New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-05-02
have not been badly bitten BY some Of them, or ct

tons, tEon Oul sOIb-Nni On nA"y ""S ~ S'Ho'asNo
as some natural philosopher Of the Cockney school
taught that ST creatures do in this country.
To drop metaphor, however. and come down u
pain prose. the chicaneries and rascaties Of Bank
ipg used to be thought to flourish most vigorously
il moi 10 be absolutely indigenous. IN our soil
Business of all kinds, il has been thought, was con
Quoted on safer principles in England than mere;
and that if the profits OF trade were less there tnai
here the risks of loss were also most materially less
And we rather think it used to be 40 in the good
old times, when men wore powder and pig-talls'
and when the quart bottle held quart. But for
the last FIVE d-twenty years. We should imagine
that there has been but very little difference be-
tween the staid old mother and the Eighty young
daughter in the recklessness with which they run
up bills and borrow money right and left. with no
particular idea as to where il is to come from when
it falls due The old lady has no great right to
give herself any superiority over the young hussy
in things financial Even Schuyler would have had
TO hide his diminished head, had his valuable life
been prolonged to this day in view of the railway
suindles which have recently come to light. To be
GENERATORS Of this sort are treated in the two coun-
tries. While Strahan and Paul and Redpath spend
ing their gnominious days, with their hair short
cropped, clothed with the partcolored rament OF
the prison. in penal seryitude, our Robert Schuyler
wore away the philosophic evening of his well
spent life on the Rhine, or by the Lake of Como,
or looking over the dark blue waves of the Medi-
terraDean.
The Royal British Bank is one of the institutions
which have lately succumbed to fate, and points a
moral very much in the kind of way that many OF
our American manufactures Of paper money have
done before it. The genesis, career and death OF
this wildcat, which prowled for it's prey along the
Strand and in the pureus of Token-house Yard,
we're much resembling to those of the race that has
from time to time wasted fields and slaughtered
men" from Wall street round to the sea, and to the
farthest Western wilderness. In the first place, II
began business on fictitious capital. The Act OF
Parliament required that one-half the capital-or
$50, OOO-should be paid in before its operations
should begin. But it's managers were too shrewd
fnancers to withdraw 80 much Of the current coin
of the realm from the wholesome circulation it was
ENJOYING, and 80 they substituted therefor certain
matters which they considered equivalent to cash
such asacceptances of themselves; while what hard
money was actually had was on the engagement
Gone of the few that they ever falfled) that it
should be refunded forthwith, by being retransferred
to the accommodating lenders.
The wildcat having thus been set on its legs and
the breath of life breahed into its nOstrls, it pro-
ceeded to fulfill the law of its existence as beast
of prey. Depositors were invegled to place their
money in place of such uncommonly sate-keePing.
Shares were sold in the market to retired capital
sts, small as well as great, as safe and lucrative
investment. Members of Parliament figured large
" in the lists Of Directors and two at least Of the
most managing Of them were ornaments OF that
honorable House. Previously to the commence
ment of operations a sum Of money was divided
among the Directors in consideration Of their GER
vices in getting it up. This was by way OF an
oyster or beccafco, whet to the appetite which
was to feed itself fat on what the credulous public
had set before Them An actual capital of ego, 900
having been paid in, instead Of the E5O,OOO
" hich was certified unto to the Board of Trade,
the Bank began business in 1919. And it began,
continued and ended it to some purpose. Proceed
ing in strict accordance with the principles of such
institutOns-the Military one of spending half
crown out of sixpcnce a dsy"-three or four Of
the Directors borrowed considerably more than
/ 100 600 of the eco, 900 paid in. Beside this,
large speculation was entered into in some Welsh
mines, which swallowed up about El2' 900 more.
Balance sheets were cooked to order, so as Ito
make things pleasant, and dividends were declared
and paid with borrowed money to mako them
pleasanter
But such state Of things was too good to last
as Godsmith's contented sailor said OF the French
prison; and several months ago, shortly after the
general meeting Of the shareholders had passed
resolutions expressing their entire confidence in
the honor of the Directors, the crash came, the
doors were closed, and the Directors and (Which
was of much more consequence nearly all the
shareholders were ruined-every one being person
ally responsible for the whole. The concern has
been before the Court of Bankruptcy ever since,
and the narre revelations of its officers have
been the astonisbment Of London. One piece Of
sharp practice on the part Of an eminent Director
is worth noting. Mr.. Humphrey Brown, NJ p.
for Tewksbury and large ship.owner, had mort
gagged bis ships to the Bank to secure his little
debt of $4,000. But bis brethren in the
Direction, in order to save his commercial credit,
kindly consented to let them still stand, un.
transferred, in his name. Awaiting himself Of the
legal register, he sold the ships, pocketed the
proceeds, and 20 cheated the Bank out of the
amount 1t is no wonder that there was de-
mand that be should share the fate Of his fellow
fDancier James Sadlier Of the Tipperary Bank,
and be expelled from the House Of COmm0ns.