A GREAT. MAN.
A zensuser may execute his design in relief, or he may execute it in intaglio, and the result is almost as effective in the one case as in the other. A man may make a fortune and cut a great figure in life, but he may cut almost as great a figure by making a misfortune. Instead of accumulating a large amount of pro- perty, he may dissipate a large amount—may in the enjoyment of ample expenditure create a deficiency, and so make his fortune, as it were, in intaglio. We have had many cases before various courts of bankruptcy and of law lately, and no doubt there have been a great number of cases which did not come before the pub- lic in that way. We have only had enough to know that Dickens's character of Montague Tigg, as is so commonly the case with fiction, falls short of the reality. A fiction-excelling story was related before the Court of Bankruptcy on Monday last. The romance dashes " in mediae res," and does not cover a very long space of time. We are introduced to the hero of the tale in 1850 or 1851, issuing from the Court of Insolvency ; and in June 1852 he is beginning trade again. He has then " an alleged capi- tal of 4151.," which is said to be "fictitious" But capital of some sort he must have had, either in an im . . :ing deportment, or in real capacity for handling figures before i aline the sovereigns. Some men have it apart from any species of stratagem ; but it would be absurd to presume in all these cases what is usually understood by dishonesty. Our non capitalist, however, marks his successes in intaglio. In 1853 or 1854 we find him losing 26001. by a share in Vauxhall Gardens. He lost 19,677/. by deal- ings in pig-iron. That sum, at all events, " passed through his hands,', and he was made a bankrupt in June last on his own pe- tition. That bankruptcy was annulled ; and now, in February 1856, the same gentleman appears before the Bankruptcy Court with debts amounting to 220,0002., besides a liability of 49,0001. He has furniture in his house estimated at 20001. • a yacht, by which the loss was 73721. ; and a share in Vauxhall. We still, however, have an inadequate conception of the scale on which the gentleman acted. He purchased Westminster bonds to the extent of nearly 500,0001., and gave acceptances for them : "the bonds," said his own counsel, " turned out to be worthless, but the bills held good against the bankrupt's estate." Among the opposing creditors was Mr. Crossdale, who proved for 481000/. in respect of Westminster bonds ; yet the counsel for the assigness declared the Westminster Improvement Commission to be cc a leviathan swin- dle," and the bankrupt's counsel ascribed his ruin to these deal- ings in Westminster bonds. What an amount of property here is represented all in intaglio !—Westminster bonds, 500,0001. ; acceptances to about the same amount ; a loss on the bank- rupt's estate of 100,0001. ; a yacht valued at a loss of 7000/. ; and "some Spanish railway." What wealth by deficiency! The gentleman who dealt on this extensive scale kept a horse and chaise. He was therefore obviously " respectable " ; and in- deed the Court, as well as his own counsel, certified to his ho- nesty-. It was attested, said the Commissioner, by the good book- keeping. We do not gainsay that opinion. The moral of this tale is, net that the hero of it is a dishonest man, a slovenly book- keeper, or a sharp trader : it is, that really respectable people— men who would be appointed on a Westminster Improvement Commission, for example—are connected with transactions of the kind ; and who shall say that he will stand aloof from them P You may deal with the most respectable merchant in the City, and the probability is, that_if he has 20,000/. which he does not know what to do with, but which he may want soon, he will send it to the great disconnt-house, who will let him have a good rate of interest and security for returning his money when wanted ; but the same discount-house will probably be dealing with Da- vidson and Gordon—with Strahan, Paul, and Bates—perhaps with the hero in the story that we have just told—and a con- nexion. is established between regular commerce and irregular. In the multitude of transactions that great house may perhaps keep itself sale ; for credit rests on a divided basis—on one half is substantial credit, on the other half unestablished. credit. Th, established credit rests upon the real means of men who have embarked their capital in business, and attend to business as a duty in which they have to transfer goods, to exchange them for money, to make a profit out of them by the benefit which the transaction conveys to both parties—who possess undoubted probity, and whose word is as good as their bond, the bond being simply a. memorandum for exactness. The other part of credit rests upon a mere copy or simulacrum of the substantial ; save that you have the same instruments to look at, the same show of exactness in the office, with perhaps more " grand " shop-fronts, the same guarantees at law, and frequently the same show of punctuality. But where can you draw the line ? There does not appear to be any decisive rule for discriminating between credit in relief and credit in intaglio. The gentleman whose story we have just told proposed to surrender " property " to the amount of 10,0001. • but it turned out to be " a second mortgage on Mr. Hudson's estate." More property in intaglio ! Yet the hero is far from being a monster of his kind. The Court of Bankruptcy is quite familiar with the class. They travel about in cabriolets or on horseback ; humble persons touch their hats to them ; they are openhanded to waiters, live in well-carpeted roonis, go to good parties, catch the tone of voice that indicates refined so- ciety in the West ; they belong to a grade of life which thinks in thousands sterling, and even when it is unfortunate meets with consideration from all and sundry—not excepting Commissioners in Bankruptcy. Nay, creditors themselves look with a certain respect upon a man who has had some hundreds of thousands of pounds passing through his hands. Such is the wealth-creating power of our vast system of credit !
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