The National Register. — London, England, 1820-06-04 00:00:00

18! THE QULEY. A letter from a Gentleman at Geneva, to a Cortes . pandent in town, which affords sonic interesting mat te' as to the state of her Majesty's health, and as to the manner in which she had been received in that town. After describing the unexpected arrival of her Majesty, and the curiosity which her presence had excited, he sacs:—Sonde of us Eilailsinnen felt it Our duty m pay our respects to the dor:it Exile, and sent an humble request that we might be allowed that honour. Her Majesty was so much indisposed as to be incapahle of seeing us, but we were ultimately favoured with all audience. Her Majesty received us with great conde scension and affability, aild made particular inquiries as to when we heard trout England, of which she ex pressed herself a devoted admirer. She spoke with a sort of enthusiasm of the people and of the country, and said that her heart yearned with affection towards the one and the other. She said she never should for get :the kind, liberal, and enthusiastic sentiments of respect which had been politi c o her while in London — at a period when all hope, save that founded upon the consciousness of her own innocence, had fled. A young gentleman, son of Mr. Alderman Wood, was present; he had before spent some hours with her Ma jesty, and in alluding to the honourable exerticins of lethal . , in layout of an almost friendless woman, sue seenitzd almost affected to tears. Her country—fur /she said she hail none other but England, now that the grave had swallowed her father, her mother, and her brother—was the unceasing topic of her allusions ; and she seemed to look with confidence to a triumphant re. turn to what sit e emphatically called ' the bosom alter people.' " Her person, since she left England in 1814, seems to be a good deal changed. She is nut so fair as she then was, nor is she so stout—there is an air of melancholy !angina about her manners, which renders her very in teresting. It is thought she will remain here for sonic time. •She lives almost entirely secluded." The arrival of Alderman Wood in the town of Calais produced among the English inhabitants (about 1,000 in number) a considerable ferment. it was at once . concluded that the long existing doubts as to the arrival of her Majesty were about to be solved, and the sub sequent departure of the worthy Alder.inan, in compay • with Lady Hamilton, on the road towards Paris, con firmed the belief that her Nlajesty would ultimately come among them. This beliel led to a consideration as to the way in which she was to Le received.— Many were for evincing those sentiments of attachment in the strongest manner; but, in order that the matter might be arranged in a proper way, the following cir cular was issued on Wednesday. " Elsa MAJESTY flit QUILLS' Of EVOLAND.—Infor. loation having been received of the °beide intention of her Majesty Caroline. (11,101111.11 to pana through as in her way to Dover. kis swam* . that the English isbabkants resident here any .stead a pirblie _meeting to be beldeslas the Silver Lios, Ise Need, es Thursday evening. at 'eves &clerk, for the peeress of %gift Isla misidendica the course which it may be ospoShmt le adept, skim view so pay to her lifejimy that mews slob* is doe ass iwu British ',Ara to one Liaise* illnierMse wok. at is the milissadnoi of whose bosottr and lousy every Itsolhimsm isset hal as impe rative duty. Calais, tsd May. MD." Independent of the private circulation of the above notice, it was likewise exhibited at the English reading. room, and several gentlemen expressed their intention of attending the meeting. In the course of the day, how ever, a person holding an official situation under the British government, and who had previously rendered himself somewhat unpopular, discovered the announce ment, and, it is suppcned, immediately proceeded to lay an information before the Mayor, as, in ten minutes after he had been seen reading it, the proprietor of the reading-room was cited before that gentleman. — The Mayor, who conducted himself with great polite ness', asked several questions as to the persons by whom the notice had been prepared, and by whose orders it had been stuck up. The answer was, that one of the sub scribers to the reading-room had left it, and that, in placing it mi his window, he (the proprietor) was un conscious of having been guilty of any offence. In return, he was informed that it was contrary to the laws of France to summon a public meeting without the per inisssion of the municipal officers; and limber, that the exhibition of the notice in question without a stamp, was improper. The May or filially declared his inten tion to send the paper, - .vith a copy of which he was provided, to the Picket at Arras, which he has accor dingly done, and thus the matter at present rests. This proceeding soon obtained publicity, and excited something like alarm in the breasts of 'Lose who had intended to have met ; but their views were still further frustrated by the landlord of the Silver Lion refusing to let them have a roam in his house—a circunitatice which is attributed to the influence of the saute official gentleman to whom we have already alluded. Goner these circumstances no meeting took place, nor is it y • determined what course will he pursued, either upon t part of tile British residents or the French authorities in the et tin of her Majesty's Anital. It is reported that an order has been inserted iu the orderly-book w the Castle of Dover, that, it. the es cut .• the arrival of her Majesty, a salute is to be tired from. the guns in the batteries AGRICULTURAL CLAIMS. A sort of manifesto has been just put forth by the • Committee of the Agricultural Associations, purporting to be the Report of Mr. George 1.% Hall. Its assertions ai eof the must sweeping cha racter: its cAniclus.osis are proclaimed as discoveries; and atone of tritoiteli is assumed well calculated to at te r,t he intere-steu, and convert the unreflecting. This Foduction challenges inquiry. It has been '. :THE NATIONAL REGISTER: sent to every Member of Parliament ; and to every Editor of a Newspaper throughout the kingdom. Our readers will perceive that the conclusions of Mr. flail are founded upon the very able and moat laborious work of Dr. Colquhon ; that the researches of this celebrated writer on statistics have slumbered since 1814, as far as they told for the Agriculturists —but that. a light has been shed over them by the genius of the Secretary to the Agricultural Associ ations, which is to put out the eyes of all objectors. To reduce the statements of Mr. Hall to a narrow compass, they are intended to prove -Ist. That the property createil in Great Britain and Ireland. in the year 1519—13, by Agri tun, in sU its branches, was £216,817,6 94 By Mines, Minerals, Co als, &c 9,000,000 Total from the Soil £223,817,624 2d. That of this sum. after deducting all the ex pellees of labour, working-cattle. seed, pours rates, taxes. dm. the profit of the Land owners and Cultivators, was £99,810.60 3d. That the introduction since 1814 of Foreign Produce, Duty-free. has diminished the va lue of Agriculture Produce one-third, or the £72,272,541 sum of 4th. That the Surplus Profits of every other Branch of Industry—Autufactures, Inland Trade, Banks. &c. &c. was, in 1813, 0n1y... £28,023,468 To prevent every possibility of mistake as to the conclusions which Mr. Hall infers from these state ments, we think it right to select the concluding passage of his Report • The data which Doctor Colquhoun has afforded me are cor roborated and borne out in every instance by the payments to the property tax; anti from the statement of profits respectively which I have formed, we have this glorious result. viz. that the cultivators of the soil of the United Kingdom. did. by their skill. capital. and industry, employed in agriculture in 1813, earn for the land-owners, the Clergy, and themselves, a net deer profit 4499,810,6081. ; while in the same period, all the boasted results of all the commerce and manufactures of the United Kingdom, both at home and abroad, amounted no to more than a profit of 211.086.468 L • If this statement will not convince the Legislature, hie Majesty's blinistoes, and the British pudic, of the justice. the policy, sod nooomity of equal protection for the skill. capital, sad moo of the cultivators of - the soil, with the merchants nod awaulholonsesolothing but a continuation of their present side. can do ea. For it is as clear as facts and figures can demonstrate, that if the productions of our own soil have depre dated one-thirdin value per annum since 1813, by the introduc tion of ihoelp_produce duty-free, then has it cost this nation the third part of 11111,817,6241. or the sum of 72,272,540. per annum for the single purpose of enabling our merchants and manufacturers to vend from 10 to 15,900,0001. worth of their commodities in foreign markets, whereby a profit of a million and a half. or at most two millions sterling may be gained, to set against the awful depreciation of 74,475,5411. We might have gone very far with Mr. George Webb Hall to have agreed that such a depreciation was indeed alarming ;—and we apprehend that many have been of the seine opinion. But it occurred to us to examine at what standard Dr. Colquhoun fixed the prices of Agricultural Produce in 1812-1 s ; as the ratio of estimating its aggregate amount. We were perfectly astonished to find that in Dr. Col quhoun's tables, the several kinds of grain are taken at fifty per cent. less than the average prices in the public markets of the 12th of September, 1812: as a fair and permanent standard of the price of grain. The prices upon which Dr. Colphoun builds the very table which Mr. Hall thinks so conclusive are as follows : s. d. 70 6 per quitter. n 0 Barley Oats ..to 0 Ry e 43 10 Beans and Peas .35 10 To put the argument in the clearest light we subjoin, from the London Gazette, the aggregate average prices preceding the 15th of May, 1820, by which Importation is regulated in Great Britain, and by which the Ports are closed to the 15th of August next : Wheat 63 10 per quarter Barley 35 1 Rye 43 1 Beans 42 7 Peas 46 5 And thus, instead of a depreciation of one third upon the calculations of Dr. Colquhoun, agricultu ral produce has not been depreciated one per cent. from the price this statistical writer set as a perma nent standard, producing the estimate of new pro. perty created annually from the soil as 225,817,6241. —or in other words, that only one per cent. instead of one third, is to be deducted from the 99,840,6u81. which Mr. Hull assigns as the profits of the land. owners and cultivators of that period ! It' Mr. Hall thinks so highly of these estimated profits in 1812, he must be perfectly satisfied with their amount in 1820. Or has he nut really a concealed longing for thove enormous prices which Dr. Co; quhoun thought admitted a depreciation of 50 per cent. ? If the actual prices of 1812 were returned to, a tax of above One Hundred Millions would be imposed upon the whole kingdom by the complaining agriculturists. The question between the agriculturists and the manufacturers is simply this :—whether all foreign commerce is to be swallowed up and destroyed by an advance in the price of food, causing a necessary ad ance in the price of labour ; or, on the other hand, whether the cultivation of the soil is to be dis couraged, by a reduct►on of the cost of food below a remunerating price, to enable the manufacturers to proportionately' diminish the wages of labour. It i fur all wise and humane persons to hold the balance between these contending parties. It is manifest that any attempt to injure the one must recoil on the other ; that if bread is unreasonably high, manufac tures and commerce must decline, and there must be a consequent declension of the demand for food ; and that, on the other hand, if bread is unreasonably cheap, the land-owner and cultivator must neces sarily reduce their expenditure, and that the ma nufacturer must in consequence find a reduced market for his commodity. It is the ordination of an all-wise and beneficent Provieence that man is dependent upon msn in every degree of society ; and that no one rank or class can be naturally ele vated or unnaturally depressed, without a corres ponding injury to the whole social system. Let us not seek to disturb this merciful provision! IRELAND. THE F anuaes.--Cork, May 27.—The scenes of distress which this City has presented since the stoppage of two extensive Banking.houses„ whose issues of paper forms a great portion of the circu lating medium of the South of Ireland, are moment.. arily multiplying, and we grieve to say, that no prospect of alleviation opens to the view to cheer or to encourage. It is too soon to expect any report from those gentlemen who undertook to examine the state of Messrs. Leslie's affairs. But the public expectation, in such an emergent crisis, exceeds all reason, and the result is looked for with much anxiety. In the mean time considerable relief has beau experienced by the partial acceptance of the notes of this house, in several merchants' offices and retail shops, without, as we learn, any material charge being made thereon. More than one res• pectable house are said to have suspended payment, and, from the total want of the means of payment, employment may be said altogether to have ceased. The streets, from this cause, as well as from the numbers arriving from the country, and the grouper who are sure to collect on such occasions, are extremely crowded, and tales of distress and despair ing countenances meet the ear and the eye at every corner. Last night there was some indication of tumult outside the house of Messrs. Roche, but it was confined to a few individuals, and was soon interrupted by the arrival of the sheriffs, high con stables, a number of peace officers, and we regret to observe, some military. Two or three persons mere conveyed to bridewell, and their appearance, as they were conducted along, indicated that they had received some blows, This morning the streets have exhibited similar scenes to those of the last two days, but the crowd is not so great as it was antici pated it would have been owing to its being market day. As a proof of the universal apprehension and want of confidence which prevail, it was distressing to observe the numbers who flocked to the Savings Bank this day, for the purpose of drawing their deposits. Coax, hay' past four o'clock, Saturday...We Just learn the result of the meeting of those gentlemen who undertook to examine the state of Messrs. Leslie's affairs. A deputation, consisting of Messrs. Crawford and Gerard Callaghan, have been appointed to repair to Dublin immediately, to wait on the Lord Lieutenant, for the purpose of soliciting a loan of 100,0001. to be vested in managers, and lent out by them on approved securities or deposits. The Deputation leaves this City on Monday morning. " Letters from Cork and Limerick," says the Dublin Evening Post, " speak of the consternation in those cities, in consequence of the recent failures there. There is no apprehension, we are happy to understand, entertained as to the bank of Mr. Pike, of Cork; or Mr. Roche, of Limerick. The latter house was open last Sunday, from seven o'clock in the morning until evening, for the purpose of pay ing. Mr. Pike had comparatively few notes in cir culation. There is no run upon any of the Dublin Banks. Stoppage of a Limerick Bank —Saturday last, the Bank of Messrs. Maunsell, Kennedy, and Maun sell, of Limerick, stopped payment, " In conse quence of the sudden and great pressure upon the Bank, resulting from the very unexpected suspension of payments of the two late banks; but they will avail themselves of the earliest opportunity to sub mit a statement of their affairs to the public, which they have no doubt will a ff ord perfect satisfaction, andinsure that confidence and support which they have hitherto experienced," A meeting of the landed and commercial interest was to be held at the Commercial-buildings, fur the purpose of ap pointing a committee, to investigate the affairs of the Rank of Nlessrs. Mailmen, Kennedy, and Maunscll, and to report thereon. On Saturday night last, between 11 and 12 o'clock, as Mr. Jame& Shaw, a respectable termer of Brenningtun, near Lhesterlield, was returning home after having received a considerable sum of money, he was attacked within a quarter of. a mile of bit own house, and robbod of 4pwarda of 7001. in coun try bank notes. .11