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    €14 THE LEADER. [Saturday,

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    PARTNERSHIP IAW FOR THE PEOPLE. Ho subje...

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    THE SPIRIT OF LAW". Let us hope that a d...

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    Why England Wa1sits Police Bills. Oppose...

    years since Sir Charles Wetherell resolved , against the advice of his friends , against the warning of the local magistrates , to make a public entry into Bristol , after having spoken and argtied against the Beform Bill , and after the Lords had thrown out the measure . The populace converted his triumphal entry into a disastrous dodging escapade , followed by a riot of many days . The triumphant Member-Judge sneaked to a place of safety , had his window barricaded at

    night with a feather-bed , and escaped in disguise as a woman ! The sequel is well knovm . For several days the City was in . a state of tumult ; law was suspended ; buildings were pulled down ; private houses were set ; on fire ; and the middle classes , who supplied the magistracy , sympathising , panicstricken , irresolute , hesitated to summon military authority , yet afterwards pestered a handful of troops , suddenly called into the town , with private and individual instigations to attack the mob ! The lamentable result

    ia also atou . known . The magistrates were tried , but they got off , on the idea , sedulously enforced upon the court , that they were npt to blame , since the Government had not pro ^ vided > a sufficient garrison for the town . Colonel Brereton , the commanding officer , "brought to trial before a court-martial , escaped criticism ¦ "by . shooting himself . It appears , however , that the military officers , who were then made the scapegoats of laxity on all sides , were ready to do their duty if they had

    had from the civil authority that formal , distinct , and peremptory instruction to act against the English people , without which , if they do act , save in self-defence , they become murderers as well as traitors against the authority of the law . Here , then , by a wretched impotency on the part of the police and the civil authorities of Bristol , the town was for days in the hands of an unruly mob—for it was no better , —and was only rescued from that control by a coup d'etat , an absolute military conquest .

    We are forced to compare these results with others that we observe on the opposite side of the Atlantic ; where certain principles of the English constitution , forgotten by us , suffered to decay , and practically to die out , are still preserved . On more than one occasion , as in the recent instance of riots caused

    by the Fugitive Slave "Law in Boston , there have been veiy serious disturbances ; but the disturbances are invariably put down . The most alarming , perhaps , was that occasioned fay the dispute between the Native American and the Irish parties , but it was less a riot of the ordinary kind thau virtually a limited and fractional civil war . That which most

    resembled a riot , in the English sense , was the disturbance got up by the Forrest faction , to put down Mr . Macready , the actor ; when JSTew York was for a time in the hands of regular rioters . What ensued P A gjeat force was called out , far more than sufficient to overwhelm , the disturbance , and . it was effectually put down . But of what did that

    force consist ? It was not soldiery in one sense of the word , although it was a body trained to the use of arms , accustomed to discipline , and obedient to the voice of command . It was principally , we beliovo , the first division of the New York Militia ; in other words , it was the pick and flower of tho people itself .

    The people itself , therefore , locally , by a body not in any manner to bo distinguished from the civil community—the people itselt put down the disturbance created by a faction , and caug ht up by the disorderly part of tho population . But then it is tho abiding principle , recited inmost of tho stato constitutions , now as well as old , and repeated in the amended constitution of tho llepublio , " That a well regulated militia being

    necessary to the security of a free state , the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed . " The people of the American Republic are kept in a state of perfect capacity for self-defence , whether against the internal traitor or tho foreign invader ; and this is the reason why they are not persecuted on the one hand by riot , which they are impotent to put down , or pestered with centralizing police bills , or in default of any other rescue , left at the mercy of a royal soldiery .

    €14 The Leader. [Saturday,

    € 14 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    Partnership Iaw For The People. Ho Subje...

    PARTNERSHIP IAW FOR THE PEOPLE . Ho subject has been more considered than that of limited liability in partnership . The merits of the question are perfectly understood , and the case on . the two sides may be very briefly presented , although volumes might be written , on both sides . On the side of limited liability , the main arguments may be reckoned up in tvro classes : first , there is a great amount of capital , consisting of small sums reposing in tba hands of persons who have no experience in business , who are not disposed to take an active share in management , but would willingly devote their capital to purposes of reproduction , if they were permitted to do so with the ordinary risk of losing it . On the other hand , besides the advantage which the community would derive from rendering that mass of capital reproduo . tive , there is also the interest of the humbler classes in being permitted to take a share of trade by combining smaller capitals without the liabilities that attend ordinary partnership combinations , and inflict , especially upon humbler partners , the most frightfully ruinous consequences . Thus the community is deprived of a mass of capital which would be available , and humble capitalists are shut out from the benefits of trade . The mass of the

    arguments , we say , on the side of limited liability resolve themselves into these two classes , and they stand in this peculiar position—that they are not denied . , The arguments on the other side consist of a totally different class , and they resolve themselves all into presumptions , that to admit the principle of limited liability would introduce irresponsible partners , would deprive creditors of a guarantee which they now possess , and would throw trade into

    confusion . The last point is supported by the presumption that , if partners were not made liable for the whole amount of their substance , they would become less discreet , and then not only would the sleeping partners lose their substance , but trade itself would be thrown into confusion by the great number of ruinous speculations which would be fostered . These „ arguments are denied , and they stand in the peculiar predicament of being perfectly theoretical . They find their evidence

    mainly in analogy—always an unsafe species of evidence ; and they are contradicted by the experience of almost all other countries , for England is nearly alone in refusing the principle of limited liability . England , indeed , does not refuse to admit the principle . As Lord Goderich said , in the debate on Tuesday night , it is admitted in the form of exceptions ; for under the present law the privilege of limited liability may bo

    granted by royal charter , theoretically bestowed by the urown , but pratically given by the Board of Trade . It may also bo bestowed by Act of Parliament , and is enjoyed by many companies . But , to obtain this limited liability , whether by charter or by Act of Parliament , requires tho possession of influence and of money . Virtually , there fore , the limited liability is a privilege which may be obtained by the rich , who do not want it so much , while it is denied to those of limited means who want it most .

    The arguments on thia subject are very instructive as to the moral principle upon which commercial gentlemen apply political economy to their own business . They were hot in driving the landed interest off the rotten ground of protection ; freetrade was a standard under which the trading interest marched to destroy the coru monopoly ; but now , when exactly the same principle is applied to commercial credit , —when a great free-trade measure is claimed on

    behalf of the humbler classes ; then the trading gentlemen , like Mr . William . Brown or Mr . Horsley Palmer , are loud in claiming " protection" for credit ; using exactly the same prophesies of ruin , confusion , & c , & c , which the landed interest employed to frighten people away from corn-law repeal . We believe that a great part of tie fallacy of this subject is occasioned by the fact , that the word " limited" is used ; as it appeal's to

    be supposed that the law is wanted in order to limit the liability of property . Now nothing of the kind is required . The present law ^ is one of limitation . It says , that the man having money , and willing to risk it in trade , shall not risk that particular sum of money in the hands of another person ,- —a proportionate share of the profits being allotted to the owner of that money , — -unless the owner will also risk the whole amount of

    his property , whatever his partner may do . The King of Belgium , for example , having an estate in England , and being a liberal though not a rich monarch , and-willing , let us suppose , to aid some humble friend to sefc up in business , say as a butterman , by investing 5001 . of his principal in that friendly act of indirect commerce , would not , according to our law , be permitted to do so , unless he would also incur the risk for the whole of

    his royal possessions that could possibly be brought within the jurisdiction of English courts , and placed at the disposal of the butterman aforesaid . The present law , therefore , is one which limits liabilities to a" very peculiar class , only suitable to great capitalists , and chiefly suitable for capitalists who are mixed up in cliques . Indeed , Lord Palmerston put the subject in its most intelligible form , —and tlie humbler classes of this country will do well to study

    the declaration of the Home Secretary ; for he is experienced , and he is not bigoted in favour of the working classes against tho Q-overnment classes . He intimates that Government might be willing to make this concession ; but as an 'excuse for the delay of the Q-overnment decision , he pleads the > " difference of opinion ; " " and , perhaps , " ho added , " it is fair to say , that the largo

    capitalists are of one opinion , and the bulk of the small capitalists of another . " Tb . 6 House of Commons ought to represent tho whole country , and the public , enfranchised as well as unenfranchised , will watch tho House , to see whether it sides with tho great capitalists or the small , —whether it fobs off " the small capitalists with abstract resolutions , and gratifies the largo capitalists by refusing practical legislation .

    The Spirit Of Law". Let Us Hope That A D...

    THE SPIRIT OF LAW " . Let us hope that a decided improvement is taking place in tho feeling of tho English . people with regard to the social protection of the more helpless sex . It is time that that change should tako place , and perhaps tho excess to which the want of amendment has gone may account for tho wholesome reaction . Mr . Henry Fifczroy ' a Bill did not come before it waa wanted ; bub statutes arc nothing without tho spirit that gives them their true vitality . Tho Romans " had tolerable laws during tho decline of their empire—\ avm which have been in part adopted by modern

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 1, 1854, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01071854/page/14/