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    THE NEWEST PATHS CREDIT SCHEME . The most magnificent scheme that the peculiar style of Prench commerce now reigning in Prance has yet invented , has been , disclosed to the -world--this week : it ia "the International Association of Commercial Credit . " There is nothing new in the plan , -which is exactly - copied from the Paris pattern . The persons who stand ostensibly forward as the founders of this new company or bank are : Mr . William Gladstone , of the

    firm of J . Thomson , T . Donon , and Co ., of Iiondon and St . Petersburg , directors of the Orleans Railway , acting in his own name , but as agent of Mr . "Weguelin , Governor of the Bank of England ; Mr . Chabliss Belt ,, merchant ; Mr . Alderman Salomons ; Mr . Chahles Moheison , of the house of MonnisoN , Dillon , and Co . ; Mr . Ab , thu » Hakket , banker ; Mr . S . 'H . 'J . Goldb 03 im : ii > , Mr . " Robert Campbell ,- —all of London M . Samuel Arthur de Haber , fundowner , and M . IIunui F . L . Mau £ e , Assessor of

    tho Tribunal at Berlin , acting as agents of M . David IIattsemanh , formerly Prussian Minister of Finance , and now manager of the Berlin Discount Company ; Mr . Robert Kai'ser , Vice-President of the Hamburg North German Bank , acting as agent of Senator Gustavo's GoDEii'jritoy , of tho firm of Godjiffhoy and Sons , Hamburg ; M ., Ernest Misitcic , Consul-General , of the linn of II . Q . Merck and Co ., of Hamburg ; M . Album Dufour IMronoe , Managing Director of the German General Bank at

    Leipzig ; M . h . It . Blsohoffsheim :, banker , and M . Aumaiu ) Donon , of tho bankinghouse of Dokon , Aubry , Gautier , and Co ., of Paria . The objects of tho bank arc : to centralise scattered and unproductive capital ; " to support and develop all the commercial and industrial transactions of France , hy facilitating the accession of foreign capital to French affairs ; to assist in the reduction of the rate of interest and ia the development of credit , whilst keeping the company exempt from tho riwka attendant upon speculation in securities , purchases and sales on ita own account not being permitted . " Tho company will bo a " societu anonynio , " tho constitution ol" which ia peculiar . Such a company iacalled " anonymous" because it does not bear the name of any of tho partners ; but is designated b y a title signifying the object of the association . Such a society

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    to retire from Middlesex , if he can make way for a gentleman more acceptable to the electors . * W"ho is mentioned as the new " gentleman ?" . The Marquis of Biandpobd , a Tory . And who is the obliging gentleman that is so willing to make way ? That same modest Mr . Osbobite ! And where "will lie find a seat- ? - —for , of course , he must he elected to the Palmebston" Parliament . Perhaps at Devonport , turning out . Sir Erskiete Perhy ; one of the Liberals who voted with Lord John E . ttssell . Who are making a " combination" with the Tories ?

    The practical question is , "whether the country is simple enough to be thus gulled . It was indignant at the coalition between Disraeli and Gladstone to turn out Palmekston ; but why should it wreak its vengeance on Russell and the Liberals , whose real offence is that they would not forget Reform , and wished Lord PalmersrON to do in China what he has done ?

    The Coalition is a dead failure , and . even Miv Disraeli turns up his nose at it . But the other coalition , between Palmerston and the Tories , begun even as we have traced it , and continued even to the hustings , is not yet a failure . But we see symptoms that the country will not be quite so green as some hoped . There is one omission which it is not likely to pardon . The election was announced , and the Government did not deign

    strations towards Naples , while- Italy is left to fall between Austria and France ; Switzerland is made to give up her rightB on . the faith tliat England and' Prance ¦ will make Prussia behave handsomely , and Prussia takes advantage of the bargain that she did not make . "We accept in Paris those conditions from Persia which were refused in Constantinople , "because , whether about Persia , Turkey , Switzerland , Italy , _ or anything else , our Prime Minister is content to play second fiddle to his friend on the throne of

    France . The French Government itself is an imiiiense bubble company—a societe cmo nyme—the peculiarity of which is that the managers are not answerable for the obligations of its shareholders , nor for the bankruptcy that will come ; and there are English partners in some French companies . In short , we may have a clear and intelligible foreign policy , an economical expenditure

    without penny wisdom , and a fresh start of political reform , if we do not fall into the snare and forget everything but the clever old gentleman who puts to the country the question : " Am I sharp enough ?—are you > simple enough ? " The real key of all popular power is the one which the country is asked just now to forget- —the progressive extension of the franchise .

    to put forth a programme . "L ' etat—e ' est moi , " said Lord Palmerston — " T'll be your programme . " " Thank you for nothing , " the country may answer ; and it is nothing . Even if a progranime were issued at a , late date , it could not be till the country was far gone in preparations for its choice . The country , therefore , is left to no course but to choose its own men ; and the question is , whether it will or will not forget all that it has hitherto demanded under the generalized name of "Reform . "

    The improvements which we require under that head , have been , and would have been during the present session , entirely suspended . Let us ask , for a single one , what has been done with the army ? If there had been any really great improvement promised , it would have been announced ; "but some facts have come out . The Duke of Cambridge was

    stopped as soon as the aristocratic party in the army knew the real scope of tho improvements designed by " the soldier ' s friend . " Lord Ltican , Lord Caedigait , General Airey , and Colonel Gordon ^ h ave been sustained in somo of the highest military honours which could be bestowed . How havo Sir JonN M'JSTeill and Colonel Tfllocii

    been treated ? They exposed the fatal incapacity that had lost nn army , and the Crimean Commission was appointed , lot us remember , to blunt the efl ' ect of Mr . Roebuck ' s Committee . They did their duty well , but have been neglected , and insulted , until at last Lord Palmers'Iost ia compelled to give way before the sense of decency in tho House of Commons . Tho Land Transport Corps has been discharged like a body ol paupers ; while the men who caused the mischiof liavo been rewarded and honoured ; and Ministers hoast that the expenditure lias

    on that occasion as conspiring m an intrigue Lord John Russeli . has avowed that if Lord Paxmebstoh had previously announced the appointment of a Plenipotentiary to take the matter out of the hands of Sir John Bowbing , he should have been satisfied . Mr . Cobdek may have differed with Lord Paxjiebston to the end of the chapter , on his peculiar Peace principles , but none of the others are Peace men ; and if the Premier had only announced what he has actually done , there -would have been no occasion for the Liberal vote against him . Yet the voters

    are represented aa engaging in an unfair move , and he goes to the country as a victim ! It is the country that is to be the victim , and we shall see why . About a week before , Lord Palherston had made a fatal blunder . Forgetting all that Las happened since Mr . Locke King had first made his proposal of a 10 Z . country franchise , Lord Palaterston thought it was an affair of no importance . Because the country had consented to be amused so long with the war after it was over , Lord Palmebstok thought that it was as willing to forget Reform as it was ready to bear another year of the

    full Income-tax , if nobody made a fuss about it . Accordingly , believing others to share Lis own indifference , he made that declaration against all Reform , and found himself in the lobby with the Tories . It was a position of that kind which can only be described by a vulgarism , and who can doubt that the facetious Viscount in his own mind said , as he walked into the lobby with Mr . Disbaeli , " W . B ., " and Sir Bowyer Smijth , " Here's a pretty go ! " Who - was entering into a " combination" tJien ? The mistake had to be compensated , and an occasion offered—Mr . Gladstone went over to the

    Tories to be better appreciated ; Lord Derby objected to Sir John Bowring ; Mr . Cobden was not satisfied on the point ; and Lord John Russell agreed with Mr . Cobden . Xeigh Htjnt has made out that through a ' chain of salutations we may have shaken Bands by proxy with Shakspeare or Pontius Pilate ; and on the same principle it was easy to make out a connexion between Lord John and the Tories . Now what are the facts ? Lord John has not pursued a factious course in the House of

    Commons : since the first opening of the session it was apparent that he had marked out for liimself an independent coursejudging of questions on their public merits . But to judge a question on its merits is an . offence in the eyes of a Premier paramount . Besides , as Lord Palmjsrston lead gone with the Tories , the object was to make out that Lord John had done so , whether he had or not ; and hence a systematic misrepresentation . Ministers stand convicted of it by the words of one of themselves , Mr . Osborne , who alluded to " tho Coalition" — that

    is , Derby , Disraeli , and Gladstone , —as " Russell and Co . " That mystification is to be carried out at the election if tho public can only be deafened by a " cry , " and induced to forget the facts ; which are , that Lord Palmehston went with tho Tories , when even Osborne was ashamed to go with him , on the question of Reform , while Lord John went with Mr . Cobden on the question of Boweino , and would not havo done so if

    Lord Palmerston had publicly stated what he has actually done . Who is intriguing now p But wo have not done with the evidences of tho lioax to bo put upon tho country . At tho election , people are to forget Reform , and to rcmomber only Paxmehsxon — to forget tlie voto in tho man . Liberals who liavo affected to stand by Reform , now leave it to standby the Opposition leader in the -Locke Kin g debate Ono Liberal proposes

    been cut down , leaving the country still without the necessary military defences and barracks ; so that the excessivo expenditure of which Mr . Gladstone complains is , alter all , not efficient for ita expressed purpose . Ask General "Winmi am wh ether a popular army might not bo established at less expense than our aristocratic standing army ; lot tho Norfolk people Bend General "Windham to the House of Commons , and we shall hear more about it . Our foreign policy is an organised mystification . "We havo demon-

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    Maboh U , 1857 . J THE LEADER . ft 51

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 14, 1857, page 251, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2184/page/11/