The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-24 00:00:00

thought (and the Tice-Chancellor confirmed my
judgment) that the actuary was not authorised by the
rules of this bank to receive deposits. One of the
managers or committee men ought to have attended,
for that purpose. It is not pretended, however, that
any neglect of the managers of the bank can palliate
the violation by the bankrupt of the confidence re-
posed in him. He was in a situation above suspicion ;
how humiliating the position in which he now stands.
Indeed there is no vice which does so cover a trader
with shame as to be found false and perfidious in pe-
cuniary matters. Mr. Linklater states that the bank-
rupt has met with commisseration and sympathy
from many quarters. I think it right, therefore, to
say a word upon the very serious nature of his offence
and misconduct. " The consideration of what is es-
sential to the security of savings banks is a subject of
peculiar delicacy and extraordinary importance—one
upon which the mere existence of a doubt is a grave
and most serious evil. To promote habits of fruga-
lity and saving among the labouring population, by
providing them with a perfectly secure depository,
is the object of all legislation upon savings
banks. It is impossible to conceive a more benevolent
purpose, or one which more deeply affects the well-
being of the whole commonwealth ; and if there be
a public fund more sacred than another, that to
which the greatest sanctity should belong, and which
should be beyond the reach of all suspicion, is the
fund which the poor have been enabled by an almost
heroic forbearance to treasure up against future
want The poor save—they seek to have
_ _

safe depositories of those savings, and they further
hope to be able at any time, if unforeseen want presses
upon them, to have power over the money which they
have deposited." The observations which I have just
cited are too true to admit of doubt or controversy.
The writer goes on to ask, " How has Parliament
dealt with this fund ?" That is a point upon which
it is not my province at the present time to enter;
but taking the law as it is, and finding that the bank-
rupt was debited in his balance-sheet with a sum ex-
ceeding 2,0001. to one of the institutions to which I
have referred, it became my duty to inquire how that
amount of debt was contracted, and having so done
I must give judgment as on a matter of right or
wrong. In awarding punishment (if refusing or
suspending the certificate can properly be so called,
when the granting of it ought to be deemed a posi-
tive approbation), the Court should consider the base-
ness and dangerous tendency of the offence, the deli-
beration and wilfulness, or the inconsideration, sud-
denness, or surprise with or under which it was com-
mitted, and any other circumstances which may
aggravate or extenuate the guilt, and in the present
case the Court should especially look to the para-
mount importance of sustaining the confidence of the
industrious classes in the officers of savings banks.
In conclusion, I would observe, that this is one of the
numerous instances which now almost daily occur,
exhibiting the want of a public prosecutor. The
bankrupt has committed a most grievous public
offence, but in respect of that, the public justice of
the country has not yet been satisfied. lam to look
at the case, however, simply in a commercial point
of view, and confining my attention to the conformity
of the bankrupt to the law of bankruptcy, and to
his conduct as a trader within the meaning of
the Bankrupt Law Consolidation Act, I think it
would be a monstrous perversion of the spirit
and intention of that Act to hold a person entitled
to a discharge from civil obligations which he
has contracted in the manner and under the circum-
stances I have pointed out, and whose conduct has
been in the last degree reprehensible in having carried
on trade not merely on a fictitiouscredit, in the ordi-
nary sense of that term, but upon a credit upheld by
his embezzlement of bank deposits, the small savings
of the laborious classes—a species of fraud heartless
in the extreme, and most mischievous in its conse-
quences. I should add, that I think the bankrupt bas
committed an offence (No. 3) under the 256th sec-
tion, in respect of some money received from deposi-
tors subsequently to the 11th of October, 1849, and
which he also appropriated to his own use ; and con-
sidering the repeated similar acts previously, I deem
this offence to have been committed under circum-
stances of great aggravation. It now, therefore, only
remains for me to adjudge that the allowance of the
certificate to the bankrupt Jardine must be refused.
Mr. LINILLATER, on behalf of the bankrupt, ap-
plied for copies of the depositions, as it was his client's
intention to appeal.
His HONOUR said that Mr. Linklater should have
every facility to enable him to take the case before a
superior tribunal.—Application granted.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MARYLEBONE.

A well-dressed man, named Edward Amos, a car-
penter, was placed at the bar before Mr. Broughton,
charged, on his own confession, with having set fire
to property belonging to Captain Ross, a gentleman
of fortune, residing at Clapham, and thereby doing
damage to a large amount.
Inspector Coleman, of the V division, and Inspector
O'Brien, D, were present during the inquiry, which
excited a considerable degree of interest from the
peculiar circumstances connected with the case.
Young, 140 D, on being sworn, said—On Satur-
day night last, at eleven o'clock, the prisoner came up
to me in the New-road, and asked me if I was the
policeman on duty there. I told him that I was, and
he then said, " I had better give myself up to you,
for if I don't, I am sure to be taken before the morn-
ing." The prisoner went on to say that some man had
sent a letter to Captain Ross's brother, intimating to
him where the party could be met with who had done
it (alluding, of course, to the fire). I asked him parti-
cularly what he delivered himself up for, and his answer
was, for setting fire to a workshop belonging to
Captain Ross, at Clapham, who was there building a
terrace. I conveyed him to the station-house, and he
then said voluntarily that he went from Paddington
to the Cock public-house, Clapham, where he had
something to drink. This was on Friday evening.
After quitting the Cock he went to the field where
the building was, and having pulled off his shoes went
to the workshop. He had some Lucifers with him, and
he set fire to some shavings and some deals, having
done which he stayed about ten minutes, until he saw
a " blaze up," from the building, and he then went
away, as he didn't consider it safe for him to stop any
longer. He told me also that he wished he had burnt
a great deal more, and that he intended to have gone
down the next night to set fire to the whole of the
buildings. On the way to this court yesterday
morning he said " I know nothing about
setting fire to the place. I wee there about
the time the fire happened, but I had nothing
to do with it. Captain R 033 and I have been

upon very good terms, and he was always an excel-
lent master. I only said what I did last night to get
something to eat and to obtain a lodging, as I had
no money:' _ _

The prisoner had, it appeared, being employed as
a carpenter in the erection of a terrace now being
built for Captain Ross, and that about three weeks
ago he was discharged, improperly as he imagined,
by Woods, the foreman of the works.

- A letter of which the following is a copy, was
here handed to the magistrate ; it was addressed to
" Mr. Christopher Ross, Clapham" (brother of Cap-
tain Ross). It ran thus :

" have sent these few lines to you to state
about the ';man that set fire to your place, and he is
coming on Saturday night to set fire to the whole of
your new buildings. He has bought two new pistols and
some powder, to shoot your brother and you, likewise
John Woods. This man's name is Wm. Amos; he has
worked for you, and is now living with Mr. Wood's
daughter, at 27, Stafford-street. I heard Mr. Wood's
daughter and Mr. Amos talking together about the best
way to set fire to all the buildings, and shoot the three, and
then go to America. They will both be at the Norreys,
Stafford-street, at eight o'clock. if not they will be at Al-
ley's beer-shop, close by. You shall know my naol►e
when you have taken him."

The prisoner, when asked what he had to say, re-
pudiated a great deal of the evidence given against
him, and said that he wrote the letter himself; be
had nothing to do, and being hungry, he acted as he
had done in order to obtain food and a lodging.
Inspector O'Brien said that the damage done to the
building was estimated at somewhere about SOOl.
Inspector Coleman (V), who produced the letter above
given, expressed his opinion that on a future day he
should be prepared with proof positive that the pri-
soner was seen close to the spot a short time prior to
the alarm of fire being given.
The prisoner was sent to the House of Detention,
Clerkenwell, there to remain until next Friday, upon
which day he will be conveyed to Wandsworth Police-
caurt, that being the district in which,the alleged in-
cendiarism occurred.