The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-25 00:00:00

TRIAL OF THE ROYAL BRITISH BANK
DIRECTORS.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, GUILDHALL.
(Sitting at Nisi Priue, before Lord Campbell and a
Special Jury.)
THE QUEEN V. BROWN AND OTHERS.
TIMM DAY.

[The following appeared iu successive editions of The Sun
of yesterday
The trial of the information against the directors and
manager of the Royal British Bank for conspiring by
false pretences to defraud the shareholders and cue-
tomere and the public, was this day resumed.
The same counsel appeared as before.
Mr. Atherton said that the prosecution had had time
to look into the remainder of the evidence they proposed
to call since the adjournment last night, and they had
come to the conclusion that after the intimation of his
lordship's opinion that no evidence should be given on
this information relative to what occurred in 1856, they
would not occupy further time on that head, but pass on
to the evidence of shareholders and depositors to prove
they were ignorant of the affairs of the bank.
Mr. Thomas Cantrell, Mr, Marcus, Mr, Beatie, Mr.
R. Mitchell, Mr. D. Stewart, Dr. Richards, and Mr. J.
Siiicensbe (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 51. per
share at that time ; Warkworth Dock shares he never
heard of in the market; the Irish Beet-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. 3a. Bd. The official manager
returned 5,000/. as indemnity. There were 33,000/.
out-tanding, making 317,083/. 33. 81. No debts were
proved upon the capital which had been lost. The
Welsh mines were sold on Feb. 8, 1858, for 6,0001. to
the landlord.
By Mr. James—The legal expenses under the fiat
were 8,000/.
Mr. James—That won't cover them.
Witness—The whole of the legal expenses of working
the estate amounted to 22,000/, It included the official
assignee's expenses and the 5,0001. fur the official
manager. He did not 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 en'
5.5. 61. and 2s. Cl.i in the pound, 2s. in the pound
more was expected, and la 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. Brown s estate
had realised 20,8161, 15s. 4].; Jr.f Macgregor's, 1,988/
12 t. 6,1. ; Mr. Cochrane's,2,ol7/. 10e. ; and Mr. Blacker's,
375/. At present nothing had been received from the
leliugten C ittie-rearket, Mr. C.venne, Mr. Mullens,
and Mr. Cameron's estates ; 6,000/4 additional was
expected from Mr. H. Brown's estate.
The plant of the Welsh works was valued by Messrs.
Fuller and Horsey for the assignees at 13,0001. or
14,0001., at a forced sale, and 38,0001. cr 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 mine,. (Laughter.)
Mr. Paddison recalled, and, in answer to Mr. James,
said that Mr. Dumlerr's reference to the Bank of England
when be opened hie 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. Oa the last day of the Royal British Bank's
existence there was in cash, bills, and at the Bank of
England, at thecbief office and at the branches, 189,234
After some further evidence on points of detail relit
tive to evidence given in the course of the trial,
Mr. Atherton raid he had closed the case for the
Crown.
Lord Campbell said he thought he might now con-
gratulate Sr 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, be ought to be called upon to address the jury.
Lard Campbell said, in his opinion, the case against
the defendants varied very considerably, but he must
leave it to the learned gentlemen who conducted
the prosecution to say what course they would pursue.
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 he felt in a case like this, and
',presenting as he 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 draracter, or the conduct
of Mr. Stapleton, and he must declare with profound
sincerity that it was wi,h 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, s
for during the long and arduou
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
he ventured to say that if at the close of
this great cause he should not leave the Court with-
out the shadow or the shade of a stain or a suspicion
on his character, no man in this free and enlightened
country, where justice was administered more purely,
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. He at the
outset would call their attention not in the technical
language of thelaw, but plainly and intelligently as to what
was the naiure of the charge made against Mr. Staple•
ton and the ether defendants, and he 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 bad 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 tee 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
dd and
deceived; e
conspiracy was said to have been formed and by which
the publ
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
e,orn itpr wasising stated, had been defrauded
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 in 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 thee 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 imp tile
upon the public by the publication of the balance sheet
aid report up to • 31st December, 1855, which
Were materially and subetant;ally false, and which
they knew to be false when they published it
to the world, and the caange from which,
through their verdict, he had to deliver Mr. Stapleton
was that before or at the time when the balance-sheet,
up
he knew they were substantially and materially false,
: was published to the shareholders
and that knowing so, he was a party to the publication
totthoo3slhsat Dec.'eholdelrBssasd the world at large. If it be
brought home to air. Stapleton that such was the fact,
they ought to pronounce a verdiet of guilty against
him, but when he had called tf sir attention to
the undoubted a
an— 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 TC3401.1 of bad debts,
&c., they might as well charge him (the learned counsel)
arid them (the jury) wite the seine offence, who never
heard of these transactions till long atter the failure of
the bank, and they became notorious to the public out
of doors. The learned coup-el then referred to the
period when Mr. Stapleton became a depositor and
d:rector on 31st
Juy, 1855, ana if the bank was
sound on the 31st of D..comber, 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 had been proved, it was false at any other period ;
and Mr. Stapleton, in the hour when he be-
cane a shareholder of the Royal British Bank, in July,
1855, became a ruined men. He was the deceived, and
riot the deceiver—ha 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 net a
wealthy man, as his deposit with the bank showed, but
it also showed that he had ne acceintnodation whilst he
was connected with it. Referring to the balance-sheet,
the learned gentleman said that Mr. Cameron and those
Rho 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 asus-
picion that anything was wrong. During 1855, toe period_ara
when Mr. Stapleton was a director, he was absent f
considerable period during the long vacation, and again