“Yes, gentlemen,” he said, “one of our own firm,—one of our partners in this great concern,—has not only been the chief means of running the shares down, but he has profited by it; he has sold shares which do not exist, and bought those which timid people have thrown upon the market; he has borrowed shares for the purpose of depreciation, and——”
The speaker was interrupted for a moment by cries of “Name! name!” but he was an orator, and he had more to say before he had worked up his theme to the grand climax of naming the victim, whom he was pinning down with his long rhetorical lance.
“Gentlemen, this speculator—to call him by a mild name—is one of a very small but dangerous set of men, who have been engaged in rigging the market and damaging great and flourishing concerns—like wreckers, putting out false lights, and then plundering the unhappy mariners.”
Cries of “Shame!” and “Name!” and “Swindler!” interrupted the speaker, who waved his hand for silence.
“I had hoped to have seen this gentleman here to-day; he ought to have been amongst us; I gave him notice that I should be here.”
This elicited a cry of “Bravo!” and then the chairman rose to deprecate personalities. He feared the honorable proprietor was losing his discretion by excitement.
“Not so, Mr. Chairman,” replied the honorable proprietor. “I am not speaking on the spur of the moment: my words are not born of mere excitement, sir. I have thought much and deeply about the remarks I am now making; nay more, I have taken advice upon them—they have gone through the legal crucible. (Cheers, “Bravo!” and confusion.) It is exceedingly hurtful to my own feelings to bring so painful a subject before this meeting, but I am prepared to sacrifice self, upon an occasion of this kind, to public duty.”
“Hear, hear!” said several shareholders, whilst others murmured “Quite right.”
“I have ample proof of the charge which I am making; and shall I not for the credit and honour and safety of the trading community of this great city, in a time of such financial danger, unmask the dastard before the eyes of the world?”
“Yes, yes!” and “Name! name!” cried a hundred voices; whilst a pair of stentorian lungs shouted, from the gallery at the extreme end of the room, “Why the deuce don’t you do it?”