The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-24 00:00:00

THE ALABAMA CLAMS.

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(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

THE Confederate agents and sympathisers have
found a place of repentance, and have done penance
for their error. The shrift has been made as easy to
them as the most easy-going of confessors could
make it. They were not condemned to walk through
Washington or New York in shirts made out of the
stars and stripes ; they were not sentenced to fast-
ings and flagellations. In the place of their offence
they were allowed to confess it by taking
part in a sumptuous banquet and listen-
ing to complimentary speeches. What must
have been the feelings of Mr. LAIRD as he sat
at the banquet table and heard that of the three
questions which have for so long estranged England
and the United States one still remains unsettled„
and that one the claims arising out of the Alabama's
depredations, we will not attempt to describe. It
was but a day or two ago that a leading
Liverpudlian declared that " time was when the name
of the Alabama brought up a blush of honest pride
in his fellow-townsmen's faces. But now, alas !"
The interjection implied that the blush is now, rather
the signal of shame than of pride. Even Lord
STANLEY—CalltiollS, peace-loving Lord STANLEY—
who has laboured hard, no man harder, to restore
friendship between the two great branches of the
Anglo-Saxon family, must have remembered the
time when the splendid eloquence of that able col-
league of his who now occupies the woolsack
persuaded the House of Commons nearly, and
Lord STANLEY wholly, to censure the Government
for stopping the departure of the Birkenhead rams,
a vote which, had it been carried, would have involved
consequences disastrous indeed. Reflections like
these must have crowded into many a mind. Even
Mr. REVERDY JOHNSON, with all his courteous speech
and friendly anxiety to avoid unpleas ant reminiscences,
could not have forgotten that in the town where he
was speaking, were five ' years ago to be found the
very bitterest enemies of his Gorernment outside the
Confederate States. The thought must have
suggested itself to him that circumstances wonder-
fully alter cases ; that if the fortune of war had not
declared for the North, Mr. MASON would have had
a heartier reception even than himself. " Nothing,"
he must have said, sotto voce, "succeeds like success."
"All men will praise thee when thou doest well to
thyself." And so it comes to pass that the Liberal
leader, who declared that President Davis had made
a nation of the South ; Lord STANLEY, who had
voted for letting the Birkenhead rams go free to prey
upon American commerce, even though the
American Government warned our own that
it would be considered a declaration of war ;
and Mr. LAIRD, who has such notoriety
as is to be gained by the fact that he broke
the law in order to reap a handsome profit, and
thereby brought two countries to the verge of war,
and has even now involved his fellow-countrymen in
heavy damages which they will have to pay by
reason of his cupidity,—these three men, and many
others who had wished well to the Southern cause;
assembled to honour the representative of the vic-
torious North.

There is abundant room for cynicism here. But
let us pass to a more grateful theme. It was stated by
Lord STANLEY that two of the threecauses of difference
between England and the United States had been
arranged, so far as diplomacy could effect an arrange-
ment. The third is in fair way towards a settlement.
Lord STANLEY did not state what shape this last
arrangement would take. But special information
has already enabled us to inform our readers that
the Alabama claims will, in all probability, be
referred to the arbitration of the Emperor of
RUSSIA. Such a reference would be quite in
accordance with the precedent set by Earl RUSSELL,
in referring to the late King of the BELGIANS
the dispute which arose some five years ago between
ourselves and the Government of the Brazils. It is
a precedent whose repetition would speak the more
for our desire to effect a friendly settlement, because
on the first occasion that we submitted to arbitration
the decision was given against us.- It is an unde-
niable proof of our readiness to avoid war by resorting
to that only other mode of adjusting international
differences which at present is open to us. It is for
this reason that we attach the greatest importance to
the negotiations now pending between the Courts of
London and Washington. Their influence will be
felt far beyond these two Courts. Europe armed to
the teeth—Europe, whose people are groaning
beneath the weight of " bloated armaments "—cannot
remain insensible to the example set them by two of
the most powerful nations in the world. The
nations, at all events, will ask, if the Govern-
ments do not, why there is all this drain upon
their resources of money and manhood, all the
time that their rulers disclaim any warlike intention,
while England and the United States, who had
serious grounds of difference, abundant reasons for
going to war, are able to heal their quarrel by arbitra-
tion. Lord STANLEY avowed his belief that the
danger of hostilities on the Continent had been
exaggerated, and that there was nowhere any desire
on the part of the rulers of Europe to engage in
bloodshed. If it be so, let them prove their love of
peace by following our example in avoiding a once
imminent war.

THE LIVERPOOL BANK.
WE may safely assume that among the
brilliant company who assembled to honour the
United States Minister the directors and the manager
of the Royal Bank of Liverpool were not visible.
Those gentlemen are just now the theme of every
tongue in commercial circles. They have succeeded
in obtaining for themselves a notoriety con-
spicuous even in these days of swindling directors
and rotten undertakings. This bank had
for its principal director one of the best known
men in Liverpool. He had been mayor, he had
entertained Royalty and Ministers of State ; he gave
away between £2,000 and £3,000 a year in charity ;
he was respected, honoured, trusted; looked up to as
a leading man in the capital of the Mersey, and was
even talked of for parliamentary honours. He is
now a bankrupt, and will in all probability be
brought to trial in a criminal court. For twenty
years this merchant prince, this eminent citizen,
this benevolent philanthropist has been insol-
vent. The riches that he so freely spent upon
himself, the money that he so generously bestowed
upon the poor, were not his own, but were taken from
the unfortunate shareholders and depositors who by
reason of the confidence which they placed in him
connected themselves with the Royal Bank of Liver-
pool. The deception was maintained with skill and
boldness. In 1866 Mr. HUTCHISON and his fellow-
directors professed " their inability to refrain from
congratulating the shareholders upon the satis-
factory character of the statement." At that time
both Mr. HUTCHISON and the bank were hopelessly
insolvent. In January 1867 the shareholders were
informed that the capital and the reserve fund were
intact, that a gross profit of £83,000 had been earned,
and that a dividend of 8 per cent, would be paid
them. Ten months later the bank stopped payment,
and the shareholders then learnt that the whole of
the capital and the reserve fund were lost, and that
between £400,000 and £500,000 would be required
to pay the debts of the bank. For a whole year
an inquiry has been going on into the transactions
which have brought about this disastrous result. The
investigation disclosed such disgraceful misconduct
that the official liquidators attempted to suppress the
report of the investigators. As it is, only a modified
and softened report has been published, but it is so
damaging that it is difficult to imagine how anything
can be worse. Mr. Hu-rcuisoN, it appears, who as
principal director ought to have been most active in
protecting the interests of the shareholders, ran in
debt to the bank to the amount of £103,477. No
doubt he did wisely in his day and generation. He
knows well enough that " it is as well to be hung for
a sheep as for a lamb ;" nay, better, for all experience
shews that while the pickpocket gets sent to prison,
the bank director gets nothing but admiration.
at the largeness of his plunder, and may, if he