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    ]STo. M4 September 25,1858/1 THE LEADEB....

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    • THE PRESS IN PIEDMONT. In comparing th...

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    The Liverpool Borough Bank. The Recent V...

    report from the bank could never have been misled by it as to the true position of the bank and its ' difficulties . The very steps taken by the directors to place the bank in a sound position were likely to give renewed confidence on the part of the public , and the high business character of . Sellars and Dixon was certain to impress the public favourably with the belief that in future the affairs of the bank would be ably , as well as honourably , dealt with . And so they were . It may , and no doubt will , be asked , How comes it that the bank so suddenly failed , and that all its capital was found to have been lost ? The immediate eause of the failure of the bank was the pernicious system of discount and re-discount . The extent of this system could not be immediately known to a new managing director . Every commercial man will be able to understand the position of Mr , Dixon , coming recentlyas he did into the duties of managing director . When large masses of bills are re-discoUnted , as was the case at this period , no one ean form a correct opinion as to the goodness or the badness of the bills originally discounted . The incoming managers could know little or nothing about the quality of these bills , arid the former manager , who alone had seen them , was quite unsuited for his position . It is sufficiently obvious , we think , that even had Mr . Dixon devoted the whole of his time to this portion of the business of the bank exclusively—which it was impossible to expect he should do , especially when there was no apparent reason for hurry—he could not possibly , in the few days between the 4 th of July and the issuing of the report , have made himself acquainted with the full details of a concern of such magnitude . There was no reason at that time to doubt the-ultimate intecrritv of the

    attempt to deceive the plaintiff , whatever . " The Judge would have stopped the case , but for certain explanatory words uttered by Mr . Dixon , or said to have been uttered , of which there was no legal proof , by Mr . Dixon . But assuming they had been uttered , and that the report of them was correct , what do they amount to ? For the life of us , we cannot see that they can bear any other interpretation than that if "fraud" was contemplated , or suppression contemplated , that Mr . Dixon gave all the resistance in his power , and insisted on a full disclosure of the truth , which only was not done because a majority of his co-directors were against him . But , taking the words in their strongest sense , how can they , by any process of reasoning , be converted into legal evidence of fraud of such strength as to warrant a jury , acting under the solemn obligation of an oath , to declare that the report was issued for the purposes of fraud . We must say , if such evidence is to operate , no director of any company is safe against the verdict of a Manchester jury . The case is now before the public , and cannot fail to interest not only all directors , but all shareholders ; and we trust the subject will have a full and free discussion . To those who may not have the reasonable patience to go through the whole of the detailed report of the trial , the Judge ' s summing up and Mr . Dixon ' s speech will give suf- I ficient data to come to a just decision . ' < We know nothing personally of Mr . Dixon ; we ' arc only anxious for justice , and for impartial jus- ' tice . With respect to the verdict , we are glad to i hear the case is to be referred to a higher and more * impartial tribunal . ¦ . ¦ - ¦ _^_ __ . ' : I

    capital , whatever may have been the fact developed by subsequent events and evidence . Where , then , is the case against Mr . Dixon—where the fraud with intent to deceive the plaintiff , asset forth in the proceedings ? The question resolves itself to this : Was the report false ? Did it really ~ ¦ ¦ ¦ deceive any one ? Did the plaintiff buy . his shares on the faith of the report , or on his faith in the change of management ? We cannot see how even any one of those points was established by evidence . It appeared to be certain that the affairs of the bank might , by good management , be placed in a sound banking position ; and it is beyond question that Smith , Sellars , ltathboue , and Dixon were persuaded of the ultimate safety of the bank . Where , then , is the ground for imputing fraud to any one - ^—where , especially to Dixon ? But the whole pith and gravamen of the case lie in the Liverpool system of banking . The London bunks are established to take care of money for others ,, the Liverpool banks to lend money to any one who may want it . Money saved in London is frequently sent down to Liverpool , where the banks lend itto people who use it in speculative purchases , very often damaging thereby the interests of the very persons to whom the money really belongs . But we do not despair—better times are before us . As long as the monetary steersmen are firm to

    the principle they have laid down and acted upon resolutely since the crisis , so long may we hope for sound and legitimate business displacing speculation . If the Bank of England directors abide by ' their rule of refusing to re-discount paper , we shall see no more of such cases of which tlie Liverpool Borojgh Bank is n sample . But the most remarkable portion of the case is that in which the Judge , when summing up , refers ... to ., a statement made by Mr ., Dixon at a meeting of the shareholders after the stoppage of the bank . Mr . Dixon says : — " I acceded to it only on tlie understanding recorded on the minutes , that the statement to the shareholders should contain a full and correct disclosure of the position of the bank , oven although it should disclose the . fact that the dividend was declared out of capital . The Report that has been presented , well examined , shows the fact , although I do feel that it does not make the statement in the broad terms that would have been adopted if the intention had boon to state that there was a very handsome surplus . " I may state , now , that had it not been for that paragraph in this Report U » cecht \ Ai . gjigJUiOJWMaid ^ t ] ilflr , e ^ wH <»» no . <> aeeHo ' goMo ^ he'iuryr and should have stopped the case ; but the existenco ' of that paragraph , m my judgment , made it a matter in which I thought I could not properly stop the case , but mus leave Itto you to decide on . I think that para * been there , I should Imvo stopped the case , and said there was no evidence to go to you upon the matter . This is a most singulur declaration . Thou there was noprimtffacie evidence of " intended fraud , or

    ]Sto. M4 September 25,1858/1 The Leadeb....

    ] STo . M 4 September 25 , 1858 / 1 THE LEADEB . 1001

    • The Press In Piedmont. In Comparing Th...

    • THE PRESS IN PIEDMONT . In comparing the position of the press in Piedmont with that which it occupies in Belgium , we have no desire to depreciate the former , or to extol the merits of the latter at its expense . There is no higher treason than that which exalts the worth or fame of one corps of : a brave army by invidious contrast with some other , which having been more recentl y embodied , has not had equal opportunities of proving its spirit and reliability in defence of the same righteous cause . Liberty of discussion is older in the Low Countries than in Italy . We speak , of course , of modern , not mediaeval , times . Even while subject to the dynasty of Orange , the Bel g ians enjoyed great freedom of speech and type . Their compulsory union with the Dutch was ' undoubtedly unpopular from the beginning . But it was a union under constitutional forms . A common senate and a common chamber of representatives sut and voted with open doors , and the political listeners of the two races wrote and published pretty much what they liked respecting them . Now and then , indeed , the Government , stung by the sharp and unspuring sarcasms of its hostile critics at Brussels , Antwerp , or Lou vain , would rattle threateningly the law of seditious libel in its scabbard , and more than once the blade was actually

    drawn . J 3 ut , m the mam , the press of Belgium , from 1815 to 1830 , was free , and used its freedom unceremoniously enough in asserting the national rights . The habit of constitutional thought and action made it strong , and it was by its firm and familiar accents that the people were summoned to arm at last for the expulsion of the foreign sovereign imposed on them by the Treaty of Vienna . Very different has been the fate of Italian jour-Wl'snv . during tho whole . of .. the period referred to it lay prostrate beneath the hoof of absolutism . Save for a brief interval , in 1822 , when the Neapolitan , Bourbons and the King of Sardinia were surprised into insecure relaxations of their tyrannous gripe , political , sociul , and religious discussion in the columns of newspapers was unknown—unknown as it still is throughout the peninsula , everywhere save in Piedmont . There , since 134-7 , constitu . tional government has uninterruptedly prevailed ; and under the new regime , perhaps we should rather say as one of its symbols and conditions , the daily and weekly organs of popular sentiment have . ftcc >] alcclur , ed , to , bo-riVeo . , '„ , , , „ , Iu a certain sense , this guarantee of what our own glorious Milton loved to call " soul liberty , " has been , and still is , loyally fuHUled by those who liavp been entrusted with , the administration of affairs . 'The debates of the Chambers and reports of nil judicial proceedings are published literally ; and the utmost freedom of comment upon them is oxcroisod alike by ministerial , republican , and ultramontane writers . The same may be

    "m-m *^ •» ' <™» mn •«• '¦ ' * wa »«* •*¦»* vv « J *• VIS * uvyy v \ A * J V n H MtTr own order to suppress the whole publication of any Sardinian newspaper as soon as it appears , without assigning any cause , or being subject to any claim for compensation , or appeal to any authority political or judicial . A still more monstrous and oppressive power is that which enables him to arrest the editor of a newspaper , or any other person connected therewith , and to cast him into prison , without making any definite charge against him , or giving 1 him the opportunity of demanding ; a public trial ! There has never been in Piedmont any law similar to our Habeas Corpus ; and the result is , that when a person , who may have been unpopular or indiscreet , is laid hold of by the police under a Secretary of State's warrant , and thrown into gaol , no surprise is expressed , or indignation felt , as there would , be in England , or Switzerland , or in Belgium . In illustration of the arbitrary way in which these odious prerogatives are used , we may mention that during the last year and a half of its existence the Italia del Pojpofo was seized for more than fifty different days , and its entire edition with'Iferdnrrom ^ ciroulaifcion '; while ; during the same period , five editors were one after another arrested and imprisoned , without trial or indictment , for too space of several weeks ; and , in some oases , oven months ! We cannot consent to argue the question on the alleged ground that the Jlepublioan organ alluded to was inimical to the Government , and ex * osporating to foreign despotisms . If » t did wr 0 " 8 » it ought to have been amenable to law , by lawful means . But arbitrary sequestration , and arbitrary

    ¦ t ¦¦* fw f \ JLhf / \/» and if they wish to see it attain . that maturity of thought and moderation of tone which is indispensable to the right use of : moral influence , they must make up their minds to forego the obsolete , implements of restraint and repression ; and hot only to forego their application administratively , but to sweep . them away finally and for ever by some legislative act . The De Foresti law of last session was avowedly passed at the instance of Louis Napoleon , alarmed for his personal safety and the duration of his dynasty by the attempt of Orsini and his accomplices . It substitutes a tribunal in certain cases , directly nominated by the executive , for the jury system , and as such is unquestionably a retrograde step as far as it goes . Still as long as a Liberal ministry are in power there ought to be no very great danger that vexatious proceedings will be instituted under it ; that any criminal suit will be unreasonably pressed ; or that excessive penalties , if awarded , will be exacted . Butt everything depends upon the temper in which it is administered ; and unfortunately there are other powers , not of an exceptional kind , conferred by aw on the Government , which are far more at variance with the healthful freedom of journalism ; and the exercise of which we learn with deep regret is a matter of frequent occurrence .

    said with regard to public documents and State papers of every description , whether , foreign or domestic . Polemical works and books of social science are dissected and discoursed upon as freely in the Opinione and Harmonia as they would be in the Globe or Morning ' Herald ' ¦ ' . ; ana every topid of education and finance is subjected to the diurnal action of public scrutiny : Au this is well , excellent well , for any country ; for a portion of Italy , as Italy has been in our time , it is an inestimable good and very precious . When it has lasted long enough it will he found to have so habituated the readingjclasses to the exercise of the right of individual judgment , limited only by the homage due to laws embodying public opinion , that reactionists , however hardy , will be driven to despair . At present they still plot and cabal openly against the existing order of things , which they hate for its own sake , and still more Ie 3 t it should prove contagious in Tuscany and elsewhere . But the very liberty which the partisans of Austria and of Rome eagerly avail themselves of Lx journalism is digging daily deeper the grave of their obsvr . irsstisi and retrograde system . It is impossible to conceive more seditious , invectives than the sacerdotal and reactionary papers of Turin contain ; yet they are suffered to pass with little notice . Victor Emmanuel occupies himself with flirtation and shooting , undisturbed by ribaldry or incantations : and M . Cavour adroitly turns the violence of the Absolutist party to account by pointing to it every now and then , when pressed by impatient Liberals to go faster , with i gesture or look that says , " You see what I am shielding you from !" If the rulers of Piedmont , however , really desire ; he growth of the press as a national institution ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25091858/page/17/