The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-22 00:00:00

HATWARLIT.

Tins ErEximo. A Li:4..44W Y01t.11,13. Nam Sothern,
Roger*. 4 lark. Compinat. Ac.: Mra Chipp..ndale, Won% 11111,
Wright. dry —And Ttir. sEICIOLI3 FAMILY. Sierra Inwkstnne.
larrnn, Ac.; Mts.:lames Cluppeninde. Mdure, Burke. Ac.

PIINCIONM

Tins tram, DELICATE GROUND. Meters. Vining and
J.G. Shore; Min Katherine Rodgers.—And THE sTKEETS
LON DUN. Messrs. Y. Villiers, !Awe. Cunneen. Forrester, Cain.
cart, Mellon, end gibing; Mrs. 11. Manton and Miss !Codgers.

!I%(.lruts.

Ma Et'luta°, THE T117;71;.1.74. Mr. WPMJonalb.—And
EOUGE it NM& Meson Yechter, Emery. (*.aver. Moreland.
Fitzpatrick. D.ltou, Reynolds, Lonw, Andrew., Price, Mc.;
Mn. L. Murray, mid Mimes llamado, Grattan, and C. Leciercq.

ST WD.

THIS EeMug, WF.1011801.711.8. —After which will be produced
a Grand Burlesque, GUY PAWKY:J.—And A WIT OY
TWEED t

HOLBORN.

TRII L'ervlNO, XY TFIN _NEST. Mr. Edmore: Muses
Toole and Lennox —And FLYING SCUD. Mews. Neville. Bel-
more, Diane, V.dialre. de. ; Mesdames V. Josephs, C. Saunders,
Bask Foote. ridden Lennox, Lezroood, de.

BRITA YNIA.

TRN Evruso, THE PKIYCCfa OV THE PEARL ISLAND:
OR, TIIE THERE KINGDOMS or PEARL, GOLD, AND
%Irs lAne asi.l Mks Jacobs.—FirsArate raustonalgolsla
—And THE SKELETON CREW.

MOH WATER AT LONDON DEMO&
gIDAY —Morning, Mi. Inns Afternoon, Mt 420.
itgOlg—Morning, M. 3nr Afternoon, O. 24m.

LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22.

Arran a panic has come, and,like a touchstone,
has discriminated the commercial gold from the
alloy and from tho sham metal, it may seem some-
thing superfluous to point out any individual
instances of folly or fraud. Everybody confesses
them now, the Courts of Chancery are filled with
winding-up cases that display their effects in every
variety of phase, and happy are they who can
moralise without the sting of personal regrets.
Nevertheless, at the risk of seeming to lock the
door after the steed is stolen, we must take leave
to call our readers' attention to one particular un-
dertaking, of which our columns yesterday furnished
us with very accurate and authentic information.
This establishment was designated the Penin-
sular, West Indian, and Southern Bank (Limited).
We have not its prospectus before us, and we
therefore can neither say what was its intended
capital nor what its special sphere of operations.
But we learn from the report of the official liqui-
dator that at any rate 13,680 shares were taken
up by 100 different persons, and this represents the
sufficient, though unhappily only nominal, capital of
nearly a million and a half. As the total liabilities
of the bank are only 102,4101., of which the liqui-
dator expectsthat not more tient 80,0001. will even-
tually come against it, this amount of capital
might seem to cover the debts by a very ample
margin, even without taking into account any of
the nominal " securities " which were held, but
which, consisting of acceptances of the Northern
Bank of Buenos Ayres, and of debentures of the
European Central, and Carmarthen and Cardigan
Railways, are at present inconvertible. But when,
under authority of the Court, a call was made
on the contributories, the true character of the
copartnery became at once apparent. Of the
13,680 shares, the holders of 12,888, 58 in
number, suddenly disappeared. As the official
liquidator explained, they were either living out
of the country or were unable to pay anything.
The holders of 147 shares had appealed against
being put on the list of contributories, the holders
of 24 had actually been struck off, the holders of
52 had offered a compromise, the holders of 60
had paid something on account, the holders of
15 had become bankrupt. Of the whole body of
shareholders, only 17, owning altogether 267
shares, had paid the call, while two more, pos-
sessed of 31 shares, had with an honest if rash
confidence paid up in full in advance. The nett
result was that the call of 101. per share had pro-
duced a total amount of 2,9931., from which had
to be deducted some 4001. of legal expense., And
the interest of the proprietors in the progress of
the liquidation was not inaptly indicated by the
fact that at the general meeting held to receive
the report only two shareholders were present,
both of whom, the official liquidator took occasion
to remark, were defaulters.

It is not easy to conceive commercial dishonesty
and general blindness mounting to a greater height
than this brief statement discloses. Happily the
transactions were so limited, and the break up of
the concern so speedy, that no very wide injury
will be the result. A few firms may be shaken, a
few families reduced to starvation, and that is all.
The worst:of it is that it is the well-meaning sim-
pletons who will be ruined, while the knavish ma-
jority, being either incapable of ruin or beyond
the reach of English law, may escape without
harm. To those of the latter class it were needless
to say a word. Their position is fixed when it
becomes apparent that they took shares either
knowing they could not pay them, or
intending to evade paying them. Such as
these will be found to the end of the
world, and no crisis will ever purge the air from
such birds of prey. But surely the honest simple-
tons who are not yet fleeced will some time take
a lesson from the simpletons who are. Here is
a concern in which doubtless the most high-
sounding promises were made, and in which
names of high presumed respectability might be
found. When the unwary have been netted,
they find that the decoy ducks were stuffed with
straw, or had taken the precaution to fly away
before the cords were drawn. It is the story
which has been repeated over and over again with
only the slight variations of time, and place, and
actors. But when will it begin to be recognised
that what has been may be When will the
poor creatures who lust after the chance of a 20
per cent. dividend reflect that, after all, they
know nothing of the quality of the bait that is
thrown down, nor of the intentions of the re-
spectable persons who call on them to come and
feed 1 If only this amount of reflection could be
obtained it would save half the speculation that
precedes and excites • crisis. If applicants for
shares would only put to themselves the ques-

tions—' Do I know anything of this trade in which
1 am going to invest ? Shall I have
any opportunity of seeing where the money
goes that I pay in ? Have I any personal
knowledge of the character of the men I am
going to trust"—the answers could not but suggest
a prudence which would be safety. It is evident
that in the present case [the answer to any such
inquiry must have been—' I know it is a bank
with a flourishing prospectus, but I know
nothing of banking. I shall have no super-
intendence of the accounts, and I do not know
personally the directors or managers.' And surely
no one who had thus answered his own interro-
gatories could afterwards be guilty of the incre-
dible folly of subjecting himself to the liability
to pay hundreds of pounds on such a misty hope
of possibly receiving a good dividend on his tens.
We need not explain that these remarks have
no application to cases of investment in which
any one of these questions can be answered in
the affirmative. Knowledge of a trade, capacity
to investigate its operations, or personal confi-
dence in its managers, are, any of them, reason-
able grounds for the entrusting of money to their
control in pursuance of a given speculation. It
is where all these elements of security are absent
that we must marvel at the stupidity which still
ventures to lay down its money on the green
table. For it is gambling, and with the chances
terribly against the public, that such speculations
really mean. The poor clergyman, the widow
lady, the retired officer, who, in utter ignorance
of the business they adventure on, apply for shares
on the faith of a glittering prospectus, are all
gamblers just as much as if they stood round the
tables and backed the cards over the croupier's
shoulders at Homburg or Baden. They are
staking their money on a chance in the hope that
the cards will give them a prize. The comparison
will shock them, and we can only hope it will.
If they can only institute so much self-examination
as to see that they are gamblers at heart, they will
recoil in time. All the mischief is done because,
gazing at the dazzle of the gold, they cease to
think. If they could be made to think candidly
for but a moment, they would be saved.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)