On this page

• Departments (2)
  • 
  • 
• Text (8)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    ... ^^tthltr (Tl fifiTtn? \0uillit ^vl-UUtiJu * ^ +

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    _ . . 'TY* ^ \ Cf pUjC/^ >4H>\ C/ \- ^ Pr /^dV <^% 4tf & *%.^ - '-\i ^ JUT- (Ob J^P JbLs JLs f V-s /To (o^^ - / ^ \ —

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of Ins good faith-.. It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the commumca"We cannot undertake to return rejected communications ..

    Untitled Article

    : W ~ . LORD PALMERSTON IN PARIS . The prolonged stay of Lord Palmerston in Paris Las given rise to an infinity of conjectures . Among those whose opinions give the . tone to what is called * good society , " the visit of the ex-Premier of England is looked upon with vague emotions of misgiving , qualified only by the prevalent conviction that the Viscount ' s day of power , whether for good or ill , is past , and that , as a Minister , should he ever return to . office ,, he will never be paramount again . Bonne socieiie in ' France -comprises many sects ,

    differing- ' . from one another widely in points ot political faith , and warring fiercely with one another wherever the hope ' of eventual supremacy is rekindled . . But all these sects , whether Legitimists , Orleanists , Fusionists , or Republicans , concur in remembering with unassuaged resentment the active sympathy shown by Lord Palmerston in the success of the coup d ' etat . M . Walcwski , then ambassador in London , was then on terms of peculiar intimacy with his Lordship , and a very general impression prevailed at the time in both countries that

    the venturous attempt of the 2 nd December , 1 S 3 . 1 , caused our then Foreign Secretary no surprise . Before it was possible to be sure that popular resistance might not have been organised , and measures taken for a co > Urecoup , Lord Palmerston hastened to present his enthusiastic congratulations , and to give the warmest pledges of personal support . It was whispered audibly at the time that these

    assurances liaving been semi-ofhcially given without the knowledge of the Court , or the assent of the oilier members of the Cabinet , no little dissatisfaction was expressed at what seemed to be so rash and premature a step . But ere explanations could be demanded , Louis Napoleon ' s triumph was a fait accompli ; and the nuirmurcrs , whether princely or ministerial , were sarcastically given to understand that had they been as well aware

    beforehand of what was in preparation by Lord Palmerston ' s confidants of the Elysoe , thry would not have doubted the possibility of success . Outwitted and humiliated , there was nothing left , but to acquiesce . The leaders of the Tory parly were prompt and loud in their admiration of the skill and during cx . hibii . cil in , the cottp d ' dtat . _ The Palace trembled at the triumphant restoration of the Bonaparte . dynasty ; and , true to its instincts , hastened to propitiate the newly-born power . The Whigs resolved to temporise . They confirmed oUiciall y all thai their uncon-Ming colleague in thb Foreign Ollico hud done j and within three weeks the grudge of Court and Cabmot was gratified b y his contumelious dismissal . Wnatovor mystery might bo thrown over tho real causes , either in Parliament or tho press , and howover technically true might be tho osLonsiblc provo-CatlOlia O'lVf \ n l \ w iU * „ ., .. „!_ . * 3 - M I . I

    last seven years , been no want of proofs of personal accord between these distinguished friends * Schisms ' and estrangements there have been between each of them , and other potentialities . But to the claims of individual confidence , and of what may be called personal politics , both have continued true . A second occasion unexpectedly arose , when the strength of this attachment was put to the test ; a second time Lord Palmerston realised all that the French Emperor expected of him ; and a second time he was in consequence hurled from power .

    These things are too fresh to be forgotten , and people naturally ask what are the confederates about just now ? Paris is entity ; the salons are shut ; few of the celebrities of war or statesmanship arc to be found lingering there ; what is the veteran Minister doing in the French capital at such a time ? What , means the unusual empressement with which he is invariably received ? Why these repeated and protracted visits to St . Cloud , strangely contrasting , as they do , with those so brief and

    ceremonious paid at Osborne ? What does it all mean ? Far from seeking to allay the curiosity of observers , or to tranquilhse their conjectures of his having some definite purpose in view , the diplomatic Viscount takes especial care to see every one who calls on him , to talk with apparent frankness to every one he meets , and to volunteer now and then indications of his future policy on questions relative to French interests , Or to those of the alliance . Nothing can be niore conciliatory than his whole deportment ; and nothing better calculated to create the impression that he contemplates a return to power , and that at no distajit . day . The naivete with

    which he asks French politicians why this and that has not been done by Lox-d Malmesbury , and tile suggestive look of wonder on being told that the present Foreign Secretary has pronounced it to be impossible , are said to be worthy of Talleyrand . " If he stays long enough , he will make us all believe , " said a French politician the other day , " that not only is he worth a score of the Emperor ' s old boon companions . , in London , but that he is , after all , the best minister we could have in England . " We , of course , means the friends of the existing system : all others stand aloof and watch what this singular species of embracery will come to .

    At seventy-four it is doubtless hard to get up a belief in oneself ; and it would be incredible that any man of shrewdness and experience in . the evanescent ways of political life should ivy , were not Lord Aberdeen still busily engaged as ever in muffled intrigues , and were not Lord Palmerston still playing the part of "the Coming Man , " to select audiences in Paris . When it was proposed some weeks ago that the members of the House of Commons ought to invite themselves to Cherbourg , and take for granted that , his Imperial Majesty would be very glad to sec them , Lord Palmerston , with the levirv that

    has always been intertwined with his other characteristics , said he would go , and Captain Gossett had actually made arrangements for his accommodation . A few days afterwards his lordship sent word to say he had changed his mind , and that he would not go on "the parliamentary lark . " No reason . was assigned , and the solf-invitcd made the trip without the ox-Premier . The circumstance is thus accounted for . Tho iml ' orgctting Emperor of the French did not choose to recognise or receive the " gentlemen below the gangway" who had so recently denounoed him and his Conspiracy Bill , and who , oddly enough , formed a considerable * proportion of the expedition . He wished , moreover , to have a better opportunity

    of private and confidential conference with his best ana ablest friend amongst British statesmen . An intimation , therefore , was conveyed from the occupant of St . Cloud to the tenant of Cambridge House , thai : if ho would visit France after tho Cherbourg festivities were over , his presence would bo regardou as a gratifying mark of consideration and good-will . The hint sulllco . d . Lord Palmerston suddenly discovered that urgent business required his personal attention on his estates in tho county of Shgo , and thither accordingly ho repaired till tho smoke of the sinister fetes htul rolled away , and tho coast of Britj Luojwij ^ wu : ** --, m — !_*« . —

    , . ¦ . ini-r .- ^ .- 'g - " .. ~ i - ' - "M "MMiiuHfiV ^ " ? " *—" rP '" - ! - " * - "" - """ - " ^"" - ' Viscount nTlus modo of communicating with Princo Albert , ovory one of ordinary information understood tho real history of tho transaction . Lord Palmerston was , and ia still , regarded by tho partisans of Henri V ., of the Comto do Paris , and of thoJRo .-i Public , as an nooomplioo in tho ' resuscitation of tho I 3 iV T t ° , , ^ trulh f no P " I'ftvo boon spared by lus Lordship to maintain tho impression , lu diplomacy and m the press , tUoro has , during Lho

    Untitled Article

    verdict was arrived at be clear and definite . We are bound to confess , that the more we consider the dictum of the judge who tried the case , and the verdict of the jury in connexion with the evidence , the more difficult we find it to arrive-at-a ' satisfactory and conclusive opinion on the case . No one , we apprehend , will be disposed to dispute the propriety of punishing fraudulent directors of jointstock undertakings ; no one will be disposed to question the expediency of making fraudulent directors suffer in purse and person whenever fraud is undeniabl y established . But it is essential to the ends of justice , nay , it is indispensable to the prosperity of the country , that , fraud should not be assumed , but that , as the preliminary step , a clear and unambiguous definition of what constitutes fraud on the part of a director should be laid down .

    In the present excited state of public feeling much , folly , as well as positive injustice , is committed in . respect to directors , who are held by the unreflecting to be responsible for matters over which they exercise no possible control , and of which they can have no personal knowledge . At the present moment senseless attacks are made on every director of a public company ; indeed , to be a director , by one class of writers is held to be of itself a damaging circumstance . But let us recollect for a moment that

    among the thousands of directors of public companies are to be found the names of the highest and most honourable in the land , many of whom have , from patriotic and unselfish motives , consented to associate . ^ themselves in great undertakings calculated to enlarge the commerce Of the country and to minister to the national prosperity and security of the empire . Let us recollect ^ that the senseless outcry and clamour raised by a p ortion of the press is placing these parties in a false position before the public , and causing alarm to themselves and their families . We have said that joint-stock undertakings have t and

    minisered , are largely , ministering , to the material prosperity of the country . Look , for instance , at raiiwavs , at the " telegraph , at joint-stock banksj would they have ever been , brought into practical and profitable operation but for associated capital , and for combined personal enterprise ? Hecent disclosures may have shown that in some , nay , if you will , in most of these undertakings , jobbing and " fraud have found entrance . It seems to be a law of human nature that nothing merely human shall be pure and perfect—we must expect , therefore , to find , especially in great commercial combinations , that something not

    altogether squaring with abstract notions of honesty is discoverable ; but after all that can be urged against such undertakings , will any one be bold enough to deny that the balance of good vastly preponderates , or that the whole nation is not benefited by what joint-stock enterprise has achieved ? Take joint-stock banks : in spite of the delinquency of one or two concerns , the general body has shown itself to be souud and the management beyond suspicion . These banks have proved of incalculable advantage to tho extending commerce of the country , but it is not merely , owing to the governing body of directors that so much public good has boon attained . ' With most of the joint-stock banks , wo believe , the main recommendation held out to

    the publio is , that tho directors have never interfered with or inspected the customers' accounts ; indeed , several pass-books of large banking establishments Iiavo this fact set forth conspicuously in them . The powers , therefore , of directors are limited , and y » -ry properly so , when tho circumstances of their position and duties are taken fairly into account . In many cases they must not bo regarded as in a more responsible condition than that m which trustees of friendly societies are regarded by the public . It is customary for such societies to put forward great names as trustees , but the public are never deceived by this ; they know that the functions of trustees are limited , and they would never dream of holding them responsible ' for tho business arrangements , still less for the continuod solvency of tho concern . And in tho case of a

    HESrONSIBILLT . IKS OF DIRECTORS . Tun recent doqisiou in reference to tho responsibility of directors hits lost , none of its interest . Viewed in its relation lo , and bearing on national enterprise , Its importance cannot bo overrated . . Hut , in proportion to its importance ami possible uil ' eets , so ought tho principles and tho law on which tho

    great many joint-stock companies , tho functions ^ tHv * rlii'C ptor ~ aTc ~'" not"morc extensive ihan flioso of a trustee ; in common fairness , therefore , tho rosponsibiltios should not be greater . Tho public arc too apt to throw on tho-shoulders of directors that responsibility which propci'ly oolongs to shareholders . ' ' . ' Wo have nlrcmlv referred to lljo courso lakou by some portion of ' the press on I ho question of lho new-born rcttpoimiullitioa of directors . lhoso journals are houudiiig on the publio to un m-

    Untitled Article

    Ko . 442 , September 11 , 1858 . ] T H E Ju E A P E R , 935

    Untitled Article

    . * There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dn . Aknold .

    ... ^^Tthltr (Tl Fifittn? \0uillit ^Vl-Uutiju * ^ +

    — | MlirMnra .

    Untitled Article

    SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 11 , 1858 .

    _ . . 'Ty* ^ \ Cf Pujc/^ ≫4h≫\ C/ \- ^ Pr /^Dv ≪^% 4tf & *%.^ - '-\I ^ Jut- (Ob J^P Jbls Jls F V-S /To (O^^ - / ^ \ —

    "SB ™ 'C

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 11, 1858, page 935, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2259/page/15/