The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-18 00:00:00

DESPA7CH OF M. D_ROUYN DE LHUPS
TO 7HE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT:

In order properly to appreciate the bearing of
this important document which we publish to-day
in a textual translation, it is indispensable that
Nye should add some facts which are not known
beyond diplomatic, circles. When the Minister of
the King of Italy at the Court of the Tuileries
remitted, on the 19th of September last, to M.
Thouvenel the circular of General Durando, dated
the 10th of September, the Emperor Napoleon was
at Biarritz. The Minister for Foreign Affairs
hastened to send to his Majesty the circular of Gen.
Durando, when he received from Biarritz an order
to confine himself, as the only answer to M. Nigra,
to simply acknowledging its receipt. M. Nigra
having been invited to the fetes on occasion of the
marriage of the Queen of Portugal, endeavoured,
before his departure for Turin, to obtain another
and longer reply. By order of the Emperor M.
Thouvenel announced to him that the French reply
would appear within a few dap; in the Moniteur,
This was the cause of the publication of the letter
of the Emperor, dated the 20th May, and of dis-
patches relative tboreto written by M. Thouvenel
and the MarquAstavalette, inserted in the Moniteur
bf the 25th of September last. That publication
showed WA essential divergence of opinion between
the ErAperor and M. Thouvenel. While his Ma-
jesty set forth in his letter the, point of df-Tarture of
'negotiation for the solution of the Roman question,
M. Thouvenel wished to consider the Imperial letter
us an ultimatum,. The Cabinet of 'Turin understood
so well that difference in its political consequences
that, after the publication of the Moniteur, it drew
up a second despatoh, dated the Bth of October, des-
tined to lessen the bad impression which the circular
of General D urando had produced in the mind of
the Emperor of the French.
It wp..6 on the subject of the reply to be made to
the c;econd Italian despatch, dated the Bth October,
that the difference between the views of Napoleon
and M. Thouvenel arose.

ness would liquidate the debt. He had allowed it to
increase from time to time until at last he had been
afraid to say anything about it. That being the case
Crowther was called into the office, and told it was
impossible for him to stay ; he must quit their ser-
vice. which he did. At that time, however, Messrs.
Laing and Merridew were not aware of the manner
in which the account of Mr. Barber's had been al-
lowed to increase. The matter was investigated, and
it was found that Crowther had bought and
paid for
raw materials and Barber was debited .for that
amount, and instead of the refined material coming
back into the hands of the firm, it was found that
Crowther had eold it himself through various other
brokers, and thus diverted the money which was the
produce of those sales from reaching the hands of
Messrs. Laing and Merridew. Mr, Barber was applied
to to heed over any books which he might have re-
lative to his transactions with the prisoner, which
he did, and it was discovered that on all the refined
saltpetre which Crowther had sold Mr. Barber, he
had changed the latter fifteen per cent, which was
more than Mr. Barber got by refining it, and the
consequence was, with this large balance against him
at Messrs. Laing and Merridew's, Barber had be-
I come hopelessly insolvent, Besides these transac-
tions, it appeared that Crowther had purchased a
large quantity of worthless tartar on his own ac-
count, and sold it to the firm, and had entered it at
60s. per cwt,, it being not worth half that. He dis-
charged them of that amount by entering it as sold
to Mr. Barber, who, in refining it, found that it was
worthless, and that he had lost about £1,200 by the
transaction. This latter transaction was directly
contrary to the stipulation made with Crowther at
the time Mr. Laing engaged him. lie had been for-
metly engaged in some chemical works, and when
Mr. Laing engaged him the stipulation was that he
should entirely abstain from doing any business on
his own account, and devote himself entirely to the
interests of the firm. The prisoner passed the war-
rants over to Barber, who is insolvent, and thus the
firm had lost the whole amount, and Barber had
lost £1,200 by the inferiority of the article.
The manner in which Crowther had been enabled
to allow so large a balance to accumulate was this
—the warrants were placed, as it was thought, in
the safe keeping of the prisoner Goodburn, who,
contrary to his duty, had from time to time allowed
Crowther and Barber to withdraw the warrants,
without receiving the money for them, and thus
enabled them to defraud the firm to that amount.
Goodburn had for the last five years been keeping
the firm in ignorance of the gradually increasing
balance against Barber, and he should be in a po-
sition to prove that he was as much at Barber's
place as Crowther was. Besides which Goodburn
had actually falsified the accounts, for when Mr.
Campbell retired from the firm in 1859, he was
asked if all the accounts, and that in particular,
were good, and he said " Yes ;" and in consequence
of that Mr. Laing paid Mr. Campbell his share of
the business, including his share of Mr. Barber's ac-
count. Mr. Wontner said the case as he had at pre-
sent opened it, assumed the form of conspiracy, but
it would be a question hereafter whether the pri-
soners would not have to account for the grave
offence of larceny. He was not in a condition to
complete the case on that occasion, and he should
merely call Mr. Laing and then ask for a remand.
Mr. Seaton Laing was then sworn, and said—l
am a partner in the firm of Laing and Merridew, of
No. 39, Mincing-lane. The prisoner Crowther en-
tered my service in Jan., 1859, as market clerk. He
took the department consisting of dryialting goods,
and it was his duty to assist me generally in my
business. He was formerly engaged in some che-
mical works, and when I engaged him it was with
the most distinct underst finding he was to get rid
of his stock, &c., and not to transact any business
whatever on his own account, but to devote himself
entirely to the interests of the firm. There was no
written agreement to that effect. The prisoner
Goodburn has been in my service for upwards of 30
years. ,He came to me as a boy, and has gradually
worked himself up as head book-keeper, and was
in that capacity at the time he left, when he was
in receipt of £4OO a year. His duty was to act as
cashier, and to keep the books, including the ledger,
and I placed implicit confidence in him. All war-
rants and other securities were committed to his
charge. His instructions were not to part with any
warrants except for trivial amounts, unless he had
the money for them first, without my sanction. Iu
1853 Crowther introduced a person named Henry
Barber, who carried on some chemical works at
Jamaica-level, Bermondsey. He told me that Bar-
ber was very respectable, with moderate means, and
quite able to pay for any goods he might purchase,
but he said he might occasionally require an ad-
vance upon warrants. I told him there would be
no objection to that, but at the same time not to al•
low the account at any time to exceed £5OO. We
were to act exclusively as Mr. Barber's brokers in
the purchasing of raw and the sale of his refined
materials, and to receive 1 per cent. commission. I
told the prisoner Goodburn at the same time not to
allow the amount to exceed £5OO. During 1854 I
discovered through a client of ours that the prisoner
Crowther had been doing business on his own ac-
count. I taxed him with it, and asked him if it
was true that a quantity of saltpetre which he had
purchased of my client belonged to himself, and he
said it was quite true. I told him it was a great
shame, and he expressed deep regret, and at the
same time assured me that it was the only transac-
tion, and that it should not occur again, and begged
me to forgive him. On the faith of his word I for-
gave him. I told Goodburn how he had acted, and
also that he had promised it should not occur again.
At the end of 1859 Mr. Campbell, who was then my
partner, retired from the firm. Previously to that
I had, from time to time, asked Goodburn and
Crowther as to the state of Barber's account, and
they assured me it was in a satisfactory state. I
never was informed it had exceeded £5OO. On Mr.
Campbell's leaving me I went through the accounts
with him and Goodburn, with a view of ascertain-
ing the value of the assets in the books. Amongst
other accounts Barber's was referred to, and Good-
burn assured me that the balance was fully covered
by the securities which he held, and on the faith of
that assurance I paid Mr. Campbell his share of
the assets. Mr. Merridew joined me on the Ist of
January, 1860, and before carrying the balance to
the new firm Mr. Merridew and myself had some
conversation as to the balances to be carried over,
and we asked him to give his opinion whether they
were correct, and if we held securities to cover all
the balances. He told me there was not one doubt-
ful account in the ledger, and on that the balance
was carried forward to the firm. On the 18th of
March last Mr. Merridew made a communication
to me respecting Barber's transactions, and the re-
sult was that I told him to close the account at once.
The next morning, I believe, Goodburn left the
office before I arrived. After he had left Crowther
came to me in my office and told me Goodburn had
gone away ill, and added that he had an unpleasant
communication to make, and told me that Barber's
account was considerably overdrawn. I asked him
how that was, and how much it was overdrawn,
and he said he knew nothing at all about it, he was
not my bookkeeper. I told him he must know
something about it, but he persisted in denying it.
He said Goodburn was taken very ill in consequence
of the letter which was sent to Barber, and did not
like to face us. I and my partner went to Good-
burn's house, but we did not find him there. We
then went to Mr. Barber's, and he made some com-
munications to us, after which we returned to the
counting-house. The next day Goodburn made his
appearance at the office, and I told him to explain
to me about this account of Barber's. He said he
could make no excuse whatever. He was extremely
sorry that it had happened. This account had got
gradually worse and worse, and he had continually
drawn Crowther's attention to it, and he said he
would put it all right. The balance at last became so
large that he was afraid to tell me of it, and allowed
it to increase until it was discovered. The next morn-
ing. I called Crowther into my office, told him I had
found out that he knew all about the account, and
told him he was perfectly aware that about
the time he introduced Barber to me, he (Barber)
was indebted to him upwards of £5OO, which
he said was true ; and I charged him with
having recompensed himself immediately after
in his transactions with Barber. I told him that he
was well aware that Barber had obtained the
money from the proceeds of goods obtained from
us, aid he said he considered himself quite justified
in doing so. I told him to leave the office, and he
left the same day, and I have had no communication
with him since. Goodburn remained to arrange
the accounts, and left when he had done so. Before
he left he made out Barber's account, which I pro-
duce, which shows a balance due to us of £7,575
Os. 6d. I have since had communication with
Barber, and have received from him various books
and documents, amongst which was a book, which
I produce, with the initials "J. C." upon it.
Amongst the papers was an account, which I pro-
duce, in the handwriting of Crowther, which ap-
tpheearssa i teoebt. ewahni
eahc c
ho
eu Deathsnatpp r toI
he
chargedaovfe6 Bar-
ber ss. per barrel commission, which is £l5 per
There
cent. on the whole amount. was also a letter
in Crowther's handwriting addressed to Barber,
and in the corner there is a note, " Confirmed, S.
G.," which is in Goodburn's handwriting. The
letter was read, and related to some business trans-
actions, and to the carrying out of some arrange-
ments which had been previously made. Out,of
the balance against Barber I have since received
utghetbhaelaseeceueriistieeestiwrehliychlewste.
held.i:964 , 9,er.hleOrdein, ba yi e rdeearl iesti
LaingOe
said—The
cross-examinedliesienpein.iFsioelninmee
r hCnuerroae
nearly
lb_yt
eyhi
t every
,r
verileirrty. hass
dayi been Sleigh,
necArelel.
Mr. Sleigh said he did notf t.
carry-
ingns e, oann dbusiness
intend to go into a

lengthy cross-examination then, as it was a very
grave charge, and one which required some const-
deration as to the course to be pursued; but inas-
much as it was shown that his client was carrying-
on business in Fenchurch-street, he would ask his,
lordship to admit him to substantial bail. There
were plenty of gentlemen who were willing to come
forward.
The prisoners were remanded, and admitted to
bail, themselves in £2,000 each, and each in two
sureties of £l,OOO.