The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, 'NOVEMBER 14, 1839.

! without some assistance, as there were several Chartists
about. Two men I applied to refused to assist. I re-
turned to the house and found the gun had been re-
moved, and the prisoner was not standing in the same
place. I went the same night and searched Jenkins's
house with soma others. I did not find the gun there.
I then caused the prisoner to be taken into custody.
Michael Jenkins sworn—l am a shoemaker. I was
at home on Monday morning, on the 4th November.
Two of the neighbours came in, and told me the
Chartists were coining. I heard the shouting and firing.
In a few minutes three or four men brought John
Lovell up the road ; he was wounded and bleeding.
I knew Lovell before. John Lovell asked me if he
should conic in, and have his wounds dressed. The
prisoner was one of the men who brought in Lovell.
Another, named John Wilton was there. 1 allowed
Lovell to come in. The prisoner went for the sur-
geon. He returned with Mr. Powell, surgeon. I saw
nothing brought into the house at first, but my wife
afterwards discovered a gun was in the house about
twenty minutes after. I asked if the gun were loaded.
There wo re five or six people in the house talking to
Lovell. One of them said it was. I took off the per-
cussion cap and drew the charge. There was a ball. I
asked several to take the gun away, but they all refused.
The prisoner was asked, but he refused. This was after
Mr. Powell was there. When Mr. Powell went out the
gun was in a corner at the right hand side of the door.
I did not see the prisoner when Mr. Powell went out.
Mr. Powell said he should come again on the morrow,
after he had put some hot on the wound. I ran after
Mr. Powell and said the wounded man would be then
in my house. I know James Aust. He came about
four o'clock that evening to see Lovell. He saw me a
short way from my door, and I told him Lovell was at
my house. He saw Lovell. There were men and
women (a hundred) came to see Lovell that day, not
to exaggerate. The greater part spoke to him in so low
a tone that I could not hear what passed. Lovell was
removed about five o'clock. I don't know what became
of the gan. I did not see it taken out. It was a single
barrel gun. I had not known the prisoner two days
before the riots, and I do not know whether he is a
Chartist.

The prisoner was discharged, as the evidence was
not strong enough to justify his detention.
William Drew, a special constable, was charged with
refusing to assist Mr. Powell in the execution of his
duty as a special constable, and was severely repri-
manded and fined 10s. and costs.

The Magistrates now (at half-past four) intimated
to the reporters that there would he no more Chartist
cases brought on to-day. Henry Frost's case, the son
of John Frost, the leader of the rioters, will be taken
to-morrow morning, and is expected to excite very great
interest, as there are counsel and attornics engaged to
defend him.

MONEY MIRE.ET and CITY NEWS.

(WEDNESDAY aYENING.)
POST.—Much more cheerfulness was observed to-
day in this part of the town than has been the case for
sometime past. It appears that so few bills of exchange
on England have been offering of late in the Continen-
tal cities as to have induced pailies having payments to
make in England to authorise the passing of drafts upon
them. The drawings from hence have consequently
become pretty general, and it is to this change in the
state of commercial affairs that the improvement in the
rates yesterday afternoon is to be attributed. The
paper in the market was considerably more than equal
to the ordinary demand, but a leading firm named prices
at which they were prepared to take any surplus, and in
this way some amount was negociated, yet at generally
higher rates than were current on Friday. We hear that
there is nothing more worth naming to draw for now from
the Continent, and if this be the fact, a further rise will no
doubt take place in the course of a few days. The
more favourable anticipations of the commercial inte-
rests seem to have had their influence at the Stock Ex-
change to-day. Money was to be had at a much lower
rate of interest, and the markets, although they did not
close quite so well as they had opened, nevertheless gave
promise of more activity, with a corresponding advance
in the quotations.
The Committee of the Stock Exchange have, during
the last few years, laid themselves open to many com-
plaints from one cause and another. The forbearance
they have shown towards the bankrupt bonds of fradu-
lent Spain, is one of the most serious. They, however,
persevere in the same course of error in this respect, so
that the introduction of new bonds into circulation by
Mendizabal and Toren°, or whoever they arc that now
preside over the finance department at Madrid, may be
continued with impunity as long as they may think fit.
The recognition of so many unproductive bonds by the
Committee has the very worst moral effect, and is by
degrees ruining the markets.
Two important communications were made by the
Government in the course of the day. We allude to
the decisions come to by the Lords of
the Treasury on
the postage and opium questions. That on the latter
was the only honest and rational decision to which they
could have come. The smurlers who claim indemni-
fication for the drug surrendered by them to Captain
Elliot, the superintendent, and by him to the Chinese
authorities, to be destroyed, are of course not listened
to. No one not interested in the matter, directly or
indirectly, can complain of this ; but of the determi-
nation to which their Lordships have come with respect
to the proposed change in the Post-office charges every
one that we have met with seems to disapprove. The
non-adoption of the uniform penny postage, and the in-
troduction of a fourpenny rate in its stead, is deemed a
perfect failure. No confidence is felt in the promised
substitution of the lower charge at a future period, or
in the good faith of the plea given for a non-compliance
with the vote of Parliament in the first instance.

CHRONICLE.—The English funds continue firm,
notwithstanding further sales of Money Stock. In the
early part of the day there was an improvement in the
prices of yesterday, but the above sales produced a flat-
ness, and at the closing the prices were the same as
those of yesterday.
We mentioned some days since, that the suspension
of specie payments by the Bank of the United States
would stop Mr. Jaudon's negotiation for a loan in Hol-
land for the present. The Times says that, in conse-
quence of this, bills of exchange have been presented to
the London agency for a large amount, who declined
payment ; but was enabled to get them renewed at the
extravagant rate of about 21 per cent. We do not be-
lieve a word of this, and have good reason to state that
every bill presented to the London agency, since the in-
telligence of the suspension of specie payments was re-
ceived, has been duly paid at their bankers over the
counter, or at the clearing. The Times further asserts
that, as there are in Mr. Jaudon's balance sheet
35,000,000 dollars of bills discounted, and only 4,000,000
dollars of notes in circulation, the greater proportion of
these bills must either be renewed or protested. The
inference is founded, we presume, upon the supposition
that, if a large proportion of these bills were current,

they would be represented by a corresponding amount
of notes, but this does not follow. The bills in question
are held against the paid-up capital stock of 35,000,000
dollars. The argument of the Times pre-supposes
that the Bank had not invested its paid-up capital, but
that it began business by issuing its own notes to the
value of 35,000,000 dollars, and had no paid-up capital
at all. We are not in a situation to judge whether the
discounts are good or bad ; but it is plain that the
ground of this unworthiness, set forth by the Times, is
based upon a fallacy.
Since writing the above we have received from Mr.
Jaudon a copy of a letter which he has this day ad-
dressed to the editor of the Times, giving the most un-
qualified contradiction to the assertion that he had
declined payment of any bills of exchange drawn upon
the London agency by the Bank of the United States ;
and stating that every bill of exchange bearing his signa-
ture had been regularly and promptly paid at Messrs.
Davison and Co.'s banking-house. The letter is as
follows :

" London, November 13, 1839.
" TO THE EDITOR. ON THE TIMES.

"Sir—Under the head of ' Money Market and City
.Intelligence,' in your paper of this morning, it is stated
that bills of exchange to a large amount have been
presented, it is said to the London agency (of the
Bank of the United States), who declined payment,
but that it has been able to make an arrangement with
the holders, under which the bills are renewed, and the
loss prevented which would ensue had they been returned
under protest to America.
" To this assertion it is necessary that I should give
the most unqualiQed contradiction. I never have de-
clined payment of any bill of exchange drawn upon me
by the Bank of the United States ; nor have I ever
made, or attempted to make, any arrangements for the
renewal of such bills. On the contrary, every bill of
exchange bearing my signature has been regularly and
promply paid at Messrs. Denison and Co.'s banking-
house, where all my acceptances are made payable.
" As the paragraph above quoted is calculated to do
very great injury to the shareholders in the Bank of the
United States, as well as t) all holders of its obliga-
tions, I have to request that, as the slightest possible
reparation that can be made, you will insert this letter
in your paper of to-morrow, under the same head of
Money Market and City Intelligence.'—Your obedient
servant. (Signed) " S. JAUDON,

" Agent to the Bank of the United States."

We leave the Timcs to make such answer to this let-

ter as they may see fit. American concerns arc com-
plex enough at present, without being made more so by
such unfounded statements as those which have called
forth the above very temperate and judicious remon•
strancc from Mr. Jaudon.

TlMES.—Great efforts continue to be made by the
parties more immediately concerned to prevent any of
the bills of exchange drawn upon Mr. Biddle's hank
from going back to Philadelphia under protest. These
efforts arc not made merely to sustain, in regard to its
commercial transactions, the credit of that bank, but to
avert the danger of a forfeiture of the charter to which
the bank would thereby be rendered liable. There is a
report to-day that funds have been remitted from Hol-
land contrary to all expec•ation, available for this pur-
pose, but at all events the friends of the bank arc try-
ing their strength in all quarters, and ready to submit
to any sacrifice rather than risk the charter itself.
From Demerara dates come down to the 17th of
September. A discovery made on the outposts of
the colony of a sort of Indian slave•trading, or kid-
napping, had created a great sensation. It appears that
a man of the name of Spencer; whose wife was a half-
caste Indian, who had fur many years held the situation
of postholdcr, or deputy protector of the aborigines, on
the Demerara river, had been in the habit of betraying
his trust, by secreting the children of Indians who, from
a distance in the interior, were in the habit of visiting
his post for the purpose of traffic or intercourse, which
children he disposed of afterwards as slaves. It does
not appear that the number had been considerable;
but in general, instead of the protector he should have
been of the Indians, he was the means of promoting
among them, and between them and the scattered white
population of the frontiers, the grossest immorality.
By means of his half-caste wife he had acquired an ex-
traordinary influence over the Indians. For their en-
couragement and the promotion of friendly relations,
by which a beneficial traffic might be established, and
supplies of provisions and commodities in time regu-
larly furnished, a large building, called a " Logie,"
something like a barn, was constructed for the reception
and accommodaticn of the Indians, but this he had
converted to his own purposes and profit. The num-
berto more charged than
some ten or fifteen. The man had accumulated con-
siderable property in the very subordinate situation he
held, but it must be mentioned that this was said to be
bl cases
did (
11-ok". .l
amountn
deae period, d o,f
cll ng, spread over a consi-
mainly acquired by other means certainly not leis revolt-
ing than child-stealing and slave-dealing. Such is an out-
line of the facts as stated, and apparently established.
Spencer was very properly discharged from his office,
and on their apprehension and arrival in George-town, he
and his wife were committed to prison to stand their
trial for the offences of which they were accused, bail
of any amount having. been refused. As the proof
mainly rested on the evidence of two white persons en-
gaged in the wood cutting trade in the same neighbour-
hood, long rivals of Spencer, who also was in the same
who did not ques-
business, and against whom they had old grudges and
it was considered that
trading grievances to allege, this refusal to take bail at
all was considered rather hard, the Spencers besides
havingtlll
y their a
therel
guiltar ein family,ig ht morally,
n 0 t even by those
although
be sufficient evidence to justify
a con%iction.

SUN.—The West India produce markets have been
rather less brisk this afternoon in consequence of the
favourable complexion of the advices from the West
Indies. The appearance of the trading markets for
foreign and colonial produce, indicate a return to a more
healthy state of things.
/quell satisfaction w•as produced in the City by the

I official notice from the Treasury relative to the reduced
rates of postage, which appeared in this evening's Sun.
The Funds did not leave off quite so firmly, owing to
Ia large sale of Consols in the course of the afternoon.
Consols for money closed at 90i and for time at
90-3-4 ; Exchequer Bills brought 43.t0 2s. dis. ; and India
Bonds closed at 6s. discount.
The foreign securities were all lower after two
o'clock in the day, from no other cause, however, than
mere speculation. Spanish Consols fell to 27;1 j ; Portu-
guese New Five per Cents. to 33 ; Colombian to 31 ;
and Mexican to 291 ; Dutch Two-and-a-Half per
Cents. were steady at 521 to 4.
The Railway Shares were offered on reduced terms.
The Great Western at 7 dis., the New Shares at 21
dis. ; the Southampton at dis ; the North Midland
at 74 dis. ; and the Midland Counties at 261 dis.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
(E'rom the Morning Chronicle.)
Our readers will see by the Treasury minute, which
we have inserted elsewhere, that a decided step to-
wards the establishment of the penny postage is to be
taken on the sth of December next. From that day
forward all letters are to be charged by weight ; a single
postage for half an ounce ; two postages for an ounce,
four for two ounces, six for three ounces, and so on, and
the maximum single rate between all places within the
United Kingdom will be 4d. This charge, however,
is only temporary. the minute clearly promising the
universal penny rate, as soon as the preliminary
arrangements are completed, that is, as we arc
informed, as soon as the stamps are prepared.
In the meantime, before any great increase
letters takes place, the Posteoffice will have ef-
fected the transition from the present mode of charge
to that by weight. After some practice, we
have no doubt that charge by weight Will be found to he
convenient to the Post-office as well as to the public ;
but at first considerable inconvenience will certainly be
felt in the Post-office ; and if this change had not pre-
ceded the reduction to one penny, the operations of the
Post-office might have been seriously impeded. The
course which has been adopted, accompanied as it is by
a full statement of the reasons which have influenced
the Lords of the Treasury, will, we are certain, be
satisfactory to the country, and will afford the best
arswer to an absurd report which has been some time
abroad, that Mr. Hill's plan has been abandoned as im-
practicable. Half an ounce will carry an ordinary
sheet of letter paper and a cover, or a small enclosure.
Indeed, if rather thin paper be used, the half ounce
will carry two sheets ; so that the postage of even a
double letter from one end of the kingdom to another
will be • but fourpence, even during the transition
state. What a vast improvement even this in-
stalment of the greater measure would have been
thought a few years ago ! The scale of weight now
adopted is, we understand, to be permanent ; and in it
consists the chief' part of the present reduction as re-
spects foreign letters. Satisfactory reasons are assigned
in the minute for making no other reduction on foreign
letters at present. The postage on Colonial and ship
letters is reduced, at least as respects certain classes of
these letters. The extra penny and twopenny rates on
General Post letters, with some other vexatious charges
are to cease ; and any letter not exceeding half an
ounce will, if pre-paid, be taken by what is now the
London twopenny or threepenny post for one penny.
The public will, we are assured, wait patiently for the
remaining instalment of this great measure. The ne-
cessary preparations are, we know, in rapid progress ;
and there is no doubt that. the intentions of the Legis-
lature will be carried out with zeal and intelligence.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)
The public will read with the deepest interest, and
the greatest gratification, the Treasury minute respect-
ing the new rate of postage, which we publish in another
part of our paper. It will be seen that on the sth of
next month a reduction is to take place of all rates of
postage above fourpence to that sum. To the country
generally this of itself will be a boon of no inconsi-
derable magnitude ; by those in the northern parts of
the kingdom, who have occasion to carry on an ex-
tensive correspondence with the southern parts of
the country, and by those in the metropolis and
the adjoining counties who correspond to any extent
with the northern districts of the land, the reduction
of the postage—which varies at present from thir-
teen-pence halfpenny to seventeen-pence halfpenny--
to fourpence, must be hailed with peculiar gratifica-
tion. But we chiefly rejoice in the reduction in conse-
quence of its being only a preliminary step to the adop-
tion of a uniform penny postage. On and after the
sth of next mouth all letters are to be charged by
weight, and not according to their being single, double,
or treble, as the case may be. Letters not exceeding
half an ounce in weight are to be charged one postage ;
those above that weight, but under one ounce, are to
be charged two postages ; and so on in the same ratio.
The two millions.of persons living within the London
district will on the same day be allowed to post their
local letters at the rate of one penny each, provided
they pre-pay them, instead of being charged twopence
or threepence, according to the distance, as at present.
It wilt be seen, by a reference to the Treasury minute,
that the reason why the Lords of the Treasury have
resolved on adopting this preliminary expedient, is in
order that the irregularity and confusion which might
havebeen.expecte4 to have ensued on the sudden adop-
tion of the uniform penny rate may be avoided. The
interniediate measures proposed will guard against
this evil. It were needless now to advert to the
great and manifold advantages which the country will
derive from the adoption of the penny rate of postage.
Every one feels that it will prove a boon of ines-
timable value. To thousands of her Majesty's
subjects it will be a boon of no ordinary magnitude
even in a pecuniary point of view ; but it is not
considered as a mere question of pounds, shillings,
and pence, that it possesses its greatest interest
or value ; its chief advantages will be of a moral
and social nature. It will contribute largely to the
spread of intelligence of every kind, and afford faci-
lities before unknown and undreamt of, for the in-
terchange between friends and relatives of all the holier
and better feelings of human nature. In a word, the
most sanguine philanthropist can hardly over-estimate
the amount of moral, intellectual, and social good of
which the measure will be productive. If the present
Government had not conferred on the country any other
good measure than that of the penny postage, it alone
would have entitled them to the nation's gratitude. Had
the Tories been in office we should have had no such boon.
Some of their journals may pretend otherwise, but the
country will not be deceived by them. It has not yet
forgotten Sir Robert Peel's strenuous opposition to the
measure ; nor can it shut its eyes to the fact that the
great quarterly organ of Conservatism has within the
last few weeks made a most deadly assault on the Penny
Postage Bill.
(From the :Morning Post.)
In another part of our paper we give a Minute of the
Lords of the Treasury, from which it appears that on
or after the sth of next month a uniform inland postage
is to be introduced, and the charge is to be regulated
by the weight of the letters. The lowest charge for
each letter beyond the present threepenny-post range
is to be, not one penny, but fourpence. We think this
a very sensible determination of the Lords of the Trea-
sury. We think they show good sense also in laying
aside, at the beginning, all the quackery about " stamped
envelopes," and " franking wafers," and the like. It
is far better not to attempt too much at once. But
what becomes of Mr. Hill's fine plan, about which
fools have been delirious during the last four or five
months ? Oh, it is only postponed—the fourpenny
rate is to be tried by way of bringing the Post Office
hands in to the penny system at some future day. We
consider it very probable that that future day will
never come. At all events it is very prudent to try
whether even the fourpenny-rate will, after pay ing all
the expenses, leave any surplus. If it should not, we
presume that even the present managers of the Treasury
will scarcely venture upon such an emendation as the
substitution of one penny for fourpence. It will be
perceived that, in trying a fourpenny rate instead of
a penny rate, the Government has followed the good
advice given in the article on postage in the Quarterly
Review. We wish all success to the new plan, and we
hope that the stamped envelope system, for such as like
to resort to it, will soon be added.

(From the Morning Herald.)
Ministers, it will be perceived, have made arrange-
ments for bringing, partially into operation, their plan
of cheap postage. "On and after" the sth of Decem-
ber, letters will be charged according to weight ; and
the rate of postage will be reduced at least one half, pre-
paratory to the full adoption of the " penny" scheme.
We have, repeatedly, expressed our doubts as to the
soundness of this plan of Post-office " reform ;" and we
have, as yet, met with no successful attempt to deal with
the arguments of the Quarterly Review on this impor-
tant subject. We are much disposed, in fact, to rear
that Mr. Rowland Hill's project will turn out a very
costly piece of quackery. The reduction of taxes is
always a popular theme—although it might be diffi-
cult to prove that the classes, for whose espe-
cial benefit it is usually pretended that reduc-
tions in taxation take place, ever derived the slightest
benefit from these reductions. The labouring classes
I and the poorer of the middling classes do, in-
deed, suffer from every addition to the amount of
our taxes ; but so paradoxically does our financial
system work, that the evils inflicted by the imposition
of new taxes are never removed by the abolition of
these taxes. The benefits of Mr. Hill's project will
be enjoyed chiefly by bankers, great merchants, and
attorneys in extensive practice :—the evils, which we
apprehend, will fall on the other classes of the com-
munity, in the shape of new imposts upon some other
enjoyment, or on some of the necessaries of life. It is
idle, we fear, to anticipate that any possible increase in
the number of letters sent through the Post-office will
ever secure the revenue against loss in that department.
True, the tendency of reduced taxation is to increase
the consumption of the cheapened article. But the
principle, of the operation of which the fact adverted
to is an illustration, has obvious limits. If increased
consumption is to be regarded as a source of relief,