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Leader (1850-1860), 7th March 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, March 7,1857.] THE LEADER. 229

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      The Dark Commerce. You Never Detect Larg...

      The proceedings of the Bankruptcy Court disclosed to us the very extensive branch of tailoring which , has hitherto been kept . in the dark . This commerce under the rose is constantly developing its extensive connexions , and we have this week some further evidence that its connexions also are very high . A passage in the Times Money Article tells us that " the New York and New Haven

      Uailway had declared a dividend of 3 per cent ., but an injunction against it had been obtained in the Supreme Courb . This is the company of which Mr . Hobert Schuyler , a year or two back , acting as president with full power , issued fictitious shares , and which , unlike the Uoyal Swedish Railway , the Crystal Palace , and the Great Northern . Railway Companies in Iiondon , forthwith repudiated the acts of its own officers . "

      In the trial of the directors of the Docks Napoleon at Paris , M . Arthur Berby : er , son of the distinguished advocate of that name , a Goverament commissioner , whose duty ifc was to watch over the proceedings of the company , is accused of having connived at the frauds with which the directors are charged ; and his defence is one of the most remarkable disclosures yet furnished to us in this kind of commerce . "He says that M . Pebsignt , who , when Minister of Commerce , appointed him to the post , M . Magne , and

      M . JsoTTHEXt , were all made aware by him that the company , though ostensibly starting with subscriptions for 200 , 000 shares , had , in fact , only from 85 , 000 to 86 , 000 shares subscribed for . If they chose to take no initiative , M . Ber & yer argues that it was not for him , a subaltern , to make a stir about the matter . " This statement is in part contradicted by M . Hetjktier , formerly Director-General in the department of Agriculture and Commerce ; but , as M . BEBBYiEit says , " Perhaps the whole truth will never be known . " If hard

      pressed , he promises to tell some " secrets , " which will be interesting and instructive . Meanwhile , it is the fact that M .. Bjerryek himself was a Government commissioner , and that , being accused of connivance in the fraud , he makes this defence !

      March 7,1857.] The Leader. 229

      March 7 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER . 229

      The Franchise Movement In Scotland. The ...

      THE FRANCHISE MOVEMENT IN SCOTLAND . The Scottish movement in favour of a 40 s . county franchise is an excellent specimen of the political movements of the day ; it is dictated by a manifest void in the Scottish constituency ; a void , that is , as compared with the English constituency . For until every free and independent Englishman is allowed by statute that electoral right which he has by the common law and the constitution of

      tins country , we hold that the franchise of all three kingdoms is radically defective . The Seotcli county franchise is in a very absurd condition : the right is held by freeholders and occupiers to a high amount ; but anything resembling the humbler class of English yeomanry , or the working vote , Scotland does not show . Freeholds are held there at a much higher value , and represent a totally different class . In fact , the tenure of land differs materially , and lawyers make

      a vast distinction between the English freehold and the Scottish feu . It is a distinction for lawyers , but not for practical men . There aro various kinds of freehold in this country , differing materially from each other ; but the practical pinch of the distinction lies in the question , whether or not the owner has a permanent possession of the land , not subject to renewal , as in the case of copyhold anil some other kinds of inferior tenure . Now , in Scotland , we are told , and the statement is not denied , that the feu is a kind of tenure as permanent in its character as our fee bimplo ; although theoretically and technically

      it is in the nature of a copyhold , it constitutes , in fact , positive ownership . In England , such an ownership to the clear annual value of 4 : 0 s . gives a man a right to vote in the county ; in Scotland it does not . In England , a man living in a town , possessing property of that kind , may not possess 1 a vote tor the borough in which he lives , but he does possess for the county ; in Scotland , if

      the owner lives within the preeincta of a borough , he does not possess the vote for the county . The sum . and substance of the complaint is tliat the humbler middle- class man , or the rising working man who lays by and accumulates independent means , has in Scotland no prospect of acquiring the vote by his own act ; in England he has ; and the sole question is , why there should be that distinction .

      The question is reduced ad absicrdum by a consideration of the national character of the Scotch . That part of the country is poorer , and therefore a lower range of money value would , all things considered , represent the same level with a higher range in this country . As 40 s . will buy more land , on the average , in Scotland than 40 s . would buy in England , so a 40 s . ownership in Scotland would give a

      higher grade , as it is called , than in England . Again , taking the Scotchman and the Englishman one with another , you will find that the Scotchman at a given social level will be at least as well informed , as intelligent , as energetic , and as prudent as the Englishman . Why then have only a 501 . or a 601 . freehold for Scotland , and a 40 s . freehold for England ? What is the reason for the distinction ?

      When the Reform Bills were under consideration , attention was turned upon tile main questions of the struggle , and these details escaped notice . Scotland has since been torn by ecclesiastical dissensions . The appetite for that kind of quarrelling has nowbeen satiated . It happened that a leading man in the Free Church had occasion to

      travel in North America ; one of the first things that struck him was the independent bearing of the resident classes , however humble , on political subjects . Every man had his own opinion , and was prepared to enforce it with his vote- Some of these persons were found in Nova Scotia , —they "were Scotchmen ; by crossing the Atlantic they had regained that political right which , in , modern times , is denied to them in their own land . Nay , on consideration , the traveller found that the Scotchman is not on

      a level even with the Englishman . Returning , he detected some further reasons for the docility of the Scotch : from the comparative smallness of the constituency , the position of the tenantry , and the large possessions of individual families , the counties are really private possessions . Thus , Buteshire returns persona under the approval of the Marquia of Bute , who sometimes puts members of the aristocracy into the House of Commons :

      persons possessing very little sympathy with the agricultural and industrial inhabitants of Bute . Ho neutralises the entire population of Greeuock , Paisley , Dundee , or Aberdeen ; liothsay or Arran being entirely unrepresented . If Dumfries , with Annan , Lochmaben , Moffat , Lockerby , and other villages , possessed a franchise for 40 a . owners , they would send into the House of Commons men repz-esonting the real blood and muscle of Dumfriesshire . It is the samo

      in Lanarkshire , now handed over to the decrees of Hamilton and Douolas . There is , however , a serious difficulty in the way of this reform : the Scotti « h members , in a largo proportion , aro of Whig if not Tory principles , and they . are not for anything so really popular . They wilL not speak up for tho disfranchised countios and

      communities of Scotland . Here is a reform for which justice loudly calls , but which , awaits the revival of political feeling in the United Kingdom generally . It is one of those political movements that remain in abeyance for want of political union ; one of the materials that would supply the strength for a political action , as soon as our public men have the courage or the sense to act upon the popular invitation .

      The Lord Chancellor's Dit011ce Bill. The...

      THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S DIT 011 CE BILL . The real difficulty in making progress with amendments affecting either the position of women or the law of marriage and divorce is , that there is no effective public opinion upon the subject , and for obvious reasons . Those who are most conscious of the evils of the present law , are , speaking generally , disinclined to place themselves prominently forward . They are in the condition of persons suffering under some hereditary disease , who shrink from the hospital applicable to their

      case above all other buildings in . tue world . They would like a remedy , but they still more dread to draw attention-upon their own sufferings ; hence they can only operate through a very peculiar agency , which effects great reforms in the world , but accomplishes them slowly . Their true hope lies in the thorough . conviction of thinking men . But we seldom find that thinking men are men of action , and we commonly find that men of action adopt

      their convictions long after they have ceased to-be discussed by thinking men . So tliat , in the present day , we are accomplishing thoughts which lurked in the minds of philosophers hundreds or thousands of years ago . The best hopes for practical law reforms upon subjects affecting the moral regimen of society , lies in the carrying out of Mr . Napibu ' s motion , which Government accepted—the appointment of a Minister of Justice .

      The course of the Lord Cha-NCEdlob ' s Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Uill shows this . Society has long made up its mind upon some points at least of this subjectthat , if there is to be divorce at all , it should not be a question of expense , so as to exclude from its benefit persons because they are poor : that in questions of matrimonial litigation the wife ought , to be placed upon an equality with the husband ; that the industrious and neglected -wife should not be

      liable to licensed burglary on the part of a profligate husband ; and that tho outrageous indecency of the action for criminal conversation , by which the husband brings in hia bill to tho seducer , should be totally abolished . The subject has been before Parliament now for several yours . It was laid before a Ooirnmsaion ; the Commission could agree only upon a report which amounted to the suggestion—that the expense of divorce should be reduced so as to bring it within

      tho attainment ot poor persons . Successive bills have taken in new proposals . The Lord Cuancklloh's laat bill proposes that divorce should bo granted for adultery on some few of the recognised causes ; principally differing from the present law in rendering such a relief real and tangible . It also proposes that husband and wife should bo allowed to separate by agreement ,

      leaving the wife independent of the man with reference to property and earnings . These are real additions to the present law , for , as it now stands , u separation can bo overruled by the Ecclesiastical Court at tho instance of one of tho pnrtios . Tho bill , however , ia still more- conspicuous for its omissions than for its inclusions . Two omissions arc very remarkable . It doea not mako HVBtomafcic doeertion a ground at' divorcoj ' it does wot

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 7, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07031857/page/13/