The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-16 00:00:00

BANK OF ENGLAN
MEETIN G.
(THIS DAY.)

The Quarterly General Court of Directors and Pro-
prietors of the Bank of England for considering of a
Dividend, took place this clay. At twelve o'clock the
Chair was taken by Sir WILLIAM PELLY, Governor of
the Bank.
The minutes of the last General Meeting having been
read,
The GOVERNOR said the present was a Quarterly Ge 7
neral Court, and one of the half-yearly meetings to con-
sider of a dividend ; and he had to inform the Court
that the Directors, having considered the state of the
Bank accounts, were of opinion that a dividend should
be made, if that Court thought proper, of three-and -
a-half per cent. interest and profit for the last half year,
ending the 10th October next. He had the pleasure
further of informing them that the dividend was taken
wholly out of the profits of the half-year, aryl that a
surplus remained to be added to the old rest of 7,72E1.—
(Hear, hear.) .
The question that a dividend of 81 per cent. be mr4l
was then put.
In answer to a proprietor the GOVERNOR said_ the
amount of the rest at present was 2,862,066/.
Mr. YOUNG thought the proprietors were entitled to
know something of the affairs of the Bank,, because upon
the manner in which their affairs were managed depended
the increase or diminution of their dividend. He suggested,

therefore, that as a Finance Committee was likely to
be appointed by th. House of Commons, it be-
came the duty of the Company to afford all the infor-
mation in their power. Every Proprietor of the Com-
pany must have felt the depreciation of their stock re-
sulting feom the last charter. He as an humble indivi-
dual had raised his voice against it, as he foresaw that
that Company would be made the scape-goat. He
trusted, therefore, that that important subject would be
fiuirly considered through the medium of -the Court of
Directors. They were entitled to be heard, not only for
themselves, but for the community at large. He
considered the interests of the Company as bound
up with those of the public, and the advantages
which they were able to confer on the public at
large would be followed by increased profits
to themselves. Having made these few observations, he
begged to ask whether they had sustained any further
losses through the means of discounting, and to what
amount ?

The GOVERNOR hardly knew what the Hon. Pro-
prietor meant. There had been some losses from dis-
counting bills, but the general profits of the half-year
enabled them to make the dividend he had stated.
Mr. YOUNG said there was no doubt that if they had
no losses their profits would have been larger ; but he
would ask a question which was uppermost in his mind,
and he had no doubt that of many other Hon. Proprie-
tors ; had there been any losses to the Company from
the defalcation of Directors ?

The GOVERNOR—None whatever.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. CooK was proceeding to make some observations
upon an important document, a coot'• of which he had
sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when
The GOVERNOR reminded the Hon. Proprietor, that
the question before the Court was the dividend. Did the
Hon. Gentleman mean to make any amendment to that
motion ?
Mr. CooK said he did not.

The GOVERNOR said they had beau, then, dispose of
the question in the first instance, and then they would'
hear what he had to say.
Mr. Trtompsox wished to ask one or two questions, and
on the answers would depend whether he would move
any amendment. They were called there to consider of
a dividend, and were asked to agree to it without five
minutes' consideration. He wished to know whether the
profit from the discount busineSs was not greater than it
had been for some years past.
The G OVERNOR said it varied.

Mr. THOMPSON—Have there not been large bills drawn
on parties in Dundee and Riga which have been disho-
noured ?

The GOVERNOR said that occurred before the present
half year.

ThomPsoN asked whether a person named John
Henry Barton, who had lately failed on the Stock Ex-
change, was not indebted to the Bank 18,00 C/. ?
The GOVERNOR—I never even heard of his name.---:
(Hear, and a laugh.)

Mr. TnomPsoisi then moved, and another Proprietor
seconded, an amendment to the effect that the dividend
be four per cent.
The amendment was negatived, and the original mo-
tion was carried unanimously.
The GOVERNOR announced that the dividend warrants
would be payable on the 11th of October.
Mr. Cool E then resumed, but, from the noise made
by Proprietors leaving the Court, his first observations
were inaudible where we sat. Charged as they were as
the authors of public mischief, it was the duty of some
Director to come forward and repel such charges ; but
while the Proprietary were sinking deeper and deeper, all
the gentlemen on the other side of the bar re-
mained as if spell-bound. He contended that if
there had been any blunders, they arose from
Treasury or Government blunders, or from the exigen-
cies of the times; the whole conduct of the Bank had
been intended for the benefit of the country at large. If
losses had been incurred, and no doubt they had,
the Proprietors had a right to see whose hands
had been dipped in the Treasury : they had a right
to see the bullion account. But, no; the Directors
were only responsible to the Government of the coun-
try, and, unfortunately, they set the Proprietors et
defiance. The present Charter, he did not say it was in-
tended to be so, but it was a cheat on the Proprietors—
it ought not to have been accepted—the Institution
ought to have received compensation first. Had the
Government dared to treat the India House or the West
India interest in the manner they had treated the Bank?
—(Hear, hear.) In ans‘‘ yr to that, look at the price of
Bank Stock and India Stock at the present moment, and
he would ask was it wise for the Government to play the
stepmother, and make chalk of the one and cheese of the
other? The Bank of England had saved the country—it
had enabled the Government to strike down a tyrant, and
save the homes and hearths of the people, and was she
now to be thrown aside as one who was now useless? Was
that justice ? Was it justice to take away the substra-
tum of their prosperity upon a mere doubt? So im-
portant a thing was ,Bank Stock considered, that
it was treated as real property, in requiring
three witnesses to its transfer by will ; and, if it were
thought necessary to destroy it, surely some compensa-
tion ought to have been afforded to the holders of it.
The Stock had been treated as if it had been the bubble
of a set of swindlers. He would beseech the-Proprietors
to read the correspondence.:

A PROPRIETOR rose to Order. He wished to know if
the Hon. Proprietor intended to conclude with a motion?
Mr. COOKE thought it would be highly impolitic in
him to conclude with a motion. The Hon. Proprietor
was proceeding when he was interrupted by
The GOVERNOR, who said that as he did not intend to
conclude with a motion, he was not in order in continu-
ing his observations unless the Proprietors wished to
hear him.

Mr. CooKE was entirely in the hands of the Proprie-
tors.

A PROPRIETOR, to bring the question to an issue,
would move that the Court do now adjourn.
Another PROPRIETOR understood Mr. Cooke's object
to be to press upon the Directors the necessity of urging
on the Government that some compensation should be
given to the Proprietors if it was intended to depreciate
the value of the Bank Stock.

The CHAIRMAN was not aware of any such intention
on the part of the Government. The Proprietors might
be assured that' the Directors would pay every atten-
tion to the care of their interests. The Second Re-
port of the Committee of the House of Commons was
published that day, and Hon. Proprietors who read that
and the former report must be aware that the Directors
had furnished every necessary information, and had done
every thing in their power to protect the interests con-
fided to their care.
Mr. COOKE considered the establishnient had been
greatly injured by suffering others to establish Joint-
Stock Banks, without giving the holders of Bank Stock
compensation. Ile would not further trespass on the
time of the Proprietors, but he had thought it his duty
to mention the subject to the Court.
A PROPRIETOR considered the only injury the esta-
blishment had suffered, and for which they were entitled
to compensation, was the reduction from 8 per cent. to
3 per cent. Eight per cent. had been guaranteed by
Act of Parliament, giving the Government annuity of
100,0001. a year. In 1841, the Bank had given up that
100,0001. a year for the renewal of their Charter of pri-
vileges, and the consequent reduction for 8 per cent.
then oplace, but he considered that when the term
for which the Charter had been renewed had expired,
then the annuity of 100,0001. had revived, and that
the Bank Proprietors were certainly entitled to
it, because the payment of that annuity had
been secured to them by Parliament, until the re-
payment of the sums lent by the Bank to the Nation
should take place. That was the only injury they had
suffered that he was aware of. Ile did not consider
they had been so much injured by Joint-stock Banks as
by the laxity of their own Proprietors, who might, if
they chose to exert themselves, and to communicate in-
formation to the Directors, greatly increase the business
of the Bank.
The minutes of the proceedings were then read, and
the Court adjourned.

FATAL ACCIDENT.—Yesterday morning a
shocking accident happened in Walwerth to a child named
Woodward, aged between 13c and seven years of age. While
paging the road in East-street, the caiman of a cart belonging
to Mr. J. Page, of Greenwich, was driving through the street,
when the child was struck down by the horse, and the wheel
passed over Ler chest. '1 he child had only time to say where
she lived, when she fainted away, and was immediately carried
to the shop of Mr. Howitt, a surgeon, in Apollo-buildings.
All attempts, however, to asve life were in vain, and the child
expirid atter a few minutes' suffering.
CONSTANTINOPLE, AUG. 25.--Last week
the Turkish steamer Peeki Schewlet departed from this
port for Soda, with a sabre of honour for Tahir Pacha,
and several decorations for officers who particularly dis-
tinguished themselves in the late expeditions against the
Candian insurgents. The Tairi Bahri has since arrived
in this port, with highly satisfactory accounts from
Candia.

NEW MODE OF ADMINISTERING THE LAW•
—The following case, which needs no comment, is from
the Sixth Report of the Inspectors of prisons :—" A
complaint was made to me by a criminal prisoner, of
being illegally detained in custody-, be stating that he
had, in the first instance, been committed for trial a►
the Sessions, and after a lapse of some days, was called
up by the keeper,. and told that he had been summarily
convicted and adjudged to twelve months' imprisonment.
After due inquiry, this case was referred to the Secre-
tary of State, who directed his discharge."