veiy near Southampton , where the Telegraph is published . The American writer , therefore , considers that there is mischief in tfce thing . " The United States commissioner in the Mediterranean has written for a reinforcement of a steamer and a sloop , in consequence of the state of affairs on the continent , especially at Naples . The amount due on the three million dollars Mexican indemnity is nearly covered by draughts already presented ; but the question of the legality of these draughts has been submitted to the Attorney-General . It is stated that in Kansas a eeoret military organisation has taken place , for controlling the affairs of that territory , and resisting the execution of any law passed by the territorial islature

      Leg . From Nicaragua we have reports that General Walker , having been reinforced by a small party of Californians , on the 12 th ult ., embarked at Virgin Bay on board the steamer Virgin , and before daylight the next morning landed within four miles of Granada . Aftor a rapid advance , the expedition reached the oity , and gained the Molazza without encountering any serious resistance , hut hero a sharp contest ensued which resulted in a loss to the enemy of fifteen killed and several wounded . General Walker took possession of the oapital of Nicaragua . Subsequently , the fort was captured by a detachment of Americans . Order having beon restorod . the citizens of Granada held a nublio meetinjr and tendered to Genoral Walker the

      Presidency of the Republic / which honour he deohned iu favour of General Corral . Colonel Wheeler , the United States' Minister to Central America , after much solicitation , proceeded to Rivas with propositions of peace . Arriving at Rivas , and learning that General Corral was absent , Colonel Wheeler attempted to return , but was prevented by the Governor , and detained two days , nor was he released until the town was threatened with an attack . This breach of faith on the part of Corral ' s forces led to a correspondent ) between the United States' Minister and the General . On the 22 d , Corral surrendered , a treaty of peace was formed , aud thus Walker ' s victory become complete-During the progre&a of these events , others of importance were transpiring . On the 10 tl ) , Colonel Fry nnd Parker H . Frenoh , with sixty men , embarked on

      Untitled Article

      stubbornly to its position , whether disproved or not while the former is an unarrestable movement to * wards the fountain of truth—caring little for cherished authorities or sentiments , but continually progressing —feeling no false shame at her short-comings , but , on the contrary , the highest pleasure , when freed from an error , at-having advanced another step towards the attainment of Divine truth—a pleasure not even intelligible to the pride of ignorance . We also hear , not unfrequently , science and practice , scientific knowledge and common sense , contrasted as antagonistic . A strange error ! For science is

      eminently practical , and must be so , as she sees and knows what she is doing ; while mere common practice is . condemned to -work in the dark , applying natural ingenuity to unknown powers to obtain a known result . Far be it from me to undervalue the creative power of genius , or to treat shrewd common sense as worthless without knowledge . But nobod y will tell me that the same genius would not take an incomparably higher flight if supplied with all the mean which knowledge can impart ; or that common sense does not become , in fact , only truly powerful when in possession of the materials upon which , judgment is to be exercised . " ( Cheers . )

      PRINCE ALBERT AT BIRMINGHAM . The * first stone of the Midland Institute , to be ereotod in Birmingham , was laid on Thursday by Prinoe Albert . After tho ceremony , the Prince , escorted by tho Couuoil of the Institute , proceeded on foot to the Town Hall , where a luncheon , for nearly five hundred persons was provided . In answer to the toast of his health , Prince Albert delivered a speech iu which he eloquently insisted on tho necessity for scientific education . Ho observed : — " It is sometimoB objeoted by the ignorant that soionco is uncertain and changeable : and they point to the . many exploded theories which have been superseded by others as a proof that the present knowledge may be also unsound , and , after afl , not worth having . But they are not aware that while they think to cast blame upon Science , they bestow , in foot , the highest nrataei upon her , for that is preoisely the difference between Boienco and prejudico : that tho latter keeps

      Prince Albert objected to the tendency in our universities , to confine their studies to mathematics and languages ; and contended that , education should include metaphysics , psychology , physiology , jurisprudence , political economy , and many others . His . speech was loudly cheered . Speeches were also delivered . by Lord Stanley of Alderley , Sir Harry Smith , Sir Robert Peel , Lord Ashburton , and othei-3 . Lord Ashburton , in the course of his remarks , observed that , since the peace of 1815 , we had fallen behind in the cultivation , of arts and sciences , and that other nations had got ahead of us . For the remedy to thiss tate of things , he looked to such institutions as that they were inaugurating .

      Untitled Article

      l | t 4 THE LEA DEB , [ Efc > 296 , Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 24, 1855, page 1124, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2116/page/8/