The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-25 00:00:00

the quantity of money, and so much, therefore, to
capital ; which, being thus increased by the gold,
is beaome so much cheaper ; and the farmers—
for to this class Mr. Disraeli addressed himself—
are to have, as a " natural" and "inevitable
"result," both high prices for their produce
and a low rate of interest on the loans they
may take up. A further analysis of capital woul:t
have taught him that money is merely thp
representative of capital, which is another name
for commodities already produced, and that it is
a contradiction to have a high price for agricul-
tural
produce and a low rate of interest.
What-
ever temporary variations the latter may undergo,
it is always in the long run determined by the rate
of profit. By getting high prices, Mr. Disraeli
meant that the farmers would gain large profits,
and he instructed them that they were to expect
both large profits and a low rate of interest from
the gold discoveries. As commodities are always in
the course of production and consumption, and
even those which are most durable require con
tinual repair or renewal, the ultimate analysis of
capital resolves it into the services which create
commodities. Services cannot be at once high-
priced and low-priced ; and if the services vested
in the production of the soil are high-priced, no
other services—for all must be fed—can be low-
priced. In every line of the passage of the right
hon. gentleman's speech in which he refers to
political economy, there are contradictions—con-
tradictions, too, of sentiment as well as of fact ;
for he speaks of the present " beneficial influence
on prices," conveying to the farmers the notion
that high prices are desirable, while, except as a
stimulus to production, they are what everybo.ly
just now complains of and wishes to be reduced,
and strives, in fact, the farmers amongst others, to
reduce them by increasing production.—Econo-
ist.

PROSECUTION OF THE ROYAL BRITISH BANK

DIRECTORS.

The Royal British Bank Exhibition has closed
for the season, after having displayed, for the in-
struction of the world, some of the choicest spe-
cimens of knavery which have ever been brought
together. People have been anxiously enquiring
when the distinguished exhibitors are to receive
the rewards to which their talent and industry
have entitled them A very powerful re-
port on the general character of the can-
didates, and on the peculiar ingenuity for which
they are remarkable, has been promulgated by Mr,
Commissioner Holroyd, and it now rests with the
A orney-General to show how far the government
will recognise the extraordinary qualities which
have been developed by those gentlemen. It has
already been announced that some at least of the
directors will be brought to the bar of the Old
Bailey; but it still remains to be decided who are
to be the objects of the prosecution, and certainly
it is a task of some delicacy to discriminate between
the different degrees of proficiency attained by the
various officials. Some are inclined to award the
highest place to the lucrative piety of Mr Manager
Cameron. Others are more impressed by the mag-
nitude of the transactions of Mr. Humphrey Brown
For ourselves, we confess that we feel the greatest
admiration for the respectable members of the
board, who contrived to take part in all that was
going on, without ever soiling the irreproachable
cleanliness of their hands, or giving a single, twinge
to their most sensitive consciences. But we own
it is difficult and invidious to select any one or two
from so distinguished a body for especial notice,
and we are disposed to sympathise with the
general feeling that all ought to be decorated
with the same marl,: of national appreciation.
There was a question of some nicety to be
determined before the gewernment could decide
on the propriety of a prosecution. The ()rimi-
ng law is confessedly defective in the repression
of fraud ; so much so, indeed, that a bill has just
been introduced by the Attorney General himself
for the express purpose of rendering certain frauds
by trustees and directors subject to the punishment
which they now escape. It is not quite certain
whether the law, as it stands, can 'effectually reach
the offences of these directors. That it ought to
visit such crimes is beyond all question, and wo
think we may say that it will soon be enabled to
do so ; but however indignant we may feel at the
audacity of the fraud, we must be content with the
redress which the actual state of the law may
afford. Two grounds have been suggested on
which it is thought that the prosecution ought to
succeed. One of these is greatly relied on by the
bankruptcy commissioner, and is supported in his
elaborate judgment by a formidable array of legal
authorities. The substance of his reasoning is 4s
follows :—The Banking Act enacts that the deed
of partnership of every company incorporated
under it shall contain certain provisions for the
oonduet of their business. The deed of the Royal
British Bank was accordingly framed with the pre-
scribed clauses. The governing body has syste-
matically violated many of the directions which
weie thus, in pursuance of the statute, in-
serted in their deed of constitution. The
breach of these itegntations is, according to
Mr. Commissioner Holroyd, equivalent to the
breach of an express injunction of the
statute itself, and the breach of a steatite of a
Public character is punishable as a misdemeanour.
Without entering into a tedious legal discussion,
we may venture to doubt whether these positions
can be sustained. Even if they were sound in law,
the real offence of the directors WAS not that they
neglected certain specific regulations in their Char-
ter, which might be done, by many companies,
without any serious moral criminality at all. The
guilt charged is that of swindling the shareholders
and the public, and if this cannot be reached by
punishment, it would be but a poor satisfaction to
convict the directors of some technical offence
which may have been one of the least im-
porzant items in the catalogue of their misdeeds
A much more promising view of the possibilities of a
successful prosecution is that which rests on the
doctrine of conspiracy. The English law, which
in all other respects is remarkable for its rigidity,
seems to forget its own principles when it contem-
plates the crime of conspiracy. Nothing can be
more elastic than the definitions of this offence,
and while multitudes of grave wrongs are left
untouched by punishment, if committed by a
single criminal, there is scarcely an injury which
results from the concerted action of two or
three associates which may not be brought within
the scope of the criminal law. Even on a eharee
of this description, the fact that the concert between
the offenders may be attributed to the position
which they occupied as co-directors, independently
of any fradulent scheme, may possibly throw some
difficulty in the way of the prosecution. There
can be no doubt, however, as to the propriety of
at least attempting to bring such flagrant offenders
to punishment. The received 111476111, that a
government prosecution ought not to be .attempted
without something like a certainty of a successful
issue, is reasonable enough when applied to charges
of treason or sedition, where the failur of the
Attorney-General would give a dangerous triumph
to the disaffected party, against whose leaders the
prosecution !nay have been directed. But in the
present case there is no riek of overmuch exulte-
Lion, even in the event of an acquittal, and a very
moderate prospect of securing a convictioe is
sufficient to justify the th most efforts of the
government to ('heck, by a salutary example, the
rapidly increasing development of commercial
fraud.---Satarday Review