The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-16 00:00:00

RSS,

37-0 CON'
t

Weiner, meetings of directors, as near
Mr.Piosley said, " I have just to ied 114011.
End
that 20,0001. will *toyer the Wes thigh,
years." Re said this after he had been to look, and this
anal,tatioa au excluding the year 1864-5, which was the
year in which the defalcations took place. Now, mil-
-1 wifilinilike losses at 20,9001. in three years, we examine
Mr. Morley on the losses for the last three years between
1862 and 1865, and then ascertain that the gross profits of
the business were nil t aad on being closely pressed
whether the bank had not actually lost money is those
three years, he says from the balance-sheet prepared in
1865 he teas notprepaned to say that they had lost amigo
although Ac could not say they had made a profit.
We think it will sufficiently appear from the
foregoing statement that in the year 1865
BARNRD'S Bank was in about as bad a position as
a private bank could well occupy. It had for
several years made no profit : i.e capital, and more
than its capital, was lost through bad debts : and
the private property of the partners was pledged to
creditors as security. It was under these circum-
stances that the conversion of the concern into a
limited liability company was proposed. The
scheme appears to have been suggested by
a director of the Contract Corporation, who
had observed that one of the debtors of that
concern was also indebted to BASHED'S in a very
large sum. The plan was laid before the public
in connexion with the names of gentlemen whose
positions in London and Liverpool were, in the
eyes of a considerable portion of the public,
a pledge of its soundness, or at least
of the truth of the representations made to
the shareholders. When six well-known
merchants and others, not including the Morters,
who were on the directorate, joined to assure the
world that the business to be taken over was one
for which 160,0001. might fairly be paid as good
will, he would have been either a very rash or an
exceedingly well-informed man who should have
said that it was rotten to the core. We pass over
the explanations which these gentlemen give of the
I manner in which they were misled, because they
are so contradictory that we have striven in vain
'to reconcile them. But there is one point which
must be noticed—the facility with which the enor-
mous liabilities and bad debts of the old bank
were transferred to the new company. It ap-
'pears that when the business was taken over it
occurred to some of the directors that it would
be proper to inquire into the nature
of the engagements of the Bank before pledg-
ing themselves on the subject to the public, but
when Mr. BENCER asked to be satisfied on this
point, he was told by Mr. C. MOZLEY that "in
" transactions of this kind it was unusual, and
" highly improper to ask to see private books of
I " account." It was impossible, however, wholly
to overlook the fact that a portion of the enormous
amount of debts might be bad, and so the guarantee
of the MOZLEYS was taken. The importance of
the transaction before described, the mortgaging
of Mr. CHARLES MOZLEY'S freehold property, will
I now be seen. If the solvency of the debtors of
the Bank could not be inquired into without im-
propriety, still leas could that of the MOZLEYS
themselves. As Mr. CHARLES MOZLEY put it
before the Examiners : " The Directors of Bar-
" nod's Banking Company never made any
" inquiries into the private property of the mem-
" bers of the firm of 'l. Darned and Co.' They
" had confidence in the position we held, and the
" property which was patent to the town at
" large."
So far, then, we perceive that the public were
invited to purchase property that existed only in
illusion. But if the value of the old bank was
a fiction, at least the new one would be a real
concern? At any rate there would be a real
share proprietary ? On this point the disclosures
at the inquiry were anything but satisfactory.
A large number of persons applied for and ob-
tained shares in the belief that the allotment
would be an wan!inistered as to associate them with

PORAVES.
•
OirEVLY--- *i
is
Atm

---- _
other investors like tleinseiveL 14 appears,
however, that from the first a different
arrangement was contemplated. There were
to be 40,000 shares, and of those one half,
or 20,000, representing a million of capital,
were subscribed for, according to previous ar-
rangement, by two insolvent concerns—the Con-
tract Corporation and the Joint Stock Discount
Company—and this after the prospectus had stated
that a preference would be given to the customers
of the Bank. These companies gave, in payment
of calls, their bills, which were credited to them as
cash ; when a bill was dishonoured, it was still held
that the call had been paid, and the amount was
placed to the debit of the company. Now that these
companies are in liquidation, it is found that their
articles of association do not authorise subscriptions
for shares in a joint stock bank, and the legal and
bona fide shareholders have to hear the whole
burden of responsibility to the creditors.
It is unnecessary to point the moral of these
disclosures. The shareholders have been most
shamefully betrayed by those who of their own
accord stood forward and gratuitously pledged their
credit to an institution which the least inquiry
would have shown them was already ruined. It
would be impossible to exaggerate the responsibility
of those who, whether fraudulently or by culpable
negligence, lend themselves to deceptions of this
kind, and it would be satisfactory to find that the
law was in this respect capable of enforcing with
, its sanction the righteous verdict of public opinion.

RESIGNATION OF LORD JUSTICE BRCCE.—We are
informed (says the Times) that Lord Justice Sir James L.
Knight Bruce has tendered his resignation, in consequence
of a dangerous illness with which, we regret to learn, he
has been attacked.

THE FAMINE IN INDIA.-Within the last few
days, observes the Times, several gentlemen have called
with or sent subscriptions to the Lord Mayor at the Man-
sion-house under the impression that a fund was about to
be raised there towards the relief of the distress in Bengal
and Orissa consequent upon the famine ; but it should
be known that, for the present at least, after the authority
telegraphed by Lord Cranborne, the Secretary of State for
India, to Sir John Lavrrence, the Viceroy, on Thursday
last, to advance money from the government funds freely
and immediately, it is not the intention of the Lord
Mayor and the bankers and merchants in the City who
have been in communication with him on the sub-
ject to appeal to the public for aid in the emer-
gency. For the time they rely on the energy and
prudence of the Secretary of State at home and of the
Viceroy of India to cope with the calamity, aided by the
means of rapid communication furnished by the telegraph,
holding themselves in readiness, however, to step in and
use their influence to promote a public subscription should
events take such a turn as to require it, and the resources
of the government prove unequal to the occasion. To
show, if need were, how ready the public bounty would
have been to flow in that direction if the emergency had
called for it we may mention that on the day preceding
that on which the first conference was held at the Man-
sion-house on the subject two members of an eminent
banking firm in the City, father and son, called upon the
Lord Mayor and offered to head • subscription with 5001.
THE CONVICTION OF A SERVANT GIRL AT YORK.
—The following is the reply to a memorial which was pre-
sented to the Secretary of State on behalf of Elizabeth
Longhurst, who was lately convicted of larceny at York,
before Mr. Alderman Evers and Mr. Alderman Wade, and
about whose case some rioting took place a few days ago :
" Whitehall, Oet. 10, 1860.—Gentlemen,—I am directed
by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to
thank you for your report on the case of Elizabeth Long-
hunt, and to acquaint you that, under all the circum-
stances, he does not propose advising any interference
with the prisoner's sentence.—i am, gentleman, your most
obedient humble servant, Betmoar..—Mr. R. Reeves, J.P.,
Mr. E. Wade, J.P., York." Mr. Lowrie states that the
box stolen by his late servant, Elizabeth Longiturst, was
an enamelled lodiaa hoz, for which he paid 10s. in India;
it is in perfectly good oondition, and he values it far be-
yond its intrinsic worth. The writing case alluded to he
paid 4a. 61. fur, and it had been but little used.

TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 16, 1866.

•

lb Court.

BALMORAL, Ocr.

The Queen drove in the morning yeate
socompanied by Prime's Christian, and went out
afternoon, accompanied by Princess Louise and &item
by the Hon. Emily Cathcart.
Sir Stafford Northoote had the honour of dining with
Queen and the royal family.

The Queen of Denmark, with the Prince and Prh
of Wales and Princess Thyra, attended by the ladies .
gentlemen in waiting, 'went to the Lyceum Theatre yester-
day evening.
A committee of the Lords of her Majesty's Most Honour-
able Privy Council eat yesterday, in the Council-chamber,
Whitehall, on the subject of the cattle plague. The lords
present' were—the Right Hon. S. IL Walpole, Lord Stan.
ley, and the Right Hon. H. Corry. The Solicitor-General,
Mr. Helps, Mr. Harrison, and Colonel Harness, attended
the committee.

--- --- - - -
Mr. C. Parker Rhodes, late acting-consul at Havre, had
an interview with Lord Stanley yesterday at the Foreign-
office.

The Queen of Denmark, with the Prince and
Princess of Wales and Princess Thyra, attended by the
l►dies and gentlemen in waiting, went to the Lyceum

Theatre yesterday coo:nig.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge,
attended by Lady Geraldine Somerset and Colonel Home
Purace, arrived at Cambridge Cottage, Kew, yesterday
afternoon, from Lord Londesborough's marine villa at Scar-

borough.
His Excellency Prince do la Tour d'Auvergne
(the French Ambassador) is expected to arrive at the
French Embassy at Albert Gate on Monday or Tuesday
next, to resume his diplomatic functions.
The Marquis of Hastings and Sir Augustus and
lady Paget have left the St. George's Hotel.
The Marquis de Caumont Laforce has returned

to the Clarendon Hotel from Pith.
The Earl and Countess of Dudley have arrived

at Witley Court, Worcestershire, from Black Mount, In-

verneas-sbire.
The Earl and Countess of Sefton have arrived
in town from a tour of visits.
Lord and Lady Stafford have left the Clarendon
Hotel, for Costessy House, Not wich.
Lord George Gordon Lennox, M.P., has arrived
at Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley-square, from High Cliff

Castle, near Christchurch.
Lady Margaret Charteris and infant son are both
progressing very favourably.
Governor Hincks, C. 8., has left the Alexandra
Hotel, Hyde-parlocorner.
Mr. Peel has left Farrance's Hotel for Scar-
borough.
The Gazzetta delle Romagne announces the arrival
of Mr. Gladstone at Bologna, and that he is staying at the

Hotel Brun.
Early yesterday morning the Lord Mayor left
town for Brussels, to be present at the Belgian Tir National
and the fags to be given in honour of the occasion and of
the visit of the English volunteers. He had received a
pressing invitation, conveyed in very flattering terms, both
from the commissioners for conducting the Tir and the at-
tendant festivities, and from the burgomaster of Brussels,
in consideration of the very cordial reception afforded by
his lordship to the Belgian riflemen on their visit to the
City during the Wimbledon week. M. bovant, a high
officer in the household of the King, also called at the
Mansion House on Friday last to pay his respects to the
Lord Mayor, being, it is understood, the bearer of a message

from his Majesty.
The inhabitants of Micheldever intend placing a
memorial window to the late Lord Noi;lbrook in their
parish church.
THE LATE BISHOP OF CALCLTTA.—The tele-
gram announcing the untimely death of the Bishop of
Calcutta caused the most profound gnef at Marl-
borough. Dr. Cotton was for six years head-muter
of the college, where he was deservedly held in the highest
esteem and veneration. The chapel services on Sunday
were attended by 500 boys, who together with the masters
and their families, were all attired in mourning, and the
scene when Heber's funeral hymn was sung was deeply
moving. We understand that nearly three weeks must
elapse before fuller particulars can be received. At pre•
sent little or nothing is known beyond the bare fact that
be was drowned in the Ganges, and that his remains bad
not yet been found. It is needless to add that his loss
will be felt very widely and keenly.—Times.
The Paris correspondent of the Independanee
Beige says that Dr. Langenbeck, a celebrated German
physician, has been consulted by the Emperor Napoleon,
and that the result of an examination instituted by him
was not considered satisfactory. On the other hand his
Majesty has received sensible relief from a alight operation
which he has undergone at the hands of Dr. Guillon, and
it is added that this physician will remain at Biarritz until
his Majesty's departure. The celebrated Dr. Nelaton has
also been sent for.
" The King of Bavaria," says the Cologne Gazette,
" has just made a present to his protigé, Richard Wagner,
of a walking-stick, the head of which is a swan chiselled in
gold and enriched 111th brilliants, the whole worth several
thousand ducats."
It has been decided that the governments of the
States of Northern Germany which take part in the Uni-
1, venal Exhibition of 1867, that is to say : Prussia, Bruns_
sick, Saxony, Saxe•Altenburg, Saxe-Meinengen, Saxe-
Coburg, Schwartzburg, Waldeck, Anhalt, Oldenburg,
Bremen, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin, will appear under the
title of the Union of the North.
A Vienna letter, published by the Monde,
says :—" Prague has been for some days past in a state of
great popular agitation. This is what has happened :
, The Jesuits, during the Prussian occupation, purchased a
house for the purpose of opening a school, paying cash for
it out of their funds ; and now, although under the pro-
tection of the government, they cannot appear in public
' without being assailed. The inhabitants want to have
them removed altogether."
" The Empress of Russia, we learn," says
the Journal de Nice, " intends to pass the winter in this
town." _ _

The official Roman Joitrnal stated the other day
that more than 60 young men of Roman families who tool-
part in the late war had been permitted to return to their
homes, being merely subject to the " ordinary police regu-
lations." It seems from a letter in the Mats that these
regulations consist in the inscription of their names on the
list of suspected persons submitted to a vigorous sur-
veillance. They are compelled to return to their domiciles
at sunset, and are prohibited from leaving during the
night ; and they are not allowed to be seen at a theatre, •
café, or any public place.
JUDICIAL STATISTICS, 1865.—0 f the result of the
3,018 cases tried at Westminster at Nisi Print and on the
circuits the verdict was absolute for the plaintiff in 1,742,
or More than half, and in 343 only it was for the defendant.
Other verdicts were subject to • special case, or to a re-
ference, or the jury were discharged, dc., and the total
amount received by these verdicts for the plaintiff was
535,5561. Rules nisi far a new trial were granted in 212
cases, and refused in 95 ; 88 rules were made absolute by
the court sitting in banoo, and 97 discharged; in 4 the
court was divided. The business done in the chambers of
the judges is shown by the returns furnished by the chamber
clerks, and exhibits • very large increase on every item.
More than 11,000 summonses were issued in 1865 above those
in 1864, and the returns show a proportionate increase on
all chamber business—Solicitors' Journal.
AN EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE. A foreign
schooner was towed into harbour on Saturday after-
. noon, whose history has awakened a somewhat unusual
interest in the neighbourhood from the fact that it was
one of those which had been long lasted for in vain, and
which, indeed, was gener►lly supposed " would never
more come home." The vessel is the Charlotte, of Stral-
sund, and sailed from Memel for Dunbar, with • cargo of
rags, exactly three months end three days previous to the
date of its entering the harbour here. During all the
three long weary months the vessel has been knocking
shoat in the North Sea, unable from straps of weather and
I contrary winds to make the land until some three days
ago, when it entered Aberdeen harbour, from which it at
last gained its destination. As the passage is frequently
made in three or four days, or a week at most, all hope of
ever seeing the vessel or its crew had long been lost; and we
believe the claim for insurance bad either been made or
was about to be so, when the long-lost vessel fortunately
turned up. Such a voyage is unparalleled in the annals of
the seafaring folks here, and on Saturday and Sunday the
vessel was the object of particular attention. Notwith-
I standing the long exposure to wind and weather, the
vessel does not appear to
.have suffered much damage.—
TulinGurph Courant.

[GENCE.

ritsweß FINANCES.
PROPOSED LOAN OF A THOITSAND
MILLION FRANCS.

Anuses independance states that the Duke
'ersigny has addressed a memorial to the
containing various suggestions as to
policy, and amongst other things the issue of a
- milliard of francs for works of pesos. This
million, however, would include a hun- '
dred millions for the conversion of muskets. The
rest would be devoted to effecting the conversion
of the Mexican Loan into government stock, as-
sisting the sufferers from the inundations, giviirg
work to labourers, and especially providing for un-
foreseen events. It is added that General Fleury
and Baron Hausamann approve of this scheme,
and have recommended it to the Emperor. Com-
bined with this statement are rumours of minis-
terial changes in France, including the retirement
of M. Fould and Marshal Bandon.

L
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Drafty, PRO
in the
'tended The Eh
de Persil
rith the
Emperor,
new polio
loan of a
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Li. end peaceful
lies