The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-07 00:00:00

The Missing Polish Bonds,

On Friday afternoon Mr. Leverson, solicitor, of St.
Helen's-place, Bishopsgate, applied to Mr. Alderman Beg-
ley, at Guildhall, for a warrant to apprehend Mr. IN illiam
Sharp, of the firm of W. and H. P. Sharp, of 92, Gresham-
house, Old Broad-street, solicitors to the Russian Govern-
ment, on the charge of stealing certain land bonds, to the
value of £27,500. Mr. Alderman Begley, on hearing Mr.
Leverson, declined to issue a warrant upon an ex parte
statement in such an important matter, and directed an in-
timation to be communicated to Mr. Sharp that the appli-
cation would be renewed on Saturday morning, and the
warrant issued in the absence of any explanation. On Sa-
turday, therefore, Mr. AV. Sharp attended, accompanied by
M. de Berg, the Russian Consul-General, and Mr. Poland
the banister.

Mr. Martin (chief clerk) read the following deposition :
—" The information and complaint of Stanislas Foerster, of
59, Rupert-street, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman,
&c., saith, On the 2d day of March instant I went to the
office of 'William Sharp, of 92, Gresham-house, in the City
of London, to whom I was introduced as a person who would
cash for tee certain notes of the Credit Foncier of the king-
dom of Poland, to the value of 160,000 roubles of silver
Russian currency. That I produced to the said Wm. Sharp
at his request the said notes for the purpose of examining
the same, when the said William Sharp took violent pos-
session of the same, and refused to return them to me,
alleging that he took the same on account of the Russian
authorities, under whose orders he pretended to act. That,
after a considerable time, being unable to re-obtain the said
notes, I left the office of the said William Sharp for the
purpose of obtaining legal assistance, and on ray return the
said William Sharp was denied to me by the clerk, and al-
though I have since been repeatedly to the said office, the
said William Sharp has been denied to me, and I verily be-
lieve that he is keeping out of the way to avoid my giving
him into custody.'"
Mr. Leverson—As I informed you yesterday, these bonds
are the property of Mr. LeLnaire, a manufacturer of guns,
of Liege, who holds a large quantity of similar securities, a
portion of which (those in question) he entrusted to his
agent, Mr. Stanislas Foerster, to bring to this country for
the purpose of negotiating. The Russian Government
choose to call them stolen property, but the fact of the
matter is that these bonds have been taken as spoil in the
course of the war between the people of the Polish nation and
the Russian Government. That the Russian Government
have considered them as the spoils of war cannot be doubted,
as they have levied a tax upon the whole kingdom to re-
place the deficiency caused by the loss of them; and, in
falling into the hands of the Polish belligerents, I again
assert that they are the property of Mr. Lemaire ; that he
received them in payment of guns supplied, and I am wil-
ling to admit, to a people in arms against the Russian Go-
vernment, and that he has sent them to this country for
negotiation, the coupons being actually like bank notes,
but payable at a specified date instead of on demand, and
bearing interest in the meantime. I have repeatedly en-
deavoured to see Mr. Sharp, and it is with great reluctance
I found it necessary to apply tor a warrant against him, but
I am glad he has rendered that course now unnecessary. I
have endeavoured to show you, sir, that no order of the
Russian Government can justify the commission of a felony,
neither can anv order of the Russian consul, who is the
brother of the notorious General de Berg, justify the spolia•
tion of my client. Mr. Foerster, in attempting to negotiate
these bonds, was referred to Mr. Sharp, who first asked to see
them, and then, thter comparing the numbers with a list in
his own possession, put them in his pocket, by which act the
felony was c anplete ; although after some altercation Mr.
Foerster obtained from Mr. Sharp an acknowledgment in
writing, it must be borne in mind that Mr. Sharp is a soli-
citor, and that he brought his knowledge and ability to bear
upon a foreigner ignorant of our language and our laws, and
gave him the receipt already alluded to with the view of
purging the felony. That, however, I submit, would not be
held to be a condonement of the offence previously completed
—at all events, it would not be a question for this court to
decide; for in the case of the " Queen v. Bernard," the
Lord Chief Justice, in charging the jury, told them that
questions of law would arise with which they would have
nothing to do, as in the event of a conviction these points
would be raised before the Court of Criminal Appeal, and
upon that he directed the jury to find the bill and leave the
questions of law for another court. Now you, sir, are in the
position of the grand jury, and I ask you, upon the dictum
of the Lord Chief Justice who tried the above case, to com-
mit Mr. Sharp for trial on this charge.
Alderman Besley—You have charged this gentleman
with a felony ; and although it is admitted before me that
he is in possession of the bonds, there is no pretence for
such a charge. Ido not see any of the elements of a felony
in the case on your own showing, and I am therefore
bound to dismiss the charge.

Mr. Poland—The charge is dismissed upon the opening
statement for the prosecution, and I have now, sir, an ap-
plication to make with regard to soma of the parties before
you. This does appear to ace to be a case of very grave im-
portance in a great commercial community like this of the
city of London, and 1 therefore feel it necessary to lay before
you the facts relating to they bonds. In June, 1863, the
Russian Bank Treasury at Warsaw was broken into, and a
large number of bonds, some of which are the subject of the
present proceedings, were stolen. I believe the total value
of the bonds stolen was about 4500,000. The government of
Russia, having ascertained the number of the stolen notes,
and being responsible for the payment of them, gave notice
to the public generally, in order to protect innocent people
from being defrauded, that they would not pay these bonds.
The bonds are useless to us, and useless to the parties now
applying for them, except for the purposes of fraud. We
have them in court, and are willing to deposit them with
you, sir, or any officer of the court—but we will not allow
any one to make a market of such valueless paper, by cir-
culating it amongst persons who are ignorant of its real
character. We have adopted this course to protect the in-
nocent; and I now ask you to deal with Mr. Foerater and
Mr. llernisz under the Police Act, for the unlawful posses-
sion of stolen property. You will have before you the facts
that they did not take these bonds to a regular stockbroker,
and h
theyethaartgeof
uhnalvaewrfeuflused to give any account of them. I
therefore ask for a summons against those parties to answer
the
shalle
niai
ascer-
tainro
if these bonds are bopnoassreotnheapnrodptehrteyn weof mr. L
of Liege, and have come fairly into the possession of these
people, or if their present account is all a fiction.
Alderman Besley—l shall grant the summonses applied
for, in order to give your clients, Mr. Loverson, the oppor-
tunity of clearing themselves.
All parties then retired, Mr. `harp retaining possession
of the bonds.

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