The Express.
London, England, 1860-04-27 00:00:00

SECOND-HAND PIANOFORTES.
clt %VIER. BEALL sad Co. have • large amortment of
Peoon,t Lout liasofortas, b; the most esteemed makers, at
prrevtl) rriltwed Zeffeatr."l"L

DOUDNEY and SONS' LIVERIES
seam musters and servant&
Footnian's non if • •
Cmons • Suit • 10 0
I.'"actunaa'a 1444 3 IS 6
DOUDNEY and 30101. Wan, 17, OM Booddtreet 25, Burling-
ton-area& . 49, Losibirdatioat —1344334143944 1734.

In Leapienr, dog bow power Is alisest,
111: 113C0 no niarlor to tetra."--Cltnecor.
DIESSE and LUBIN'S LEAP-YEAR
BOVOrk.T. ft. Id. bolas--; /few Bowl-etre* W.

BENSON'S WATCHES.
e• Perfection of ntechanism."-31orolng Pest,
f;o31 watches, 4to lOU guineas: sliver, 2 to MI alarm aced
two mum. for Below() • Illnatratal Panapilsk Assertpilve of
sun elatigfllt tlon of nat.h now made. Wadies stot to sll parts
of the world-33 and 34, Lutigate.hlll, LC. >rßsillsirtt 1749.
COLOIJZtED SHIRTS.

etor er3reoo.

TO 0011.1110110NOINTII.
/Advertisements Intended tar ..11s. grjirg.... Landon Everting
rarer. mn.t he at the cam let Daaverteatrect. by Two
es,cit on the day cd patgleatiem

IIAYLAZEIT:

Tan Errornee. TIM OViIiIND iGHTIL Meat. listbews,
l'..mpton. awl Sedwiesa ; Mra C. Matlwnn. Mn. W Glass. —THE
PIU.KIU oV LOMB. Mean Clippesdale, Mmers,d Compton.
NW Al Ter/am—And TILL MO/LIMING SCHOOL

l 1 1 J FM I'S.

TIIK Even" YT 111111110111 f—THE IL•$ REVENGE.
Mr Yhdia Hiss lad Mks Heath. And THE
V LEH IDE Mean. Er Mks% aad Ulm Hisses L.
ladervi, L liaail,M. Lain% E Howard.
LTCWIL
Ttms Err Nrtn. NIX? OF KIN. —THE FORTY THIEVE&
Tiammoom, Cam SC ems, E. Travers, Kate ',Maim.
—WHI rEHUT AT GREENWICH. SFr W. Dam —And THE
DUI A.nIIIII.E. Mat 1.. Thooksaa.—Comasacs at 7.

JAIDWIL
Ynin Errarin. • RUM IN lUD. Lamml. lobbma.
lklf..nl; .—• LADY AND OCISTLII.
ovvriLIADLY

---
311,N IN A PerrLiARLY 1101DFLAXINO
LIXPLEZIA BORGIA AT NOM AND ALL ABROAD.

BiII'ANNIA.

Tan Printer:. TOE ROW OF TEE FERRY; or. The Denten
of And The ►eer IReent —LUILIEZ or. The Rhitte
an.l It. Rhin.. 4 lattetber Jambs. En R. Lane. —The Detepierre
I annly. the ‘lnsieal Worelen.—Aad TER culla EAR.

111011_14AT= AT LONDON_BIUDOIL

TR A1M1110;0: 7111.
I‘. —Nursing, Ilk Sfoa. Th. WI.

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 27.

A mart) of the magnitude of that just die.
covered in the City is a comet in the social
sky, a thing to gars upon with mingled won-
der and apprehension. The revelation strikes
at the very runt of social and commercial confi-
dence. Of what avail is your ceaseless watch-
(niness and anxiety if you are every moment liable
to have the fruits of your toil swept away from you
by your trusted I servant through the simple expedient
of a few fabricated entries ? What a shock to all
confidence is involved in the spectacle of a great
bank which, though supposed to be watched over
by the keenest eyes, and to he guarded all
round from even the chance of spoliation by a triple
5) stem of cheek and counter-check, has been preyed
iijwin for years together to the loss of more than a
'unier of a million sterling ! Even this enormous

defalcation does not represent by any means the ex-
tent ..f the plunder of which the shareholders have
stood the risk. If aclerk, with or without accomplices,
could thus easily get into his own hands • quarter
of a million of his employers' money, it is obvious
that he had equally at his command the whole
amount of their balance at the Bank of England,
which, at the date of the discovery, stood at
569,7061. That balance is known to have occa-
sionally exceeded a million what was there to
prevent the plunderer from laying hands upon
four-fifth.. of this huge sum 1 Boldness only was re-
quired, and that is a quality in which PrLueoxit
is nut deficient. The Union Bank balance has
been misappropriated by the fraudulent chief
cashier to the extent of the difference between
f,69,714it. and 306,6361., without a question being
asked or • suspicion excited. Ho might just as
well, at a fitting opportunity, have seized three-
quarters of a million or more, for he was un-
watched, uncontrolled, his employers were in a
state of the most perfect ignorance and fancied
senurity, and the intimacy of their relations with
the Bank of England, their great balance-keeper,
may be gathered from the fact that no communi-
cation ever passed between them other than
that of the pass-book. Much has been said
about Prumcosa'a extravagant passion for Stock
Exchange and turf speculation ; but he may fairly
complain that his moderation is not better appre-
ciated. The Union Bank might have fared far
worse. Their entire paid-up capital, inclusive el
the 120,0001. carried to capital some months ago,
is 720,0001. In addition they have—or rather
thought they had until this revelation undeceived
them—a reserved fund of 100,000/. The two
sums make, together, 820,0001. It is enough to
make the proprietors shudder to think of the
volcano upon which they have been standing—to
reflect that, without other safeguard than that in-
volve.] in the caution or self-restraint of an un-
princi:iled gambler, the entire capital and property
might have been swept away.
Were it possible to believe that the laxity of
practice shown to have prevailed in the manage-
ment of the Union Bank is shared by other
kindred establishments, few persons, we imagine,
would be hold enough to have anything to do with
the holding of shares in joint-stock hanks. In-
vestors are fond of good dividends, it is true, but
they oleo like to bold a property, not shares in a
partnership which some fine morning may turn
out nut to be an meet at all. Rut, happily, there
is ground to believe that there is not another
bank in London which habitually assigns to the
same officer, day after day, and mouth after
month, the duty of handling and paying in
its cash to the Bank of England, com-
bined with the duty of receiving and holding the
pass-book subject merely to the condition of sub.
mating it daily for inspection. That all these
duties Should have been entrusted, as a fixed and
established practice, to one and the same man for
years, and that 00 inquiry should ever have been
made at, or oral co 'cation held with the Bonk
of England, seems *lnnen too strange for belief.
In the transactions between a bank, whether
private or joint-stock, and the Batik of England,
the only safe system would appear to be the one
adopted by at least one joint-stock establishment
in this metropolis. In this establishment, the
duty of paying money into the Rank of Eng-
land is entrusted sometimes to one, sonic-
times to another, of a set of confidential
clerks. Thu pass-book is sent in through another
clerk, sad is often obtained by the manager direct
through one or other of the porters or messengers.
To confide the entire management of this delicate
dejartanent of a bank's routine to one person is to
tempt him to error. By the agency now
described, instant detection must attend any
embezzlement. An additional safeiniard, however,
would be involved, were a director to take
the trouble at frequent but uncertain ititervals to
walk over ro the Bank of England, and, by per-
sonal e.nunwnieatinn with the authorities there. to
uncertain beyond denbt the accuracy of the ha-
lance. This is a precaution which is not generally
pied, but whicii, if any goad is to result front

I