The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-08-28 00:00:00

CHAPTER in.

The misgivings of William Mansel, noticed in our last
chapter, require, to account for them, some explanatory
remarks, which may perhaps, to the general reader, ren-
der the present chapter a little dull. It is a necessary one,
however, and, although it may be passed over without de-
tracting greatly from the interest of the mere narrative,
it will materially add to the usefulness of the succeeding
chapters if the kind reader will bestow upon it his careful
attention.

In the first instance we must, as briefly as we can, state
the nature of the business in which our merchants were
e gaged. Mr. Mansel, on his first entry into mercantile
life, had confined his transactions to what may almost be
called a retail scale. His dealings were principally in East
and West Indian produce, which he bought in the open
market from the importers, and sold, in smaller lots, to
consumers throughout the country. As his reputation
became established, however, he became the consignee of
various planters and mercantile houses both in the East
and West Indies, as well as in several of the South Ame-
rican markets ; and, at the period of our history, the firm
had been for some years carrying on the legitimate busi-
ness of merchants, exporting British manufactures and
receiving in return the produce, both on their own and on
foreign account, of the markets to which they traded. In
these transactions they had strictly confined themselves
within what they considered their means ; or in other
words, they had exposed themselves to no risks which,
under an ordinary reverse, could affect their credit or their
ability to meet their engagements. They were, in fact, re-
garded in the commercial world as a house under-trading
rather than over-trading ; and their bills were looked
upon in every market in which they were negotiated as
what, in mercantile parlance, is styled first-class paper.
In addition to the capital embarked in his ordinary busi-
ness, it was well known that Mr. Mansel, sen. was pos-
sessed of a little property of a tangible character. The
house in which he lived was his own ; and, besides some
similar investments, he was the proprietor of a few thou-
sands invested in the funds. Notwithstanding this firm
basis for their operations, however, it would be absurd to
conclude that the house could, in an emergency, meet
every claim upon it, at the moment, in cash. All mercan-
tile transactions are, to a certain extent, carried on
through the agency of credit, both given and received;
and it would be utterly impossible to conduct the vast im-
port and export trade of this country without the creation
of a large quantity of money, in the shape of negotiable
bills, to represent the value of produce in transitu from
the buyer to the seller. To the extent of the engagements
thus entered into, Messrs. Mansel were, of course, liable
to the effect of any reverse, which would interfere with
the facility of procuring discounts, or depreciate the cha-
racter, for solvency, of the parties whose bills passed
through their hands. Otherwise their legitimate specula-
tions were such as could not, however unprofitable, pro-
duce serious results, or endanger their commercial stand-
ing. _ _

Mr. Manse!, senior, and Mr. Williams, his clerk, had
regarded the disturbance of credit, then existing in the
mercantile world, as the effect merely of the recoil which
had taken place in the value of railway property, combi-
ned with a failing harvest and the withdrawal of a large
amount of money to be expended in giving employment
and food to the Irish people. William Mansel, however,
took a more extended view of the matter; and hence the
misgivings which he had betrayed with respect to an early
return of commercial prospeiity. We had been compelled
to import large quantities of foreign grain, to make up Vie
deficiency created by the loss of the potatoe crop at home
and the short yield of our harvest ; and the young
merchant saw in prospect, in addition to the feeling of in-
security, which was already inducing capitalists to with-
draw their money from circulation, a probable large drain
of specie to pay for our unusual importations. Already
the exchanges were against this country in nearly every
foreign market ; and to the United States in particular,
from which we had drawn the bulk of our supplies, every
packet had lately been taking heavy remittances in gold.
as being more profitable than investments in our neglected
manufactures. The effect of a continuance of these opera-
tions for any length of time he conceived would be to
bring upon the commercial world, for the first time, the
stringent operation of the amended monetary law of 1844 ;
and to reduce the Bank of England to the necessity of
increasing the rate of discounts, and thus putting a stop
for a time to the commercial enterprise of the country.
In the distance of this gloomy picture was presented to
his eye heavy sacrifices to be made for the purpose of
meeting engagaments already contracted ; and the possi-
ble stoppage of some of the sources, upon which, in ordi-
dary times, implicit confidenca would have been placed
for supplies. With these views, it is not to be wondered
at that, whilst Mr. Mansel, senior, looking only to the ex-
ternal surface of things, was regarding the depression in
the commercial world as merely one of those dark passing
clouds, which so often follow periods of undue commer-
cial excitement, his son, regarding the new machinery
which had been recently introduced into our monetary
system, and dreading the stringency and non-elasticity of
its operation, had already made up his mind to prepare
for the possible crisis which he saw approaching.
With Wm. Mansel, to resolve was to act ' • and accord-
ingly the week following, the occasion on which we have
introduced him to the reader, saw him actively engaged in
the endeavour to prepare the house against the coming
storm. Instructions were sent to their various correspond-
ents to realize whatever stocks of goods they might have
on hand, and to remit in gond bills instead of produce.
Cautions were also transmitted against entering into any
new operations, beyond what were absolutely necessary to
enable them to preserve the valuable connexion of their
friends. At home, although in a falling market, the vari-
ous stocks of produce which they held on their own ac-
count, were gradually disposed of, at prices which excited
the marvel and the frequent expostulations of the old
clerk, Mr. Williams ; and which at length startled that
worthy individual into doubts of his young master's sa-
nity. Steadily, however, Wm. Mansel pursued his course,
combating the opposition offered by his father, as well as
his clerk, both of whom seemed to have been thrown into
a state of utter confusion by the events which were occur-
ring around them.