Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1841-01-23

,asad a. answer another and would show that
that House ought to act, aud that II every "'iri
Der of the last House OF Delegates was =" s
duties that he at least was not; 50 Id d" ''"'
was concerned. -. r
II had becn said Tia, Dr. b. has been guilty OF no o.
fence moi even of neglect in relation TO the late deal
cation caused nv MIR Dabncy that Tor Tins one ac'
Of neglect, arising merely from over confidence, ney
o,nht not to deal so hardly with him. He admitted, II
il were true that this the only non-obscrvance oil
duty on the part Of DR. Observation-Disclosures he lad
managed the Bank uniformly well, except IN the IN
stance Of Dabneys ubstract;on-lhat there wouiu DC
much more force in the reason IMAM thcfe was n"''
believing as he did, and had for the last SIN years oeeV
cd tina, no Bank was ever worse managed be had con-
cludcd they ought act. For what was II inat IL -
ught to be retained Was II because lie SUBSCRIBED LOT
stock Of the old IT, S. Bank, in violation oil me char.er
| NJ The Bank of Virginia. over which lie presided: lie
had seen that leading journal of that city was extol
ling him for that. This had heretofore been out ,te
known for no man, he presumed, ever thohghl lna'
Dr. B. had actually, and that too ny VOCATION u Tue
charter of the Bank which he PRESIDED 10
breathe vitality into the old u s Bank But the Doc
NV made money for the Bank by that operation Sup
nose he had lost by the transaction: lie thought pro-
bablc he would have been told ne was wrong in sub
scrbne that he ought not to have violated the charter
of his own Bank. =,
the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States TO
keen and nav out the Of the u States? Every
BODY condemned that act; the Stockholders refused to
confirm that agreement. This the first act winch
caused him to suspect DR.. Brockenbroughs capacity
for a Bank President, whose duties were or ought 10
he prescribed by the charter and byeaws OF The In
| stu,ion The Doctor might be an able tinancieF;
his financial abilities were not necessary 10 DC OK
anined into in that discussion. His Suspicion ochs
aroused in 1884, when he offered the resolution before
referred to- he began 10 look little closer into the con-
Gems of the Bank lie satisfied his mind from TIE re-
mort of the Bank that affairs in a very deranged
condition He followed Up his investigation, and found
no change for the better in It's condition. he suspeh
sion Of specie payments came; the Bank had large
amount Of money due on protested bills and notes. and
he sound out that protested bill or note was an ob
CATION by doubtful broken man TO pay money lie
found that it most generally what Inc people
called broken man s paper. lie quilted the Legisia-
ure in 1916 and did not return it until last winter;
he then moved TO have the money and notes IN the BANK
counted the House voted down the proposition Without
division-He told was seeming to cast suspicion
on the Bank officers. lie had no specific charges 10
bring against the officers, but what was known or ought
to have been known by every body lie let the count
rest but he believed il count had then been had, tha
much Of the money lost by the confidence IN Mr. Dab
ncy might have been saved. So fully was he last
winter impressed with the belief that something was
wrong about the Banks that he offered resolution TO
enquire into the Bank generally and the COMMITTEE
was also directed enquire into The proprety OF adopt
ing different Banking system. lie had shown iha'
he had been constantly trying TO exhibil 10 puoi'c
oaze the affairs of the Bark Of Virginia. Was DR.
Brockenbrough to be retained in the Presidency OF
the Bank because under his management the whole
amour, of the capital Of the mother Bank, over which
he presided long, had either been entirely sunk or rem
dcred perfectly unavalllng' The amonnt OF Tue ca!
tai of The mother Bank a. this place is 81 Geo
there had been ubsirarcd of that by Dahnry dr:aca
ton about S5I0,0U0, admitted by DR.. Brocken
brough there was appears hy the Bank REPORTS "a
tler upwards Of S7206I5 due the Bark III protested
bills and notes. upwards Of lOO OF over cheeks ana
$500 600 of stock in the James River 4 kanawha Com
pany besides real estate TO large amount. Ii these
several sums be added together, 1t will be seen that II
the Bank is not broken, which he verify believed, that
il had lost and had amount as large as lis capt
tal entirely unproductive unavailable. The stock IN
the james River and kanawha Company, S301,GoO, did
not now yield one cent TO the Bank, and was not like
" 10 do so for many years. The S7206i3 ofprocscd
notes and bills unproducuYe or unavailable; The
Sl02 900 Of over checks also, he presumed,
vailable Certain it that the S540,000 distracted
by Dabney, was gone 1t had been frequently said
that Virginia would die Of an abstracton he did not
know whether that would ever happen, but he very
much feared that the Bank Of Virginia was already
dead ofone In relation to the dea!ca,Ion OF Dabney,
r Dr. peterborough said that it occurred from over
confidence and that it could well have happened at
any time within the last 30 years when ]; did lie
looked upon that direct admission by DR.. Broken
brough that the Bank had been badly managed for
thirty wears, and he thought he was right.
Did not Dr. Brockenbrough know that Dabney was
actinr improperly before his flight lie contended
that he did, and thought he could shcw it from his let
ter of July the lst Qsl0) TO the stockholders In that
letter the Dr. said: Although there were some cir
cunstances that excited my surprise short time before
the fight of the Teller yet such was the universal
confidence in the principles OF that officer, from his
department during his ten years service IN the Bank
{ that attributed what could not well understand 10
a cause that was certainly inadequate 10 the effect.
Here the Doctor expressly admitted that his surprise
was excited before the Tellers Highland why dad he
not at once cause examination of the funds OF the
Bank One would have thought that if the PresI,
dent and Drectors-and the Doctor was one OF the
Directors-had failed to count the money when no
suspicion of neglect other improper conduct existed,
that least that would have been pursued after
suspicion aroused yet 1t was not done Dr.
Brockenbrough, in the same letter, says "Under our
course of reduction, it seemed to that the neigh
bourng Banks ought to have fallen constantly in
debt nasmuch as one of them, at least,
adjustment and extending its operations; yet all
suspicion OF misconduct warded oil by the impress
sion that Bank had become unpopular from our Sc
we're retrenchment, and from other causes which had
induced many of customers to transfer their de-
postes to other instuons-and it was not until |
discovered that own circulation began 10 in
crease, without enlargement of our operations,
that became really uneasy Then, the Doctor real
ly became uneasy. For what was he uneasy lie pre-
sumed from the belief which had very nearly matured
into conviction, that something wrong in the con-
duct of the Teller. Yet all this could not excite him
to investigation The Doctor, in the same letter. said:
81 then enqured Of the Teller, why he paid out our
notes. when he had been directed TO pay demands on
the Bank in the notes Of the branches and he replied
that his stock Of branch notes exhausted. OBJ
serving from the statements laid before the Board,
that they had not been sent to the branches, told
him did not understand these things and that the
| vaults must be examined Doctor Brockenbrough,
in the last extract, showed that he still suspected
something wrong. He thought he Showed that
he did not believe the Teller: he Showed that he from
circumstances known to himself, had good 10
! suspect the Teller: and strong was the suspicion
the part of the President, that he felt it 10 be his
duty TO tell Mr.. Dabney that he did not believe him..
condition of things in the Bank Dabncy told linn the
reason yet the Doctor replied he did not understand
these things, and said to MIR. Dabney his vault must
be examined. Yet nothing could urge the Doctor to
the exercise of his supervisory power affairs until
Dabney fed. Again, the Doctor, in another part of
the letter said: at is proper to remark, that
nv months previous 10 the discovery Of tins great