The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-10 00:00:00

THE ROYAL BRITISH BANK.

It has been pretty generally rumoured, within the last
few days, that the trial of the directors, and the other
persons charged with being concerned in this gigantic
swindle, would take place at the October or November
session of the Central Crinaimd Court, and that the
ordinary session would be specially adjoured to a parti-
cu!ar period for that purpose, as in the case of Palmer.
It appears, however, that the officials of that court have
not received any notification on the subject, and there
is very little doubt that the trial wi.l take place in the
Court of Queen's Bench during the November term. No
in lictments have been at present preferred against any
of the defendants in the ordina!), form, but the Attorney
General, in his official capacity, has informed the Court
"That certain persons (whose names he mentioned), be
had reason to trelleee, had been guilty of a misdemeanour,
in having unlawfully conspired and combined together
t ) obtain divers large sums of money, by means of false
slid fraudulent pretences." Upon this information the
Court of Queen's Bench issued its process for the appre- •
hension of the persons named in the information, and
Mr. Humphrey Brown, Alderman Kennedy, Mr. Came-
ron, manager of the bank, and several others, were
arrested and held to bail to answer the charges made
against them. Under ordinary circumstances, a charge
o' this character would be properly brought for inves-
t gation 13:fere the Central Criminal Court ; bet the
Court of Queen's Bench, being the highest court is
the killer:en bah in criminal and civil matters, hav-
ing initiated the proceedings against the parties.
would not delegate to an inferior jurisdiction the power
t•) dispose of the matter, and the trial will there-
fore no doubt take place in the Court of Queen's
Bench before LorJ Chie-Justice Campbell. During the
interval that has elapsed since the former inquiry into
the affairs of the Royal British Bank, it is understood
that a close investigation has been instituted into all the
accounts with a view to ascertain whether there is any
case of securities having been made away with that were
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tructions.
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John Paul and his partners were convicted under that
statute, and sentenced to transportation. At present, it
appears that no such case has been discovered ; but, is
the event of there being evidence to supctpreioanrlttrasahl caheliarrbi gtteei
Criminal
that description, it is probable that a bill would be pre-
ferredcourt beforelt is
saidt e
thatgrand
wheneverj r at
thethe
ap-
pointed to take place, the defendants make an appli-
cation t 3 be tried separately, the object of Vais proceeding
being to confine the evidence to the particular persoa
under charge, and thus exclude a good deal of evidence
as to the fraudulent intentions of the parties, and the
general combination between them. The application will,
doubtless, be strongly
and it is to be hoped, fo h that
r t e sake of public justice,
opposed on the part of the Crown,
no technicality will be allowed to interfere to prevent the
whole of the facts connected with this disgraceful affair
from being brought before the jury and the public, is
order that those persons proved to hare been concerned
in these enormous frauds may receive the punishment
they so justly deserve.