The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-07 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Nor. 1.

Thomas Brajier, a respectable young man, was indicted for
assaulting Fordyce, a watchman, in the discharge of his duty.
The prosecution was instituted by the Parish Officers of St.
Giles's.
Mr. ANDREWS for the prosecution, said that this was another
instance of the mischievous consequences of that contemptible
dramatic piece, which was performing at the Adelphi Theatre,
which was continually operating as an excitement to disorderly
young men to commit riot and assault on the watchmen at night
m the streets. He then stated that the present defendant had
interfered with watchmen in the execution of their duty, and
afterwards assaulted them.
After two or three witnesses had been examined, Mr.
ADOLPIIU s addressed the Jury in behalf of the defendant.—
He began by asking why the prosecutors had not called the
constable of the night, who took the charges in the watch-
house, and who could have told the whole truth. As to what
his Learned Friend had said of the dramatic performance
called Tont and Jerry, he differed altogether from him, for it
was not only highly entertaining, but was, not calculated to
do any injury to public morals. The same objection had been
made to " The Beggars' Opera," and " The Beggars' Opera"
still held its ascendancy on the stage. He had witnessed the
representation of " Torn and Jerry," when it was obvious that
the audience consisted principally of families and individuals
of rank ghtl respectability, and he was sure they would not go
to a performance of such a character as that stated by his
Learned Friend. The fact, however, was, that watchmen were
aware of the prejudice existing against this piece, and those
fellows took advantage of such prejudice, and made unfounded
charges against young men for assaults, in hopes of getting
money from them. But the play, of " Tom and Jerry," had
no connection with the defendant's conduct for he was a sober
-correct young man who,' on the night in question was going
home with his' wife and who merely interfered to prevent a
young woman trom being cruelly treated.
The prosecutors failing to substantiate their charge, the Jury
found the defendant Not Guilty.

FlRE.—Yesterday morning at two o'clock,
the inhabitants of Fleet-market were thrown into
considerable alarm, owing to a fire which broke
out in the extensive premises of Messrs. Shears
and Son, coppersmiths, which extend from the
west side of the market to Shoe-lane. From the
length of space from the two entrances it was
impossible for the watchmen to discover the ra-
vages in the interior, and had it not been for a
journeyman baker observing the flames issuing
from the premises, there is little doubt but that
the whole would have been.at this moment a heap
of ruins. The fire raged with fearful impetuosity,
but through the timely arrival of the engines,
and the indefatigable exertions of the firemen,
the damage sustained is comparatively inconsi-
derable. _ _

Another proof of the mildness of the season :
There was discovered, on the farm of Freeland,
parish of Inchinnan, the property of Mr. MAT-
THEW KILLoCLI, a hedge-sparrow's nest; contain-
ing three new laid eggs, in a hedge in the open
fields, on the 26th ult. Also, a bee-hive, in the
same parish) was carrying on work.

FOR THE SUN.

CURRENCY.

MR. EDITOR—Some of our former Ministers,
I think Sir R. WALPOLE, was used to liken the
landed, as contrasted with the mercantile and
manufacturing classes of Society to the sheep and
the hog : the one suffering himself to be sheared
to the very skin without a murmur, whilst touch
but a bristle of the other, and the whole neigh-
bourhood is instantly alarmed with his cries. In-
deed, i❑ the nature of things, it can scarcely be
otberwise, not that the one feels less acutely than
the other, but that he has not the same means of
giving vent to his complaints. Cultivators of the
land of all descriptions, landlords, tenants, and
labourers, scattered over the whole surface of the
Country, have no means of assembling together
but at the times of assize, held only twice in the
year, or at public County Meetings called to-
gether for some specific object. There their
complaints begin, and end, except in the time of
Parliament, when they load its tables with useless
and unregarded petitions, which either lie there
wholly neglected, or give rise to debates which
always terminate in a ministerial majority. The
mercantile and manufacturing interests, on the
other hand, lie as it were wedged together in close
contact, with the frequent opportunity of meet-
ing, and combining for the discussion of every
matter in which their interests are committed,
even in the smallest degree, and peremptorily
calling for redress of any, the least, grievance
to which they are subjected. Impose but the
most trivial tax on any article, the cry of the
supposed aggrieved is instantly heard and com-
municates the contagion from one class to
another. At the present moment, when every
landed proprietor in the kingdom says in
very plain and intelligent terms, we have
been for some years, and are now living on
our capitals, which are daily and hourly exhaust-
ing, compelled, as we are, to sell our produce
at less than a moiety of what it costs us to raise
it, not only is a deaf ear turned to those natural,
and but too-well founded complaints, but there
are other classes sufficiently weak and insolent,
even to exult over our distresses, rejoice at the
lowness of those prices by which they are them-
selves immediately benefited, and only say for
our consolation, that our products are too abun-
dant, overstock the market, and cause that de-
pression of prices of which we complain, and that
when things are equalized, former prices will re-
turn, and every just cause of complaint be wholly
done away. This is at the best but cold comfort
to millions of starving individuals, and those the
strongest and in all respects by far the most use-
ful members of the whole community, without
whose assistance, none of the other classes could
subsist for a single year, but the whole of the
finest and most fertile country in .Europe must
become a desolate waste, dependent on other
nations for the bread we eat. Should this situa-
tion of things originate in natural causes, it would
be our duty, as men, quietly and contentedly to
acquiesce in them. Bad seasons, desolation by
earthquakes, or the irruption of enemies on our
territory, are all in the chapter of accidents, and
must and would be submitted to in tacit acquies-
cence, but resulting from erroneous principles of
Government, it is alike our duty, and our inte-
rest to complain, and make our grievances know❑
to those who alone are able to relieve them. It
has been shown, beyond the power of reasonable
contradiction, that the sudden and premature
change of Currency, and that, almost alone and
exclusively, has occasioned this sudden and de-
structive depression of prices, and it is perfectly
futile to talk of any change in those prices with-
out a total chance of system, and an immediate
reversion to that under which, labouring under
all our other difficulties we have weathered every
internal and external storm for upwards of 20
years. To refer it to a glut of markets is mere
idle nonsense not worthy of a moments atten-
tion Every farmer living upon his capital must
do the best he can, till that capital shall have
been fairly exhausted, and himself and family
consigned to the poor-house, or the more hospit-
able shores of some Foreign country. In the
interim, be the prices ever so low, he must bring
his saleable articles to market, and cause that
temporary glut which is used as an argument of
repletion, and the existence of a more than ordi-
nary plenty, which in fact does not exist. Within
a very short period those exulting mercantile and
manufacturing classes will perceive their gross
error in the loss of their home markets, greater
than all their Foreign ones combined, and what
will be felt more severely than all the rest, by

our monied and funded men, in a defalcation a

that public revenue without which that wealth
becomes merely nominal, existing only in paper,
worth no more than the material on which the

amount payable is inscribed. Independently of
the greater difficulties in making these com-
plaints known, than are imposed, on the
other classes of the community, the Land-
ed Proprietors have further to combat with the
immediate interests of different very numerous,
very opulent, and very powerful classes of the
great community. Every monied and funded
proprietor, every placeman, and pensioner of the
State, every individual possessing a fixed income,
not derived from landed property, in short, every
consumer either of the necessaries or the luxuries
of life, all naturally rejoice in that depression of
prices which compels the vender to sell at half
or less than half of what it costs him, to raise the
articles he is now obliged to bring to market, or
submit to the miseries of a jail, no other alterna-
tive being open to him. All these classes com-
bined, not only outnumber the proprietors of the
land, but from local and other peculiar circum-
stances, as was above observed, possess the ad-
vantage of being better heard, and resting al-
ways on the plausible ground of saner, safer, and
more substantial currency, which no man of com-
mon understanding ever pretended to deny. But,
let it be considered, that such sane and substan-
tial currency was of necessity abandoned by Mr.
Pitt, when he clearly saw that a war of such ex-
tent and expenditure, could not be carried on
without that abandonment, and who must have
seen with equal clearness, that after a debt of
six kundred millions sterling had been incur-
red in the paper substituted for the precious

metals, a reversion to that latter one ee
jd
never be effected without the total ruin of the
kingdom. The very attempt has already on-
hinged every subsisting contract, whether be:
tween Government and subject, or between /0d1"
vidual and individual, and a much further obsti-
nate perseverance in the same system cannot bet
complete the ruin already but too universally
spread, and pin the basket of all our mise-
ries within a period too little distant to be coo-
templated without dismay by every reflecting
mind in the kingdom. It would seem extraordi-
nary that in all the considerations of the Com."(
mittee appointed to report upon the distresses n.:
the times, their causes, and their remedies, it
should have escaped them to state the injustice'
as well as the impossibility of paying the interest
of 600 millions of taxes, imposed under one cur
"'
rency, in another of a very different description.;
of what value can the result of their deep cons"
deration prove, with the .omission of that alest
material of all circumstances ? Will it since
for the satisfaction of any reflecting and iruPar.
tial mind that, they tell us, our markets are over'
stocked, that demand and supply necessarily ac'
company each other, and that nothing but Pa:
deuce to await their equalization must be oil;
consolatory remedy ! 'Why did they not tell of
that the interest of so enormous a weight e
taxes granted under an artificial paper currency
!..
could only be paid in the same, and that to at'
tempt it in one of far superior value must neces;
sarily not only lower prices, but even eudaegeo
the safety of the Kingdom. This had heeeheir
real illumination tending to place things in trof
proper point of view, whereas what e-,es
have said only tended to keep the cat us
of the evil out of sight, and delude
by prospects which they must have known• cn-ho
never be realized ? For what has time, or tsi,
worn-out patience of man to do with the bulls,
ness ? You have adopted a perfectly errenefo..
system, and can only avert the mischievous that
sequences of your errors, by a recurrence to tupd
from which you most unwisely departed/ ode..
from the change of which all those evils are the
rived of which you so justly complain. let to
debates.to which the agitation of this mornenZir
subject has given rise, many apparently Nve;.o%..
tentioned members have expressed their wiDtis in
ness to give any assistance to the agriculturlhilig
their power, but could not assent to all 'with
like a rise of prices, than which (I speak ao,
due respect to the feelings of those wellir,etent
ing gentlemen) nothing can be more incoosl- the
with plain common sense, as applicable °pos.
wants and necessities of the landed interpToios
They tell you, and repeat it over and over !ces,
that they cannot cultivate at present P''t of
which do not pay a moiety of the prime 6°,5 ill
their marketable articles, and you tell tbejliefe
return, that you should be very happy t° reps at
them, but cannot assent to the only rneasur-1 be
all calculated for the purpose. This It re'
civil, but surely not equally satisfactorY• who
minds me of the politeness of a Frenchman pet
in the day of battle, finding an enemy atiiiii-oesb
begging for quarter with the greatest po- -e sof
replied, in any thing, Sir, but that Initinei;
command me, at the same moment inii4ol/.
his sword into his supplicant's body. But ic-cend'
remains for me to tell such kind and cords high
high
ing Gentlemen for the twentieth time, tha
toe
taxation and low prices are wholly nest
and
tible, and that if you mean to be hellesd psi
keep good faith with your creditors, you 0113;0 re'
them, and they must remain contented cv,
ceive their dividends in the same currentlior
which they were incurred, apd not exPee d to
;rie
possibilities of an exhausted nation, 011'00 in
its last guinea in efforts to pay its debts) eh iesa
the coin in which they were incurred, "lectojee'
able to liquidate them in one of greater rlO a
To Gentlemen inclined to see this matter lain
very different light from the writer, let tel be'
question be submitted. had any man 3umeturer
fore the passing of Mr. Peel's wholly Prete par'
and injudicious Bill proposed, for some Ste of
pose or other, to have made an additinvfo 'r er;
per cent. to all the taxes of this alreaolea
hausted kingdom, what opinion had beencoopl"
of the proposer of this mad and imPra.s
measure by every reflecting mind in thl one °
dom ? Would he not have been reputed aotiea'
the greatest, most ignorant, and most iror opt
able blockheads in the kingdom, proposiega bed"
could not be realized, and what none hut
~s tbia
Yet i.'ll -
for
lamite would have suggested. of
done at a single stroke by that very tee rlll
which the framer was eulogized i" „ppose
the highest applause, by some of the 67farreot,
first Statesmen in both Houses of
aPaprr'ohvisi°lol
though the very attempt to carry .-s - this
into execution, has tended to Plunge.
happy nation into a gulph of greeter rieocend Rio P
substantial distress than has been exPe verb
frorn the
for centuries past, nay, perhaps
foundation of the Monarchy.

J. 5

—___
DREADFUL A
~..e.s ACCIDENT.—YesterdaY, ....,0 ss
itA l on, many years resident in Keutisht"tbree
tbricklayer, was ascending a ladder,
airs or)
story high,' in order to inspect some reParatjt,
e top of the house of the Rev. gr' „nil be
when near the summit his foot slip Peat `",., vias
Middlesex Hospital, he died in
fell to the bottom. On being taken up,. , to
found dreadfully hurt ; and on the walreett
Goodge'S vitt;
on the shoulders of the men who were coll/e1
him.
--....!.#..----

COAL-MARKET, Nov. 6- price-0 ocl
Ships at Market. Ships sold 40s 3d t° 47s 01
15 Newcastle - 15
41s od
8 Sunderland .

TH. b
On the 2d instant, atBIR Biddles ton, oort..una_er]
ady of Walter Selby, Esq., of a son

On Monday last, tiler,
-DIED* ia Of her fil
the
Sir John
.Saunders Sebright, Bart. 111. P 1;11114
'7 wife
°f
wife of Fred •
On _ Frederick Franks, Esq. , the wi
Mr. the3lst ultimo,_ atKentish-toWn SusVl,oSnons.
_..A.
at Beechwood, the resime% sonders,
On
Es
. Saturday, the 2d instant, at Peckham, Or°
Stephen Price,. Old Fish-street, Thietors L.0"•;:o rico- +
E q. in his 49th year.

7gm;?Als 5. t 612i‘
Printed and Published for the pnoPlu
_ Dy c
Office, No. 112, Strand)

` 1/
V

NU
fist
1
PatNs,
II 41
\
rev
14.13"nt
other ale
c Sti
ed Al uslimn
thetlietl.
cutious
she
Cmtbric
iNG „(2: i;,
Y'rbul, of v
Re
414't Icemt;
M!LLA

kr al.:1)1

Rollit I

mptact