The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-24 00:00:00

TS-- (This Day).

this information relative to what occurred in 1856, they
would not occupy further time on that head, but, pass on
the evidence of Fhaiehold, rs and dep)sitors to prove
they were ignorant of the affairs of the bank.
Mr. Thomas Cantrill, Mr. Marcus, Mr. Beetle, Mr.
R. Mitchell, Mr. D. Stewart, Dr. Richards, and Mr. J.
Sidcombe (servant), were called to prove the above fact.
Some of them stated they received the six per cent.
dividend.
Mr. Atherton said he proposed to prove the known
worthlessness of some of the securities by the directors
in 1855.
Mr. Scott, sharebroker, was recalled. He stated that
in December, 1855, Eastern Archipelago shares were
unmarketable ; Strand Bridge shares were about Sl. per
share at that time ; Warkworth Dock shares he never
heard of in the market; the Irishßeet-root Sugar Company
shares were valueless, and there was no market for Irish
Peat shares ; the Chartered Australian Gold Company
were only worth a few shillings, (The above were a
part of Mr. Macgregor's securities.)
Mr. Cooper, clerk to Mr. Lee (official assignee to
the Royal British Bank bankruptcy), stated—The
debts proved and claimed under the bankruptcy
amounted to 537,6461. ls. 6d. There had been
collected 279,0831. 33. Bd. The official manager
returned 5,0001. as indemnity. There were 33,0001.
outstanding, making 217,0831. 3s. Bd. No debts were
proved upon the capital which had been lost. The
Welsh mines were sold on Feb. 8, 1858, for 4,000/. to
the landlord.
By Mr. James—The legal expenses under the fiat
were 8,0001.
Mr. James—That won't cover them.
Witness—The whole of the legal expenses of working
the estate amounted to 22,0001. It included the official
assignee's expenses and the 5,0001. for the official
manager. He did nob know if the water had been let
into the mine during its working by the official manager.
The landlord claimed 10,000/. damages, and brought an
action of ejectment, which had been compromised ;
two dividends had been paid out of the estate of
ss, 6d. and 2s. 6d. in the pound, 2s. in the pound
more was expected, and 4s. in the pound from contri-
butors under the winding-up order.
Some other evidence was given relative to proceedings
in bankruptcy, in connection with estates having refer-
ence to the claims of the bank. Mr. H. Brown's estate
had realised 20,8161. 15s. 41; Mr. Macgregor'?, 1,9881.
12.. 6d. ; Mr. Cochrane's, 2,017/. 10s. ; and Mr. Blacker's,
3751. At present nothing had been received from the
Islington Cattle-market, Mr. Gwynn?, Mr. Mullein,
and Mr. Cameron's estates ; 6,0001. additional was
expected from Mr. H. Brown's estate.
The plant of the Welsh works were valued by Messrs.
Fuller and Horsey for the assignees at 13,0001. or
14,0001., at a forced sale, and 38,0001. or 40,000/. to a
willing incoming tenant, subject to 1,5001. arrears of
rent and dilapidations to a considerable extent. The
lease was not valued from its being considered worthless.
Mr. Seymour—That was after they let the water into
the mini-,. (Laughter.)
Mr. Paddison recalled, and, in answer to Mr. James,
said that Mr. Dumlerr's reference to the Bank of England
when he opened his account with the Royal British
Bank, led to the latter discounting his bills to so large
an extent, and their becoming involved with the Welsh
mines. On the last day of the Royal British Bank's
existence there was in cash, bill?, and at the Bank o
England, at the chief office and at the branches, 189,234/,
After some further evidence on points of detail rely
tive to evidence given in the course of the trial,

Far.:

Leasing
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Cinsing
tbis day

liminess
this day

ti:lostr g
this day.

Barmass done
this day.

3t. 'lOO
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5 all
R. 100

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••• •••••• ...

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18 - 191
62i -63 i
48 - 501
32 - 34

15 - 17
94 - 95

C 7 = GB.

23 - 28.

93 - 98
9i -10 i
107 - 107
92 - 94
131 - 133
104 - 106
614 -61 i
61 - 63

85 88
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11 12
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521 - 531,

Mr. Atherton said he had closed the case for the
Crown.

Lord Campbell said he thought he might now con-
gratulate S.r F. Kelly on his appointment as Attorney-
General—(applause)—and that then he would take
precedence in addressing the jury, notwithstanding the
rule that the learned counsel for the first-named defendant
first addressed the jury.
Sir F. Kelly asked, if looking at the dates of the
balance-sheets of June, 1855, and December, 1855, in
connection with the time when Mr. Stapleton joined the
bank, he ought to be called upon to address the jury.
Lord Campbell said, in his opinion, the case against
the defendants varied very considerably, but he mutt
leave it to the learned gentleman who conducted
the prosecution to say what courie they would pure ue.
Mr. Atherton, for the Crown, said he must ask the
opinion of the jury in the case of Mr. Stapleton.
Sir F. Kelly said that although he could not but
express the deep anxiety be fell in a case like this, and
representing as be did Mr. Stapleton, he thought it was
his duty to appeal to the learned judge, now that the
case for the Crown was concluded, to ask whether it
could fairly be said there was a scintilla of evidence
affecting the honour, the character, or the conduct
of Mr. Stapleton, and he must declare with profound
sincerity that it was with no regret he had heard the
answer of the learned judge and the determination
(though, perhaps, with surprise) he had heard from the
representatives of the Crown to take their verdict in the
case of Mr. Stapleton, for during the long and arduous
investigation day by day of this complicated and im-
portant case, every moment had he longed for the
opportunity of bringing under the calm, patient,
and impartial consideration the case of the
gentleman who had entrusted it to him. For
ho ventured to say that if at the close of
this great cause he should leave the Court with-
out the shadow or the shade of a stain or a suspicion
ou his character no man in thil free and enlightened
country, where justice was administered more perely,
and, he believed, was a nearer approach to perfection
than in any other country in the world, could hold his
character, his honour, or his happiness safe for a single
moment if he had the misfortune to be connected with
an establishment like the Royal British Bank. Ile at the
outset woul l call their attention not in the technical
language of thelaw, but plainly and intelligently as to what
was the nature of the charge made against Mr. Stiple-
ton and the ether defendants, and be entreated their
attention more especially to the time—to the period of
time which the charge embraced, and to that to which
it was exclusively confined, not that he had any interest
in excluding from their attention any fact that had been
proved in evidence from the earliest establishment of the
Royal British Bank to the present time, but because he
felt it was essential, in order thoroughly to apprehend the
bearing of the facts of the case upon the character, con-
duct, and motives of Mr. Stapleton to which the indict
ment related, the period of the time during which the
conspiracy was said to have been formed, and by which
the public, it was stated, had been defrauded anti
deceived; comprising the period between the early part of
December, 1855, and the let of February, 1856, when
the balance-sheet and the report up to the 31st
of December, 1855, were published at the meeting
of shareholders. A great deal of evidence had
been laid before them most material in its character, and
essential and indispensable ire the prosecution of? the
case from the earliest period of the establishment of the
Royal British Bank down to the moment of its failure,
and even up to the present time when they were called
upon to try this case, but it must be proved in evidence
that the directors of the Royal British Bank had a
knowledge of the real state of the bank and made state-
ments that were false, to defraud the public ; and what
the judge had to deal with was, whether one or two or
more of the defendants conspired to defraud and impose
upon the public by the publication of the balance sheet
and report up to 31st December, 1855, which
were materially and substantially false, and which
they knew to be false when they published it
to the world, and the charge from which,
through their verdict, he had to deliver Mr. Stapleton
was that before or at the time when the balance-sheet.
up to 31st Dec. 1855, was published to the shareholders
he knew they were substantially and materially false,
and that knowing so, he was a party to the publication
to the shareholders and the world at large. If it be
brought home to air. Stapleton that such was the fact,
they ought to pronounce a verdict of guilty against
him, but when he had called their attention to
the undoubted and unquestionable facts of the case,
in respect of the dates of their transaction, they would
find that to charge Mr. Stapleton with a knowledge, on
the 12th Feb., 1856, that the balance-sheet was false to
the extent of 100,0001. or more by reason of bad debts,
Zisc., they might as well charge him (the learned counsel)
and them (the jury) with the same offerce, who neer,r
heard of these transactions till long after the failure of
the bank, and they became notorious to the public out
of doors. The learned counsel then referred to the
period when Mr. Stapleton became a depositor and
director in 31st July, 1855, and if the bank was
sound on the 31st of December, 1855, it was
also sound at the time when Mr. Stapleton
joined the bank, and if it were true that the balance-
sheet was wrong at one time it was perfectly clear,
and bad been proved, it was false at any other period
and Mr. Stapleton, in the hour when heN be-
came a shareholder of the Royal British Bank, in July,
1855, became a ruined man. He was the deceived, and
not the deceiver—he was the victim, and not the perpe-
trator of the crime with which he was charged. The
learned gentleman then referred to Mr. Stapleton's
family connections, and his relationship to Sir James
Matheson, member of a well-known commercial house
in the City, and passed on to his joining the bank.
He then stated that Mr. Stapleton was nut a
wealthy man, as big deposit with the bank showed, but
it also showed that he had no accommodation whil-t he
was connected with it. Refering to the balance-sheet,
the learned gentleman said that Mr. Cameron and those
who acted under him were responsible for the production
of the balance-sheets, because it had been shown that
none of the directors were allowed to examine the sta-
tistical tables on which they were made out, Mr. Cameron
believing the directors had no right to interfere with the
executive. When Mr. Stapleton joined the Royal British
Bank he believed he had joined a solvent establishment,
and there was nothing on the face of things to awaken a sus-
picion that anything was wrong. During 1855, the period
f
when Mr. Stapleton was a director, he was absent or a
considerable period during the long vacation,
and again
when Lady Matheson met with a lamentable accident
that deprived her of her life; but it was true that be
attended the court meetings from October,
wtdlBtossh,avtoe
February, 1856, when the conspiracy as a
aken place. But no evidence had been
givens that such
was the case ; for it had not been shown of the
what they did
or said with a view of defrauding the
do shareholders
so. Mr. Staple-
bank, and he defied the prosecution
tothee period,
court
Staple-
ton assiduously attended to themeet
and of the former committees during tings o
the above
v
when he took a prominent part in considering the state
of four debts—one was the bills of H. Brown, and after-
wards his debt ; the second was the Welsh mines ;
thirdly, the debt of Oliver ; and fourthly, Blacker's
debt. In consequence of an irregulaifty committed by
Mr. Cameron in reference to Brown's debt, Mr. Staple-
ton was annoyed with both Cameron and Brown, the
result of which was that the former retired from the
general management, and the latter from the directory,
and yet Mr. Stapleton was charged with a conspiracy
with men with whom he held no communication at the
time when it was stated the conspiracy took place. He
called on the prosecution to state the day, the time, and
crccasion, and the moment when Mr. Stapleton conspired

973
•
is part
51i 62,3
82..3 83;
94

3 - 3i
7j - 8
8j - 9j

32. i - 33
9 - 5

109 111
20/ 274
49 bl
31 2?
36 3g
741 75

82 83
13 15 d
7 5 d
9 11
38 39

100 - 103

••• ''''''

3.; -
-

TUE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 24, 1858

with Cameron and Brown, and defied the public
at the time when he "was not on speaking terms with
them. To conspire, it was necessary that parties should
be on good terms, and the offence commenced in secret,
and therefore it did not appear at all probable that Mr.
Stapleton conspired with these parties, and at the time
when Cameron was making out the balance-sheet up to
December, 1855. He complained of the course adopted
by the Crown in making all the directors defendants,
which had the effect of shutting all their mouths, and
preventing them giving that explanation of the circum-
stances of the case which it was desirable should be known.
The learned gentleman, with great minuteness of detail,
entered on a consideration of the evidence that had been
adduced on the part of the prosecution in reference to
the debts incurred by the British Bank, and the securi-
ties taken, as well as the meetings of the Court of Direc-
tors and the committee meetings, is the course of which
he argued that with regard to Brown's deist he had given
a greater security than his debt, but that the deprecia-
tion in the value of ships, and the forced sales under the
bankruptcy, were the causes that led to their deprecia-
tion. Of the whole of the debts said to be incurred,
Brown's was the only one that ever came before Mr.
Stapleton in detail. At that time (1855) Mr. Brown
was in good credit, and no man would have dared to
have said then that he was insolvent. Had it been
stated at a meeting of shareholders the party would have
been proceeded against by Mr. Brown, who, there was
no doubt, would have received exemplary damages from
such a jury as themselves, under the direction of his
lordship. The evidence showed that Mr. Cameron estab-
lished the bank upon a series of leading principles, one
of which was that the manager should have the sole
control of the debts and making up the balance-
sheet, without the interferer ce of the directors.
The directors in succession, from 1849 to 1855, had
acquiesced in it, and Cameron had reprimanded and
threatened the dismissal of a clerk for merely having
communicated to a director something that came within
his (Cameron's) peculiar functions of general manager.
The balance-sheet of Dec., 1855, was made up and
prepared by Mr. Cameron, with experienced persons
under his control, who had access to all the books of
the bank, and afterwards duly audited by the auditors
appointed by the shareholders, and was it to be expected
that a young and inexperienced director of 3 months' stand-
ing could have had suspicion that he was being deceived.
The prosecution had taken 12 months to deal with these
accounts, and arrive at the result which had taken 10
days to prove. Yet all that was supposed by the pro-
secution to have been known in seine incemprehensive
way by Mr. Stapleton at one meeting of the directors,
or from conversations with the directors, in an incre-
dibly short period of time. Referring to the value of the
Welsh mines in Dec, 1855, the learned gentleman said
Mr. Stapleton had not been down to examine t tern, and
if he had he doubted if he would be able to form an opi-
nion of their value more than he was to the exact distance
of the earth from one of the fixed stare. Mr. Stapleton
was never called on to turn his attention to their value,
and from all he had heard he was led to believe they
were valuable and productive. Ether in Nov. or Dec.
his attention was called to a repert that had been pre-
sented to the bank that if railway corn uunication could
be made from the pll's mouth with the South Wales
Railway, the mines would amp yrepay the bank for its ad-
vances. There were only three or four meetings in reference
to the mines, and the result was that an arrangement had
been made by the Bank with the Llynvie Valley Com-
mittee that would accomplish the above object, and
thereby increase their value. Tho learned gentleman
referred to the report of Mr. Clarke that eouid not be
found, which valued the mines at 93,000/. in 1851, and
remarked that there was no evidence to show
that information had been communicated to
Mr. Stapleton that this estimate was an erroneous one ;
and, referring to the sale of the mines very recently for
6,0001., he said that, in May 1856, Mr. Strict valued
the mints as worth 16,0001 a-year,and which would have
made them ample security for the advances of the bank.
The mines were not worth less in Dec., 1855, than they
were in June, 1855, and if Mr. Stapleton had bean
asked a question of that kind he would have
been answered they had always been treated in
the same way, and be wculd of course have

considered they had been treated rightly under the
superintendence of the previous directors. All the other
debts existed in June as they did in Dec., and he knew
as little of them then 34 he did in June. If they
were bad debts so much the wors.e, and if they had
not been entered as they ought t have been, that w. ,s
the fault of those who prepared the balance-sheet in June,
1855, when Mr. Stapleton joined the directory. After
some further remarks on the bad debts of the bank,
and the publication of dila° reports and balance-sheets,
the learned g-ntleman, in conclusion, said be did not
rest Mr. Stapleton's case on the question of good or bad
debts, but that when he became a shareholder he be.

lievej that the balance-sheet of 1855, and the report of
Jau., 185 d, published in February f wing, wore cor-
rect, and that he had no reason to believe the insolvent
at that tune was insolvent.

Lord Campbell said that Sir F. Thesiger admitted, in
his opening addres4, that when Mr. Stapleton came into
the directory he was ignorant of the state of the bank.
Sir F. Kelly—Exactly so. It was that that had led
him earnestly and confidently to Lope that when
the case for the prosecution was closed that those who
represented his friend, Sir F. Thesiger, who had been
justly elevated to the distinguished office of Lord
Chancellor, that they would have done Mr. Stapleton
the tardy justice of consenting to his acquittal at that
stage of the preceedinge. He, however, defied his
learned friend to point out any one particle of evidence
against Mr. Stapleton. He said there was none, not
eves to the last moment of its existence, Le believed in
i a solvency. The failure of the bank took him as much
qy surprise as it did the public, and it was only a few
days before he wrote his relative, Mr. Alex. Matheson,
to join the bank, believing tbat it would become one of
the leading institutions of the Metropolis. He contended
there was nothing in Mr. Stapleton's cond❑ct that could
cast suspicion on the honour, the integrity, and good
name of that gentleman. (Applause.)
L rd Campbell said he hoped such ebullition of feeling
would not be repeated, and that the persons present
would recollect they were in a court of justice.
Mr. Sergeant Shee, in addressing the jury for Mr.
Alderman Kennedy, said that that gentleman had a pent
the greater period of his life in India. He was the son
of an Indian general officer, and bad himself spent 32
years of his life in India, as physician general at Bom-
bay, and when he resigned his appointment he left Bom-
bay in the enjoyment of the highest possible estimation
for his honour and integrity. Mr. Ald. Kennedy, when
he arrived in this country, with an ample competency, was
about 55 years of age, and he was desirous of obtaining
some means of employing it to his own benefit and that
of his countrymen. He became a member of the Cor-
poration of London in 1354, when he was elected an
alderman for the ward of Cheap, and whatever might
have been said of the Corporation of London, they had
never yet admitted or allowed a man to remain a mem-
bar of the Corporation whose character was open to
the slightest suspicion against Lie credit, which was a
strong presumption of his honourable character in his
favour. Mr. Alderman Kennedy was one of the origi-
nal promoters of the bank, in which he had staked the
whole of his fortune, and during the time he had bee❑
connected with it he had never trafilced in its shares or
earned a shilling in connection with it. He was one
of the earliest promoters of the bank, and when he be-
came aware of some discounts in connection with Mac-
gregor, who, from his having been under-secretary to the
Board of Trade in Sir R. Peel's Government, was be-
lieved to be a man of substance and respectability. He
left the directory, but was induced to return in Oct.,
1854, and remained till the stoppage of the bank, doing
his bent to mitigate the losses that had been incurred
since its establishment. The learned gentleman then
referred to the evidence given of the connection of Mr.
Alderman Kennedy with the losses of the bank, and
his conspiracy to defraud the public by misre-
presenting the state of the bank, and in conclusion said
there could be no doubt Mr. Alderman Kennedy knew
of some locke-up of the bank, through the Welsh mines
and other advances, but there was no reason to believe
till after the bankruptcy that any other than Mullins'
securities were hopeless. His belief all along was that
the ba❑k only wanted commercial strength at the board
to make it one of the safest and soundest of its kind in the
kingdom, He strongly expressed his conviction that
it was impossible to say Mr. Alderman Kennedy bad
been guilty of the charge of conspiracy by which he was
to render desolate the hearths and homes of those for
whose benefit he was induced to establish the bank. He
implored them to remember that during the end of
1855 and nearly the whole of 1856, Mr. Alderman

Kennedy was prevented from attending to the
board meetings owing to his having to discharge the
arduous and responsible duty of sheriff of London and
Middlesex— an office the most laborious that could be

found, from its occupying the time of the holder both by
day and night—in the former in diecharing the business
part of the office, and by night dispensing hospitality and
countenancing acts of charity aad benevolence through-
out the whole period of his year of office. If Mr. Ald.
Kennedy was absent, how could he have conspired with
others to defraud the public; and if he had been cog-
nisant of the true state of the bank, it was not likely
he would have brought hie brother-in-law, Mr. L. M.
Valiant, into the Directory in Feb. 1856, and have
induced his nephew and mother-in-law to become depo-
sitors. The learned gentleman's address occupied the
court till its rising at half-past five o'clock.
There are four other learned gentlemen to address the
jury in support of the respective clients. It is under-
stood that some of them intend to call witnesses, but it
is confidently anticipated the case will be concluded by
Saturday night.
..M01.1•••••••••
BAILTVAY TRAFFIC RET URNS.

LONDON AND SOUTH-EASTIIM RATLWAY.—Traffic re-
turn for the week ending Feb. 20, 1858 £14,267 8 7
Corresponding week last year

Decrease in 1853
LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY.—
Traffic return for the week ending Feb. 20,
1858
Corresponding weak last year 10,259 0 0
Total of the half-year to this date, 1858 E5,618 0 0
Total of the half-year to this date, 1857 83,418 0 0

LIVERPOOL, Tuesday.—The Liverpool, New York,
and Philadelph'.o. Steamship Coutpany's steamer Kanga-
rco sails to-morrow (this day) for New York with a
moderate cargo and about 200 passengers. This com-
pany announce to-day that after her departure the
sailings of their vessels will be changed to the Wedoes-
days in the other week to the one they now take, there
being now three departures for America from England
on their present days of sailing ; while, owing to the
present cessation of the sailings of the Collins' line, then,
Is no Wednesday departure in the week they are about_
to take, an, o
this alteration will cause a continuance of
a regular semi-weekly depart vie to New York.