The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-06 00:00:00

ASSAULT ON MR. FRASER.

(Kern a Correspondent.)—l n consequence of the assault
committed by the Hon. Grautley Fitzhardinge Berkeley,
M.P., on Mr. James Fraser, the publisher of the Magazine,
the author of the article which originally gave offence, Dr.
Magian, left his card at Berkeley-house. A hostile message
was forthwith sent by the Hon. Member, and a meeting
was agreed upon for seven o'clock yesterday evening. Mr.
Grautley Berkeley was attended by Major Fancourt, M.P.,
and Dr. Maginn by Mr. Hugh Fraser. The parties met
in a field near the Edgeware-road, and after exchanging
three shots without effect, Mr. Hugh Fr.lser withdrew his
principal ; no explanation or apology having been required
or tendered.

(From another Correspondent.)—A meeting took place
last 'evening between Mr. Grantley Berkeley and Dr.
Magian, the writer of the article in Fraser's Maifazine.
The parties met in a field off the New Barnet-road, and
after exchanging three shots, Dr. Magian was withdrawn
from the ground by his second. Mr. G. Berkeley was
attended by Major Fancourt, and Dr. Magian by Mr. H.
Fraser.—Morning Paper.

THE INFLUENCE OF BANKERS ON
MODERN SOCIETY.

(From the Constitutionnel)
A man has just expired who was neither King, minister,
nor great captain--a man whose name was not associated
with any dazzling political action, or great military exploits,
yet whose death has been announced by many cabinet cou-
riers,—this man, whose death has agitated the Exchanges of
Paris, London, Vienna, and Amsterdam, was a banker.
Be was undoubtedly a King in banking affairs, and one
of the most influential members of that powerful house so
well known at Vienna, Frankfort, Paris, London, and Na-
ples, and who upon terms of Equality treat with crowned
heads—we mean one of the Rothschilds.

We do not mean to speak individually of the man or of
the house, for private biography is not the business of the
press, though the object of it rolled in gold. It is to far
other titles that contemporaneous commemoration is
ac-
corded. Devotedness to great national works and services
rendered to the country alone merit this dazzling homage
of public opinion. •
Let the Exchange, which was,the most dangerous stage
of their actions, grant a funeral oration to high financial
personages.
We do not by this mean to impute any blame to the
great banking-house of which we are speaking, or to deny
the
.general services it may have rendered ; but these ser-
vices have not been gratuitous ones, nor ought they to have
been so. Let every one have their due—to ability crowned
by success, great profit ; and to disinterested devotedness,
public gratitude.
Since the occasion offers itself, let us examine what is
the mission devolved on bankers in modern society, and
what part they have acted in the general movement of
affairs, as well as what part they have still- to act. This
-subject is of great importance, since it touches on all sides
the future commercial welfare of Europe, private as well
as general interests, and every fact constituting the rich-
ness and prosperity of a country.
War has ❑ow become for Europe an exceptional fact;—a
crisis which all have equal interest in shortening. It is not
in our days that the philanthropic dream of the Abbe d
St. Pierre will be realized ; still there is in the mass an in-
stinctive reason, which will by degrees penetrate to the
superior regions, and will no longer allow war for the sake
of war. Questions of material interests can alone cause the
collision of nations, as well as law suits between private in-
dividuals.

But the interests which weigh the chances of success,
or of defeat, will avoid coming to extremes, and will avoid
shedding the blood of the people, who pay the costs of
these battles.

The normal state of Europe is peace ; peace is the crea-

tive industry, the free and vast exchange of merchandise, and
the infinite circulation of capital. The instrument of those
labours to which human intelligence devotes itself is credit,
and credit is represented by the bankers.
We see what part is allotted to bankers ; and had the
question only a moral side, they might, perhaps, draw back
from their mission, for it is not to individual interests that
financial men are wont to make sacrifices. Their own
interests are tied to that want of civilization which calls
them to its aid ; and when, in increasing the wealth of a
nation, they likewise increase their own, the bankers may be
reckoned upon.
Up to the present time the general influence of bankers
upon society has been manifested by their financial transac-
tions with Governments, and their pacific influence must
be owned. Fortunately for the human race, it is the in-
terest of monied men to preserve peace, and in keeping
their purse-string:swell drawn they have contributed to pre-
vent war. If private instead of general interests have
guided their conduct, we must at least feel grateful to them
for its result.

The impulse given by the bankers to the great works be-
gun in France deserves our notice. We all know the effei t
produced upon small capitalists by the mere names of cer-
tain men distinguished by their abilities and success. Tl-e
interest taken by the bankers in the formation of the rid-
roads at the gates of the capital has been a good and fertile
example, thanks to which funds will not be wanting for the
execution of the many intended improvements. We own
the beneficial social ififluence produced by the bankers at
present ; still it is in futurity that their pacific influence on
the destinies of mankind will be felt.
This is the birth of civilization ; on all sides studious and
theoretical men prepare plans which will change the appear-
ance of the world. All they propose would be impossible
to execute, but for the execution of that which is truly use-
ful as well as practicable, the support of the monied men is
necessary. How many plans have been traced to cover
Europe with railroads—some upon so vast a scale as to ren-
der their execution impossible, others upon a more reduced
one, but still startling by the immense expense they would
entail with them. The credit manifested by the interven-
tion of the bankers can alone sustain these colossal enter-
prises. In justice to the houSe of Rothschild, we must con-
fess, that they have always been disposed to grant their
powerful aid to these great works.
Let us take our century as it is ; if the action of the
monied men has materialized society, let us at least
inake,this action produce what it really possesses of use-
ful. For it to become eternally honourable, and to touch
the sympathy as well as the interests, of the people, it has
only to elevate itself above the narrow bounds of the
counting-house, and to moralize by identifying itself with
the high social morality which it is its aim to attain.

TIIE LATE MR. ROTHSCHILD.—A letter from Frank-
fort of July 27, in the Paris papers, says—" On the 27th M.
Rothschild made his will. That document, it is said, dis-
poses of a private fortune of L 0,000,000 of florins
(4,280,0001. sterling) left by the opulent banker. A family
consultation took place this morning, and it was agreed
that the remains of the deceased should not be interred at
Frankfort, although that city be the birthplace and prin-
cipal scat of the family."

PitOPOSED NATIONAL MONUMENT IN LONDON
TO NEWTON.—Arc. 4, 1836.—Mr. Steele presents his com-
pliments to the Editor of The Sun newspaper, and begs to
inform him that by a mistake most natio al in the hurry of re-
porting in consequence of the nature of the subject, the gen-
tleman who gave to the public the proceedings of the House
of Commons in the early part of Monday, described the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer as having " presented a petition
from
.Thomas Steele, praying that Parliament would order the
erection cf a statue to the memory of Newton." Mr. Steele
begs to state, that the prayer of his petition is not for " a
statue," but for a magnificent " National Monument" to he
reared in London over the House end Observatory, of him
whose scientific character I..as been most truly described as
" THE GLORY OF ENGLAND." The principle of the design was
suggested to Steele by viewing the magnificent dome of
the great Franciscan Church of Assisi in Italy, which has been
reared over the primitive cottage-like chapel of St. Francis,
to protect it from the weather, and protract its duration.
It is near eleven years since the writer of the petition preseetel
on Monday, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, first brought
the matter under the consideration of the people of the em-
pire, by a letter from Cambridge, published in the Times
newspaper.
Yesterday afternoon a sudden blaze was observed to
shoot up in the homestead of the farm of Mrs. M. Carter, at
Kensall-green, on the Harrow-road, and several engines from
the western stations of the London Fire Establishment, with
a strong muster of the men, were soon on the spot. A large
stack of newly-made hay was found burning fiercely, and cau-
sing great terror for much other surrounding property. Ob-
taining from the adjacent canal a good supply of water, the
firemen were soon able to combat the flames with advan:age,
and ultimately subdued them without their doing any dann,ge
beyond the almost total destruction of the stack of hay in
which they commenced. The hay was of the present season;
and baying bean stacked while too green, had overheated, and
thus generated the fire by which it was destroyed. The pro-
perty is uninsured.
The action brought against one of our contempo-
raries, and tried at Guildford a few days since, is a striking
instance of the harassing oppression which the Press is subject
to in the elucidation of truth, and, as in this instance, in the
exposure of conduct injurious to the best interests of society.
Thanks both to the Judges and Jury, this attack upon the free-
dom and integrity of the Press failed. Had it succeeded,
there is not a police report in whirls the much-injured party
committed to Newgate might not have sustained his action for
damages.
Sheridan, walking house• one night, or rather one
morning, with some young men, after the party had largely
partaken of the bottle, the latter amused themselves with call
ing a different hour from that proclaimed ; the watchman ea
postulated with them, " Gentlemen, if you go on so,
people will not believe me when I call the right hour 1" Upon
wide!' Sheridan said, " You are a pretty person to stand upon
your veracity ; u MIOVW who is never two hours together in the
came story."—Gentleman's Magazine.

THE STATE OF POLITICS AND

PARTIES IN UPPER CANADA.

No. 111.

It must now be sufficiently manifest that the inhabitants
of Upper Canada are by no means without serious grounds
of complaint as to the mode in which their affairs are ma-
naged. The Government carried on through the aid of
patronage, jobbing, and corrupt influences—the exclusion of
all men of liberal opinions from places of public trust—a con-
siderable public debt—a numerous pension list—judges and
priests sitting in their Legislative and Executive Councils, and
mingling the rancour of personal hostility and sectarian ani-
mosity with the grave deliberations on the general wel-
fare—incessant, and not altogether unsuccessful, attempts to
establish and endow a dominant religion amongst a people al-
most universally opposed to such an Establishment—public
offices kept up on a scale of magnitude far beyond the neces-
sities, and incompatible with the general habits and feelings of
society—large sums of the public money expended in the
construction of public works which are not wanted, while
other internal improvements of a simpler and less ostenta-
tious kind, but of urgent and absolute necessity, are post-
poned or wholly neglected—large sums of money expended
on the ministers of certain favoured forms of religion, to the
exclusion of all other sects, and to the total neglect of any
adequate provision for common schools, and the objects of
ordinary education—these, and a variety of other grievances
of a similar character, are some of the fruits of the Govern-
ment of Upper Canada, and they are the inevitable fruits of
all government irresponsible to the people on whose behalf
• it is administered.
What is the remedy for such a condition of things ? In
the state of opinion, habit, and feeling, which are en-
gendered in a country locally situated like Canada, it is to
be feared that no remedy can be effectual, which does not
give to the people, in substance, the entire control of
6(lir internal affairs,—which includes, of course, the dis-
posal and application of all the revenues raised within
the Province, and effectual means for enforcing the respon-
sibility of all public officers.
To bring such a remedy into practical operation neces-
sarily implies some change in the construction or working
of the Constitution. The Reformers of Upper Canada,
unwilling to resort to organic changes, conceive that they
have within their own Constitutional Charter, if fairly and
honestly carried out, the elements of all such improve-
ment in the present system as is necessary for the pur-
poses of good government.
It has been already observed that the administration of
Upper Canada is carried on by means of a Lieutenant-
Governor, assisted by an Executive Council, a Legislative
Council nominated by the Crown, and a House of As-
sembly elected by the people. For reasons, which have
been already stated, the house of Assembly exercise a very
imperfect control over the affairs of the Province. The
Legislative Council is merely a convenient instrument for
destroying by amendment, rejecting, or cushioning, bills
from the Lower House, which may be unpalatable to the
Governor, but which nevertheless he would not wish to be
under the necessity of formally rejecting. The Executive
Council were, till a recent period, universally believed to be
the actual advisers of the Governor, and relieved him from
great part of the odium of unpopular measures. It appears,
however, that they have been used as a mere cloak, and were
never even consulted on the measures of the Administration,
The Reformers of Upper Canada conceive that, by the
Constitutional Charter, the Executive Council ivls de-
signed to be an effectual body of advisers to the Governor ;
and all which at present they require, and all which they
conceive necessary to secure good government is, that
the Executive Council should be really, and not nomi-
nally the advisers of the Governor, and be responsible, for
the advice they give, to the voice of the people, as indi-
cated by majorities of the Provincial Parliament. They
insist that under the Constitutional Charter of the Pro-
vince, the 31 Geo. 111., c. 81, under which the Province
is now governed, an Executive Council is constituted, re-
sponsible to the people in the same sense in which the
British Cabinet is responsible to the Imperial Parliament.
In confirmation of this view, they adduce the language of
General Simcoe, the first Governor of Upper Canada, and
who, from all testimony of him, was one of the ablest and
best men ever sent out to administer the affairs of a distant
province. The passing of this Act gave rise to some
of the most interesting and memorable debates ever heard
in the British Parliament. The Act itself was a measure
• of Mr. Pitt's,. and framed with the design of putting the
government of Canada upon such a footing, that the people
should have no ground of dissatisfaction in contemplating
the form of government in the adjoining States. Gen. Simcoe
was himself a member of the House of Commons at the time,
took part in the debates, and was the bearer of th is Act, when he
went out to this province as its first Lieutenant-Governor, He
was eminently qualified, and appears to have been authorised
by the British Government, to explain to the people the new
Constitution established for their benefit. His view of it
is sufficiently clear from what he said on opening the first
Session of the first Provisional Parliament,—" I have sum-
moned you together, under the authority of an Act of the
Parliament of Great Britain, passed last year, which has
established the British Constitution, and all the Arms which
secure and maintain it in this distant country," and on closing
this Session, again adverting t 5 the subject, lie says, "at
this juncture I particularly recommend you to explain that
this Province is singularly blest, not with a mutilated Con-
stitu tion,but with a Constitution which has stond the test cif
experience, and is the very image and transcript rf that of
Great Britain." It is insisted that these declarations would
be a mere delusion, an unmeaning mockery, unless the se-
veral parts of the Canadian Government correspond in their
functions and responsibilities with the several parts of the
Imperial Government ; that is, unless the Lieutenant-Go-
vernor be considered as representing the person of the
King, while the Executive Council, or a portion of it, stand
in place of the British Cabinet ; that on this construction
of the charter, the Legislative Council, standing in the
place of the House of Lords, as the house cf Assembly
does in that of the House of Commons, the Canadian
Constitution would be what Simcoe said it was, " the
very image and transcript of Great Britain."
Upon the consideration of the whole matter, however,
although it is sufficiently plain that the Canadians have
been cheated as to the true character of the Executive
Council, it is not clear, either from the wording of the
Constitutional Charter, or even from the strong language
of Simcoe, that it was ever designed to invest it with
powers and responsibilities similar to those of the British
Cabinet. There is, however, enough to show that it was
intended to found in the Executive Council a body of
men possessed of local knowledge, to whom the Governor
would be expected to resort for advice ; but further
than this it is difficult, on any reasonable construction
of their Charter, to carry the attributes of this body.
In short, it cannot be made out conclusively, that the Exe-
cutive Council were ever designed to be the Constitutional
advisers of the Governor, as the Reformers of Upper Canada
contend ; though such a construction might not unreason-
ably be given to the Act ; and there can be little doubt
that, with reference to the state of the Province, it would be
in the highest degree politic and expedient so to do.
This subject is the more important at the present mo-
ment, inasmuch as it is the very point of the contest between
Sir Francis Head and the Reformers which is now agitat-
ing the Province into all the madness of political warfare.
Whether the Governor's coup (fetal succeed for the
present or fail, there can be little doubt that feelings will
now be created which will require to be allayed by a very
different mode of treatment from that which is now experi-
menting on, and which, if not soothed, will lay the founda-
tion for a not distant separation from the mother country.
It is to be observed also, and the observation is deserving
of great attention, that, whatever may be said or done now
by the partisans of the Government, it is, in their calmer
moments, the firm conviction of men of all parties that
the Executive Council ought to be the responsible advisers
of the Governor. So late as the 14th of March last, the
House of Assembly, in reference to the resignation of the
late Executive Council, came to the all but unanimous re-
solution—

" That this House considers the appointment off' a respon-
sible Executive Council, to advise the Lieutenant Governor,
or the person administering the Government, on the affairs
of this Province, to be one of the most happy and wise
features in our Gonstitution, and essential in our form of
governmeni,,taaas-beicv, one of the strongest securities for
a ju4ethitt equittible:ltdilistration of the Government, and
the MI enjoyinent of. 6t64ivil and religious rights and privi-
,..
isipor fi o
`was
rrls•reso u sty orted by men of all parties. All
. 1
~: iIRCs-lfolde.r,sl/4,-anfl ---4 v Mr. Hagerman, the Solicitor-
.
i - 111,,;nd-tho.moirt iiltra of Tories, voted in support of it.
L' Assembly (last Session), p. 288.
Akto 3'