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cnsa among themselves the best methods of attaining their freedom . They desire it—are -willing to risk their lives in it . Their . leaders are -waiting to lead them on ; only the material is wanting-, and the consciousness that the hearts of the- free and brave of other nations ape lidding them God speed . Many specious arguments will be used to deter you from giving your money , or your sympathy , or from using your own personal judgment , in this great Italian question . Some time Lack the cry was that the Italians were -well contented with the paternal government of Austria , lut the atrocities of the government have become so glaring , and the Italians have gone in sueh numbers to the scaffold to prove their abhorrence of it , that the enemies to liberty have been compiled to drop that cry And . take up others equally false an-d absurd . You will hear that in tbe intervention of Frane& and
England lies the only chance for the Italians—that Louis Napoleon is meditating some grand scheme to get the Ausfrrians put of Italy . But for trusting to foreign intervention and foreign aid , the Austrian . ? , who by the people were driven to the very borders of Italy in 184 = 8 , would never have returned . But for foreign intervention , the Roman Republic would be existing at this time , and the Pope , but for the Trench bayonets , which prop him on his- throne , would not now be sanctioning and abetting the massacres and cruelties that are daily taking place in bis dominions .
But admitting that foreign intervention is meditated ,. the Italians want an Italy for themselves , and would as soon have the Austrian Emperor as Louis Napoleon . No one- can imagine that he will undertake to free Italy for Italy ' s sake , or for any other motive than for his own personal aims . But the man of the ' Second of December' is too well known to tbe people of ' all coiwi-, tries fo * that argument to have much weight with them . A far more plausible doctrine is preached by many who wish Italy well , but who have not studied the facts of the ' case .- These say " Piedmont is'the . only saviour of Italy . " If by that they mean that if the Italians rese against their tyrants , and were to ask the aid of the Piedmontese army and the Piedmontese people , it would be given heartily and immediately , we fcelieve they are right ; but if they mean that the Italians Who are the sufferers are to sit still , and the King of Piedmont will come with his army and drive out the Anstrians , the assertion is an absurdity , contrary to all logic , common Sense—disproved by historical facts . It is as if , when the working classes have decided to strive for higher wages and shorter hours , an individual should rise and say , " Wait , suffer , hope ! There is a manufacturer in Manchester svlko gives his men fair wages , and who does not oblige them to work quarters . Be patient , and in the course of time lie and his four hundred workmen will induce all the masters of England to do as he does . " You would reply : "No , we suffer want
Italians are not unanimous in their desire or efforts to obtain it If the requisite funds had been forthcoming , thousands of men would have- risen in the place of units , and might not have been overcome by their enemies . It is to prevent , these outbreaks , to restrain these suffering , misguided hearts , that the free Sardinians are striving to prove to them that help is at hand—that if they will bear on yet a little they will give them the means of making their next blow efficacious . And we second heartily their appeal to you to help with your pence , and with the influence of your British names , this national effor t of the Italians to-win an Italy for themselves . Two copies of the letter from the working men of Genoa , with their original signatures and their separate trades , have been forwarded to England . One lies for inspection with Mr . Watts , 147 , Fleet-street , and the other with Joseph Barlow , bookseller , of . ' 28 , Graingerstreet , and 1 , Nelson-street , Newcastle , to which places subscriptions can be forwarded . Send single subscriptions-with single names ; or , if you prefer it , let each , factory or workshop choose one man to represent the workmen . Post-office orders are preferable to stamps . The Committee Will publish weekly lists of the sums received , and they will hold these sums in trust , to be
applied within the limits which the law compels in the cause of the suffering and enslaved people of Italy . James Stastspuexd , Swan Br « wery , Walham-; ; , . green . . . Richard Moore , 25 , Hart-street , Bloomsbury . Joseph Cowen , Jun ., Blaydon Burn , Newcastle-on-Tyne . John Bennett , Cheapside . W . C . Bennett , Greenwich . Geqkgk Dawson , M . A ., Birmingham . W . H . Ashurst , 6 , Old Jewry . Hon . Secretary , James Stak « fjklp , Office , 22 , Sloanestreet , Knightsbridge , London .
; we higher wages and shorter hours . ~ We must win them for ourselves ; then , if this master -will use his influence with the rest , well and good—if his workmen will co-operate with us it will be very noble and disinterested of them . ; but we cannot expect them , even if they were able , to coma and lift our burdens off our hacks , while we simply lie down and groan under them . " So with the Italians—they must give the initiative . The movement must come from witJiln . Material aid is all that can he of service from without . Many of the most suffering , most sanguine , did hope , perhaps , that the past war would give Piedmont a right to fight for Italy as she had fought for the Turks—take for granted that she desired it herself—that Cavour's memorial -was a means of feeling how far she might venture openly against Austria . By this time it must be evident to all who deslvoto find out the truth , that England and France would not permit Piedmont to put herself in the foreground . Sho may prove an nlW , but she cannot , ought not to be , the initiator of the People ' s War . One other argument—the crudest and saddest of all that will be used to deter you—we must treat , and then we havo done . You will be told that the people are not unanimous—that " they do not wish to rise—and they will point to you the attempts that have been made and failed , to provo to you that by giving money for this purpose you nro just sending n few more victims to the scaffold—that you arc increasing the watchfulness and the cruelty of tlio Austrians , and hindering instead of helping the National Cause .
_ When you hear that twenty , thirty , eighty men have riaen up suddenly against thoir tyrants , havo been over powered , by numbers , massacred or imprisoned , what does that prove ? That that movement has been incited by popular leaders—organized and approved of by them . No . It moans that those men , goaded beyond human endurance—those men who feel their lives a burden and a shame , who , determined to live as free men or to die m the attempt to gain their liberty—havo , in spite of the entreaties of their loaders , in spite of hopes hold out for the future , grown sick of hope deferred , havo struck one desperate reckless blow , careless of tho consequences to themselves , trusting to attain something for thoir country and tho cause , if only by leaving another martyr ' s name to bo recorded and avenged . This i . s tho meaning of tho past attempts that nro wept over by the great Italian patriots—that nre censured and sneered at by thoso individuals and parties who , hostile or indifferent to the idea of a frco Italy , seek for pretexts to provo that tho
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a retrospective vtew of the matter ; and say that it -was imprudent for-us to take that step ; but ( to Mr . Marsh ) if you , sir , had been on the board at that time— " Mr . Marsh : " Yoa must bear with us a little , sir ; for we are sufferers . " ( " Hear , hear /"" and cheersS ) . The Chairman : " I know yon are , sir . You are quite right .. I have been told—perhaps it is a physical defect of mine—that I have too much the appearance of inward suffering—of pain of mind . " Mr . Marsh : "I did * not accuse you of that . ' * ( . Laughter . ' ) The Chairman : "I do not say you did , but I have heard it said . Howeve * , I -would ask , would it not be absurd for me , under those grave circumstances , to put on anything but a grave aspect ?" A Mr . Frederick Clarke at ' one . time took the iron works on his own hands , but , not having sufficient capitat to conduct them , he threw them back on the hands of the bank , which again made itself liable , though the works were then involved to the extent of 70 , 000 ? . or 80000 ? .
, This was as far back as 1853 . " Gentlemen , ' added the Chairman , after he had made these statements , ¦•¦ ' it might be said we- ought then to have closed ; but we could not—we dared not . " " No-, " interrupted Mr . Marsh , " not so long as there was a hope of bringing fresh shareholders in . " Mr . Esdaile endeavoured to meet this by saying that it was their duty to persuade capitalists to come forward and take the works , in order to recompense the shareholders for their advances , or to establish a public company to work the property . Asliort time ago , he said , there-was a prospect of their starting such a company under the Limited XIability Act . With respect to Mr . Humphrey Brown ' s debt , Mr . Esdaile assured the shareholders that , until he became the Chairman of the bank , he did not know that Mr .. Brown was indebted in a single farthing . " And you adirector all the time ? " exclaimed Mr . Maxsh . " Yes , " replied Mr . Esdaile , amidst much hissing .
BIr . Marsh then complained witli great warmth that he was induced , by false representations of the flourishing state of tlie bank , to take some shares last year . He continued : — " The investment made by me fa the bank was a part of the small patrimony which my children had a right to , and , seeing that the act of the directors may send us to beggary , my brother shareholders will pardon me if I may appear a little importunate .. I now wish to ask the Chairman whether he does not tliink this bank was insolvent when those new shares were issued ?" The Chairman : " The bank was not insolvent so long as those securities were taken as worth the money they represented ; " Mr . Marsh : -V But those securities were not worth their money . " The Chairman : " In our estimation they were ; " Mr . Marsh : lc But , unfortunately for us , the fact is they weie not . "
Another proprietor said that a further call liad been made , and asked whether the directors believed- that the shareholders would again venture to trust them ( the directors ) with their affairs . " " Well , " replied the Chairman , " I am afraid , if you put that question to the meeting , the decision will be in the negative . " After some more cross-questioning , Mr . Stapleton , deputy-governor , said that , on being elected lust February , he determined to drive Mr . Brown and Mr . Cameron out of tfjeir positions , on account of their debts to the bank . "I did it , " he continued . " I was the youngest director on the board . I was not brought up to business , and I was anxious to leave the concern . I s&rr the dangeT of going on , and also of leaving . Z had promised secrecy , and if I had left I could not , as a man of honour , have stated to my friends any fact 9 connected
with the condition of the bank . I acted , therefore , as a man of honour , and placed myself in a position in which heavy losses were incurred , and probably ultimate ruin to myself . " When Mr . Cameron was on the . point of leaving us , we found that he had . obtained a laTge sum of money from the bank , and that he was not 5 n n position to give us sufficient security . We pressed him , we even threatened him with criminal proceedings , and , in order to save himself , he \ ised every exertion to get any kind of security . It so happened that his own son-inlaw , who is a member of tho board , had a large number of shams , and Mr . Cameron induced him to lend him those shares , which he transferred to the board as a portion of tlic securities for tho advances- WTiat would yon have said if we had allowed him to go away with those shares ?"
Dr . GoddanT , a shareholder , then moved" tho following resolution , amidst loud cheers : —" TTinfc tl \ a past nnd present directors of this bnnV ( excepting always tho three pcentlcmen who became directors on the 1 st August last ) , by their systematic misapplication of tho funds of tho institution entrusted to their keeping , and by their uniform nnd culpable misrepresentation and concealment of tho actual condition of tho bnnk in their half-yearly balance-sheet , and statements made to tho shareholders , as also tho discreditable proceeding of issuing new shares long after tho bank had become hopelessly
in-THE EOYAL BRITISH BANK . ' A aiEETiNG of the shareholders of tie Royal British Bank took place last Saturday at the London Tavern , when the directors submitted a statement of the affairs of the bankrupt establishment . Mr . Edward Esdaile , Chairman of the Board of Directors , presided . Mr . Coleman , the accountant , after some prefatoryremarks , proceeded to state that he estimated the total liabilities of the bank at 539 , 1317 . 12 s . 9 d ., and the gross assets at 299 , 937 ? . 18 s . lid . ; but , allowing for certain contingencies which could not be overlooked , the net assets he estimated at 288 , 644 ?" . 18 s . lid . These assets included the Welsh Iron Works , upon which the company had expended 106 , 453 ? ., and it was the opinion of an eminent miner that they would now sell at a
minimum price of 40 , 000 ? ., but his own belief was that , if they were worked ( and they are now ready for working ) , they would yield a profit of 16 , 000 ? . a year . —In answer to Mr . Marsh ( one of the shareholders , who subjected the Chairman to a most rigorous examination ) , Mr . Esdaile stated that tho accumulation of deficiencies originated in a credit account of 3000 ? . and a discount account of 6000 / ., on the part of a firm bearing the names of Dummler and Scales , afterwards Dummlerand Swift , made at the beginning of 1850 . The speaker added that these advances were recommended by one of the highest firms in the City of London , At this , there were loud cries of " Name , name ! " but the Chairman refused to comply with the demand . From the other official statements it appeared that the account of Mr . Humphrey Brown , the member for Tewkesbury , and
until recently a director of the bank , exhibits a debt of 70 , 908 ? . ; that Mr . John MacGregor , the member for Glasgow , and the founder of the concern , is indebted to the amount of 73621 . ; that Mr . Cameron , the late manage r , has obtained 33 , 000 ? ., against which there arc no securities except such as are now found to have been previously charged and encumbered , and the utmost worth of which is estimated at 3000 ? . ; that Mr . Mullins , the late solicitor , took 7000 ? . ; and that one of the auditors owes 2000 ? . It was also stated that Mir . Johu Gwynne , who was formerly a directoT , retired in 1851 leaving a debt of 13 , 6-10 ? . ; and that a loss of 13 , 486 ? . was sustained by Mr . Oliver , of Liverpool . Tfie total loss from persons directly connected with the administration of the hank appears to havo been 121 , 000 ? . There was no loss on the South Sea . House , nor wero any of tho existing directors indebted : to tho banlr .
In tho midst of a running- fire of questions , the Chairman stated that , by reason of certain irregularities on the part of the persons with whom the credit and discount accounts had been opened , the bank called for collateral securities . These were given , " and , " said Mr . Esdnile , " our advances on those collateral securities wcro within what wo supposed to bo the banking margin . " Hero ho was interrupted by Mr . Marah , who said , " You dealt with those securities as valuable , whether they ¦ wore so or not ? " To this tho Chairman replied : — " Clearly . Of course this has turned out to have been an error ; but when the liabilities of these parties to tho bank reached a larger Bum , say 19 , 000 ? . or 20 , 000 ? ,, what was to he done ? " Further on , u singular dialogue ensued between Mr . Marsh nnd Hie Chairman . Tho latter , alluding to tho speculations in the Welsh iron works , observed ;— " Gentlemen , it iu very easy to take
solvent , thus bringing dishonour and ruin upon many innocent persons , which would have been entirely averted by better management or an earlier winding up , have shown thomselvos utterly unfit for tho post they occupied , and unworthy of the confidence , of this or any other proprietary . " Dr . Goddard dcclnrort this resolution unanimously carried , though orxly a few hands were held up in favour of it . Tho Chairman , who , till that time , appears to havo been very cool , now lost hie temper , und angrily exclaimed—• ' I deny that the resolution wns carried . Fivo-8 ixthB , at least , of tho meeting
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September 27 , 1856 . ] THE LEADER . 915
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1856, page 915, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2160/page/3/
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