The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-26 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL.

A REQUISITION TO THE MATOR Or LIVERPOOL
Is in course of signature, desiring him to call a public mull-
ing, to memorialise her Majesty to call together parliament
at the very earliest day. to deliberate on the alarming wadi-
don of the country.
Tn GENERAL CESSATION Or LABOUR ScHgi
has, so far, proved abortive. Yesterday morning there were
to have been early gatherings in Antos, Dithindeld, Old-
ham, Heywood, Stockport, and Heston Norris, and the
mill hands in these places were to proceed in bodies to Hyde,
u a central meeting place, and alter persuading the °pees-
tires there to leave work, come to resolutions with reforest*
to inducing or trying to induce the operatives of other towns
to follow their example. When the morning came, how-
ever, the people of Oldham and Stockport preferred remain-
ing at work. Not more than half • dose* persons assembled
at the rendezvous at Oldham at the appointed time, and the
wetness of the weather drove them horse again. The lake.
warmness of the groat body of operatives at Stockport ale*
dispirited the remainder, and the attempted incaution of
Hyde came to nothing. The people of Ashton and Deakin-
field are all out of work except two mills, at one of which the
hands have accepted the reduction ; but the project of going to
Hyde seems to have had no charm for the majority, and accord-
ingly they staid at borne. About 12 o'clock there was •
muster of a small party of men, who formed in procession,
joined by upwards of 600 youths and boys, and proceeded
to Hyde, where they arrived at about one o'clock ; but the
people of Hyde were all at work ; no rell•ctlou had bee%
offered them, and they would not leave work of their own
accord. Under these circumstances, about forty or fifty of
the procession went into • beerhouse, and held a council to
deb mine on what further should be done. They at !moo
earns to a resolution that they should not attempt to hold a
public meeting, but that failing success with the operatives
they should send a deputation to the master-spinners and
manufacturers of HI de, and endeavour to persuade them to
close the mills for three weeks or a month. The parties thee
separated. The leaden in the affair seem to have a vague
notion that if production were totally suspended for • few
weeks trade would right itself, but beyond this they seem to
have no fixed plan.

THE GAOL CIIAPIMIS of LlMOllltte., in his report,
just Mid before the magistrates in Quarter Sessions, gives
the following facts relative to crime and education in this
county
. . . . . _

- -
The number of prisoners In the end, as per the annual reports for
the past six years, was, In 1842, 532; 1843, 479; 1814, 244; lea,
164 ; 1646, 243 ; and. to 1847, 316—Mowing an average of )24 each
year. Of the 307 perms aeon itted to the crown sole of the MM. 4
were under 13 yeas de" 133 from 13 to 23 year., snell3o, 23 years
and upwards. Of the 119 essurdtted kr Wei, 106 were for the Its.
offence, 72 the second. 3:1 the third, II Ile risek 9 the Mb, 1 the
sixth, 2 the seventh, and 4 the eighth sal waren ; and of the 71
committed it Wel, 311 we it the alit ellisimt the stood, 2 the
thin, an! die berg. The Mars of the Wenn it which the
136 primers aumalkelf* Um wan waskled k r knows, Mi.,
6 far highway robbery, V Imerbey, 10
IS pitSdrg. 4 mks.
element, 60 meant ken derellinr-hown, IS ste~iin twos
mined ditto, 1 r wreak with uncut, kc.„ 12 111000100001001 t, 50
shoplifting, 10 stela prepay, obtabeiraby fake
pretcnors, 1 plemedes ef *odds- he aelA Sm. 1 bee calm
3 manslaughter, lari MOO& I ear elistig.d 1 awe.
ties, and 3 dennass. She .hate et is com-
mitted te theawas ids what singed seml.llu=l„.
could nal kaporbotly, 101 reed sod wage sitO eedg
could reed Mal write welL eseepedig sienissel gale
with net at het year, It may be deekelde* sA pisidake Wm-
tion to the Isinkg bets—viz., In the Manes of es*
20 of them wow andy lament, 33 read Istraftely. 19=la
and write an a demesne of It war Wadi tad
write well. pen year 127 criminality, UM Saila&
Into the spa/, vrbois 19 were entirely IS awld
reed the 19 nal warn *three name. rad
and S 0 an mike iswerbetly ; and Ike raw peg* 146
who attended tbe easel hare ben diadingidriese the pogo f eigen.
on entrance, 34 nee aka* Ipsoreat, II ran Wa
ndrb 3 wards
of three letters, a riallilmgectl ~aad 37 nod a wrote new.
feel?. Oft
ha,
them whoa , 1 could ren aperfrotly, 47 sad
end write, repeat the and s
od the *Sgt.
of &SUN
eNIS; ad IS wand reed en write =
teti..cuteossil bilarm=l6l6.l.. loggek.thessla
reorded.aerirabb=pelensee
am Op =se..seejs.
ten bdigmlfkagrara:=lololls sins_ I
eaml ItoOrdile aiqoislie(bw•var k tiebelnanled)
eurgenbas asuliggly 'applied el kris the *nukes
aturZspArskal Mikis of the easstp. Meat et then aitihey
Ihatthair leg wry seldom attesisli may piece of deka
wonldp; wine ens mar gat they hod wrier *tended ; this, whoa
young, they sere idle* int either to wheel ar chapel ; the=
art tralland le warder la the Snob an Terms% and were
in pekes he dint ems ad were frequently obliged (from • eta t
of illielles)*eamellt *AI sad robberies. Notwithstand-
ing di reelesehaly tsegel if depravity, the duiplain had we tan.
inks Is stating that tke knotes conduct themselves In chapel with
ellesties end been** relnimity ; very seldom has any Irregularity
re be mend; sod k is eke pies** sad pratllying to himself, le
ter nosy of them wbewme wiry Illente when lest admitted.
main to join is the eardeas *Sae cinch

COMPENSATION FOR A RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—An
action was recently brought in the Durham County Court by
Mr. Gray, against the Newcastle and Berwick R.ailwty Com-
pany, for injuries received by his wife on their railway on
the 22nd of June last. From the soiden*, of Mn. Gray, if
appeared that she had taken a ticket from Durham to Leas-
side, but the train only slackened its pace at that station, and
dad not atop, whereupon toe witness got upon the footstep of
the carriage to descend, when the train was increased in
speed, and Mrs. Gray and her child were thrown off to the
ground, by which she received severe injury, which caused
premature childbirth ; further, on refusing to give up her
ticket, she was roughly handled b the station-master. The
judge of the court was of opinion that the plaintiff's wife had
brought the injuries upon herself by getting out of the train
at the wrong aide : that she ought to have remained in the
earriage, and if carried further than she had contracted for,
to have then brought her action for damages ou that account
against the company. Notwithstanding this opinion of the
judge, the jury returned a verdica for the plaintiff, damages
eil. ; and the judge, after a little hesitation, granted coats.

INVITATIONS TOEIIOLiaA..-:Lat week, a sub-
committee of the Newcastle and Gateshead Smitory Ate-
Mahon met a number of the working met of *stye
to take into consideration the propriety of fos.ft • #71::
ing Men's Sanitary Association.—Mr. Jones athtdod to the
advance of the cholera by nearly the am route which it had
taken in 1831, and showed how ill prepared we were to grap-
ple with such a scourge. At Mount Pleasant, for instance (es
called certainly in derision), the houses of the inhabitants were
surrounded by pigsties, and the filth oozed through into their
apartments. In one single room he found seven persons
letng ill of fever! In another room, on the Longstairs, he
found four beds, and outside the door there were fool.
sties.—Mr. M'Kelvin stated that there were, to his know-
ledge, rooms in which as many en 20 persons slept every
night. lie made other statements to show the wretched-
ness of the domestic life of thousands of the inhabitants, and
concluded with a sulogiuni on the medical profession, so
being alwafadorentset to every good work.—lt was resolved
theta Working Metes Association be established. Mr. Heaton
Mated that he eon sixteen perms in a bed in Pipewell-
gate. It was a long strew bed, on • sort of shelf, in which
Matson persons wise hid side by side. He was glad to think
that • beginolug we made of a Working Men's Aseociatios
bens about • bitter MO of things. Much blame, un-
doubtedly, was ettellietable to the middle and higher classes,
bet the welkin( slum were themeless at least quite so
much le limo. He big* however, that they would sae
mind to the premed invtiedos, and came forward like men
who understood their own interests. It was too comma for
them to have to be dragged into action, even when they
thee eslves were the parties fhb* to he benefited. The
=llsiousesent was am wide It theystalow feel specially
10 peeensho ; and If they Inaba show a dr termui-
Mos le be um assillelsbly Waled. Se accemmoda-
Yak idiot lbw mailed wield sem be previded. Thirty-
Ibirr sembiee wire swelled, and pall the fret quarter's sub-
an etifemes.

DZIITITITSI CIIIILDIUUt.—Than aro three " Bagged
Meets" I. Newer& (me the Oallsimed Ologinter , she
The
Gael. the Wick
Geol ham
bs" , NA the Baas& Sheet in .
with de ri the pathos, aside die
knead numben, 10,0101. every year. The With [abatises%am% with
slse the sehileer relief le the peer, earthen Mee 111,0001.
la die raw perisd. The limed lishesi he baps has net ••
eared isesees at 1001. Oa dr ere side, whet thrift r Os
the wirer, whet • musiderese eapeaddere! One hundred
prods riser for the «leerier et doe rued children whit
ewe= it Shearers. Thirty tbeassokywowde for the new-
est*/ Nov& with pauperism cat.hm Is it tea
to meet door the outlay of ISO sf the three to
*some of pounds a the edeendsa of the peer
weld melte the atersipd sad paw - law seam&
tie le a.a with set stud ars is their ihodisde
the 'dried sO the pews, mad that, teilheat spading a
siesis paw 11114 dr erswar sow !shed in rater, these
wail be seel.Aperer satimirdea ia the appropriation et
doe assay t Wo het thet we eight go math firth*r wit/a-
-1 eat desershig the impadelisa et rearm We mie►ln=
met that die pordoles af sir& de the am 4
Jar as peeeides i mew rode he the relied el all the pre
awl the diebe awl )wehlreara et si the misdeal. would
ase wily ate lama% bat moil di die the Imams etthe
sateiwybig hibehihela
WOULD TEUI WoUnlke CLAIM RESORT TO PUBLICS
BATRII ?-11•141 as. sespdrd mph, who throw cold wooer
on sll onward meet—owa ea public bath! and wash-

itiouses. Tha working, they`sari, would sot ple
baths, if ,yoa were to build thew But the expeeitailtd
London, Liverpool, Manchester, and other towns, prevesllo
contrary; and we are ant (says the OsusAead 011owee)
without similar acidosis in Newcastle and Gateshead. The
lessee of the public baths is Northunberlandatreet has
wisely made reductions, trees time to time, in kis scale et
charges, and i now issuing 60 tickets for IL, each of which
will wore the holder a warm Inith and • towel. That, for 060
sem of 4d., a person may *ay a warm lath, and have •
towel to dry himself ; and we have meta to believe that the
lame would charge still less if his scoommeditheme were oft.
lamed. On Saturday evening, at • In the
leeroarreroam of the Literary and P , new
serde, Yr. WYelvis Weed that be flat da7 to
lt/L4 bath% teld pwrekeee4
_stpramte wee* et *haft
Om retire to the heekt4erk weeks he soon Lund
eistemee fait them all, at letopmeer a Sea ; sad le had
Ile dna Act while he was at that smog tray
el Ow perehren ware dome(the week with pstEeeYw
at ths Whs. We trust. Niase the local Jeommelist, Oat
in *yew peat public atabliament in Newcastle sued 00100•
hied Am will be found • Yr. M.Kelvin, and that the
spirited he= el the public baths will keep the: printus at
wort memrahalagas tiekate."
• LINCOLNBNUIL
Caws nr Latoom—la ehltoet every quarter
of the dig beam tra Wag arectel, led the City Atm—
pop-
(le the hers of the eV It Wilt =M.
mir
Tauswor la la ste ~seed
A ear
as
MT" grremerad 'sae
Iselesend York
JDels~neremi
eadthsoneverforthisabyof
andmageimehmahlttentheteLimis

with Hi: various subsidiary works (such as bridges) are being
contracted. A new covered market is in the course of forma-
tion. &nail streets have been formed and others are I'c:rat-
ios. The water company are proceeding rapidly with their
works for supplying the city with good water. A proprietary
sal has been commented. The new cattle markets, with
an adjacent inn, have just been completed, and no
= its will elapse before the large tracts of
land cal.ed commons will be inclosed.
Itrls molsestord got ems orporstion of Lincoln praisewor-
Or friary oe
VS so gelskly as possible the precision
=
tremetery. Ike eimmlttes appointed to select
• die bare, it is Noir& !sued igen direr fields opposite the
MIS ei the Ilealat eel a more appropriate spot
IMAM sosessiy bo tooplood. Tito old abbey sad grounds
Webb to bo by mom lostodsd, and, at no very large cost,
the mime sail se the Ms *OA be fitted up for a chapel.
his Mild dot Woks on oniony procurable in Lincoln, the
great dosood ebb blabs sassed out all the briekyards.
Istmeeemesse, poetise on romapollod to import bricks from a
thilimam Sloss roltrollabp of the eity prison, a person who
itilTy yews .satchel rad his winters in the former
"8"
tlsoli=L wririti to
—Pont passing
tl
:oWotorsso pigment s's it ow feelers, Isol'teceliad to spendt'er
riot port of his time slate, be said be would " take care and
not sore again :" and be has kept his word.
• LEV

THE LIBERALS or LEICESTER show a real gain of
66 votes upon the recent revision of the lists.
Gams-Lsws.:—ln making a moral estimate of the
criminal Malinke of this county for the past year (says the
=to's report just delivered to the bench in Quarter
), our attention is particularly arrested by the feet
of the low daily avenge number of prisoners, being a con-
siderable reduction OVUM upon the year which preceded it.
Oa examining the prison records, it appears that the chief
diminution is in the summary commitments, and in those
clones of them especially which had meat swelled our num-
bers in former years—namely in those committed under the
vagrant and malicious trespass acts. This decrease—cola-
mincing when the prison buildings were nearly completed
for the introductioa of the separate system of prison disci-
pline, and continuing uniformly and progressively since its
adoption—we can hardly fail to attribute mainly to the de-
tarMg influence of that system. The prison is no longer
needed to as an asylum fur the winter, nor generally pre-
ferred to the more appropriate refuge, in the time of need,
provided in the pan-house. This diminution, coupled with
the manse aummess in the other summary offences (with
oaesxeeptioa), is at the least significant of a lower amount ,
of &sloe in the county. Commitments under the game-
laws have alone exceeded those of the preceding year. With
reopen to this class of offences, it is obvious that the
mhos in se" being very genera), questioned, a formic!.
ablir harrier is thus presented to the influence of any re-
(minatory system. I have no doubt, however, that the de-
tentes, if not the christianising, effect of oar present disci
plisse and instruction, will in due time exhibit a diminution
alas in this class of offence,. There is a corresponding de.
erase Ia those committed for trial, with a low proportion of
the graver offences, excepting some most serious cases of
manslaughter.
M. mor•ersamgro

A VERDICT of ACQUITTAL him been pronounced in
the case of Mr. W. Tongue, a man of property, committed
for trial, at Stafford, on a charge of stealing a quantity of
wooed from the Trent Valley Railway works.

NOPYOLIL
'rllll SALE OP THE CATPIELD ESTATES, late the
property of Colonel Cubitt, dec., took place on Saturday
sa'nnight, at Norwich. The most spirited competition war
manifested for the several lots, and the following prices were
mined ; all the lots, with the exception of two, being told.
Rayley's farm, containing 120 a. 3r., 8,4001. ; Pretty's farm,
100 a. 3r. 19p , 5,2001.; three marshes, 27a. it. 34p., 6001. ;
pieces of arable land, Os. 3r. 27p., 420!. ; two pieces of land,
9a. it. 3p., 4001.; two pieces of land, 6a, 3r. 21p., 2501.; three
pieces of land, 254. 2r. Up., 1,1'101.: reed beds, 38a. lr. 30p.,
(reserved at) 7501.; cottage, marsh, mill, and land, contain-
ing 90a. Ir. ip., and part of Hickling Broad, containing
113 a. Ir. 21p. (reserved at) 2,6001 ; marshes containing
60a. Or. 2-3 p., 1,0001; • marsh, 15a. 3r. 16p., 500/. ; a rush
marsh, 24a. Or. 15p., 3701. ; a marsh, 37a. Or. 14p., 9001.; a
iamb, 4a. 3r. 35p., 2701. ; cottage and garden, 1801. ; cot-
tages and garden, 2061.; dwelling-heuse and blacksmith's
oho", 2251. ; cottage, shop, die., 1751. ; cottage and garden,
6.i1.; a marsh, eantahung 245. it., and the lake called
Height's Sound, containing 137 a. Ir. 2p.-thin lot was pet
up at 8001., and after a spirited competition was knocked
down at 1,8001. ; nine marshes near 'Yarmouth, containing
99a. 2r. Bp., 2,5001. Total, 27,9301.
ANOTHEZ NELSON STATUE is likely to be erected.
At a recent meeting in Norwich, the bishop in the chair, it
was agreed to accept an oar made by Mr. Milnes, to erect
in that city a marble statue, seven feet high, for the sum of
700 guineas. Another 100 guineas will, it is calculated, be
required for advertising, printing, and other expenses, and
the advocates of the plan are busy in the collection of funds.

CAIIEBRIDGESIIIRE.
COIN.—A mistake in the delivery of
a parcel on Wednesday led to the important result of dis-
covering a quantity of counterfeit half-cr....n0 with which it
was intended to favour the inhabitants of Cambridge and the
neighbourhood. In the course of the morning a parcel ar-
rived by the Rasters Counties Railway, directed in rather a
cramped, hand, to " Mr. Jacob Knight, Dolphin Inn, Hunt-
instdon. The string separated the " Jacob" om the
KeOt" by some distance, and the porter, by whom the
imbnibas parcels are delivered, catching the name of '
" Jacob," immediately took it to Mr. C. Jacob, who without
further noticing the direction opened it, and to hie surprise.
toned it to contain upwards of forty counterfeit
wrapped up in paper and inclosed in hay. MINN=
was taken to the Dolphin, where inquiry was made for the
to whom it waa directed, but he was absent Ai4.
L'eorver, the nutmeats he left with the landlady indicated
that he expected a panel, word was left for him to call for it
at the Georg% acti about wen o'clock he applied for it.
Having stied the delivery beak sad paid the carriage, he
put the wed in his whet, cod .....teed to depart. Mr.
Achim, the station mint., Whig pretest, followed him into
thinnest, sad appribiedel him. He war taken before the
wiper as Tharoday sad rememded, in order to give time to
emiammikate with the eilliter to the Mint. The half-crowns
beat date 1844 ; end but be the kicky discovery would pro-
bably ell have passed into etrmilatien without exciting sus-
picion.
MB IRRESPONSIBLE SALE OF POISONS by
inftests shopkeeper', and the fatal use to which such drugs
ha* recently been put, particularly at Mamma, in this
soutty, bee given rite to more than one sogretion for ren-
tabs ea mime of poisoning more difficult of impetration
scatmeire easy of detection. A druggist aft ily hes pub-
HAM the foflowing particulars of a plus adspbei by him.
He tape :
I Iwo kr Iwo kr pot kept arrow la wheat bow
WI
awls. I war It la or .1%, art nooks • vlbsor sad
limosilly parobra (or, be sot brag We to alb, alwo)
Sth=il:_drie_al troViZisharers biad
pnirrLM en kw dr paw sr wear, ;arum
I mar Oat to • premodee; kw • poen
legrkkg k be sr las war paws weal Won to cep, at I
dmalksordrkby sti..llre to fto raw prim I lioso
West war rasa I it roa bird tko 11.111*ar, engird a arm
lantra biro I lope w mar. l snook to • ps
dew bars • hbotsas dawn ran worths lea the whales
to Ilk maw to .0111."

,veers.
ANOTHER YACHT SEIZED.—Much iaterest has
been excited at Littlehanipton, by the seizure of a small
yacht belonging to a member albs Royal Yacht Club, and
which hu just arrived from • yet in k ream The seizure
was made by reason of the stores iseluding about five gallons
of bottled spirits, a quantity not larger than yachts of the
Royal Yacht Club are privileged to have, under a proviso
that en arriving in a British port the same, except a reason-
able gnantity for immediate use, should within a given time
(which had not elapsed), be deposited at the custom-house
until the sailing of the yacht, when it might be legally re-
shipped, free of duty. The decision of the board of nutter
in reference to the seizure is not yet known.
WT.
RAVAGES OF THE Sea.—At Dover, during the
whole of Saturday, it blew a heavy gale om the S.W.,
with rain and *la weather. The continents! traffic was,
=a:XI pulley interrupted, while the outward- 1
tad mestere for the westward, were compelled
to take slider la the Downs sad Bast Bay of Dui
Considerable demo. has been doe to the works aICZ
by the essimme elesses ef the see, whiek at high wales
rolled ia wish (visual lay, there Wig se owessuilly high
spring tile.• same weeds wall, eigq the Oboe sad
workably imenisebel with the Dover Harbour te
was ermgletely Medial away; while the winds& *WWI
and other meoskie erdeles of the Lord Wrist Hostel
wore strewed la all &reeds= but the greatest proof elf the
neindlos hoe et the waves twill* were at this tine rata,a
Elwin brae* weer the piwisole), was, that &boat a dens
et the irea steoshisos, Ores holes in diameter, to whir&
the ask raging moll the basis within the south pier an
atiesheti, were tompgod epistler, as if they had ben es seamy
✓ook To the =shwa ef the harbour perdue ef the see
at the extremity d the sea-wall opposite the laglembe more
swept away. The only portion of the works to NE thee
stood the test was the new inclined plane between the amok
pier-bead and Cheeseinan'ebead. :which was subjected to a
very rude proof of its powers of resistance, bat it stood the
trial with comparatively trifling injury,

ULOUCE.slt.ttallinn.
Tin JE4urrs.—lt is said the order of Jesuits are
about shortly to amass the management of church matters
among* the Roman Catholics in Bristol. They have under
takes to liquidate the existing debts on the Roman Catholic
plases of worship, and likewise to advance the necessary
funds to the bishop of the " western district," for building a
" cathedral " in Bristol—for which the purchase of a site has
already beta concluded.

LITERATURE.

History of the Bank of Bvtand, ter Times and Traditions
By JOHN Parade. 2 vols.
If these volumes impart little actual knowledge
et the history of the Bank of England, and of the
movements of which, since its foundation, the Bank
has been the centre, they at least present a useful
seminary of events in the history of our national and
mercantile credit. The author seems nowhere de.
sirens of showing access to peculiar sources of infor-
mation. His usual authorities are Smollett, Anderson,
Gilbert, and the pamphleteers and essayists that are
now everywhere easy of aocar. But a preliminary
review of the rise and progress of credit in England
Breves to recall a few facts that have beea too little
regarded in recent treatises on banking, although in
this part of his work Mr. Francis is net critical in the
sham or use of his authorities.
The Jews he declares to have been the only bankers

in the Norman period; and to this nation he ascribes
the invention of bills of exchange, on Mr. Dimelre
authority. The use of a bill of exchange, which is a
written transferable receipt for property, cannot be
conceived practicable in times of such acknowledged
insecurity as the reigns of the Norman and Pisa-
tagenet kings. Had such visible testimony to the
existence of wealth been obtainable, the trouble
of putting. Jews to the torture and even to death
to procure information respecting their possessions, or
those of their connexions, would have been super-
fluous. A knowledge of the use of bills would have
saved these victims of avarice as well as their oppres-
sors all the crimes and losses which ignorance of that
powerful key to credit produced. The earliest periods
of the history of every .European country are those in
, which nothing but coined money was appreciated.
Those periods are marked by poverty, slavery, and
degradation on the part of the people, and by tyranny,
unthrift, and crimes of the most heinous description
on the part of their rulers. The secret of Jewish
power was no doubt based upon credit, and the
houses known amongst themselves commanded the
resource of book debts in many countries. But the
credit which was made available by means of a ring or
token, or by the greeting devised by men in mutual
confidence, was very unlike that which is proclaimed
in the fair face of day by the paper of a bill of ex-
change. The Jew, whom the law denied all other
property, possessed himself of coin, which the law
cannot control. By watching occasion he sold this
much-sought commodity for goods, and even land, or
revenues derived from land, at an enormous profit.
In the reign of Edward 1., the Jews were sold by the
king to the rapacity of men in power, and, after all
other excuses for pillaging them had been tried and
exhausted, the final one of confiscation or expulsion
was adopted. From that period to the Common-
wealth the Jews remained banished by law.
The Jews were the less missed because their place
was supplied by men who were known under the
denomination of Lombards. In Italy the spirit of
trade had first been awakened after the period of the
dark ages. The Venetians and Amalfitans had con-
stant intercourse with the polished Saracens, and
through the Black Sea a knowledge of central Asia
was kept up. Most of our improvements down to the
15th century are of eastern origin ; and with paper, on
which banking in the modern sense mainly depends,
a knowledge of our present mode of transferring
credits was doubtlessimported from the east. But
the way was prepared for this improvement by
the skill of the Italians in the science of
the exchanges, which, as long as bullion is
the only circulating medium, are regulated
by the flow of coin. On the other hand
the flux and reflux of the precious metals, when coined
money alone circulates, constantly regulates the ex-
tent and nature of the trade in other commodities.
It was, however, something to have attained emanci-
pation on the subject of the true value of gold and
silver, and for this we are indebted to the polished
Italians. The Florentines were the first who prac-
tised exchanging as an honourable profession, and the
principal " Lombards" of whom we know anything
in England seem to have been Florentines. The
name of " Lombards" would indicate a prior attempt
at something of the kinkwhich either emanated from,
or was dependent on, the Milanese. There is no
doubt that the Lombard or Italian bankers used their
knowledge of the operations of exchanges to make an
advantageous traffic in other goods. They were
dealers and merchants while they were goldsmiths
and bankers.
The Steelyard merchants and " merchants of the
Stapelhof," represented the Hanseatic league, or
"Easterlings." Their chief connexion was with
Cologne, and is, perhaps, the oldest foreign trading
connexion of England. The Cologne mark is the
foundation of the British coinage, and has been the
means of separating us from the south of Europe
whose coinage is based upon the Roman denanus,
that now is represented by the franc. Into these details
Mr. Francis does not wander; bat we think they are
not irrelevant to his subject, since it is remarkable
that neither Jews nor Lombards seem to have had so
much influence in our currency as these Easterlings.
Their name is perpetuated by the word sterling, which
is common in legal documents, although it probably at
all times meant a money of account, which was found
liable to fewer perturbations than the coin of the
realm.
The true basis of the commercial and political
power of the Hanseatic league was the judicious use
of credit by the aid of their great factories. At Novo.
gored, in Russia, these commanded one overland
route to India. The productions of the east were
exchanged for thole of Europe at that once magnifi-
cent city. Hamburg, Lubeck, Cologne, and the
various confederate cities, collected wares on all aides
for this trade, and distributed the various importa-
tions. Money was, of course, comparatively needless
for the internal operations of this great association,
and this independence of coin allowed of its being
used with great profit in dealings abroad.
But the Hanseatic merchants, although they contri-
buted so greatly towards the emancipation of the
mind from its slavish dependence on the precious
metals, yet could not or would not separate the po-
litical from the economical portion of their system;
and the nations of Europe, with whom they refined
to amalgamate, destroyed them. Iwan of Moscow
seized upon Novogorod, and put an end to their
power. The loss of so active a confederacy would
have been irreparable, if the people elsewhere had
not made progress ; but the invention of printing and
paper had diffused instruction and favoured individual
exertion. The south first appropriated the ad
offered by. this new epoch, and in Italy, when
earliest printing presses were established, we look with
*in probability of success than to the Jews, for the
Seat me of bills of exchange. The change effected
this simple, but powerful, Instrument can only be
sesapired to that which followed the invention of the
mariner's compass. The man who bought or sold
was, by the agency of bill-drawing, freed from the
necessity of seeking a corresponding transaction. He
was no longer obliged to buy gold or any other com-
modity that did not suit him. He went into the open
market with his bill, and there bought when and
what he pleased. Moreover, the two operations of
providing gold or silver for a purchase, and accommo•
dating this money to the seller's wants, were saved.
Transactions were everywhere simplified. Sir Tho-
mas Gresham, under the Tudor sovereigns, made a
skilful and patriotic use of the power which this new
system conferred. He operated on the exchanges
which were still the grand object of attention, and
turned them in favour of England.