The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-10
FAIRLY SCOTCH BANKERS.

stances, tradesmen of very different class, such
as drapers, haberdashers, and con-dealers OF
/ the many firms risen 10 eminence from these
pursuits, the old house OF Coutts-the trunk, so
/ to speak, OF the English and other COutts-is the
| most remarkable The founder Of the house
/ was Patrick Coutts, nntive OF Montrose, VINO
fettled a. Edinburgh, at the beginning Of the 18th
| century. lie carried on mercantile speculnuons
with France, Holland, aud America, by which he
acquired fortune of E3OOOO scots when
rcpresen'ed q considerable sum In those days.
| After the death Of Patrick Coutts, his son
John carried on the business, oularging II con
| siderably, and taking cousin as partner, lhclr
business wa, dealing in corn, buying ana selling
| goods on commission, and the negotiation OF
| bills Of exchange on London Holland, France
| Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The latter part OF
| the trace was very profitable one, so that Mr..
| Jobp Coutts grew rapidly rich, aud was chosen
| LORD Provost of Edinburgh in consequence. lie
distinguished himself In that capacity, by setting
up as the first Lord Provost who entertained
| public guests at his own house, il having been
| the custom previously 70 do the honors OF the
city at some convenient tavern or ale house. Un-
fortunately these Inequalities led the worthy mer-
| chant into exCcsscs Of the table, TO which he sue
cumbcd in 1850, at the age OF hity-one.
This brought the third generation of the Coutts'
| on the stago-cOn merchants and commission
agents, gradually coming TO be bankers The
| two sons OF JOhn COutts, Patrick and Thomas,
on whom dcyoyed the business OF the father
were not yet able clearly 70 discern the adyan-
tages resu ting from banking lhcy Knew lhat
their bill transactions were very prohaOlc, and
| they even went so far as 30 hold money on trust
from private persons, and 20 invest II in securl-
Ties Of various kinds, to the advantage OF both
their clients and themselves yet they held to
corn dealing rs the chief part Of their business,
| only dabbling a little now and then in smugglcd
gOOds-e', spirits, tobacco, and the like.
To assist la defrauing his Maiosty's revenue
was beld perfectly Legitimate matter, as is well
| kuewn inihe ego dold times" Ofthe way in which
the firm Of Patrick and Thomns Cou,ts carried ON
their business, in the middle Of the last century,
an interesting account is given in the Memoirs
OF Banking House" drawn up from the manu-
script of Sir William Forbes, the subsequent head
of the establishment Half bankers and half
corn dealers, the brothers Coutts had large
| number Of ,ents from whom they held moneys
in trust, or for whom they negotiated bills, and
the whole of these often very important trans
actions was carried on in couple of small
rooms, on the second ROor OF house in Parltl-
| men close, Edinburgh.
This very unostentatious tenement likewise
I formed the residence of the brothers, and from
l | here likewise they directed their transactions IN
corn, which were on n considerable scale. They
had settled agent In Northumberland who was
4 | employed to make purchases for the house, and
+ for no one else, in that county; and they hau
n | great many other commission agents in the chief
Q | agricultural districts of England and Scotland
4 Among the latter numberwas somwhat celebra-
ted chai acter Cooper Thonhlll, who az that time
. kept the Bell Inn, at Hilton. Thornhill deserves
d a few words notice in the Railtoay Ne,os, as u
o man who had travelled mt railway speed forty
n years prior to the birth Of George Stephenson.
It His greatest feat in this respect was ride from
, London again, the whole distance being two
hundred and twenty five miles, which he per-
fomed-daie April %, lSij-ln twelve hours, or
at the rate of very nearly nineteen miles an
hour This is double the speed of a certain bran
new metropolitan line, which we will not further
describe. which we had the misfortune TO travel
few days ago, which took two hours and a hall
to carry us over twenty-siX miles of ground.
1t must be said, however, that Mr.. Cooper
Al ThOrnhilrs rapid locomotive was regarded a.
~ something absolutely wonderful in his days
xvI,fa hn nH fhn amor
= bic 29h of April was lined with spectator
y almost over its whole length and the traveller wa
,s received with such enthusiastic hurrahs as II h
- ~ had been q great king, man who had killed
y thousands-what people call conqueror A
~, mezzo- -tinto print Of the famous exploit is still
y preserved at the Bell Inn, at Hilton.
= The Messrs. Couts at the period here sketched
~ stood by no means alone in being both bankers
- and Corn-fa tors. Messrs. Farhome, of Edin
. buTPb, whose banking house had long beeI
~ eminent, re also corn-dealers on large scale
= ! and so were the firms of Fordyce, Malcolm &
\ Co., Arbuthnot q Guthrie, Gibson HOgg ant
~ many others. The only houses at Edinburgh
i century ago, who confined themselves strictly Il
y banking, were the two firms of Mansfield Co.
a and Willmm Cunning. The founder of the first
"a | named house, commonly called "old Jane
= Mansfield began lie in very humble way, a
"a a little draper in back street, from which 10
- caity he emerge as dealern bills OF eXchan &C
q This led to more extended money transactions
n ending in the establishment of a banking hous
. of the first celebrity in Scotland. The firm o
| lus
| highest eminenCe till 1907 when il merged 1t
Is name into Ramsays, Bonars & Co. In II simila
q manner the banking house of Cunning rose int
y existence. Old Patrick Cunning, that is Cumin
q the first kept cloth shop in Parament-clOsC
- | which his son and heir William converted into
counting house where he confined himself en-
h tiTely 10 the trade in bills and money, with s.
/, much success that after n lOng-probably also
NJ haTd-ife he died the pOssessor OF very con
to Siderable fortune. These individual example
ID show the differences in the origin of the prncipl
az | banking firms.
Vi was the failure of many Of their corn an
o+ | other specuntons which opened at last the eye
n | of the members of the firm of COutts & Co,
~ the vaue of banking, as the throughout mo-
No profitable of their occupations. The personal el
,is | perience of Mr. James Coutts, the son OF Joh
= the hospitable Lord Provost, did much 10 accel
,is rate the accomplishment of this design. Nj
mt James Coutis who had never been out OF SEQ
cd land, went on visit TO some friends in Londo
'o in August, l754, and while there fell in love wit
in a young damse called Miss Polly Peagrim, niet
M of GColgc Campbell, banker in the Strand.
M After but a few weeks courtship, Polly g
,er welded TO James, and the event was followed l
M. | the entrance Of the bridegroom into the firm
w Campbell, henceiorth Campbell e. Coutts. II
ne London experience soon showed James Cout
his that banking was better than corn dealing, eve
mo- when taken in connection with smuggling 4
nf3 and brandy, and he advised his friends ia SEQ
no. land accL roiDgly. Perhaps the advice would N
nj have been quickly taken but for disaster
"N The partners Of the Scotch firm of C0utts x CC
ad among whom was now Sir William Forbes NJ
MI 1iNUlNTt lNt ltlltI NtIl tNltIpIl@lUk ull
'pr undertook various operations which they did n
,Te understand, with the c0nsequenCe-to use
'Sg- expressive colloquial phrase-lo "burn the
, - | fingers"
he They SET up large paper mill a. Melville
,rs very considerable cost; bur, when all was read
'ei discovered that they could not make paper, az
.od had TO cousign their Imperfect produce
~ America, from whence they learned, thrOu;
~ their sgcut, "tha; the printers Of the Hspa Je
~ had bought some of the paper, because th
ru could not find any OF a better quality, and {
an. apothccaTies had bought the rest because tn
no could not lind any that was worse" Not mo
81 fortunate than in paper making were the pa
,os neTs in lead mine speculation. They SUI
var | gold, but got no lead in return and though {
led phenomenon might have been explained, in
ma / ply sical sense, by the fact that gold Is mu
Ie heavier than lead, and will consequently have
,cs much geatCr tendency to sinking, the adye
AZ tuners had hut little comfort from IL.
~, But they took the wise resolution Of keepi
~ henceforth TO banking, giving NJ all the 9th
an branch occupations, even smuggling. This "
-, about the year l770; and the movement was I,
~, lowed by a number Of other Scotch houses, pl
,Hs yiously devoted to trading speculations a. "
,re as banking. Probably the number thus starti
'no into existence, all at once, was too great
S aa there soon came a tremendous crash which oyt
- ~ topped one half of the new bankers The dis
crvId aorfIa Ia fg