The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-16 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY ManNg, APRIL 16, -jB6Q,

the concerti. It is true that t interfer

rarely goes beyond mere verbal 051611111 at the
half-yearly meetings, but it still peenssees a cerfitia
value. It serves to remind dir4ollors of their re-
sponsibility, and to check at the osolret the poeialie
commission of any flagrant abuse. It has not in-
frequently happened that the suggestions of a
speaker who was pooh-poohed by the board and
hardly listened to by his fellow-shareholders have
perhaps been in • great degree carried into effect
before the time for the next meeting came round.
Again, the proceedings of these institutions, as far
as can be legitimately done, are invariably pub-
lished. It is almost • truism to repeat that
there is no safeguard like publicity ; but the value
of this principle in mercantile affairs has been only
lately recognised. The great difference, however'
between a private and joint-stock establishment
consists in the impersonal character of a public
company. The latter is by its constitution neces-
sarily much less likely to depend upon individuals,
and indeed, if fairly conducted, needs never feel
such dependence at all. It is almost impossible for
the governing power to fall from the force of cir-
cumstances from strong and worthy into weak and
incompetent hands. This result can in fact only
happen from the conjuncture of a wilful disregard
of the shareholders to their own interests with a
gross dereliction of duty by those directors already
in office. Instances of this sort have always been
II very rare, while in the higher class of banks they
are absolutely unknown. As an almost invariable
rule the vacancy caused by the death or retirement
of one competent man, is filled up by the election
of another equally well qualified. Thus, while the
personna of the bank is constantly changing, its
corporate character remains the same. It continues
to be governed by the same traditions, the same
habits of business, though not by exclusively the
same families that managed it twenty years ago.
In another point, too, a joint-stock company has
especial claims on the confidence of the public. It
is impossible to tell what capital may be invested
in a private concern. In the case of Messrs.
Puoar, BAINBRIDGES, and Co., it is seen that,
although thirty years ago there was a sum of
165,0001. thus employed, at the time of the stoppage
it had altogether disappeared, without the slightest
hint of the truth appearing to have reached the
creditors of the bank. Now in a joint-stock com-
pany it is impossible for a shareholder to withdraw
from the concern any portion of the capital he has
subscribed, and supposing he had the power,
the fact of his having exercised it would be ascer-
tained by the time of the next meeting.
Even heavy loom by mismanagement of the
company itself, of which we have had too many
recent examples, can only be concealed by direct
fraud and falsification of the accounts. A private
firm, however, may go on losing money year after
year for thirty years without the necessity of taking
the trouble to deceive any one. Again, also, if
matters should go wrong, there is generally nothing
to depend upon from the private firm except the
actual assets in the bank. A few hundred pounds
appears the utmost that can be realised from the
personal estates of the partners in PUGET, BAIN-
BRIDGES, and Co. But a very different security is
afforded in a joint-stock bank by the individual
liability of the shareholders to meet all claims.
This is most strongly shown by contrasting the
position of the creditors of the Joint Stock Dis-
count Company with those of Messrs. Puorr,
BAINERIDGES, and Co. In the former case the lia-
bilities are some ten times the amount of the latter,
but the larger sum is sure to be paid in full, while
of the smaller little more can be expected than the
dividend shown on the accountant's balance-sheet.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

jealousy thee gave *Mai has low einair peaserarisik
sad ms pay thhaf *i4, non tiffetter the WNW.
4 the eissendoe governing's!, such sipallf the ,
of Its petrasis Is now waggly roispliped. ' tno
doubt that so long as the is retolirad-• ought
obeyed, aird not diminabed h its gamy lly any • I
to strain its construction to meet the harddlip of a parti-
cular case. The same principle will arise illt the proposal
in the new Reform Bill to disfranchise the labourers in
dockyards, and the Ttai feels no doubt that when the
measure is once in committee the house will be prepared
to give by that disfranchisement full effect to the prin-
ciple of the act of Anne, and to the recommendation of
Lord Clarence Paget, so recently given to the House of
Commons.

MD•,‘WW••

Court.

OSBORNE, Aim 14:
The Queens agimpanied by Prince Leojeld, aid
&Menisci by, lak Augusta Stanley, dr**s pet yesterdic
morning, sad fa the afternoon her Majesty drove in the
grounds with Princess Helena.
Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice walked in the
grounds.
To-day is the anniversary of the birth of the Princess
Beatrice.

Aram 15.

The Queen walked in the grounds yesterday morning,
accompanied by Princess Helena and Princess Louise, and
drove out in the afternoon, accompanied by Priced
Helena, Princess Beatrice, and Prince Leopold.
Major-General the Hon. A. Hood was in attendance.
The Prince and Princess Leiningen dined with the Queen
and the Royal ;Family.
Messrs. Carpenter and Westly had the honour of exhi-
biting their magic lantern last evening before the Royal
Family, and the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Household.
Mesas. Dickenson and Tilt had the honour of submitting
to the Queen their sketch from a photograph of her Ma-

--
A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday, at the
official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury
in Do street. The ministers present were
Earl Russell, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville,
the Duke of Argyll, Sir George Grey, the Earl of
Clarendon, the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, the
Marquis of Hartington, Earl de Grey, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, the Duke of Somerset, the
Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson, Lord Stanley of
Alderley, the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, and the
Right Hon. C. P. Villiers.

A Committee of the Lords of her Majesty's Most
Honourable Privy Council met on Saturday in the Council
Chamber, Whitehall, and paused an Order upon the
Cattle Plague as affecting South Wales and Monmouth-
shire. Lords present were Earl Granville, the Right
Hon. Sir George Grey, and the Right Hon, H. A. Bruce,
Colonel Harness, R.E., Mr. Helps (the Clerk of the
Council, and Mr. Harrison (the Deputy Clerk) attended
the Committee.
A deputation, consisting of the Archbishop of York, the
Earl of Addle, the Earl of Carnarvon, the Earl of Shaftes-
bury, and a large body of the members of the House of
Commons and others interested in the eondition of the
sick poor in workhouses, had an interview with the Right
Hon. C. P. Villiers at the office of the Poor-law Board,
Whitehall, on Saturday.
Despatches were received on Saturday at the Colonial-
office from the Governors of Canada and the Cape of Good
Hope. Despatches were sent to the Governors of the North
American Provinces and Bermuda.

ROYAL BIRTHDAY AT WINDSOR.--Saturday was
the birthday of her Royal Highness the Princess Beatrice,
who entered upon her tenth year, having been born on the
14th April, MT. At seven o'clock in the morning, and at
intervals, the bells of St. George's Chapel and the parish
church were rang, and at noon the usual royal salutes were
fired from the Long Walk and Virginia Water.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge
and Princess Mary, accompanied by his Highness the
Prince of Teck, and attended by Colonel Home Purves,
are expected to leave Sandringham, where they have been
on a visit for a week to their Royal Highnesses the Prince
and Princess of Wales, to-morrow (Tneoday), for Cam-
bridge Cottage, Say.
We have to announce the death of Viscountess
Ponsonby, widow of the well-known diplomatist, who died
at her town residence on Saturday last.

-.-... . .
Lord and Lady Delamere received the Right
lion. the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mrs. Gladstone
and a select party at dinner, on Saturday, at their residence
in Bruton-street.

The Right Hon. Chief Secretary for Ireland and
Frances Countess Waldegrave gave a grand entertainment
at their mansion, in Carlton-gardens, on Saturday night.
After dinner the countess had an assembly which was
largely attended by the members of the corps diplomatique
and of both Houses of Parliament. .

The Duke of Leirtster has arrived in Carlton-
house•terraoe from his seat in Ireland for the season.

Sir Moses Montefiore is expected in London in
about three weeks, from a tour in the Holy Land.
The United States Minister has removed his
residence from No. 5, Upper Portland-place to No. 54,
Portland-place. The office of the United States Legation
is also removed, and is now situated at 147, Great Port-
land-street.

MR. MARSH, M.P., AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.

The following has been forwarded to Mr. Marsh,
M.P., by 99 of his constituents :
" To Ma. M. H. Masan, M.P. .

" Sir,—We, the undersiped electors of Salisbury who
voted for you at the last election, feel it to be incumbent
upon us to express our regret and dissatisfaction at the
unexpected tendency of your recent speeches in parlia-
ment. From the unusual circumstance of your absence at
the time of the election we cannot refer to any promise
given by you upon the hustings ; but it is an un-
questionable fact that in 1857, 1859, and 1865
you canvassed and were elected as a supporter of a reform-
ing parliament. We do not wish to trammel our mem-
' hers by binding them to consult their constituents upon
every occasion ; but we were greatly surprised to learn,
upon your return from Australia, that, without any com-
munication with the electors of Salisbury under the altered
circumstances resulting from Lord Palmerston's death,
you had needlessly entered your protests against further
reductions of the franchise. By so doing, and by a subae•
quent speech upon the introduction of the Franchise Bill,
we are of opinion that you have endeavoured to aid a
small and discontented section of the liberal party in their
attempt to upset a government pledged to reform, and
have thereby forfeited the confidence hitherto reposed in
your political integrity and fitness to represent us in par-
liament.

" We therefore feel it our duty publicly to inform you
that you must not calculate upon our support at a future
election."

[Here follow 99 signatures]

Mr. Marsh, in reply, says that he has always abstained
from giving any promise, and when he voted for Lord John
Russell's resolution in 1859, he did so as a piece of parlia-
mentary tactics. In 1860 he spoke against the lowering
of the franchise, and he has voted at least twice against
Mr. Raines's bill. Since the beginning of the session
othershave taken the same course as himself, and, adds the
hon. member, "so far from thinking that they are a email
and discontented faction, perhaps the division will prove
that they are not so very small, and they are, I believe,
only discontented with a reform bill which, by beginning
to lower the franchise, must in my humble opinion in.
evitably lead to manhood suffrage and democracy. In
fact, it is avowedly accepted by its best supporters with
this view. Again expressing my sincere sorrow at differing
from you, and hoping and believing that, at all events, a
very large proportion of you will at some time or other see
things in a different light, I am, gentlemen, he."

MILITARY MUSIC AT WINDSOR CASTLE.—Yes-
terday afternoon, after a long interval, the band of the
Royal Horse Guards, by command of her Majesty the
Queen, commenced playing on the Park-terrace of Windsor
Castle. The terrace was crowded by promenaders. The
band for the future will play on the terrace during the
Queen's absence from Windsor.
SIR RODRRICH MURCHISON'S SOIREIL—On Satur-
day evening the president of the Royal Geographical
Society received his friends in Willis Rooms, which were
furnished with interesting objects of natural history, maps,
coloured drawings of coetume landscapes, &e. Imme-
diately beneath a large map, showing the sources of the
Nile, to illustrate the discoveries of Spoke, Grant, and
Raker, tables were covered with the heads, horns, and
skins of wild animals shot by Mr. Baker, who, with Mrs.
Baker, the companion in all his African travels, was pre-
sent. On an opposite side of the great room, and under
large plans of Pekin and Yeddo, various articles of Chinese
and Japanese manufacture were exhibited—the former
collected by Mr. Lockhart, the latter by Commander
Forbes, R.N., comprising many specimens of great value.
A map of a portion of Western Africa had the name of Du
Chaillu on it, to mark the last discoveries of that explorer,
and numerous paintings of the natives of South Africa, as
well as scenes in that country, including the wonderful
falls of the Zambesi River, discovered by Livingstone,
were from the pencil of Mr. Baines. Other paintings of the
natives of the regions of the Niger and Tchadda were by
Mr. Robins, the associate of the late Dr. Baiide. In one
corner of the room the managers of the North Atlantic
Telegraph Company exhibited a very instructive map and
several diagrams, which were clearly explained VI.
Holmes to a group of auditors, including the

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