The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-29 00:00:00

TRI,

RES.

This trial commenced on Thursday in the Sixth
Chamber of Correctional Police, M. Masse presiding.
There were 62 witnesses, and the court is not bigger
than a good-sized dining-room in Belgrave-square.
The president, assailed by thousands of applica-
tions for tickets, resolved to give none. It is just
possible that ten or a dozen people representing the
public may have got in after waiting several hours
at the doors, but I doubt even that ; for the ordi-
nary course on occasions of interest like this is to
fill every available place in the narrow space sup-
posed to be open to all the world with policemen in
plain clothes. When the judges took their seats,
M. Marie, on behalf of the junior bar, observed that
there were a few seats vacant, and asked that some
of the many advocates who were waiting outside
might be let in. The president, thereupon. ordered
the admission of a dozen. An entire squadron of
sergents-de-ville kept the crowd off from the doors

of the court.
The accusation against M. Mires has lost much
of its original proportions during his long pre-
ventive imprisonment. Many heads of the accu-
sation have been abandoned, and the mere fact of
his being brought before the Correctional Police in-
stead of the Assize Court shows that the grave
offences of which it was given out that he had
been guilty, at the moment of his arrest, are not
capable of being established against him. The in-
dictment read to-day only charges two offences,
Ist, Escroquerie (6, word meaning swindling
or embezzlement) in negotiating shares en-
trusted to him en nantissement (an expression
meaning deposited as a security) —and 2d, " abuse
of confidence" in the matter of the Pampeluna and
Roman rails ays. The indictment goes into the
whole history of Mires' life, from the time when
he left Bordeaux for Paris, in 1849. He began hi*
specnlations iYA Paris, in the latter year, by the pur-
chase, at a very low price, of the Journal des
Chemins de .e'er (a railway journal). Later he con-
ceived the idea of making himself the financial
agent of the subscribers to his journal, and created
the bank called the Caisse des Actions Reunies.
This adventure is admitted to have been very
successful, and in 1853 he enlarged his opera-•
tions, and transformed the original company
into the Caisse et Journal des Chemins de
Per. In 1856 he was joined by M. Solar. The
undertaking took the name of Caisse Generale des
Chemins de Fer, and the capital was increased to
50 millions of francs, divided into 100,000 shares
of 500 f. In 1859, according to the indictment,
Mires' Company effected a partial " winding up,"
dissimulated under appearance of a reduction of
capital, and in June, 1860, M. Solar retired from
the concern. In December, 1860, M. de Pontalba,
one of the shareholders, brought an accusation of
fraudulent practices against Mires and Solar. It
was the breaking out of the Italian war which occa-
sioned the acts stigmatised as fraudulent. The ac-
cusation alleges that the Caisse Generale then sold
securities belonging to 333 depositors, under circum•
stances which enabled the bank to realise an ille-
gitimate profit of 3,800,000 f. It is admitted that
of this sum 2,529,000 f. has been restored to the
owners.
But little progress was made in the cause to-day,
and it is expected that it will last for a week. M.
Monginot, the accountant, upon whose report the
accusation is mainly based, was examined at great
length. He was frequently interrupted by M.
Mires, who said that his conclusions proceeded upon
insufficient knowledge of the facts. M. Mires com-
plained that the accusations against him were
founded upon an utter ignorance of the principles
of banking, and that he was treated like a grocer.,
He alleged that when he was arrested his assets were
3,000,000 f., and his debts only 1,400,000 f.

LAW EV TELLVTENCE.—June 28.

COURT FOR DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL
CAUSES.
(Before the judge-Ordinary and a Special Jury.)

COAPE V. COAPE.
Sidney Jane Coapeprayed for a dissolution of her
marriage with Henry Coe Coape, on the grounds of
adultery, cruelty, and desertion. The respondent
pleaded a denial of these charges.
Mr. Johnstoun Neale and Mr. G. Browne ap-
peared for the petitioner; Mr. Merewether for the

WHITEHALL, JUNE 26.