The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-24 00:00:00

THE BOY AL BRITISH BANS..

If a wretched shopboy filches a few shillings out
of his master's till for the purpose of tryinghis luck
at the Derby he may be proceeded against in a cri-
minal court and severely punished. If a gentleman
who occupies a distinguished position in the com-
mercial world, who writes M.P. after his name,
and who is probably a magistrate in his own county
steals the property of his clients by wholesale in
the character of Director of a joint-stock company,
he may snap his fingers at the unfortunate persons
whom he has so foully defrauded, and in too maul
instances reduced to ruin. Cannot a remedy be de-
vised for this state of things ? We hear it asked
on every side are there no means of consigning the
offending Directors of the Royal British Bank to
the bands ofjustice ? In the annals of commercial
fraud we have never heard or read of more outra-
geous acts of rascality than they have perpetrated
against the customers and shareholders of the
Bank. It is not worse to forge,—it is not more
criminal in every sense, save a legal one, to take
the bonds of a customer and pledge them without
his knowledge, than it is for Directors to abstract
money by thousands and tens of thousands from
the joint stock for their own private purposes. Yet
who are the men who have recently done this !
We re-copy the names which we published yester-
day, for in the absence of any direct action of the
law publicity may avail somewhat. Humphrey
Brown, Esq., M.P. for Tewkesbury, took 70,0001.;
Mr. John Gwynne, another Director, took 14,0001.;
John IVPUregor, Esq., M.P. for Glasgow, took
7,3621. ; Mr. Cameron, the secretary, took 30,0001. ;
Mr, Mullins, the solicitor, took 7,0001. ; one of
the auditors took 2,0001. Thus we find the Di-
rectors, who were answerable for the conduct of the
company's affairs—the secretary, who was it 4
hired servant and agent, bound by every tie
of duty to disclose to his employers all secrets
prejudicial to their intere=ts—and, last of all,
as ont°
of the Auditors, whose express business it W
act as a check upon the others—ail as if in a
spiracy together to defraud the customers, and the
great bulk of the shareholders who were not in"
eluded in the list of Directors. We have thus pax'
ticularised sums which collectively amount to up-.
wards of 130,0001., wrongfully abstracted for their
own private purposes from the funds of the cOnl-‘
pally by the very persons in whose probity and in-,
tegrity the company had absolutely confided.'
These transactions were tainted with every circum-
stance of fraud. They do not appear to have been
entered in the regular books which were open to'
public inspection. There was a little safe, and'
little, book locked with a little key which Mr.
Cameron, the secretary, kept in his waistcoat
pocket, and it was in this book that the real tram
actions of the company were entered. The portly
lelgers and day-books were but a blind to this
little volume, which really contained the last words
of the oracle. One set of documents was addressed
ad populism ; the other, ad clerum. The poor
spirited creature who paid in his 1001., and drew'
out his driblets of 101. and 201. as his occasion%
might require, was noted in the more imposing but
faithless records. The nian of more matured finan-
cial genius who drew out 10,0001. without having
deposited a halfpenny obtained the honours of the
little volume with the little lock.
These transactions, we say, were tainted with
the grossest fraud. They were secret. Even had
the amplest and most excellent securities been
deposited to cover the loan, no Director could in
honour have negotiated a•loan in his own behalf
unless all incidents connected with it had been
open and clear as the sun at noonday. It has
not yet appeared that such securities are forth-
coming. On the contrary, in the case of gr.
Cameronmit is expressly stated that the sea"
rities which he deposited with himself alO
not available to cover one-tenth of the loan
which he incurred. Obviously enough, unless the
present directors had hoped to obtain a loan upon
better terms than could have been obtained else:
where at the market-price of the day, they ironic'
not have slunk down secretly to the back parlour
of their own establishment, and engaged in a game
of hocus-pocus with their own secretary at the ex-
pense of their clients. This we say upon the KlP-
position that they did actually deposit securities of
real value, and in some degree approximating to
the amount of the loan incurred,—in other words,
that the fraud was in the rate, not in the whole
matter. It does not, however, appear as yet that
the public can acquiesce in this milder view of the
case. Have the loans been repaid ? Are the se-
curities sufficient to cover the default ? Even so,
the conduct of the borrowers would have been
wholly inexcusable, but, as it is, it is much to be
feared that the ordinary shareholders and deposi-
tors will incur a most serious loss under this head.
The credit of the joint-stock banks has been
shrewdly shaken by the recent revelations in the
cases of the Tipperary and Royal British Banks,
and, unless something be done which will make
future directors hesitate before engaging in frau"
dulent dealings with the funds intrusted to their
charge, the public will most justly withdraw their
confidence from such' institutions. Directors, hard'
ever, will think twice before incurring a sentence
whichl would consign them to penal servitude for
the term of their natural lives, or, at any rate, for
a long period of years. We do not say that such 0
vindication of justice would operate as entire so
curity, but, at least it would help us, and should
be tried. For the fate of persons who may have
been guilty of such acts there can be no kind Of
commiseration. The highway robber, the burglar,
the pickpocket, have been cradled in crime ; they
have been educated in crime ; they have graduated
in crime. To crime they have beon either driven
by pinching want ; or, more probably, they form
part of the regular criminal population, and from
the first moment their fingers could close upon
anything they have been instructed to abstract
the property of others. For such wretched Pariahs
of civilisation some pity may be felt ; but there
is none for men who have received a moral and reli-
gious education, who are in a good position in lifel
who are in nine cases out of ten distinguishedt
by peculiar sharpness and ability, and who yet
turn all these advantages to the furtherance °,
their criminal designs. If there is one class 01
persons more than another whom society for its
own security should keep under lock and key, it is
just such men as the offending directors and
managers of the Tipperary and British Banks.
It is difficult for the non-legal mind to under-
stand how a definition of fraud can be so limited
as to exclude the case of the director or manager
of a joint-stock bank who diverts to his own use
30,0001. of the funds belonging to the concern,'
who does this secretly, and who deposits in place
of the money a packet or two of worthless paper.
Had there been no entry of the transaction
between Mr. Cameron and the Royal British
Bank in any of the company's books we Pl?'
--gime that this would have been a palpable
case of robbing the till, without modification.
The difference between this case and that of
Mr. Cameron is, we suppose, that he noted the
transaction in a little book, the contents of
which Ts ere kept entirely secret from all persons
save those who were equally interested with himself
in keeping such secrets from the knowledge of the
great body of the shareholders. Cannot a criminal
proceeding be founded upon such facts as these ?
Surely the acquiescence or assent of the directors,
his fellow-conspirators in the fraud, cannot ex-
onerate him from liability ? The point is one, of
course, for the consideration of those who have
devoted their especial attention to such subjects,
and we can only hope that the ingenuity of our
criminal lawyers may be successfully exerted in the
prosecution of so abominable a crime. Nor does
the case press less heavily upon the fraudulent di-
rectors. They have " borrowed" on their own
authority the money of the company cn insufficient
security, or no security at all, without causing any
notice of the transaction to be entered upon the
public books. The evasion of the little book with
the little lock amounts to much the same thing as
though Mr. Cameron bad made the entries in his
own pocket-book, and carried this about in the re-
cesses of his coat for his own private and exclusive
information. At any rate, if there be no law which
will touch such misdeeds, the sooner the law is
altered to meet the necessities of the case the
better for society at large.—Times.

MARYET NEW ray.)

CORN EXCHANGE.

We had only a moderate show of English wheat in to
day's market. Selected samples, which were very scarce,
were mostly disposed of at full prices ; but inferior kinds
ruled heavy, with the turn in favour of buyers.
The imports of foreign wheat continue on a limited
scale for the time of year. Most descriptious changed
hands slowly, at about Monday's ctitrOncy.
The barley trade ruled heavy, at the late fall in prices.
Molt was dull, but not cheaper.
The supply of oats was very moderate, and the oat trade
ruled steady, at full quotations.
Beans and peas were firm, but country flour was rather
cheaper.

AttaiVALS Tilts wan.
Wheat. I Barley. I Malt. I Oats. p,onr.
E .. 1,393 160 2,060 1 70 I 970,
irisil 870
Foreign 1 I 6,7 0 I 2,880 4,970 f 4,670
brls.

BOROUGH HOP.
Our market is heavily supplied with new hops in which
a steady business is doing, at from 56s to 95s per cwt. Old
hops are very dull.

WHITECHAPEL.
The demand generally ruled steady, as follows e
from 2s 10,1 to 4s 4d ; mutton, 3s 4d to 4s 8d ; veal, 3s
4d to 4s 4(0 pork, 3a 6d to 5s Od per 81b by the carcase

Th,
firml:
Were
12,00

tion,
bid.
Egyp
to 5!(

quiet,
day.

A t(

advice
lug ti
meat

railw:
cessio

Eociet

anion;
Mobil
Stiegi
eighty
cent.

Russia
in 10 -
The
relativ

Alfieri
31st I
expor I
any fo
to the

foreig
betwe
ports i
Lab
elide'

teoney
ex tuto
The pc
VIZ., 0
lowed
Others
to rest:

Partieu
traded

Itercial

now ru
pressin

and sr
Very ci:

kexica,
Per
tti to
ditto 4
cents.,
eertifie

The ]
Cale
erwid
tent. lo
111 the:
Portanc
lions q

Most
largely

Miso
Canada

Darr':

4, (:e
Ste
1-to
Ditto,
%nsols
Ecehe
,2.3
Z4B
7tna

Ditto

Brazilian
qrenitda
LDitto
!!!exican
"h Ditto
p!assian
Ditto
r?:l,ktipt

Ditto
ttbrii,titt.oh
Ditto

butch E
I- itto

Loin
iresh br

PORT
PLYM
Mond,
PArad
Aort--11
a Sour:
zttb. vein
S
Vrenfel

• SIIIE
00111
Rum
from It

ABEI
tor St.

uatieirc

Win(
Arriv
ted M
11a;
Baile
for

Wim
.A.rril

wins
Arrii

win,
.A.rri,

Win

Arri
Arri
W. B.

n
Pass
diary

Tai
%No,
Were
2.0001

Bat')
11, 3M