The Express.
London, England, 1856-09-23 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23.

Tor Royal British Bank business turns out to be
eves worse than was anticipated. In round numbers
the liabilities of the bank are 540,0001., its meets, on
the most favourable estimate, 330,0004; its losses
210,0001. Of this amount of lose nearly 122,0004
Tres been occasioned, either directly or indirectly, by
the dealings of the directors themselves. Mr. Rms.
XHBET B ROVVI4, M P. for Te wktsbery, formerly a direo.
tot, has had upwards of 70.0001. out of the bank,
and the lose by him, alter allowing the utmost mar-
gin of value for securities, is no less than 60,0001.
By Mr. M•Gatuua, the member for Glasgow—the
founder of the whole concern, but the holder, as it ap•
pears, of only ten shares in it—the loss is 7,3821. The
loss by Mr. Imp; GWTNNE, formerly a director, Is
13.6401.; by the Messrs. Olives, of Liverpool,
introduced and recommended by a director, 13,4881.

There is a bad debt of 7,0001. against the
late solicitor, and of 2,0001. against one of the present
auditors ; whilst the liabilities of Mr. CAl'lo'43ll4
the manager of the Bank, and as far as at pre-
sent appears, the principal artificer of the whole
complicated fabric of trawl, may be taken in round
numbers at 30,0001. With the exception of some
three or four thousand pounds, the whole of this last
item must be set down as a dead loss, it having been
discovered that the snprosed securities on which the
culpably negligent directors were led to rely, were,
in fact, no securities at all, " having beset previously
charged or encumbered by other parties to the full
extent of their value."

Some of the admissions made by the chairman and
directors at last Saturday's meeting were positively
ludicrous from their mixed imbecility and impu-
dence. " Perhaps you will hardly believe it credible,"
says Mr. ESDAILL the late Governor, to his galled and
ruined proprietary, " that until I was called to the
chair in 1863 I did not know that Mr. HUMPHREY
Baows was a debtor to the bank at all" t—and yet
Mr.Huries Rex BROWN was at that time, and long bad
been, a debtor to the bank to this extent of 70,0004,
and the man who gets up to make this statement was
at that time, and long bad been, In the receipt of
3001. a year from the shareholdsts for the expose
purpose of renderiog him more vigilant in the exer-
cise of the duty solemnly cast on ►is by the legisla-
ture—the duty of bring truly and exactly in-
formed se to the actual state of the bank's
affairs. Even if this statement be credible, it
mamba to an humiliating confession of the
semi mandalons and prefligate negligence. The
Meant as given by Mr. Owes, another director,
of the manner in which this revelation was first made
to an astonished board, is really too good to be
over, sod in order not to mar its beautiful sim-
plicity, we shall give it i• the very wards
of its narrator. Two years and a half ago,it seems,
CAMILRON, the manager—the real pea and thimble
man—fell dangerously ill. " Well, gentlemen"—
it is Mr. OWEN who .pate—" in easseqmom
of his illness the chairman and some of the
other directors made some inquiries which
disclosed to as that Mr. Camesox had a book
with a pricale key which we had now awn. It was
never seen by anybody but Mr. CAMPION, and when
the chairman opened that book we were all indeed
estonished. Whets that book was opened refound that
Mr. HUMPHREY BROWN had got 70,0001., end that
another director had got 13,0001." What was dose
on this astounding discovery? Let Mr. Owert
pivoted.— VV ell, I first thought it would
at once become my duty to leave the bank,
and bad almost resolved never to enter the

ermeern again. (Oh ! virtuous Owax.) Bat—
(alae foe virtue !)—but, gentlemen, you blow what s
dolioato thing it is to touch the interests o) a beck,
sad I resolved to remain at my post till Mr.
Cammtom's return, especially an my good friend the
chairman was overwhelmed with =zloty." Yee.
that is what they all did two years and a half ago—
all these honourable and excellent men "resolved to
remain at their posts till Mr. CA11111014% return"; and
when he did return they let him remain as manager,
and half•year by half-year they published flourishing
reporte,and declared flourishing dividend; and issued
new share; sad spent some 16,0001. in opening
eplesdid new premises— till the crash cams
—being all this time well aware that the
comas was hopelessly insolvent. that the whole thing
was one huge delusion, and that every added month
• its existence could only aggravate the ruin that
menet ensile upon its downfall.

We have not touched upon the Welsh mine
parches', bat it may be as well to my one word
upon it, as an illustration of the extreme
peril necessarily incurred by a Snit departure
from the sound principles of banking. The first step
in the transaction was, of course, the axtoosion of
large accommodation on insufficient securities to paa•
ties wholly unworthy of credit. The advances in.
.creased till they reached some 20,0001, when the
'borrowers failed, and the directors, in the chimerical
.hops of makiog good their km, took upon them-
msives, in violation of those elemental rules
hrhich ought to govern the besieges of ovary banker,
loimploy the capital of their shareholders in working
the properties which they had held an ascuritiss for
the loan. In this enterprise the amount of capital
s wok is stated at 106,403 i. ; it is to be hoped that the
a Wants may be equally correct, which gives WOOL
as the ;anent value of the property. Ito onolh fke
tho moults of responsible management; so mach fee
the working of an iostitution "folteleid," awarding
to 11r. Coximax, the accountant, "on pelmiplestbst
aro speetona and false," and in which, as he defer
6. the shareholders, if the soconots had been prop*
made up, aught never to have bad a dividend in any
onequarter since its commencement."
And now what is to be the fate of the sharshaiders
themselves, and of their fellow sufferers—ono degree
removed—the depositors P The meeting of Saturday
was naturally enough an indiguadon meeting; anger
took the place of argument; the groat British poekot
interest was in an uproar, sad noise, invective, and
denenciation carried the day. Jetraraeleen Haw
cadent. The formal businr of the day was to pow
a resoledioo declaring that the lbw of dm Book
had exhanted its reserve fund and a fourth of fb
paid.up cspits:--a resolution merely propagates,
going into the winding-op aloes. As swam of
present stand, the next step will be the oppournan
of the defunct compavy in these babel owl Woos
emus further measure is taken by the shiphoidapi

or depositors, the remaining funds of the ruined
institution will be additionally wasted in that costly
and tedious process of dissolutioa. which, in its
present state, is a grave discredit to the adminis-
tration of our mercantile 'AI/. ON of the
recent Directors of the Beak threw out a Eng-
gestion to the meeting, which is well worth
the consideration of those more immediately con-
cerned. The charge in the Master's offices for each
separate proof by a depositor of the amount of his
deposit is, it seems, 24 2s. A sum of between 8,0001.
and 10,0004 might be saved if, by some previous
arrangement, this proof could be dispensed with, as
it might be, for instance, by compering beforehand
the depositor's statement of the amount with the
amount as entered in the books of the Bank. This is
only one example of the saving that might be effected
by a spirit of mutual accommodation. " Thing.
without remedy should be without regard :" to undo
the put is hopeless, but the position of both share
holders end depositors in the future is susceptible of
being materially improved or materially impaired by
the wisdom or otherwise of their present proceedings.
Why, as suggested by a oorrespondent in our impres-
sion of to-day, should not working committees of
shareholders and depo3itors be at once appointed to
see what can yet be retrieved from the ruin of the
Royal British Bank P

We are desired to state that the Commissioners of
her Majesty's Inland Revenue duly received, and
acknowledged in the manner desired, the half of the
Bank of Ragland note for 1001. remitted to them on
Wednesday last.