The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1841-05-05
REPORT OF THE aINVESTIGAT-
ING COMMITTEE.
lCoNCLUDED.] | /

An account Ot the settlement Win
Messrs. Jaudon, Cowperthwaite and An
drews, accompanies report made by the
Exchange Committee, to the Board on
the 2lst of August, 1910. That Com
mittee remark in their report, "4our
Committee are unable to say, if any au-
thority was given by the. Board under the
charter from Congress, but are very GER
tain that the Boards, under the present
charter, have never sanctioned such loans
or settlements, and they cannottoo strong
" condemn such acts. The power of
making loans and settlements must be re-
served to the Board, while the Officers
must be content with being the executive
of its DECISIONS
The accounts of these officers, arehere-
with submitted together with some others.
(Appendix G.)
In order to inform the Stockholders, not
only of the character of the Assets, but
of the mode bv which they came to the
possession of the Bank, there is attached
to this report, a statement showing the
particulars of the Stocks Oil hand at the
Bank, the amount taken in settlement of
debt, purchased or subscribed, and list
of the Stocks in possession April l, 1889,
(Appendix ii. ~ Of the whole amount
Of Stocks and Loans, which the Bank has
received since its re-charter, including
those since disposed of, it appears have
been taken in settlement of debts and adj
vances.
In the course of their investigation, the
attention of the committee has been di-
rccted to certain accounts, which appear
ON the books as "Advances on Merchan-
dize," but which were, in fact, payments
for cotton, tobacco, and other produce,
purchased by the direction of the then
President, Mr.. Nicholas Biddlc, and ship
ped to Europe on account of himself and
others. These accounts were kept by
clerk in the Foreign Exchange Depart
ment, this department being under the
charge of Mr.. Cowpcrthwaite, until Sep
tember %, 1887, when he was elected
Cashier, and of Mr.. Thomas Dunlap, un
til March 20, 1889, when he was chosen
President.
The original documents, necessary to
enable the Committee to arrive at all the
facts in relation to these transactions,
were not accessible, having been retained,
as was supposed, by the parties interest
cd, as private papers. A succInct view of
the whole matter, sufficient to convey to
the stockholders general idea of its cha
racter, may be drawn from the report of
a Committee Of the Board of Directors,
appointed on the 2lst of July, 1910, for
the purpose of adjusting and settling these
accounts, and who reported on the 2lst
of December, 1910, which report, with
the accompanying accounts, is spread at
large upon the minutes.
The first transactions were in July,
1887, and appear as advances to A. &.
Jaudon, to purchase cotton for shipment
to Barring, Brothers & CO. of Liverpool,
the proceeds to be rcmitted to their mouse
in London, then acting as the agent Of the
Bank. The amount of these shipments
was 2,ls2,99s dollars % cents. The
proceeds were passed 10 the credit of the
Bank, and the account appears to be
DdldnCCu. lC lSsultS, dS W tllC lOHt
and Loss, do not appear, and the commit
tee had no means of ascertaining them,
nor the names of the parties interested.
In the autumn of 1887, when the Sc
cond of these transactions commenced, it
will be recollectcd. that Mr.. Samuel Jau-
don had been appointed the Agent of the
Bank 10 reside in London, About the
same time, a copartnership was formed
between Mr.. May Humphreys, then
Director of the Bank, and son of Mr..
Nicholas Biddle, under the firm of Biddle
& Humphreys. This house was estab-
lished at Liverpool, ard thenccforward
acted as agents for the sale of the produce
shipped at that place, which comprised
large proportion of the whole amount.
In explanation of these proceedings,
the Committee annex to their Report a
COPY of letter dated Philadelphia, De-
cember %, 1910, to the President and d.
rectors of the Bank, from Mr.. Joseph
Cabot, one of the firm of Bevan & Hum
phreys, and who became Director at
the election in January, 1888. This let
ter was read to the Board, December 90,
1910, but was not insertedon the minutes.
[Appendix K.]