investigating the affairs of the company sufficiently to convince themselves that no slight or temporary measures of relief would be of the least avail, declined to grant the accommodation requested. Meantime, the run upon them was increasing, and the price of the shares continually falling; and on the afternoon of May 10th, the company had no choice but to close its doors and suspend payment. The liabilities were stated at the enormous sum of £11,000,000; the assets, it was feared, and with great reason, as the events proved, would, even if realised under the most favourable circumstances, leave an enormous margin of indebtedness. Friday morning ushered in a day of universal panic and consternation in the City, such as had not been seen since the disastrous year of 1857. The vast multitude of buyers and sellers, bulls and bears, kuaves and dupes, brokers and investors, who swarm during the business hours of the day in tho streets which surround the Royal Exchange, consented together, as if by a tacit understanding, to call the day | Black Friday." Every half-hour some well-known firm! or company, which but the day before had presented a smiling and prosperous front to the world, was announced to have suspended payment. Crowds of despairing depositors collected round the door of Overend, Gurney, and Co., in Lombard Street, and discussed in tones of anger or despondency the prospects of the bankruptcy. Upon all the private banks the run was intensely severe; the managers of these sought assistance from the Bank of England, and, when the securities were unexceptionable, were in no instance refused. But the consequence was that the Bank, whose reserves at the beginning of the day were close upon £7,000,000, although it charged 9 per cent. all day for accommodation, found itself, when the business of the day was over, with the reserves reduced to little over £3,000,000. What measures the Bank authorities were driven to in face of this alarming reduction, will presently be related. The crash of falling houses was resounding all day in the financial

ear.

The English Joint-Stock Company was one of the first to go, dragging down with it thirty-one provincial branches in its fall. Failures for less than half a million were so comparatively unimportant as to arouse little attention. The convulsion reached its climax towards the close of the day, when the stoppage of the great firm of railway contractors, Peto, Betts, and Co., with liabilities exceeding £1,000,000, was announced. The authorities of the Bank of England communicated to the Treasury, as in duty bound, the drain which menaced the exhaustion of their reserves. The emergency was so serious that Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone, after conferring with a great number of bankers and directors of finance companies, agreed to allow the credit of the country to be employed, though the permission involved an infringement of the law, in order that the Bank might continue to relieve the wants of capitalists, who, possessing ample securities, were embarrassed by the suddenness of the demands made upon them by timid depositors and creditors. Late on Friday night Mr. Gladstone announced in the House of Commons that an authority would be sent next morning from the Treasury to the Bank, to

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continue discounting good bills, even though their reserves should thereby be reduced below the minimum required by law, provided that they made no such discounts at a lower rate of interest than 10 per cent. The panic in the City was greatly allayed when the decision of the Government was made known; confidence began to revive; and eventually (as has been already mentioned) the Bank did not find it necessary to infringe the law. Yet one more gigantic failure occurred before the crisis passed. This was the stoppage of Agra and Masterman's Bank, a house of old standing, and with a most extensive Indian connection, the business of which, as in the case of Overend and Gurney, had been lately transferred by its former proprietors to a Limited Liability Company. The run on this particular bank was so persistent, that, in the four weeks which intervened between the commencement of the crisis and their own stoppage, they paid away more than £3,000,000 over the counter, yet were unable to avert the catastrophe.

or two

In consequence of the disasters thus described, and many other minor failures which we have not noticed, numbers of families found themselves reduced from affluence to poverty; many had to descend to a lower position in society, and an extensive contraction of expenditure took place, the effects of which were felt through all the channels of trade, and especially by those who minister to the amusements and luxuries of the affluent. It was remarked that the principle of limited liability, which, when first introduced, was held to confer so great a boon upon investors, inasmuch as it sheltered the individual proprietors of any joint-stock adventure from that awful responsibility for the whole debts of the concern, which the law, as it formerly stood, imposed upon them, had come to be so worked in practice as to make this immunity from risk, in numberless cases, illusory. It had become customary to announce a new company with a nominal share capital of large amount, but to state in the prospectus that only one pounds would be called up on each share, and skilfully to induce the belief, by glowing accounts tending to impress the reader with a sense of the safe and lucrative character of the speculation, that no further calls would require to be made. Suppose there to be five new companies, cach coming out with a share capital of £200,000, in £20 shares, and calling up £1 per share, with an intimation that it was not probable that any further call would be necessary, but that under no possible circumstances, so certain was the prospect of speedy and ample profits, could the calls exceed £3 per share. A man who had saved £3,000 might think he was following a wise and safe course by investing part of that sum in the shares of the five companies, buying, let us say, two hundred shares in each, on which he would have to pay up £1,000, aml supposing that, if the worst came to the worst, he would not be called upon for more than his £3,000. But a cornmercial crisis arrives; the companies get into difficulties; they have, perhaps, launched out into expense far exceeding the amount paid upon the shares, and every one who has a claim upon them turns round and presses for his money. Under these circumstances, whether the com

A.D. 1866.]

panies suspend payment or not, they are obliged to make fresh calls upon the unpaid portion of the shares. Thus our imaginary investor may find himself, in an extreme case, called upon to furnish £20,000 upon his shares, instead of the £3,000 which he had fondly fancied to be the utmost that would ever be demanded of him. It was in this way that the shareholders of many limited liability companies found themselves, unless persons of large capital, face to face with ruin, because they had unthinkingly entangled themselves in a liability which, limited as it was, yet, when pressed to its full extent, was more than they could sustain.

A variety of minor incidents falling under the year 1866 may here be briefly noticed. The House of Commons gave proof of its unabated loyal attachment to the House of Hanover, by voting to the Princess Helena, on the occasion of the announcement of her intended marriage to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-SonderburgAngustenburg, an annual allowance of £6,000 a year, and a dowry of £30,000-a donation similar to that which had been granted to the Princess Alice. The marriage took place at Windsor Castle on the 5th July. Another marriage, which excited much popular interest-for the well-known geniality and good-nature of the bride made her a universal favourite-was that of the Princess Mary of Cambridge, at Kew, on the 12th June, to the Prince von Teck. The great Banda and Kirwee prize-money case was argued, and decided in this year. From the magnitude of the booty which was the subject of litigation, and the number and position of the claimants, the pleadings were followed with interest. In the course of the campaign of 1858 in Central India, which stamped out the last remains of the mutiny in that region, General Whitlock had led a British force to Banda, driven out the Nawab, and taken possession of a rich booty in gold and jewels collected there, the value of which was estimated at not less than £800,000. The question to be decided was-to whom did this booty of right belong? Ought it to be awarded to General Whitlock's force exclusively, by which Banda was taken-or were other divisions, even though serving at a distance, entitled to their share, on the ground that it was by their co-operation that the taking of Banda was rendered possible? The family of Lord Clyde, who was Commander-in-Chief in India at the time, also appeared as claimants. On one of the days of hearing, Mr. Bovill advanced a curious precedent, which he had found in the Old Testament, touching the equitable distribution of prize-money. In the Book of Samuel it was narrated that David with a part of his army pursued the Amalekites, and took much spoil; and since some portions of David's army had remained in charge of the baggage, while the remainder pursued the enemy, the question arose whether the pursuers alone should monopolise the booty, or whether they should share it with those that remained behind. King David decided that “ his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike." By parity of reasoning, Mr. Bovill maintained that his clients had borne a necessary part in the scheme of capture through which Banda fell to General Whitlock, and that

as

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they had, therefore, a right to participate in the spoil. Dr. Lushington delivered judgment in the case on the 30th June. He seems to have admitted the force of Mr. Bovill's scriptural argument in so far that he included under the description of " General Whitlock's forces," to whom he awarded the sum in litigation, "any troops left by General Whitlock on his march, but which at the time of the capture formed a portion of his division, and were still under his command." Lord Clyde and his staff were also declared entitled to share in the booty captured at Banda and Kirwee; but the claim of Sir Hugh Rose and his army, employed at the time in the important collateral operation of the siege of Jhansi, but who had never effected an actual junction with General Whitlock-and all other claims-were disallowed. The foundering of the London, a large iron steamship, in the Bay of Biscay, in the January of this year, with a loss of two hundred and twenty lives, including Dr. Woolley, the principal of the new Sydney University, and the well-known actor, Gustavus Brooke, was memorable for the calm courage displayed by the captain, Captain Martin, who sent off his chief engineer in the only boat which could be launched, saying that his own duty was to stay by the ship. This boat, with nineteen persons on board, was picked up by a passing vessel. The wonderful procession of meteors, radiating from a point in the north-eastern sky, seen on the night of the 13th November, though not a proper subject for a political and social history, could never be forgotten by any that witnessed it. A deficient harvest deepened the painful impression which the monetary disasters of 1866 had left on the minds of the people. In the critical months of August and September the weather was unusually wet and stormy, and the wheat crop suffered much in consequence. A great deal of corn was housed in bad condition, and no inconsiderable portion wasted or spoiled. The result was a yield considerably below the average, and the prices of grain were consequently much enhanced. The prices of other necessaries were also raised; although this was probably due to a permanent cause, with which the bad harvest had nothing to do-we refer to that gradual rise in the price of all articles of necessary consumption, which the continual influx of gold, in quantities before unknown, into the markets of the world, commencing from the discovery of the gold-fields of California, has slowly but surely effected. These untoward circumstances, combined with a contraction of the demand for labour, arising from commercial failures and discredit, made the winter of 1866-7 a period of considerable suffering to the poor in England.

CHAPTER XIX.

State of Ireland in 1866: Fenian Trials: Lord Wodehouse's Letter: Government introduces a Bill to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland; it is rapidly passed into a Law: Numerous Arrests in Dublin: Arrival of Troops: Renewal of the Suspension Act in August; Mr. Maguire protests against it; it becomes Law: No actual Outbreak occurs in Ireland-Fenianism in America: Sweeny and Stephens: Fenian Raid into Canada; Skirmish with the Canadian Militia; Fenians retire: Another Raid from Ver

mont: Firm attitude of the American Government-Death and Character of the Queen Marie Amélie; of Dr. Whewell; of Bishop Cotton; of Mr. Keble.

THE state of Ireland in 1866 was such as to excite grave and sorrowful reflections in the minds of those citizens of either country who desire to see the day when old wounds shall be healed, old international wrongs redressed, old causes of animosity forgotten. We have described in a former chapter the circumstances under which Stephens, the chief head-centre, effected his escape from confinement

latter sentence, on which the prisoner exclaimed, "I will have the same principles afterwards." In Dublin, and still more in Limerick, the populace loudly cheered Fenian prisoners as they were being taken to gaol. A number of strangers continued to arrive in Dublin, many of them betraying by their military bearing that they had seen service in the field, whom the police knew to be in communication with those suspected of Fenianism, but who were careful to commit no overt act which could bring them within the grasp of the law, and, on being questioned,

in 1365, and how a special commission was appointed, in order to try Fenian prisoners. During January, the Fenian trials were going on in Dublin before Mr. Justice Keogh, end a number of the accused were sentenced to terms of penal servitude, varying from ten to five years. But the terrors of the law, and the grave and solemn tones of ermined justice, reprobating the guilt and folly of the Fenian conspiracy, were contumaciously set at nought by many of the prisoners. Patrick Hayburne, of the "Emmet Guard," in the Fenian brotherhood, a young man, the only support of his mother, on being found guilty, requested the judge to sentence him to a term of penal servitude rather than to two years' imprisonment. Mr. Justice Keogh expressed his pity for the misguided youth, and passed the

said that they were come to Ireland to see their friends. Arms of all kinds were continually being seized; even three pieces of artillery were discovered, just on the point of being dispatched to Drogheda. The attempts to seduce soldiers from their allegiance, in spite of the severity of the special commission against this particular offence, were found to increase in frequency. In addition to the former reward of £1,000 offered by the Government for the apprehension of Stephens, a further sum of £1,000 was now offered for such private information as should lead to his capture; but no informer came forward. All this was generally known before the meeting of Parlia ment; but the despatch of the Lord Lieutenant, dated February 14th, proposing the suspension of the Habeas

Corpus Act, proved that matters were more grave than the public had any idea of. Lord Wodehouse wrote:— "The state of affairs is very serious. The conspirators, undeterred by the punishment of so many of their leaders, are actively organising an outbreak, with a view to destroy the Queen's authority. Sir Hugh Rose details the various plans they have in contemplation, and he draws no exaggerated picture. There are scattered over the country a number of agents, who are swearing in members, and who are prepared to take the command when the moment arrives. These men are of the most dangerous class. They are Irishmen, imbued with American notions, thoroughly reckless, and possessed of considerable military experience, acquired in a field of warfare (the civil war in America) admirably adapted to train them for conducting an insurrection here. There are 340 such men known to the police in the provinces, and those known in Dublin amount to about 160, so that in round numbers there are 500. Of course, there are many more who escape notice. This number is being augmented by fresh men constantly arriving from America. In Dublin itself there are several hundred men (perhaps about 300 or 400) who have come over from England and Scotland, who receive 1s. 6d. a day, and are waiting for the time of action. Any one may observe these men loitering about at the corners of the streets. As to arms, we have found no less than three regular manufactories of pikes, bullets, and cartridges in Dublin. The police believe that several more exist. Of course, bullets are not made unless there are rifles to put them in. The disaffection of the population in some counties, such as Cork, Tipperary, Waterford, and Dublin, is alarming; and it is day by day spreading more and more through every part of the country. But the most dangerous feature of the present movement is the attempt to seduce the troops. Are we to allow these agents to go on instilling their poison into our armed force, upon which our security mainly depends?" Lord Wodehouse concluded his despatch by declaring that he could not be responsible for the safety of the country, if power was not forthwith given to the Government to seize the leaders; on that condition he hoped still to avert serious mischief.

On the receipt of this letter, Sir George Grey, then Home Secretary, immediately requested Lord Russell to summon a meeting of the Cabinet, and when it was convened, laid Lord Wodehouse's letter before them, and urged that his application with regard to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act should be acceded to. The Cabinet unanimously agreed that there was no choice but to accede to the application, and it was determined that a bill for the purpose should be introduced into the House of Commons on the next day (Saturday, February 16), and carried through all its stages, so as to receive the royal assent, and become law on the same day, and be parried into execution by the Irish Government not later than Monday. This was accordingly done. At twelve o'clock next day, Sir George Grey brought in a Bill to suspend for six months the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland. His arguments were chiefly derived from Lord Wode

house's letter, and they were of a nature that the governments of nations, in the legislative no less than in the executive branches, usually find irresistible. Yet it was a saddening thought, that sixty-five years after the Union, and thirty-four years after the first Reform Bill, so little progress had been made in attaching the masses of the Irish people to the constitution under which an Englishman thinks it his happiness to live! Mr. Bright gave impressive utterance to this feeling, when he spoke of the shame and humiliation which he felt at being called on for the second time, in a parliamentary career of twenty-two years (the first occasion was at the time of Smith O'Brien's rising in 1848), to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland. He asserted that Ireland was in a state of chronic agitation, and that the numerical majority of the Irish people were in favour of a complete separation. Although this was not the occasion for entering upon the general question of the state of Ireland, and the nature of the remedial measures that were required, he could not but express his conviction that the institutions under which Irishmen were required to live were not such as could command their affection or call forth their loyalty; yet he believed there was a mode of making Ireland loyal, and he threw the responsibility of discovering it on the Government and on the Imperial Parliament.

Mr. Roebuck, alluding to the asserted fact that the Catholic clergy in Ireland were opposed to the Fenianswho on their side scouted the notion of submission to priestly authority, and endeavoured to undermine the influence of the clergy over the people-said that nevertheless he attributed much of the present discontent to the Roman Catholic priesthood, who for years had taught the people to hate English rule, but who, now that they found themselves threatened by this conspiracy, had become wondrous loyal. He went on to ridicule the sentiment of nationality, on the ground that every great empire in the world's history had been made up of different nationalities. Mr. Roebuck's study of history had failed -his opponents asserted--to show him, that men will not sacrifice the nationality of race to the nationality of citizenship, unless the sacrifice is made worth their while. Justice-equality-sympathy-where these are, it is not so very difficult to weld populations differing in race and language into one common nationality. The German inhabitants of Alsace are thoroughly French in feeling-as Germany knows to her cost-because, at any rate since the Revolution, no Frenchman ever dreamed of talking to them about their being under "French rule;" being an integral portion of the French people, they were no more under the rule of the rest of their countrymen, than the Normans or the Bretons were. Did Mr. Roe. buck ever realise to himself what would be the feelings of an Englishman, if he were conscious of living under a rule other than English? Yet he expected the people of Ireland to love English rule," and thought they would have come to do so, but for the priests! Leave was given to introduce the bill by a majority of 364 to 6 votes; it passed through all its stages without further discussion, and was then sent up to the Lords, who dis

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