The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-01-09 00:00:00

MEXICAN COMPANY.

On &limier, in 'lnnovate of a public advertisement, • meeting
of the Shareholders of the Mexican campany was held tit the 1,,0n.
don Tavern, in consequence of no gasser hewing been returned *obi'
requisition signed by 41 of them, to the Ihieetore, requiring
statement of their afi.Ors. as well as a meeting to consider whether
the concern ought to proceed further, of not. Not move than a
couple of dozen gentlemen attended nn Sotunliv. Mr. Slane was
called to the Chair, and he briar stated the object of the *meeting.
Mr. CLARK lamented the course which had been pursued by the

Directors on the present oemsion, and more particularly the sb..
gems of any of them to meet the shareholders who complained of
their conduct. Had sty of these gentlemen attended, be would
!Are charged them with-having infringed their duty, aod.having
acted unjustly and illegally. By their confession they mutt have
admitted this to be the feet, for they had gone to work as if a Clan-
party had boon established, when, in point of feet, the thing was
only in progress. There mild not, in fact, be any. Compaq
legally establisired, until their ten thousand shares ware entirely
disposed of. Now it appeared that there wale only 8,695 shares
upon which deposits had been paid, and of fire remaining 130te
none were disposed of.. 'Even upon the former, the money was not
paid by beim fide responsible people, rho had originally purchased,
but by the Directors and others, who had subsequently and illegally
trafficked In the market. &Ades, the Directors had gone to work
without waiting to see whether the whole capital of a million stet.
ling was forthcoming ; they had most ll:egally and improperly
made shipments to Mexico of quicksilver to the value 0125,0001.
of doubloons (which, instead of being sent out, ought to be coming
from thence) to the amouns of. 6,0001. ; and other investments.
' chiefly spices, to the extent of three or four thousand pounds. AID
this was, he contended, illegal, and done, r.ot on the responsibility
of the shareloilders, but of the Directors personally. The nest
thing to be considered was, whether there was any likelihood of that
concern being carried on. indeed begun was the proper word, in the
present. way in which she stoves were disposed of ? Of the ',Shy
shares upon which deposits remained unpaid, there were 305 lying
at the office absolutely unappropriated. It wits also underooud,
that 1,000 shares were originally resorted for people in Mexico,
whose aid on the spot it was desirable to encourage. Now, his
asked whether any of these people had applied for these shares
The truth was, that none of them had made any application, for the
Mexicans knew. the speculation to be a bad on and fought shy
of it—and it was time for those at home to imitate their example.
The next point war the deed of settlement which the shareholders
were called upon to sign ; he had only partially read it, and this ke
would say, that it contained a clause, or clauses, which would throw
a monopoly of the rights of the shareholders into the hands of the
Directors, and would secure. most iujurioosly to the many,- a est-
tain predominance of rights to the few. (Hear.) He concluded by
moving a resolution expressive of the regret of the meeting that the
Director' had not complied with the requisition which had been
Submitted to diem. ' •

. M. Kittoux.(tbe Solicitor for the Directors] regretted his ab-
sence during the °petting of Mr. Clark's Kneed), and slid that he
(Mr. Knight, appeared• here merely in his capacity as a Share-
holder, and not in that of his legal connection with tie Company.
He condemned the conduct.msesnedby a law shareholders towanis
the Directors, and declared that.the latter, upod whom be pro•
nounced a high eulogium, had.done everything which they entdd to
promote the general interests of .the concern. He challenged .anr
gentleman who heard him to state one sohtary instance in which the
Directors had no. done every thing in behalf of their common 'pro-
sperity. As an instance of the disinterestedness of these gentle.
men, he could state that, when it was necessary to give 200
shares to a gentleman who could be of great use to them in
Mexico, they, instead of taking the number out of the 1.090 n-
eared for local interests in America, ,actually gave them from
their own individ?al stock, at a time went in the market these
ehares were saleable at a profit of ten or, twelve per cent. He was
proceeding to eulogize their conduct, and complain of the false
attacks upon them in the public) press, when
Mr. JAMES Yoe: v 4 called bim to order, and insisted, that in-
stead of a general argument, he ought to confine himself to a
particular explanation why the Directors had refused to cone's*
the meeting.
After some desultory conversation on the poitrt cf order,
Mr. KNtGur resumed. and said, that by the terms of the
prospectus, the deed had been framed, and the Directors were
bound by it. They had no powers to convenes meeting till the first
Thursday in May, when all. the accounts would be ready for pub-
lication. The Directors 11ad no right to Le called upon to report'.
ate their own legal acts, in strict conformity with the principles en
which the concern had been established, at.d by which the Share-
holders were equally bound.
The CHAIRAIAN pointed out the difference in the construction
of the Mexican and other Mining Companies, and wished to know
why there war a peculiarity in this concern, which threw more
power than the other, into the hands of Directors.

Mr. KNIGHT explained, that in vocal of the other Companies
there were bmt twelve Threetort, *bite in this there were timer.

The Trustees were Invested will; certain power, but that was be-
cause a greater additional Weight of personal responsibility was
thrown upon them than in other concerns. lie knew or no other
distinctions.

Mr. Huneousg disclaimed any intention of imputing dia.
honourable conduct to any Of the Directors, who were he believed.
men of character and respectability In the commercial world ; but
he professionally attended for some Shareholders, who certainly
disapproved of the manner In which the main of this Company
had been managed. lie would, upon the law of the -ase, con-
tend, that they ought not to Me etitbarked in the large expena
diture attributed to them, until they saw whether they could ob-
tain the full capital originally stipulated for. De denied that
there was any thing in the pro+pectu■ which tied up the hands of
the Directors from calling a public meeting. He saw, indeed.
that they were bound to convene one in May, but they were not ,
restricted from having an intermediate meeting, if called for. He
also denied the legal power of the Directors to trade as they bad
done, by making investments to Mexico, out of the capital which
had been partially subscribed.
Mr. KNIGHT insisted t:tat that Directors had acted legally,' aM
with the best attention to the general interest of the Conwany...•
The Resolution was then put and negatived by a majority of
three.

Mr. KNIGHT said, that now the Resolution wasnegatived he
was prepared to say, still speaking as an individual, that miry gime.
holders would find the Directors individually ready to give them
any explanation, or information they dotted, and that two of the
gentlemen who had actually signed the Requisition to colt the
meeting had subsequently, upon communication with the Chair-
man of the direction, gone and signed the deed of settlement, tw
satisfied were they of the propriety of the course that had been
taker.

In answer to questions from llr. guroombe, Mr. KITICIRT
that all the shares originally provided had been appropriated except.
the 1,000 which had been set aside for people in America, and there
were also 315 other shares, not unappropriated, but the dividend►'
wipaid upon. There were shipments of quickailver, &c. made td
Mexico, but they were, all he understood and believed, In direst
connection with and in promotion of the mining speculations of the
Company. He could also assure the meeting that by the very last
accounts they had one or two of the best mines in Mexico at work,
and in consequence of their crouton, in being later there than
of the other Companies, they had got the best and most sedate'
places, having bad good time for inquiry, and had also ayoldett
the errors of those who hail gone before them. He had no doubt
that their shares, instead of being at a discount, resold soon ride
a premium.
A Committee was then deputed to wait upon the Directors, to
receive the information which it was said they were nut ',duetting,.
Ito afford, when individualiy applied to.
Mr. Vous(' was strongly in favour of the application to the.
Directors, as he thought further information was both neeessere
and essential, before they ought to be called upon to sign the deed
of settlement.
Mr. KNIGHT thorght that every information would be given
and indulgence ill:wiled respecting the extension of the time or
signing the deed. consistent with any reasonable claim upon lbw
attention of the Directors.
The meeting then broke up.

SINGULAR APCLICATION.—On Monday hat It men-
sional gentleman of this town (Brighton) applied to our
Bench, under the following circumstances :—lfe had, hi.
said, a short time ago deposited in the hands of one of tbst;
banking firma of this town ten bills of exchange, in order
to their being presented for payment when due;
ously, however, to that wiled, the 11tm in question hack
stopped payment, upon which he, the professional gengle.
man, had demanded the giving up or-his bills • which de.
mend had been refused. The object, therefore, of the
professional gentleman's application to the Bench was, to
procure the interference of the Magistrate, on the ground
that the detention of his bilis by the banking firm roses
fraudulent one, according to the Act 51 Geo. Il I. cap. 63,
and that on his laying an information to that effect the
liene'a would be justified in granting him a warrens
against the parties for the recovery of his property. 114
had obtained, he said, counsel's opinion on the subjts;
and which was decidedly in favour of his application.
A legal gentleman, on behalf of the firm alluded to, oh.
served, in reply, that it was true ten bills of exchange had
been placed in the hands of his clients, for the purpcss
which had been slated, but that they could not possibly
give the said bills up, because, in the first place, it would
be showing an undue preference to a particular creditor,
and because, in the second place, it would he committiose
an act of bankruptcy, which it was the anxious desire of
his clients to avoid doing ; they were, however, willing tt
do every thing in their power, and, in proof of thio, they
had anthorisell him to make a preposition, vii.:—to de.
posit the bills in question in the hands of the clerk of dni.
Magistrates, or any other respectable person. To this
proposition the applicant declined acceding ; and dlia
Bench, after expressing doubts of their power to interfireo,
at the wish of the complaining party, postponed their tie.
mate decision of the cause until a future day. ireender-
*toad that the ea* will 'again'. be brought forward skim
this day or Monday next.—Briersa lier#4