Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-31 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES; MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1859

states is correct, namely, that the Mediterranean
is become pretty nearly a French lake ; that the
English have but three sail of the line at Malta,
while the French have ten in their ports, and
that the Russians are also doing something in
these waters. _ _ _

The Emperor is said to have complained to two,
or three members of the Diplomatic Corps repre-
s3nting Germany, of the violence of the_German.
press. The answer was that it was the fear of
war that made them so violent.

I hear that the Paris (Ministerial) papers have
been recommended not to speak of the military
preparations at Marseilles, Toulon, or elsewhere.
The Univers addresses some unpalatable truths
to the partisans of war :
No motives exist for a war. All the arguments brought
forward in its favour are disproved by historical traditions
and by the right of nations. At no period did Italy form
a compact nation ; even under Roman rule it lived only a
municipal life. To the recollection of that rule it owed its
glory anctprosperity in the middle ages ; its inheritance is
still valuable, and it would run the risk of foolishly forfeit-
ing it by accepting a political unity which would reduce its
ancient sovereign states to the role of departments or
provinces. Frenchmen are familiar with the road to
Italy ; there exists no land where they have fought
more often. What has been the result of all these
invasions ? The first campaign of General Bonaparte
had no other consequence than to deliver up the Republic
of Venice t 6 Austria. We lost less by our defeats under
Charles VIII.. Louis XII , and Francis I. The Milanese
territory has been in the possession of the house of Austria
for above 150 years. The Patrie desires an European
Congress. Alas, these diplomatic meetings promote more
strife among nations than goodwill. All the existing
causes of political discussion proceed from' articles of a
congress differently interpreted. In the name of what
principle, of what interest, could France attack Austria ?
Can the blood and honour of France be staked on certain
chimerical or equ:yJcal ideas ? Have we a better reason
to invade Lombardy than the Austrians to overran otfr
frontier provinces ? —Times.

THE BOROUGH BANK.

The unanimity of the Court of Queen's Bench in.
rejecting the application for a new trial in the
celebrated case of Scott and another v. Dixon, on
Thursday, gives reason to hope that the public
will hear no more of that trial, except as a
public warning to directors of joint-stock com-
panies of every kind. As we recently took
occasion to show, there was nothing of an inno-
vatory in the principles of law laid down by Mr.
Baron Martin at the Liverpool trial, when
damages were given for the plaintiff. There.
would be an end of all law if it could be main-
tained that the directors of public companies.
might make untrue statements with the object to
mislead, and not be liable to answer for their
conduct to those whom they damaged by that
means. Directors are under the same temptation
as private traders to persuade themselves,
after heavy losses, that things will came
right, and their speculation prove successful ;
but it will be understood henceforth that if
they choose to prolong their enterpriseS they
must do so with the aid of those who with
open eyes may be willing to share their perils,
and not at the expense of a deceived public. It is
very unlikely that any director who may in future
be sued for damages by a shareholder who has
been injured by misrepresentation will be able to
Say more in extenuation of his offence than was
urged on behalf of Mr. Dixon. There can be no
doubt that that gentleman, who long stood up in
favour of a true report, when he at last consented
to the issue of one which was false, did so for
the good of the bank. But in the words: of Lord
Campbell, which ought to be graven in the
memory of every one who accepts a seat at the
board of a public company, " Publishing an un-
true statement of the condition of a bank, for the
purpose of inducing personS to become purchasers
of shares, and to run the risk of its bankruptcy, is
that which the la.r will not allow, and which may
be made the ground both of civil and criminal
proceedings." —Deily News.
The verdict of the jury in the Liverpool Borough
Bank case, has been confirmed by the Court of
Queen's Bench. It may be remembered that this
case was originally tried before Mr. Baron Martin.
Mr. Scott and Mr. Robinson, two persons who had
purchased shares in the bank on the strength of
certain representations which had been put forth
by the directors, sued Mr. Joshua Dixon, one of
the directors, to recover damages from hiM on
the ground that those representations were, in
point of fact, false. The bank had stopped pay-
ment, and it was subsequently discovered that
When the report, which induced Scott and
Robinson to become shareholders, was given to
the world, the Liverpool B )rough Bank was
not solvent. ' The fact of the insolvency was
made out to the satisfaction of the jury at the
trial, and of the Court of Queen's Bench on
review. Mr. Dixon may think himself fortunate
that the parties aggrieved elected to proceed
against him by civil action; for by_the provisioni
of an act recently pissed very grave consequences
attached to his offence, had he been brought before
a criminal court. The act of which the jury found
Mr Dixon to have been guilty is a misdemeanour,
punishable by fine, and by imprisonment or penal
servitude. Much as the subject has been discussed,
we think it cannot be too generally known that
by the Bth section of the 20th and 21st Victoria,
chap. 54, "If any Director, Manager, or public
officer of any body corporate' or public company
shall make, circulate, or publish, or concur in
making, circulating, or publishing, any written
statement or account which he shall know to be
false in any material particular, with intent to
deceive or d.efraud any member, shareholder, or
creditor of such body corporate or public company,
or with intent to induce any person to become a
shareholder or partner therein, or to intrust or
advance any money or property to such body cor-
porate or public company, or to enter into any
security for the benefit thereof," 'he is to be amen-
able to the penal consequences set forth in the
act, which, as we have pointed out, are of a very
stringent kind. We quote the very words of the
statute, not only from its vast importance, but
because they possess the very rare merit .of being
intelligble to any man of ordinary understand-
ing. We would have these words engraved in
distinct characters in every board-room in the
kingdom, that any directors who might at any
time be tempted to stray from the path of duty
might have befo're their eyes a perpetual warning
of their own danger. In addition to the heavy
punishment. to which fraudulent directors thus
expose themselves, they are civilly responsible to
the persons aggrieved by their acts. They are
bound to make good the losses which, by their false
representations, they may have inflicted upon indi-
viduals; Of this the Liverpool Borough Bank case,
now just concluded by the deoision of the Court
of Queen's Bench on Wednesday last, affords
a good illustration. It appears clearly that Mr.
Dixon was perfectly aware that there should not
have been any declaration of dividend at all. He
told his colleagues so. He knew, and. they knew,
that any dividend they might declare could only
be paid out of capital. His representations were
overborne, and, had he been a man of firmness—we
will add, of clear probity—he would have informed
his colleagues in peremptory terms that he
would refuse to be . any party to misrepre-
sentations, and that rather than do so he would
retire from the Direction, and purge himself of all
responsibility. The argument usually adduced
against this straightforward course is that any

precipitate declaration of the real state of affairs,
and the unexplained retirement of a leading direc-
tor,, would cause the ruin which it was the interest
of all to avert. No doubt, in dubious cases, a cer-

tain latitude must be allowed; a certain discretion
and. firmness must be not only tolerated in direc-

tors, but absolutely exacted from them. When
the case, on the other hand, is not dubious at all,
and it must be clear to the apprehension of
every man of business (and if a person be not a
man of business why is he a Director of a Bank ?)
that the contingency contemplated by the law has

,ccurred, and that- the concern over which he
presides can only be brought from insolvency
o solvency by a series of commercial miracles,

then he is bound to disclose the real state of affairs.
What is the alternative ? Simply that
partial is converted into total ruin ; that
intolerable in place of tolerable misfortune is
inflicted upon all persons who were so foolish as to
balieve that the Directors were acting in good
faith.. In the case of the Liverpool Borough Bank
that alternative has occurred ; in the case of the

Western Bank of Scotland, it occurred to a far
greater and more lamentable extent. When one
reflects for a moment upon the vast and enduring
misery inflicted upon a neighbourhood—sometimes,
indeed, upon the entire community—by frauds
like these, all sentiment of commiseration for
those men by whose knavery or folly the catas-
trophe was brought about is erased from the
mind. Mr. Dixon's opposition was overruled, but
when he reluctantly acquiesced in the decision of
his colleagues, he stipulated that a particular form
of report should be drawn up, which might in some
measure serve to suggest the real state_of affairs

to the shareholders and to the public. The stipu-
lation was disregarded, and in place of the report
which Mr. Dixon had contemplated, there was
substituted another, drawn up with more than
the ingenuity of the old school of pleading, from
which the facts the writer was most anxious to
conceal might possibly be gathered. But, as
Lord Campbell truly said, ‘i Was it fair
that it should require a microscope to examine
such a document ? The report ought to have stated
the actual state Of the Bank." Nothing could
be more clear or explicit than Mr. Dixon's state-
ments against himself. lie stood self-condemned.
At the trial he admitted that he was quite aware
of the true condition of affairs, and yet he
acquiesced in the publication of that which was
substantially a false and fraudulent report, The
result of this action must undoubtedly be favour-
able to the cause of commercial morality, for
Directors will not be ready to expose themselves
even to the civil consequences of fradulent trustee-
thoefcuere,tutoeymmakaye
arethe
trustee-
ship
pmwenhtenion
incur in other courts.—Tintes,
oifn infamous es
sentence tneant

MUNICIPAL ELECTION.-BT. PAUL'S WARD,

COURT OF Q►UEEN'S BUNCH-SATURDAY,

THE QUEEN V. JOSiN CLEIM.---Mr. Edward James,
Q.C., with whom was Mr. Brett (instructed by Mr.
Bretherton, of Liverpool), appeared to show cause against
the rule, obtained by lr:Welsby ill Michaelmas I.lerm,
calling upon John Clerk to show cause why an informa-
tionexhbiilend tlaiegailleatturehimof, aterrosheTvarbryfolyt z should
authority ot
hb
ee
exercised the office of Town Councillor of No. 4, or
St. Paul's Ward, in the borough of Liverpool, on the
ground that he was not entitled to be. on the burgess
list of the said borough, as he had not been,
on the last day of August in the year 1858, and
during the whole of each of the two preceding years, an
inhabitant householder within the said borough, or
within seven miles thereof. Mr. Welsby and Mr. Mellish
(instructed by Mr. Bremner, of Liverpool) appeared to
support the rule. Mr. James said that the affidavits
upon which this rule hid been obtained wereinsufficienty
and that the rule ought to be discharged. No doubt,
under the 28th sect. no person could be entitled to be'
elected a councillor unless he was entitled to be on the
burgess list; and the 9th sect., which he would not read,
as their lordships were well acquainted with the terms of
it, required that a man should have been a householder.
for such a length of time; but on looking at the affidavits
in support of the rule, they admitted that Mr. Clerk is on
the burgess roll—that is, after the revision of the burgess
lists by the court, Clerk remains on the burgess roll, that
is prima facie proof that he is entitled to be so. He
would not for a moment contend that it was conclusive,
but it showed that he had been allowed by the proper
court when they revised the lists, and he was then put on
the roll. Now, the affidavits showed that he was a house-
keeper in Pembroke-place during the year 1855, and
to March, 1856 ; and, because he left there in March,
they left it to be assumed that he had given up house-
keeping and why ? because he had taken lodgings from

flay to November-, in 1856, in Birkenhead, where the air
was purer, in fact, during the summer months. He then
went into lodgings at the Sutton Hotel,whcre he remained
many months-3o he might; but that is no reason because
he is in country lodgings that he has ceased to be a house-
holder, and therefore not entitled to be on the roll. The
parties had very industriously searched the rate books
and commissioners' books at Birkenhead, where he could
not be on, bet they had not searched the rate books at
Liverpool, and sworn he was not on them. All that is
said is, that he is informed and verily believes that the
said John Clerk is not a householder. Lord Campbell :
Is net that enough to put you to the proof? Mr.
James : No, my lord; the proof is on them. The de-
ponent then proceeds to give reasons for his belief, and
if he do that, and those reasons are fallacious, then
this rule ought to be discharged. Lord Campbell:
It is enough to call upon you for an answer. The
Court does not require express knowledge at this stage
Mr. James : But will your lordship permit me ? They
admit he was a householder until March 1856, and then,
because he is in 'summer lodgings in 18.56 and 1857, they
assume he is not a householder Mr. Justice Crompton :
Mr. James, you will dispel all this mist if you will tell us
where he has been living. (Laughter.) Mr. Justice
Wightman : Where one man. swears that he believes so
and so, and the other man does not swear at all to the
contrary, the court always believes the man who swears.
It is the, constant practice at chambers. Mr. Justice
Crompton: Why don't you put your hand on the blot,
and tell us where his house is. (Laughter.) Mr. James :
I don't think, my lord. lam bound to do that. Lord
Carapell :Oh yes. he rule must be made absolute.
THE QUEEN V. STEELE AND ANOTHER.—CRIMINAL
INFORMATION. - Mr. Temple, Q.C., said he was instructed
to show cause against a rule calling upon Robert and
James Steele, to show cause why a criminal information
should not be exhibited for the publication of libels of
and concerning Mr. James and Mr. Fawcett, magistrates
of Carlisle, in the Carlisle Journal. The prosecutors
complained that corrupt motives had been attributed to
them in the discharge of certain offices connected with
their position and powers as magistrates of the city of
Carlisle. Lord Campbell : It was on that ground that
the court granted the rule to show cause. Mr. Temple
said the libels in question did not bear the construction
of attributing to these gentlemen of personal and private
gain and profit, and if it did the defendants had retracted
in the words required by the prosecutors any such impu-
tation; but he was prepared to contend and justify, that
in imputing to the prosecutors having taken steps from
feelings of irritation, and for the express purpose of
obtaining certain objects which they had at heart,
not in their private capacity, but as the trustees of
a turnpike road. He felt certain that when he bad called
their lordships' attention to the facts of the case, they
would be of opinion that the defendants had not used
language in commenting on the prosecutor's conduct in
that exaggerated form which required the interference of
this Court. The learned Counsel then entered into the
circumstances which gave rise to the articles in question,
viz., the removal of a turnpike-gate, formerly nine miles

-
from Carlisle, to a spot on the same road, intercepting
the traffic of the city of Carlisle to the railway station.
Lord Campbell: Nothing can be more annoying than
the erection of a turnpike-gate in the suburbs of a city.
or town. The learned Counsel having stated the facts,
asked their lordships to discharge the rule. • Mr. Knowles,
Q.C., having been heard• in support of the rule, the
Court allowed the withdrawal of the rule on the de-
fendant's publication of an ample apology, and paying
the costs.

THE BATTLE OF ST. GEORGE'S

BY (an admirer of) BURNS

In George's Hall on Tuesday night
Was seen a rare and vexing sight,
'Twas very like a swell mob fight
Of people acting rabidly

That night, in fact, it did befall
That all the town went to a ball,
To honour Burns, determined all
To celebrate his centenary

By gas and lamplight well arrayed,
Were ma,ly a " belle" and many a " blade ;'
And e'en the cabbies horses neighed
At sight of so much revelry.

Then shook the wills, with fierce winds riven ;
Then flew the steeds to Lime-street driven;
And douceurs were to " jarvies" given
To set their " fares" down rapidly

Before the morn, there was vueh fun,
For hundreds of their coats Were " done
And furious father and fiery son
Yelled savagely in unison.

The row soon deepened, e'en the grave
Tried hard their garments all to save;
While some like blackguards did behave,
And seized their neighbour's toggery
Few, few their garments e'er shall meet;
And spite of wind and rain and sleet;
They tramped through damp and sloppy street,
All swearing loud and savagely.

Januanr 29; 1859,

N. H. J,

,
The report of the Australian Agricultural Company
recommends a dividend of £1 per share. The sale of
coal has been nearly equal during the first nine months
of 1858 to the whole quantity in 1857, but a reduction
in price has been rendered necessary by competition.
Not much progress has been made in sinking. The sales
of sheep and cattle have left a moderate profit, and the
income from cattle is increasing. The claim against the
company by Captain Brownrigg has been settled by
arbitration, and he is to receive £1,024. The sales of
laud for the first nine months of 1858, have amounted to
£2,009.
MURDER OF A LrsAmc.—At Birmingham, on Wed-
nesday, before Mr. Kynnersley, stipendiary magistrate,
John Brailsford, formerly a police officer, was charged
with the murder of a lunatic named. Samuel Sunderland,
at the Birmingham Lunatic Asylum, on the 7th of
December last. It appeared that the prisoner was admit-
ted into the asylum as a lunatic on the 6th of December
so great a
last, and that on the following day, during the absence of
the attendants, he attaeked the deceased, who was a
fellow lunatic, and so severely injured him about the
head that he died soon after. On a post-niortem exami-
nation being made, it was found that death had resulted
through effusion of blood on the brain. Brailsford has
letters, thus subjecting'
trial.
a serious annoyance,
now recovered his sanity, and has beenefrsromn sienwognhimoseit,teeodrrr.
COMPULSORY PREPAYMENT OF INLAND LETTERS.--
It is important the public should clearly understand that
taaandit.timo
on and after the 10th February inland letters will be
returned to the wriAtrs unless at least part of the postage
suppressed;
small, consisting chiefly of letters posted heedlessly 01 for
be prepaid. This class of letters is no,lwetteeseeveldeilllwgi
tirs will be reduced to
Yithimthpeor oyanee
and as
pir thenaovnn
dagree purposeiTinaproportionbeelonytis:o
eoafffsst
large,ht
the
annoyance,
eallsending
wholen odunpaidri
order
heg ratt
tho ofem 1
inlandancnl
atnyetptoel
eterype
themselves to the inconvenience of rejecting some
Under-t
e thefi n e of fe
onew
it is
expected, be nearly, if not entirely,
the charge on partially prepaid
ltehtetedrseftwehieincht
parsetagreeawll
penny, whatever may be the amount of such deficient
postage, few persons, probably, will think
persist in their refusal of all inian_ it necessary to
d
postage, and the inconvenien co aboveletters charged -,fith
referred to '4ll be
avoided. We understand, that
adopted at the Post-oMo° f measures hP.ve been
or returning to t:ne writers,
as promptly as possible, the few wholly rinpaid letters
which, from forgetfulness or other eaus., may, still be
posted, so as to avoid all unneeessary delay in their
progress,