Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/103

 effects of all protective laws. Supported by an overwhelming array of facts, he arranged them in a manner so clear, and made them known in so


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",     "Midhurst, 24th March, 1856.

"I can see no flaw in your indictment, and do not think there is a shade of difference in our views upon partnership matters. But I would rather talk than write to you on the subject. It has always appeared to me that the fundamental fallacy which overrules all the objections to limited liability is the fear that capitalists will not be able to take care of their money without a little help from Parliament. I think they may be safely trusted. You and I agree also in the practical view of the question—that legislators and theorists overrate the extent to which the actual possession of capital affords a guarantee to the creditor. It is the character, experience, and connexions of the man wanting credit, his knowledge of his business, and opportunities of making it available in the struggle of life, that weigh with the shrewd capitalists far more than the actual command of a few thousands more or less of money in hand. I began business in partnership with two other young men, and we only mustered a thousand pounds amongst us, and more than half of it was borrowed. We all got on the 'Peveril of the Peak' coach, and went from London to Manchester in the, at that day, marvellously short space of twenty hours. We were literally so ignorant of Manchester houses that we called for a directory at the hotel, and turned to the list of 'calico printers,' theirs being the business with which we were acquainted, and they being the people from whom we felt confident we could obtain credit. And why? Because we knew we should be able to satisfy them that we had advantages from our large connexions, our knowledge of the best branch of the business in London, and our superior taste in design, which would insure success. We introduced ourselves to Fort Brothers and Co., a rich house, and told our tale, honestly concealing nothing. In less than two years from 1830 we owed them forty thousand pounds for goods which they had sent to us in Watling Street, upon no other security than our characters and knowledge of our business. I frequently talked with them in later times upon the great confidence they showed in men who avowed that they were not possessed of 200l. each. Their answer was that they would always prefer to trust young men with connexions and with a knowledge of their trade, if they knew them to possess character and ability, to those who started with capital without these advantages, and that they had acted on this principle successfully ''in all parts of the world''. We did not disappoint them or ourselves. In 1834-1835 our stock takings showed a net balance of 20,000l. a year profit. Then I began to write pamphlets and to talk politics, and from that moment I ceased to make money, and in 1846, when the League finished its

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