Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-12-04

| managing director OF sJne CIVIC CredlU com
pany, director of the Valley Road Iron anc
Colliery company, chairman of the Steam
| Shipping corporation, and the financial ad
wiser of many other equally notable under
takings Not alone did his Irish friends
consult him in their affairs, but English
lords and bishops and great city ffnanciers
invested moneys in any direction that his
| Judgment favored.
But perhaps" says the historian, the
| most extraordinary circumstance in bis
| metropolitan career was his appointment t.
| the very responsible position of chairman OF
the National English and County bank.
That he had some little banking experience
was true enough The Needham Joint
Stock Bank of Ireland was creation of his
own. His grandfather had estabi he'd q
bank at Sligo which had carried on for
many years very limited and, as far az
is known, a very safe business Whn'
John Needham first put up for financler,
he changed the character of this little bank,
in which he had now acquired sufficient in
fiuence for the purpose, into joint stock
company, placing his brother Henry at its
head as manager AMI sole director. Still
the infabuation which led the National Eng
Ish and County board to appoint him as
their chairman when he had not been
known in London hardly year, AMI the
Endorsement of it BY the shareholders is al
most unacccuntable" He was faithful to
tbs great trust, nevertheless; and it is
worth the while of some close student Of
human nature to analyze the character of
John Need ham with view to discover how
far his career YVES influenced by naturally
vicious nature to what extent an inordi-
nate vanity may have nodded it; or
whether he was the victim of INSTRUCTED
and unfortunate ambition.
If he did we'll by the famous London bank,
it also did well by him. 1t gave him pres
tige; it Endorsed to the full all the favor
able reports that hal been circulated in re-
gard 10 his first business qualifca-
tions; it gave color to the prediction of jour-
nalistic gossip that he would one day be
elevated to the position of her majesty's
chancellor of the exchequer. There was,
however, one great barrier to his political
Advancement. Not alone his religion but
his known pledges to the Catholic party his
championship of what was then known as
1.-THE Irish Brigade"
But Mr.. John Needham was not the man
to allow any trife OF this kind to stand in
his way When a certain parliamentary
whip asked him if the distinctly Protestant
government Of the day could count upon
his undivided support and service as Junior
lord of the treasury, Mr.. Needham found it
perfectly easy to transfer his allegiance from
the Catholic party and Cardinal Wiseman
to the Protestant premier.
To some men life is mere game, in which
every move is open to them, and in which
they neither acknowledge the check of prin-
ciple nor sympathy.
my constituents will taunt me-" he said,
with what may seem to them desertion
of principle, disaffection, revolt; but I
shall tell them, and it is true, that my po-
litical hostility was against Lord John
Russell, not against the government, and
that Lord John being no longer at the
head of the government, the situation is
changed"
"That is So" said the party whip charged
with the bride of office, ''though question
if your constituents will accept even SO
plausible an explanation your appoint
ment. Vacate your seat, and it is possible
that they may refuse to re-elect you"
81 think they will, !" said Mr.. Needham;
''let them. will contest the place which
the death of Mr.. Patrick Smith leaves open
to us. Did you note his decease in this
mornings Chronicleg'
II did,"
s'Then with all respect to Lord Aber-
deem, and my duty to him and my thanks,
say he may count upon my patriotic service
to his government, to the throne and to the
country
The constituents of his native borough
did reject Mr.. John Needham, emphasizing
their rejection with rotten eggs and dead
cat; but he contested the seat in which Mr.
Patrick Smith had sat with honor for twenty
years, and he won it.
His enemies charged him with bribery,
and declared that the third candidate who
carried off lot of ''plumpers" from Need
hams real rival, was confederate of the
junior lord of the treasury. But the victor
was content. He cared nothing for the
opinion of the defeated nor for their evil
reports,
1t was May day in London when he re-
turned to town triumphant. a lord of the
treasury, and with all the influential re-
sponsibilities of what seemed to the outer
world great and undimmed future before
him.
But how little that ''outer worldn knows
of any thing and anybody! 1t thinks it
knows, says it knows and believes it
knows Mr. John Needham could have as
tonished that outer world very much in re-
gard to his treasury appointment, if he had
held forth On the subject. Nobody could
have dreamed of how great an Importance
his elevation was In his own estimation. He
hardly dared confess to himself the truth
of his position; nor did it seem necessary
since Fortune, in this matter, appeared to
smile so benignantly upon him. He was
quite satisfied with himself, con tented, hap
by, and If there were obstacles in the future
that threatened his peace, he did not fear
them; they were shade WIS that his rising
sun would speedily dissipate. At least so
he thought, and he calculated his chances
with astuteness and experience.
A shining pair of chestnut horses champed
their silver bits at the arrival platform of
the Great Western station They were ap-
pointed in the best taste, and on the box of
the handsome br ougham sat two smart SER
wants, who were conscious of the impof lance
attached to their service by the attendance
of several railway officials, who had been
ordered to receive the new lord of the
treasury. Mr.. Needham accepted the COM
pliment with an easy and satisfied air,
tipped the guard who carried his writing
case, and slipped guinea into the hand of
the platform inspector.
The spring sunshine seemed to follow him
with especial favor as his horses flew along
the streets to Portland place. 1t flashed
gayly on the silver harness of his faultless
steeds; it brought out the golden bars of his
coat-of- arms on the door panel of his fault
less brougham; and the first breezes of sum-
mer waited about him, as he stepped upon
the pavement, the perfume of ten thousand
hyacinths from the beds of Regents park
There was, however, surely one delightful
touch missing; the chronicler of this history
feels its absence though possibly the new
lord of the treasury did not No wife nor
child wei coined home the victor. The Hon
John Needham, NJ P, was bachelor.
CHAPTER II.
INTRODUCES THE READER TO sTHE LIVING
IMAGE OF JOHN NEEDHAM.
So, also, had nearly written, was Joseph
Norbury, Of Brambling house, Wyedale,
Derbyshire. The mistake would be par
donable, from the point of view had in
my mind. Joseph Norbury was widower
without children, and at the moment he
possibly felt more alone than even John
Nee ham, for he had loved his wife with
good man S devotion. John Needham had
an only brother; Joseph Norbury had an
only sister.
Kno1yino nathan Tobn Noadho,,o ,,or