The Sun. — London, England, 1832-09-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The report of the Bank Committee, fromi which we have made so many extracts, and on! some parts of which we have so largely com mented, without having as yet given any general! description of its contents, consists of 4S folio' pages of evidence, and of 120 pages of ap pendix, containing Bank amounts, tables, and other official statements. The committed cold! lected this immense mass of evidence during the examination of 27 days, which their sittings occupied, and from the lips of 22 witnesses.' Their inquiry began on the 29th of May, and terminated on the 3d of August. The 2 wit nesses, to whom we have alluded, comprised the Governor of the Bank of England and four Bank directors, nine country bankers, or gentle men connected with provincial banking, four London private bankers, a London bill-broker, a' London general merchant, and two London, stock. brokers. As their names may suggest the kind of evidence which they would give, and the extent of inquiry which the committee pro posed to institute, we shall make no difficulty in here inserting them, though most of them, have already appeared. In the order o f their examination they are as follow Mr. H. Palmer, the present Governor of 'the Bank, who was examined for the first four, days; Mr. Vincent Stuckey, a country banker,! from Bristol ; Mr. W. Beckett, a country bank.; er from Leeds; Mr. C. S. Forster, a country. banker from Walsall ; Mr. J. Parry Wilkins, a' country banker from Wales; Mr. W. Ward, a' Bank of England Director; Mr. Harman, the, same ; Mr. G. Warde Norman, a Bank Direc tor; Sir Coutts Trotter, a London banker ;' Mr. Samuel Jones Loyd, a London banker ;. Mr. Samuel Gurney, a London bill-broker ;, Mr. Thomas T oo k e , a L on d on merc h ant , w h o; was examined three days ; Mr. J. C. Dyer, Mr. James Burt, Mr. B. Smith, bankers from Man chester ; Mr. G. Grote, a London banker, Mr.: N. M. Rothschild, the broker and loan dealer; Mr. J. B. Richards, a Bank Director; Mr. H. Burgess, Secretary to the Association of Coun try Bankers ; Mr. Thomas .Atwood, the well known banker of Birmingham ; and Mr. East hope, M.P., formerly a banker, now a stock broker. It is well known by their own admis- ' Sion, that the committee had not obtained from ' these gentlemen what they conceived to be suffi cient evidence to enable them to make up their minds on the course which they could recom mend Parliament to pursue on the momentous question submitted to their inquiry. On several occasions, even before the appearance of their report, we have stated what ought to be the . points to which their attention should be directed.' The following is their own statement of their duty, which differs little from our conjectural, anticipation " The principal points to which they have directed their attention (say the Committee) are— " First. Whether the paper circulation of the metro polis should be confined, as at present, to the issues of one bank, and that a commercial company ; or whether a competition of different banks of issue, each consisting of an unlimited number of partners, should he permitted. " Secondly. If it should be deemed expedient that the paper circulation of the metropolis should he confined, as at present, to the issues of one bank, how far the whole of the exclusive privileges possessed by the Bank of England are necessary to effect this object. " Thirdly. What checks can be provided to secure for, the public a proper management of banks of issue, andt especially whether it would be expedient and safe to compels them periodically to publish their accounts. .‘ With respect to the circulation of paper in the couni try, the Committee have examined, first ) into the effect produced by the establishment of the branch banks of the! Bank of England; and secondly, into the expediency of! encouraging the establishment of joint stock banks of isauel in the country. " On all these, and on some collateral points, more or less information will be found in the minutes of evidence ; but on no one of them is it en complete as to justify the Committee in giving a decided opinion." In Mr. H. Palmer's depositions, and ini those of the other Bank Directors, will be found! a fuller disclosure of the recent proceedings of! the Bank, of the system on which it has hitherto acted, and on which it now acts—of its mode of, transacting business, both as regards the public and individuals—of the interference of the Go-! vernment, under different Administrations, in compelling it to contract or extend its issues, in its concerns—of the occasions on which it .be-! comes sensitive to the foreign exchanges, and! the principles on which it generally regulates issues—of the provisions which it made for.re turning to cash payments after the bill of 1819,! and the manner in which it was counteracted by the Ministry of the day—of the foreboding of difficulties with which the year 1823 commenced, and the terrible alarm in which it ended—than had ever before appeared, or than we expected even from the present inquiry. The whole mystery of the prosperity of 1823 and 1824 is explained by " the action on the currency," which the Ministers then suggested to the Bank, and pressed upon its adoption—" an action" which, under a better system, ought never to have been obeyed. The following extract from Mr. Ward's evidence places this point beyond dispute:— " In speaking of the increase of notes in 1822, you said that in 1822 it was found necessary to relax the mone tary system of the Bank ; did you mean by that, that it was necessary to increase the circulation of bank-notes ? —Yes, it became necessary to increase the securities. " Was that the opinion of the Government of that time, do you think?—l think it was the opinion of the Government at that time ; but it certainly was the opi nion of the Bank. " Are you aware that Lord Liverpool stated, on the 20th of February, 1822, that his Majesty's Government had resolved on borrowing 1,000,000/. of Exchequer bills from the Bank, with the view of applying it in some manner for the relief of the country, and that he stated, on the same day, that the chief object which his Majesty's Government had in view was, not so much the adoption of this or that particular measure, as the adop tion of any measure that would have the effect of getting those 4,000,000/. into general circulation ?--1 recollect it. " Do you recollect that various plans were suggested, such as lending en parish rates, lending on public works, an Exchequer-hills ?—.Y e s. " Do you think that the relaxation you speak of took place in accordance with the views of his Majesty's Go ,ernment ?--As far as I can read Lord Liverpool's inten tions, I think his object was to stimulate the increase of circulation to a legitimate extent." The following very remarkable declaration of the same intelligent gentleman shows how com pletely the Bank was considered as under the control of the Government, or bound to take its advice and to relieve its embarrassments:— " Mast not those operations have had the effect, one set of them of advancing prices, and another set of them of contracting and reducing prices ?—Yes, but they were always in connection with uther circumstances ; for in stance, I cannot shut out of my mind the bad harvests of 1816 and 1817, and the loss of the property-tax, and various ether things that occurred at the different periods. " Would the loss of a tax be a good reason for the Bank to advance 4,000,0001. to Government ? The financial condition of ?he Government must always act upon the Bank, directly or indirectly." `\ - ho that listens to these admissions, and knows how often a Government is disposed to get rid of present and pressing difficulties, with out taking into their serious consideration the whole range of probable or possible conse quences, could ever think of permitting a system to continue, iii which the Bank is forced to abandon for a time, not only a regard to its own security, but the principles which can alone gua rantee national safety ? In the following digni fied reproof of this vacillating policy, contained in the examination of Mr. Tooke, every sensible man must Concur in cases of over issue by the Bink of England, the directors have been in the habit of setting fath at a justi fication the plea of aiding the publit service by advances to Government, or the plea of affording accornmodatioh to trade ; what, in your opinion, is the value of tuch pleas think neither plea is any justitcation's it is the busi• ness of a hank that administers a paper currency in ex change for gold, or in lief of gold, to have no other end in view than that Of preserving its paper strictly, correctly, and inVariably, upon a level with the value of g'aid, and any assistance to trade, or any assistente to Government, involving an increase of issuo not called for by the wants of the circulation, is t departure from the legitimate ob- jects of thy institution." 13't on this subject a very curious memoran dum, delivered in by Mr. Horsley Palmer, will be read with interest. It is A defence of the conduct of the Bank since the return to cash payments was ordered in 1819. This singular justification of the Bank throws the whole blame of its errors upon the Government. " What ever faults," says it, " were committed prior to this period, were more the acts of the Go vernment than of the Bank, by forcing upon - the latter Exchequer-hills in opposi tion to the repeated remonstrances of the Bank Directors." After the year 1819, the interference of the Government was equally pernicious—leading to all the specidations of 1824, and to all the calamities of 1825. The Bank, in order to 'resume cash payments at the time appointed by Act of Parliament, had pro vided, in less than four years, the amazing sum of 20,000,0001. of gold—more than the pro duce of all the mines in the world, for the pre-. ceding six or eight years, and probably one-tenth of all the refined gold in existence. They were thus in a situation in 1822 to issue sovereigns for all the 11. notes of the Bank of England it self, and of the country banks, when, as the memorandum states, " without any communi cation with the Bank," the Government thought proper to authorize a continuation of the coun try small notes till the year 1833. This per mission, we know, was rescinded after the panic of 1825, when it was found that one-pound notes and one-pound pieces of gold could not circulate together ; but in the mean time the Bank coffers had been filled, at the beginning of 1824, with 14,200,0001. of gold, at the ex pense of great suffering from a contraction of the currency, and soon about to create still more wide-spread misery, from another rapid succes sion of expansion and contraction. The evi dence of the London bankers who were examined after the Bank Directors, though uniformly in favour of one bank of issue in the metropolis, and disposed to speak favourably of the present Bank management, did not agree with the for mer in all points. Some of them, indeed, such as Sir Coutts Trotter, cannot suggest any im provement, and are complete Bank optimists; others, like Mr. Grote, desire some changes, such as a greater publicity in Bank accounts. 'the latter witness, when asked the following question, made the annexed reply : " Have you ever considered what alterations it would be expedient to make upon the renewal of the charter of the Bank, in the management of their concerns, as be tween them and the public?—l have bestowed some con sideration on the subject ; and there are some considers• Lions which, in my opinion, are advisable. One, parti cularly, is a more complete publication of the Bank affairs than has hitherto been permitted. It strike; me that the public are kept too much in the dark as to the manage ment of the Bank, and that fuller communications on thi. subject would materially contribute both to strengthen the general confidence in the Bank, and to improve the ma nagement of the Bank itself." This very intelligent witness is opposed to the establishment of a bank conducted by Govern ment commissioners, as contrasted with one con ducted on the footing of the Bank of England, as will be seen by the following question and ans w er : " You consider that a bank managed, as the Bank of England is, by directori chosen within the body from commercial men, is likely to be better conducted as a bank of issue purely, than an issuing bank conducted by Govern ment commissioners ?—I think it is, if under the check of full and continuous publicity, which I always assume, and which I consider indispensable." We regret that these desultory observations, which a hasty view of this voluminous report has suggested, will not permit us to-day to state the outlines of the evidence supplied by the country bankers, or to enter upon an examina tion of those more general questions respecting the improved management of our currency, to the solution of which all the evidence ought to have been directed. The following is the me morandum to which we have above alluded : " The reports of the Committees of Parliament of 1797, 1810, and 1819, are before the public. Whatever faults were committed prior .to those respective periods, they were more the acts of the Government than the Bank, by forcing upon the latter Exchequer-bills, in opposition to the vepeated remonstrances of the directors of the 13ank. " By the resolution of the House of Commons of 1819, the Bank were required within four years' to pay off in gold the amount of their IL notes then in circulation (about 7,500,0001 ); further, to provide the coin for pay ing off the country small notes in 1825 (about 7,000,0001. or 8,000,06001. more); in addition to which, the neces sity was imposed - of providing the requisite surplus bullion for insuring the convertibility of all their liabilities ; which addition of bullion to their then stock could not be esti mated at less than 5,000,0001., making; in the aggregate, 20,000,0001. of gold as necessary to be procured from foreign countries within the space of four years from 1819. " That supply of gold could only be purchased by re duced prices of commodities, the Bank withdrawing a given amount of securities in the first instance, the notes for which might be reissued in payment of the gold as im ported. The low prices, and general state of trade.from 1819 to 1821, and the withdrawal of the Bank's securi ties, enabled the Bank to cancel their small notes in the latter year . ; and in that following (1822), three years prior to the time fixed by Parliament, they were in a situ ation to furnish the gold for paying off the txuintry small notes, when, without any communication with the Bank, the Government thought proper to authorize a continu- ance of the circulation of the country'small, notes until 1833. The consequence of that measure was to leave in the possession of the Bank an inordinate quantity of bul lion (14,200,0001., in January, 1824,) and further to afford the power of extension to the country bankers' issues, which, it is believed, were greatly extended from 1823 to 1825. " Notwithstanding that vacillation on the part of Go vernment in 1822, and the events which followed, the Bank took . no measures from January, 1822, to April, 1824, to increase their circulation; the increase at the latter period was forced from the Bank by the increased amount of bullion held in 1524 over that of 18,12 " BULLION. CIRCULATION. Apil, 1824..—. ........ .£13,800,000 April, 1824 ..£19,300,000 January, 1822 11,700,000 January, 182" 17,70 . ) ,000 Increase £ ~ 100,000 Increase... ........ 1,600,000 being less by 500,0001. than the increase of bullion, " Between January, 1822, and October, 1824, the Bank only invested in securities the amount . of deposits which had accumulated i❑ their possession during that period—viz. 6,500,0001. ; tl ey had in Febru try preced ing, in order to facilitate the reductio❑ of the Four per Cents., engaged to pay off in October, 1821, the dissen tients, under a stipulation that such advances should be re • paid by quarterly payments from the sinking fund of 500,0001. each. This latter engagement was made when the Bank held an inordinate stock of bullion, and while the exchanges were in favour of the country ; and it was not until the 18th of November, 1824, that any direct evi dence was afforded to the contrary. In consequence of the advances made to pay the dissentients in October, 1824, the issues of the Bank were increased in January, 1825, to the extent of 1,300,0001., which advance was the only amount of increase of circulation with which the Bank can be charged, hnt which was justified by the Bank then lo'd Mg an amount in bullion very nearly equal to one-third of its total liabilities. " During 1825, the bullion exported from January to Novembtr extended to 7,000,n00t., and which of itself effected every degree of contraction through the bank notes and deposits which could be reasonably requind or endured by the public. The inconvenience finally sus tained towards the close of that year ) arose entirely from the discredit of the private banker's cirtulatioh, which Mused a demand upon the tank, fot Min to the laktent of ,500,000/. Whatever charges may be made against the Bank for invei3ttnents in mortgage and dead-weight, during th e period referred to, it i s t o b e remar k e d-, that the advance of the first did not extend to more than half the surplus profit of the Bank, ivhrieh in no way interested the public; and, furthel- 5 that neither the amount advanced en mort gage, dead weight, nor any other securiti , s, excet ded the dernsits which had accumulated from January, 1822, to October, 1824. It is further contended, that there can be no more eligible mode of investing a portion of the assets held by the Bank than in an annttity, which is constantly upon the i•eiurh; the shorter the period of the annuity, the more eligible for the Bank's object. " Sinc.! 1826, no objection has been made against the management, except such as may have arisen from the establishment of branch banks. " Let the objects of those establishments he considered, as regards solidity and regulation of the paper money, up. holding upon the spot the credit of the country banking and internal commercial interests, the opening of the Lon ' don market rate of interest to the country capitali-t, and lastly, the increased security to the Bank, in the diminu tion of the risk arising from internal discredit.-- Times. Twenty years have now elapsed since Sir Samuel Romilly, in the debate on the Vice Chancellor's Bill, suggested that the period was come when it was ncessary to separate the ordi. nary judicial duties of the Chancellor from those which belong to his office as Speaker of the House of Lords and a Minister of the Crown, and that the Chancellor, as well as the Judge who should replace him in the Court of Chan cery, should be remunerated by a fixed salary instead of fees. Both suggestions were treated as chimerical and absurd, although it would be easy to show that the first, if carried into effect, would re-establish the ancient limits of the Chancellor's authority wisely fixed by our ances tors, and sacredly preserved to a comparatively recent period of our history; and the latter had received the sanction of a Committee of the House of Commons, which it must, however, be admitted was somewhat more liberally composed than was usual in those happy days when a Castlereagh filled the foremost seat on the Trea sury Bench. Few Members of the Parliament of 1811 could have been so sanguine as to cherish the most distant hope that they should live to see these useful reforms made, and yet the one, which is in principle the most im portant, has already taken place ; and the other, which in its results will be the most beneficial, will shortly follow. Sir Samuel Romilly thought that the Chief Judge of the Court of Chancery " should have a practical knowledge of the state of business in this Court, that lie might be able to expedite it, to correct any abuses which might be observable, and to bring back the practice to what it was in former times." He foresaw that this could only be insured by detaching from the great engine of the Chancery the political part of the machinery which has so long encumbered and retarded its move ments ; and it is well known to the le gal friends of Lord Brougham that he long since imbibed a similar opinion, although he re solved not to avow it until he should have achieved his great work of exhausting the list of causes. This task has been performed, and the Lord Chancellor, having subsequently availed himself of his familiarity with the civil law) the foundation of equity jurisprudence) to introduce some useful changes in the practice of his Court, has lately propounded for the considera tion of the Legislature and the public his plan for a more extensive improvement. This was done in the speech (which, by the bye, upon this point has been very imperfectly reported) deli vered by him in the House of Lords shortly be fore the prorogation of Parliament, and it is to this plan that we now call the attention of our readers. Tie Eldons and the Lyndhursts, as everybody is aware, considered that 20,0001. a year in salaries and fees, and the patronage of thirteen places, yielding annually 22,0001. more, were only an adequate remuneration for the labours of the Great Seal, and, of course, they never contem plated any change in so excellent a system. The Bills introduced by Lords Brougham and Al thorp, and which have now become the law of the land, have, however, limited the Chancel lor's salary and emoluments to 14,0001. a year, utterly annihilated the whole prospective pa tronage, and actually abolished, without com pensation *, three places, producing more than 3,0001. a year, that had already vested in enjoy ment, and which as much belonged to Lord Brougham as the fee for issuing a commission of bankruptcy against John Thomas, received by the Secretary twelve months ago. But these Bills have wrought no alteration in the constitution of the Chancellorship, and although abundantly sufficient to convince the most incre dulous that their author would never suffer his private interest to clog the progress of Reform, yet they do not satisfy Lord Brougham ; and he - is prepared to sacrifice the moiety of his present income, to furnish an ade quate salary for a Chief Judge in Chancery, who, like the other Judges, shall be appoint ed for life, and incapacitated from sitting in the House of Commons. Sir Samuel Romilly's mantle has, in truth, found one worthy to wear it. The Chief Judge of the first Tribunal in the country, having under his control forty millions sterling, besides half the land of the kingdoM, will no longer form the only ex ception .to our famous maxim, that • our Judges are independent of the Crown, and be chosen merely "as a great political engine." Like judicial offices in the other Courts, the Chief Judgeship of the Chancery will be the reward of professional industry, learning, and talents ; and, like them, divested of all duties which can in terfere with the diligent and impartial discharge of those •of a Judge. The Chief Judge in Chancery will adjudicate all the business usually brought into that Court, with the exception of lunacy matters and the appeals in bankruptcy ; these will be determined by the Lord Chancellor, who will continue to exercise his usual judicial functions in the House of Lords and at the Privy Council. Of course there will be an express prohibition against the union of the two offices in the same individual. The salary of the Chief Judge in Chancery should be 6,000/. or 7,0001. ; thus the Lord Chancellor will not have more than 7,0001. or 8,0001. per annum — a s um which, however, will be sufficient, pro vided he be relieved from the necessity of ac cumulating a fortune to support the dignity of the Peerage ; and this may be done by li miting the duration of the title to the life of the possessor, a measure for which many precedents regard the thousand p oun d s a dd e d to * We say this advisedly. We know not in what light • We contend that 1,0001. a tear i n t L h o e rd re t tr i o n u g g p h e a n w si o ro n ay reversion could not be, and was not meant to be, a com pensation for the abolition of three places worth more than 3,0001. a-year, that had fallen into possession, and we consider that the Act which has thus dealt with vested rights affords so admirable a precedent, and leads to con sequences so interesting and important, that we sha'l shortly take an opportunity of discussing its provisions at some length. may be found, to say nothing of the case of the Bishops. The adoption of this moderate stand ard for the remuneration of the two greatest judicial officers in the kingdom, will render a corresponding diminution ne ces s ar y i n the emo luments of all those of an inferior grade ; a diminution, which ; ndtwithstanding the recent tedUction, We shall be prepared to show, when the time comes, that the nation has, upon many grounds, a right to expect ; for there are, we fear, none of these dignitaries who will profit by an example as noble and unparalleled as to the world at large it must be unexpected ; and we shall without doubt be favoured with discussions and complaints loud and long, before they will consent to abandon one dolt of their present in ordinate revenues.—Morning Chronicle. It is stated that the body of Jobling, convicted of the murder of Mr. Fairlees, and hung in chains upon the gibbet at Jarrow-slake, has been stolen by his friends, and is supposed to have been sunk in the river, or buried in the sand. This does not surprise us. The revival of the barbarous practice of gibbetting, which had been banished by the progress of civilized habits, added to the practical knowledge of the utter uselessness of that disgusting operation, as a preventive of crime, was a great disgrace to the Legislature of Eng land in the nineteenth century. We trust that the signal failure of the experiment in the two instances in which it has been tried will put an end to the nuisance for ever. A misconception has gone abroad that this unexpected revival by the Legislature of an abominable nuisance arose from an inadvertent acquiescence in the provisions of Mr. Warburton's Anatomy Bill ; but, object ing to much of that Bill, as we do, we think it right that its author should not be held re sponsible for the objectionable alterations made in it by others. Mr. Ewart's Bill was greatly damaged by the absurd specimens of the legislative genius of Lord Wynford, which have been tacked on to it—so was the Attorney- General's Bill for abolishing the penalty of death in all cases of forgery seriously injured by two sanguinary exceptions made to its sound and rational principle by the same Lord Wynford and the Marquis of Lansdowne, who, on that occasion, was as anxious to snatch from extinc tion a relic of the exterminating system, and transmit it " unimpaired to posterity," as any conservative Lord in the land ;—so the intro duction of the clause, reviving the use of the gibbet for the bodies of persons convicted of murder, was the work of the House of Lords, and was proposed by Earl Grey himself. Lord Wynford, indeed, the indefatigable bill-spoiler, helped to bring it about by objecting to the clause abolishing the dissection of murderers— he added, that he had known instances where the fear of dissection had struck greater terror than death itself. Lord Grey was weak enough to be induced, on this representation, to try and substitute some other terror for that which the law had lost, though he ought well to have known that the fear of dissection had, in rea lity, no effect in preventing the crime of murder— as our criminal calendar for many years past could too well testify. His Lordship first pro posed the introduction of a clause, providing that the bodies of murderers should be buried be neath the gallows whereupon executed, or within the precincts of the prison -where previously confined. To these there could be no great ob jection, except that the former could not often be practicable—in cities, for instance—and the latter practice might, perhaps, tend to render prisons still more unhealthy than they at present are ; but the Noble Earl subsequently altered the amendment to one making persons convicted of murder liable, at the discretion of the Judge, to be ordered to be hung in chains, or to be buried within the precincts of the prison. It is worth observing, that, in the two first instances of con victions for murder which followed the passing of the Act, the Judges preferred putting ill practice the more barbarous mode of the two, and ordered Cook to be hung in chains at Lei cester, and Jobling atJarrow-slake. In allusion to those sentences, we then said, " This sort of exhibition, as all experience proves, never re forms, but always brutalizes, just as the breaking on the wheel under the old regime of France, and exposing the body afterwards, only tended, by hardening the feelings of the spectators, to multiply the cases of murder committed under the most atro cious circuthstances." Well, the brutalizingeffect of this proceeding was soon witnessed upon Cook's body being suspended to rot before the public gaze. The populace flocked thither from all quarters, not to take a moral lesson, but to gra tify a depraved curiosity in the first instance, and then revel in intoxication and riot. A sort of fair was actually held in the vicinity of the disgusting spectacle ; and, even at the foot of the gibbet, on the Sunday evening, were a knot of fellows collected playing cards !—So much for the terror it inspired ! Within two days the nuisance was abated. On denouncing the practice before the removal of Cook's gibbet, we also said " that the gibbetting, besides creating a public nuisance, exposes the law to insult, and adds a new crime to our overloaded penal code, by making it an indictable offence to steal the body from the gibbet, as the friends and relations often did in former times, and will do again • to support on e b ar b ar i sm th e l aw must have recourse to another, and, to preserve a pub lic nuisance, wages war against the natural affections of the human heart." Thus has the law been insulted by the removal of . `Jobling's body from the gibbet; but 'better that it should be so removed than that the vile, nuisance should continue. We trust that it is the last experi ment of the sort, and that, with 'the body of Jobling, the gibbet itself may be for ever buried. —Morning Herald. In whatever studies Lord Palmerston may be employing the leisure of the recess, whether he be poring over the mysterious subtleties of Vattel and Grotius, or preparing a new protocol f or the further entanglement of European diplo macy, or paying his court to the clear-sighted inhabitants of Lambeth, by whom that versatility of talents will be duly appreciated which is so lightly esteemed at Trinity and St. John's, we trust that the investigations which have recently been carried on before a Police Magistrate will raise him from these or any other musings, and a waken hint to some sense of the attention which is due to the fulfilment of national engagements 'h"euljtsmttlie maintenance of public f a i t h. If i t and if it be expedient that Eng land, by an armed interf erence , s h ou ld term i nate t h e dissensions by which Portugal is harassed, and take the crown from this head to place it upon that, let us by all means hasten to secure the benefit and to claim the merit of an open in tervention. If it be more consistent INith our ditty and with our interest to leave the decision o f a Portuguese quarrel t o th e di scret i on o f t h e Portuguese nation, let us maintain between two parties, both of whom make title to our alliance, a strict and honest neutrality. Com mon sense and common probity present no other alternative. But common sense and common probity appeal in vain to the judgment and the virtue of the Whigs. Lord Palmerston has not indeed, on the one hand, ventured to make England by name a party in the civil discord of her old Ally. but neither, on the otheri has he withheld the strength and influence or England from actual exertion in the fray. What is the result ? The one com batant is deeply wounded by the manifestation of our hostility ; the other is little grateful for the moderation of our friendship. Neutral, we win no respect by our neutrality ; interfering we serve no useful purpose by our interference. For the present England cannot be purely im partial in the disputes of the Continent. The very existence of a Whig Cabinet is an act of intervention. Whenever the theorist is building up, or the leveller pulling down, our country gives powerful aid to both so long as she retains in her service Statesmen for whom no levelling is too extensive and no theory too wild. But we may demand that our co-operation with the visionary and the reprobate should go no further. Above all, we may insist that, where the Legislature has purposed to obviate a parti cular inconvenience by a special enactment, we should not wilfully encounter the inconve nience by the continued neglect of the provi sions the enactment contains. Our desire to see the Councils of Britain freed from the suspicion of participation in these unworthy squabbles is not in any way based upon a sym pathy with either party in the conflict. It is by this time generally known, upon the testimony, oral and written, of the Chancellor, that Don Miguel is a monster, the like of whom history hath not recorded in the past tense, nor ima gination conceived in the future. No property is safe from his rapacity, no life from his blood thirstiness. Contrasted with his cruelty the ferocity of Domitian was merciful ; compared to his insanity the caprices of Caligula were tem perate. .And of course it is not less generally understood that his brother, who was sent away from the Brazils, is such a Monarch as Whig gism delighteth to honour, brave and humane, and constitutional and liberal, the very Prince Prettyman of our political fairyland. And since the Portuguese, by their obstinate adherence to the one, and their pertinacious opposition to the other, have shown themselves most anxious to be imprisoned and plundered, most unwilling to be released and protected, we are forced to infer the Portuguese are very foolish people, and that they really do not deserve that any philanthro pist at the Crown and Anchor should spend half an hour in the modelling of their Consti tution, or the selection of their King.—Morn ing Post. SUMMER ASSIZES. NORTHERN CIRCUIT, YoRK, SRrr. 8. DuE DEIII. HUNGATE V. GASCOIGNE. This was an action of ejectment brought to reco ver possession of a valuable estate, situate at Sher burn, in the county of York. The facts of the case have already been twice laid before the public. On the first trial the plaintiff had a verdict, which was afterwards set aside by the Court of King's Bench, and a new trial granted. A second ejectment brought to recover other property, but dependent on the same title, was afterwards tried, and a verdict found for the defendant. The second trial came on yes terday, and lasted the whole of yesterday and a great part of to-day. The evidence was nearly the same as that given on the former trials. The pro perty in question formerly belonged to the Hungate family and passed into the family of the Gascoignes by marriage. It was enjoyed by that family until the death of the late Sir William Gascoigne, who dying in 1809 without heirs, devised it to the wife of the present defendant, who took the name of Gas coigne. The present claimant then put in a claim as heir at law to the Hungate family. The Jury found for the defendant, on the ground that the plaintiff had not proved his descent. REX V. ACKLAND. This was a criminal. information against the de fendant for publishing a libel upon the Mayor and Corporation of Hull. The defendant is the same individual who was convicted a few days ago of pub lishing a libel upon one of the Alderman of Hull. Mr. Pou.ocx said, that the libel was contained in a weekly publication, called the Hull Portfolio, of which the defendant was the proprietor and pub lisher, and was contained in a letter addressed to the inhabitants of Hull. (Mr. Pollock here read passages of the letter alluded to.) The letter began by stating that the Corporation had lost the confi dence of the inhabitants, and after applying to them a good deal of harsh language, and calling them a curse to society, the following passage occurred " They are wealthy, but their superabundance be nefits not the poor. They are liberal, but it is in the extravagance of selfishness. 'I hey are power ful, but with this ability to protect the innocent they prefer to oppress the injured. Instead of en couraging industry and enterprise, they paralyze the one and control the other. In a word, with every opportunity of good, they are the evil genii of this town ; all their intentions questionable, and their acts always pernicious. They should be the incul cators of peace. WI at they are the odium that attaches, to their very name sufficiently proclaims. Well may they exclaim, in the beautiful words of our liturgy, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us.' " The publications were proved and read. The Jury found the defendant Guilty. There is another information against the defen dant for a libel on the Mayor of Hull, which re mains to be tried. OLD BAILEY, SEPT. 8. FORGERY ON TIIE BANK OF MESSRS. CHILD AND CO., TEMPLE-BAR. Henry Lucas was indicted for uttering, on the 3d of July last, a forged older for 991. 10s., well knowing the same to be forged, with intent to de fraud John Wormald and others, trading under the firm of. Messrs. Child and Co., bankers, Temple-bar. The Jury acquitted the prisoner of the crime of forgery, but found him Guilty of uttering the bill knowing it to be forged. The Recorder then passed sentence on the prisoner, which was—transportation beyond the seas during his life. There was a murmur of disapprobation among the spectators, upon which Mr. Adolphus said that upon the day that the forgery was committed, there had been nine others under the signature of Sir William Pole. In the course of the trial - Mr. ADOLPHUS contended he had a right to read a certain letter first, and accused Mr. C. Phillips of impoliteness. Mr. C. P lIILLIPS—IshaII not adopt you as a model Mr. ADOLPHUS—No, nor any body else ; since you have not begun sooner, it is rather too late to expect it now. inveterate , I\ r l h r e ' C R . E P C v t o l i g L p a i r E ' i i i t P t y s s A called on a fresh case, which prsovfoerrbymolu., your ancient and pre vented further a ltercation. NEW COURT. EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF BIGAMY. Elizabeth Stone was indicted, for that she, on the 28th of September last, intermarried with one Edward Shaw, her husband, William Stone, being then alive. Tile prisoner was rather a tall woman, and was dressed very neatly. The mother of William Stone proved the mar riageof the prisoner with her son, at the parish church of Lambeth, on the 19th of April, 1821; both parties were then tinder age; witness's son was a brass-worker, and his wife had been a servant living at the next door; they lived together ninc months; the son set up in his own business, but in short time became embarrassed, and his wife and he then separated. The certificate of the first marriage was put in It described both the parties as minors. Edward Shaw--Became acquainted with the pd• soner, and after a short courtship married her The marriage toott .plaee. on . the 28th September 1831, at St. Anne's, Westniinstbr. At the tiny of his marriage he had not the slightest knowledgt of the fact that she had been previously married He lived with her about nine months after the) were married; she spent nearly 2001. of his m oney ; xvhich his father had given him to set up in bushiest with, and then she left him. The prisoner, in her defence—Had been ill-used by both her husbands. S'ie had not seen her first husband for some years, and as they were both un. der age when the marriage took place, and as het parents were not there to consent to the wedding, she understood that the marriage was invalid, and she thought herself at liberty to marry again. She denied that she had spent more than 1001. of het second husband's money, and said that she had bee►► very ►ll-used by her second husband; that she had been obliged to swear her life against him, and that he had been imprisotied in Tothill-fields Bridewell, where, after remaining a week, he wrote to hers begging her to intercede for him and get him out. Shaw denied this statement, and said that he had been threatened by a man whom the prisoner kept. The prisoner indignantly replied, that that state ment was an absolute falsehood. She appealed to S-one's mother as to her character, and said that her first husband was willing to receive her again. Stone's mother had nothing to say against the prisoner. - William S , one, who was in Court, was then called on, and came into the box. lie appeared much affected, and said he was willing to take his wife back. That they had parted because things did not go right with him. He was now, how ever, getting on better, and he hoped they should be happy together. He promised to receive her and treat her kindly, and not to upbraid her with the past. Mr. Serjeant ARABIN asked the prisoner if she was willing to accept her husband's offer with affec tion and gratitude, to go back to him, and to love him and obey him, and behave as a good and affee' tionate wife? The prisoner had no objection. Mr. Serjeant ARABIN would consider of this be fore the end of the Session. The prisoner was then removed from the bar. The Jtiry who ►ried Kennedy and Brown, on Friday; for the murder on the river, have signed and forwarded on their behalf a memorial to the Secretary of State, pray ing that the sentence should not be carried into effect, and that the Royal clemency might be extended to the cow victs. The Jury founded the recommendation to mercy on the ground that the convicts never contemplated mur der, and that, had not the law precluded anyother verdict the convicts would not have been found guilty of the ca pital felony—the murder. In consequence of the memo• rial, the following respite has been transmitted to Nesv gate, with a view, it is presumed, of commuting their sentence to transportation for life ; '• Newgate, Saturday, Sept. 8, 1832. " A respite until Wednesday, the 12th inst.. arrived this evening, for Wm. Kennedy and Win. Brown, wb° bad been ordered for execution on Monday next, for the murder of Mr. Wilkinson, on the river Thames." COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING LAST WEEK, Wheat. , Barley. i Oats. Per Quarter. Carlisle fiexham. Nfurpeth Penrith Sheffield - . Winchester 8. to S. s. to 5. 59 , 32 72 76 , 41 44 65 71 34 36 59 , 33 42 52 59 32 35 s.d. s.d. s.d. s.d. 63 76 36 40 70 90 4-8 5 4 70 96 64 66 70 93 36 46 98 99 56 60 73 78 38 39 90 10 0 4 6 50 206 2!-0 90 100 :50 200 90 106 173 21 0 , 9 4 100 16 6 18 01 9 6 10 0 Per Bushel. Carmarthen-. Coventry ----. Newcastle (Staff.) Nortliallerton Swansea Warwick , Per 8011. Barnardcastle Durham Richmond Stockton a. to a. 22 2l 29 21 25 20 22 24 s. d. s. d. 16 19 36 4 0 36 39 33 40 3 8 4 7 20 24 22 26 Beans. S. 41 " 66 74 56 76 58 90 54 70 371- 58 571 42 46 s. d. s• 0 0 0 - „ 6 0 56 5g 6 5 2 6 6 6 6 - 00 0 73 78 0 0 11 0 I 0 6 1 20 7l 86 90, 00 0 " WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET.—Sept. 7. Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Suflblk —s. 535. to 595. fine 625• Lin. and Cam. —s. 535. to 595. fine 62t. -- Yorkshire —s. 545. to 595. fine 0 6 White —s. 575. to 625. fine 655• --- Foreign, Red —s. 48s. to Ms. fine 595. White Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk Lincolnshire 33s. to 345. fine 405. --- Yorkshire Wold 365. to 39a. fine 401 Foreign —s. to —s. fine mss• Beans, Small Tick 335. to 355. fine 36s - ' - _ _ Oats, Potato 2ls. to 238: fine 24 11 . Poland —s. 20s. to 225. fine 23'. Friezland and Small —s. 17s. to 21s. fine 225. Mealing lod. to 11 1 A d. per Stone. Shelling 245. to 275. Od. per Load. Malt 34s. 435. fine 46s per Load. __. • Rpeseed. 221. Os. 241. Os. 261. Os. per Last. SCOTCH MARKETS. ---*" Wheat. Barley Oats. Beans. Oatme_ o 3/ ' _..---:, Aberdeen -- 50 58 23 28 17 21 30 g..; Berwick...—. 48 50 23 24 15 18 22 24. al Coldstream .. 46 50 29 25 16 18 22 23 --• ..... Cupar .—...... 68 71 30 34 22 '25 27 29 .... I"* . .' Dundee ~....... CO 72 34 35 21 22 29 30 ..... ..... • E1gin,,.,.,,,....., 60 62 28 30 18 21 23 30 Inverness.— 157 60 30 32 20 24 23 30 46 , Kelso —.....1 40 55 20 24 16 18 23 25 -- A A Kirkaldy....., 40 45 27 39 25 32 45 48 43 :„, • Perth 56 61 28 33 21 25 26 30 .... ... I*. The size of the measure varies throughout the ceunt_r2..„: EDI NBUF We had a middli: the sales in general Wheat. First 7Bs Od Second 7os Od Third "sos Od RGH CORN ItIARKET.—Sept. 5. ' „,I, ing supply of all kinds of Grain to-day, a'T , were rather heavy. 1 Barley. Oats.' Pease. Bestial., 36s Od 28s Od —.3 04 —s „ A , 33s Od 24s Od —s Od —s „ A " - ' 303 Od 19s 4d —8 Od -.-s ''' PRICES OF PROVISIONS, &C. o d. Beef, per lb. Os. aid.to Os. ed. Fresh Butter, lb. s. 10d. to 1,6 , 0 , Mutton 0 4 0 6 Salt 09 . 0 , 0 Veal 0 5 0 8 Ditto, per ca t. 0 0 74 0 4 0 6 Eggs, per dos. 0 8 0 Lamb, per qr. 0 6 3 0 OatStrawospl.)lo 0 Fallow, cwt.... 36 0 38 0 Wheat Ditto...lo 6 . 1 1 1 1 Quartern Loaf 0 9 010 Barley Ditto 0 0 Potatoes, 17i1b. 0 4 0 0 Hay, per 0 8 EDINBURGH MEA The supply of Oatmeal at this and sold heavily, at lower pricer Per Sack of 2801 b Imp First Oatmeal £1 16 0 Second ditto 1 14 0 Barleymeal 1 10 0 Peasenteal 1 5 0 Pot Barley—No. t, per cwt. 13: GLASGOW CORN Our Grain market continues du. Wheat, per 24011). s. d. s. d. British,. old 23 0 to 30 0 —new ..... Canada, free 27 0 .29.0 Irish . ........... 25 0 30 0 B a rley, per .3201 h. English Scottish Irish L 11 . 1A — KKET.--Sept. 4. s day's market was b u t middlin. r ' Per Stone of 141 b. IroP%, 0 First Oatmeal £ 0 a it 1 Second ditto 6 Barleysneal .... Peasemeal 0 c 1, with little alteration in pri ik j e , Oats, per 2641 b. 8. d. Irish l4 Oto:n British ..... . ..... ~ , 0 . Beans. per 2601 b. 6 English ........ 18 pi 0 Scottish ....... . Pease, Scottish IS 0 v Oatmeal, per 14011). 15 0 on, Flour, per2Bolb 4 BO CORNWALL MARKERS.6I: to—Wheat (average) f 22,. cki._Barley, 13s.—Oats, o. ST AusTELL—Wheat, —a. to 25 s.—Barley, --s. to 128. 08. to 9s. 3d. PENZANCE—Wheat, 235. to 258 .—Barley, ••••41. to 0, to Os. 00.--Beef and Mutton, sd. to 6 , l—Pork, pd. to Butter, Butter, 10d. per lb. 0 04 LAUNCESTON — Wheat (average) 21s. 3(1,-" ' 73. Od.—Barley,llB. ca—Beef, s d.—Mutton, 6d.pM LISKEARD—,Wk •eat, —s. to 21s. 6+l.—Barley, 138. to Bs. Od. BoomtN—Wheat (average) 248. (kl.—Barley, 12s. 6d.—Oat s ' • -HEurroN—Wheat, 258. o(l.—Barley, 148 V" - MINING INTELLIGENCE. Tong. 0 I LI an tity of Copper ore sold a t R e d ru th l as t Thurday 3,294 , trt , Quantity of fine Copper ,... . ,„....1•••••••••••••••••01.* 20 2 0 Average 'Produce s otv loaf. li°4 mount of Sale, 19, BIRTHS. 914 On the 7th i ns t . at W oodford, the l a d y o f J o h n White, S . surgeon, Dartmouth -street, Westminster, of a son.l 00" On the 7th in s t. M rs . Willi am Kin g , Easthill, , of a daughter. MARRIED. On the Bth inst. at Newton Valence R. Henley Payn e ' ph second son of Sir Peter Payne, ' Bart. P M.P., of Knustn f ori county of Northampton, to Louisa, youngest daughter Chawner, Esq of Newton Manor House, county of Hann' DIED. On the 7th inst. in Lower Berkely-street, Cecilia, the 00 (laughter of Lieut.-Colonel James Lindsay. On the Sth inst. at Bedford, Wm. Thomas, Esq. , Foe • • On the 7th inst. in Piccadilly, the infant son o f cap. rick Vernon Harcourt,aged six days. n A, On the 4th inst. at Brighton of paralysis, Mrs. Muu. „Aii.-,.rai., ther.in-law of the late John Lowden, Esq., of Walc ot-ter Lambeth. t 6 ; On the Ist inst. Thomas Wilshire, Esq., of Hit chin, , E r r , n" in the 58th year of his age. His carriage was overthroW.,, l P was returning from the funeral of Mrs. John Hawkins, a was killed on the spot. --- PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUNO, TO° SUN OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LoNpoN.