The Express.
London, England, 1847-11-03 00:00:00

saved the nation from the evil

asylum reported that the plan for the new buildings had
been approved of by the commissioners of lunacy—that the
tender for the construction of them amounted to 37,3001. Of
the loan of 43,0001., on mortgage of the county rates, which
they had heen instructed to negotiate, they had an offer of
42,0001. from the London Life Assurance Society, at the
rata of dl. per cent. per annum, to be repaid in thirty years,
by yearly instalments. The works were commenced on the
23rd of August, and were expected to be Reished by Mid-
summer, 1849. The report was received and condensed, and
the mortgage for the loan of 42,000!. signed by the chair-
man and two other magistrates. At the Bedford borough
quarter sessions the committee of visitors of the Lunatic
Asylum delivered into court an agreement for the union of
the counties of Bedford, Hertford, and Huntingdon, and the
borough of Bedford, in the joint use of the Bedford asylum,
which the recorder ordered to be entered on record.
The Somerset magistrates received a report, stating that
40,000/. had been borrowed and expended upon a lunatic
etylum, which it would require 10,0001. more to complete.
At the Worcester Quarter Sessions it was notified that the
magittrates had acquired every desirable site for the asylum,
between Powick and Malvern; it had been approved of by
the secretary of state, and they had advertised for plans. A.
correspondent of the Worcester Herald makes the following
apt remarks upon the site selected by the authorities of this
county, and upon the onerous duties of the magistracy as
regards the proper selection of plans for the new este-
bli-hment _ .

Assembly-rooms. The drapers in Nottingham, con-
ceiving that some degree of deception was attempting,
applied to the Customs in London, to know whether any
parties had authority in Nottingham to act so their agents
in the "distribution,' &c., and received for answer, that
" no person bad been authorised by the custom-house de
partment to offer goods for sale in Nottingham." Many
attempts were made to get at the names of " the clerks"
superintending the sale, but all proved in vain, except Mr.
Towerzey's name being given, till Saturday afternoon last, at
four o'clock, when Morley, inspector of licenses, walked into
the Assembly-rooms, and demanded the license authorising
the sale. Not having one, " the clerks" were politely re-
quested to go to the police.effice. This they refused to do,
and they were handed over to the custody of two policemen
and taken to the office, where they remained till half-past
six, when the mayor, being in attendance, an information
was laid by Morley, under the 50 Geo. 111., c. 41, sec. 6 and
17, imposing a penalty of 101. for every sale without a
license. " The clerks" gave their names as " Joseph
Horatio Brown, yeoman, 74, Charlotte-street, Fitzroy-
square, London ;" " George Guest, salesman, Chapel-place,
Cavendish square, London;" "R. Goodhind,warehouseman,
Aldersgate-street, London." By consent they pleaded
guilty, paid 101., and undertook not to offend again.
Morley produced a shawl said by many spectators not to be
worth 4s. ; he had given 12s. 6d. for it at the Assembly.
rooms. Thus an end is put to the "Grande Exposition
Publique" in Nottingham. At Exeter, a month ago, James
Macdonald was informed against under 50 George 111., cap.
41 ; and, alter paying three penalties of 101. each, and 501.
towards expense', he promised not to trouble Exeter again,
with "forfeited manufactures." It seems that Leeds, Shef-
field, Harrogate, Nottingham, Manchester, Derby, and
other large towns, have all been airit,d with firms, under
various titles, such as " Brown, Leon, and Wilkins,"
" Millford, Capstow, and C 0.," " Towerzey, Lee, and C 0.,"
and " James Macdonald and S. K. Croyden."

Perham there never was an occasion (certainly not foe a similar
purpose) in which a site has been chosen more adapted to the require-
ments of a building, and combining more local beauties and advan-
tages. A verdant hill planted in one of the mint beautiful parts of
Woroestershire, with a large plot of table-land en its summit looking
southward, and commanding an extensive view of the aurrounding
country, and the Malvern hills chew by, with a perpetual supply of
water, too, at the base of the hill (which might cosily be brought by
hydraulic means upon the roof, to supply the whole eftablithmeat), It
seems the very spot calculated for the erection of a lunatic asylum.
Looking at these advantages, and considering that, with the exception
of the large table-land on the summit, the surrounding land is of the
most hilly and irregular description, quite unlit sor boiling, It
is palpable to ell those who know the ground, that the
only spot on which eo large a building could be erected
is where it ought to be, on the very summit of the
hilt. I am the more particular in urging this cons,dvration, as an
opinion seems to be entertained by a portion of the public of Worces-
ter that the building fliould he placed further down the bilL Such •
selection of site would be of greet disadvantage to the patients, and
would entirely eacrifice the immense local advantages fur which one
would imagine so lovely a spot was originally expressly selected. In
the ekleetion of plans the point,' most important to be investigated
are—l. The means provided for communication from one part of the
building to another, the entire eeparation of the eßges and the dif-
ferent aura of patients, and the power afforded the superintendent
and attendants for inspecting every gallmy, airing-yard, and day-
room throughout the whole establishment. Bo important is tine feu-
ture, and em much depends upon it, that, as a standard of merit,
I should my the plan which dies this heft should be
the cote selected.-2. Position of building. Thls ehould
undouhtally be on the very summit of the The
elassitScatkin of patients.-4. No clam of patients, either on the
ground or upper story, should on any account be permitted to pigs
through any portion of a ward not belonging to them, in going to the
chapel or string grounds, as is generally the caw. This is a radical
ebjection.-1, The kitchen and domestic Slices, also chapel, should be
entirely separate from the galleries and patients, and should be cen-
trally adman:L-6. What is called a lineal plan is decidedly the beat
for the eituation, as it brings nearly all the patients to front the
south. and throws the dirty and refractory in the rear.-7. The build-
ing should be as economical as possible in its construction, and as sim-
ple as possible in its elevation; indeed, its very simplicity should be
its chief recommendation, for in so extensive a structure the multi-
plication of any unnecessary ornament. becomes& aerie. expenditure.
The authorities in Wales are also busily engaged in di,cuss-
ing tho best mode of carrying out the act. At the Carmar-
then sessions Col. Trevor said he had hail a communication
with his noble friend, Viscount Efrain, relative to the lunatic
asylum ; and it appeared that the agreement entered into
between that county, Olamorgansh,ir e, and Pembrokeshire,
for the joint erection of an asylum, had been laid befhre the
commissioners of lunacy, and to his surprise had not been
ratified by them. They entertained some objections to it,
but what they were he had ant been informed. He had
been in communication with them, though not as a corpo-
rate body, and he certainly did not expect they would have
refused to ratify it. The report of the committee would
have been produced that day, but under the present state of
things it was toeless to do co ; and be merely mentioned
that as a reason why the report would not be produced.
Viscount Emlyn thought the best plan to adopt, when they
knew what the objections were, woo for the committee to meet
and consider them, and endeavour, if possible, to get the
commi=sioners of lunacy to waive their objections. The
magistrates at Usk were informed that an agreement had
been entered into for • union with Herefordshire, Radnor-

of a panic

arising from a scarcity of gold.
The blame of this period of excitement was laid upon
the joint-stock banks and paper issues in general by
the advocates of Peel's currency notions, who were
not moved by the experience they had passed through.
In 1844 a plan for restricting these issues was brought
forward on the renewal of the Bank of England
charter. The Bank was limited to an issue of
14,000,0001. on the credit of sums lent to government.
Above that sum no issue of notes was allowed, except
against gold deposited. The country banks were
limited in a similar manner. But the ink was
scarcely dry on the bills enacting these stringent re -
strictions when the greatest mania commenced that
was ever known, and which absorbed larger sums
than any previous one. The list of subscribers to
registered railways alone, whose names were put
down for 2,0001. and more, gave a sum of 121,255,374/.
The amount of smaller subscriptions cannot be told.
All the mining and other companies which start' 1
into life at the same epoch have not been enume-
rated, and Mr. Francis does not assist us with
a computation. This mania, created in the face of the
most powerful coercion against over-issuing, might
have been taken as affording proof of the Motility of
such measures as preventives of excitement, if it were
not admitted as ground of strong suspicion that they
in part gave rise to the evil. Mr. Francis does not
stray into any such argument, and we take leave of his
work as a useful chronological essay on a subject of
stirring interest for the moment. It enumerates five
periods of speculative excitement, the greatest of
which followed the restrictive enactments of 1841, as
the next in importance occurred before the Bank came
fairly into play. The other three occurred during
the operation of Sir Robert Peel's various currency
bills. The time when credit, having been properly
studied, was left unshackled by legislative enact-
ments, was free from such dangerous convulsions.

LITERATURE.
History of the Bank of England; its Tineesand Traditions
By JOHN FRANCIS. E. Wilson.
;Second Notice.]
The history of the Bank does not open until near
the close of Mr. Francis's second volume. Before
entering upon it he gives a succinct statement of the
two greatest bubbles that were ever framed—the Mis-
sissippi scheme in France and the South Sea scheme
in England. The origin of both, as well as of the
Darien adventure in Scotland, may be traced to the
same source to which the Bank owed its foundation—
the awakened feeling of the power of credit in the
intelligent part of the community. We have already
noticed the uses to which credit was put by Italian
traders and the Hanseatic league in the middle
ages. The secret of credit was one of the mys-
teries of those times, which, like the arts of
the various crafts, were only made known to the
initiated of the guilds. But when paper and printing
came, and when men's minds were generally turned
to seek the reasons of things, the schoolmaster was able
to go abroad. The first professor of political economy
who preached that every man kept his own mint as
loos as he deserved credit, was Law. That men ran
wild upon the notion, and instead of working at his'
project, which was originally a small one in compari-
son with what the spirit of colunisatioon hus since
i carried out--chose to build cantles in the air without
laying a foundation for them--did not detract from
the truth of the great principle. This principle
became immediately afterwards the key to large
trading undertakings on the part of individuals, and,
being adopted in the smaller inland traffic, opened the
way for the success of the Bank of England as the
recognised organ through which this credit was to be
made available to a greater extent than heretofore.
The Bank of England was never charged with
having given encouragement to the South Sea scheme,
although it was the only contemporaneous bank of
issue, and so far from its appearing prudent to check
the operations of the Bank, it seems to have been the
urgent necessity for treating the wound struck by
this unexpected calamity which first gave the Bank
an opportunity of influencing the circulation of the
country. Mr. Francis tells us :
There was but one hope left to the nation. The threaten of the'
Bank of England, always applied to in distress, and not always re.
membered m proaperily, were persuaded, at the instance of Sir
Robert Walpole, to come forward during the early part of the panic.
A general court was held, at which the governor and directors were
empowered, without a dimentient voice, to agree with the South
Sea Company to circulate their hoods, in hopes of sustaining the credit
of the country.
The scheme first proposed to effect this establish-
ment of the public credit was not practicable and had
to be abandoned. But ultimately the Bank bought
200,0001. South Sea Annuities at twenty years' pur-
chase, the proceeds of which, or 8,959,99.11. 14s. 84.,
were applied to the partial liquidation of the responsi-
bilities of that bubble company. During the dan-
gerous epochs of 1799, 1715, 1745, and 1780 the
government and the country found a most useful sup-
port in the credit, and valuable counsellors in the ex-
perienced directors of the Bank of England. The
service which the Bank rendered the country during
the suspension of cash payments at the close of the
last and the commencement of the present century, is
too well known to demand more than an allusion to
it. By a skilful and judicious use of credit, Great
Britain, with an exclusively paper currency, brought
out and disposed of resources superior to those of
Europe, although the latter were wielded by the un-
fettered hand of the most remarkable man of the age.
It is with the contraction of the Bank of England
and other issues, as a consequence of Peel's bill of
1819, that the Bank begins to act a prominent part
in the history of what are called bubbles or panics.
These usually commence with a fulness of money and
consequent inclination to speculate. The success of a
few seta others in motion, until all the world finds
itself turning its back upon old occupations and hunt-
ing up new ones. The desire to strike out new sources
of profit must have prevailed through former periods
of our history. In some it may have stimulated war-
like propensities, as it doubtless did attempts at colo-
nisation. The same spirit probably covered our manu-
facturing counties with mills and workshops. But
with the restriction it for the first time assumed
the dangerous symptoms which characterised
the South Sea bubble period. People of little
real capital, but enjoying advantages in their position
in the trading world, originate schemes which they
leave to others to carry out. The extent and number
of the projects increase rapidly within a short period,
a spirit of gambling grows common, and the whole
ends with a period of despondency, ruin, and all but
detrtli the origin of the crisis of 1824 and 1825, the
Bank seems to have had as little to do as with the
South Sea project. The issues, which had been
27,700,0001. in February, 1818, were (owing to the
restriction) but 19,737,000!. in February, 1824. But
the vaults held 13,810,000 in bullion. The contraction
doubtlessly acted unfavourably on trade, and forced
up the price of stocks. Consols reached 97. Nothing
could be more natural than that capitalists, turning
their attention to good returns, chose to invest in
foreign loans. They did so, and the export of bullion
that ensued brought on a panic, which obliged the
Bank, after contracting its issues, to enlarge them, and
to have recourse to the expedient of an issue of IL notes.
The small notes proved a good substitute for gold in
internal trade, and, it seems, did not check the return
of gold from abroad. Although in 1826 the issues
rose to 25,468,000/. with bullion only amounting to
2,460,0001., yet in Febroaryof the followingyear we see
the bullion increased to 10,159,000/. with 21,891,0001.
of issues. Direct advances of only 366,9491. to ma-
nufacturers served to re-establish confidence in those
districts, and allowed orders for goods to be executed,
According to Mr. Francis, the amounts subscribed for
projects were the following,
Subscribed. Ridd.up.
Existing 127 compasics 6102,751,600 15,185,950
Abandoned 118 do. 56,606,500 2,419,675
139,388,100 17,603,525
Poret.loans,
1N25 .
191,457,671 42,914,093 COURT OF QUERN'S BENCH.
Besides these investments, prottects to the amount of WOOD O. THE EARL OP PORTAILLINOTON.—IN TEX 10.1'-
212,785 ,0001. were started at never assumed 0011- TEE OP MACES.—APPLICATION TO RESCIND A RULE FOR
'latency. It must seem strange that the sole remedy annals° AN ATTORNEY °rums ROI.L.—Sir F. Relly, Q.C.,
for the evil caused by all this overtrading was an in- linzrovrecliegf;os::;:a
erliireetyshopwzcar.luiLwfhyoy,rohartrlZkinide,:lagotodbit attil:ielrna tend
rescinded.
f
.
creased issue of bank notes, and that this issue in no
way fanned the decaying fire of speculation.
cehada,p.beinogn thaosirttonitoehanyfortothbee defendant,
The court had made the rule absolute on affidavits which
Political troubles are shown in 1832 to have been stated facts suggesting that Mr. Macey, shortly before the
as dangerous for the Bank as commercial panics. The
for
contained is
to depose to the truth of certain matter
Wellington ministry was defeated and the Reform trialattemopftedihistr :made' a witne:
Bill carried under the pressure occasioned by a run us a paper handed by him to that person, on
for gold. In 1834, ten years after the mining and which were also written in pencil the words " query, 51.;"
railway mania, the spirit of speculation !gain that the matter contained in that paper was the very essence
awakened. American loans, railways, and joint- of the defence ; that it was either known by Mr. Macey to
,
stock banks, formed the allurements. Yet, in be false or not known by him to be true; and that the words
February, 1834, the Bank isms were oral
7 ituircilm ositrasdto an offer top s h
corruptly pogy loetr oTtintienn tqsulnlne
19,050,0001., but the bullion was 9,225,0001. This paper. Lord Denman in giving the judgment of the court
fund was reduced in 1839 to so low a sum that had enlarged on the tact, that though Mr. Macey had sworn
.LIVIALZIURIAMMUUS. suggested in the paper in
" GRANDE EXPOSITION PUBLIQUE."—A short time
- foreigners, who had been taught, as well as English- to his impression that the matter
men, to look to ita amount as the standard of the ne-
w a visit was made to Derby by a firm describing them-
-0 ti nal credit, began tosuspect that a national bank a
nice in support of such en impression. The learned compel
selves as " Messrs. Towerzey, LOP, and Co. negotiators," now moved oa affidavits, which showed that the facts INV
cluestion was true, he had not diatlined any reasons or evi.
brokers, and foreign ants, Oresham-Chambem, London," tuPtcy would follow the drain. The exchanges wasted is the paper in question, and the knowledge of them
offering to sell in the -hall en immense quantity of burned seriously against mi. A plan was s by the person to whom that paper bad been handed, wire emu-
solicitor of the defendant, at whose instance Mr. Macey had
drapery_ goods, consisting of shawls, crush poplins, China and acted upon, by which an exchange of c its be- laminated to Mr.Macey bye gentleman named Pyne,a former
lutes, r °timeline dresses, foreign satins, silks, velvets, &a, tween the house of Baring, Brotheis and Co., and
at a cost merely to cover " duty and import ;" and, after
their French d
remaining here for the appointed time, a removal tookMacey, could not state why or when he had written the
corral= so was need as a means of undertaken the defence of the action ; that.though Mr.
place to Nottingham, where the " grand° exposition restoring our credit and causing gold to flow back words in pencil, " query, Al.,' he had not written them for
publicly° " wan announced to take place at the into the country. Thus, for the second time, paper the purpose of corrupting the witness; and that a great

--..-. - --.—..-
shire, Breconshire, and the city of Hereford, for the erec-
tion of a joint lunatic asylum.
- - LANCASITIRE, _ _

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. The Manchester bur-
gesses remain true to their first principles, and the muni-
cipal elections have terminated without as many additions to
the council of toner, after strenuous contests, as were re-
turned at the first two or three elections by the voluntary
esnevoions of the reform party. Of the sixteen new coun-
cillors elected only one is a tore. This may be thought sin-
gular; but more strange still, of the powerful party who
made head against the corporation—the tones of 1839.43
and almost bearded the privy council by bringing their acts
before the highest legal tribunals in the kingdom to test
their right of granting a charter to Manchester, scarcely one
remains to exercise any office of honour or trust. It is a
circumstance worthy of being named, rather as showing the
extraordinary revolutions which a little period of seven or
eight years may bring about then as a matter of party
triumph, that of the wealthy leaders of such a party, so
oblivious has time and fortune been, their names have
almost been forgotten on 'Change. —At Stockport the
tortes were successful in three out of five wards, and the
liberals are left with a bare majority in the council.—At
Bolton the contests resulted in the return of ten tones and
two reformers, making • council of forty-eight persona,
among whom there are only six reformers.
YORKSHIRE.
LEEDS MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.—Sixteen council-
lors are annually elected at Leeds. Of the number who
retired by 'illusion of time, 14 were accounted whip and
liberals, and 2 conservatives. The contests on the Ist that.
resulted in the election of 11 whip and liberals, and 5 con-
servatives. All the 8 aldermen who retire next Tuesday are
respectable whip, but several of the councillors returned
are pledged to vote against those of them who supported
the government scheme for national education being re-
elected to the same dignity.
WARWICKSHIRE.
TESTIMONIAL TO THE NEW BISHOP OF MAN-
CHESTER.—Yesterday afternoon a meeting, numerously at-
tended, of the most influential inhabitants of Birmingham,
was held at the Town-hall in that town, for the purpose of
consideriog the propriety of presenting to the Rev. James
Prince Lee, the new Bishop of Manchester, a testimonial of
respect and regard for his services during the time he has
been head master of the Grammar School of King Edward
the Sixth. The mayor occupied the chair, and amongst
those present were the Lord Bishop of Worcester, the Hon.
F. Gough, Mr. Spooner, M.P., Mr. Schelefield, M.P.,Dr.
Raphale, the Jewish Rabbi,
and a large number of the
aldermen, town councillors, magistrates, and other inhabit-
ants, of all grades and political party in the town.—The
Mayor (Mr. Robert Martineau), on opening the proceedings,
congratulated his fellow townsmen on the fact of their being
so ready to do honour where honour was due. One of our
greatest poets had said, that the evil • man did lived after
him, bat in the present instance they might take the converse
of that sentiment and say, that the good which Mr. Lee had
done would long live, not only after he bad left that town,
but long after he had left this world. Birmingham owed to
him an enormous debt of obligation • and he (the mayor)
was highly gratified that almost the fast act in his year of
office should be to preside over a meeting called to do honour
to the rev. gentleman who bad been selected to perform
duties so important as those pertaining to the office of Bishop
of Manchester.—Mr. T. B. Lee then moved the following
resolution:
That whale,e seriously orepedulete the Itev.luaes Prince Lee on
the eircuwalme that with the approbation and won the recommen-
datioe dose ruder Qum he bee baa deal= to Quaff a most
important and ark GOMM obit* of INitdrii. by Me appoint-
ment ee the lib.= et Ilkodmitar, re IPS MIMIC. la Jim** to oar
Illirriad WARP affsalleade le Mummified regret at bleremoval,
permet the nu. isiOetrate 'MOW aslghburtuad witheetaitsweg
sad
we =premise et the NO sere aelertatoed by
and as we eine below by*, larbierte at the 10=
district In warm% date abgelly, pereseenese, and ~by =di he
has=p plard arridel time, adtagglii Maim& =I
=disuted iamb. ID IRMO* the as
et whesellse deli= • red.
done of aims yeses eisoupt ma Si the had wesdes al the [sea Ike=
au &heel fit Meg Bawer! the Sixth, aspeallity by the tesebeetke
pleelbbe stun= mummy, sod the —.sweet mai ell
elides dew Iva et lessetere e= et the itee sr= iwi by the
=Wia =WWI alsem=sees at the lestatalue at=
Zifrearir. ILP., seconded the Mantles. which was
{meesly.—The Bishop of Woressner, alter an
emend= of the strong feelings of private friendship he en-
tartMed for Mr. Lee, said,that he firmly believed it would
have been impossible for her Majesty to have selected a per-
' son for the important office of bishop more promising for the
real interests of the church than the newly-appointed Bishop
of Manchester. One great qualification he possessed above
all others, and that was his trail liberality, for whilst he
firmly maintained his own religions opinions, he allowed
full liberty to those of other sects who might differ from
him. He (the Bishop of Worcester) would say that such
liberality was becoming his high office, and, in a town like
Manchester, would be feund to have • most beneficial in-
fluence. If a person of strong religious opinions had been
placed over the church in a population so much divided, it
was impaldhie to say what evil might have been done:
Under thus almanstaaoss be moved the Mowing resole-
tkin yids great Amon s
Tbeto ets a bolded =W du yupeet, Mem awl loom, width
It is our whh W bin be teary ewer& the Ito,. James Primes
Lee, we eirseetly Ups Set we lewintase mama the tobelesets
of the hem asd usiebiesefteeL she =we =I Ida to upheld
la a pales ma Mat dewed= Sued= wpm caritas gds.
11= WWII& sat[
row
aid wisishway =Maud by eau Is pill= er :dew,
wIE. Ulm& belidee ea Mow, eft m fa smsedalem es •
rand addition yawl& Ow raw wiselemew =lkelsUbdir= alw
mein OM. eie
• tallarist Unwed, Ake sulfshet le btu, wed worthy at pre.
swisheshistdisds.

This mosklisa was unanimously carried, as was one of a
haportaat character, moved by Dr. Raphsle, who said
that when the church, ehapel, and synagogue all united to
do honour to an individual, he must be a man whom the
King of kings loved and delighted to honour. lie hailed it
as a sign of the times, when a Jew rabbi and a bishop of the
setablishment were found united in offering their mead of
praise to a Christian clergyman.—Tbe meeting was after-
wards addressed by Mr. Scholefield, M.P., and other gentle-
men, and upwards of 3001. was subscribed in the hall.