THE CITY OF GLASGOW BANK—A REMARKABLE SPEECH.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 311, 4 January 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CITY OF GLASGOW BANK— A REMARKABLE SPEECH.

? At the meeting of the shareholders of the City of Glasgow Bank, the Rev. Mr. Robertson is reported to have said ? — We meet under adverse circumstances. We are called upon to face a crushing calamity, and must acquit ourselveg like brave, courageous, and honorable men. Respecting the directors I scarcely dare to speak. I must endeavour to restrain my just indignation and speak calmly aa a minister of religion. Sir, these gentlemen have been faithless to high office, disloyal to truth and the first principles of morality. What, with respect to some of them, deepens the discredit is that they trod the streets of the city arrayed in the garments of religiousness, making prayers, while desolating widows' houses, erecting churches while wrecking homes. Their honor ia tarnished, their reputation stained; but the day of reckoning has already dawned. The majesty of the law is now vindicating its claim. (Cheers). For my part I wish that no sorrier, heavier punishment than that they be haunted .night and day with the ghastly vision of the hundreds of happy lives they have wrecked and blighted 'bill the feeling of remorse is kindled within their hearts and they are driven to their Maker'a presence to seek Hia forgiveness, and that they may leave Hia presence determined to spend the utmost energies of their remaining years in some poor measure to undo the evil they have done. (Applause.) The report is a sorrowful document, but it gives a few gleams of light. The asseta of the bank, miscellaneous aa they are, have great value ; further, the investigators have not credited the dividends which may be drawn and the bankrupt estimates, which may be very large. We entertain the expectation that one estimate alone will yield something exceeding £500,000. We, it seems, although ignorant of it before, are possessed of an American railway in which these gentlemen or their predecessors were good enough to sink a million sterling, and called it banking. We posaesa Borne forty thousand aorea of land in New Zealand which the directora last year purchased, which they have stocked and taken to the task of farming instead of the task of banking. Still that ground is valuable. Then there are life insurance policies for £600,000. They are of value ; even wicked men sometimes die. Here is my proposal. Organise a company, called the "City of Glasgow Bank Assets Company," with a capital of £2,1000,000, £1,000,000 of it consisting of ordinary capital, the other £1,000,000 consisting of debentures. Let the company purchase from the liquidators whatever assets they are prepared to throw in the market at full market value, or rather above market value. If this scheme should be carried through you would within a year, be able to hand over to the liquidatore £2,000,000. Many speak harshly of the position I have chosen to occupy. They may say lam mingling too much in secular affairs. I reply that my opinion, well-doing is religiousness. (Loud applause.) If the directors believe that religion consisted less in solemn phrasing than in right doings, serving God in their day and generation, we should not to-day be placed in these oalamitoua circumstances. For my part lam not disheartened. If my services be of any value in promoting the scheme I shall, Baying my sacred office, devote my time and attention to forwarding its success, believing that in so doing my humble little to lesson i the pressure of the calamity on many suffering hearts, I am serving my Maker and Master as well as when preaching His blessed Gospel. In God's name and by God's blessing let ua bravely and faithfully struggle through and emerge with honour untouched and reputation unshaken. (Cheers).