The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-09 00:00:00

CHAPTER 10.

The suspension of cash payments by the bank, thus per-
mitted by government, came too late for the unfortunate
Mansels. Their course had been taken already, and their
affairs had been placed in the hands of their creditors.
One of the most potent reasons for the adoption of this
course had been an unfair privilege, claimed in their course
of business by the Bank of England itself, which is thus
explained by an eminent merchant of free trade opinions—
Mr. Hamer Stansfield—in a recently published pamphlet.
Mr. Stansfield says :-- _ . _

" The Bank of England does not wait, as all other par-
ties do, till the acceptance of a house stopping payment
becomes due, but returns it so soon as the suspension is
made public to the parties for whom they discounted it.
One hard case, in 1847, particularly struck us. The head
of a firm had been attending a meeting of the creditors of
another firm, when, on returning to his counting-house,

Ott 9,1

'1""RTTnT!!;010
he found a notice from the Bank requiring hielars,;to,lll6
£20,000 for bills so situated, which caused hie' bps seas
his creditors together. Now, supposing theee,,adtiot
have been due of two months, he would have, .71-ois soo
have looked about him, to have got together kmber
means, and perhaps have heen enabled to we '"olst
storm. His failure very likely brought on otherst6oor
like a pack of cards reared one against another, A,O
mercantile community might be affected by
practice of the Bank."Dj
In the very pasition here described were tl3e
04;
__,,,
Mansel, with respect to the Bank at this Pets
rode,
in a great measure, it influenced them in theonroot
ings. Their suspension, however, once 911,0
there were no difficulties placed in their path ei!
upbraidings—nothing to grate upon the feeliAngsed 0111
father or son. A universal sthy pre 61
favour, and, the first shock overeat would "b-,,delaft
seemed that happiness, the first time for yearsolo
upon the hearts of the prostrate merchants. ""„ yolk
felt the wearing effect upon the mind of soul:00
which cannot be shared—the weary days and nigt toe
which we are compelled to hug to our breaswbich*
sciousness of calamity impending—the 801 bysl,
tends the conviction that we are rogressing, stetPator:.
nearer to the precipice over which we feel t°
destined to be impelled ? What man is there v/i!I Ah
period of his life, has not felt all this, and reiol'iost
at length he has been enabled to throw aside the ortiosfr
concealment, and to walk erect,
before the world ? a att"-m!
To Mr. Mansel the step to which he had NZ, to;
in his just POP
was a grateful relief. The cheerful energy, libse:,
character, returned afresh ; and the necessal; the u'
which he took upon himself in the winding up oLoenen;
gled affairs of the firm, were gone through v/i,tb 3 00:
and cheerfulness which surprised all around ofilltifs!,i
asionally, indeed, a pang had to be endureuLd to Pr 64
sore grief, for example, when he was comPeu"-,ad"
from the loved home in which he had hoped to ellibitth°
declining years. It was with a sinking heertbeirsli
strove to sustain the spirits of his beloved wife, w an
ing that scene of so many years of past hopeintik.
fortunate it was for the poor old man that 'nceooP,'
struggle he was supported by those for vibes!, he'
above all things, he was solicitous. The trial, w*Dere"
ever, gone through at length. A more bumble tope
ceived the ruined merchant and his family :
ance made by their creditors for the services oi to lice,'
sel and his son enabled the family for a time iv Oro
something approaching to ease and happiness. , be'
side circle was different, it is true, to what it use? 0801'
more prosperous times. Many objects, trivial in V
selves, were missing there, and at times regret lOW
loved piano-forte, and the old familiar melodies, P the
one or both the Miss Mansels, no longer wiled .„„y
long evenings. The well selected library, too,rollicl
parted with ; and the graceful employments, 11,(1,01),
both Mrs. Mansel and her daughters bad deligToestw
been exchanged for more homely and hurobleofd. The
work. A seat was vacant, too, at their Sunday b aer tbe.,
old clerk, Mr. Williams, no longer came to chat titev
red
business topics of the day, and to tell his hun.,,,tl hsdolLs
repeated anecdotes to his beloved employer. ile,,,"orel°l;
into the position of the ill-paid drudge of some '1100"
tunate house ; and feared to abstract a drop from ober
stinted cup of the ruined merchant. Another °loot'
also—the youngest—of that once happy circle was ~00°
Henry Mansel—a mere boy—had been launched e!,:irefis.,,
rough ocean of life, and was now commencing whop':
tile career as the clerk of a house abroad, to wrOft,t"
father had been for years the valued corresponcle%t bo,w'
and often the mother's heart followed to his distaLou'"
that first of her children, who had ever wandered 0"
parental fireside. d 501
But William Mansel—what of him—the resliely„,
perhaps ask. Patiently, unceasingly, the heart-sot,
young man toiled by his father's side, in the e
yC
which he had devoted every energy of his being' uasse
object was the restoration of their firm's hitherto tf
lied mercantile reputation. Step by step, heL "" trfios,,°
restore its ultimate solvency—to ensure the rea'nisr
its remaining assets, and the liquidation of its e•-,00,
ments to the uttermost farthing_ The day would
irsses9
he trusted, when he should enjoy the proud consciogroy
of reflecting that justice had been done to all : se d 04!
ally he saw the anxious Yearnings of his soul 00,01;
nearer to their fulfilment. There was a restless tea oc'
in his eyes, as the picture of coming success tiiiirde°
casionally before him ; and a glow of proud saL"
treo:„
would, at such moments, flush his speaking '740 yr
But to the careful observer it would have beers
plain that the mind within was wearing out the sr, 1
of its outward frame. He was thinner and feeritesl
by day ; and at times the change was apparent eves
7,
those not so observant as the friends to whom 00":
most dear. The constant efforts which he vroto,''
ddA
to seem cheerful, and in the full vigour of honed bis
many a bar trom the maternal eye, which wateik" e, to
struggles • but that mother feared, for other's "-won
entrust the secret consciousness, which she felt, "
her own breast. She hoped too—who does not Ito
that the excitement at an end, and the object su-"I'
for achieved, the buoyant energies of youthwould
noretit:tbe
and a confidence in that success, and in its effect Tier
spirits of the beloved partner of her life, buoyed ref,
amidst the sad forebodings, which she could not P
continually stealing over her mind. mad ciss
Months wore away. Slowly the gloomy e--dOO/
withdrawn from over the commercial world; an,,do4o'
passed away, new successes rewarded the anxious
be
the young man and his revered father. At 1eng...."
final step was achieved :
to congratulate himself that the last debt of tn`vol°
would be liquidated, and that his beloved parents 0 eell't
not be left beggars in their declining years. It!cr„icith',"
solation worthy of a noble mind ; yet miner,
came thoughts full of bitter pain. How cou. ho e°e
:otf:
template the fact of their perfect solvency, /ow' "rasy,'
cruel sacrifices which they had been compelled 04 Os'
without a deep conviction of the heartlessness ftyotor
iniquitous machinery, which had swept away the' 00l
lations of a life time, and well nigh consigned
dearest to him to dishonoured graves, or a fife of rtl. bs,it
servitude ? How could he look back upon the hligooo
had wrought, without cursing in the very bitternessf tbel
soul the tyranny of systems and the selfishness° roll
authors ? But two years before he had been thabifr
and happy son of a wealthy parent—the stay alblete
spring of a prosperous firm. He was now only tbel
console himself with the reflection that he had 11°0ets"/
crushed entirely beneath the wheels of the 'toe-
Juggernaut, and his name branded with the inWillgers,v;
unacquitted debt, for the realization of the 131%
crotchet of absurd statesmanship—the "Sec
convertibility of the bank note."

der rea_di
le rea- 'rev
OW 0
hear effort'
the en
being. 1,
- rto 11' to
thei ,ye
0
; realist-def.
of its
,d co
wow% to-re
ie°novo _Jo,
l; and-sch
soul aPaPc,:fii
.stless rt„,
ess
gitteubpo
fo
id sat!s tines"
king 110 to°
been
t tbe 0"'
fee 1
bler,.
,
)arent eceP e,
diem "
Id te
)e
won ire
health, I ',is
tche' to
) wa-,..ke, A
hers s`"-
) felt, beY
not bee
gle
'ect stitigto;
Would Ott tbe
ffect or' r
be t
uoye „to'
I not

y Clolla 0
ld
ixioes
lt leeg.,otb'bxa
'fires
t of th
•
)arents cos:
it,w,135,0%b
ngteu • cor
DoUld hell die
after 6,„pite'
hied TOO
;sness 0
coy
r the i'ccAtiveg.,
lsigee" eair
life of re hti!l
the blignf big
tternc. go
'„;
nos of
_no
een" the
1 1 cifr
stay 813
only 0 tcr
bee°
o 0
had 13°.
one 1
the v3° _
itoPutsrer,
the rcLnrg

Le DOerf
Ott
a the
I
ccee 0, A
the autheee
about
oel
. Seak
(St. .41
be " JO'
in the °
he ello_, fro rj
[onatiewtof
fr. nut
brick ebt,
j?.
—The 1C43
ra
•°fin, lilted
attioelide
r bed je rOt
or vie
Id su sppoia
h the s tiro
01111e:0 Y 5
name- giff.
ine

:1
gosl,ce
iA P•tiogol
toesbibolo
ritrspPe,c,,D,'ed
,berrivw
`1)06,/
too°. tio-r
sioserlPbel°9o
the tbe,„„f:
born 0101 f Vifr
nn
3 Y, /all
cfP
)th (IN