The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-12 00:00:00

DEATH OP MR; J. W. GILEART, P.R. a

The bankers and merchants of London will regret
to hear of the death of Mr. Janne William Gilbart,
F.t.S,, for a nuarter of a century the able and
successful manager at the Loudon and Westminster
Bank, and the man who did more than any one
else to establish, organise, and popularise the joint-
stock system.

Mr. Gilbart came of a Cornish family, but was
was born in London March 21, 1794. Failing
in obtaining a Government appointment, he be
came clerk in a London bank in 1813, one of these
banks which suffered and collapsed during the panic
of 1825. While a clerk he took an active part in
the Athenian Debating Society with the late Right
Hon. M. T. Baines, Q.C., M.P., Mr. Edward
Baines, M.P., Mr. Edwin Chadwick, C. 8., and Mr.
Baron Channell. He also was connected with the
Union Society, of which Mr. J. S. Mill and Lord
Macaulay were members, and did much to found
the City of London Literary and Scientific Institute.
He also found time to write articles for various
periodicals—" The Preacher and the Platform'
(1822-3), and a remarkable answer to Cobbett's
book on the Reformation, pointing out the various
social benefits of the Reformation.

Having been from 1825 to 1827 a cashier in a
Birmingham office, and having, in 1826, delivered
an interesting course of lectures on the philosophy
of history, Mr, Gilbart returned to London in the
latter year, and acquired some fame from his
" Practical Treatise on Banking," with reference
to the evidence delivered by London and county
bankers before the Parliamentary committee
appointed to consider the propriety of
the suppression of notes under £5. Re-
moved to Kilkenny as manager of the Kilkenny
branch of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, Mr. Gil-
bart contributed various papers on banking to the
local papers ; and from 1829 to 1833 held a similar
office of higher importance at Waterford, where he
established a literary and scientific institution, and
showed his unflagging energy in delivering lectures
on all sorts of subjects.

On the 10th of October, 1833, fir. Gilbart entered
into an engagement with the directors of the London
and Westminster Bank, which was opened on the
10th of the following March. This pioneer of the
numerous joint-stock banks, now so flourishing and
popular, had to face the apathy and distrust of the
public and the active hostility of the Bank of Eng-
land. In 1836 the Bank of England obtained an
injunction against the London and Westminster,
prohibiting it from accepting any bills drawn at less
than six months after date, and hoped to destroy the
new bank's country connection by this means. But
Mr. Gilbart had seen, when in Ireland, the Bank of
Ireland drawing bills on the Bank of England with-
out acceptance ; and he went on a tour and persuaded
the country bankers to adopt the same course. In
the following year he was a witness before the com-
mittee on joint-stock banks, which had presented a
hostile report in 1836, but had been reappointed ;
and. in 1838, formed an association of joint-stock
banks with a committee of deputies, which found
ready access to Lord Monteagle, then Chancellor of
the Exchequer, who had been a director of one of the
Irish provincial banks when Mr. Gilbart was mana-
ger. In 1844, when Sir Robert Peel renewed his
B'nk charter, Mr. Gilbart procured tne insertion of
a clause, allowing joint-stock banks the power of
suing by their public officer, and also the right of
accepting bills at less tha❑ six months' date.
In 1846 (June 18) Mr. Gilbart received the dis-
tinguished honour of being elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society, being vouchad for by Lord Mont-
eagle, Mr. Tite, M.P., Mr. G. R. Porter, &e., ai "a
gentleman attached to science and anxious to pro-
mote its progress." In the same year he received a
handsome service of plate from the directors and
shareholders of joint-stock banks. The year following
he wrote the history of his own bank, and by his
advice his board opened branches in Holborn, South-
wark, Oxford-street, and Whittchape;. In 1854
joint-stock banks were at length admitted to the
London clearing house. I❑ 1859 Mr. Gilbart re-
tired from office on a pension of £1,500 a-year, with
a seat at the board of directors, and received a
splendid testimonial. In the International Congress
of July, 1869, he was on the committee of the section
of commercial statistics, and read a paper on the
statistics of English banks.

He was admitted a corresponding member of the
New York Historical Society in 1850, and was on
the council of tiie statistical and otb.er societies.
Mr. Gilbart had dabbled in authorship for more
than 40 years with considerable success. Besides
the works above-named may be mentioned his
" Logic for the Million," and "Logic for the Young,"
valuable, spiritedly written, and popular works;
banking in Ireland, banking in America; various
articles signed "Nehemiah," in the columns of the
Morning Herald, on joint•stock banks ; articles in
the Banker's Magazine, the Atlas, and various other
periodicals.

FREN CH NAVAL PREPARATIONS.—We observe
that the French Government is preparing for any
emergency that may arise out of the Polish question, in the
event of diplomacy failing to provide a pacific solution. We
read in the Dore de la .Iltanche, a naval journal published
at Cherbourg, that a ministerial despatch has been addressed
to the Maritime Prefect requiring to be informed as to the
time necessary for the ships in reserve to be got ready and
fully equipped for sea. These ships are 27 in number, of
various ratings, and comprise l'Austerlitz, le Bayard, la
Ville-de Nantes, l'Arcole, le Tage, and le Fontenot' (screw
liners) ; la Clorinde, la Souveraine, la Forte, l'Audacieuse
and la Cleopatra (frigates) ; le Beaumanoir, l'Agile, and
alivier (brigs) , la Marne ; la Durance, la Ni‘vre, la Gi.
ronde and le Calvados (transports) ; le Lucifer, to
la Sentinelle, le Lamothe-Piquet (despatch vessels) ; La
Fond royante (floating battery), and le Phiegeton, la Bayou-
nsise, and l'Arteroise (corvettes). The Maritime Prefect,
Viscount de Chabannes, lett Cherbourg for Paris on the
28th ultimo, and the Emperor is expected to arrive at Cher-
bourg on Monday next. The Batinsents Cuirasses, or iron-
clads are expected to rendezvous at that port, and there are
already in the roadstead la Normandie, l'lnvincible, and le
Solferino ; the Magenta is also daily expected to arrive there
from Brest. Vice-Admiral Charles Penaud has been ap-
pointed to command the iron-clads, and he will hoist his flag
on board the Normandie. We learn also from a French naval
source that the "spur," or projecting stem, of the steam
rams is to be submitted to a severe test, with a view to ascer-
tain its practical utility, and this is a most important point
respecting which (at least as regards many of the most
essential conditions of this method of warfare) our know-
ledge is of a purely theoretical character, but it is ques-
tionable, owing to the reticence of French officials in these
matters, whether England will be permitted to derive anY
advantage from their experience. A private correspondence
from Paris states that there will be a review of the iron-
clads at Cherbourg, and that there will also be comparative
trials between the ships of various types which constitute
the new iron squadron ; but these trials will only take place
in the presence of the Minister of Marine, who is expected
at Cherbourg, accompanied by
a specialcommission,
com-
posed of M. Dupuy de Lome, director of navald works, and
two general officers of the fleet. M. Dupuy Lome will
be the chairman of the commission, which is instituted to
take into consideration the results of the various trials of
the iron squadron. The question is, of course, one of great
practical importance, and our own Board of Admiralty
ought to follow the example of the Marine Department of
the French Government.--Hampshire Telegraph,
INTERESTING DISCOVERY IN ARGYLESHIRE.—A
cavern similar to those found in I A
land and on the
continent, containing osseous remains of men and of lower
animals, has lately been discovered on the property of Mr.
John Malcolm, of Poltalloek. By the liberality of that gen-
tleman the cavern has been fully explored, and its contents
carefully collected by the Rev. Messrs. Mapleton and Mac-
bride, These contents consist of the remains of men, of
other animals, and shells of edible shellfish. The only article
of manufacture found in it was a small celt, a flint flake;
and the only domestic utensil was a scallop shell, or pecten
maximus —the shell used by the ancient Colts as a drinking
vessel, The cavern was evidently used as a place of resi-
dence, for beneath the cave stuff, or debris, was found ashes,
bits of charred wood, and bones, a flint pebble for striking
fire, and stones, which, from their form and position, seemed
to have served for seats. When first discovered, the human
remains were supposed to have been those of persons who
had fled there for shelter when tho adjacent country was
laid waste by fire and sword during the ruthless raid of
Alister M'Coll Citto. '1 he absence, however, of metal
weapons and culinary vessels—both which were of univer-
sal use in the days of this scourge of Argyleshire, and which
undoubtedly would have been conveyed by thejefugees to
their place of concealment—and the presence of celts and
scallop shells, seem to disprove this opinion, and to point to
a much higher antiquity for its inhabitants. What seems
to confirm this opinion is the fact that many of the bones,
teeth, shells are as.firmly embedded in a calcareous matrix
as are the fossil remains in the lies and carboniferous lime-
stone. Mr. Macbride is engaged in examining its contents
and preparing a report on the subject, which, it is to be
hoped, will throw additional light on the history of this in-
teresting cavern and of its interesting occupants.—Glasgow
Herald.