The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-11-19
From rorney's Press
AN IRISH DEFAULTER.

eeA IL ID now unQuestloned that the strange
eseutful history" Of the late John Sadlier fur
nishes the materials for this work.. Perhaps q
fe% personal recollections of the~life of that
g. eat defaulter, by one who knew him we'll,
aid had intimate business relations with him,
% " prove of interest at the present time.
John Sadlier was born at Shrone Hill, in the
q unity of Tpperary, ireland, in the year 1914,
q I'd was the third son of Clement William Sad
lir, respectable country gentleman, of mode
n te possessions, and not poor farmer, as
L sver makes him. He was educated at Clon-
gives College. q Roman Catholic seminary of
great reputation, and though his father and his
two elder brothers, james and Clement, we're
Protestants, he himself became Catholic.
Baving completed his collegiate course with
considerable distinction, he selected the law
has profession, and was admitted to practice as
al attorney in 1887.
de soon became distinguished for his acute
meas in all matters relative to 6uance and real
estate, and on his admission az q solicitor of
the Court of Chsncery. in 1910, he was speedily
employed in the very highest class of chancery
business About this time the Tipperary Bank,
which proved 30 fatal to all connected with it,
was started, at his suggestion. His brother
James (now fugitive from justice) was made
irs president, and all the directors and share
sonal friends. From the accommodation i,
ef,rded to the country gentlemen and the better
class of farmers, it soon became popular In
stituton, and extended its ramif cations all over
the country. Branches were opened in all the
principal towns in Ireland, and they became
the favorite repositories for the spare funds of
the weather. class Of agricul'urists. Meantime
John Sadlier's business continued to increase
at an extraordinary rate, and it became neces
stry to remove &c more extensive Offices than
those he had been occupying. magnificent
house, which had formerly belonged to one Of
the Irish noblesse, was purchased by him, in
Great Denmark street, Dublin.
This splendid mansion, which had a chapel
IN it tits former owner having been Roman
Catkolic,) was now desecrated by being con
veri.d into law Offices. and its chapel fitted up
for ne use of copying clerks. It's marble stair
case no longer trodden by the feet of wit and
beauty, nov streamed all day long with motley
crowd, from the naughty but ruined peer, to
the frieze coated peasant, and all intent on the
one errsnd-to retard the threatened foreclo.
sure, or stay the impending ejectment. The
Tipperary Bank, the creature of John Sadlier's
own creation, now sent up by every mail its
quota of protested notes, the unhappy makers
and endorsers of which had speedily to undergo
the "peine forte ct dure" of legal proceedings
Wri's went fattering down by every post to
every part of the country. Cdpidses adj re-
snendenduna" were issued. that were never re,
snSnded to, and Capiases ad satisfacien-
dasa" became anything but satisfactory to the
recipients.
| have known as many as forty of these inter-
esting missives to be sent from Great Denmark
street in one day. But this was the smallest
portion of the immense business transacted in
ths5 noble old structure. Chancery suits, in,
volging enormous interests, and whose termina-
tios no human calculation could foresee. were
caJied on and moved over the legal chess.
bo,rd, by his directions. Half dozen receiv-
erships under the Court of Chancery, any one
of which would be handsome income for a
msr with moderate desires, rewarded his great
| financial abilities and his (then) unquestioned
| purity of character. Wealth began to flow in
upon him, and with it came the Ito him) fatal
amSition to transfer his abilities to another and
more extended sphere. An opportunity was
soo1 afforded him, and in l847 he was intro
duoed to the worthy burghers of the town OF
Carlow, who had become dissatisfied with their
Representative, in consequence of his support
of Sir R ebert Peel's Irish Coercion bill.
Through the influence of the Roman Catho-
lie bishop, the late Right Rev. DR.. Haley, whose
heart he had completely won by his liberal SEN
timents, he was elected. He went into Parlis
ment an avowed opponent of the then Govern
ment, and became prominent member of the
so.called g Irish Brigade" His speeches in the
House, without being eloquent, wese sensible
and suggestive, and he speedily attracted atten
ton as a man of considerable promise, and was
always attentively listened to.
Meanwhile was passed the act for the Sale
tof Encumbered Estates in Ireland" the idea
| IL l.
Romilly, the English Solicitor General. The
practical results of this act caused An entire
revolution in property, and proved the doom Of
many an Irish landlord. Instead of q long and
tedious chancery suit, any creditor having a
| judgment against property had simply to file
his petition for q sale, and the estate was put
up in lots by the commissioners, and the re
.ceipts divided among the creditors according
to the priority of their judgments.
Some ludicrous scenes occurred at these
sales. In the case of Delany rs. Lord Portar
lipgton, whose Irish estates, if not the first
were among the very frat to be sold, the petit
tioaer Delany was blandly told by one of the
commissioners that, after paying the creditors
/ in priority, there were about two hundred thou
sasd pounds still due, before his judgment would
be reached. In all these sales, the name Of
s" Sadlier Il Co." became conspicuous, either as
the solicitors for the petitioner, or the owner
until the name of Ssdlier and the Epcumber
ed Estates" became almost synonymous. All
this time, it may be supposed, the "greas de
faulter" was not idle. His name was to be
found in every London paper, either as the
successful debater of the previous night, the
talented and able President of the "Swedish
Railroad Company" or the fortu nate recipien,
of splendid silver service, the grateful dona
ton to their chairman of the Board of Directors
of the London and County Bank"
With some one of these avocations was his
name constantly associated, and he occasionally
varied the scene by visit to Ireland, to see
after his immense investments there. On the
&C, ession of Lord Aberdeen to the Premiership
i in 1853, be was offered q seat on the Ministe
rial benches, as one of the "Lords of thu
/ Treasury" This was considered by his con
sti- uents as desertion of the principles upor
VII ;ch he was elected; and although he wrote
tbs a q long and exculpstosy letter, in which
he stated he could benefit his country more B,
beaae connected with the Government, it was
4 received by them with incredibly and indigna
ton. From thenceforth, his fate in Carlow wal
sealed, and at the following general election
Notwithstanding the most tremendous efforts
and the expenditure of large sums of money
he was defeated by an avoved Tory, by ma
: jority Of ninety-seven to ninety-one. 1t became
i necessary, then, to seek a more accommodating
\ constituency, for in Parliament he felt he mus
stay.
4 IN some respects it was his true "naetier,
AMI like most men who have achieved sue
cess there, he became fascinated with it. i
d wss, too, OF vital consequence to his ambition
i ans guilty schemes, that he should again b,
I re urned. Who shall say that at this time ever
! tn dim and terrible future was not shadowet