The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-26 00:00:00

THE ROYAL BRITISH BANK (This Day. )

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, GUILDHALL.

(Sitting at Nisi Pries, before Lord Campbell and •
Special Jury.)
TUN QUEEN V. BROWN AND OTHZRS.
TWILLYTII DAY.
The trial of the informai toe against the directors and
manager of the R syal British Bank for e ,aspiring by
false pretences to defraud the shareholders and cuss
teeters and the public, was this day resumed,
The same counsel appeared as before.
Lord Campbell, on taking his seat on the bench this
morning, stated that as soon as Mr. Atherton had eons
eluded his address to the jury on behalf of the Crown iu
reply to the defendants' cases, he should adjourn the Court f
till to-morrow morning, that he might be aisle to carefully
read over the evidence before he commenced summing up
the case to the jury.
Col. Bailie was called by Mr. D. Seymour on the part of ;
Mr. Cameron. He deponed that he was Lord-Lieutenant
of the county of Roes, and Mr. Cameron was his Deputy •
Lieutenant. He believed him to be a man of integrity and
honour.
Mr. Atherton -then proceeded to address the jury -
for the Crown, in reply to the defendants' eases.
lele said the time had now arrived for the discharge
of his part in this important case, of an arduous duty -
which until the case had very far proceeded he had no
reason to suppose would have been cast upon him, It
was owing to the elevation of his learned friend
Sir F. Thesiger to the highest position in the law of the
country that he (lr. Atherton) stood before them as the
leading counsel—au elevation in which the profession and •
the community without exception rejoiced, and in which
no man more rejoiced than he did, but he regretted the • ;
moment at which it had occurred, because from that -1
moment was to be attributed the circumstance that the
interests of justice, which he believed were bound up and
involved in this case, had been committed to feebler hands
than those to whom they were first entrusted, and he "'
could not but feel the apprehension that thereby there was • i
some chance or probability of a miscarriage of justice,
which but for that would never have occurred. At the
same time he admitted he felt great encouragement in the
discharge of the duty that had been unexpectedly cast
upon him, from the fact that before the jury were called
neon to pronounce a verdict they would have the assistance
of the luminous judgment, the profound learning, and the
joint experience of the noble and learned judge who presided
over the trial. It was also a matter of satisfaction to know
that for eleven weary days the jury had exhibited a watch-
ful, vigilant, careful, and patient attention to the case
which had been admired on both sides, which was credit•
able alike to the individuals by whom it had been exhi-
bited, and to the country, who should be proud of such
men, and the administration of justice, in which they took
so prominent a part. In addressing himself to the case,
which was now fully before them, he would endeavour to
explain to them what he considered to be the law of the
case, and the measure of proof that was required on the
part of the Crown, and in doing so he would submit such
general remarks and observations as it appeared to him the
merits of the case required, and the proofs, as they success
sively arose, that tended to bring home to the defendant'
one after the other the crime with which they were chargeds
particularly a knowledge that what they were vouching se
true they knew to be an untruth for the purposes of defrauding
the public. He had been asked by the learned counsel who
appeared for the respective defendants, to point out the
moment and the place of the conspiracy charged against
them so as satisfac*.orily to establish the case, and in order
to obtain from the jury a verdict of guilty against them.
No such proof was required from the Crown, and could not
be demanded nor ought to be expected. If it was to be
expected that where several persons acted together for the
attainment of a given end, proof should be shown of the
meeting of the guilty conclave and the mode by which they
succeeded, they would be deceived, because it could will
bo rarely, if ever, shown. All that English law required in
a proof of conspiracy was the consent of two or more por-
tions uniting for a single or common object for the whole to
commit any illegal act.
Lord Campbell said that the crime of conspiracy Wee
complete without acts having been done, but here sot.
were laid against the defendants.
Mr. Atherton said the evidence laid before the jury on
the part of the Crown proved that the defendants had con'
spired to accomplish au illegal object, viz., misrepresenting
to the public the actual state of the bank, so as to induce
the public to join it either as shareholders or depositors, or
both. The learned gentleman remarked that a knowledge
of the state of the bank when the false balance sheets foci
reports wore put forward was essen ial to the case, for
without that was shown to be known to the defendants,
they could not be convicted, and he proceeded to gaol
from the charter, showing the duties of the directors an
the power given to them in conducting the business °e
,;
the bank, and afterwards entered at great length nu:
minuteness into the details of the evidence, as showing
that knowledge on the part of the defendants, He 0.
minded the jury the charge rsgainst the defendants was notf
that of having made a wasteful inve tment of the mewl
the bank, or of having departed from the line of conduct the;
should guide prudent and careful bankers in the dischargsee'
their business; but that they, having a knowledge of tn!
hopeless state of the bank, put faith false representation;
to the public with a view to. deceive them. He the'
referred to the securities which the bank had taken f
their advances ; and in reference to the Welsh works,_‘l4
learned counsel said that in June, 1854, the bank ofttleb
le
them for sale, fixing the reserve price at 60,0001..
~"socs
showed they were then prepared to meet with $
loss of 15,0001. ; yet finding they were unable to
dis-
pose of them at that loss, they went on, after their bt),T,
experience, to sink other and large aunts, which they a ..
wards endeavoured to regain by making false represep•sef
tion to the public. At the meeting in February, 185'''
the shareholders the directors held out that they could fial
r,
a dividend of 6 per cent., and a repot t of that mat
hate
ing
, the
industriously distributed all over the country to in
public to join them. The learned gentleman
ese
analysed the balance-sheet containing the false rep
defendants, co
n•
tions alleged to have been known to the •
eluded his address by referring to the points of evidence
which he contended connected the defendants with tbe
i
commission of the illegal acts with which they etooo.
rvn
charged.
The court shortly after adjourned.