The Sun. — London, England, 1844-07-15 00:00:00

' Queen and ladies an a )usehfld, at. n the Co.stle. fated.. his fbrenoon wa i ts , the were taken int e to Adelaide 'al-4 find the day nioraing a afternoon at sterdfi, og , yel l. teruay e ; n. AagliSt." „ i ,„ of le iitin•- it Saturday , arid 17uche s5 a with their is IViarF, tz, atlenu7 uth Aud Cambricibl i n e service° encour l a.F ...4ng ace of 4 1Ve5 : ' 6 ydyr Sous j, suth rio , j 1 , 7 /1:0 1 P,1 1 Mah('' a' br TuOrl"'' L ii t rnra e e vve o p olee or 3 were, )r 4)b, orl nial-Ac e th Wates° Ind c loncl l7 . • be ll -Arrd: Is 3 e if ; 8r4z 1 .,,0, Burl o";,' York; G re s -ct. Speririsce Padl• Pic" breeze/trr Jamaica , os; Nev, Or le do , and Or 0 A• f - - f Um Rtst L et. - ua ye, Nines d oh ' (1), n. • A E I r John's,- 'r John, be c. L Qu e at LloyP' 9 t te ears tha t t he ppeared iP i y place. 50 01, • about 1, XOl 5 new 5, ?y 11ar~~ gad )r „ rig ff the " A . 0 70 r, Cole: " —MunrOd / fife, am M e l e vol 4 WD `p 4tb, d 0- o a; and 1,00.01, DokS, td 1. - rill6i dle, Ar, co v iscar ; "f r og' , 16th ,y; te lrl 4on e ilf ; AP' ak, t i gascar ; Loading qelson , SingliP 6re ‘ E in; on ? g reet , ) le t , of t fee; i ‘ e • roc on .urge a l at t pu ',vat a eye d hY<. e, r efullf J ai' m an b t oe ;o co o.d f e "' Mures J ig. 0 150 o p g ri) ss ed by a te a ; ~ye f of 0 o Qil EI;;N*E." CON C, ;~ ;1 1 - 1A2., V ii-5k26,5....;.h. On Friday evening a concert, equally' novel aid splendid. was given by Don J. M. de Ciebra. Several duetti (guitar) were prf , ,rrned in a style of exquite perfection by the accomplished professor and his talented relative. Don A. Ciebra. They were heard with de.. light, at .d applaud, with rapture by a.i crowd , d and as scientific a company as ever gric, , d the ta,:hionable reunions of cultiva•ed taste, for which these rooms are distinguish , d. Th we - Aho think little of the guitar a:, an instrument of expression would do well to hear these gentler en, who prove that in the hands of educate.! Spaniards, the guitar, unpret,ntions as it is, becomes an instrument of great power, and capable of expressing the most tender sentiment and the deepest emotion. A solo on the flute, by Ribas, was deservedly and enthusiasti cally encored. He convinced us that the professor was mistaken who "disliked nothing more than a flute, except two flutes." The Bolero, on the concertina, by Ite gondi, was executed in a style which proved what intui tive melody in the performer may effect with the most imperfect means. The Morossini family, Miss Galbraith, Miss Florence Messum, Miss Badger, and Miss S. Flower, received their full share of the applause which this grand display of art elicited from a most judicious ,audience. The great work of the evening was a grand martial fantasia on the pianoforte, by Mr. Cohan. So well constructed a piece seems to be misnamed as a "fantasia." The unity is so pure and perfect, that the whole work gives the impression of a single melody, the effect being in no degree impaired by its length, and never interrupted by the variety of subject, to the ex pression of which the well-sustained theme is adapted. The subject is the late "Revolution of the Greeks at Athens. The theme is found in the third passage— the aria expressive of hope. There is true poetry in the mind of that man who could conceive the idea of Making a melody expressive of hope the base and the prevailing sentiment of his " Areios Paiwn" upon a tumultuary revolution. In the introduction we had an intimation of the melody, delicately varied. In the second passage, " The murmurings of the people," the phrases occur again, and are admirably modified and subdued. In the third, we have the aria itself, in ten derness, earnestness, and simplicity, quite as original as the oldest work of the Celtic bards. The tumults, the rejoicings are all adthirably described ; but there is one passage to which no general criticism can do justice—the " Prayer." It is wonderful that even in this glorious .• passage the theme is still preserved, although the gentle expression of hope is swelled into a magnificent anthem. Mr. Cohan's performance of this piece was listened to With breathless attention, and was followed with such applause as might be expected from so refined a com pany. It is not easy to say whether his construction or his execution is the better. He is, at all events, a Worthy pupil of his great master, Beethoven. Yet, Mr. Cohan did not carry away the honours of the night ; for Marras was applauded most vehemently in Mercadante's " Fra membi crudeli." SIGN OR MORIANI. The following sketch of the career of this celebrated artist, which we abridge from the Maestro, may not be uninteresting to our readers : " Signor Moriani is a native of Florence, where he • was born in the latter part of the year 1809 ;so that he is now in his thirty-fifth year. His father, who was a man of the highest respectability, and some wealth, and • slestined his son - , to whom he was devotedly attached, for thelegal profession, arid before he had completed his twentieth. year,•Napoleone was sent to the classic shades • of Pisa to commence his stu dies for the bar. But the „ ...dry.purStrit of jurisprudence was of all thin g s the most , • uncongeitial to the taste of the future artist, and an ardent a tt ac hment he formed at Florence during his first ,• • '•• 'vacation, rendered him still more unwilling to quit the fair city of his early affections and fond, at hope for the dull cloisters ard prescribed nalk.t of alma muter. It was about this . interesting period of his life, when love had quickened his feelings to a•sensuous appreciation 01 • the " concord of sweet sounds," that he heard for the • , first time the then popular singer Bianchi. That touch ' - ing voice, in one of the love songs of his country, went home to the susceptible' heart of the young inamorata and from that moment of rapture, as he has frequently been heard to declare, he formed • the resolution to de vote himself exclusively to the lyric stage. Fortune as well as nature favoured him. He became acquainted with - the celebrated maestro Rugs, who, struck with the genius of the youthful aspirant to vocal fame, not only • .gaVe him gratuitous instruction in singing, but in • Wrested himself to provide his pupil with the best masters necessary to qualify him for the profession of his choice. The peculiar and herz.ditary gift of his countrymen was Iforiani'S in an extraordinary degree. Well might the .„ generous and enthusiastic Ruga, be proud of his hand - some pupil. Moriani devoted himself with ardour to the • study of music, and the astonishing progress he made exiled forth the most sanguine expectations from all who 'had an opportunity of hearing him in private. ".Moriani made his first public appearance in the cone.rt-room of the well-known academy for vocal debutadts • 'at 'Milan, and, consequently, before an audien ce well qualified to form an estimate of his in trinsic merits. The remarkable properties of his voice, his noble figure and expressive countenance, and the singularly fine dramatic conception he evinced, com manded the admiration of all who beheld him, and from the extraordinary sensation he then produced it was not difficult to forsee that a new star would soon rise re splend,nt on the lyric stage. He was shortly afterwards oiVered an engagement by the impresario of Pavia, and iii that city he made his debut in Donizetti's opera of Anna Bolena. From that time the fame of Moriani continued to spread. Italy quickly recognised in the Florentine artist one of the finest tenors the present age had produced. prOin Pavia, . Moriani went to Padua. and theatre_ to Cremona and Turin, and subsequently to Parma, Venice, and Genoa. The impresarii of :Naples, -Rome, and Milan simultaneously proff'-red him engage ments, and his first performances at the two most irn : ..portant theatres in Italy—San Carlo and I.a Scala — ,were successively bailed with a furore of delight. _ It would occupy inure space than we can afford ti `recerj but one-third of the triumphs which hare at tended Moriani in his artistic career. He is as much • esteemed at Vienna, Dresden, and Berlin as at Rome. -• nfrence..and G ER3I ANY. •__ _ _ RIOTS IN TIIE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS. The riots which took place in the early part of June, ii- Silesia, have been foil- eed by others in Prague ; and IS:nil missions are sitting in both districts, to explore the real cause of these excesses. From the various accounts from tilos. districts, these causes are pretty plainly excessive lowness of the price of labour, and, to a great extent, utter want of work. For a long period the distress among the band-loom linen weavers has been dreadful. This has now extended itself to the cotton spinner , , and the description of the ap pearance of these work people—the fortnerly simple, peace ful, industrious, and happy inhabitants of the Silesian val leys, is heart-rending,. Pale, consumptive, weak-eyed men, languidly gliding down from the mountains, staff in hand. clad in their blue linen jackets, and bearing wearily the bundle of linen to the master's, which they have woven at eighteen-pence the 120 elk !is the picture of the linen weavers. That of the cotton-spinners is worm, because it is more morally revolting. Before Christmas some disturbances took place—the disuses- lute ;elle or, niereasieee On the one hand the formidable conpetition of England; on the other, the strict closing of the trade aer,ss the frontiers with Russia, Las at length brought the people to desperation. They at tributed all their miseries to the introduction of machinery, • • and accordingly against that they turned their fury. Col lecting in a mass of more than a thousand, they marched With a white curtain torn down from a window, and hoisted oil a pole as a banner, and to the singing of a song which 'lad long been sung through all the district to express their injuries, into the populous manufacturing village e of Peters- Walden and Langenhielau, where they attacked the chief factories, those of Messrs. ,Zwanziger, Hilbert and An ' dritzky, and Dierig. Attempts were made to turn away their fury by the distribution of money, but in most cases, in vain. The fury of the rioters was terrific. Windows, roofs, machinery, furniture, all me t with one common de struction. The stores of yarn, indigo, manufactured goods, spindles, Lee., were all carried out and flung into the mill streams. During four-and-twenty hours that it required to get-an order from Breslau for the employment of military, this work of demolition and plunder went on. The soldiers, Cott their arrival, fired on the mob, and killed thirteen on the eamt, besides wounding many others. The rioters then fled to the hills and woods, whence the soldiers hunted them out. • Upwards of a hundred were conveyed to the prison at ' B 9kweidniz. The Prince Adalbert of Prussia hastened to 13reet ee , to ascertain the real facts of the case. There, also, the mob manifested a disposition to the same excesses; broke thestreet lamps, and the ;vindows of houses, and of the Re formed Ciitirch. No sooner did the news arrive in Prague, than the cotton spinners also assembled on the 17th and 18th of . June, and demolished the machinery of the factories, to Which they attributed the lowness of their wages, and all their consequent miseries. All these excesees, except those at Peterswaldau, have been atten ded without loss of life. , Thus Germany is beginning to taste some of the sours as Noi s es the sweets o f the manufacturing system. With ail thei r ambition to become a west manufacturing power, and t 9 make themselves independent of us, it is plain that, spite of Our corn-laws, and excetseice, taxes, they find it a severe contest with us ; and if these things " are done in the green tree, what will be done in the dry ?" if these miseries store them in the i2re in the youth of their manufactures, what may the expect when they have conve rted m illions of their la bourers into spinners? It is a prospect that- nay well in spire th e most serious reflections. In the meantime, the Mauufacturers raise a loud cry for fresh import duties, not Only on our fabrics, but on our yarns. Till they can make their ownarns, they assert that they ca nnot fairl y compete with us, as they lose the profit on the ma nufacture of those yarns: To effect this object, fresh duties must be imposed both on webs and yarns. This now will be the vehement cry on the Zollverein, and this our manufacturers must ex - Deet, for nothing less than this can remove the dreadful misery that haunts the once happy Silesian valleys, or, in , ,deal, . save from preinature decay the manufacturing system of Germany. At the root of all this forced and unnatural • system lies our corn-late. Abolish that, and the whole c99vulsive effort is annihilated, and a healthy exchange of Our goods foi'their corn is secured to both countel4s,—Atlas. DIARIES and CORRESPONDENCE of LORD MALMESBURY. 2 Vols. Bentley, London, 1844. James Harris, the first Earl of Malmesbury, who was engaged in the public service of his country, chiefly on foreign embassies, for upwards of thirty years of his life, was the sou of the well-known author of "Philosophical Treatises" and of f` Hermes," and was born at Salisbury in the year 1746. Is father, who was Secretary and Comptroller of the Queen's Household, sat in Parliament till his death in 1700; and it is related that when he first took his seat in the House of Commons, John Townsend asked who be was, and being told that he had written on Grammar and Harmony, replied, il Why . , then, does he come here, where he will hear neither ?"—an apt and ready sarcasm, worthy of Selwyn, or even. Sheridan. The interest which the elder Harris's literary talents had obtained for him among the leading men of the time, enabled him to launch , his Son early into public life ; and the latter's own undoghted abilities, combined, with sound practical sense, perseverance, and inflexible integrity, such as was by no means common among the statesmen FRIGHTFUL OCCURRENCE ON BOARD THE WATER of big earlier years, raised him subsequently to the NiAN :3TEAMER, No. 6.—On Saturday, between the hours "c eleven and twelve, a deplorable accident happened to highest diplomatic distinction. "Of his boyhood," a fine lad, taunt d Waller, oil hoard the Waterman says his biographer, " I Iran give no anecdote but the l i 'artice, No. 6, when off Blackwall pier. It appears following one, which was related tp me by his kins ., . I ,' , 4 3, -- the nnfortunate youth was what is termed a call- man, Lord Shaftesbury, and proves him to have been Vixt e id at times would a.E.sist in cleaning the machinery. period above stated he was performing the latter a bold and act",ve lad ;-,--As Mrs. Harris was walking with some friends, before hey house, .in the Close of duty "whilst Pt t h e engine was at wnrk, a practice much Adopted on board the smell riv r steamers, when, through Salisbury, she descried a per,sonPlimTung up the spire S ome unfortunate circumstance the huge revolving crank , of the cathedral, and having obtained a glass, the eiught • his head, and completely smashed ' it against the better t.o observe so perilous a feat, inUilez ' ' fr, 'ilie-worlt. lie was removed tA, 1 ne;E,rhbouring diately dropped it, with the exclamation---‘ Good * o 9.4con's, Dr. MAW" , tut the flof-tti.ioPte lad was Heavens, it is James! ' The astonished lady ... k v . _, J 4 00.4 recovery, pnd iii«l in the conts , ! & t ,,, hours, bad identified her only son upon th,e, apex of the c _J , Aaun IMPORTATIN OF SALMON, course yc.pung ,-, , , Landon - .- , rid ay morning the Dundee, Perth, ..ts., nom tallest steeple in Great 13ritain !" In due '" D TLAND On F ' • ' - Kid', arriv ed pp nb oip y . ship Dundee, Captain J. Oxtoru, ..._ c -a ..Harris Wfts §ePt to Winpliesilor, and afterwards .to Sht , ,C n an ' steam ' 1 wiieiC be Gontriy.4 with wilipiAry ,‘ i,wrr . f‘... .at her moorings off liore's Steam pa k t . - ee -' -..naii, 4, - , geAileilflpti cormnonep r,47_, , \N apeing, after a very expeditious passage fr • dili in gence, to learn just as .1 ' -'..- '" - ' •' • ''' • . She brought 4 considerable number of ('---- ' usual! learn atthe ' TT - . -- —41 4 4- 0 Ph .-,. of , her cargo consisted of no fewer than 180 boles Part ee : passengers xe - mversitte.- nothing . at all. In the autumn of 1767 he was icy . -..,• 1 River ray salmon, a large number of live oxen, lambs, &cs. of l pointed Secretary of Embassy to the Court of t LITERATURE. DI .i; I L 1: 1 , .Vu. Longman, London, 1844. The subject of " Popular Delusions "—a prolific theme—is amusingly treated in this Number. The Reviewer, however, is mistaken when, in reference to the crime of poisoning, so general in Italy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centurie, he states that "in France awl England this crime, though occa- sionally practised, never became common." Unfor tunately in the reign of Elizabeth, and more especially of her successor James, no mode of assassination was more common among our higher classes, and not a few women are known to have lived in affluence in the metro polis by their skill in compounding deadly drugs, and the handsome sums which were paid for them by their reckless customers. In France the practice of poisoning was of still more frequent occurrence, and was first introduced into that country by the Italian druggists and perfumers, who swarmed in Paris during the demoralising sway of Catherine de Medici, and received no stinted share of Court patronage. Catherine herself was a first-rate genius as a poi soner. She dispatched her enemies in the most scientific manner possible, and with an adroitness that bade defiance to discovery. One was got rid of by a pair of perfumed gloves, sent her as a mark of delicate attention by her royal mistress ; another, by a per fumed rose ; and a third, by the ingenious contrivance of a poisoned billet. In the reign of Louis XIV. this crime reached its acme, but the severe measures adopted by Government contributed greatly to its suppression, and still more the general horror excited by the trial of the infamous Marchioness of Brin villiers, who was found guilty of having poisoned her father and her two brothers, and of having at tempted also the lives of her husband and her sister. This amiable creature was remarkably gentle in her manners, of a prepossessing countenance, and much addicted to sentimentality. The' " Late Census" states some curious particulars relative to the increase of population within the last ten years ; and alluding incidentally to one distinguishing point in Sir R. Peel's tariff, which it appears has been in some de gree a failure, the Reviewer remarks :—" The Pre mier allowed the importation of foreign cattle and of American junks ; but, alas! it was found, though oxen could be fed in and shipped from distant countries at a cheaper rate than under the present system they can be slaughtered in England, yet that the Bay of Biscay affords too hazardous a transit, and the heats of summer too insidious an hostility, to encourage the importation of live cattle or of fresh meat; while the salted com modity supplied by our transatlantic brethren occupies a position below that to which British stomachs have as yet generally descended." In the " Memoirs of the Duke de la Force," we have arapid summary of some of the most remarkable events that took place in France from the period of the St. Bartholomew massacre down to within a few years of the breaking out of the childish and ridiculous wars of the Fronde. Refer ring to the favourite policy of Richelieu, the Re viewer says that "by levelling social superiorities, abolishing privileges, and dismantling the citadels of the reformed party, this arbitrary Minister pre pared future dangers for the monarchy." This is perfectly true, as the sequel proved, for during the feeble and disastrous reign of Louis XVI., when the Crown most needed support against the rapid encroachments of the revolutionary principle, the noblesse—w ho had been deprived of substantial power for upwards of a:century, and had become the mere sycophants and hangers-on of the throne —were found wholly unable to render that support, and the Monarch, was left to fight his battle with the people a10ne.... " George Selwyn and his Contemporaries" is a notice of Mr. Jesse's pleasant gossiping work on this subject. The Reviewer enlivens his criticism by brief biographical sketches of some of the most remarkable characters who flourished during the last half of the eighteenth century. The following is, his account of the Duke of Queensberry—an eccentric, profligate nobleman, who died in the year 1810, at the patriarchal age of 85 : " He was born in 1725, succeeded his father in the earldom of March in 1731, his mother in the earldom of Ruglen in 1748, and his cousin in the dukedom of Queens berry in 1778, being then in his fifty-third year. Few men of his day acquired greater notoriety, or were more an object of inquiry .or speculation ; yet he took little part in political events, except so far as his own interests were affected by them, and it would have been better for his reputation had he taken none. When the King's malady grew serious, in 1788, he gave in his allegiance to Fox ; and on the recovery of his royal master, was unceremoniously dismissed from his situation of Lord of the Bedchamber, which he had held for twenty-eight years, notwithstanding the known profligacy of his life. Wraxall says he took a journey fb Windsor to learn the exact condition of the King, but he was misled by Dr. Warren. The mistake mattered little. His business was pleasure, his passions were women and the turf ; and he contrived to gratify both, without impairing either his fortune or his constitution. As regards the turf, he was thoroughly versed in all its ;mysteries, and seldom in lulged in any sort of gaming unconnected with it, or relating to matters where any undue advantage could be taken of him. On, the contrary, he was generally on the look-out for opportunities of turning his own shrewd ness and coolness to account. A curious instance is related. in Edgworth's memoirs. " Lord March had noticed a coachmaker's journeyman running with a wheel, and oh'ininuting him by a stop watch, found that tie actually Tatra considerable distance taster with it than most men could run unencumbered. A. waiter in Betty's fruit-shop was famous for speed. Lord March adroitly introduced the topic, and maintain ng what appeared a paradox, easily got bets to a large tmount, that the waiter . would run faster for a mile than my one c.arld run with the kintl•wheel of his Lord .hip's carriage, then standing at the door. But he com mitted a trifling oversight. The wheel was lower than :he wheel the man was used to run With;' find the biter could have been bit, had not Sir Francis Blake Delaval :t.lirgested an expedient. The night before the match. Blanks were obtained from the Board of Works, and a ..aised groove, for the wheel to run in, was constructed across the course. The journeyman won, and the Jockey Club decided in Lord March's favour. Another of his bets came before the Court of King's Bench. He had laid a .eager of five hundred guineas with young Iff. Pigot, that Id Mr. Pigot (the father) would die before Sir William Codrington. Old dr. Pigot died the same 'morning be ore the making of the wager, but neither of the parties was acquainted with the fact. The Court held that the dutiful and hopeful heir must pay. A startling example if this style of bet is mentioned by Walpole. I, t'other eight at White's, found a very remarkable entry in our very remarkable wager-book!—Lord bets Sir twenty guineas that Nash outlives Cibber. How odd ;hat these two old creatures should live to see both Itheit ,vagerers put an end to their own lives!' Lord March's rate or betting was never very high. The largest sum he appears to have won or lost at any race or meeting, (lining the period over which this correspondence ex tends, was 4,1001., and this is mentioned as a rare oc currence." CONSTANCE D'OYLEY. 3 Vols. Bentley, London. 1844. The incidents in this story—which, like those of Miss Austen, is wholly of a domestic character—are few and simple, and put together in the most inarti ficial mariner possible. They have all, however, the rare merit of probability, and, in consequence, the reader's interest is kept up throughout the narrative. The princi . pal recommendation, however, of Constance D'Oyley consists in the skill with which the leading characters are delineated. Those, in particular, of the heroine Constance, and her unfortunate young friend, Isabel Hernshaw, are discriminated with great nicety; the one exhibiting in her career the effects of a careful and conscientious education ; the other, of an artificial and dishonest one. The dialogues are uniformly natural and appropriate, and, when opportunity offers, by no means deficient in sprightliness. A little more variety and breadth of incident would not have been amiss ; still the story is worth reading, and points an excellent moral. The lighter scenes are the most successful, with the sole exception of that wherein the author relates the tragic death of Isabel Hernshaw, which is described with no ordinary vigour. . , „,„ • if'H.E SUN, ‘LONDOI4, MONDAY MORNING, JULY 15, 1644. Madrid, and having. (Turing the phsenoa of the ,to extinguish the fire the moment the cooking was over, ‘,a e • .A of wood, of embers, fur aii.:crt,L bility, the affair of the Falkland Islands, on which, ti.e next . day's " use. We were no less careful in respect it may be rememembered, one of Johnson's ,to provisions. an.14:4- finest pamphlets was written—he conducted it with FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW No. 66. such temper and firmness, as at once established his j Chapman and Ihrtl,Tbnilon, 1844. diplomatic reputation, and obtained him the post of The modern - French - novelists, more especially Minister at Bt-rlin. At this period Frederick the I3alzac and George Sand, are discussed at so re Great was in the full vigour of his genius, and Lord length in the' opening article in this Number. The Malmesbury's Diary and Correspondence furnish us Reviewer is an ardent admirer of Sand, and under with some amusing accounts of his peculiarities, i takes to defend him--or rather her, for though as which, however, we must receive, cum grano salis, for suming a man's name, the author is a female—from his Lordship's journal clearly shows that he the charge of immorality in her numerous works of entertained no very favourable feelings towards fiction. The defence is more ingenious than suc this illustrious Monarch. As an instance of his cessful, for few who have read "Jacques" can hesi meanness, he tells us that at the festival given in tate to pronounce it an immoral production. Of honour of the Prince of Dessan's marriage, " all the Balzac, we are told, "there are few Frenchmen apartments except those immediately dedicated to, who write so incorrectly, none more detestably. Not supper or cards, were lighted by one single candle! 'to speak of his neologisms, nor of his • use of. The supper itself was badly served and without dessert, . active verbs in passive tenses, his style is crabbed, the wines were bad, and the quantity of them stinted." rolix ' startling, and affected. French, in his hands, If we remember rightly, the chief cause of the via- is no longer the light, idiomatic, easy, pointed, bril lent quarrel that took place between Frederick and j liant language we know it, but unwieldy, unintelli- Voltaire, was the disgust of the former at the gible, and perverse!! These are great drawbacks to latter's parsimony. The King had thought fit, a novelist's popularity ; but then, to make amends, in one of his economical moods, to curtail lialzac pos4esses infinite vigour and minuteness of his philosophic guest's daily allowance of description, and a knowledge of character unsur coffee, on which the latter in revenge pocketed passed, if equalled, by any of his contemporaries. all the royal wax-candles on which he could lay his The " French and English Bar" furnishes an admir hands, and was in consequence denounced as an in- able sketch of the celebrated living advocates, Dupin grate and a thief! Lord Malmesbury insists much and Berryer, the latter of whom is the most on the fact of Frederick's cruelty, adding that " the I eloquent, earnest, and intrepid lawyer in France. most ferocious and brutal are sure of' promotion with In the article on the " German Newspaper Press," him." It is not thus that history speaks of him. He the Reviewer remarks that this press is without in was a stern man and an inflexible disciplinarian; but terest, without influence, without character, without he was generally just, and could be at times sympathy, and is wholly devoid of all external autho even magnanimous, and was certainly anything rity. The article. is written with ability, and to all but cruel in his conduct towards his subjects, or his appearance, in a strictly dispassionate spirit. In the death would not have been so universally lamented by " Anglo-Indian Army" we find, inter cilia, a digest them as we all know it was. On quitting Berlin, of the late memorable proceedings of our troops in Lord Malmeshury was appointed to the Court of the Affghanistan campaigns. Of the few remaining Catherine the Second, at St. Petersburgh, and •his t articles, the most entertaining is the quizzical notice correspondence at this period is full of interest. As of M. Alfred Michael's " Narrative of a Visit to a matter of course, he saw much of the famous England.' Prince Potemkin, and bears testimony to the wonder ful, and almost tyrannical influence which he exercised over the mind of his Sovereign. Favourite after favourite in turn gained the affections of Catherine, but Potemkin never once lost his ho d on her regard. She consulted him on all cases of emergency, endured his bold plain-speaking, and even submitted to his bullying without a murmur. This is scarcely to be wondered at, when one con siders the .character of the two individuals. B .th were sagacious determined unscrupulous tad both were equally devoured by ambition. In the nature of Potemkin Catherine could not but recognise the reflection of her own ; she knew, too, that their interests were in common ' • that he, deprived of her countenance, would be reduced to a mere cypher, and that she could find no one else in her dominions so fully capable of sympathising with, and carrying out, her vast projects of territorial aggrandisement. While resident at St. Petersburgh, Lord Malmesbury, among other noted statesmen of that time, saw a good deal of Count Cohenzel, of whom he never speaks otherwise than with respect. The Count, however, was a very overrated diploma fiat, and history has long since reduced him to his fitting level. Tie was familiar with all the forms of Court etiquette, and a devout idolater of royalty; but there was nothing lofty or. sa gacious in his views ; nothing bold or decided in his character; he was a mere political petit-maitre ; and when some years afterwards he had to transact diplomatic business with Napoleon, his utter want of skill, spirit, and efficiency were at once made apparent. The volumes before us close with the particulars of the split between the Whigs in the memorable year 1793, when Lord Malmes bury, who had then returned to England, joined the party who, with Burke and several others, seceded from Fox. His Lordship gives many curious and amusing personal details relative to this secession ; but we prefer quoting his graphic sketch of Frederick ;he Great:— COLLOQUIES CHIEFLY ON POETRY. Orr and Cq., London, 1844. " A few months ago," says the author of this work, " I, as a printer, commenced undesignedly and with out manuscript, a page whimsically headed Collo quies on Poetry. The one page germinated and be came two hundred, forming an unpretending volume, the first, it is presumed, that since the birthday of typography, has ever been mentally and mechanically the exclusive work of one individual unassisted throughout by copy, and subject moreover to con tinual disconnecting contingencies, comprehensible only to such as are acquainted with the fitful routine of a provincial jobbing-office." A volume produced, under the circumstances here stated may certainly be deemed a " Curiosity of Li terature" as remarkable as any recorded by D'lsraeli; but it is something better than a mere curiosity, for though the author's manner, as might he expected, is throughout his "Colloquies" studiously involved, and not always in strict accordance with grammatical propriety, yet his matter is frequently very good, and in the instance of his observations on the poetry of Wordsworth, show that he is a just and subtle thinker, and by no means deficient in critical perspicacity. A TRIP TO ITALY. Mitchell, London, 1844. In this slender octavo volume we have an account, by a barrister, of a trip made to Italy during the last long vacation. The author quitted England by way of Southampton, whence he embarked, per steam, for Havre, and thence for Rouen, of whose fine church of St. Ouen, which is the admiration of every tourist in France, he gives a brief but vivid descrip tion. There is nothing in his account of his Italian trip which demands particular notice. He travelled, with scarcely one exception, .over perhaps the most hacknied ground in Europe, and adds little to our stock of information respecting the towns, and cities, and picturesque landscapes which be visited. He narrates easily and p:easantly enough, but his obser vations are all exceedingly superficial ; and his work is better suited to please a private party of friends, than the public at large. " The chief amusement of the King of Prussia is playing on the flute, which he does in a masterly manner. I had an opportunity of hearing him for a long time, as I was waiting in his antechamber, to be presented to him. Though no person is ever permitted to be present at his concerts but the performers, and some very few others, yet so afraid is he of playing false that when he is to try some new piece of music, he shuts himself up some hours beforehand in his closet to practise it, and even then when he begins it with the accompaniments he always trembles. He has a very fine collection of these instruments, and is particularly nice in the keeping of them. He has appointed a man who has nothing else to do but look after them, and preserve them dry or moist as the season requires. They are all made by the same man, and be pays a hundred ducats for each flute. In the last war, when he distributed •false money to every one, he took care that his flute-maker should be paid in good coin;fearing that otherwise he would im pose upon him, and give him bad instruments. " Great contradictions in the character of this mo narch—profusion of expense in some articles, and the most niggardly economy in ethers. As a proof of the first, the sum of money sunk in erecting the Chateau Neuf, near Sans Souci, where every room is fur nished in the most expensive manner, and that not in taste, but with leads of gilding and tawdry furniture. This edifice is his own architecture, and I think will not do him honour. It is built of the most flaming coloured brick, intermixed with stone pillars and niches, which are crowded, not with single statues, but whole groups, and these not after antiques, but according to the fancy of the workmen The disposition of the rooms in the inside is very bad, full of doors—four in the room de signed for his bed-chamber. One would imagine that in his buildings he has imitated Louis XIV. Like him, who preferred the bottom of Versailles to the terrace of St. Germains, he has given a preference for the situa tion of this new palace to a marshy meadow, before the side of a hill close by—like him, he has instituted Une Ecole Militaire, un HOpital des Invalides, &c. As proofs of his meanness, one might cite the smallness of his pay to all about his court, and employed by him; but above all, the economy that is attended to in all manner of festivities given at his expense. On these occasions, he suffers no one to interfere, but orders everything, down to the quantity of wax candles, him self. I had frequent opportunities of observing this at he feast given in honour of the Prince of Dessau 's marriage, at which I was present. All the apartmpnts, except those immediately dedicated to supper or cards, were lighted by one single candle. The supper itself was badly served, and without dessert—the wines bad, and the quantity of them stinted. I asked, after dancing, for some wine and water, and was answered, The wine is all gone, but you may have some tea.' It must be observed, that these are not public entertainments where all mankind is admitted, and where these sort of restric tions are allowable, but those to which only people of a certain rank, foreign ministers and strangers, are suffered to come. I saw the King myself directing his servants in the lighting up the ball-room, and telling them where and how they should place the candles. While this operation was performing, the Queen, the royal family, and company, were waiting, literally in the dark, as his Majesty did not begin this ceremony till supper was finisbed, and no one dared to presume to give orders to have - it done. When I was to be presented to him, his Grand Marechal, by mistake, carried me into a wrong room in the great apartment, instead of that appointed by the Kiug upstairs in his own. When he passed by, be would not suffer me to be presented that day." WILLIAM CAXTON. C. Knight, London, 1844. This is a biographical memoir of the celebrated printer, William Caxton, of whom it may be remem bered, Jonathan Oldbuck, in Scott's " Antiquary," was so enthusiastic an admirer, and whom he, was so proud to claim as his ancestor. The. memoir is very minute and circumstantial in its details ; is em bellished with several apt wood-outs and forms the first volume of Mr. Knight's " Weekly Volume for all Readers." HISTORY OF CHINA. VoL Allen, London, 1-544. Mr. Thornton, the author of this work, of which the first volume only is as yet published, has under taken a most difficult task in attempting to give an account of China from the earliest records down to so late a period as the treaty with Great Britain, in the year 1844. He is, as we learn from his preface, a decided believer in the authenticity of the earliest Chinese chronicles, observing, in justification of his theory, that " there exists (and, according to the na tive authors, always has existed) a Tribunal of His tory in China, the peculiar functions of which are to record the events of each reign, and to protect these records from sophistication ; and instances will be ob served in Chinese history of attempts made by legi timate Princes, as well as usurpers, to falsify the annals, which have been defeated by the honesty of the guardians." In the more civilised periods of the world's history there might, unquestionably, exist a Chinese tribunal of the nature which Mr. Thornton describes, but the Chinese annals pro fess to reach back to the very infancy of mankind, and surely there could be no native chroniclers at that pri mitive and benighted period ! The volume before us commences with the year 2205, before the Christian era—an epoch whose annals must surely be apochry phal, if not altogether fabulous—and concludes with the Tcin, or seventh Chinese dynasty, A.D. 420. The volume evinces a world of curious and frequently entertaining research ; but the last half of it is the most useful and instructive, because there the histo rian is treading on somewhat firmer ground, and is not so frequently compelled to resort to the aid of speculation and conjecture. The work is embellished with a map of China on a most enlarged scale, and drawn up apparently with the most scrupulous regard to geographical accuracy. ROMAN REMAINS IN THE ClTY.—Last week, in the course of some excavations which are being made in 1 Huggin-lane, Upper Thames-street, for the formation of a sewer, the men discovered an ancient Roman wall, about thirty yards from Upper Thames-street. It extended about 50 feet up the centre of the lane, and was about 4 feet wide, about 3 feet from the surface, and 6or 7 feet deep It was composed of flint stones, bricks, and mortar, irregularly intermixed, and so firmly cemented that an iron wedge was obliged to be used to separate the mass. A few days pre vious, while digging in Bread-street-hill, an adjoining thoroughfare on the west of Huggin-lane, leading out of Upper Thames-street, two other Roman walls, of a similar construction, about 5 feet from each other, were found, and Which form a junction with the wall in Huggin-lane. These two walls, which front the river, it is supposed, extend a considerable way westward, as when the earth was opened to make a sewer, last year in Fye-foot-lane, they readied there ; and as some remains of a Roman wall, within the last day or two, have been met in Peter's-hill, several hundreds of yards westward. A great number of red Roman tiles were found, some of which had inscriptions on them, from which circumstance it is concluded by antiquarians who have visited the spot, that at this locality, about 1,700 years ago, there was a Roman temple. Amidst the gravel, which was a few feet from the surface at the end of Bread-street-hill, were the ruins of what appeared to have been a first-rate Roman mansion. There were, throughout a distance of several feet, fragments of walls, many pieces of which had beautiful fresco paintings on them. On one of them the honey-suckle flower was distinctly traced. There were also a few pieces of Roman tesselated pavement, besides which were some Roman and silver coins, one of which was of the reign of Vespasian. Cassia IN FRANCE. -- Ninety-five parricides in ten years! This is the progress of morality since it has been attempted to render it independent of religion ; this is the progress of what M. Guizot, in his doc trinary neologism, would call laic mora lity. W e m a y, a t the same time, be permitted to believe that the Pro cureur-General alluded only to such parricides as have been condemned, and by public punishment have satis fied human justice. How many have escaped the axe of the law? Ninety-five condemnations imply more than ninety-five accusations, and it would be very rash to ' conclude that every one of those who have been ac quitted was innocent. It is not enough, then, to set down the number of parricides in t en years a t on l y n i nety , five. Still this number was sufficient to alarm the people, ordinarily so frivolous, who seek in the Court of Assizes and the scenes it discloses for emotions and ex citement. It has become the topic of conversation in every society, and is commented on with strange feel ings. The a pplication of extenuating circumstances to the case of Rousselet , an applicati o n which is badly understood, or not at all comprehended, seems to have added to the general terror, People ask them selves, w h y wa s this indulgen ce gran t e d t o a man w h o had not only acknowledged his guilt, but who publicly detailed all the circumstances of his crime, and hoped to find exculpation by making a charge of complicity, which was not only denied, but was legally proved not to have existed Y Was th e j ur y wan ti ng t o th e law ? Was the law wanting in justice ? We repeat oest i os which we these have heard putbut who can dare to answer them ? There are frequently, in the administration of criminal justice, mysteries so pro Found that every man of true conscien , .:e must humble himself before them. However, amidst all the uncertainties, there i§ tine fact, pnfortuiptely, but too ceyCaiii-the constant ang almost regular increase in the number of crimes since 1830. This is a subject of painful reflection, not only for the men who govern, but Op for those Who; through the press, have influenep over the public mind. It would Be well to search out the causes Of the evil thus spreading over society, and which its progress may be stopped, the means bY— N • - t4ocutierilo, PR nit} , JJNE 27.—The tranquillity of this city has not lieen interrupted. All the manufactories are in full *irk, on account of the approaching annual fairs of Braun uua 11444; WRANGELL'S SIBERIA AND POLAR SEA, Madden, London, 1844. The expedition to the Polar Sea, of which the nar rative is contained in this duodecimo volume, was undertaken in 1820 and the three following years, by Admiral Wrangell, of the Russian navy, and the work is now brought out under the superintendence of Lieutenant-Colonel Sabine, R.A. It is an in teresting record of privations and difficulties in the regions of intense cold and barrenness, manfully struggled against and finally overcome, by a hardy band of adventurers ; but in other respects it can scarcely be called an attractive work, for we know almost all about the Polar Seas that we are ever likely to know, considering that nature seems to have fixed there an insuperable barrier against the pro gress of further discovery ; and were it not so, still little public interest can attach to a region which can never be rendered available for useful purposes, and where the scanty population are in that state of irreclaimable barbarism that they may almost be said to be aliens to the great family of human nature. The author's narrative of his second journey on the Polar Sea is the most entertaining, because it is the roost fruitful in point of incident, and con tains among other piquant particulars, one or two curious descriptions of bear-hunts on the ice; one brute was killed after a desperate struggle by the lance of a Cossack, and it was found that he measured above nine feet from the snout to the tail, and was so heavy from excessive fat that it required more than twelve strong dogs to drag him along. We close our brief notice with the authors descriptions of a night's bivouack on the Polar ice ; The day was now so far spent, and both men and dogs were so wearied by their exertions, that we deter , mined to stay where we were for that night. The tent, before de; E pribed, formed the centre of the little camp ; four smaller tents, or pologi, belonging to the merchant Bereshnoi, and to the richest of our drivers, were pitched near it ; and the sledges were drawn up, so Ai to form an outer circle, within which the dogs were tethered. This arrangement afforded entire security from any unforseen attack by bears, forth.sy could not approach the camp without being discovered at some distance by the keen scent of the dogs. The weather was beautiAll, and we availed ourselves of the bright evening twilight to warm ow-selves before lying down to rest, by practising shooting and throwing wars at a mark. - A piece of ice was made to represent the bear, certain appts on it were marked as the eyes, the nose, and the heart, and yohoeveF it one of them obtained a right to join in the next bear-hnnt. During these exer cises some of the party were engaged in tepairing . the damaged which the sledges had undergone among the liinnthoCks ; 4hers in sig.ipinc , and cutting up the bear which had been 4 tad preparing supve, &c. Ilt going the greatest frugality inTeEpect to Wopd;' fuel was entrusted to one of I(9sacP, whoe'duty Was to see that the least irtai epp r oi n the tea and 41, - ..0. - V 4 • • ,„ sible qw.t..._ . THE BANK CHARTER. The follovtit:g is a copy of the petition presented to the House of Lords, on Friday, from the Society-_ for the 3mitincipaticii of Inthistry4 by the Earl Of Mountcashel : To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled. The petition of thit Members of the Society for the Emancipation of Industry hereby sheweth— That your petiatiners are variously connected with, and interested in,` rades and professions which bring them to a knowledge of the difficulties which the Mone tary Law of 181 4 3 has thrown in the way of all classes of producers ; 'and to a conviction of the privations and sufferings whicl it has inflicted upon artisans and la bourers. That your petitioners have paid particular attention to the working of that law, and are prepared to prove from incontestible evidence that it has taken from the poorer classes of society upwards of thirty millions ster ling annually, by depriving them of the fruits of their labour, to the amount of that enormous sum. That while taxes have been imposed on articles of con sumption, which the producer and the vendors were al lowed by means of paper money to recover, during the late war, from the consumer, the poor producers of those goo& are deprived, by the Act of 1819, of the means of charging those taxes to the parties who ought to pay them. That your petitioners had hoped, that when the time arrived for the reconsideration of the Bank Charter, some means would be taken for the correction of this grievous error ; but they are alarmed to see by the Bill which has just passed the House of Commons, and is now before your Lordships' House, that there is no in tention of correcting it. That, on the contrary, plans are proposed for adoption which will have the effect of still further contracting the amount, as well as the free and proper use of the circu lating medium of the country, to the increased Injury of the productive classes, their further impoverishment— the enriching of those who can live without labour, at the cost of the poor producers of the wealth ; the en riching of the foreigner at their expense ; and the heart less surrender of the industrious members of the commn inanity to the grasp and thraldom of money dealers and usurers. That if this Bill should become law, it is impossible that the National Debt can be reduced, that the interest can continue to be paid, and that the taxes can much longer be extorted from those who are now unjustly com pelled to pay them. Already the miseries endured under our monetary system, introduced in 1819, little under stood, but miserably felt, have expressed themselves in a desire fur organic changes on the part of the operative classes. By such means the constitution of this country has become materially altered, and symptoms of this character still extensively exist. Your petitioners, with reference to the effect of an insufficiency of remuneration for labour, induced by the causes before assigned, cannot but refer with alarm to the distressing accounts daily re ceived from Suffolk and other English counties. That the effect of the passing of the present measure will be an increase of pauperism, which will deprive the wealthy of much of the benefit they appear to derive from the lower prices of all commodities ; that the farmer and landowner will begin to find the pressure of the rates intolerable, attended, as it will be, by a great reduction in the average price of corn ; and that dis• affection and despair will soon convert our labouring people—once the most loyal, and still the most patient and enduring of any on the face of the earth—into a lawless, truculent, and revengeful race. That the reasons urged for the adoption of the Bill now before Parliament, are not only not justified, but con tradicted by the evidence of history, reason, and expe rience ; that the spirit and influence which dictated them has already seduced the House of Commons to vote — contrary to its recorded opinion under happier auspices —that what is morally wrong may be politically right ; that the labour, which is destructive to the health of fac tory women and children of tender years, which is an impediment to their moral improvement and religious instruction, and a means, it is to be feared, of destroying their souls as well as their lives, is yet so necessary to the manufacturing and commercial interests of this great nation, that these wretched slaves cannot be suffered to remit even a sixth part of their daily toil ; that this miserable alternative is a consequence of that ill-advised measure of 1819, which will be more fearfully aggravated in its effects on these victims of an erroneous money system, when the new law has given increased severity to the old one ; and that the blessing of Heaven cannot be expected to rest upon this country if evils of such magnitude as these are to be the fruits of its legislation. That your petitioners humbly submit, that the very fact of gold being the most convenient measure of ex change between countries trading on equal terms, renders it the most unfit to form the currency of a country more highly taxed than others—that the only currency suited to a country in the highly-taxed con dition of Great Britain, is a symbolic currency (that is, one without intrinsic value), a medium of interchange that, with the responsibility of the Government, and being receivable in payment of taxation, would be at least as secure as gold—that, consequently, such sym bolic money should be convertible into gold at its market or real price in such money, and not at an arbitrary price, which, unless disadvantageous to the country, cannot come into operation, as no foreigner dealing with us will be bound by it; that the inevitable consequence of fixing a low price on gold is the reduction of the price of productive industry to the same level. Your petitioners, therefore, humbly submit, that even if your Lordships see fit to pass the said Bill during the present session, it should contain a provision that the Bank of England should be required to pay the amount of ,these notes on demand in gold, at the market price only, and not at the Mint price. That admitting the propriety of such regulations as may prevent fraud, your petitioners deprecate as unwise, impolitic, unconstitutional, and unjust, all those parts of the Bank Charter Bill which limit the amount of private transactions of trade in the shape of promissory notes, as tending unnecessarily and mischievously to cripple the energies of the nation, and to deprive the working classes of desirable employment. That your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that they may be suffered to prove, before a Select Committee of your Right Honourable House, the truth of the alle gations they herein make, in order that the before-men tioned Bill may not receive the sanction of your Lord ships ; and that your petitioners may receive such relief as, in the estimation of your Right Honourable House, their case may seem to require. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. Signed on behalf of the members of the Society. July 9th, 1844. THE CURRENCY. In his speech on the subject of the New Poor-law, Mr. Cochrane fortified his positions by arguments borrowed from Sir James Graham's work on " Corn and Currency." The Right Hon. Baronet, in reply, sought to justify at once his former opinions and his present course of action. " I still hold," exclaimed the Home Secretary, " that the Act of 1819 inflicted - cruel injury on debtors, and on the agricultural body ; but in such matters time is everything ; and I am not now prepared to vote for a repeal of the currency law of 1819." Sir James Graham errs deeply in his conclusion on this subject. In a matter like the money law of 1819, " time" is not " everything," nor will any lapse of time deprive such a measure of its destructive in fluences. Within the last fifty years England has been visited with two currency revolutions. Of these, the first was the suspension of cash payments in 1797; the second was the resumption of cash payments in 1819. These two revolutions aimed at diametrically opposite objects. The first involved a confiscation of a portion of the property of creditors. The second involved a confiscation of a portion of the property of debtors and producers. Both the revolutions in question may be described as dishonest in their nature. But although equally dishonest, they have not been equally destructive. - - . To rob creditors generally speaking, to rob the rich of their superfluities. To rob debtors and producers is, frequently, to doom these classes to the deepest misery. There is another distinction between the character of the two operations. In robbing creditors, a Government can impart completeness to its work. In robbing debtors and producers, the process, if on a large scale, never can be brought to a close. The Act for the suspension of cash payments may have robbed creditors of one-third, or of one-half, of the money which they had lent. The money bad changed hands, and the authority of the law absolved the debtor from the necessity of paying the full amount of the money which he had borrowed. The debtor held in his own hands the power of profiting by an unjust law. The Act for the resumption of cash payments did not, and could not, lead to such decisive issues. The money law of 1819 has indeed added fifty per cent. to the mass of debt existing at that time ; but the severity and injustice of that law have not led to a settlement of our public and private debts. The mass of debt has, in other words, been ordered to be paid, at a fearfully enhanced rate ; but the order has been obeyed, only to the most inconsiderable extent. What, in fact, does Sir James Graham mean, when he declares that, " in a matter like the currency law of 1819, time is everything ?" Has the efflux of time, since 1819, paid the national debt ? Has the efflux of time, since 1819, paid the al most incalculable mass of private debt which existed at • that period ?' In reference to the operation of a mea sure like the suspension of cash payments, " time " is, indeed, " everything," because, in such a case the debtor has received and spent his creditor's money; but, in reference to the operation of a measure like the cur rency law of 1819, " time " is nothing—for the creditor class has not, except to an inconsiderable extent, been able to realise the principal of that debt, which it has been the pleasure of the Legislature so unjustly to augment. Leaving, however, the case of mere debtors and cre ditors, let us consider the case of producers —a class whose interests are always identical with the interests of debtors. Producers have an interest in the establish ment of high prices : so have debtors. The higher the reward of industry, the more easy does it become to dis. charge debt. _ _ CIRCULAR TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS. Office of the Society, 22, Parliament-street, July 8, 1844. • My Lord,—The Committee of the Society for the Emancipation of Industry earnestly call the attention of your Lordship to the consequences which must ensue from the Bank of England Charter Bill passing through Parliament in its present state. The Committee are convinced that the sure tendency of the measure is still further to impair the fair return to capital and industry in this kingdom, by a contraction of the circulating medium, when, in point of fact, an ex pansion of the circulation is imperatively required to relieve the increasing productive energies of this highly taxed country ; to prevent the continued depression of the wages of labour, and the miseries of the operative classes incident to it ; and to avert that diminution of rents of land which, viewed in connexion with the exist ing charges upon it, threatens to deliver over our landed interest to the iron grasp of the money power. The Committee of the Society are induced to hope that the Bill in question will yet be stayed, until a dis tinct inquiry is instituted into the probable effect of the measure. They are more anxious that this investiga tion should take place, because it cannot fail to have been observed, that throughout the discussion in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, who has con ducted the Bill, has studiously avoided any reference to the National Debt and indirect taxation of the country-- essential elements in the question of the currency. The Society for the Emancipation of Industry have endeavoured to bring before the public and Parliament the following important considerations : That were Parliament legislating for the currency of a country in which direct taxation only existed, a cur rency such as that now proposed, of gold, at 3/. 17s. 10f1., the continental price, or a paper convertible into the precious metals at that rate, might be consistent and j ust. That the monetary Bill of 1819 was based on the erroneous principle of requiring the Bank of England to take up its notes at a Mint price, fixed prior to the existence of the present scale of the National Debt and taxation ; that the fluctuations and panics that have occurred have arisen from the attempt to compel the Bank of England to pay its notes • in gold, otherwise than at the market price in such notes, as in the years between 1797 and 1819 •, and that the more rigorous " complement" of the Bill of 1819 can only serve to aggravate instead of to prevent such fluctuations and panics, when from a failing harvest, or foreign loans, or other investments, or a disturbance of the balance of trade, gold shall flow out of the country. That whenever prices expand in this country to a re munerating level,—namely, to that just and proper level which permits of taxation being added to natural or gold prices, —then, under our present system, gold, not being permitted to riso in price, becomes the cheapest commodity in the British market, and is sure to be ex ported in preference to our manufactured goods. That the large amount of taxation in this country, levied first by Customs and Excise on the producing classes, to the extent of about thirty-five millions annu ally, enhances the price of all commodities produced, and consequently requires a circulating medium so expansive in its nature as to permit taxation, indirectly levied, to be added to natural price ; without such a medium, the taxation, for the most part, rests upon the producing classes—an end unjust, impolitic, in its issue ruinous, and never contemplated by the Legislature when this form of taxation was imposed. That in 1797, the nation, under the administration of Mr. Pitt, adopted a legal-tender paper currency, conver tible into gold at the market price k--- that by this means it became possible to extend the National Debt and taxation enormously, and at the close of the war to dis charge a large portion of the debt so created. That what was called depreciation of the paper currency in that day was really nothing more than the just opera tion of a synat i olic currency, not intrinsically valuable, allowing the indirect taxation existing in this country to be added to natural price, that is to say, the pound to become less available in the purchase of commodities in exact jroportion as the price of sueh commodities had become enhanced by indirect taxation. This state of the circulation, which is calculated to facilitate foreign as well as the home trade, exisf,o4 A‘oa t i the year 1797 to 1819, when tin syts ef 4 - uch sym boliC mcry vests 4 1, ,iiflutivoci, and It became impos- Ole n future, to any just extent, to add indirect taxa tion to price. -That from its scarcity, and limited extent as m a tom modity, gold is not desirable, will not suffice, and indeed is unfit as a rneditim of internal circulation Take then, the case of producers. C an it b e sa id that with reference to their social position, the operation of the currency law of 1819 is changed in its character by " time ?" The currency law of 1819 destroyed the relations of value which then subsisted between money and labour. Has the lapse of time since 1819 restored those relations ? Has the currency law of 1819—professing, as it did, to restore the standard of value which existed before 1797—restored those rela tions of value between labour and money, which pre vailed before the introduction of the Act for suspending cash payments ? To assume, as the bullionists do, that by til• money law of 1819, they restored the old standard of value, is simply absurd. They merely re-adc,pted the old Mint price of gold. They did not restore the old standard of value, inasmuch as they did not, restore to labour the relative value which it possessed befch 1797.—P05t. S ___, in this country ; although a most suitable coin- ( A PREMIER'S :MIX. - modity for measuring the transactions andin- RAILWAY' _ f _ 's- ss s„____:-.'sts 1:::: . terchanges of nation with nation. That to adopt i TO THE EI)IT 0 R i , 1 1 11 -era -i- ,1 . ' gold at its natural Value as the national currency, is a SlR,—Our glorious Dicta c : ;s 3 "-sikel"-' ttirla-slklsire ,-4 / rrti'gression from civilisation—is indeed to revert to plot, improves daily ! every eveli n' s' rtisiis4n/ the ancient and rude system of barter, admitting of no - i in . the House, develops some nen r - - - 2tni. modification arising from circumstances as they exist in this nation. That the gold equivalent currency, pro- i tivating grace. - turned i up from the posed for the future to rule in this country, can only The latest gem which has admit of a range of prices on the level of gold—namely, exhaustl ess mine of his merits is—his astounding the untaxed continental level. I modesty ! That the paper-money proposed to be issued by the At the fag-end of an exhausting session to a Bank of England and the provincial banks, under the fatigued remnant of legislators, he brings forward a sanction of the Crown, to the extent of -thirty-nine Bill founded on an enormously voluminous report millions, is intended ultimately to be based on Govern- j of packed evidence (see Mr. Russel's speech), the said ment securities and on gold conjointly ; the latter, j Bill affecting only some seventy millions of invested being in the proportion of one-third, will have the effect capital, and an equal amount purposed, or expected, of keeping down the whole paper circulation to the , gold level. The Committee of this Society submit to be invested in like manner. Some of the Members, adverting to the immense that it would be far more simple, economical, effective, and at the same time more sound, to adopt at once an importance of the question, request an adjournment, issue of paper from the Exchequer in convenient negotia- that they may have a little more time to consider it ; ble amounts, to the extent of taxation ;or an arrangement and this modest Minister (this Cabinet Cymon !) for the purpose might still exist in connection with the actually snubs the parties in the manner which Dr. Bank of England—such paper, after being issued for Birch may be supposed to assume towards his refrac value, to be receivable in the payment of taxes, and to tory school-boys preparatory to a horse-ing !! ! be convertible into gold at the market price in such The cool insolence with which Ministers and Mem paper. ' Let it be assumed that the annual taxation of bers now assume the right of meddling with the the country is now fifty millions—the issue of Exchequer rivate enterprises of theßritish people, is really money so proposed would, if required by internal corn- 13 , merce, increase the amount proposed to be issued on exemplary. . securities and bullion eleven millions only; it would A few weeks since Lord Ashley proposed to regu enable the Government to pay off the debt owing to the late the hours of labour of half a millioe of opera- Bank of England, leaving the capital of that establish- tives. Sir Attila Marplot has just passed through went for its legitimate purposes; it would save the na- the House a Bill shackling the whole currency of the tion annually in interest one million and a half ; it empire, and now he modestly proposes to transfer (in would diminish in extent, in proportion as taxation, the effect) to Government the management —nay, almost cause of its adoption as a symbolic currency, diminished existence—of railways (vide the able comments of the and rendered it unneccessary. The proposed issue would Times of Tuesday,) and actually hectors at Members lift up prices generally to a remunerating level—would who dare to ask a day or two to consider his exqui leave the foreigner to sell to our merchants, or to pur- . - sitely modest propositions. chase from them with gold, which would exist abun dantly in the country as a commodity, on terms equita- He has lately adopted a new trick— -(is there not a ble to both parties—and would remove those b ese t- character in one of Dickens's works named ~ th e burnings and contending interests between classes. of Artful Dodger ?")—this is, to request that the House producers by which the nation has been agitated since will be so polite as to suffer his Bills to be read a the passing of the Bill in 1319. second time (almost as a matter of form), and to take It is only right, therefore, that the Government objections at the next stage. Now I have always uns should show how, in this country, prices are to be kept derstood that the passing the second reading of, a Bill down—as Sir Rejsert Peel has publicly - avowed he, de- sanc ti one d it s p r i nc ipl e , an d that future opposition signs they should be, to the level of gold—and the taxa- was understood to be limited to matters of detail; so Lion incident to the National Debt is to be defrayed. It h. that is request is, " declere that it is right to li m it is right, too, the Minister should show with what justice the profits on railways, and you can afterwards decide —until the National Debt is paid off or extensively re if we shall insert 10 or 11 per cent." duced—the Government of this country can confine the interchanges of the nation to a currency that has the COMMON SENSE. effect of throwing so heavy a sum of taxation as that of P.S.—Another beautiful specimen of Sir Attila's the Excise and Customs on the industrious classes of the modesty is to be found in his justification of these nation—an effect most unjust and oppressive to those enormous grasps at power : " can classes, leading to the overstrained, because underpaid, " What motive," says the bashful Minister, employment of the factory, and to the insufficient remu- Government have, except the desire to benefit the neration of agricultural labour. public, in bringing forward measures unpalatable to Till these Society respectf obj ully submit that itections are satisfact isoduy ril to the agriculs answered, thi great and powerful bodies ?" c cc What motive,", mighttural, e - tural, manufacturing, and industrial classes of this coun- msar have said, " can I have to desire to be made try, that the Bill now before Parliament should be perpetual Dictator, and ab so l u t e di sposer o f t h e lives. and properties of the Rom an p eop l e , except a, desire thoroughly investigated. Delay would not interfere with the proper notice to the Bank of England; and it to benefit them ?" J o h nn y i s certa i n l y tolerably is most desirable that the reason or truth of the objet- thick-sculled, but does the " bashful Baronet'` really tions here advanced 'should form the subject of inquiry think this will pass ? before a Committee of the House of Lords. With these views, the - Society trust your Lordship will be induced :to take :such a course as will have the effect of ascertaining the truth or error of the averments made;—if true, they should have an important effect in the regulation of the currency; if untrue, it is impor tant for the quiet and satisfaction of the nation, and the industrious classes generally, that these rapidly extend ing opinions should be disproved. I have the honour to remain my Lord, your Lord ship's most obedient servant, ANDREW SPOTTISWOODE, Chairman. is ,A )11 THE HEAVY D,UTY ON SUGAR. Large quantities of green rhubarb lately brought to the London market, being unsaleable, were carted to the tlunghilL The true reason of this waste appears to be that, through the heavy duty levied on sugar, it is very much out of the reach of the poor, and rhubarb, we know, cannot be eaten without sugar. _ _ The high price of sugar also prevents cottagers from using the produce of their little gardens, gooseberries and currants, which induces them to offer these fruits in the neifhbouring towns, and here again there is the same disappointment— after toiling through the streets for mazy hours in search of customers, these poor people are often compelled almost to give away their fruit, the oppressive duty on sugar depriving them of purchasers. In the recent debate on the Sugar Duties, the Earl of Radnor stated that the allowance of sugar to each seaman in the Queen's Navy was double the quantity consumed by the cottager at home; and the Marquis of Lansdowne also stated that the convict transported to New Holland could obtain three times as much sugar as the honest labourer in. England! CAUSE OF INCENDIARISM. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Sin,—So the cause of incendiarism in the agricultural dis tricts is entirely to be attributed to the present poor-laws! I must confess I do not see good grounds to believe this general opinion. The reporter employed by the editor of the Times ought to be able to give us better reasoning than I have yet seen. Great distress exists—no doubt of that; but what proof have we that the working of the Poor-law is the real cause of it. The agricultural labourer may think, and those that are inclined to be idle do think, that is the only obstacle to their comfort and support. This is a poor reason, indeed, backed by the strong proof of their having burned the property of poor-law guardians exclusively. Let us look back to 1824 or 1825. A great deal of agricultural property was destroyed by fire in the neighbourhood of Ipswich. I forget whether it was attributed to the old poor law—l think it was said want of employment for the men was the cause. At that period corn was extremely low, and rents extremely high, and they are now in a similar state. In this state of things the tenant- farmer cannot employ a proper number of men, and though he knows the conse quence of neglecting the proper cultivation of bis land, he is obliged to regulate his labour upon his farm by his purse. A farm short of hands is like a vessel on the Yorkshire coast, many of which leave a bad tale behind them every year from. want of hands to work them. The day is gone by for obtaining 80s. per quarter for wheat in this country, and unless the rents of farms through out England are reduced something like thirty per cent., I fear we shall hear of distress and its awful consequences, have what poor-law you will.—l am, Sir, yours, July 9, 1844. J. F. IM!hTSONMENT FOR DEBT.—Mr. Joseph Hume has recently presented an important return respecting the unfortunate persons who are incarcerated in dungeons or in " sponging -houses" for debts which they are unable to dis charge. The return moved for by the Hon. Member for Montrose, of the number of persons confined in the metro politan prisons, in the other debtors prisons of England and. Wales, as also in those of Scotland and Ireland, for the "offence" of insolvency, &c., was ordered in Februmy last, and has only just been printed. The returns were required to show the number of persons whose debts, without costs, were under thesums of 11., 54 104 504 1001., 500/., and above the last-mentioned amount,—stating, also, the average term of imprisonment of each of these classes of debtors, the name, the amount of debt, and the amount of each per son's expenses who had been immured within the wails of his cage more than five years. These returns cover a space of no less than 56 pages. ' It appears from them that the gross total number f persons who are or were then imprisoned for debt in the United Kingdom at large amounts to 3,352, of whom 2,154 were confined in England and Wales, 85 only in Scotland, and 1,113 in Ireland. The total number imprisoned for debts (exclusive of costs) under 1/. amounted to 210; under Si., to 794 ; under 10/., to 483 ; under 504 to 922 ; under 1001., to 249 ; under 5001., to 298 ; above 5001., to 104, and 36 for amounts not stated in the returns before us. As many as 256 persons were imprisoned for offences against the revenue laws, and 85 prisoners wbo had been confined more than five years—namely, 78 in -.Eng land, and 7in Ireland, Nearly one-half of the prisoners, or 1,469, were (exclusive of costs) confined for debts under 101. One prisoner is mentioned as having been imprisoned w ithi n the Queen's Prison for 32 years, at an annual expense to the county of 9/. 2s. 6d. I FALL OF THE TOWER OF HALSTED N EW CHURCH.—It is with feelings of the deepest regret that we this day record a lamentable occurrence which took place in the town of Halsted, on Wednesday last. But for the un fortunate event we are about to notice, an announcement would have appeared in our paper to- ,. .1ay, that the Church of the Holy Trinity, erected by Voluntary subscrip tions, in the above parish, would be oons,ecrated on the 31st inst by the Lord Bishop of London, Aboiat a quarter to three o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, the Beautiful tower and steeple at tached to the above clinrek, which had been completed to a height of 115 feet, NI with an awful crash, which must have been heard for tul.l'es round. On hurrying to the spot, says our e , zgresponiient, the scene we witnessed was most heart rending, for the first impression was that all the la- Iwere beneath the ruins, and the shrieks and e' teams of the women and children were dreadful. It was a most providential and mercifill interposition that such indeed was not the case. From what we have been able to collect, it appears that Mr. Johnstone, the builder, actually saw the tower sinking, and he imme diately ordered the workmen off, when the tower fell ; only two labourers were then upon the scaffold, one of whom is severely injured, but it is hoped may ultimately recover; the DISSENTERS' CuArels BlLL.—This Bill, which has other is comparatively o buA s e li reg tl , y_i sq ui .: t. The Rev. Arch- E experienced a-e passed both Houses of Parliament, and was to have been deacon narrow as did also Ir. and Mrs. Arden, who were l in ry brought up in the Lords on Monday last, for considers the body of the church at the time of the accident, a portion lion of the amendments introduced by the Commons, of the ruins falling into that part of the structure. We are was, as our readers may be aware, postponed till the happy to state that the church itself has received but little Thursday following. The reasons of such postponement injury, and only such as may very speedily be repaired. At may not be known, and we therefore state them. On the present we are unable to assign the caus to which' this sad very eve of the consideration of th e amen d men t s it even t i s to be attributed Ch msf or d Chronicle. came to the knowledge of the Lord Ch ance ll or th a t th e A GENUINE BULL.—An Irish paper lately gave an Query, d l in o Bishop of London had- been • canvassing several of account of a duel, ,, fi r n h d e a o n n n e ounced the result of the meeting the aged and infirm members of the House, and hi e thge os zord an s oi the other fired P y 'in iva the se ai e r re ." ly had obtained their proxie, for the purpose of obtaining h a majority against the Government, and enabling him to t wo u ndedFEMALE the sufferer? oßr B Ai ASYLUM, LAMBETH.--A grafi carry his proposition for considering the amendments fying mark of respect and regard was yesterday presented to "that day six months." It is reported the Bishop had the Rev. William Curling, A. 111., for fifteen years the evening obtained no less than seventy proxies, and if the mea preacher to the charity. It conssted of a very beautiful silvers sure had been brought forward, the Government would tea service of the newest design, and a purse of fifty gu;.neas. A deputation waited on the Reverend gentleman to riake the have been defeated, and bigotry and illiberality trium phant. However, Lord Lyndhurst is not the man to be presentation. humbugged, and, therefore, on discovering the plot, he MISS e -LARA SEYTON'S DRAMATICAL AND MUSICAL postponed the measure for a few days, and has further v ....NTERTAINMENT AT THE LONDON TAIT'ARN.-31199 Clara postponed it till Monday next.—Sunday Times. Seyton gave her lecture on Comedy at., the London Tavern FIRE IN THE WEST INDIA Docxs. —On Satur- on Friday, under the patronage of the Right Hon. the day considerable alarm was created in the vicinity of the Lord Mayor and the Lady 111astness, and, judging from the West India Docks, in consequence of a fire breaking out reception she met with, be f oids fair to become as great a on board the barque Hand, 150 tons burden, Captain _favourite in the City as she .. 'already is at the West-end. The large room was crowdetl Chambers, laden with guano, and lying in the South she was enthusiastically applauded Dock of the West India Docks, Poplar. The first dis- h t . rougiout, andWP::, encored in " Where the bee sucks" and covert' was made shortly _before one o'clock, at which the " I % , , ti aypolo. We understand that Tuesday will be the, • time the flames were raging fiercely in the forecastle, C ome dy 19 :1; time she will repeat her very successful entertainment on :luring the present season. 1 and for some time the entire destruction of li the shie, ay,.. GLASGOW, DUMFRIES, AND CARLISLE RAILWAY: inevitable. The necessary inte @nee' was We learn that the promoters of this undertaking are different engine promptly forwarded to th e .stations. In actively engaged with those preliminary measures the meantime, several persons e.'Unnected with the desks attempted, by means of b which the rules of Parliament require, before ap uelteti of water, t o su bd ue the plying for its sanction to an Act next session. Their names, but, owing to their increasing - vigour, it was engineer, Mr. Miller, is now engaed with the Par soon seen that, without the aid of the eng i nes , th e fire liamentary survey, and is instructed to consult the never would be extinguished. A Couple of the Dock wishes of the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquis of Company's engines,were, therefore, got into operation Queensbery, the Marquis of Bute, and other info. as earl y as passible, and wat er i n cop i ous streams was entice proprietors, in laying thedown line. A. mi poured into that part of the vessel in flames. Notwith- ;elute inquiry into the traffic of the extensive agricul standing the fire continued to take its course completely tural and mineral districts through which the line passes round the forecastle, destroying, in its progress, the is now being made ; and though not completed, the re whole of the contents. Several of the brigade engines, ' ports already made of the traffic in passengers, goods, with Mr. Crookland, the foreman- of the district, were ' minerals, are extremely promising to the under early in reaching the WHO, and also Mr. Connorton with ;and That the intercourse between Glasgow anct OW Wiest of England firemen and engine. With the as- 1 Englan d is rapidly increasing, is manifest from the sistaneO of the brigade, the engines of the doclklard got crowded state of the steamers between Glasgow and allay all the flames so far su bd ue d b y half-past two o'clock, as to I,an d the increase of coaches on fhe road. verpoo apprehensions of tl,-,ir. further extension, and in Li When,therefore, the creative power of the railway us , the course of anew half hour they were entirely ex,- ismade t o develop itself, by the two countries being ~ tem ~ . t•ne --- ish d , • 1 -0 . , . ' connected by an iron road, running through the finest, . 4 aluntrudii, JULY B.—We learn' from Cuiliaven, part of the West of Scotland, it' is not easy to estimate that near Busum, besides the body of George Smith, another the extent of intercourse that will be established.—Ayr• has been fomicl, with 8,924 marka in money. - Observer. -~