The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-04 00:00:00

T.LtE BANK OF FRANCE AND TH3 NE I'
BRANCH L0...N.

(From the Economist,)

The Bank of Frande is one of the greatest com-
mercial institutions on record. It was established in
1800 by the first Napoleon, andhas therefore existed
now upwards of half a century. It has had to con-
tend against all the political changes and revolu-
tions which have happened within that eventful
period, and 'oeingthe bank of the State, and almost
under the direct control of the Stat?, it may natu-
rally be supposed that it has been exposed to extra-
ordinary
coercions and temptations dangerous to its
solvency and credit. During the first 15 years of
1 its existence, the resources of France were draped
to the dregs to sustain the great Euro-
pean conflicts in which Napoleon was engaged,
and during that period the Government was often I
pressed for supplies for the military chests. On
more than one occasion the Bank of France had to
witness all the French securities it held reduced to
less than one-half of their original value. After a
long interval it had to meet the difficulties of the
Revolution of 1830, succeeded by more than one
period of severe commercial and monetary crisis,
similar to those which the Bank of England encoun-
tered in 1837 and 1847. Next it had to cope with
the reckless and unscrupulous Provisional Govern-
ment which ruled France in 1848, and to meet the
serious difficulties of that and the following years.
During the whole of that time, and throughout the
whole of those political dangers, we are not aware
that at any one moment the credit of the Bank of
France was ever doubted, or that its solvency was
ever in danger. It is true that in 1848 the Provi-
sional Government authorised the Bank to suspend
cash payments, and made its notes a legal tender
thioughout France ; but nevertheless the Bank did
not,upon any one occasion avail itself of that autho-
rity. In every case in which its notes were pre-
sented for payment they were duly redeemed in
cash, and at no moment therefore did they suffer
the slightest depreciation. These facts are concha-
sive as to the advantageous charaCter of the consti-
tution of the Bank, and equally, or even more so,
as to the prudence and ability of its management.
Of later years the deepest depression in the affairs
of the Bank of France was in 1819. Iu that year
the total business of the Bank, in the shape of ad-
vances of every description, was reduced to
48,659,0001. In 1847, the year preceding the
Revolution, it amminted to 74,155,0001. From
that the increase of the transactions of the Rink
has been steady and rapid, and remarkable in
amount. In 1852 the amount of the business was
represented by advancesto the extent of 95,800,000/.
In 1853 they rose to 155,500,0001. ; in 1855 to
183,120,0001. ; and in the last year 'to the enor-
mous sum Of 223,105,5761. In the latter year
The amount of bills discounted in Paris was
60,483,0001., and in the branch banks 116,302,
6701., making together 176,716,3921.
Not only, however, have the transactions of the
Bank Of France risen to this unparalled amount,
but the gains have increased in even a greater
proportion, cauaed no doubt, by the high rates
of interest which have been current during the
last two years. In 1854 the gross profits amounted
to 746,5281. ; in 1835 they reached 906,964/. ;
and last year they rose to the extraordinary sum
of 1,350,5121. Of course these sums are subject
to a certain deduction for the expense of manage-
ment. The entire capital represented by the
shares of the Bank of France is 3,600,000/., so that
a dividend of between 20 and 25 per cent. has
been paid with little difficulty upon the
original value of the shares. It is under these
circumstances that it is now proposed to double
the amount oF the existing capital, a course
suggested by the obvious desirableness of having a
broader basis of security for transactions of such
magnitude. That the operations of the Bank will
continue to increase there can be little doubt • not,
nowever, as a consequence of the increase of the
capital, but as a consequence of the further deve-
lopment of the trade of the country. Taking, how-
ever, the condition of the Bank as it now stands,
what will be the immediate effect of this increase of
capital ? It is proposed that 3;600,000/. shall be
subscribed and invested in French Rentes, which
may be done at a rate which will give about 4 per
cent. interest. The only increase of profit which
will be derived, therefore, from doubling the capital
will be a sum of 144,0001., to be added to the gross
profits made in the last year of 1,350,5721., while
the number of shares and the amount over w ich
the net profits will be divisible will be doubled—
that is, it will be raised from a sum of 3,600,0001.
to one of 7,200,0001. The effect will therefore be
to re,luce the dividend upon the shares of the Bank
of France to little more then a half of the present
rate ; which reduced rate may still, however, be
computed at about 12 per cent. The original
amount of the shares of the Bank of France was
1,000 f., or 401.1 the new shares are to be issued at
1,1001., or 441.. which will still give nearly 11 per
cent. dividend. Inasmuch, however, as the new
shares.are to be issued to the existing shareholders
in proportion to the number of old shares which
they hold, no injustice will be done by the low rate
at which they are fixed.
The operation on the part of the Government
assumes the form of a loan. The new capital is to
be invested'in Three per Cent. Rentes at the prioe
of the time, to be created and added to the present
amount of the national debt of France. The direct
effect will therefore be to take out of the money-
market 3,600,0001. of floating capital towards the
ordinary expenditure of the country in addition to
the taxation of the year. It is, in fact, raising a
loan in the time of peace in order to pay the current
expenditure of the year. The investment therefore,
of this sum in Rentes will not, as has been supposed,
be to improve the value of public securities, but to
diminish them by the creation of so much more
stock, and to increase the severity of the pressure
for money by withdrawing that amount from the
capital now applicable to business. It appears,
therefore, that inasmuch as the charter of the pre-
sent Bank of France does not expire before the
31st of December, 1867, full ten years hence, the
chief reason which has induced the Government to
anticipate that event and give a renewal now is in
order to makeeit means of raising a loan of
money, which would be regarded as more objection-
able in the ordinary form, but which in point of
fact is the same thing. In the arrangement, how-
ever, which is now made, the Government stipu-
lates for a condition, the effect of which will be
that the Bank of France will allow interest upon
the Government deposits up to ascertain amount.
This is to be effected in the following manner :
The bank is to make an advance to the Govern-
ment upon Treasury Bonds to the amount of
3,200,0001., without any charge for interest, ex-
cepting for such portion of the amount as shall be
in excess of the public balances from time to time :
so far the Government has made a good bargain
for the public.
To the Bank of France, however, the arrange-
ment is most favourable. The charter is to be ex-
tended by 30 yeard—that is, until the end of 1897.
It is quite obvious from this proceeding that the
Government has decided to follow out the policy
which has been acted upon so much during the last
seven years, and to extend the branches of the
Bank of France so as to embrace the. banking of
the whole of France. In that case there can be
no question that its operations must go on extend-
ing, so as in a few years to give as large a dividend
upon the new amount of capital as it has recently
done upon the present amount.

MURDER AND SUICIDE. —A woman named Knight,
residing near the parish church at Rotherhithe, has mur-
dered her son and committed suicide. A day or two ago
the husband lost his senses, and, to prevent his laying
violent hands upon either himself or his family, he
was placed under restraint in the asylum, and his
wife and child were taken to reeide in the house of the
uncle, at Rotherhithe. Upon arriving there she seemed
to be greatly depressed in mind, and complained bitterly
of her state. Her friends, however, cheered her up as
well as they were able, and at length considered that
she hail become reconciled to her fate, and advised her
to go to bed with her child. The next morning (Thurs-
day) the uncle got up between 5 and 6 o'clock—his usual
hour to go to work—when he retired to the yard to wash
his face, and in drawing the water from the butt he was
terrified at seeing his relative, Mrs. Knight, rise to the
top of the water. Not knowing whether she was dead
or alive, he gave an immediate alarm and sent for the
aid of the police and others. In the course of a few
minutes Police-constable No. 247 of the M division at-
tended, as well as some of the neighbours, who succeeded
in pulling the unfortunate woman out of the butt, when
they found that life was extinct, and bad been so for
some time. In another water butt was found the body
of the infant child. Mr. W. Carter, the coroner for
East Surrey, yesterday held an inquest at the Europa
Tavern, Rotherhithe. From the evidence adduced it
appeared that the unfortunate woman for some time had
been predisposed to insanity, and, there being no doubt
that she drowned the child and also herself, the jury re-
turned that Susannah Knight destroyed the lila of her
son, George Frederick Knight, when in a state of in-
sanity.
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THE BANK OF LONDON AND THE JOINT-
STOCK COMPANIES JOURIVAL.

At the Mansion House on Saturday Mr. Wm.
Cockburn (who a few days previously appeared in
answer to a summons which charged him with
having knowingly, willingly, and maliciously pub-
lished a libel concerning the Bank of London), and
Mr. John Lawson attended upon a summons charg-
ing them with having unlawfully conspired, com-
bined, and agreed together to injure the Bank of
London in their reputation and character of bankers.

Mr. Bodkin, ins'rueted by Messrs. Tyrell, Paine,
appeared in support of the prose-
and Co., agsin
eution.

Mr. Wontner attended for Mr. Coekbuin, and
Mr. Metcalfe for Mr. Lawson. •

Mr. Bodkin said—My Lord Mayor, the ad-
journment which took place when we were laoit
before your lordship, has procured the attend-
ance of the other defendant, Mr. Lawson, who
is now before .you, and, leaving that indivi-
dual charge against Mr. Cockburn with' respect
to which the lad Strums was taken into custody, for
the publication of that particular libel, as it at pre-
sent stands, it is for me now to give you 'a short
outline of the circumstances, which I am in a con-
dition to prove, as supporting this very serious
charge against both defendants. Mr. Cockburn,
when he was last before your lordship, said that
this was not so much an individual question as a
question of the freedom of the press. You may
remember that that was an observation that excited
the unrestrained risibility of even the spectators
around him. Freedom of thepress can have no con-
nexion whatever with a system' of this kind ; and
those who are engaged in conducting or promoting
the respectable portion of the press of this country
would, I am sure, be first to denounce and condemn
and, if they could, to assist in punishing, those
in proceedings such as I am in a
prove against the defendants.
conditionho engaget
Whatever extent the commentaries of the press of
this kingdom may be permitted, no man can doubt
That to use the press- for".the purpose either of
gratifying priyate malignity-Or of extorting money
from others is a-§irstein that cannot fora mtment be
tolerated in any civilised country. Your lordship is
aware what has led to this charge; it was the ap-
prehension of the lad who was examined beforeyou
when we were here last, but I am now in a condi-
tion distinctly to show that from the period when,
as you are aware, a person of the name of Pringle
was taken into custody and committed from this
place to the GentralCriminal Court for trial, for en-
deavouring by letter to extort money from the Bank
of London, he at that tine representing himself to
have been acting on behalf of the defendant, Mr.
'Lawson—from that period this system of annoy-
ance has continued to the present time. Of course
that attempt of Pringleto extort money from them
entirely failed, and' the directors of the bank
would indeed be open to the suggestion that they
were not persons who were fit to be entrusted
with the management of a great commercial
concern if they, would from any private motives
of their own, or from a desire to escape any
portion of the consequences of the malignity of
others, permit themselves for a moment to be de-
terred from the performance of their duty by at-
tempts such as those that I attribute to the two de-
fendants before you. Now on that occasion your
lordship is aware list the man Pringle, who very
much as it seems to me stood in a situation if not

identical at least analogous to that which the de7
fendants now occupy, namely, that he was an in-
strument in the hands of Mr. Lawson, although it
is impossible to say he was an innocent instrument,
yet upon that occasion he was, from considerations
which I need not now go into, treated with a
leniency which I will not say was misplaced as it re-
garded him. Your lordship is aware that upon a
public recantation of what he had uttered, and pro-
mises not to repeat the offence, he was permitted
to go at large without the stain upon his character

which would have resulted f. om aconviction of the
offence with which he was then charged. I have
no evidence in my power at present to show that
Pringle has s;nce that period mire I himself up

with any simil«r proceeding, and I hope that the
leniency which was t'ren shown him has had a good
effect upon his conduct. But from that period Mr.
Lawson, who was, there cannot be a doubt, the
person who put Pringle in motion, has sought by
every means in his power to.assail and injure the
'character and reputation of the Bank of London,
whether for the-purpose of gratifying his malignity,
in consequence of his failing to establish his claim,
or pretended clainb that he said he had upon the
directors, or for the purpose of inducing them to
purchase peace by the sacrifice of a portion of the
funds of the shareholders of the bank, I do not
know. It is sufficient for me to show that he has
been the means of carrying on this system of an-
noyance through the publication in question—the
Joint Stock Companies Journal—in which from the
time when Pringle was permitted togo, article after
article has appeared, calculated beyond all doubt to
lower the opinion of the public with respect to the
credit and stability of this b ink. Now I am in a
condition to show yod that Mr. Lawson employed a
printer for the printing of this newspaper. I shall
call a gentleman before you who was so employed
by him. Mr. Lawson is supposed to be (and I be-
lieve with good reason) the author, the writer, if
not of all, at least of several of the articles in ques-
tion ; and although some pains have been taken by
the defendants to get back from the printer the
manuscripts which have been sent there, and the
proofs which have been corrected by Mr. Lawson,
yet still some have been left behind, and I am in a
condition to put them before you and to provd be-
yond all doubt that his handwriting was used in
the correction of these proofs. I shall also prove
that he ordered the printing, and that he held him-
self to be, as I believe he is, the propriet r and con-
ductor of this journal. Now, that being so, be
seems to have called in to his aid the other defend-
ant who stands by his side, Mr. Cockburn, and
then, by means altogether unheard of with respect
to any publication claiming the character of or ap-
proach to respectability, they have resorted to the
expedient of getting, this journal hawked. about by
these wretched boys ; and in order that the annoy-
ance might be as complete as possible the boys
have been sent through the public streets with these
placards hung round their necks, and have been
ordered to leave these libels in the various banking
houses in the neighbourhood of the Bank of Lon-
don. In fact the defendants have conducted them-
selves in every possible way with a view to ruin the
reputation and character of the bank against which
their efforts have been levelled. That is the nature
of the case that I am now in a condition to prove
against both of these persons, and the charge is that
of having wickedly conspired to injure those gentle-
men who are carrying on this very great commercial
concern in the City, by the publication of defama-
tory matters such as those of which I have given
you a specimen, and some more of which it will be
my du-y hereafterto read. Now something has been
said about the right of public writers to comment
upon the transactions of the day. No doubt that
is a right which it would be very greatly to the in-
jury of the people of this country if it were im-
properly limited or restrained, but I think you
will see, from the way in which this pub-
lication has been concocted and carried on, that
those who encouraged it were not actuated by any
'bona fide intention or motive of enlightening or
instructing the public, but that they were fully
aware at the time they embarked in it, from the
fact of their trying to cover their proceedings with
mystery and disguise, that they were engaged in
an illegal course of conduct. For instance, Mr.
Lawson, who, I understand, is either a clerk or
employed in some capacity in the City of London
Poor-law Union, whose office is in St. Mary-axe,
in the City, introduced himself or is introduced to
the printer, whom I shill call before you, under
the name of Mr. Williams, and not under his own
name, in order that there should be no means of
tracing to him him any evil deed of which any
person had a right to complain. I also stated,be-
fore, and I repeat, that there is 110 entry of this
journal at the Stamp-office at Somerset-house, as
is usual. There is great difficulty in tracing, on
the part of any person who may be injured by any
article in it, who are the people to be held in any de-
gree responsible for the publication. An observation
escaped me the other day with respect to this publica-
tion which I described as a "cheap publication." I
was corrected, and told that its price was fourpence,
and I find that that is so, but I beg that it may be
understood that in stating that I did not intend
making the slighteft reflection upon cheap publica
tions, some of which undoubtedly contribute
largely to the instruction, education, and amuse
ment of the people ; midi should be very sorry to
make any observations to their prejudice. But I
am sure that with any respectable journal, and at
whatever price it may be published, you will always
have the means of finding out who are the parties
connected with it, that they will not sail under false
colours, or endeavour to screen themselves by the
adoption of false names ; tbat they will give to
those of whose conduct, through inadvertence,
they have complained, the opportunity of correct-
ing any misstatements which may have been made
respecting them, and that they will readily furnish
the names of the authors of misstatements, with a
view of granting redress. As I said before, this
system of aneoyance has gone on till it has been
found a matter of impossibility to bear with it any
longer, and having moved in the matter, it is the
intention of fee directors of the Bank of London to
prosecute this charge with that vigour which I am
sure will enalle them to put down a system of so
base and infaxaous a nature as that which has been
pursued by these defendants.
Mr. Paul Graham, of the firm of Graham and
Co., printers, New Street-square, was then sworn,