The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-05-28 00:00:00

LOI7EMY COMM ISSIONERS.

O. the motion of Mr. LYTVILTOII. the return
was ordered tq be made forthwith of the salaries of
Lottery Corn tniss,ioor rr.

GRAM POUN D ELECTION.

The Home resumed Its Committee on the dram-
pound Election indictments' when Mr. Alexatider
Limb was again called in, inul • question waft put
to I l 11l , opting which Mr. RICHARD MARTIN ob-
jected, as he considered it would cumponiise the
Jute Which the witness owed his clients.

The Gallery was the,' cleared fur a division,
•hen there being may 28 Nleinbrui present, the
'ouse adjourned unlit Wednesday twat.

*FOREIGN !ATE LUG ENC E.

PARIS PAPERS.

PARIS, MAY 24.

Yesterdiey his Royal Highness Prince Leopold
of Saxe Coburg, accompanied by the Am-
bassador, was received by the King in a private
audience. The Prince then proceeded to pay his
respects to the P, loves awl Princesses of die Royal
Family, end afterwards dined with his Majesty.

It iv ►ald that the Coronation will be voleinnived
in the tie w church of St. Genetieve. Every lire.
Iteration tv made for the ceremony.

A letter from Stutgarol, dated the sth instant,
stistewas-" Mr. flatritton has jti.t set oil' for L
lie is Water of important disoatches f tal.."
so,* atilt exiptst but is extremely weuk. The
flertnats Jetirouls complain lousily of the inviolable
'tartlet which is maintainer) sespet tints the unhappy
wretch, rt.t. Whose foe they entertaiti a singular
'egret, by crontintrolly exprt 'sing tile most teatt:er
iiiterest in behalf of this ferocious murderer. On
this, us. oil insi4 oilier oecusions, the party sprit of
certain writers is bony's', to their own disco:its
More, notwithstanding the assumed mask of juttice
and humanity.
The Grant' Ptike t,f Weimar arrived on the 17th
ital. al frattklott.

t;Opi.YIIAR►'Y, MAY 1!.

We ole.trve, that all the Jotiroalr of Europe are
deeply occupied with our secret discu•vions rvith
Slyerlets. Afoot of them iiidtilge in criojec Lure,
which are cantle,' to 'h extravagance, that
Throne is coinprotnised in the quarrel.—We
think we may allirtn, that n It nne of tyre guaran-
teeing Courts of the Treaty of Keil has proposed
to the King, Chad's XIV. to establish Lintrelf in

TILE BRiTIS I PRESS.

LONDON.
FRIDAY. MAT 28, 1819.

Both Houses of Parliament adjourned yester-
day evening for the recess—the House of Lords
until Monday se'imight, and the House of Com-
mons until next Wednesday. In the House of
Commons Mr. BROGDEN. as Chairmen of the
Committee in winch the Report on the affairs of the
Bank of Engbind was discussed, brought in a
Bill fouuded on the Resolutions which were then
adopted. The Bill was read a first time without
any observations, but it will no doubt give rise to
some debating on the secoud reading, which is fixed
fur Wednesday evening.
We are happy to perceive from the prices of
stocks yesterday, that the panic which seemed to
have pervaded in the City for some days has
been at length arrested, and we may now look for-
ward to the perfect restoration of public confidence.
The foods yesterday maintained the improvement
which they bad experienced on the preceding day,
BO that Consuls closed at 671, being two per cent.
higher than they were on Tuesday afternoon. This
favourable change may be attributed to either of
too caries;—to the re-action which usually sue.
verde a sudden and violent operation, or to the
confidence inspired into the public wind by the
reports of the proceedings in the two Houses of
Parliatnent. From the character of those proceed-
ings, we have no hesitation in attributing it exclu-
sively to them, for we sincerely believe that pre-
vious to the debates in Parliament, the generality
of those persons who spoke and wrote against the
phut suggested by tae two Committees, had be-
stowed no reflection upon the subject, and as many
of them. hum their supposed sources of informs-
tion and their general character for intelligence,
were regarded with deference and respect by no
small portion of their fellow-citizens, it is not sur-
prising that their opinions, expressed with such de-
cided hostility to the proposed arrangement, should
cause consternation and alarm among the million.
But although there is nothing in the plan to
justify the panic which was too generally expe-
rienced, we do not pretend to assert that it is alto-
gether tree from objection. We applaud the feel-
log that induced the Committees to adopt in their
plan what appeared to them measures of caution,
and nothing could be more desirable than that the
change which inn-t be dirt:led iii our monetary sys-
tem should be 53 gradual, mid consequently as im-
perceptible in its progress as possible. But we
fear this advantage is hot likely to be attained by
the postponement of actual cash payments for the
lot g space of four years. The Committers, we ape
pretend, have dwelt with too exclusive an wen-
fora to the state of the issues of the Bank of En
land, and although iii the progress of their inquiry
they endeavoured, and jailed to ascertain the amount
of private or ,ouittry bank notes in circulation,
they seemed subsequently iu the drawing up of
their plan to leave this point altogether out of their
consideration. Now, in our view of this question,
the i-Auts of the country banks exercise an influ-
ence on the affairs of the country ilo less important
than the issues of the Bank of England, and that
Ho regulations which may be adopted by the Bank
Directors call have any beneficial effect oil the rates
of fintign exchanges or ..he pi tee of bullion, unless
some weans are at the WMe tune adopted to bring the
issues of the country banks Hulk, no equal control.
At present there i< no limitation but their own
caprice to the issues of comitly bankers. When
the cuctilating medmai of a country is of such a
nature, that whatecor portion of it exceeds the ab.
solute rienesoities of the people cannot be of service
iu tc,reigti Hatichl, it must be rbsoi bed in the inter.
nal trail-, and this can be off, ettd mity by increas-
ing the prises of all objects of transfer or commerce.
Suds is the cese with a paper currency Riot con-
sertible into the precious metals. Were bankers
liable to be called on fur gold, they wuuld be

cautious not to sissy larger griantit) 01
than their experience siould trH them was ab-
solutely rrquired fur the internal ecimoiny of
the country, for any rXINFO, however email, con-
staidly rooming on them, would exhaust the
richest coffers. Out the restriction of cash pay-
ment., the notea of the Bank of England a ere in-
tended to perform, and for some time actually did
perform with respect to other hanks, this function
of a metallic currency ; hut this restraint has been
for souse years removed in consequence of the
distrust which has been raised in every part of the
country of Bank of England notes, from the great
difficulty of distisignishing between those that were
gPIIUIIIII and the fabricated imitations of them.
'There are few persons, if any, ten miles beyond
London, who do not prefer the local notes of their
district to those of the Bank of England, arid con-
sequently with a Welker of ordinary credit alt hurl-
Ution on his issues is effectually removed.
This consideration will, we think, explain a dif-
ficulty which Mr. RICARDO, in his evidence. ac-
knowledges to beset his principle respecting the
value of gold as it is affected by the issues of paper.
Ile was asked, if the price of gold was raised by
the excessive issues of paper in this coun-
try, how it happened that in the early part of
1816, when the issues of the Bank amounted to
29,000,000/. gold should be at 3f. 174. 100.
an ounce, end yet that in 1417, when the issue. of
the Bank were not more than 25,000,0001. gold
should br at 414. Mr. RICARDO feels the dif-
ficulty of reconciling this, and iittrilintee the vari-
ation to the recent financial operations of foreign
governments. The real state of the case we be-
lieve to be this:—lt will he remembered that
in 1916, very considerable distress prevailed in
this country, several country bankers failed, and
those who withstood the shock reduced their
issues almost to nothing. The general currency
of the country, therefore, at that period, was
principally, if not wholly, supplied by the Bank
of England. As the energies of this country could
not long stagnate beneath the paralysing effects
of a sudden alarm, industry began once more to
exercise its energies, and with it confidence again
visited the commercial world. The country banks
revived, put forth their issues, and were further
encouraged to esilerge them by the distrust of the
Bank of England notes, which we have already no-
ticed, and which at that very moment, from the re-
markable concurrence of t lie increase of forgeries, be-
gan to be chiefly felt. The Bank of England might
have reduced its issues to the smallest amount ne-
cessary for the trade of London, but as the issues of
the country banks would at the same time increase
in a more rapid proportion, they would effectually
counteract all the exertions of the Directors to regu-
late the bullion market. From this cause we
apprehend that the change from • paper to a me-
tallic circulation will not be so insensible as it other-
wise might be, and as we have not the remotest
doubt that the price of gold in the market must of
necessity be regulated by the amount of paper in
circulation in this country, we ;ire of opsoion that
the time of payment has been postponed to a period
too distant.

We have received Paris Papers of Mouthy last,
from which we have made extracts.

A Flanders Mail has arrived, with Papers from
Brussels to the 25th instant.—The Session of the
two Chambers of the States-General closed on the
22d.

SITTING OF THE SECOND CHAMBER OF THE 92D

MAY.

After some preliminary business. the President
communicated to the Assembly a Decree of the
King. by which his Majesty had charged his Excel-
lency the Minister of the Interior to repair to-day
to the Assembly, when the two Chambers would
be united, to close the prei•ent Session. lie thanked
his Honourable Colleagues for the marks of esteem
and confidence which he has received during this
long Session, anti the Chamber adjourned till two
o'clock. when the two Chambers met, and the
Minister of the Interior being introduced in the
usual form, closed the Session by the following
speech, which he delivered in both languages :
" Hiatt and ,Iliphty Lords,

" The King, in ordering me to close in his name the
Session of the States-General, has at the same lime cons-
misstated me to testify his satisfaction at the constant and
arlithllltle rare which you have 'hewn is the thorough hives.
ligation of the various projects of law■ which, hate been
laid before you, and of which several were of high import-
ance. I shall not enumerate them, but it is agreeable to
the King to be able to inform you, era' before your Session
is closed, that a very interesting law—that on the national
militia—has been put tutu full (locution, and that the result
answers the hopes which his Majesty entertained.
" Hi■ Majesty thinks that equally satisfactory information
may soon be given you respecting the other laws which you
have 'lac had before you. He will rejoice at it, because his
ambition is the prosperity of the Slate, and in his heart the
prosperity of the nation is inseparable from his own bappi.
new."

His Excellency concluded by recommending to
the Members worthily to employ the interval till
the next Session in maintaining that spirit of enn.
cord which is the basis of the general welfare end
happiness. _ •

We have repeatedly noticed the determination
of Ministers to burden the country with a Pro-
perty Tax. No pains will be spored to render
this Ineinnare unui.jectionsble in the first iustnnce.

~`

It is to be a pure fax ; every oda( r•:
feeling is to b.! cutlet lIMIrd ; t►ade is to be spared;
inc must nut be touched. The whole weight
will be sustained by the Critiuthian order of oo-
ciety. '1•IIe man of profession, the tradesman,
stud the intlicati, will be rare flow its pressure•.
Nloney must be rah. il, :and whare can be found e
mode loa invitiog These tile the spte.ons pro-
fessions which will seotuttimily the Irrillutsituoil
prolielay 'Fax. nisi %Cr the C.)11,111e1:i I-S. The
moment it I, granted Nil the good elretted .lur-
ing the last four tears by the Oirpu,ltiust Iu
Parliament, supported by the voice of the pro.
plei will be annihilated. There will be an tild
of all constitutional improverneot and reform by
the means of economy and retrenchinem. Al-
though it were to lemon a pure Property Tax, it
is a fallacy to pretend that et will wit ulfect
—lteduce the property or the great landed pro.
prietors mill you necessarily re-
dut•e the income of the tradesman and artisan, by
whom the wants awl luxuries of the rich :are supplied.
Dot this pure Properly Tax, once adopted, would
be soon matured into sit Income Tax, with all the
ingenious aniendineuts and improvements devised
by inyul•itotaal tax•gatherers, who, to 'island
ingenuity, add all the beteetit of practice and
experience. We will have to do with adepts and
nut with novices in the tart, as when the !octne
Tax was first imposed. %Vida such a tax we must
cease to be a free people.

Yesterday the PRINCE REGpsr gave audiences
to Viscount Catimeataott and the Alhorquis of
ANGLESEY. Lord ARRAN paid his respects to the
PRINCE REGENT, upon hos arrival in England.
Extract from a letter from the Cape of Good
Hope, dated Nlarch 20 :—" All the trao•as which
could be mustered, amounting to nearly 3,000
men, were embarking for the Corn Districts,
which are shout 600 miles distant from Cape Town.
The want of cavalry was severely felt."
So great is the alarm in the City respecting the
Princess Charlotte packet, from Jamaica, not having
arrived, alt'iough vessels which sailed several days
after her have long since arrived, that policies of in-
surance have been effected at a premium of 25 gui-
neas per cent. to a very considerable amount. It is
said she has ou hoard between five and 600,000
dollars for British► merchants, 50,000 of which are
for one house alone.

The 31141ug cleared out on Saturday last at Gree-
nock, with a valuable cargo for Kingston, Jamaica,
and was to have sailed next day, but in the course
of the night Om took lire. The particulars are de-
tailed in the following letter from Greenock :
" GREIF:NOCK, MAY 23 —lt is with vexation that I have
to inforia you, that this morning, shortly after daylight, the
Malay was discovered to lie on fire; great assistance was
promptly obtained, and by six o'clock it was extinguished,
but I much fear not without very heavy damage to the va.
tumble cargo. The vast quantity of water poured into hi r
will have done She principal injury, as little but the goods
on the top have been burliest."

The following ships Ire now at Portsmouth :
The Queen Charlotte, Admiral Sir George Campbell's flag-
ship. Commander-in-Chief.
The Albion, the late flag-ship of Admiral Sir Charles Pen-
me, returned from the Moliterianeato, has Ilene paid off all
amiding, and te•cnntmisi-iuoed by Capt. kaggett, for harbour
duty.
The Rossihey, Captain Hollis.
The Active, Captain Sir James Gordon, going to the West
Indies.

The Hind, Captain Sir Charles Iturrard, lately put into
commission, is in a furviard state of progress fur hums
on vice.

The Adder and Linnet, tindery, replenishing and making
gund I.OIIIC defects.
The Grasshopper,Captain Forbes, is iq duck to be paid
oft all standing, her defects made good with all possible
dispatch, and recommissioned fur fureign service.
SUREWSBURY ELECTION.—The contest fur the
Representation or the above borough terminated
on Tuesday evening, when Mr. MYTToN was re-
turned duly elected. The final state of the pull
was as fill
Mr. Myttim
Mr. Corbett

3lajoruly Grr Mr. Mytton.... 97

THE SAVOY PRISON SHlP.—This ship, which
is intended for the reception of deserters, is now
finished, excel t the !tainting. It has every accom-
modation necessary ; guardroom, officer: rooms,
dungeons, kitchen, water-closets, keeper's arbour,
bed-rooms, closets, offices, &cc. In the courite of a
few (lays it will be moored Hear ‘Vaterloo-bridge,
off the old SAvoy, which is then to be pulled down,
to make room for the new improvements there.

That our East India Cotnpany and our merchants
have heard every accusation against the adulterators
of tea with little examination into what was brought
front China direct, or as far as we know, with none,
is one must complete proof of want of research in
this age, and neglect of what others have said on
the most important subject•. The following is a
passage from ihe translation of the Abbe Grosier's
description of Clllll3, published so long ago as
1787. 8:

" We must not confound with real lea every thing tint
the Chinese call tam (tea). is sold in the province of
Chang-tong (we suppose Camin), as is delicate tea, is pro-
perly but a kind of moss which grows on the cocks in the
iieighboorhoud of the small city ui Manr•ing•hetts, A like
kind of tea is distributed in some of the other soother*
provinces, which in spot composed of real leaves, although
the merchants vend it muter the name tchwye, ten-learet.
If this delicious commusldy is solithcraird even in Chins,
C3ll we Hailer ourselves that the tea we have in Europe is
pure and without mixture? Perhaps we taste usthiug eke,
like 1111111/1/ of the Chinese, but muss (rum the rocks of Mang.
lug hem."
. . . . .

-We may add, that if we hazard poi►oning or iit-
jury to our health from what we drink of Chinese
vegetation, we had much better breakfast on balm-
tea or mint-tea, than suffer ourselves to he debili-
tated, perhaps killed, by the compositions of out-
landtsh quack,.
About half-past ten o'clock on Saturday night the
15111 inst. the whole of the gss-lights in the town of
Leeds were suddenly extinguished, in consequence
of a mistake by one of the prisons at the gas-hone.
Amongst the ludicrous ciictiinstaiices to which the
instantaneous dal kness gave rise, was the consterns,
tion of a barber whn lost sight of his customer when
his face Ira 6xll shlsed,

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